MoF 15: Long After The End... Entries thread

This round shall finish on Sunday, 13st of June (I hope I got the date right this time).

!THIS THREAD IS FOR POSTING OF ENTRIES ONLY!

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A map showing the progress of the resettlemnt and colonization of the NE Zone by the Globo Corps 2446-56 Common Era, launched from their space stations and other colonies on Earth and the Moon

The Christian World, a few centuries after the Flame Deluge (apologies to Walter Miller). Latin America was less hard-hit in the nuclear war than many regions (with the exception of Cuba), and the strong bedrock of Catholicism kept some sort of social fabric alive, as well as a spark of knowledge (or at least literacy). However, over time, different branches of Catholic practice have splintered off, such that there are currently three Papacies with three distinct theological positions. The Empire of the Mexicans is very theologically accepting, and tends to absorb other local religious traditions. The Church of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Saint Death have already been absorbed into the dogma of the church. The Yucatan Empire is smaller, but its beliefs are descended from Liberation Theology, making it popular among the poor. The Empire of the Pious is a staunchly orthodox nation which routinely sends crusaders against the cannibal tribes of the Amazon (called the Anthropophagi by the Latin-speaking church). Finally, there are several heretical factions (in grey), such as the Voodoo groups in Haiti, the Cult of the Ancestors in Panama (whereas most places, the Ancestors are semi-mythical figures from the distant past, the Panamanians have a rather large Canal reminding them that the Ancestors were at least very advanced men, and possibly even semi-divine), and a strange group in what was once Ecuador who follow something called the Shining Path, and claim that they are a colony of a much larger Shining Path empire to the south...

Map to follow.

And the map...

In 2020, the rise in sea level was too great to ignore, and governments finally tried to avert it. But the damage was done. Millions died as the water rose, further and faster than anyone had believed possible. It passed the 80m rise that had been declared the maximum rise, and rose ever further, stabilising between three and four thousand metres above the 2000 sea level datum.

It is estimated that almost a billion people died of flood-related causes, including drowning and starvation as most of the arable lands flooded.

A further three billion died in the wars that followed, as governments fought over the scraps of land remaining, though fortunately few of the wars turned nuclear, the Tibetan War between China, Russia, India, and Iran, and the war between North Korea and South Korea being the exceptions. These wars left much of Asia a nuclear wasteland, which is still uninhabitable several decades on.

The year 2120AD, one hundred years later. The world has stabilised into three political entities; the Democratic Alliance, the Socialist Union, and the People's Republic of Asia.

These superstates are locked in war, and have been for fifteen years. The Socialist Union is the only truly socialist state left in the world, and it appears to be working so far. It has recently won some victories against the Democratic Alliance, taking most of South America, large areas of the European Archipelago, and has recently landed troops on Greenland.

The Democratic Alliance is made up of the USA and it's allies. During the early days of the flood, they occupied much of the middle east in order to gain the valuable oil supplies there, though these are long since drowned. They are falling back on all fronts in their wars.

The People's Republic of Asia claims to be a socialist state, but is the corrupt communist successor to the People's Republic of China. The only remaining state to utilise high technology, including nuclear, nanotechnology, and genetic modification, they are quickly driving Alliance troops out of Asia, and have made plans to decontaminate the nuclear wasteland to the south. They have also returned to space, and landed on the Moon once more in 2115.

After sea levels rose (impossibly ) high, the islands of the British Archipelago became the home of many statelets with societies regressed to Middle Ages levels of technology.

(The following is translated into English from a language that appears to be a distant relative of Russian with Turkic influences, and is
dated to approximately 3419 CE. Untranslatable words are explained within square brackets.)


APPENDIX C
On The Linear Cultures

The Linear Cultures are named for their linear continuity with known Earth civilization before the [untranslatable; K-M-K-O?] impact -
all of them lying within areas of comparatively low background radiation. They are termed A, B1, B2 and C; the A culture occupied a
fjorded region in the north, the B1 and B2 cultures the largely flat, inland regions in the interior, and the C culture the base of a
peninsula in the south. B1 and B2 were especially similar, but all four posessed certain common traits - the dead were buried with
some ceremony, rather than the [untranslatable; rendering? smelting?] process witnessed in the Postculture.

