///From the author: this is an interesting sort of thought experiment on my part, a "What if?" story that I've bounced around in my head for about six or seven years now, and which finally took form when the alternate history aspect of the asteroid strike on Phoenix, AZ in June 2013 entered the Spacers Saga storyline. Think of this as a kind of "through the looking glass" fable, a cautionary tale if you will, of what can happen when worlds collide...
(A map of the Divided States of America circa August 2033)
Story Background:
In 2013, asteroid 2062 Aten passed harmlessly by the Earth. In an alternate timeline, however, it slammed into Phoenix, AZ, killing millions. But what if this impact led to World War III? In this alternate-alternate world, the revelation that the impact of Aten was human-caused led sparked a nuclear exchange that completely upended the global status quo. Within a year of its end, the United States fractured into several rump states, which then went to war with one another in a second Civil War that lasted three long and bloody years.
Now it is 2033, twenty years from the shadow of Aten. A frigid calm has settled upon the continent of North America - in the west, the Union of Pacifica hangs onto the remains of the West Coast, while in the northeast, the North Atlantic Federation retains close ties with the ruins of NATO. Between them, the Commonwealth of Sovereign States holds sway by maintaining much of the former U.S. military’s strength, including its nuclear arsenal. In and among these new nations gray cities, which were destroyed by WWIII; and free cities, wherein nonconforming citizens unable or unwilling to relocate to the neighboring states can live relatively normal lives, usually close to a border or sea access point.
In the fifteen years of peace, each nation has continued weapons and technology research, with Pacifica and its Pacific Rim allies leading the way in the field of green energy. But this calm could soon be shattered as the Commonwealth makes a leap in their own weapons research, all while rumors swirl that they have plans to subvert a mutual security agreement between Pacifica and the NAF. A battle-scarred WWIII vet and current Pacifican special intelligence agent named Stephen Rutledge will be right in the middle of it all…
Timeline of the Dark Years:
2013: asteroid 2062 slams into Phoenix, AZ, killing over 2 million people; in the aftermath, the United States blames the impact on their international enemies, leading to a brief but intense nuclear war
2014: as the world tries to recover after the nuclear fire, the U.S. draws inward, as finger-pointing over who is really to blame for the Phoenix Event leads to a violent cycle of rising paranoia and civil strife
2015: the fracturing of the United States comes to its pinnacle with the formation of the Union of Pacifica and the North Atlantic Federation, which the Commonwealth declares war on in August
2016: a year into the full-scale Second Civil War, the Commonwealth uses some of its remaining stockpile of nuclear warheads in a vain attempt to stave off the advance of Pacifican forces in Las Vegas
2017: five years after WWIII, the rest of the world is slowly recovering, but North America continues to spasm with internal conflict as warring factions spring up in the ruins of the former U.S.A.
2018: after roughly three years of civil strife and interstate conflict between the disparate regions of the “Divided” States of America, a peace deal separates the U.S. into three new successor states
2022: Pacifica signs the Pacific Cooperation Treaty with ASEAN, Japan, and the Korean People’s Republic, a status which soon makes them an economic powerhouse of the post-WWIII economic order
2024: the North Atlantic Federation, already an official member of NATO, draws up a new treaty with the remains of the EU, Australia, and a handful of others to advance green technology research
2028: four years after the Treaty of Boston, the Commonwealth is approached by Brazil to form an alliance against a rising India, which emerged from WWIII largely unscathed and economically viable
2029: a Pacifican research program headed by engineer David Larsen cracks the code to enable nuclear fusion, opening the door to a new form of clean energy that promises nearly unlimited usage
2031: as the generation born after Phoenix comes of age, hope can be found as the post-WWIII refocus on new forms of renewable energy leads to renewed prosperity and increased self-reliance
2033: despite the optimism many younger people have for a Green Tomorrow, many old-timers fear that lingering strife–such as between the U.S. rump states–will plunge the world back into chaos
More to come, when it's ready...
This is so great. Alt-history is my favorite. With the spacers Saga, you've got it set to where you can plug any story type you want into the larger narrative. That's pretty cool.