Resistance 2040

[Gnaskar]

The last thirty years have not been kind to the world. Water levels have risen over fifteen meters, leading to the evacuation of many costal cities, including New York. Others, like San Francisco, have built massive walls to keep the water out, but this method doesn't always work. The Netherlands was washed away a decade ago, when its walls were breached by the mass of water. Increasingly desperate environmentalist groups (colloquially Enviries) use terrorism to spread their message.

 

Fundamentalists (Fundies) of every religion battle against each other using similar means. Churches and other places of worship around the world have increased security to the point were most resemble bunkers more than holy houses. An increasing number of WMD are available on the Black Markets of the world, and it only a matter of time before another nuke is set off on American soil. In 2021 a one megaton nuke exploded in the middle of New Orleans; the city has never been rebuilt. For terrorist groups with lower budgets, research into robotics has created a generation of mercy-less killing machines, perfect for releasing in malls or crowded downtown areas.

 

The US government grows increasingly totalitarian in its struggle to contain the growing might of foreign dictatorships (North Korea, DR Kongo, Zimbabwe, Cuba after Castro) and the rise of the Mega-Corporations. The United States army, supplemented with twenty-foot mecha, transhuman hybrids, and space based marines, finds it self in near constant war, as the North Korea War drags on and on, and conflicts flare up around the world. The malcontent felt by American citizens is threatening to spill over into full scale civil war, as more and more come to realize that the elected officials voted themselves out of power a long time ago. The real power behind the US is no longer the President, but Herman Crüger, head of CIA.

 

The first known mecha was a construction aid, the idea being that the strength of a tractor and the versatility of a man would make an awesome tool. The military quickly picked up on this and designed a three meter tall walking tank. They tried calling them Walkers at first, but the name was soon changed to Mecha. They were used extensively during the North Korea War. The five first mecha pilots each now have their own comic series published by Kasa Kaisha, a Japanese Mega-Corporation. Military mecha with heights ranging from two to four meters are relatively common in any powerful country, but the five with their own comics pilot huge and unique mecha. the US is rumored to have a prototype of an even bigger mech, but officially denies it.

 

Unknowns to most, the zombie plague is spreading through rural areas and poor countries. Some claim its a USAF research project gone wrong, others claim its been lying dormant in the ice for many years until global warming released, and a few claim its part of an alien assault plan. The unfortunate individuals caught in a zombie uprising have to survive not only zombies but also the USSW (US project Star Wars) troops that soon arrive to "clean up" and make sure that no-one survives knowing what happened. They'll go to any lengths to contain both a zombie rising and the knowledge that zombie risings occur. Some claim the nuke that blew up Jackson Hole, Wyoming was not a Envirie attack, as was claimed, but a cover up, to hide the largest rising in a decade.

 

A new space race is dawning between Mars Society corporation, the communistic New Soviet Union, and the pope led Church of Accession. Adding to the friction between these fractions is the growing threat of space piracy. In an effort to stop piracy, the US project Star Wars has built up a blockage of the Earth-Moon system; simultaneously blocking the other three fractions access to reinforcements without paying mayor taxes. Five years ago, SC resolution 2022 was passed, allowing spacecraft to carry weapons. Now heavily armed convoys patrol the skies, ready to fire at the slightest provocation. Its only a matter of time before the First Space War begins.

 

The Role of the Players

 

Resistance 2040 is a varied setting to role-play in, with options ranging from space pirates and manga style mecha warfare, to zombie survival and desperate resistance against a totalitarian state, to tales of transhuman segregation and FBI investigators racing against time to stop a terrorist plot. If zombies don't fit into your planned campaign, you can just leave them out. The world view is dark and there are seldom any clear moral right or wrong, but there is always room for humor.