I wrote it, and given that a hundred square miles is only 10 miles by 10 miles, it's actually a lot smaller than it seems at first glance -- call it a couple counties' worth of land surrounding each of the old capitals. Or, to make it easy -- say a radius of 10-15 miles (314-707 sq. miles) from an arbitrary downtown point in each capital. Along with isolated "dead zones" here and there where a military target was wiped out.
And yes, there are functional governments, being run by very cautious moderates. And the populations of both states are a lot less eager to follow demagogues and extremists -- who still exist, and press agendas that include such goals as "who cares if we nearly killed everyone, let's finish killing the other guy!" to "Get the West for not stopping us from nuking our own people, and hell, for inventing nukes in the first place!"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
And yes, there are functional governments, being run by very cautious moderates. And the populations of both states are a lot less eager to follow demagogues and extremists -- who still exist, and press agendas that include such goals as "who cares if we nearly killed everyone, let's finish killing the other guy!" to "Get the West for not stopping us from nuking our own people, and hell, for inventing nukes in the first place!"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.