Sons of the Little Sahara
Oklahoma is the marcher land between Texas, and the horrors of the High Plains. About the only good thing that you can say about the state now is at least it rains more often — but even then, flooding is a constant problem, and it’s not smart to drink Serpent-tainted groundwater for too long. So Texas moved the population of the state south, placed garrisons along Route 66 using what troops it could spare, and generally contents itself with maintaining a watchful peace on its northern border. The Texan state government has no interest in expanding further in that region, and certainly cannot spare enough resources to maintain even the pretense of the rule of law, north of the Double-Six. Indeed, some Texans argue that the border should be even further south; if it wasn’t for the fact that Texan control over Los Alamos might be endangered by the loss of Route 66, those arguments might be better heeded.