The A culture seems to have died out first, presumably because of poor environmental conditions - the general lowering of
temperatures following the [untranslatable but emphasized; perhaps event?] would have accelerated their decline.

The B1 and B2 cultures, best approached as one culture divided, seem to have been, initially, the most successful. It has
been argued by some, notably [untranslatable; A-B-A-D?], that B2 was a client or colony culture of B1. They indeed built
[unknown, but seems to be: houses-of-many-doors] like the early settlers on Mars, to much the same design. It seems that the
apex of their rise was about five hundred years after [K-M-K-O?], and the general era of their extinction was some decades after the [event?].

The C culture is the most interesting to students of these cultures. For one, they survived long enough to enter into the oral history
of the Postculture, particularly in the story of [untranslatable; T-N-K-R?], the "strange and terrible land" hidden within
the mountains. Archaelogical evidence demonstrates the greatest divergence from known Earth culture, even up to a rudimentry
[untranslatable; breeding? slave? cattle?] caste, much like the Postculture - though it seems to have been a system of punishment,
rather than of actual breeding to purpose. Whatever the rationale behind its adoption, it allowed the C culture to survive almost until the arrival of the first probe from Mars, though by this time they were almost certainly mere breeding castes of the Postculture.

1:13
Based upon this:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=235863

Dating system is PH(post holocene)

