The Fall of America
By the end of the 2020s, it was evident that the United States was in trouble. Most social norms had dissolved under an all-engulfing wave of competing special interest groups, media-fueled fads, and an overall "me first" worldview.
By 2024, the number of homeless on the streets had skyrocketed to 21 million. The technical revolution had further torn the economy apart, creating two radically divergent classes—a wealthy, technically oriented, progressive, materially acquisitive group of Corporate professionals; and a down-class of homeless, unskilled, conservative blue-collar workers. The middle class was nearly eradicated. It was this dismal beginning that led to the American landscape of the 2025.
Here's what led to the collapse of the American Nation.
Corrupt and Ineffective Government
Under the corrupt rule of the Gang of Four (a cabal of four government agencies: the NSA, the CIA, the DEA, and the FBI, all led by the brilliant and psychopathic Vice President), American government descended into the realm of mobster rule. Ruthlessly pursuing its ideological agenda above all, the Gang hollowed out Social Security and Medicare, eliminated Welfare (unless tied to one of their Corporate clients) and plundered the resources of the United States like a giant personal piggybank. The only untouched area of the government was the military, which the Gang lavished money upon to maintain service loyalty and to finance the Gang's expansive policy of US Autarchy.
Martial Law
The military as a whole was not committed until August of '25. In the afternoon of Saturday, August 17, president Donald Trump was assassinated during a campaign stop in Virginia. Vice President Vance subsequently became the next president of the United States, gaining free reign to advance the plans of the Gang of Four.
The Collapse left millions of citizens homeless and caused any government outside of Washington, D.C. to decimate. The United States Military Forces were ordered to return to home soil to maintain order during this chaotic time and establish Martial Law. The Martial Law introduced a shoot-on-sight curfew in many major cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and led to an incident known as the "Houston Incident," where a gathering of 2,000 citizens was executed by the military under order of the Gang of Four.
The streets of many cities across the United States were covertly regulated by many federal forces, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Prison system, and paramilitary services secretly provided by several Megacorporations. Unidentifiable due to their lack of uniforms or badges, they contributed heavily to the thought that the United States government had turned into a gang of thugs, causing local governments and their allies to protest, then resist federal invasions with counterattacks that caused State Militias and National Guard details to face the paramilitary groups. The imposed Martial Law would frequently be interrupted due to other major events in the following years.
The Free States
As the conflict escalated, more and more states began to consider leaving the union. The process began with California and New York, which refused to pay taxes to Washington as part of economic strikes. The rebellion then took the form of economic blockades, with the states, protesting against the federal government, blocking the two-way flow of goods at their borders. The impasse was violently broken when a para-militarized police unit, subordinate to Gang of Four, took control of San Francisco, leading to a regular battle in the streets between residents and federal forces. The governor called on the National Guard for help, which sided with the city in the dispute. In response, paramilitary forces, operating under the auspices of the federal government, tried to capture the state capital, Sacramento. California then announced that the Washington administration henceforth no longer had authority over the state and officially withdrew from the union.
By the time the Gang was ousted, the U.S. Senate was no longer functional (having been suborned or intimidated by the Gang over years), the Supreme Court was no longer the law of the land for the increasing number of self-declared "Free States," and most of the federal bureaucracy was in shambles, leaving the country unable to cope with the waves of crises devastating the population.
The United States Armed Forces, which had long regretted supporting the actions of the Gang of Four, refused to participate in the wars of succession, even as California authorities blew up the passes connecting the state with northern Nevada and Arizona. At this stage, more states rejected the authority of the federal government and declared themselves "Free States." The armed forces also refused the order of taking back the country given by the Gang of Four, causing the Free States to remain free.
The Gang of Four, struggling to maintain popularity with and power over the American people, had settled on a successful war as the best and quickest plan to bolster their sagging control. On January 15th, 2026, the Second Central American Crisis took place. The US invaded Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The conflict was a complete disaster which cost thousands of American lives.
The Collapse
In 2026, Wikileaks exposed secret NSA transcripts of the First Central American War revealing "The Gang of Four" involvement. In response to this heavily armed mobs stormed the Capitol, supported by units of the military who had had enough and mercs from both U.S. and Eastern European Theater. Members of "The Gang of Four" fled, but they were hunted down. Some managed to escape but others were killed. Such was the fate of President Vance, who was run to ground at the edge of the Florida swamps and set afire by a cheering mob. With the Speaker of the House in the hospital and the three nearest in succession refusing the job, the position of President fell to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The fall of "The Gang of Four" paved the way for the introduction of much-needed reforms.
The collapse ended for some in 2028 after the election, but the shock of the global Crash and the rise of corporate power caused global governments and the US government to lose their authority with each passing day. It culminated in the outbreak of the First Corporate War in 2029, after which the U.S. and Chinese governments and international trade collapsed and the world had to truly rebuild from scratch.
