Thunderbolt Black - The World

The world of Thunderbolt Black can be seen as a 'sidestep' to our own world.

While the names and locations of continents, cities, countries, and more are all very familiar, it is a world that has changed in it's history, culture, and political landscape significantly due to the events of the Third World War, and the events immediately previous and following it.

While the war itself is detailed in the article of the same name, this article will detail the Earth of Thunderbolt Black in much more general terms, in order to provide a guide to the political and culturally differences to the Earth of the real world.

Countries and Territories
Following the end of the Third World War, the state of the world had changed greatly for the forseeable future. Massive political and social upheaval had occurred as a direct result of the war and its' effects on the population - Casualties directly attributed to the war number around five hundred million people. Of these, a majority were caused by disease and conditions attributed to the fallout from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons use, as well as starvation, decline in living conditions, and other associated causes.

The next largest group of casualties stems from those killed directly as a consequence of attacks on population centres, and directly as a result of combat, and is a wide mix of civilians and serving personnel. The armed forces of all countries involved in combat were drastically reduced in number in the frontline ranks, and many support personnel and officer ranks were also devastated after attacks on supporting locations and bases.

Many governmental bodies were also lost, with reorganisations caused due to emergency necessity, after the loss of state or government heads. Emergency governments are still in place in some countries, due to the continued need for rationing, disaster or civil relief efforts, and similar necessities.

In addition to the cultural, population, and political changes, massive changes in weather patterns and even basic habitable conditions have occurred due to the nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons released. The buildups of ash, and the changes in temperature, wind directions, and similar situations are still being felt now. Further to this, the sheer destructive power and combat over cities and other built up areas has rendered many of them uninhabitable. Farming land has become infertile in some locations, or infrastructure such as mines, power stations, dams, factories, transportation links, communication hubs and similar have been destroyed or damaged, forcing other sources of the same materials or services to be used more heavily, or constructed from scratch.

Mostly, destruction of this level was limited to cities and towns, but some territories were destroyed almost totally due to radioactive and chemical fallout from weapon releases coupled with contamination from destroyed heavy industry, followed by destruction or dissolution of governments and any organisational bodies capable or willing to repair the damage rendered to the environment.

Other countries have dissolved as a formalised and regulated entity due to loss of government, invasion of territory, or decay of communications and control of the areas they formerly covered. Many of these places have since been colonised by other groups of people instituting their own methods of control and organisation, and in some cases, new governments have grown up in their place.

The damage and destruction in some countries and locations, such as those that are rich in oil or other natural resources, or those that were a linchpin in the economy (for the same or other reasons), or global defence, has resulted in a shift in cultural, political, and other priorities, shifting the global centre of politics and development from the USA to Europe and Asia. Currently, while the USA remains strategically and politically significant, focus is shifting to the Pacific, with China, India, and Australia becoming the new leaders for the world, as they suffered less damage from the war than many other countries, and have remained viable and mostly intact.

Differences by Region

 * North America
 * Central America
 * South America
 * Caribbean
 * Atlantic
 * Europe
 * Africa
 * Middle East
 * Asia
 * South-East Asia
 * Australasia
 * Micronesia

Trivia

 * Much of the game worlds' altered geography is based from a mish-mash of sources - specifically, the Twilight X series of comic books, the first and second Modern Warfare games, and the movie Red Dawn.