-031 World temperatures rise dramatically, world infected by natural cataclysms
-029 Drought begins
-026 Drought worsens, conflicts over water and resources begin
-022 A series of natural disasters begin, devastating the planet
-019 Global warming reaches it’s peak, world sea level has risen by over 20 meters by now, world icecaps melt
-017 World oil runs out
-013 War threatens to break out as worldwide situation deteriorates
-012 Nations around the world are forced to strengthen the ties between them, creating rivaling superstates
-011 Drought at it’s peak, war over water and resources threatens to break out
-009 Fundamentalist movements strengthen in the face of the previous events
-007 Massive earthquake hits the world, sinking a large part of the coastlines, and further destroying humanity
-004 War begins
-002 Use of unconventional weapons is still limited, but nations reconsider the option
-001 in the face of the harshening war, nations make a grim decision…
000 Holocene begins
001 The majority of the world is forced to move into vaults and underground shelters
075 First adventurers to the surface
078 massive immigration to the surface takes place
080 Foundation of the first vault-centered states begin
085 In Central Africa, the place least hit by the Holocene, civilization thrives
100 Return to surface for majority of planet
103 Pre-Holocene nationalism is rediscovered by travelers, revival movements begin to thrive
109 First vault-state coalitions and alliances formed
112 Around the capital of Belotsarstvo, vault states begin to unite and create a new state
113 Ties between vault-states in Eurosia, Jidai, and South-East Osia strengthen, creating new coalitions
114 In Sina, the RWO is formed
115 BELOTZARSTVO DICTATORSHIP IS FORMED, TAKEOVER OF NEW LANDS
116 EMBRYONIC EUROSIAN STATE GATHERS. FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH HOSTILE ASALAMIC FORCES
117 FORCES OF THE DAR-Al-ASALAM BEGINS TO SOLIDIFY, CREATING A UNIFIED THEOCRACY, INVASION OF TRIBAL-SPLINTERED ARANIA BEGINS, THE TRIBES GATHER UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A SINGLE WARLORD
118 CENTRAL AFRICAN STATE SENDS WORD TO EUROSIA, MWENGE OVERLORDSHIP ESTABLISHED, FIGHTING WITH ASALAMIC FORCES BEGIN
119 BELOTZARSTVO HITS RESISTANCE IN CENTRAL ASIA. SEVERELY DEFEATED BY JIDAI WARLORDS
120 JIDAI DECLARES ITSELF AN INDEPENDENT EMPIRE WITH TERRITORIES. BELOTZARSTVO AND RWO CHALLENGE
121 First zoner epidemic
122 DEATHTOLL 40%. MASS HYSTERIA. CIVIL UNREST. SEVERAL VAULTS AND STATIONS ABANDONED
123 DAR-Al-ASALAM RECEDES. VAULT STATES CRUMBLE. TOTAL ANARCHY
124 APPEARANCE OF PLAGUE DOCTORS AND CHAPTER HOUSES. PLAGUE ABAITS. ORDER RESTORED, REVIVAL MOVEMENTS IN SCANDINAVIA, NORDIA IS FORMED
125 EUROSIAN STATES STRENGTHEN COMMERCIAL ALLIANCE. ARANIAN WARLORD LEADS COUP DECLARES HIMSELF KING
127 CENTRAL AMERICAN VAULT-STATES BEGIN REFUGEE OPERATIONS AGAINST ZONERS, DISCOVER COMMUNIST BOOKS AND BECOME SOCIALIST
128 CU IS FORMED AS A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE AGAINST ZONERS
129 FIRST CONTACT WITH SURVIVOR VAULTS IN AMERICA, FIRST CONTACT WITH ANDEAN CIVILIZATION BY CU
130 EMBRYONIC CSS FORMED THROUGH RADIO CONTACT, RESISTS COLONISATION BY THE CU
132 BELOTZARSTVO RESTORES RULERSHIP OVER FORMER TERRITORIES. BEGINS MECHANISATION
133 "DEATH MARCH" RWO RETREAT FROM NORTHERN PROVINCES. MANCHURIAN STALEMATE BEGINS
135 The first contact is formed between the communion nations, Iron Ships arrive at Greybitten isles, the Communion is formed
136 EUROSIAN FORCES REPELLED. COMMUNION ON OFFENSIVE. MASSIVE COLONIAL REINFORCEMENTS
137 SYAMA TRIBES RALLY FROM ISLANDS AND PUSH BACK RED WORLD ORDER FROM ITS SOUTHERN FRONT
140 DAR-AL-ASALAM ASSAULTS IBERIAN ESTATES AND COMMUNION TERRITORIES, FAILS
141 AFRICA DECLARES NONINTERVENTION TO ITS NEIGHBOURS
143 ARANIAN VICTORIES OVER CRESCENT. CU AND CSS IN DEADLOCK. ZONERS ENTRENCHED
144 CSS ENCOUNTERS COMMUNION FORCES IN CANADA, CONFLICTS BEGIN
145 First Zonewar. War on all fronts
145 CSS FLANKS CU TERRITORIES. RWO GAINS AGAINST SYAMA, ARANIA, BELOTZARSTVO AND JIDAI
145 Syama encourages West Ostaaran(Eureka Stockade) nomads to increase their raids on East Ostaasa, held by GBI
146 JIDAI AND COMMUNION COLONIES IN OSTAARA ALLY AGAINST SYAMA
146 EUROSIA REPEL GBI IN NORDIA
147 BELOTZARSTVO INVADES EUROSIAN IRONMARCHES. HEAVY CASUALTIES, TOTAL DEFEAT.
148 EISENREICH GUERILLAS DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM EUROSIA TO FIGHT BELOTZARSTVO
148 CU invades the Andes, a new Incan empire is formed
149 A NEW FURHER IS DECLARED AS AN AUTOCRAT IN A NEW ‘EISENREICH’. BELOTZARSTVO FORCES HIT CU AND CSS
150 GBI MANAGES TO HALT EUROSIAN ADVANCE, SUFFERING FROM LACK OF REINFORCEMENTS
151 RWO attacks Arania, Jidai starts taking over Pacific isles
151 NEW GOVERNMENT COUP IN CU, BELOTZARSTVO PUSHED BACK FROM COAST
152 NORDIA DECLARES WAR ON EISENREICH, FIGHTS ALONG SIDE EUROSIA
153 WITHOUT A FLEET, EUROSIA DECLARES CEASEFIRE WITH GBI
154 EISENREICH DEFEATS WHITE EMPIRE MECHANISED LINES. EISENREICH MILITARY SUPERIORITY RECOGNISED
154 ARANIA AND RWO FACE EACH OTHER IN JUNGLE ENGAGEMENTS, SYAMA REPELS INVADERS
155 RED SYAMA COUP. NEW GOVERNMENT CONCEDES PEACE WITH ARANIA. RWO BLOCKED ON SOUTHERN FRONT
155 Stalemate reached in Europa, America and Asia, all combatants forced into truce because of war exhaustion
155 Peace. Hostatge Colonies established.
162 RWO and CU start funding partisan groups secretly
174 Partisans of the Red Dawn explode in Belotsarstvo, in a matter of weeks against Eurosia, the Communion, CSS and most other nations as well
175 Resistance movements start showing up, RWO invades Belotsarstvo, Syama, Jidai and Arania, a Jihad is declared against all nations, CU invades CSS and Inca, Fighting between Eisenreich and Eurosia spark, Nordia and GBI invade each other simultaneously, Nordia and Eurosia allied against Belotsarstvo and Eisenreich, CSS and Communion troops fight in Canada, CSS and CU race to control no-man’s land in the Midwest and west pacific, Asalamic forces invade Mwenge Overlordship, Jidai encounters and fights Syama troops near Philipinia,
175 Second Zoner war officially starts


