The Earth in Affliction is not like we know. Around 2010, many African and Asian countries began to massively change. The world and it's economy were evolving, which called for other countries to evolve with it. After the recession, some countries were hit hard. Liberia, Taiwan, Chad- those and more were forced to do something drastic. For years they worked, attempting to perfect industry and their economy. By the year 2020, Asia and Africa were practically wastelands. Areas were irradiated as various countries tried their hand at nuclear weapons testing. Large factories replaced forests, filthy housing units replaced once prosperous cities. The leaders of these countries prospered off of the suffering of their people, and they raked in billions upon billions of dollars. Many of them fled to places like the U.S. or Australia, leading their countries with the force of the military while they enjoyed themselves thousands of miles away.

Death counts in these countries were high, and they were hell. New technologies were constantly being made in those areas, though fairly crude and made for industrial use, such as the "Industrial Fist" or the Cubes. Depression and death rates were high in this area, and they were total and utter trash piles. If one did die of a disease or infection, they were sure to die of the harsh factory conditions. Many became "Indentured Servants", though in reality they were slaves. The government offered them housing, often times small and shared with up to four other families. In return, the person and their entire family would have to work in the factories until death. It was a better alternative then living on the streets, as crime was rampant, and families were often kidnapped, the parents murdered and the children sold off into human trafficking. Organ trafficking and limb trafficking were common in these areas, and it is not impossible that someone in Affliction may lack some organs or limbs from the trade.

Europe fared better, yet only slightly. The European continent soon merged into one collective country, the first super country. This happened around 2017, and it quickly turned sour. The country was divided into four sectors- North, West, East and South. The armies of the South attempted to conquer the North, causing the East and the West to turn on the South. The North, weak from the attack, was unable to help in defeating Southern armies. Once the East and the West cleaned up the South, they took the North. Soon after, Eastern leaders were paid off by wealthy African leaders to take control of the entire continent, which they did. It is worthy to note that the U.K. had long since seceded from the EU, and was now similar to that of a normal country. They weren't too technologically advanced and yet not too primitive, similar to what we see in present day 2018 (Real Life). They were able to pay off the East from taking their Island, and they formed an alliance with them. The alliance was useful as the U.K. had ties to the U.S. and Australia, the two power houses of the modern world.

The Eastern Europeans were greedy, and so they took Russia by storm. Putin had caught a mysterious sickness and subsequently died, and the strike began on his funeral, August eighth, 2019. The country was taken in hours, the country being weak from following their Asian neighbors and going the route of Industrialization. The leaders of New Europe decided that Russia would not be autonomous- oh no. It soon became the slave capital of the world, it's residents being sold off to the highest bidders, be they countries looking for free labor or rich men wanting to do God knows what to the unfortunate souls. The U.S. and Australia did not care for the region and so conditions only got worse as the years went on. New Europe forced the African and Asian countries to pay them trillions of dollars not to be invaded, though New Europe often would use their cities as practice targets for bombing runs.

The United States and Australia were not this bad, however. In 2015, once shit really started to get bad, The U.S. mounted their offensive. The U.K. dropped their ties with Canada after they began to endorse the communist revolutions within South America, which gave the U.S. the chance to annex them. The country was taken within three hours as the biggest ariel, land, and amphibious military assaults conducted by the United States army. All military personnel were either killed, sold off to foreign countries, or indited as members of the military for the U.S.. Canadian life soon turned better as the Americans took over, as the Canadian government had begun to work on Industrialization. Many Northern parts of the country had huge factories and Industrial Cities already full of people. The U.S. happily took this area under country though they did so in secret. Canada, at the time, owned Greenland and Antarctica due to trades made in 2014 with Russia, the previous owners of those places. Antarctica was left untouched, though Greenland was turned into a place of research. The U.S. economy boomed, and their military strength tripled. They abandoned their space program and began to research many new technologies, landing them hundreds of years ahead of other countries.

The U.S. decided to share their advancements with Australia, America's best ally and trading partner at the time. Australia soon become a technological center of advancement, creating some of the best technologies to date. The U.S. and Australia formed the "Amrelia" alliance, and, together, became the two most powerful countries in the world. In 2016, the two countries conducted and eight month long invasion of South America, the countries of which had a massive Communist revolution. The countries were already in ruin and had attempted, yet failed, to implement Industrialization. Many South Americans would rather die then let their countries be taken, and this caused many major South American cities to be nuked by their leaders in fear of being forced into labor. It was also around this time a small American task force assisted U.K. troops of annexing Ireland. The continents borders were split in half, with the U.S. getting the top portion and Australia the bottom portion. The U.S. also took Central America and Mexico, which had become worse then ever. The populations were simply sold off to slavery and massive rigs to harvest raw minerals and oil from Mexico down through Central America. In the end of 2016, Australia decided to annex all surrounding countries. New Zealand surrendered and joined Australia under the flag, while the other surrounding nations were forced into the country. The Caribbean Islands were now controlled by the U.K., given as a gift by the U.S. along with the assistance in taking Ireland.

The U.S. and Australia become Utopias of technology, with the rich getting the best of life. Those who could not afford it still made decent livings, though the poorest were often cleansed by police. Cleansing happened every night, and people would be kidnapped off of the streets or out of their homes. They would be forced into slavery, harvested for organs, or experimented on. Many had their brains harvested for Cybernetic experimentation. In 2018 early 2018, the U.S. kickstarted their Space Exploration program once more, quickly taking control of The Moon and Mars. An alien presence was discovered on The Moon, and a very public display of executions were shown globally of the alien scum. The U.S. advanced even further, selling some of the lesser technologies to African and Asian countries, like pulse technology. A massive mining outpost was set up on The Moon, and a very large military base was created on Mars. Around this time, China invaded North and South Korea, literally killing all who lived in those countries and reanimating their corpses to use as zombiefied soldiers. Australia was quick to put an end this however, and they took the Korean Peninsula under their control. They gave it to Japan, who were greedy to Industrialize it, as they suffered from heavy over population and dirty streets. Predictions were right- the populace of Japan were replaced with robots, though they were given a second chance at life on the Korean Peninsula.

The Earth year is now 2022. New Europe has begun to build massive underground cities, leaving many of the above ground cities to become Industrialized. Civilized people live underground, while the poor and disabled work to death on the surface. Pollution on the planet is horrible, though the U.S. and Australia have managed to keep the population all centered within Africa and Asia. Russia is now more akin to a desert then a horrible frosted area like it once was. People are forced to work for hours on end without pay until they are sold, where they are destined to terrible fates. Americans and Australians live the high life, with extremely low poverty rates and the most joy they've had in forever. Virtual Reality has become a large market, and many games have players unknowingly controlling actual robots, murdering innocents in the poorer countries purely for fun. Affliction is not a man made place. Humanity does not know of Affliction. Everyone who is born is destined to go to Affliction, though it is unsure they arrive through death.