The Setting

**What Happened to the United States of America?**

In the near-future, the United States of America is a shadow of it's former power and prosperity. The planet's climate has rapidly boiled out of control, and natural disasters have rendered much of the country uninhabitable. The US Government has abandoned most of its former states in the West, in favor of defending the eastern seaboard, after nearly a decade of civil conflict. Renegade warlords, corporate oligarchs, religious fundamentalists, and foreign mafias run amok across North America. Now, the only habitable regions outside the US Safe Zone are fledgling new nations, the few city-states who've stemmed the tide of chaos, and struggling communes hidden in the remote wilderness of the New American Wasteland. But how did things get this bad? To understand the current political situation, one has to look back to well before any of the immediate events in recent memory.

## *The Timeline:*

#### 1999

Public paranoia spreads as the year 2000 looms. Fearing societal collapse and all out nuclear disaster in the wake of Y2K, survivalist groups and preppers begin founding the predecessors of the modern American militia. Weapons and ammunition are stockpiled in record numbers across America, and an entire industry spawns that caters to the development of self-sustaining infrastructure. The year 2000 passes, but the paranoia remains. A shadow of the survivalist groups remain, anticipating the inevitable collapse of modern society.

#### 2000s

##### 2001

The United States is attacked on September 11th, 2001. Four planes are hijacked by fifteen Saudi extremists, as well as others from Egypt, UAE, and Lebanon. Two planes are directly crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse and cause a massive civil disaster in the city. Another plane is crashed into The Pentagon in Washington D.C., and a final plane's passengers overpower the hijackers, before crashing into a field in rural Pennsylvania. The attack sends shockwaves across the entire nation. Al Qaeda extremist Osama bin Laden claims responsibility for the attacks. As a result of these terror attacks, President George W. Bush declares a start to the War On Terror, and the Patriot Act is passed. This legislation grants the U.S. government unlimited sanction to invade privacy and violate the rights of its citizens in the name of Homeland Security. The United States invades Afghanistan, where OBL is allegedly hiding with The Taliban, beginning one of its longest and most costly conflicts in American history.

##### 2003

The United States invades Iraq, vowing to topple Saddam Hussein, a secular Arab dictator that had previously been funded and trained by the United States, under the guise of seeking out weapons of mass destruction. The conflict continues into a tenuous occupation, and a puppet government is installed. The conflict spawns revival insurgent groups that further destabilize the Middle East. No weapons of mass destruction are found, and it is later revealed that the alleged intelligence rumors were of dubious reliability.

##### 2008

The United States' first black president, Barack H. Obama, is elected. Although initially perceived as a victory for civil rights, few things actually change for the average American citizen. The new president turbocharges indiscriminate drone strikes in conflict zones around the world, earning him the moniker “Drone King”. His civil welfare programs would be hampered from the start, after inheriting a government with an economy in recession and two wars with no end in sight.

#### 2010s

##### 2012

America's fetish for apocalypses rears its head once again, as the Mayan Calendar Event comes and goes. However, the end never came.  The growing tragic trend of school shootings intensifies in horror, as the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting brings to bear a new age of terror on American citizens. The calls to regulate the flow of small arms in America after the massacre spurn the right wing to unite and militarize its gun rights advocates and militias.

##### 2016

The beginning of the “American Dark ages”, the specter of fascism sinks its claws in American identity politics. Hate crimes and right wing extremist violence is not only normalized, but approved of by many government representatives. Hate crimes and civil protest against corrupt law enforcement intensify.

##### 2019

The novel coronavirus begins to take hold in the eastern regions of the world. American politicians and the current administration downplay its danger, ensuring their citizens the virus will never come to U.S. shores. This is the beginning of the great plague era.

#### 2020s

##### 2020

The first Coronavirus (dubbed COVID-19 by CDC experts) cases are detected in the United States. Early handling of the virus is fumbled, and continually underestimated by the current administration. While healthy adults assume they may survive an encounter with a disease nobody to date completely understands, the virus continues to spread, and the immuno-compromised and elderly are left to die. The highly public police execution of George Floyd in Minneapolis in broad daylight and on video record becomes a flashpoint for the average working-class American. Having endured constant brutality with no accountability from police forces, several cities begin protests against an unchecked oppressive regime. These protests escalate to violent rioting as police departments across the country respond with military-grade vehicles and weapons to bear against American citizens. In Portland, Federal Agents begin abducting protestors off the streets.

##### 2021

Following a successful election former Vice President Joseph Biden becomes president. Unable to accept the election results the previous President rallies his support base and mounts an insurrection on the country’s capital the day the election is to be certified. The terrorists erect gallows outside of the Capitol and call for the execution of declared "traitor" party officials. The capital is stormed as the nation watches in horror. Despite the odds, Capitol police defend the building and officials until National Guard support is reluctantly approved.

##### 2022

1.03 Million Americans have perished to the Coronavirus, there are 91 million cases to date. The former President is impeached again, but goes unpunished after his attempted coup, with loyalists stacking the vote in his favor. The sentencing for the terrorists that had stormed the capitol is light, with few insurrectionists receiving long prison sentences. The international climate begins heating quicker, and despite calls for action, little is done by the federal government. Millions of Americans bear the brunt of heatwaves, inflation, and dystopian income inequality. Women’s rights are unraveled by a Christo-Fascist lead supreme court.

##### 2023

The right to marriage equality is overturned, mass riots begin but are met by militarized riot police. Christo-fascists paramilitaries counter the protests but rely on a overwhelmed police force for protection. Lacking numbers the Christo-fascists take to gunning down their adversaries. This is ignored by Police and causes left wing antifascists to bring their own arms, firefights become constant in the metro hubs.