Partisans of the red dawn represented in Marron-ish colour, the spray means occupation/dissent/rebellion

The following is an article from around 2930 CE, originally written in an unknown Turkish dialect.


At the end of the 21st century, humanity faced several troubles: Global warming resulted in a drastic sea level rise of 14 meters compared to the estimated sea level at the beginning of said century. Also the number of earthquakes and similiar catastrophes increased, destroying several cities. Furthermore the so-called "Third World War" was fought, in which the two fighting super-powers, the Union State and the People's Dynasty, not only utilized regular nuclear aresenal, but also the feared cobalt bombs, making North America, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as large portions of the Indian subcontinent uninhabitable.

Gladly, the human race survived the disastrous nuclear winter which followed this war in several small enclaves, like the Chukur'va Enclave in southern Anatolia. The map seen here, based on one of the oldest surviving documents after the war, shows the location of this area. Of note is the destroyed city of Kon'a, which was destroyed during the war by a nuclear bomb. The geographic situation is based on speculation only.

An older map that I've posted before, hope it meets the criteria; post-apocalyptic Texas

Ignore...........................

Western Afroasia

A 21st century nuclear war shattered most of human civilization, and killed a good 90% of the population of the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere managed to survived slightly better, and industrial-literate cultures were maintained in South America and the Pacific. After centuries, the regions most affected by radiation are now largely under ice: the war had triggered another ice age.

Human cultures have once again formed coherant cities and states, particularly in the temperate woodlands of Anatolia and Greece, along the Nile and along the Tigris and Euphrates, which now flow through what once was the Persian Gulf but is now home to bustling trade routes. The civilizations here developed from the survivors of the war, mostly northern Sudanese, Kurds and some of the Iranic peoples.

Technology is highly variable. In some regions, the manufacture of modern weapons was never forgotten, though literacy and industry is at very low levels. Medicine is relatively advanced, however. Religion is rather warped, Judaism and Christianity are largely extinct in this region, while Islam has fragmented and adopted elements that are almost pagan.

We are the custodians of the world. We await their return.

It has been three thousand, five hundred and ninety-seven years since the Elder Ones departed the Earth. The world was left in ruin, but we repaired it as best we could.

We still care for the Younger Ones, those that stayed (some say left) behind.

Still, it remains – the dominion of Humanity over nature is over, and we, the Machine Men, have been left to take up their mantle.

We are the custodians of the world. We await their return.

--

Over three and a half thousand years ago, the world was hit by a terrible disaster. However, no one left alive knows what that was, or why it happened.

