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Introduction
Fenris Punk takes place typically in the Seattle metro in the 2060s. Fossil fuels and jet travel have become so expensive that North America has finally joined the rest of the world and adopted train technology. Megacorporations have risen in power. Wizards, elves, sentient AI, and cybernetic technologies have reshaped the world.
History
9/11
A series of six coordinated terrorist attacks by corporate-funded terrorist groups and mercenary contractors attacked the United States and Canada on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 9,433 people (not counting the terrorists who also died), injured over 11,000 others, and caused at least $29 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people have died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks.
The attacks included four passenger airliners and two private jets. Two of the passenger airliners hit the New York City WTC Buildings One and Two, respectively. The third airliner hit the Pentagon. Hijackers of the forth airliner, Flight 93, originally had intended to also strike the Pentagon, but quickly changed course and flew for an emergency landing in Toronto. Before anyone suspected foul play, the hijackers detonated a 3 kiloton nuclear weapon which had been smuggled on as luggage. The fifth, a private jet, flew over Los Angeles and detonated a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead. The sixth jet, the second private jet, took off from Las Vegas but made an emergency landing due to engine failure. The terrorists were unable to detonate their warhead, but crashed their plane into the middle of the tarmac.
War on Terror
The attacks lead to a series of world-wide policy shifts in democratic nations, trading personal freedoms for security. Also, in the name of democracy, many of these democracies declared war on several nations in the Middle East. Canada and the United States responded to the September 11 attacks by launching the "War on Terror". Both countries drew up their own domestic surveillance plans, aided by the Canadian Anti-terrorism Act and the US Patriot Act and eventually as a NATO treaty The Act. The new law devastated the air transportation industry. Fewer and fewer passengers wanted to travel by air.
In the beginning, only a single terrorist group received much of the blame for the attacks and the rest of the world were none the wiser about the corporate funding. However, as wars in the Middle East devastated and completely wiped out the terrorist groups, government contracts with NGOs continued to rise. Scapegoat after scapegoat, invasion after invasion, the military campaigns continued until no Middle Eastern country remained the same. Military occupations turned into corporate propaganda machines for restoring peace, infrastructure, and security. Many US-based corporations grew and grew until 2025 when the last Middle Eastern war ended.
Fossil Fuels
Canada and the United States declared they would discontinue all petroleum trade with the Middle Eastern countries in 2007, except for Saudi Arabia. Within months the economy took a downward turn but the sharp increase in employment in North America pulled the two countries out of the recession while other countries suffered for the next five years. This increase in fossil fuel use dropped the value of oil in North America, sparking a feedback loop that dropped the cost of transportation, increased the use of petroleum, and skyrocketed the amount of greenhouse gases. This also opened a new market for clean-air products.
But by 2020, fossil fuel prices caught back up with the rest of the world again. The airlines continued to suffer. Many of them consolidated to survive the economic hardships. Other corporations grew and filled the gaps in transportation that the airlines left behind. Several high speed trains started to show up across North America. And a few years later, by 2024, breakthroughs in safe hydrogen storage, helium production, and grapheen technology put airships back into commercial use for the first time in almost a century.
Apophis
On Friday, April 13 of 2029, the comet Apophis which originally most scientists predicted would pass between Earth and the Moon, crashed into a top secret satellite. The impact gave Apophis enough of a change in trajectory that it plummeted into the middle of Greenland. The impact from the comet and the debris that followed melted a significant portion of the ice sheet. Initially this caused winter effects around the globe, but it also increased sea levels and decreased the reflectivity from the ice, trapping in more heat. Unbelievably, the impact itself caused no deaths. However what followed changed the world forever.
The West Secedes and Magic Appears
During one of the worst fire seasons ever in recorded history, on September 16 of 2032, the western half of the City of Portland, Oregon burned to the ground, including the downtown area and surrounding suburbs west of the Willamette River. The smoke covered most of North America, and drifted across the globe. Smaller fires from California all the way up to Alaska turned the sky dark red. The fires and the smoke alone killed a half million people. Neither the US nor the Canadian governments offered any direct support, claiming political mismanagement and corruption caused the deaths and the damage. A mutiny of officers intending to lead a group of aid from Fort Lewis, Washington turned bloody when the entire convoy was bombed by a US drone. Idaho deployed its national guard to assist the civilians and to deescalate the situation. But an opportunitic terrorist attack on the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard did the opposite. More drone attacks forced Idaho back. Refugees from Oregon and Washingon fled to the surrounding states and provinces all the meanwhile Oregon's metro area continued to burn. The US Marshals deployed paramilitary to take control of the capitols in Oregon and Washingon and warned Canada to discontinue taking Refugees because it might provide a safe haven for terrorists. The Canadian government backed down, but the provincial govnerment of British Columbia refused to comply.
By November 11, the sitting president of the US had won a second term. But a group of the richest celebrities of California along with the state government offered an ultimatum to the US federal government. Either help control both the fires and the unrest or Hollywood would fund the act to secede from the union. The federal government refused and declared war. BC allied with the West while the Canadian federal government allied with the US federal government.
By Inauguration Day, on January 20 of 2033, the insurrection of the West was considered almost a sure victory. In an act of military might, the president continued with the customs. But then the first recorded magical terrorist attack and the first sighting of a real dragon, a reptilian, winged creature flew to Pennsylvania Avenue and incinerated the entire procession. No one claimed responsibility. The next day, another dragon was sighted incernating the Alberta-Dakota Access Mega-Pipeline.
With so many political figures assassinated by the dragon, not wanting to continue the carnage, the military generals offered a ceasefire on January 23. California declared independence on Febuary 14. Alaska and the unified Cascadia bioregion each declared independence on Febuary 15. The Alaska Panhandle joined Cascadia, though the two nations remain strong allies.
TODO Fifty United States
The same year, in 2033, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, and Virgin Islands all became states of the US shortly after the western secessions. Puerto Rico declared independence.
General Earth Currency
The formation of the new governments required a new type of currency in order for each to maintain their independence and autonomy. As a result, 2033 also saw the birth of a global currency, originally adopted by Cascadia, Alaska, and Puerto Rico under the common term "credits". The system uses a post-blockchain, quantum distributed ledger to ensure secure and private holdings and transfers.
Underett, the Underground City
However, years before Apophis, a small group of engineers backed by a rich investor began digging an underground shelter to survive a massive asteroid impact. Rumours about the project surfaced in the late 2010s, but nothing rose to the mainstream media coverage until after the Big-Your-Fault Dig. Most of the history remains buried.
The Big-Your-Fault Dig
In 2035, the Big Dig Rail from Anchorage, Alaska and to Vancouver, BC Cascadia collapsed with multiple cave-ins from a massive earthquake. It would have replaced some of the marine highway traffic with safe, underground, temperature regulated rail. However, they never completed the project, instead spending the remaining funds on rescue and in court, paying out the families of the victims. The Underetties revealed themselves to the world and lead many of the tunneling rescues.
Daifin, Big Financial Merger
In 2036 the merger between the Cascadia Financial, a state-owned corporation, and the Japanese company Daimyo Inc to form Daifin became the biggest merger in Cascadia. Daifin subsequently started buying up failing companies.
TODO Marine Arcology
Located in Whittier, Alaska. Construction started late spring 2036 and finished summer 2038.
You'll find it at Fenris
Fenrir was just a cracked old timer down in Portland. He owned a co-op, but the crowd visiting didn't always look like the typical folks looking for groceries. On the community bulletin board it said, 'You`ll find it at Fenris'.