New York City

By 2040, New York City has become an urban wasteland—its towering skyscrapers reduced to rubble, its streets a twisted labyrinth of decay, remnants of its former glory lost to time. Once the heartbeat of the United States, New York now lies in ruin, its vast expanse barely recognizable. The destruction of the city began long before the devastating transcontinental missile barrage of 2030, which ultimately sealed the city’s fate.

In 1993, New York City was rocked by a multi megaton explosion, a retaliation for U.S. military actions in Bogotá. Colombian druglords detonated a bomb in Manhattan at noon on a Thursday, killing 15,000 people in an attack that was unofficially reported to have claimed many more lives. The detonation obliterated the World Trade Center and Rockefeller Center, turning Manhattan into a warzone. The explosion sent shockwaves through the city’s heart, and Manhattan itself was abandoned, its skyscrapers reduced to ash and debris. The city struggled to recover, but the damage was too severe. While plans were made to rebuild, the collapse of the federal government in the years that followed ensured that these efforts were quickly derailed.

Despite the devastation of Manhattan, other boroughs such as Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx endured. They gradually compensated for Manhattan’s loss, flourishing in ways the heart of the city never could. As a result, Manhattan became a sort of treasure trove, a desolate yet alluring place where treasure hunters combed the remains of bank vaults, jewelry shops, and long-forgotten businesses in search of riches. The city’s economy was in shambles, but for those who were willing to risk their lives, Manhattan held the promise of wealth.

The presence of powerful corporate entities such as Arasaka helped stave off total collapse in the city, but their efforts were largely focused on containing the chaos rather than rebuilding the city. Despite being tasked with protecting New York from utter destruction, Arasaka’s involvement was more about ensuring the survival of their own assets and interests in the region rather than the revival of the city as a whole.

New York’s woes only worsened in the following years. In November of 2020, a brutal winter descended upon the city, freezing it in place. The cold was relentless—temperatures plummeted to negative 30° Celsius nightly, and snowfalls reached a staggering 3.5 feet, shutting down major infrastructure, including airports and streets. The dead piled up in the streets, many of them homeless victims of the frigid conditions. Emergency services struggled to maintain order, and the National Guard was called in to assist. The city seemed to be teetering on the edge, and its residents were barely hanging on as basic services faltered.

Even amidst the ruin, certain corporations found opportunity in the chaos. Many offices, both major and local, continued to operate within the city, taking advantage of the disarray to secure their interests. The Perkins/Worldwide Contractors company was one of the few that had major projects underway in 2020, though whether these projects continued after the ensuing corporate wars remained uncertain. Another major initiative was the Gargoyles nomad tribe’s plan to extend the TransCon Maglev rail system to New York. While preliminary work had been set to begin in 2023, it’s unclear how the Fourth Corporate War and the following years affected this ambitious project.

As New York spiraled into chaos, it became part of the Boston-Washington Corridor (BosWash) during the Time of the Red, a region once governed by the remnants of the United States Federal Government. While New York might not have been the worst city in the former nation, it was certainly far from the best place to live. Life in the city grew increasingly dangerous, with factions fighting over the scraps of the old world. The federal government had dissolved, and with it, any sense of order. The remnants of the old world had crumbled into chaos, and those who remained in New York found themselves in a brutal struggle for survival.

It was in this environment that New York’s final fall began. The 2030 Incident, a transcontinental missile strike launched by Russia and North Korea, flattened much of what remained of the city, and the old boroughs, which had once been a symbol of resilience, were now little more than a war-torn ghost of what they had been. The blast waves left Manhattan an unrecognizable husk, its streets devoid of life. The boroughs surrounding Manhattan, including Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, struggled to survive, but they too fell into ruin over time.

In the wake of the 2030 strike, the remnants of New York became a dangerous, lawless zone. Factions, gangs, and scavengers quickly divided up the ruins, fighting for control of the city's remnants. Some clung to old traditions, while others saw the city as a chance to build something new, often at any cost. The Crossed, a group marked by their signature cross-shaped rash, wandered the city in the aftermath, their numbers growing as the infection spread through the desperate and the dying. Though their numbers were few, their presence was enough to strike fear into anyone who dared venture into the ruins.

Though the corporate entities and gangs still battle for dominance in the city's depths, the ancient powers that once held sway in New York remain—but they are shadowed now. Strange figures and darker forces, their origins unknown, continue to haunt the city. Rumors circulate of beings that stalk the ruins in the night, casting long, ominous shadows and waiting for the right moment to emerge from the darkness.

The people who remain in New York are caught in a never-ending cycle of survival, fighting off the remnants of the old world, scavenging whatever they can find, and wrestling for dominance over the city’s scattered remains. But amid the constant fighting and decay, there is still hope. There are whispers of hidden groups, secret factions that continue to build in the shadows, preparing for a time when New York may rise from the ashes—or when its last vestiges are erased forever. For now, however, the city lies broken and abandoned, its future uncertain and its past forgotten by all but the few who still dare to call it home.