(At least, if they do, they’re not saying…)

At any rate, only around 2% of Earth’s self-aware population (somewhere around nine and a half billion) are humans, left alone in “Reserved Areas”. Most attempts to integrate the so-called “Younger Ones” into general society have been unsuccessful – it seems most of the humans fear/hate their mechanical cousins for some reason.

Meanwhile, most of the cybernetic beings have built new cultures, societies, nations and religions (or attempts to reconstruct pre-Event ones) in imitation of their original creators, the so-called “Elder Ones”.

Unfortunately, they have also discovered a knack for emulating the petty jealousies and prejudices of their creators, and it shows.

The Earth is polarising into two camps- The first is composed of the Northern Union, the Gleaming Ones and South Africa. The other is composed of the Western Dominion, the Centaur Khanate and the Rusland.


Most of the cultures should be fairly self-explanatory, though here is a brief rundown of the major powers:

• Union of the North – federal democratic monarchy; culture approximates neo-Victorian cyberpunk; religion approximates Roman Catholicism, though with some (fairly odd) modifications
• Empire of the Dragon Throne – enlightened absolutist monarchy; culture is Imperial Chinese (Confucian); Buddhist/Taoist
• South Africa – federal democracy republic; culture approximates neo-Victorian cyberpunk; religion approximates Lutheranism
• Western Dominion – authoritarian federal republic; neo-Roman; religion approximates Roman Catholicism combined with reconstructed Sol Invictus religion
• Eastern Dominion – federal democratic monarchy; neo-Byzantine; religion approximates Eastern Orthodoxy
• Empire of the Gleaming Ones – enlightened absolutist monarchy; culture is neo-Persian (pre- and post-Islamic mixture); religion is a mix of reconstructed Zoroastrianism with something that approximates Shi’a Islam, but isn’t really
• Egypt – mostly democracy monarchy; modernised Ancient Egyptian with cyberpunk elements; religion is a mix of something that claims to be Sunni Islam and Aten worship
• India – federal democratic monarchy; neo-Mughal culture; religions are various denominations of something called “Digital Hinduism”
• Brazil
• Andean Empire – absolutist monarchy; neo-Incan; religion approximates Roman Catholicism combined with reconstructed Inti worship
• Medjico – absolutist monarchy; neo-Aztec (no sacrificing, though); religion approximates Roman Catholicism combined with native elements
• Rising Sun – enlightened absolutist monarchy; neo-Japanese with cyberpunk elements; religion is Techno-Buddhism (transhumanism with Buddhist elements)
• Central Europa – absolutist republic; culture approximates pre-Roman Germanic; religion approximates Roman Catholicism, though with some (fairly odd) modifications
• Two-headed Eagle – absolutist republic; culture approximates enlightenment Russia with cyberpunk elements; religion approximates Eastern Orthodoxy
• Rus Kaganate – enlightened absolutist monarchy; culture is a mixture of reconstructed Medieval Russian and Kipchak; religion approximates a mixture of Eastern Orthodoxy and Sunni Islam
• Machine Centaurs – absolutist monarchy; culture approximates that of the Medieval Mongol/Turkic people; Tengrist
• East Africa – mostly democracy republic; modernised reconstructed Zanzibar culture; religion approximates Sunni Islam
• Sun Farmers – various; harvest and use sunlight for power and industry; religion are various forms of post-neo-Pagan

Technology is approaching what is believed to be that of the Elder Ones before the Event. Hopefully, the terrifying half-remembered stories will serve as a warning not to repeat that mistake.

Unfortunately, it may not…

And the map:

The Great Collapse of the early 22nd century was primarily caused by a combination of climate change induced sea level rise and an agricultural crisis. The resultant mass migrations and food riots that occurred throughout the world overwhelmed governments to the point that they effectively collapsed. Starvation, disease and violence became endemic and billions of people died during the Collapse.