##### 2024

Facing an unwinnable election due to mass public disapproval of Right-wing legislators. GOP speakers and figure heads begin condemning the legitimacy of the presidential election before it’s begun. They call on their voter base to instead “commence 1776 again”, leading to mass shootings and bombings of polling centers and government buildings. Many states discuss seceding from the Union but it becomes impossible to govern their own metro centers as they each become their own conflict zones between Fascist, Anti-fascist, and opportunistic groups. Sustained heatwaves and droughts cause Farmers to abandon their crops and mass migrations to the cities where amenities are more accessible begin.

##### 2025

States become more divided along party lines with cities becoming the hubs of armed combat between political factions and the rural areas becoming increasingly uninhabitable, cut off from necessary resources. Emergency services are overwhelmed and quickly become insignificant as casualties mount and first responders leave their jobs to safeguard their families. The National Guard is deployed to hundreds of areas in the country but command and control is hamstrung by political schisms in the ranks and leadership. Many guardsmen and active duty servicemembers begin to desert to ensure the safety of their families.

November 2025

**The Austin Massacre:** Unprecedented violence takes place on the streets of Austin, Texas. The first large scale fundamentalist militias bring themselves to bear on the progressive bastion of the Lone Star State. Armed Christo-Fascists open fire on unarmed protesters, during a public demonstration against the federal repeal of marriage equality. Hundreds lie dead in the capitol, and hundreds more flee from pursuing fundamentalist militia squads, emboldened by the violence. Despite supporters in Texas’ government, the highly publicized events force the government to respond, and Austin PD SWAT and Texas Army National Guard are mobilized to pacify the growing riot. Casualties mount from an ever-worsening episode, with armed leftist Texans being fired upon by both fundies, and police confusing them for fundies (or sympathizers looking for an excuse to open fire on leftists). With chaos spiraling out of control, the POTUS mobilizes Federal Marshals, and the US Marine Reservists from 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, from NAS Corpus Christi, to mobilize and pacify Austin. After the Marines show brutal force against all sides, the riot simmers to a tense but brief Martial Occupation.

##### The Long Summer

Christo-fascist groups begin installing new governments and laws in areas they control, declaring their territory “New Dominions”. They force citizens who weren’t able to escape to the practice and abide by their dogma. Speculated mass killings of LGBTQ+ and minority communities leak to the general public before Dominion territories destroy cell towers and limit internet connection to privileged oligarchs. Very few people escape these “Dark Zones”, relaying nightmarish tales of enslavement, forced marriage, and ethnic cleansing. The ghost of a New American Genocide takes place in these zones.

**Alabama, The Montgomery Riots:** Alabama's dominant conservative lawmakers push to reorganize Alabama as a "New Dominion of America". State police and National Guard are mobilized to wrongfully arrest suspected “criminal elements” in Montgomery, Alabama. It’s obvious that the forces are being deployed almost exclusively in neighborhoods and businesses frequented by People of Color. Resistance escalates into full-blown riots, and arrests of People of Color continue. The federal government is met with staunch resistance to intervene.

**Tennessee, Nashville Coup:** Following city elections, fundamentalists storm the Capitol building in Nashville, and arrest progressive lawmakers and newly-elected appointees, voiding the results. No proof of election interference is ever brought up, and the arrested lawmakers are never seen again. A Christo-Fascist government is appointed in Nashville, who declare the state another New Dominion, and founded the Appalachian Baptist Dominion.

**South Carolina, Siege of Columbia:** Protests by minority students at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC are violently quashed by state police and National Guard forces. The violence triggers counter-protesters elsewhere in Columbia, and the state deploys more troops to address the growing riots. People of color in the ranks are kept from active deployments, and kept in the rear to perform menial tasks. This is the first public sighting of the state taking steps to re-segregate minorities, as a measure to mitigate conflict.

**Idaho, Boise State University Bombing**

**Mississippi, Jackson Massacre:** A brutal police suppression campaign in Jackson, Mississippi leaves hundreds of dead Black Americans in the streets. Counter-protesters against rising Dominion threats in the state are met by riot police, who violently suppress the demonstrations. Lethal force is deployed outright, and emboldened fundamentalists join the police in cornering fleeing Black Americans. Survivors are arrested and processed into an ever-increasing Black-dominant prison population, to serve out hard labor sentences.

**Georgia, Siege of Atlanta, Purge of Savannah:** Atlanta stands as one of the last bastions for minorities to live in the South, without the interference of rising secessionists. Fundamentalist lawmakers denounce the legitimacy of the municipal government, and call for National Guard forces and “patriotic volunteers” to blockade Atlanta, in an attempt to force the city to submit to the rising Dominion agenda. A solid year of containing the city population backfires on the Dominionists, who have grown weary from a city that has already taken steps to developing self-sufficiency. Rather than admit defeat, Dominion forces shift their aim towards Savannah, which is not as provisioned. Local police and National Guard forces are pressured by state lawmakers, now a wartime Dominion Council, to locate and apprehend so-called “anti-patriots”, aka People of Color and LGBTQ+, who are either arrested and sentenced to hard labor, or never seen again.

##### 2027

Feb 2027 - **The Florida Secession:** the state government of Florida publicly secedes from the US, as a New Dominion. Declaring itself the Florida Southern Baptist Dominion, the act is met with solid opposition from the major cities around Tampa Bay and Orlando. Violence ensues between both parties.

**US Emergency Domestic Mobilization Act:** The government passes emergency legislation to enable the deployment of Regular Troops on U.S. Soil, to attempt to retake the Dominion Zones. Secessionist groups are declared foreign combatants, as a new theater of the War on Terror is now waged in the Continental United States. Casualties mount as large portions of combat units either desert their posts, or defect to the fundamentalists. Conditions are horrendous while combat units learn how to fight an American insurgency at a costly pace, often battling former comrades that absconded with intelligence and equipment.

