North America The continent of North America is riven into pieces by Russia’s focused attention throughout the Collapse. There is, almost literally, no piece left standing atop another of what came before, barring only a few exceptions.

Canada: Canada collapsed as the chaos of the American Collapse surged over the border. Victoria didn’t help. The West is Japanese; the East is Victorian. Everything in between was caught between a tide of refugees. The land is now...quiet. Deathly so. Few survived, and many fled.

Mexico: Broke apart during the Collapse. A Revivalist movement of its own has been carefully recentralizing in the center of the country, trying to move too quickly and gain Russia’s notice. They have accepted an association status with the Revivalist Council. The outlying regions of Mexico have yet to affiliate with them, and the northern regions along the old border in particular are generally much more interested in the Revivalist Council’s new and expanded mandate.

Puerto Rico: A coerced Russian client with massive native Revivalist sentiment as the result of a colossal refugee population. Dependent on external aid for food security, which is Russia’s primary lever. Active rebel movements, none effective at preventing Russia’s profitable exploitation of the island. PR has not been a darling for foreign support to date, and the rebels wither for lack of adequate armaments.

Jamaica: A similar situation to Puerto Rico, save that they were conquered outright, and with virtually no prospects of liberation. The same kinds of rebel bands hide inland, but tend to be crushed more frequently; Jamaica sits very near to the Panama Canal, and is not understood to be permitted to be too troublesome.

Minor States and Various Overseas Territories: Nommed by Alexander at some point irrelevant to the story. They were never going to affect things. To varying degrees, they are Russian fleet bases, and receive precisely as much investment as they need to remain not an active problem for the increasingly stretched and unambitious Caribbean Fleet Command in Colón. Some sit atop vital routes of trade or supply for Russia’s presence and commercial operations, and do not breathe without permission. Some enjoy de facto independence as long as they make the right mouth noises. This may make sense from a force conservation perspective, but it doesn’t do the solidity of Russia’s grasp on the region any favors. They are, indeed, an outstanding point of tension with their former owners, who are not happy.

The Bahamas: Previously able to keep Russian attention away with pretty words, and since affiliated with the burgeoning state centered on Miami.

Hispaniola: Haiti is an old Russian client from the earliest days of the Collapse, and is fairly comfortable with the arrangement. The Dominican Republic was a PRC client, before the Cascadian Crisis, and thus are in a very awkward position. They play a delicate diplomatic game, trying to balance retaining independence – including through foreign aid, where possible – and being too troublesome and unprofitable to squish. The game has gotten considerably easier, now that Russia’s grasp in Central and South America has been so visibly slipping. Lately, the DR has been openly reaching out to Europe, and to a lesser extent to the RoC.

Cuba: Cuba had a rough time of it in the early Collapse, but were able to endure as always. Russia was willing to ignore the leftist aesthetics of their regime in the name of bringing them into the fold, and Cuba happily took the out. They are an independently active member of the Russosphere in the Caribbean, using traditional and more open means of intervention to exercise their interests in the Sea. They can be counted upon to resist encroachments on Russosphere interests in the theater, acting in concert with the Russian Caribbean Fleet.

Panama: A Russian client, and the center of Russian administration. Colón is the base for the Russian Caribbean Fleet. The nation is a focus region, and is kept thoroughly locked down.

Central America: As far as Alexander is concerned, all of a set. Nations in Panama’s neighborhood that must understand they are not to make trouble. He honestly probably didn’t actually topple regimes here, but the Caribbean Fleet certainly demonstrated in force to make clear that there was a new top dog, not to be messed with. The only people to actually feel the sting would be people who elected to be recalcitrant. I’m unsure of who that might, be, and it frankly doesn’t matter. It’s Russian-aligned country, now.

South America South America is a region I frankly do not know well enough to do any justice. They suffered the Collapse like anybody else. I know for a fact that Venezuela would not survive the destruction of the international oil market, so they died. Maybe they’re back if somebody had an interest in that. I know that the European and Asian powers have no time to deal with them. Beyond that? I know there are old grudges there. A few almost certainly have flared. I simply don’t know enough to say what. I would have done more research if y’all had chosen Miami given that Miami has contact with them, but as of now, I just don’t know. I do know that French Guiana is now independent simply because there was no ability to maintain control for a while, there. Africa Africa is a big place, and I am *singularly *unqualified to talk specifics. Let’s talk broad things, instead.

