Alan Friction

> "*Are we just going to stand idly by while the Augments evolve beyond human knowledge? Or will we stand together as their predecessors and masters?*"
> ― Alan Friction
>
>

## Physical description

### Height

5'11

Chairman **Alan Michael Friction** (3 April 1990 - 29 October 2068) was the former chairman of the USSDF and later the leader of the post-apocalyptic Scandinavian nation of Prosperia.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

Friction was born in Juneau, Alaska, to an upper middle-class family. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 8, Friction's childhood was one of constant sadness and trauma, especially when his only sister, Karen, was killed in a car crash.

In school, Friction's teachers viewed him as a master strategist with an ability to think under pressure. His intellect allowed him to ascend the primary school ranks quickly and he graduated at 15. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and scored top marks consistently.

### **USSDF**

#### **Recruitment**

Friction received a private from United States President Barack Obama in 2009, offering him a position at the deep science government agency USSDF, as Assistant to the Security Executive. Friction accepted and was flown to Site (REDACTED) where he began work immediately.

Friction quickly ascended the ranks of the USSDF and befriended Kevin Dawson. When Dawson was elected president in 2024, he appointed Friction as chairman of the USSDF.

#### **Dawson Administration**

During Dawson's presidency, Friction was routinely assigned high level homeland security tasks, in which he excelled. He was put in charge of multiple task forces that handled both domestic and paranormal threats and phenomena, and was often in the field commanding other USSDF squadrons, the most prominent of which was an elite group of soldiers under the squad name RL-2, with fellow USSDF agents Michael Edwards, Jeff Scott, Ikus Tannenbaum, and his closest friends Sean Boyd and Amelia Burnhardt.

He oversaw the majority of Project *Duet*and the resurrection of *Galaxy*in addition to to the tasks he was already assigned. He was one of the head scientists in *Duet*, contributing many valuable pieces of research to the operation, however he rarely saw his developments being utilized as he was constantly in the field.

Friction was on the board that presented the results of the first phase of *Duet* to Dawson in December 2025. He became acquainted with Marcus Philip, but secretly felt Marcus had sinister intentions. Despite his position as Chairman, Friction did not veto the continuation of *Duet*, feeling that if he did, he would be overruled by Dawson.

After the Augment rebellion in New Provenance, Friction served as the director of President Dawson's Operation *Talisman**,* as he organized military efforts in Russia and Mongolia.

After Washington DC was nuked by the Augments, Dawson ordered the detonation of the *Galaxy* bomb over Mongolia, resulting in a twenty-two year nuclear winter. The United States fell and subsequently, the USSDF. Friction, Boyd, and Burnhardt all fled to Oslo, Norway.

### **Post-*Talisman***

#### **Exile on Svalbard**

As all other countries did, Norway fell during the nuclear winter. Friction, Willamson and Burnhardt spent twenty years in hiding on the Svalbard archipelago, staying under the radar. However, they remained civilized and despite the islands' desolation, they made a home for themselves. During this time they accessed the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and began to grow new crops, as agricultural production had largely ceased.

In 2053, Friction received a radio signal from the Norwegian mainland. A band of survivors had recently exited their bunker and was looking for other survivors. Friction responded and set off with Boyd and Burnhardt on a sailing expedition to the mainland, where they met up with the survivors.

#### **Rendezvous and Restoration of Tromsø**

The survivors quickly reestablished a society on the northern coast of Norway, in the deserted city of Tromsø. Due to the aging Friction's background and his natural leadership tendencies, he was unanimously elected the leader. By 2055, Tromsø had regained electrical power and Internet access, as well as a stable food supply.

Since arriving in Norway, Friction had ordered teams to search for bunkers across Scandinavia, many of which still had survivors who had created families. Friction invited them all to the city and soon it had a growing population of 5,000 people.

As Tromsø began to prosper once again, Friction organized many public works projects and by 2057, all infrastructure had been completely restored. Friction used this as a jumping-off point to begin a new post-apocalyptic utopia: Prosperia.

### **Leading Prosperia**

#### **Territorial Expansion**

Despite being in his seventies, Friction served as the commander of the Prosperian Militia, which he founded in June 2060. He led the militia on an expedition southward across the rest of Norway and Sweden, and liberated people still in bunkers scattered from Tromsø to Copenhagen, Denmark.

After sending more workers from thriving Tromsø, Friction had Copenhagen restored as well, and as such assimilated Denmark into Prosperia. He used Copenhagen as a hub from which he launched maritime expeditions to Great Britain.

Repeating the process he used in Scandinavia and Denmark, Britain was quickly added to Prosperia with no conflict. Friction desired to continue westward, but found Ireland had already recovered and declared its own sovereignty as the Confederacy of Ireland. In the following brief territorial war that ensued, Friction commanded armies from London, which was restored in yet another large public works project.

Content with the size of his nation, Friction put an end to territorial conquest in September 2062. He opened diplomatic relations with many other new nations, primarily the Neo-Ottoman Caliphate and the Kingdom of the Bight. He met with leaders of both countries in Jerusalem and Perth, respectively.

#### **Air Force and Death of Boyd**

Having brought Prosperia back to the modern age, Friction drafted an Air Force to fight the growing Augment state, which had emerged from the rubble of Pakistan. At seventy-five years old, Friction served alongside his fellow soldiers in the field and acted as commander yet again.

Over the next few years Friction would lead bombing after bombing of Augment cities. The bombings were mostly successful with few casualties, however, in one particularly disastrous incident, Friction's colleague Sean Boyd met his demise as an Augment torpedo caused his plane to explode, killing him.

After Boyd's death, Friction lost a bit of his public composure, and stepped down from the Air Force in November 2066, a few months after the incident. He returned to his home in Tromsø and led the country behind a mask, only talking to Amelia Burnhardt.

#### **Death of Burnhardt**

Despite Friction's confined nature, he had always found his longtime colleague Amelia Burnhardt someone he could confide in, despite the nonromantic nature of their relationship. They had been together since the days of the USSDF, and throughout exile, restoration and leadership she had always been by his side.

On a diplomatic mission to the Neo-Ottoman Caliphate in September 2068, Burnhardt's car was captured by Augment forces and she was taken hostage. Despite the Caliphate's very best efforts, Burnhardt couldn't be saved and was executed by the Augments shortly Fafter her capture, on September 28th. After hearing the news Friction was ridden with grief. Immediately he stepped down as leader and passed on the leadership role to Jay Utapau, his personal advisor.

### **Death**

Friction spent a month alone at his lavish Tromsø home before he presumably took his own life on October 29, when he was found dead by Prosperian police. He left behind a legacy of great leadership, superior intellect and leading a post-apocalyptic world to glory.