The world that eventually emerged from this chaos was a very different one. Global population had been reduced to a tenth of its pre-Collapse level and all electric technology had been rendered effectively useless, except as a source of metal. Politically, most people now lived in small nomadic or subsistence farming communities like the Steppes peoples of a millennium previously. In Europe, however, a different type of civilisation had developed. This small corner of Afeurasia was instead characterised by a multitude of small city states, ruled over by a group known as the Keepers. These elites claimed to be the holders of the knowledge lost in the collapse, and that they would use this information to rebuild society. To add legitimacy to these claims, the Keepers chose to base themselves in the ruins of the old towns and cities, in contrast to the rural nature of the Neomanorial cultures of Noreurasia and Normerica, but in common with the Guardian cultures of Soueurasia and Norafrica.

The Keeper cultures of the Central European Plain, known as the Westropan groups had the highest population density of anywhere in Afeurasia, due to the desertification to the south and the considerable cooling of the north due to the shut down of the Gulf Stream. This concentration of people inevitably led to conflict, meaning that the Keepers’ knowledge found use in gaining a competitive edge. It also meant that the knowledge was spread through the region. By 2400CE, the Westropan Keeper cultures were the most technologically advanced peoples in the world and were expanding eastwards in search of new resources, spreading Westropan knowledge. This expansion, however, required more collaboration between the Westropan Keepers and at the end of the 25th century the Neuropan Empire was formed, uniting the Westropan Keepers and ushering a new era of civilisation.

AFTER THE REVERSAL

They’re dancing in the streets, the skies are awash with fireworks, alcohol is flowing like water and I’m sitting here awaiting a visit from a unit of the Psychological Health Assistance Response Team following my unauthorised broadcast earlier today. Two of my friends have already been taken into the care of PHARTs, for their own safety and wellbeing … of course. Before my ‘rescue and salvation’, I’m scribbling this rant on the back of a map and will launch it in my own little firework, a modest rocket. Maybe someone generations from now will discover it, though I doubt that it’ll survive.

We’re told that this is the millennium, a thousand years since The Reversal, the first day of 1000 AR. Ten centuries ago the world was turned upside down or maybe inside out and billions of people perished (or vanished?). Overnight in what many of the Prereversal cultures dated as 2103 CE, the lands became the oceans and the oceans became land. Those chosen to be saved slept above the Earth for 50 years, awaking to return to a world bizarrely changed. It had all been predicted in the Youran Calendar thousand of years before the event – the land would be washed clean and a new epoch would begin. The discovery and translation of the Youran Calendar was made by Justin Case during the year 2049. Although dismissed by many, a prophet by the name of Luke Caldo rose to prominence after the assassination of Case and by 2086 the Sublime Fellowship of Case had many millions of adherents worldwide.

The ‘new world’ had a muddled history for its first two centuries but there was one constant factor – the presence and power of the Sublime Fellowship of Case. Since 240 AR, the Casians have ruled the whole planet from their citadel of Globcon and the rest of the world has been divided into six Provcons. The supreme leader, The Holy Sentinel, resides in Globcon and is elected for life in secret by seven holy men – the Holy Guardians of the six Provcons plus the Caldosen (second only to the Holy Sentinel).

The world is at peace, its people are happy and content, the Holy Sentinel loves and cares for us all. Even people like me … a dropout from my Provcon’s top Indocollege and one of those obviously disturbed people who doubt the story of The Reversal. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think that long ago there were oceans where today there is land and vice versa. But an exact Reversal of the ocean/land layout is surely impossible and even were it possible the catastrophic event would have rendered the planet uninhabitable for far, far longer than 50 years.

So what happened?
-Was the world always this way?
-Were the ‘chosen ones’ transported to a new world?
-Is what we are experiencing reality?
I don’t have answers, just lots of questions that people don’t want to hear asked.

The PHART’s ornithopter is landing on the community green. They’ll be here soon. I shan’t resist my ‘salvation’ and they’ll be gentle with me – after all we weak and foolish women are put in this world to comfort and to be looked after by men, aren’t we?