**North Carolina, Battle of Raleigh, Road to Gaston:** Conflict in the Carolina's have reached a fever pitch, and military bases are slowly becoming overwhelmed. With the threat of losing territory to emboldened local guerillas, major military installations are ordered to withdraw to Virginia. Army base Fort Liberty and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune are evacuated. Loyalist Army forces are withdrawn via Air Force airlift, or via mass convoy Northward. Marines are evacuated by the Navy to Norfolk. Ground convoys are constantly harassed by Dominion insurgents and Army turncoats, right up to Gaston, NC. SOCOM forces are tasked with protecting the withdrawing convoys, and destroying the Gaston Bridge, cutting off pursuing forces. Surviving units withdraw over the Appalachian Mountains to safe territory. Army forces are mobilized in the designated US Safe Zone, and National Guard and Active units are deployed on American streets to swiftly quash further insurrection. The Second Marine Division is posted at various Northeastern Seaboard Navy Bases to bolster security, and a new wartime forward operating base is established South of the Potomac: Camp Mackie (named after Sergeant John F. Mackie, the first US Marine to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, in the American Civil War).

**Kentucky, Fort Knox Evacuation:** With tensions further deteriorating in the American South, US forces are tasked with evacuating the Federal Reserve bullion supply from Fort Knox, KY to Fort Drum, NY. The convoy is protected with overwhelming fire support, and local Dominionist attempts to attack the convoy are neutralized by AH-64D Apache Longbow gunships. The convoy is safely escorted through Kentucky, and once the last trucks cross the McKees Rocks Bridge, a simultaneous detonation of demolition charges blows all of the roadbed out of the bridges across the Ohio River, effectively cutting off the South from the Midwest. The Ohio River Front is established, and the McKees Rocks Bridge is the only partially-intact crossing for US military operations deploying into the South.

**Arkansas, Little Rock Massacre:** Pressure from Texas and Oklahoma to halt the refugees hemorrhaging West mobilizes Arkansas National Guard along the Western border. Minorities and non-violent, non-Dominion religious groups are blocked from escape, and escorted to Little Rock for prosecution. In desperation, refugees riot against police and National Guard forces, and police resort to lethal force outright. National Guard troops are split by indecision and internal conflict, and look on as Dominion-aligned police violently clash against unarmed civilians.

**October 2027** **- Oregon, Cascadian Summer War and Three Rivers Campaign:** The brutal Cascades Dominion is attacked by the insurgent Cascadian People’s Army, and the Summer War breaks out. The Three Rivers Campaign routes Dominionists from their bastions, ousts them from power, and routes the Dominion remnants from Oregon to neighboring LDS Utah.

**December 2027** **- Final Offensives in Spokane, Portland, Seattle, Boise, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento.** The success rate is mixed. Cities in the Pacific Northwest are secured by US Army and Marine forces, welcomed by liberated Americans. Conflict in California and Oregon does not meet the same success, and most forces are routed before even penetrating city limits. The realization of so many conflicts with different parties stretches US military forces to the breaking point.

**Oklahoma Occupation:** A breakaway faction of the Texas government sanctions a surge of fundamentalist “state militias” into Oklahoma, to establish the state as  the territory of Northern Texas. The occupation of Indigenous reservations is brutal, and crackdowns on Indigenous traditional practices leave many dead or arrested among the Native American communities. The criminal occupation will continue for three years, with the absence of federal authority.

**Utah, The Mormon Pilgrimage:** The Mormon Church’s links to the US intelligence community catches wind of tactical withdrawals by US forces, and anticipates worsening conditions for the Mormon population in the deteriorating United States. From Salt Lake City, the sitting 18th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints mandates all followers of the Mormon faith make the pilgrimage to Utah, where the new Dominion of Latter-Day Saints can guarantee their safety in the new Deseret. Record numbers of Mormons across the United States migrate from across the country to settle in Utah, Southern Idaho, and Northern Nevada.

##### 2028

The United states is fractured into multiple conflict zones. Scenes previously only thought to have been apparent in Mosul, Fallujah, and Kandahar now take place regularly on American soil. Congress approves the use of Special Warfare units and air power against the Dominionist factions. Civilians suffer the worst of this decision as the fundamentalist groups use human shield tactics to protect themselves from the worst of the bombings and air strikes. Drones are a constant presence in the sky. Leftist and survivalist groups begin forming the first Independent communities or “InComs”. Semi self-sustaining interlinked communities tucked away in rural areas away from the worst of the fighting.

**California, Third Battle of Los Angeles:** US Marines bivouacked at the LA city limits are ordered to move in and pacify the insurrection. Before the Marines can reach Wilshire Blvd, roadblocks armed by a coalition of militias with captured police and National Guard heavy weapons divert the convoys into kill zones. Casualties are taken from shooters posted in the windows of high-rise buildings on either side of the streets, and the Marines are routed back to their FOB, rather than risk more casualties trying to clear skyscrapers. The militias egress deeper into the city before air support arrives, unable to venture into the concrete jungle.

##### 2029

**Illinois, Siege of Rock Island:** Secessionists in the Midwest target the Rock Island Arsenal, to procure heavy ordnance and guns from the US Army’s sole foundry. Security of the facility is compromised by turncoat National Guardsmen posted there, and allow for a night infiltration of the Southern bridges leading onto the island. US Army forces are caught by surprise, and heavy casualties are met on both sides. Calls for reinforcement are stalled by an attempted takeover of the main communications site aboard the base, but secessionists are repelled by surviving elements of Combat Logistics Battalion 451 of the Marine Detachment. The Marines help to hold the line against enemy forces and protect surviving US Army at their makeshift aid station overnight, until air support arrives by morning. AH-64 Apaches scatter remnant secessionists, and a provisional company of Rock Island forces retake the Southern bridges leading to the base, allowing for a convoy of reinforcements from the Illinois Army National Guard and Marine Reserves. Wounded and surrendered secessionists are apprehended by the 333rd Military Police Company, and escorted to Chicago for federal prosecution.

