The World
Every empire believes that it will last forever. Qin Shi Huang sought immortality, intending to rule his unified China for all eternity. The Romans boasted of their invulnerable state, even as the barbarians cracked the walls. The British Empire claimed the sun would never set on its dominons, while an entire generation died in the trenches. Hitler proclaimed a thousand-year Reich, which lasted barely a decade.
In the late 20th century, with the death throes of the Soviet Union, a new empire proclaimed its invulnerability. An empire not of nationality or borders, but of open markets and free trade — a new world order built on cheap energy, cheap labor, and neoliberal economics. The Age of Globalization, which promised an end to the madness of the Cold War and a brighter future for humanity.
But this “End of History” was nothing more than a prologue for another era of war and chaos. It only took four decades for the system to collapse. Resurgent nationalism, populist anti-elitism, corporate dominance, pandemics, energy shortages, and climate change corroded the institutions upon which globalization was built. The West was racked by political dysfunction and elite incompetence. Russia fell into deep malaise under a demographic crisis and decades of corruption. The developing world was ravaged by climate change and the international power vacuum. And the rising star of the era, the benefactor of the Age of Globalization, went down a path of darkness and flame. Over resources, territory, and national pride, the People’s Republic of China attempted to seize Siberia from its decaying neighbor. Instead, they would spark an inferno that consumed Eurasia. Years of brutal fighting ended with a nuclear exchange between the two nations, and the collapse of China as a unified state.
That was 40 years ago. The area that was once northern China is now a patchwork of megacities and lawless wasteland, referred to as ‘Zone 17’. Climate change, pollution, and war have laid waste to most of the countryside. The cities are ruled by megacorps, motivated only by profit. Crime flourishes in the slums, where the rule of law is nonexistent. Warlords and bandit kings fight for territory and scavenging grounds in the wastelands. And mercenaries wage war against each other on behalf of their masters.
The only constant in Zone 17 is the Rain Wars — the persistent smattering of skirmishes, uprisings, and proxy wars that consume the globe. Like raindrops in a puddle, they hit, splash, and send ripples, preventing any stillness. As they slowly gain intensity, there is a creeping dread that the Rain Wars may become a flood, a conflagration of violence that will escalate beyond the conflict zones. The world stands on a razor’s edge. The only question is “What will break first?”
