 By the present day in the novel, the Commonwealth of New Virginia had expanded across the new California, with outposts as far as Alaska and Colorado and colonies in Hawaii and Australia.The original founders of the country structured the government so that their families would remain in power long after those originals were dead, and they also adapted laws to causes and hobbies to which they were partial.One example was Rolfe's love of hunting, which encouraged him to partner with the San Diego Zoo to import large African animals, which he then moved through the Gate and released into the wilds of his new North America.