**California, I-5 Convoy:** Scattered military forces in California are reliant on the interstate highway system to cover long distances between the major cities. Heavily-armed convoys are constantly harassed by both renegade Dominionist holdouts, token Cartel Sicarios, and leftist revolutionary militias. Casualties are mounted on every passage through I-5 from major bases such as Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles or San Diego.

**Wyoming, Cheyenne Lockup:** The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, home of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), receives a sizable resupply of long-term provisions, and a reinforcement of Air Force Security Forces, before sealing its blast doors, in the midst of the greater collapse of the local region. It is unknown to this day how frequent United States Defense Command or Corporate Colorado maintains contact with the facility, a vital organ of North American global air defense. Conspiracy theorists speculate that the base is one of the last to still be held by US forces, after the Western Withdrawal.

**Montana Collapse:** With the growing trend of Incorporated States flourishing in key zones, the state of Montana incorporates itself as Big Sky Company. However, despite gaining administrative control by both the corporate consortium government and the consent of the US government, civil strife is still rampant. Local National Guard forces have deserted en masse, disillusioned by the federal withdrawal, and formed renegade militias. Private security forces are overwhelmed by fundamentalists, rival Guard units, and other secessionist elements. A minority contingent of the local administration withdraws from Helena to establish itself in Butte, before the greater state ceases to function, and effectively collapses into open lawlessness. The majority of the Corpos that make up Big Sky Company are bought and absorbed as a subsidiary of GemWorks, in neighboring Corporate Idaho.

**Amish Expulsion:** In the midst of the Western withdrawal, droves of refugees flee North and East, to the United States Safe Zone. Living space is now a vital resource, and land is required in unanticipated quantities, both for farming and habitation. In a move that was mixed in reception by the greater population, the US government targets open ultra-traditionalist groups and their communities, namely, the Amish and Mennonite communities within Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. Their lands are seized by the federal government, and the communities are effectively evicted from US territory, and directed towards other extant communities in Kansas and Nebraska. Despite the growing violence in the greater US conflict largely being blamed on Christian extremism, the Amish and Mennonite traditionalists had maintained neutrality from the violence. Disillusioned, the communities relocate to what is now known by some as the remote Heartland Dominion.

**North & South Dakota, Dakota Collapse:** The ensuing collapse of Corporate Montana spills over into North and South Dakota. The Dakotas were originally a hard-line vital location for the US to maintain, as a majority of their nuclear arms silos were located in remote and classified regions of both states. As the collapse of Montana indicates, the Dakotas collapsing is only a matter of time, and US forces task local loyalist forces, as well as federal reinforcements, with safeguarding the nuclear weapons facilities. Countermeasures are made to isolate the personnel and bolster security from Air Force Security Forces and US Army Special Forces, with joint cooperation from the Canadian Army. Contingencies are also put in place to destroy all codes, computers, flash-weld the blast doors shut, and withdraw fissile material, should any facility become compromised. These contingencies actually play out in several instances, when renegade military forces and Dominionists seize some of the silos, but are unable to actually operate any of the systems, leaving them with inert missiles sitting in their sealed silos. Some of these facilities are still held as token bargaining chips by local renegades, anticipating eventual US retaliation.

**Colorado, Denver Pacification:** In the midst of the corporate states in the North collapsing, the administration of Corporate Colorado doubles down on establishing its authority, and guarantees vital pay and resources to local military and private security forces. Colorado National Guard is privatized, and with elements of Avalanche P.M.C., they mobilize on Denver, to violently pacify the city and greater region. Dominionist and Revolutionary elements alike are brutally stamped out by heavy-handed Army and mercenary groups. As the dust settles, Colorado ensures that its rule will not be compromised by either camp, and guarantees stability so long as Centennial Holdings reigns supreme in the state.

**Oklahoma Revolution:** Three years of brutal Dominion occupation on the Indigenous reservations come to a head, when a violent insurrection flash-boils overnight. Conditions on the Reservations rivaled previous atrocities on Native land, and Indigenous Peoples were essentially being subjected to brutal penal conditions and hard labor, on behalf of the Dominion authority of the rogue annexation by elements of the Texas government. The Indigenous councils and renegade freedom fighters had been hiding in the Ouachita and Arbuckle Mountain ranges, planning to incite an insurrection and free their people from brutal enslavement. Using hidden arms caches from holdout Oklahoma National Guard forces, and smuggled ordnance from Texas, Indigenous Reclamationists staged high-profile breakouts on multiple prison labor camps, and drew more manpower from incited freed slaves. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Texas Army National Guard is mobilized to assist Oklahoma with this crisis of violence, which only spurns more Indigenous People to band together in resistance. The Oklahoma Confederacy is born in a manner similar to Cascadia, a local guerilla force committing insurgency operations against their occupiers. Eventually, the Dominionists are also routed from the region, and Texas settles with withdrawing to the Oklahoma Panhandle.

