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Following WWIII in the 2040s, the previous global superpower, The United States of America collapsed due to every imaginable reason a country would do so. What remained were the states which could now operate as fully independent nations. Trade networks quickly broke down and many nations made efforts to conquer major population centers. During this warring states period, Indigenous groups gained considerable amounts of power in both western and northern North America. Millions of civilians flocked to Native American nations in mass to escape the growing Totalitarian Regimes forming in the Southeast. By 2099 the two major powers in North America following the collapse of the USA were as follows:
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy- It stretches from what used to be Quebec to the land east and south of Lake Michigan. Its southern border clashes with the New Eastern Republic. The powers represented under this confederacy include the five original tribes plus 23 additional tribes in the Northeast.
The New Eastern Republic (NER)- Stretching from the Carolinas to Texas, this is the successor to the original USA. The republic has been at war with Mexico and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy since 2050. After DC was retaken by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in 2056, Austin, Texas became the nation's new capital. Its Constitution is essentially a declaration of total war against the outside world.
Charleston is a part of the NER, but due to its geography, it's been largely ignored. From 2058 to 2084, the island experienced a Famine that killed hundreds of people. However, compared to the totalitarian terror unfolding on the mainland, the famine was preferable. Charleston became a fully functional independent arm amputated from a diseased body. A quiet little town, forgotten in the ever-changing landscape of a new era. This is the place where Tyesha Mingus grew up.
As she makes her way to Yusuf's house she periodically gazes up at the stars. She spots the planet Mars which sits between the constellations Aquarius and Capricornus. By October of that year, she knew that Mars would reach the closest point it had to Earth in its orbit around the Sun. The town wasn't bright enough to disrupt one's view of the cosmos, and for this Tyesha was grateful. In a journal entry written three years ago, she wrote the following passage:
"While the outside world has moved on without us, it's as if the stars have slowed down for our benefit. It's only here in this terribly lonely place, that one can feel as though they are at the center of the universe."
Yet she felt a deep sinking feeling in her chest whenever she looked at the night sky for too long. It had been over 100 years since mankind had first landed on the moon, and the country responsible no longer existed. Small progress in space travel had been made by both the Iraqi and Chinese governments, but something like a manned expedition to Mars was still completely unfeasible. After all, the world was still recovering from the aftermath of the Third World War.
Every country was dealing with some horrible Atom-Bomb-Related disaster. There was no time to dream about the stars when babies were being born with tumors. Dreams themselves were luxuries that few could afford. Tyesha had given up on hers a long time ago. As she slowly makes her way to Yusuf's, the idea that they were about to come true doesn't even occur to her.
Before Tyesha reaches Yusuf's house she notices immediately the distinct lack of light being emitted from his room. Yusuf like Tyesha, is a real technophile. However, they stand on different ends of the Technological Sexuality Spectrum. Where Tyesha prefers older machines mainly used for data storage, Yusuf is all about monitors and dials. When Yusuf learned that the static depicted on old CRT TVs contained faint traces of the Universal Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation he immediately began saving up to purchase a TV of his own. Ever since the day he finally got one, it had not once been switched off. Every night you could see a flickering light coming from his bedroom window.