After an unknown nuclear/apocolytic event destroyed much of the earths population, those who survived began the long process of rebuilding.

It is 170 year after this event. Mankind now number around 74,000 across the Earth. On the island of Ireland, those who survived nearly two centuries ago rebuilt and new nations were formed across the land. Though much of the Irish land was infected, some areas remained clean and therefore livable. 4 major nations currently exist in Ireland, they are; The Republic of New Lodin, the Elst Republic, Uli Grand and Caigk Empire.

New Lodin was founded by survivors from Great Britain, who fled the island after the first of the 'fires' erupted upon the land.

The Elst Republic was founded in the ruins of the former North Irish city of Belfast. The same goes for Uli Grand, which was founded in Dublin.

Lastly, the nation of the Caigk Empire is a recently created nation. Around 30 years ago, their current Emperor, Erik O'Har established his rule around the city of Crk and the neighboring lands. The Caigk Empire is hostile towards all other nations and believes in an 'Irished' form of Manifest Destiny.

Ok, since fantasy is apparently alright with Krall…

Two hundred years ago, the Stars Were Right. R’lyeh arose, and the most psychic 20% of mankind either went mad from fear or went gleefully psychotic. The seas arose and billions of Deep Ones flooded ashore. Unimaginable things emerged from beneath the ground, and darkness fell upon the Earth.

Nuclear weapons could at most annoy Great Cthulhu himself and destroy some of his stuff, but a sufficient number of them could in theory wipe out most of humanity and deprive him of subjects, as well as doing a serious number on his oceanic minions. A rump US and Russia managed to negotiate a tenuous armistice on the basis of “you don’t eat our brains, we don’t blow up the world to spite you.”

Two centuries passed. The continent underlying R’lyeh arose further, and the seas penetrated deeper inland. The spawn of the Great Old Ones multiplied and built monstrous cities across the face of the earth. The wild shoggoths of the sub-Antarctic were taught obedience with a little trouble. Some disputes with distantly related horrors deep within the earth were resolved with the death of only a few tens of millions of humans, mostly from famine, although some through submersion in hot magma.

Now, the world is mostly ruled by the heirs of the Cthulhu Cult and opportunistic evil bastards and mages, an all-powerful priesthood whose rule as “shepherds” of the human flock includes slaughterhouse delivery and whose rule is backed by divine retribution far more swift and sure than any previous variety. Mass human sacrifice is the norm, although the details of how the various human states are ruled are of no great concern to Cthulhu and the other Great Old Ones which are his “family” and friends. Bloodlust, violence and weird sex are the social norm: close influence of the Great Old Ones may lead to power, but it leads to madness or monsterism in the long run, and as for those too psychically insensitive or strong to be driven mad by the general psychic background, they are reduced to a state of foggy placidity by various foul magics.

Technology is an odd mix, mass slave labor and 20th century hardware, cities more monumental than New York but no computers, the occasional odd bit of unearthly super-science and the use of weird forces best called “magic.” The Great Old Ones prefer their subjects and soul-munchies ignorant: research, scientific or otherwise, is not encouraged.

The star-spawn and associated horrors – Cthulhuoids (like the big C, but smaller: think classic King Kong vs. Godzilla), shoggoths, night-gaunts, zombies and litches, Hounds of Tindalos and Deep Ones large and small, Colossal Worms, worm-men etc. – inhabit and build the monster cities of dubious geometry that disfigure the face of the Earth. What everyday life (or undeath) is like in these cities is unknown – like a roach motel unto Blattidae, humans check in but do not check out. There is often but not always a full Great Old One in residence in the central temple complex; Cthulhu generally stays in R’lyeh, although he occasionally visits his human subjects for a little Al Fresco dining and to remind his human subjects Who’s the God?

The huge polygonal region surrounded by 2000-foot walls remains wrapped in impenetrable darkness, while the Atlantic Vortex is quite visible but equally unexplainable: and these are only two of seven equally vast and obscure projects the Great Old Ones and their servants have created in the last few decades.