**The Black Hills War:** Despite Dominion attempts to strangle data and information access, news of the successful revolutions against fundamentalists in Oregon and Oklahoma make their way to Western Minnesota. The US had been pressuring Indigenous reservations, once again, to concede to the federal government’s desperate need for vital living space for refugees. Emboldened by their treaties being broken again by the US, Indigenous Nations councils seek to join the Peoples together once more, and form a new Sioux Nation. Conflict in the Black Hills shifts to defending extant First Nations Peoples from various malefactors taking advantage of the chaos in North America. Lawlessness in the Dakotas plays to their favor, and remnant populations seek their side, rather than submit to Dominion or Corporate authority. The prospect of a new Indian War is immediately rejected by overwhelming protests in the US Safe Zone, an unheard of prospect with wartime Martial Law in effect. Unable to concede to losing the nuclear facilities, the US resorts to only deploying token Special Operations forces in the region, on a need-by-need basis. The rest of the region will eventually be one of the major deployment zones of UN Peacekeepers, serving as a vital third party to domestic affairs in the territory. Further issues will spark later on, with First Nations Peoples from Canadian populations traveling South to join their brethren, and further complicate affairs between the US and Canada.

**Fall of the Dakotas:** Despite the best attempts of the US government to prevent total collapse, violence has overwhelmed local police and military forces in the Dakotas. Deserted National Guard-turned militias are a frequent menace, waging war with increasing numbers of highway gangs and Dominion Doomsday cults. The rising power of the Sioux Nation offers new alternatives for stability in the region, granting community support to desperate families, and further undermining US authority.

**Louisiana, The Wedge:** Texas closes its border with Louisiana, to cut off the rising “immigration” crisis from the American South. Refugees and escaped “convicts” still attempting to flee West from the South are now stranded in Louisiana. The vast majority of the refugees are Black Americans, fleeing worsening conditions for them in the New Dominions. With no place else to go, wedged between the Dominions, Texas, and the Oklahoma War Zone, the refugee population bands together to form an exile state, hiding from all prying eyes stalking them. What’s left of Louisiana’s territory, and part of Mississippi abandoned by the chaos and climate crisis, is reestablished as Acadiana.

**Pillaging in Nebraska :** Worsening collapse conditions from Montana, the Dakotas, and Wyoming begin to spill down to Nebraska. The Heartland Dominion is not as well-equipped to handle the worsening chaos, and traditionalist communities are targeted. Entire communities of non-violent Hutterites, Amish, and Mennonites are slaughtered, triggering a surprising move by token elements of the Neo Amish communities, who abide self-defense out of necessity, armed with relatively modern firearms, and forming surprisingly competent local defense cells. These Amish lead the remnant Kansas Army National Guard against repelling the raiding bands. As of 2035, the newly-formed and trained Heartland Defense Militia has retaken half of Nebraska and returned stability to the pacifist groups, and the Neo Amish have put down their guns and returned to their chores.

**New Florida Alliance Boom:**

#### 2030s

##### 2030

**The Withdrawal:** The United States government withdraws the bulk of its resources to the eastern United States, where it maintains control with its battered military. Special Operations Groups continue to function in the shadows on the American West, but the large military actions against Fundamentalist territories no longer take place. New states pop up across former US territory, in defiance against both the US and Dominions. In the absence of the U.S. Military, fundamentalist groups blitz through formerly neutral territory and begin their cleansing.

February 2030 - **Texas Secession:** The state government of Texas officially seceded from the United States, and establishes itself as the Republic of Texas. The move is met with mixed reception. The federal government had already withdrawn administrative resources from the region, and outcry was largely ignored from the US Safe Zone. Dominionists are frustrated that local secular government forces are still holding power in the largest potential territory for a New Dominion. With Texas’ independent (though faulty) power grid, and vast oil reserves, it has the potential to modernize as the next regional power in North America, rivaling even the United States. However, administrative authority is already overwhelmed with multiple crises within its borders. Handling modernizing its power grid, asserting control in conflict zones, and minting its own currency, the fledgling Texas government, largely run by pre-independence politicians, capitulates within its first year, before the opposition parties assume control. This establishes a routine of Texan politics, with under-prepared new governments taking charge on a campaign to fix the mistakes of the prior administration, before they themselves are replaced in kind.

March 2030 - **The Boston Riots:** In the midst of the US Withdrawal and mass casualties from civil conflict, the federal government announces that the draft will be reinstated, and for all military age adults, both male and female, ages 18-35, to report to recruiting centers for selection. Despite a resurgence of neo-patriotism to halt the advancing tumor of Christo-Fascism in America, the news is met with mass uproar. Public demonstrations in Boston, Massachusetts are held on March 5, 2030, the 260th anniversary of the Boston Massacre. Boston Police Department riot police attempt to disrupt the protests, which backfires into a bloody urban conflict, between militia groups of every political stripe, and federal authorities. The conflict persists for nine days, until a public announcement from the Mayor of Boston, Governor of Massachusetts, and the President of the United States is broadcasted on every major media platform. In the speech, they concede that times in America are terrible, and that even darker days are approaching, but division has already wrought possibly permanent damage to the Union. Solidarity as One Nation, Indivisible is the only way forward, and the Union must be preserved for a chance at a stable future. Although not all parties are satisfied, the words are enough for the violence to cease, in the birthplace of the American Revolution. Thousands of American citizens report for their draft notices, but even more opt instead to voluntarily enlist in the Armed Forces. The US Domestic War on Terror (known in the Dominions as the Second American Civil War) has officially begun.

##### 2031

With the world in uproar at the death and destruction in the United States, the United Nations begins intervention and humanitarian missions with its volunteer peace keeping force. Early operations face intense resistance and vehicle based IED attacks on U.N.  aid stations and bases.

