#backtothefutureisnow

This idea finally coming to fruition...a year late.  The premise is simple: an updated #thefutureisnow, mixing the fears of the left and the right together and turning them up to eleven akin to The Day After Yesterday, and integrating modern pop culture (even if the science doesn't work). I also added elements of my original Shattered Union idea. Many thanks to the people who gave me ideas for this. 

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It is the year 2115, and the world is still reeling from one of the worst centuries ever. The end of oil, the continuing chaos of the modern climate, and the collapse of the globalized economy have reduced much of the world to a technological state resembling that of the late 19th century. The Rage virus, a mutated form of ebola, still terrorizes the Third World. In its height in the 2020s, the virus gutted the global population. The epidemic would have been stopped, had WWIII not weakened humanity's defenses on a societal and individual level. The use of Rage as a biological weapon by the Russians in the Middle East did not help, and soon the refugee crisis became worse, and what followed the refugees were hordes of infected. By the 2110s, the hordes in Europe, Asia and North America have starved to death long ago, but the nonetheless booming population in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa keeps feeding the virus in this region. It doesn't help that local warlords like to use infected corpses and blood as weapons. 

World War III itself was a largely limited affair: the Russians and Chinese fighting against the NATO bloc. Most of the fighting was Ukraine and Korea; the mainlands of the great powers were never invaded. The fall of the global economy and the spread of the Rage virus led to the fall of the Putin regime, the Chinese Communist Party, and the United States federal government under Kanye West. This ended the war before nukes came into widespread use. Nuclear weapons were used by the Americans against the DPRK in retaliation for their failed nuclear attack on Seoul, and by Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel against the Rage infectees and one another, which led to the collapse of all three states. Leaderless armies, now having to defend themselves against their enemies and Rage infectees, decided to carve out fiefdoms of their own, or toppled existing governments and established themselves as warlords. Germany was divided between American and Russian armies, establishing governments with different names but similar style. Only the Federal Republic of Germany and the Fourth Reich remained out of foreign control. 

The Middle East is still a mess - the irradiated ruins of Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran protect the Islamic State from retribution. The Islamic State took advantage of the chaos of WWIII and the Rage virus, presenting itself as the only source of order in the chaotic Middle East. Desperate, many joined the Islamic State's ranks, and any who opposed them were destroyed. Nearly a century of isolation and violence have only made the Islamic State more radical. In the Islamic State, everyone lives in a medieval state of destitution and religious terror, imposed by fanatics driving around in the last motorized vehicles in the region, powered by the last oil on Earth. Beyond the Islamic State's iron grip, the remnants of the old regimes - Ba'athists, Iranian theocrats, the Saudi remnants - all fight for whatever scraps they can. 

The European Union has fallen, their member states torn apart by roving bands of Middle Eastern migrants and neo-Nazi militants. Germany fell as global order fell, was torn apart by the invading armies, and is once again an impoverished group of bickering states. Spain, too, has broken apart, while France is in a state of perpetual civil war between right, left, far right, far left, center, and anyone else with an opinion. Britain has withdrawn from Europe, then the world; nobody knows what goes on beyond the sea walls, which have kept out rising sea levels and migrants alike. The migrants, rejected by the Europeans, formed their own communities, often armed and insular. These communities have adopted even more radical, racist and apocalyptic forms of Islam, and any chance for integration was destroyed decades ago. These "Eurabians" are at a state of near-constant war with their neighbors, and only the weakness and divisiveness of their neighbors prevents them from being destroyed. 

Putin's reign ended when he was torn to pieces by protesters (and Rage infectees) in Moscow, and the Russian Liberal Democratic Party stepped in to create a restored Russian Empire (with healthy doses of Soviet Union). The new Russian government organized the Russian armies that had occupied eastern Europe and ordered them to create a new Warsaw Pact. Rage-infected regions were bombarded with nerve gas; never mind the survivors, for they would only cause trouble later. Now, the Russian National Union is the tallest midget in the room, commanding the largest armies in the world. Eastern Europe has been thoroughly colonized by the Russians, who form the upper crust. The Russians also maintain their nuclear arsenal, making them the most powerful state in the world. 

The disastrous Trump and West presidencies destroyed America's economy; World War III destroyed whatever semblance of social order existed in the country, inspiring extremists of all stripes to take up arms and tear the country apart. Trump divided the country ideologically and took the country into World War III; West's Nero-esque take on the collapsing empire around him led to his "impeachment" via "lead poisoning" at the hands of the Secret Service. Civil war broke out, with the Western states seceding from the East. Much of the United States military disintegrated, as many soldiers deigned to defend their families or fight for their homes rather than fight for what they saw as an illegitimate government. The chaotic fighting, which spread to Canada, led to the Canadians and other NATO troops coming in from the war in Europe establishing a military regime to the north, taking control of some border states. A theocratic Christian army arose in the South, but was fought back to Texas, where it remained for the duration of the war. 