Northern Africa: Always closer to Europe, Northern Africa is today a fairly dynamic place. Russian and EU interests court and..."court"...local powers, seeking to control the Mediterranean and in particular the Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. It is a political battleground, one where Russia has a fairly entrenched head start.

Southern Africa: Away from the Mediterranean, Africa is actually free of European politics for the first time in centuries. Absolutely nobody has money or time to continue the pre-Collapse activities they tended to indulge in. For the first time in centuries, Africa from the Sahara on south is relatively free to develop and grow in its own way. It’s fairly tragic, and speaks poorly of a staggering swathe of people and things, that I have no idea what that looks like. I presume the Collapse was not kind to it, but I can’t imagine that European and American interests absenting themselves had negative long-term effects.

Europe The European Union survived the Collapse. It barely survived, but survive it did, and these days it has strengthened more than ever. It is now closer to a full-blown federation as its members pull together to resist the Russian menace. It has lost much of Eastern Europe, but what remains is standing back up and preparing for yet another war to shake the planet. Germany has, through most other candidates imploding, managed to find itself as the leading power of this new Europe. The irony is lost on nobody, and appreciated to extremely variable degrees. The EU is on talking terms with China, but a formal alliance has yet to materialize, given that Europe is hesitant of mortally offending the vast majority of non-Chinese Asia.

The Fallen: Russia had quite a free hand during the global chaos. Many European nations found themselves suffering from Russian attentions. Annexed by Russia were: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. Romania and Bulgaria now play host to puppet regimes imposed by military and economic pressure.

The Balkans: Europe’s powderkeg did not fare well in the Collapse, and receiving Russian notice just as the EU was pulling itself together did not help at all. Greece is a battleground, Kosovo and Serbia are actively at war, North Macedonia has moved its entire military to the border with Russian Bulgaria, everything north and west of that is actively on fire from when Russian Romania tried to invade all of them before promptly exploding into economic ruin and needing to be bailed out by its master, and what order exists is the result of the EU wading in and smacking things roughly into shape. Broadly, what isn’t Russian is officially EU-aligned. In reality, the EU is struggling to address the result of Russia’s stymied attempt at extending its arm throughout the Balkan region.

France: On fire. Still. Figuratively...and very literally. Russia managed to get its hooks in early. At the moment, the chaos is economic, as the hooks have been cleared out, but France is still pulling itself to its feet. It has utterly lost its overseas possessions. It has been reduced to Metropolitan France. Their primary aim is to restabilize and begin participating in the EU as a great power once more.

Britain: What do you think happens when an island nation dependent on trade sees the international market collapse? Britain today is not the Britain of before the Collapse. England, Wales, and Scotland are part of a shaky restored United Kingdom. Everything else is gone. The Commonwealth of Nations is dead. Northern Ireland never rejoined. The overseas possessions are gone. Britain today is a shadow of its former self, its prominence obliterated perhaps for good. It is now a part of the EU not out of any grand policy decisions, but because membership was a condition of the EU coming in and reassembling the country from scraps. It is less than a decade reunited, and still in desperate shape. It is recovering, though, and quite eager for the chance to show that it still has the capacity to stand for itself.

Italy: The country fractured during the Collapse, and there might have been a civil war. Presently, the nation is divided, with other EU nations attempting to negotiate a reconciliation. As of Turn Seven, this reconciliation has gone through and Italy is reunited once more.

Spain: Catalonia lived free! Briefly! Its economy exploded in like a month, but for that month, it lived free! Spain did not do so hot. They maintained continuity of governance, but lost control of many areas. Today they have reunified, however, so they’ve done better than most. Also they got Gibraltar back. The people there have mixed feelings.

Denmark: Doesn’t exist, obviously. In seriousness, the Scandinavian Nations generally pulled through better than most anybody would expect, although Greenland and Denmark have now permanently parted ways. Denmark acted in concert with its northern neighbors to support Finland, which, well...you’ll see in a few entries.

