Exterminator Quest Lore

Setting:

The year is 2037 and it has been 4 years since the end of of the Third World War, a tripolar event in which the United States, China, and Russia, all of which had disarmed their nuclear arsenals in 2022, unleashed vast quantities of chemical and biological weapons on one another instead. Casualties were horrendous and the European Union, which had attempted to remain neutral at the start of the war, was decimated by a Russian land invasion.

Despite the loss in human life (approximately 2 billion casualties in all), the world has nonetheless begun to rebound, a recovery eased by the large amount of salvageable infrastructure and wealth left behind in the wake of chemical and biological attacks.

Political:

China:

The United States declared unconditional victory over the People's Republic of China at the end of WW3, albeit at a massive cost, and handed the political and economic keys of the country over to various influential corporations in the name of rebuilding. As a result, almost all native Chinese business structures have been either dismantled or bought out for pennies on the dollar. The undue influence of these corporations on the Chinese economy means that although there is an enormous amount of work to be done, most Chinese workers make significantly less per capita than they did under the PRC regime at its height (to the point where they make less than Vincent despite him being more or less an indentured servant).

Russia:

Russia, which is overextending itself trying to maintain at least some of the it made gains into Europe, is teetering on the brink of socio-economic collapse as well, and they struggle to keep up a strong military image. However, recent rumor has it that Russian scientists have made seemingly impossible advances in biological warfare and even that they have pioneered genetically engineered soldiers that are potentially resistant to the stockpiles of other nations. The government of Russia has remained silent on this matter.

United States:

The United States is now a true plutocracy, with government representatives openly accepting corporate sponsorships on behalf of themselves and their constituents. The economy revolves around bread-and-circuses and the average American is poorly educated and subjected to a daily barrage of propaganda. Although Cits theoretically retain some fundamental rights most of the ways they can be effectively leveraged have been eroded by the passage of laws limiting things like free speech, gun ownership, and fair trials. With the exception of those like Vincent who pursue criminal means of class advancement, life has devolved into a flat and unvarying caricature of what it once meant to be an American.

The rest of the world and the Southern Alliance of Nations:

There were some significant casualties among the first world nations in WW3. Some, like Japan and Finland, were functionally obliterated in the crossfire between the great powers and now stand abandoned. Others, like Mexico and much of Africa were tipped into anarchy by the conflict and suffered total governmental collapse. The big winners, if there were any, were the small island nations of the world and South America, both of which essentially escaped the wrath of chemical and biological bombardment. With their populations and ecosystems intact, these nations export the world's highest quality food and medicine. To protect their interests, they have banded together into what is now called the Southern Alliance of Nations. The SAN is wealthy, well-armed, and willing to resist the influence of the other Great Powers. People like Vincent aspire to live in the SAN someday.

Ecological:

The vast majority of chemical and biological weapons unleashed upon the planet during WW3 were untested beyond their effectiveness on human beings. The result of this was that the ecosystems of chemical and biological bombardment were often devastated. Most of the world's large mammals have gone extinct or become highly endangered. Many forests now burn after chemical attack runoff killed most of the trees where they stood. The losses to biodiversity are nearly as horrific as the losses in human life.

Biologists have observed new species filling the niches left by the old however. Notably, many insects have now grown larger in size as the food chain has opened up and some small birds and mammals that survived have begun to display previously unknown social behavior. The sudden development of these traits is credited to mutations caused by munitions fallout and it is not uncommon for average Cits to refer to new species like the black-bodied Shikoku Wasp or the highly intelligent Mutara Rats as "mutants", even as they earn their places among the conventional hierarchy of nature. There are persistent but unfounded rumors of human offshoots as well, though this is likely just a result of the worldwide spike in birth defects.