The country remains divided and war-torn; the wilderness is still beset by bandits and militias, the once-great cities of the country are bombed-out hellholes still fought over by rival political factions, if they haven't sunk beneath the waves. The automated defenses on The Trump Organization's Great Wall of America™ gun down people trying to flee the drug-induced, cartel-run ruins of Mexico and the American wasteland. The governments that emerged from the former United States are some flavor of dictatorship. The United States in the East attempts to maintain some semblance of democracy, in the form of sham elections, while the Secret Service, FBI, and NSA run the country from behind puppet presidents that would have been more suited for reality TV in past eras. The Allied States is a neo-fascist state which rejects the "degeneracy" of the past; it maintains one of the largest armies in the world, and maintains much of the old regime's nuclear weapons. Only their dependence on outside manufactured goods (in exchange for food) keeps them from invading the other states. Texas and California are also dictatorships; the former under the theocratic National Republicans, and the latter under the Communist Party. 

South America endured. Although hit hard by the Rage outbreak, leading to the destruction of several major cities, most South American countries have endured. True, the "technocratic" dictatorship of Brazil is different from the democracy of the early 21st century, but the use of ethanol fuels and other "green" technology has allowed Brazil to maintain a standard of living comparable to that of Brazil in the beginning of the 21st century. The biggest change to the continent's geopolitics - apart from the departure of America - is the formation of the Pan-American Socialist Union. Beginning as a worker's revolt against the Venezuelan government, this socialist state managed to also overthrow the Colombian government. Akin to the Soviet Union of old, the PASU is an autocratic, urban-focused communist state, with a heavy industry-focused economy built on the labor and corpses of millions. 

Africa - the source of the Rage virus - has been decimated. Many governments were toppled and replaced by warlord regimes, particularly in the Sahel. This led to the rise of apocalyptic Mahdist Islam, which now dominates the region in several self-proclaimed "Islamic Republics." These states give the Islamic State a run for its money, proclaiming that the End Times are here, and that God will only save mankind if the world is cleansed in the name of "true" Islam. Ironically, this has pitted the two North African theocracies against the Islamic State. In Central Africa, the governments surprisingly prevailed. Ethiopia became the core of the East African Union, an international effort to defend against Rage and the Islamic State, and is an economically viable - if corrupt - democracy. South Africa fell to civil war after its rage outbreak, with the Communist Party emerging from the ashes as the victor of the spoils. The Communists were ruthless in their war against Rage, and their offensives to save the South African poor made them popular. While the Communist Party elite live like kings, they still count on the heroism of their grandfathers to keep the people in line. 

The 21st century was not a Chinese century. The People's Republic of China's fortunes fell as its economy did, and was brought down by a combination of the Rage virus, war with the West and internal unrest brought down the CCP. The PRC lives on in the Spratlys, which they fought so hard to gain, but the mainland is a wasteland populated by many bickering warlords and would-be emperors claiming the Mandate of Heaven. Both the northern and southern Chinese regimes are in a constant state of war, but they expended their advanced weapons and technology long ago. Only a few elite soldiers and generals have access to modern weapons; the rest of the peasants are armed as their ancestors were a thousand years ago. The polluted Chinese environment means that birth defects are common; defective children are unceremoniously disposed of. A few communities persist as peasants and slaves in the old factories, manufacturing goods for the Chinese elite. 

India suffered terribly from the Rage virus, with nearly a fifth of its population perishing during the outbreak. Outbreaks are still common in some regions, as infected corpses occasionally crop up. The new Indian regime is ruled by an apocalyptic cult, one with a Hindu theological base, but integrating many elements from Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. The Ganges is no longer considered a holy river, and is now considered a river of death and poison. Order has become the primary goal of the new Indian government, which has proved difficult due to the breakdown of infrastructure. Thus, a new caste system was imposed in order to better organize the Indian survivors, with Indians being forced out of the cities and into the countryside in order to keep the chaos of urban Rage outbreaks at a minimum. The rich live in walled communities, enjoying the luxuries of the 21st century, while everyone else lives a medieval existence. Pakistan was destroyed by the Rage virus and eventually occupied by Indian and Islamic State armies. Rage infectees are allowed to wander the border wastes between both sides, to discourage raids. 

Japan survived much of the chaos, and indeed somewhat profited from the end of the war. The Rage epidemic and the participation in the war against China succeeded in recreating the Japanese military, and the fall of China and the United States allowed Japan to fill a power vacuum. Unfortunately, this remilitarization also came with a rise in neo-nationalism; after all, the "foreigners" had brought Rage onto Japanese soil, and the Chinese had bombed Japan throughout the war and must be made to pay. The breakdown of the Japanese economy, particularly via lack of imports from the rest of the world, led to a mass civil unrest which placed the military in de facto control of Japan. This military rekindled the Imperial Japanese spirit that had been destroyed after World War II. The Japanese then sought out resources elsewhere through conquest; while their attempts to conquer China were repulsed, they did succeed in conquering South Korea. The Japanese maintain a relatively high level of technology, aided by their continued use of nuclear power, and as the situation in China deteriorates further, the Japanese plan to strike. 

Australia did quite well, cutting itself off from the rest of the world after the Rage outbreak and refusing to participate in World War III. However, the decline of natural resources led to mass unrest and, as with Japan, a military coup. The Australian regime has crafted a national myth of the "Northern Betrayal": that the rest of civilization has betrayed all of mankind by somehow being responsible for the hardships of the world. This cult of hatred is a useful tool, and even the Australians' Russian allies are not totally exempt.