Norway: Also survived more-or-less intact. In fact, having massive fishing waters actually did it a world of good, although they nearly hit the crisis point on those waters’ carrying capacity. Their stake in the energy market did them significantly less good, but they survived. They have, finally, joined the EU. They maintain the common Scandinavian foreign policy mission.

Sweden: Words cannot describe how nice it was to be sitting on a healthy iron base when the international market collapsed. Sweden acted aggressively to restore economic activity within Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea and has surged ahead to prominence. It heads the Scandinavian nations in a unified effort to unite their foreign policies in the dangerous modern world, particularly with regards to...

Finland: Oh, Alexander wanted Finland. Oh, how he curses that he assumed he could pick them off at his leisure. With Scandinavia recovering faster than anticipated, they realized that so revanchist a Russia would surely come for Finland. The nation is the beneficiary of massive economic and military support from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, with the three nations pouring vast sums into supporting their neighbor in the hopes that it keeps Russia at bay. By the time Alexander turned his focus here, Finland was more than prepared to resist him. By the time he freed up his attention from commitments elsewhere, the EU was intact enough to make pushing through anyway unwise. Finland mortally offends him by its very existence — a should-have-been victim who survived only due to the interference of others.

Greenland: In the Collapse, they formally separated from Denmark, albeit on amicable terms. Their economy largely vanished during the Collapse, save for the fishing industry, which at least ensured they did not starve. Today they are rather isolationist.

Iceland: Iceland didn’t starve, not to the same extent as Britain, but it didn’t have a happy reaction to the Collapse. Like Greenland, everything was slashed save for food production, and today they remain incredibly agrarian. They have at last accepted EU membership to stave off increasing Russian pressure to grant free access out of the Barents Sea, and the resultant economic aid is allowing them to return to their pre-Collapse diversification into manufacturing and service industries. Iceland is a nation in recovery.

Germany: The German economy, severed from the global trade networks that built it, exploded in the Collapse. Old divisions came to the fore, and for a moment, it looked as though division, perhaps even fragmentation, was in its future again. Alexander saw the opportunity, and moved to sponsor a Hohenzollern of…debated…willingness to the German throne as a loyal ally. Alexander miscalculated. A common enemy and the loss of the United States gave the foundering German government the impetus it needed to rally popular support, stabilize the government, and begin taking the steps necessary to restore itself. With Poland to the east buying time, Germany had the space it needed to stop the bleeding, put itself back together and step forward as a whole and rising power at the center of Europe. Germany today does not lead the EU, but it is the stable center from which the body can rest much of its strength. It is not the equal of its pre-Collapse self, but in the new reality it has done well enough. Germany is one of Alexander’s most costly failures.

Poland: Legends will be written of Poland. The only nation to survive the Collapse, maintain governmental continuity, and actively oppose Russia’s expansion. The only nation to maintain the fighting for fifty long years. The nation that utterly destroyed itself trying — and largely failing — to keep the border from moving further west, offering aid and volunteers with the barest of deniability to each successive state to feel Russia’s wrath. Poland fed itself into the fires of intrigue trying to stop Russia’s ambitions. The best that can be said is that they slowed Russia down, when dealing with nations directly bordering Poland. They did not fall, at least, and Alexander certainly intended for them to. But they did not fall. These days they are utterly incapable of fighting anymore. They are the front of the still-cold conflict with Russia, but have no capacity to participate. They have maintained membership in the EU, and now are completely dependent on it. They gave everything, and perhaps managed to give the rest of Europe time. They try to find that adequate consolation, as Germany steps past them into a leading role in Europe.

Asia Now the site of a fierce struggle for dominance, Asia is one of the two great battlegrounds in the modern cold war. It is a dynamic and tense scene, but despite that, many have found prominence and even prosperity.

The Fallen: Here, too, Russia took its pound of flesh. Alexander is no lover of the Soviet Union, but he surely loves their expanse on a map. He has come after it. Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are now all a part of Russia. Pakistan is currently in chaos as a result of Alexander frequently intervening to perpetuate the Collapse and ensure that India stays focused on China. Alexander did, however, stay the fuck away from Afghanistan.

