Tunguska 2
On the world termed "Tunguska 2", multiple fragments hit the Earth, and they scattered across western Europe, with the largest chunk obliterating Paris. In an instant, the centers of world power -- Paris, London, Berlin -- were gone. So was most of the old world order. Further impacts, hitting the Atlantic, set up devastating tsunami scouring the coastlines of Europe, North Africa, and North America.
Several years of cold and dark followed. The US split into three regions, each claiming to be the 'rightful' government: One centered in Chicago, one in Dallas, and one in San Francisco. Of the three, the western "US" is the most stable as of this Earth's 1930; The Chicago and Dallas factions have ever-shifting borders throughout the Midwest.
Russia rallied against the floods of refugees, becoming fervently nationalist. The disaster helped strengthen the weak government established in 1908, and the ensuing decade saw increasing centralization of power and punishment of dissent, culminating in Stalin becoming Prime Minister in 1922, then eliminating the structures that might have led to his replacement 'for the duration of the current crisis'. One his first moves was the annexation of the 'destroyed territories', making them 'protectorates' of Russia 'for their protection and reconstruction'
In India, uprisings against the now-isolated British were swift and final, as were similar events in Africa and Asia. Japan, noting Russia was distracted to the West, saw its own Imperial ambitions expand through China. An informal but widely understood "agreement" with the Russian Empire let each conduct their affairs, though both knew the Russo Japanese war would begin anew.
BREACH
Tunguska-2 is inevitably destined to be a major battleground in the interdimensional cold war; it's developed enough to be useful and still unstable enough to control with only a small number of correctly-placed operatives. Humanitarians want to stage covert missions to introduce vaccines, cold-resistant crops, and help restore infrastructure. Russian, Japanese, and Indian nationalists are eager to help "their" nations come out of the conflict as global superpowers, while Americans want to prevent the US from becoming permanently balkanized into a second- or third- tier state. As BREACH is a NATO organization, its controllers are interested in restoring some sort of Western Europe to the ruins; a difficult task, as perhaps 20% of the population survived the initial impacts and the ensuing famines and floods.Unfortunately for almost everyone's plans, the breach point is near Denver, Colorado (part of the "Texan States"). This makes even getting overseas, to where the "action" is, internationally, very difficult. The "G2" Breach Stabilizer will likely find a few additional points (perhaps, secretly, they already have...) and then things will get very complicated indeed. At the moment, the main interest on the part of BREACH itself is figuring out which of the three claimants to the US government is the best one to back. (Which in turn comes down to which conflicting interests ultimately win out.)
Australia, relatively unscathed, has been the destination of choice for refugees from the West, and elsewhere, if they managed to get there; it is becoming one of the most cosmopolitan of the new nations.
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