Book I: Escape

By JCRogers

Nearly ten years after the third great war, the population of North America is close to two and a half million. The global population is just over two billion.

Every electrical device that was unprotected was rendered inoperable by the electromagnetic energy released from the nuclear weapons, and certain weapons designed specifically to emit EMP’s.

The Enemy (for we still don't know exactly who attacked first—and near the end, there were many) had learned of a secret military base located in New Mexico and in an attempt to destroy it, had wiped out most of the Great Basin. The more populous parts of California were also targeted. The Western United States was almost entirely destroyed.

The Eastern United States fared no better. The enemy knew exactly where the important political figures would take refuge when the war started. After they had entirely destroyed Washington, D.C., they targeted several underground bunkers that the leaders of the Country had taken up shelter in. One of the first they destroyed contained the vice president. The president was in Air Force One when it was brought down with a very powerful electromagnetic pulse weapon. All the power systems in the plane failed and it went down in the Atlantic.

To a lesser degree, chemical weapons were used as well. Fearing for their own safety, no one dared use biological weapons.

The West is now very scarcely populated. As a result, people began to gather into groups. Mallik has formed such a clan, with the majority of its population living in Johnston. Mallik’s is one of only three clans in the region with more than a hundred people. There are several smaller clans, most of which have become nomadic, searching for food and shelter. Occasionally clans join forces, sharing the benefits of food, numbers, and skills. Mallik’s clan has one major boon: Supplies brought in by government trains. One of Mallik’s friends from the Navy is now running the trains through the area and gives Mallik the benefit of ordering goods from him (unofficially, since the goods are actually destined for the government facilities and colonies on the west coast).

The East is successfully repopulating and recolonizing. They have set up several large cities in which genetic tests are being conducted, hoping to make humans more resistant to radiation. Certain tests involved combining human genes with specific sequences of animal DNA. Some of the tests were successful, but others resulted in humans that couldn’t function in human society due to their appearance. One such creature had escaped and joined Mallik’s group.

Some genetically modified animals had also escaped during the war, including several species of large lizards. These had become known as dragons, and the different species tended to resemble the different types from myth. Some speculated that this is exactly what the scientists had intended. This case was strengthened by the existence of other creatures from myth, particularly unicorns and some types of chimera. A few even claim that these are in fact the actual creatures from myth, reawakened by the war. Dr. Toric knows better, though.

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