China: Despite remaining on its feet for an impressive length of time after the Collapse, the People’s Republic of China simply could not weather the strain. After the Cascadia fiasco, it collapsed, once more, into several feuding states. To severely elide over the chaos, a group of factions in southeastern China federated, formally reconciled with Taiwan, and thereby gained a significant advantage over other factions. Through diplomacy and force, they reunited the country (*including *Tibet, although there is actual acknowledgement of the stickiness of the situation these days and negotiations over its future status are ongoing). The new China styles itself as the Second Republic of China, rejecting the memory of the PRC in favor of claiming Sun Yat-Sen’s legacy. It is probably the most democratic the country has ever been for a sustained period of time. It portrays itself as the champion of Asian democracy. Unfortunately, their interventionist attitude and their status as, well, a China, does not make its neighbors terribly well disposed to it. It struggles for traction, and Russia and Japan primarily seek to contain it by diplomatically isolating it. This has the knock-on effect of Europe being hesitant to formally commit to China; they don’t want to piss off the rest of Asia.

Japan: Japan suffered an island nation’s fate in response to the death of international trade. The central institutions survived, but they were crippled. In the chaos, the nationalists at last got their way, and either Akihito or Naruhito was put in formal power (with the, "loyal support," of the nationalist military). Hearing this, Alexander smelled an ally. Japan reunified with full and focused Russian assistance, and Imperial Japan lived again. Now with allies more than willing to give them whatever they needed to build a military, they waded into the nightmare of the Collapse and carved out an empire. Nobody loves Japan. Asia remembers the last Empire of Japan; they just fear China more. Japan is part of a very fragile and extremely angry coalition hoping to contain Chinese influence, and they have a formal alliance with Russia. Their star is bound to the resurgence of monarchist power. They will live or die on the fate of their ally.

North Korea: North Korea weathered the initial Collapse decently and tried flexing its muscles. Thanks to East Asia becoming a superpower’s playground over the years, they had precious little room to move. Eventually, the last of the Kims was overthrown in a Chinese intervention, and the northern half of Korea is currently a Chinese protectorate.

South Korea: South Korea spent many years rattling sabers along the border with North Korea. And then Japan came. With Russian backing and with China in no state to block, South Korea fell. It was a serious and bloody war, but with the Collapse hamstringing any attempts at foreign help and Japan receiving full Russian support, it was only a matter of time once Japan committed hard enough. The country is now occupied, and home to an absolutely vicious resistance movement against this new Imperial occupation.

India: India has virtually zero reason to love China. Having survived the Collapse broadly intact, they took advantage of the PRC’s collapse to very firmly settle the question of disputed territories with the various Chinese successor states, and they actively intervened in attempting to prevent China’s reunification – which, on a few occasions, nearly led to all-out war, averted only by the resurgent China’s willingness to blink last where it counted. Today, they are fierce allies of Japan and Russia in containing Chinese ambitions. They stay on talking terms with the EU and make abundantly clear their manifest disinterest in a general defense agreement with Russia and Japan, but they are firmly committed on the issue of China: namely, "fuck everything north of our border." They also enjoyed the chance to settle up with Pakistan when the nation imploded during the Collapse, and Pakistan has, as stated above, not recovered since.

Thailand: Thailand was a nation heavily tied into the international market. The Collapse put a knife in its ability to sustain its economy. The country exploded, taking many of its neighbors with it. The Thailand of the modern day is the result of a Japanese intervention in the region which placed a Japanese-"advised" military government in charge. While initially a thinly-veiled puppet, the military government worked hard to connect Thailand back into the resurgent international market and has recovered much of its autonomy, now being more accurately characterized as a junior partner to Japanese ambitions. They have seized the Myanmarese portions of the Malay Peninsula, gained land from what used to be Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia, and serve as the center of gravity for Japanese influence in the region, bringing military and political pressure to bear throughout its neighborhood to counter Chinese efforts.

