"Used to be they were held together pretty tight," says Shephard. "We had us a civil war 'bout a hunnert-fifty or so years ago on account of some of 'em didn't want to take their orders from the capital, but after that they were all nailed down good'n tight. Ain't enough people left these days to hold it all the same way, though. We're workin' on one city at a time at this point."

Being from the state that seceded from the seceding states, Shephard is reasonably familiar with all of the contributing factors of the Civil War, but it'd take a long time to explain about the rest of it.