The Sum of All Fears

Alright, this is finally finished! This was initially a cover of a certain work of fiction that I will not name directly, after ThePest179's version inspired me, but I decided to integrate the plot of the (film version) of Clancy's The Sum of All Fears, due to the similarities in the antagonists' plot. There are elements of the original story in there, though, so you can consider it a "cover." I was also inspired a bit by 1983 Doomsday. 


The Sixties and Seventies were turbulent decades for the United States. The civil rights movement did not remain civil, and the most radical factions in both the civil rights movement and their segregationist opposition gained the upper hand. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party, progenitors of the new Confederacy and the Order, took control of the streets in many parts of the South. Black radicals such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers took control of black-majority areas throughout the South, effectively creating independent republics at war with state governments. Ironically, the two opposing sides fed into one another, and even cooperated against moderates in the government; after all, they shared the immediate goal of securing independent racial states. 

The federal government tried to crack down, but they weren't too successful. State governments in the South opposed them at every turn, and every attempt at increasing federal power only fed into the more mainstream segregationist narrative. The FBI's clandestine activities in attempting to undermine the civil rights movement backfired; they succeeded in taking down moderates, leaving radicals to fill the power vacuum. The war in Vietnam raged on, and returning veterans refused to fire on American citizens. Both Johnson and Nixon refused to end hostilities in Vietnam, which only increased hostility towards the federal government from all sectors of society. By the mid-1970s, trust in the government was at an all-time low, and increasing crackdowns on all anti-government organizations led to more distrust. By the time President Nixon had to be forcibly evicted from the White House after refusing to accept his impeachment, it was clear that the American giant was on the brink. 

One would think that the Soviet Union would be elated by this, but in truth, Moscow was more fearful than ever. The instability of the presidential office meant that a hardliner coup was imminent.[1] Furthermore, the Chinese-American détente, the violent Chinese-Soviet border wars, and the rise of hardline Maoists after the death of the Great Helmsman, led the Soviets to believe that if war with America was not imminent, then war with China certainly was. Soviet nuclear forces were ordered on constant high alert, and to respond with overwhelming force should there be any attack on the Soviets and their satellite states. 

That policy backfired spectacularly when a group of Austrian neo-Nazis, seeking to destroy the enemies of the Third Reich and usher in the rise of the Fourth, used a nuclear weapon lost during one of Israel's wars against their neighbors to attack an East German garrison. Before anyone could rationally track the attack to the neo-Nazis, the East Germans launched an invasion of West Germany, starting hostilities between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. China soon joined the fray, opposing both the Soviets and the West, and for a few weeks a conventional war raged. Before American CIA agent Jack Ryan could convince his superiors that the war was part of a neo-Nazi plot and force everyone to the negotiating table, someone launched their missiles. In but a few hours, over a billion people died, with more to suffer from injuries, starvation and radiation sickness in the next few months. 

After WWIII, civil order in much of the Northern Hemisphere collapsed. Those portions of the military that were not vaporized quickly turned their guns on whoever was closest, seizing food and women as they rampaged through the post-war wasteland. Desperate mobs of survivors followed their example. Law meant nothing but the decrees of the man with the most men under arms, and life became brutal and short. Even after the initial famines, the nuclear winter arrived, killing whatever crops that weren't already rendered useless due to fallout. Those who survived the first year of the aftermath quickly found themselves starving through many cold winters, with countless millions dying. 

But not everyone was disadvantaged by this turn of events. The Austrian neo-Nazis who had orchestrated the war in the first place succeeded in seizing control of post-war Austria, rechristening it the Fourth German Reich. The Fourth Reich remilitarized Austria - a rather popular move, given the situation - and "secured peace and order" throughout Europe. Of course, they also eliminated all of their political enemies along the way. In the Pacific Northwest, the American Nazi Party founded the creatively-named Order, a neo-Nazi "white republic" that purged any non-whites, political opponents, Jews and "Jews" throughout the Northwest. Neo-Nazi states were also founded throughout the South, where they came into conflict with the more moderately segregationist Confederacy and the new black republics. Neo-Nazism also arose in the former Soviet Union, such as in the state of Chernazem. 

Of course, the neo-Nazis weren't the only survivors, and their antics have gained them the ire of all of their neighbors. In North America, the Hispanic-dominated Texan republic and the Mormon theocracy of Deseret despise the Order, and have launched attacks against their forces moving into southern California. Even the Confederacy has aligned with the black republics against the neo-Nazis in their midst; the Confederates want a white supremacist state, not a "pure" white state, and are disgusted by the neo-Nazis' attempts to exterminate non-whites in the region. The remnants of the United States government still hold on to their power base in Ohio, although the American forces that seized Cuba are openly white supremacist and are sympathetic to the Order. In the Northeast, American feudal states war with each other constantly, only occasionally uniting against larger common enemies. 