Vietnam: Vietnam is a political battleground, once more split between warring states. The north is a Chinese-sponsored democracy centered around Hanoi. The south is a regime under Thai control, centered around Ho Chi Minh City. These nations would likely be the site of a vicious proxy war — one with the potential to send regional tensions hot, given how little China can afford yet another hostile southern neighbor and how catastrophic Chinese forces gaining access to a Vietnam-sized and -shaped front along Thailand’s eastern frontiers would be for Thailand’s national security — were it not for a third faction occupying those parts of the nation between the foreign-backed powers. This is a nationalist faction rejecting foreign patronage entirely and violently hostile to either side. In what would be ironic to somebody with little grounding in geopolitics, this faction sees a substantial amount of Russian backing, despite their talk of self-sufficiency. Thus, the North and South Vietnams focus, for the moment, on breaking Central Vietnam – or, as it calls itself, Free Vietnam.

The Middle East: The collapse of the world’s largest oil consumer did not do kind things to the Middle East. While not every Middle Eastern nation is an oil producer, many of the largest ones are, and the loss of the oil market did not do kind things. The region exploded. I am not qualified to determine the shape of that explosion. I am extra super not qualified to tell you what, exactly, happened to Israel, although I’m sure it was not the stuff of Disney movies. Suffice it to say that the place exploded, and things have gotten far worse with various powers reaching out to stabilize things in their favor, regain access to the oil fields, or in Alexander’s case, keep it an unexploitable mess. It is a mess. Turkey is stable; it is under immense pressure from Russia to keep the Bosporus clear. It is otherwise left alone, but is under no illusions as to how much room it has to even blink.

Oceania Oceania is the subject of an imperial battleground. Largely defined as a Japanese sphere of influence as a term of their alliance with Russia, the natives are not necessarily so sanguine.

Australia: Australia more or less survived the Collapse. It bloody hurt, but they made it. In the years following, they had a lot of time to build back up unmolested by outside influences. By the time outside powers came to call, Australia was ready to re-enter the global sphere on its own terms. Australia is the founding member of the Pacific-Asian Cooperative Sphere (PACS), a political body devoted to resisting domination by Chinese, Russian, and Japanese influences. Comprising Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, and several small island nations in the Southeast Pacific, they use their collective power to resist the Great Powers’ influence while remaining on the international stage.

New Zealand: New Zealand was never a great power, and it is not one now. However, by its participation in PACS, it has found a role in international politics.

Indonesia: Indonesia exploded and reformed somewhere between two and seven times, depending on who you ask. Currently, the nation is reunited under a military regime given heavy Australian support in the interest of a strong ally. This has had certain effects, to whit: Brunei, Malaysian Borneo, and Timor-Leste no longer exist. Indonesia is extremely opportunistic about expanding its borders against the backdrop of the Collapse. This has not remotely improved the nation’s history of separatist movements, and they are currently trying very hard not to choke on their new acquisitions. The rest of PACS finds them...trying...as a partner.

Hawaii: Hawaii fell to a Japanese intervention. They formally own the islands, although they lease the island of Oahu to the Russian Navy.

Philippines: The Philippines fell to Japan when it was still struggling back to its feet. Today it is the center of a brutal war of resistance, but Japan’s control of the cities and ports remains strong. PACS would love to see the Philippines brought into the alliance, but has no interest in open conflict with Japan.

Papua New Guinea: Roughly speaking, Papua New Guinea came through intact...ish...but got hit with the battleground of empires stick. To whit: Japan decided that a land border with which to apply pressure to the Indonesian house of cards would come in handy, so they got to work actively fucking over PNG in the hopes of being able to sweep in. However, they underestimated PACS’s willingness and capability to respond. Indonesia swept in first – but Indonesia underestimated the rest of PACS’s willingness to also step in, and overestimated their tolerance for the new junta’s imperialist tendencies. PNG is now a trust zone for the PACS, with Indonesia continually agitating to bring it under their rule. The others, kind of sick and tired of covering for Indonesia in the international court of opinion, are saying, "thank you for your input, but no." Then there are significant factions within Indonesia making the point that they’re really having enough indigestion already.

Antarctica So long nominally unclaimed by the various world powers, Antarctica was mostly left out of great power politics during the Collapse. As the world went to hell, the only ones who maintained presences on the continent were those near to it. With international politics melting down, those who remained decided to formalize their claims, for what very little use that was. Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina now split the southernmost continent between them, with the former Norwegian, French, and British zones having been divided between them.