There's been a global respiratory pandemic. The Soviet Hegemony have been amassing troops on Kyevistan's borders. The endless conflict between Zion and Samaria is smoldering. Maoland has been flexing it's growing economic strength. The Amazonian Republic like much of south America still feeling the damage of the cold war between the Soviet Hegemony and the Great American Republic, is oscillating between fascism and communism with increasingly corrupt leadership. The Soviet Hegemony's attempt to manipulate the Great American Republic's elections a second time failed, the corrupt former president has fled to his corrupt real estate empire, and is currently tied up in numerous criminal and civil suits from his extensive criminal activity. The former opposition party now in control hasn't managed to do much of anything. Inflation is up, but so is employment and even wage growth technically. The global respiratory pandemic is still raging. The Great American Republic is deeply divided hyper-partisan to the point the disgraced former president seems like a viable populist candidate in two years despite the seeming evidence that could land him in jail.

In short situation normal

((OOC: Note this is almost the real world as if summarized by a reasonably aware person without time to get everything 100% accurate. The avoiding of real names of things is to remind people this is an alternate world, there will be differences based on me not being omniscient. not attempting perfect fidelity, not being perfectly neutral, and throwing PL-20 character into the mix will likely wipe out any semblance of similarity to the real world in short order. The tone will start about as dark as the evening news. Not hopeless or grimdark, but certainly not great, where we go from there will depend on player actions.))