Europe was utterly devastated, but a few states managed to avoid getting nuked. The Soviet nukes heading for Norway were shot down by American ABM systems, and in the post-war world united with Sweden, Finland and Denmark to form the Scandinavian Union, the most powerful state in Europe. Ireland busied itself with securing portions of Britain, while Spain fractured after the bombing of Madrid. Romania largely survived WWIII, and has formed a strong anti-Nazi bloc out of former Warsaw Pact states. Unfortunately, the Romanians are enthralled with the cult of personality of Ceaușescu, and are killing "enemies of the people" that they find in the wasteland. The British monarchy fled to New Zealand, while a fascist "Norsefire" government gained power over the Falklands, where they attempt to convince the population that the entire rest of the world has been exterminated. 

In the Soviet Union, the Soviet state split into three pieces: the Party, the KGB, and the military. The Party retreated to the Arctic, where they continue to run the country under Stalinist-Brezhnevist lines. The KGB faction, run by a military strongman, has close ties with the now-powerful Russian mafia, and are warring with the Party over influence in what remains of European Russia. The Soviet military, which had been mopping up the war in Afghanistan, secured most of Central Asia and established an "emergency" military dictatorship; the Soviet Black Sea fleet did the same, and established a "Trebizond Soviet" in the ruins of Anatolia. Across the Caspian, the merchants of Kalmykia trade food, clothes and pre-war machinery, making quite a bit of profit in the process. Many ethnicities throughout the Soviet Union created their own states, such as the Czechs in Kamtchatka and the Ukrainians in the Far East, and Jews fleeing the Fourth Reich even founded a "New Vilnius" as a new Jewish homeland in Europe. 

China was utterly devastated in the war (but not before annihilating Japan and Taiwan), with several rival Chinese governments in relatively lightly-damaged southwest China fighting in a drama akin to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Beyond the borders of the four dynasties lie the remnants of the People's Liberation Army, now acting as ruthless warlords, and further afield is the Red Khanate. Formed from the remnants of the Soviet and Chinese armies, the Red Khanate has embraced the idea of property as theft, and synthesized it with nomadic life. Terrifying warriors on horseback, the Khan's armies have been expanding in all directions, crushing the ill-equipped warlords that rallied against them, and gaining many followers along the way. 

Other parts of the world were also hit by nuclear war. Egypt, Iran and Israel engaged in a three-way nuclear conflict, allowing Hussein's Iraq and Gaddafi's Libya to pick up the pieces. Pakistan and India also engaged in a nuclear war, destroying both states and leading to a Naxalite victory in eastern India. Australia was hit by several Soviet nuclear submarines, allowing the great central desert to spread. Bandits and road warriors fight for the last scraps of food and fuel in this blasted wasteland, and it is rumored that some of them even believe that they are the last humans on Earth. 

Of course, other places are doing relatively well. Brazil and the other South American countries have survived largely unscathed, and apart from the large refugee populations and periods of famine, are doing fine. Of course, the militaries of these countries aren't going to give up power any time soon. Likewise, the junta in charge of Indonesia has formed a stronger ASEAN, and this bloc is slowly spreading its influence throughout Asia. Africa has become less stable, with the communist governments there forming their own united alliance and the South African apartheid government doubling down on its efforts to maintain peace. But still, it's better than living in the wasteland. 

Technophobia has taken hold in much of the world, even those parts that survived WWIII. Nuclear technology has become taboo, with almost every nuclear power plant in the world shutting down (save for South Africa's). Attempts have been made to colonize the Moon, but the last mission only led to five Frenchmen starving in the Sea of Tranquility. There have been a few innovations with computers in the non-wasteland world, and significant advances in agricultural technology, but even then, most resources are focused on feeding the world and keeping it healthy. Most people in the civilized world walk around with gas masks and anti-radiation diuretics ready in case fallout storms blow in from the north. Many neighborhoods in cities are starting to crumble, as the population has plummeted; only one and a half billion people remain on Earth. The nuclear winter is dying away, but some scientists now predict a nuclear summer will follow, with even more starvation, disease and war to follow. Even the most optimistic are unsure if humanity can survive another catastrophe like that. 


[1] Moscow was seriously projecting here.

EDIT: Since the original text of ThePest's post is behind a membership wall, here's the original text:

The Turner Diaries. It’s an ambitious idea. The leadership of The Order is developing it in order to re-educate the new generation, the ones who never knew a life before The Exchange. It’s going to be used to paint the world before The Exchange the way The Order saw it; twisted and evil. I suppose that it’s my duty then, to explain what really happened before The Exchange, so that someone will know. 

The Order claims to be a direct heir to the SS and the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, but I know that’s bullshit. The Order has its roots in the American Nazi Party, the National Front (UK), the Canadian Nazi Party, and Australia First Party (along with some other far-right groups across the Western world). At first, these parties were viewed as the scum of the Earth that they were. There couldn’t have been more than a few thousand members in each group. Things changed though, when George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the ANP, was almost killed in an assignation attempt. Rockwell was changed by this attempt on his life. He became cunning, manipulative, and a great public speaker (toning down the racism also helped). He didn’t just say things to please the base – he could convince others with great skill, as if he had done it his entire life. The message was still horrible, so the ANP (renamed American National Party) was still marginal. But now it had a real following, over 100,000 members after the MLK riots and the assassination of George Wallace (a segregationist less extreme than the ANP). Rockwell traveled to the other Anglo countries, as a guest speaker and teacher to far-right demagogues. The CNP (renamed Canadian National Party), NF, and AF all had an easier time recruiting than ever before. I don’t know the numbers for those groups – I was just a simple desk clerk who was a registered Republican. I know they grew, because as the Seventies went on, there were more of them in the streets, marching, protesting “multiculturalism” or “Marxism” or whatever they were angry about that particular day. 

Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, America had some pretty bad race riots in the late Sixties, and the precursors of the Order took advantage of it, playing up “black violence” and such (obviously the message was less effective outside America). Rockwell had an energetic man, Charles Manson, lead a terrorist network, which was separate from the ANP (to ensure that Rockwell and the ANP would not be labeled as terrorists) in order to start a race war. This network was known as “The Organization”. Manson’s network conducted bombings, arsons, murders, and other crimes and acts of terror against “enemies of the white race” (African people, Jewish people, Asian people, Hispanic people, liberals, interracial couples, feminists, and homosexuals) and even committing false-flag attacks in order to radicalize more Americans, all the way until The Exchange. That’s not to say there weren’t difficulties for the Organization (despite what the Order says); the authorities were working to destroy the terror network with the tools they had at their disposal, and had some success. But, they were unsuccessful on the whole, as the authorities had other terrorist groups on their watchlists, ones who they considered more of a threat than The Organization. It was somewhat different in the other Anglo countries – the Australian branch had it worst, as the Australian authorities were focused on the threat The Organization was, the Canadian branch faced similar difficulties but weapons could be smuggled in from the US, and the UK branch was most effective as the government was focused on Northern Ireland. 

The ANP, CNP, NF, and AF were also helped by the turmoil of the Seventies. The President, Nixon was assassinated by Arthur Bremer, and Spiro Agnew became President. Long story short, the Agnew Administration caused a global recession, destabilized the Middle East (Syria and Lebanon in particular), and caused a hardliner coup in China. The recession (and later on a nasty crime wave) really helped the far-right recruit people to their cause by giving them an outlet for their anger. The far-right promised to make their country great again, and a few people listened. The AF got 4% of the vote, the CNP 5%, NF 8%, and ANP 9% for the elections that were held after the Agnew years. We shrugged it off as a product of the hard time we were in. But the far-right managed to sustain these kinds of numbers all the way until The Exchange. 

Charles Manson was captured and sent to prison in 1979 under terrorism charges, but that changed little, as Manson was replaced by William Luther Pierce. Pierce didn’t just want to attack minorities or people with a different political belief – he wanted to take the war to the government. Pierce orchestrated the bombing of the FBI headquarters in Washington DC in 1981, then the mortar attack on the Israeli embassy in 1983. Combined with the killings committed by Oscar Yeager (a serial killer who targeted interracial couples, liberals, and Jews), it really pissed off the government, and that’s around the time they got serious about destroying The Organization. Unfortunately, The Exchange prevented the government from any further action, and by then The Organization was an effective terror network.

The Exchange was the result of a war between the Warsaw Pact and NATO in 1983, around November. First it was a conventional war, with the WP invading Western Europe and China invading Taiwan and Mongolia, but things went nuclear after about three weeks. The Earth was (and still is) ruined. The far-right however, was poised to take advantage of the situation, having fled into the country before the nukes started to fly. With their militias, they intimidated or persuaded whites across their countries to join them. The Organization became the official armed forces for the far-right, and “The Order” became the new government in the nuclear wasteland, providing stability and supplies to those deemed “racially pure”. They put large groups of minorities into designated “refugee camps” at first, and had them do slave labor and dangerous jobs (like going into radioactive areas) except for the Jews. The Jews were killed as soon as the Order got their hands on them, thrown in mass graves or cremated. The Order started to create a police state where “liberals” and homosexuals were weeded out and murdered, in order to ensure the whites under their control acted loyally. Eventually, The Order began their extermination campaigns against the Africans and Asians, and the enslavement of Hispanic people. There was significant opposition to this of course – many whites sided with the minorities in opposition to their genocide – but The Order simply had more experience in combat, luck, and (after a while) more numbers to subjugate the masses with. By 1999 The Order had solidified its grasp on the former nations of America, Australia, Canada, and the UK. Their hated external enemies – China, Israel, the USSR, and most of Africa – were destroyed as well, although not of The Order’s doing. China and the USSR were devastated horribly by The Exchange, Israel was destroyed in a war with a nuclear armed Iraq, and the continent of Africa will remain devastated for over a century, due to the change in temperature, local conflicts (like the war in the Congo), diseases, and the violent end to the South African regime when they used nuclear and biological weapons after a failed attempt at ethnically cleansing the southern half of the continent. Currently, The Order is focused on building up their state in order to “liberate” or “clean” the rest of the world. The nightmare of an all-white world could become a reality if The Order is not destroyed, and soon. Hopefully this admittedly short version of true events lives to see a day where The Order is no more. And good luck to those who find this in spreading the word.