January 2031 - New Incorporated States are founded in former Iowa and Missouri (these separate actions coincide with the US withdrawal, to privatize state administration in the absence of US authority)

**St. Louis Crisis:** With the states of Iowa and Missouri transitioning their administration from federal to corporate, multiple factions within Missouri take advantage of the chaos. The regional New Dominion, the Ozark Synod, pushes for control, but is halted South of Fort Leonard Wood, now the regional headquarters of Missouri Army Maneuver & Support, the privatized military of S-M AgroFarms. As a result, fundy forces attempt to go around the army forces, and converge on St. Louis, the hub of regional power in Missouri. The sudden rush of violence is chaotic enough that local defense forces are taken by surprise, and fundies penetrate the city, supported by local small artillery. Civilian death tolls are high, and Corporate administration withdraws their offices to Kansas City.

April 2031 - **California, The San Francisco Quake:** A 7.9 magnitude earthquake is recorded in the upper San Andreas Fault, causing catastrophic damage to San Francisco and the surrounding area. A minor tsunami is triggered by the quake, but more damage comes from the inclined areas of the city when they collapse and cause cascading debris to fall into the San Francisco Bay. The GE Hitachi Nuclear Reactor facility suffered catastrophic damage, and a partial meltdown was recorded. Despite the worst of scenarios being diverted, some nuclear waste and contaminated feed water escaped into the SF Bay. A State of Emergency is called in the city by the governor, and emergency response forces are deployed to conduct search and rescue. As of 2035, the death toll is still being counted, with more bodies being found in the debris, but it is estimated at over 270,000. Refugee camps are established for the displaced near Morro Bay, while more migrate North to Cascadia or East to Utah.

June 2031 - **California, The Second Bear Flag Revolt:** The conflict in California reaches its climax, and the Second Bear Flag Revolt is staged in Sacramento. A combined force of leftist militia groups, along with sympathetic plainclothes National Guard units and even token right wing militia elements seize the state capital building, and offer an ultimatum to state congress: Secede from the union and establish a new sovereign Republic for the People of California, or be ejected out of the building for a new congress to be assembled, at the mercy of the starving mob outside the building. The old American parties are abolished, and a new assembly is created to prepare for a new electorate. The United California Republics are born, and the militia groups are assimilated into California State Guard forces.

##### 2032

March 2032 - **UN Intervention into the Former United States:** After years of the international community witnessing the bloodshed and crises in North America, the United Nations General Assembly calls an Emergency Session, to decide on taking steps to mitigate the violence, and return order to North America. The Security Council is incapable of a decisive vote in either favor, with the United States and the Russian Federation voting No, the United Kingdom and France voting Yes, and the People’s Republic of China Abstaining. The decision is left to the General Assembly, who forms a committee to establish a United Nations Operation in North America mission plan. In the meantime: the international community voices its earnest recommendation that the two neighboring nations bordering the United States and its former territories, Canada and Mexico, take initiative in spearheading operations, to open avenues into the Former United States for future peacekeepers.

**Mexican Push into Arizona and New Mexico:** With the American Southwest in disarray, the Mexican government, along with support from the newly-formed United California Republics, forms a Provisional Army Division, to mobilize into the former US States of Arizona and New Mexico. Conditions from both extremists and the rising climate have transitioned the region into a lawless desert wasteland, where any stable authority would be welcomed by the remaining civilian populace.

**Battle of Tucson:** Mexican Air Force PC-7 attack planes and F-5E fighter jets conduct air strikes, to soften identified military targets in the outlying city limits of Tucson, Arizona, held by local Dominionist forces of the Sonoran Tabernacle. After initial strikes, 2nd Marine Battalion forces from Baja converge on Tucson, and begin going door-to-door. The Mexican Naval Infantry, conditioned after decades of urban and rural conflict against the Cartels in the Mexican Drug War, proves to be a highly capable military force the Dominionists are unprepared for. Fighting lasts for six days, before the remains of Sonoran militias flee or give up. Surrendering fundies are handed over to the 3rd Military Police Brigade, and transferred to detention centers in Tijuana, to await further prosecution. Local ethnic Latinx populations welcome their Mexican liberators, and an interim city council is formed to allow for an easier transition to Mexican administration.

**Liberation of Phoenix:** With Tucson secured ahead of schedule, Mexican forces direct their operational scope towards Phoenix, the capital of the Sonoran Tabernacle. With the rising climate conditions, populations have abandoned all but the largest city zones, leaving little in the way of resistance on the road to Phoenix. Mexican Army Special Forces are deployed at night to perform snatch-and-grab operations on known VIPs within Sonoran Tabernacle’s leadership. Over the course of three weeks, Phoenix is surrounded by Mexican military forces, and Sonoran Tabernacle’s command and control structure is in disarray. The few that attempt to flee the city and avoid Mexican capture are apprehended by a new player in the Southwest: Navajo Nation. With no remaining command or resources, the remnants of Sonoran Tabernacle’s paramilitary forces lay down their arms. Tucson is transferred over to Mexican Administration, and the territory of Southern Arizona is incorporated into a Mexican State. The remainder of Arizona, consisting of Navajo Nation and the territory of Arixo, are admitted into United California, as sovereign republics.

**Liberation of Albuquerque:** With Mexican Arizona secured, Mexico’s military forces shift to the former US state of New Mexico, where local Latinx and Indigenous militias had been engaged with extremists from the Church of the Crossroads, another Christo-Fascist Dominion movement. With assistance from local militias, Mexican Army Special Forces are able to gather adequate intelligence on where to call air strikes, to soften enemy defenses. 1st Armored Brigade converges on Albuquerque, and Mexican Army forces engage with Crossroads defenders. Fighting on the Crossroads’ part is more cohesive than their counterparts in Sonoran Tabernacle, and fighting lasts for three weeks, before fundies withdraw North to Santa Fe, their last holdout in New Mexico. Their surviving numbers are further harassed by the Diné Naabaahii, Navajo Nation’s independent military force, now better-supplied with UCR weapons and equipment. While Albuquerque is now free of Dominionists, the Mexican Army must now shift its local posture to a policing force, to root out Cartel holdouts in the region.