These developments worry the Democratic Human Republic of America, which has made determination of their nature a top priority. After a long period of instability and various withdrawals in the face of irresistible pressure, the Democratic Human Republic of America has managed to achieve some stability: there hasn’t been a pro-Cthulhu revolt above pants-bomber levels of competence in decades. Given existential despair at the continued non-appearance of Jesus & Co., and the frequency with which the religious-minded were befooled by the Great Old Ones, the theocratic rule of the Republic’s early decades failed to sustain itself, and has been replaced by a ruthless scientific atheism as the creed of the Republic. Although the Government’s refusal to call a spade a spade or Black Magic Black Magic is perhaps a weakness, the insistence on the non-demonic nature of the Great Old Ones and the eventual scientific explicability of all their mysterious powers is something of a spine-bracer.

Powered by fusion reactors, bristling with atomic weapons, and recycling every scrap (there’s not exactly much trade with the rest of the world, although a lot of smuggling), the Republic is more democratic than it used to be, but is still a fearfully regimented society, in which any deviation from the Rules for survival is punished ruthlessly. Psychic sensitivity is tested from infancy, and all “susceptibles” are required to wear protective head-gear (aluminum-foil lined and marked with certain ancient symbols) whenever outside. (All buildings are heavily psychically shielded as a matter of course). Constant closed circuit monitoring for signs of Alien Influence is an accepted norm, as are physical and blood tests for signs of Monsterism.

There has been a return to space, although made risky by the fact that most of the Great Old Ones and many of their minions can move through space with little difficulty (How Not to be Seen is an important part of space science: low-flying spy satellites in particular tend to cease working rather abruptly, especially when passing over R’lyeh).

The Republic is not entirely alone in a world of Cthlhu-worshippers: radio communications remain open with the New Russian Empire. Other forms of communication are trickier: it takes a brave and highly skilled individual to travel undercover through the slave nations, boats and subs are too easily noticed by the Deep Ones, and planes are also rather visible (and taking a detour through other dimensions always carries severe risk of attracting unwanted attention). Besides communications difficulties, relations with the Empire are inherently a bit shaky, given its far more open embrace of Black Magic and Abominations in their pursuit of survival. (There is considerable suspicion that the Fifth Putin, which has ruled for over fifty years, is no longer technically human).

There is also the Sultanate of Dust in the Arabian Desert: its inhabitants no longer look very human even on satellite photos, and they appear to have managed to remain independent through some sort of terrible pact with the even more powerful Outer Gods. (One of the more creatively decadent Saudi princes discovered that his multi-million dollar collection of blasphemous books and scrolls was actually useful while the world was coming to an end). Communications are understandably limited.

Other “free humans”, refugees from the Archonate, squat on the territory of the Mi-Go: the chance of being abducted and experimented on or even end up as a brain in a jar are probably higher than of becoming a snack or sacrifice back home, but at least the Mi-Go have no interest in governing humans or eating them, and as long as they stay away from the Mi-Go’s mining operations, they are free to pursue their primitive agricultural lifestyle unmolested. The Archons have complained to the Great Old Ones, but the Mi-Go do have a solid short-term (less than a million years) lease.

Other potential allies include the Chthonic Old Ones and the Outer Gods, but so far the Republic’s government has put them very solidly in the “Friends like These” category. There are also contacts with some discontented mages and dark creatures within the boundaries of Great Old One territory, who find that the Return of the Great Old Ones has not been nearly as cool or rewarding as promised or find being immortal and masters of life and death over millions does not make up for having the ultimate Boss From Hell. Special Intelligence has a new and very promising contact in New England, whom they just refer to as “the T.O.M. …”

The Great Old Ones are not particularly concerned about the Free Humans, although they are a bit miffed by the Outer Gods putting a tentacle in their pie. Two centuries are barely a blink of an eye to the immortal Old Ones: and in very little time (quite likely less, even, than another two centuries), certain plans will come to fruition, and the minor annoyances will end.

Bruce

And here's the map to go with the previous silliness.

Bruce