**Battle of Santa Fe:** Before Mexican or Navajo forces can begin to probe Crossroads’ defenses around Santa Fe’s city limits, the fundamentalists are taken by surprise, when the local citizenry rises up against them, and commits an insurgency in the city. Mexican forces hold at the city limits, to avoid the risk of mounting civilian casualties in the crossfire. Special Forces groups are deployed to establish contact with Santa Fe freedom fighters, to gather intelligence on enemy troop strength and assist with directing air support, from newly-arrived United California Marine Corps air units. AH-1Z Viper gunships provide fire support for the militias, and further strain fundy operations in the city. Rather than surrender, Crossroads militias attempt to egress from Santa Fe, and flee either North or East, to Corporate Colorado or the Republic of Texas. Militias are gunned down at the Colorado border by Avalanche PMCs before they can attempt the crossing. With fundies attempting to escape pursuing Mexican forces, they are sandwiched between both converging Mexican and Texan military forces, triggering another conflict in the region.

**Texan Partition War:** In the backdrop of the Mexican advance into the Former United States, the Republic of Texas had been committing their own military operation into Eastern New Mexico, to secure the Northern border region along Colorado, as well as the Permian Oil Basin, along the Texas/New Mexico Border. Both forces advancing into New Mexico, Texan Army and Mexican Army, open fire on each other, in the midst of separate engagements with holdout militias of the Church of the Crossroads’. The conflict escalates into a 48-hour skirmish between peer military forces, mounting casualties on either side. Before the conflict worsens, a cease-fire is called by Centennial third-party mediators, who offer the chance for both the United Mexican States and Republic of Texas to settle border disputes. The Denver Accords is signed over a 12-day summit, and New Mexico is adequately split by both parties. With Nuevo Mexico secured, Mexican forces began the longer effort of policing duties, to root out the Cartels still active in the region.

**Canadian Expeditionary Corps Pushes into Montana and North Dakota:** Following the stellar performance of Mexico in the Southwest, Canada prepares its Allied Expeditionary Force, composed of Canadian, UK, and French Army units, to deploy into the region now known as Ungoverned America, alongside token US Army Ranger and Special Forces units. Former Montana and North Dakota had little in the way of administrative parties still standing, by either Dominion, Corporate, or otherwise. Resistance is light, only from token raider groups on established highway toll checkpoints, and remnant Army National Guard militias. Once F.O.B.s and patrol routes become established by allied forces, a general census is conducted on the general condition of the region. It’s discovered that the territory has become severely depopulated, with entire towns and makeshift communities either abandoned, or perished from either violence or disease. The situation in Ungoverned America is much bleaker than expected, and reports to the United Nations press for a hastier deployment of emergency aid relief. With their presence known, even former US military commanders turned-warlords offer to provide their forces as local advisory peacekeepers and disclose the locations of Dominion holdouts, in exchange for vital food, aid, and ammunition.

##### 2033

May 2033 - **Russian Invasion of Alaska:** The Russian Federation invades Alaska and begins a costly occupation. After a disastrous failed war in Europe a decade prior, and an ousted regime, the new administration of the Russian Federation shifts its sights on Alaska, now all but abandoned by the United States. With conflict so prevalent in the former US state, it’s assumed by intelligence sources that resistance will be light in comparison, and local citizens will welcome the prospect of stability, even if delivered by Russians. The international community places further sanctions on Russia, and an observation fleet is deployed to monitor the situation from the Bering Sea.

**Fall of Anchorage:** With little to no resistance against their initial deployments in the Bering Sea and establishing a beachhead in Nome, Russian Naval and Air Forces assault outer defenses around Anchorage. Remnant Alaskan Coast Guard vessels and Dominionist littoral naval ships are the only resistance, and are quickly neutralized. Coast Guard ships flee for Juneau, and North Star Dominion naval forces are wiped out. The few defenders in and around Anchorage on the ground are forced to withdraw by Russian Spetsnaz and Private Military troops. Despite initial conflict, the local populace are more cooperative than expected, collaborating with Russian forces and betraying their previous Dominion occupiers. Despite the militiamen of the groups being largely arrested or executed, leaders are offered amnesty in exchange for surrendering their assets, and serving out a sentence of reeducation in Russia. (It’s expected by the Dominion oligarchs that this is a reward for cooperation and Russian support in previous years, but with the new Russian administration, they are sent to prison as collaborators to the previous regime.)

**Battle of Fairbanks:** Remnants of the 279th Regional Support Group of the Alaskan Army National Guard make up the majority of local resistance against Russian invaders. Virtually all surviving North Star Dominion fighters have gone to ground, and Guardsmen establish defenses around Fairbanks, Alaska, as a final holdout. After weeks of heavy fighting and constant Russian shelling and air strikes, the 279th withdraws from Fairbanks, and flees into the Alaskan wilderness. Months of conflict will transition the former Guard unit into a grassroots freedom fighter movement: The Alaskan Freedom Front.

**Evacuation of Juneau:** All remaining former Naval defensive ships and ground defenses that fled Anchorage are now cornered in Juneau, now only days from capitulation from the encroaching Russian forces. The surviving government pleads with British Columbia to provide sanctuary to non-patriated Alaskan refugees. Canada is conflicted, already facing a growing refugee crisis on its American borders, and also unwelcome to the prospect of new Russian neighbors. The logistics of transporting so many refugees across the Alexander Archipelago is also logistically difficult, as the territories are separated by the Yukon and Juneau Mountains. The Canadian government can only offer the prospect of civilians being accepted at the border if they can reach Prince Rupert, British Columbia. A massive flotilla of civilian and former military ships filled to the brim with civilians makes its way Southward, through the islands and towards British Columbia. Distance and depleted fuel reserves limits travel for many, and it’s assumed that many refugees freeze or perish in the frigid waters. By the time the flotilla reaches Prince of Wales Island, they are assisted by elements of the Pacifican Coast Guard, and the United California Maritime Defense Fleet, who offer limited aid to the refugees. In the midst of this chaos, the Russian Federation formally annexes Juneau, and the greater territory of Alaska, as Alyeska Oblast, Russian Federation. The human cost of the Evacuation of Juneau is still yet to be fully counted.

July 2033 - **The Jefferson War:** Tensions between the new California government and the Cascadian Confederation come to a head in Northern California. Skirmishes in the region had been fought against federal and state troops leading up to California's revolution. By the time California became an independent nation, Northern California had seceded as the Territory of Jefferson to the Cascadian Confederation. What was anticipated by U.C.R. military command to be a brief brush fire conflict to reclaim lost territory would explode into a full-fledged guerilla war that would unfold to the world as one of the first large-scale conflicts between post-US nations in North America. Intense skirmishes would be broadcast displaying conflict comparable to the US' Vietnam and Afghanistan wars, pitting uniformed troops against emboldened guerillas. After months of bloody conflict with none of California's objectives met, the U.C.R. withdraws from Jefferson. This would be a formative lesson for California, and heavily influenced their military doctrine for the future. Despite the bloodshed, peace talks were quickly established, so as not to compromise the desperately-needed shipments of water between Oregon and California.

##### 2034

August 2034 - **Battle of the Smoky Mountains:** US and UN air units engage with Dominion air forces over the Smoky Mountains No-Fly-Zone. Appalachian Baptist Dominion launches a surge of troops across the Appalachian Corridor and the Ohio River, into the United States. Tennessee Air Guard’s 155th Fighter Squadron scrambles F-16s to conduct air strikes and soften ground defenses. USAF squadrons and UN assets are scrambled to respond. The US, to defend its vulnerable borders, and the UN, to enforce the No-Fly-Zone. The Tennessee Air Guard suffers critical losses, at the hands of USAF 53rd Fighter Squadron (F16s and F22s from Andrews AFB) and by 32° Stormo (F35As from the Italian Air Force). Tennessee Air Guard’s remaining fighters withdraw, leaving the Tennessee and Kentucky ground forces vulnerable. Elements of the 10th Mountain Division route Dominion infantry groups from the Appalachian Corridor, and remaining fundies are cut off from retreat by isolationist guerillas in the mountains claimed by the Nickajack Free State.

October 2034 - **Midwest Surge:** A breakaway Dominion faction splits off from neighboring Ozark Synod and Appalachian Baptist Dominion. The New Dominion of Christ forms from some of the most militant elements of rival neighboring Dominions, and attempts to invade the US Safe Zone in the Midwest. A large scale surge of fundamentalist forces, armed with absconded US military equipment and weapons, crosses the Ohio River into Indiana, attempting to reach the Great Lakes. The US Air Force conducts large-scale airstrikes on military convoys, and remnants are repelled by the US Army 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Surviving fundy forces commit to a local insurgency in parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

##### 2035

The present day. America is a shadow of its former power, and the United States is now effectively a Rump State. Its economy is crippled, military halved, and international prestige lost. In haste, the US begins withdrawing record numbers of its troops from foreign bases in Europe and Asia to bolster its forces, leaving its allies vulnerable to rival powers.

January 2035 - **The Second Cascadian Crusade**

### **What does living in the United States look like in 2035?**

#### *No Man's Land:*

The New American Wasteland is a harsh and unforgiving place. Out in the Wasteland, raiders, slavers, and warring militias are always on the watch for their next mark. No Man's Land should only be trekked with awareness, a good fire team, and plenty of weapons. There are, of course, other survivors just trying to get by out there too of course, but these nomadic groups and lone survivors typically keep to themselves.

#### *The City-States:*

The most populous cities of 2035 outside the US Safe Zone now function as independent city-states, providing the most security and access to resources. They project an area of influence beyond the city limits, so that infrastructure and agricultural territory can still be exploited, and supply the city with power and food. Many cities advertise on the model of pre-collapse stability, and that they can revive standards of living, where everyone can live without the worry of raiders or renegades appearing in their neighborhoods. This brings migrants from all across the US attempting to gain entry into these mythical places. Typically, only the healthy and productive members of society are brought in, while the infirm are left beyond the walls to squalor in refugee camps.

#### *The InComs (Independent Communes):*

In 2028 Independent Communes (InComs) were springing up in remote locations all across the country, some were erected on private land that was purchased and developed for the explicit purpose of surviving what would become the New American Wasteland, most were started by squatters and refugees on public land. Communes can vary wild in size, strength, purpose, and ideology. Libertarian prepping sites, Communist farming co-ops , opportunist trading posts, workshop unions, narcotics mills; anything and everything in between. Almost all were founded by desperate people trying to find an alternative way to live.

Communes offered a different, and for some, easier way to survive out in the Wasteland. Without Federal government oversight or a predatory economy Survivors were able carve out the life they wanted, at a price. InCom life was often short and brutal. For every individual InCom that was able to fend off aggressors and sustain itself, dozens failed. The first few years of a Commune was often lived on the brink of starvation, disease, and constant raids.

An InCom's survivability was ultimately determined by the diversity of it's skilled Survivors, how well those Survivors worked together, and often how much support a Commune could receive from it's neighbors. A deserter military unit can't grow it's own food, a group of farmers can't defend their harvest, but together they can become a stabilizing force for their area.