It is the year of our Lord 2091.
Following the disastrous political breakdowns of the early 21st century, and an abortive Second Civil War, the “sole superpower” of the United States Of America is no more.
Instead, it is splintered into three nations: Cascadia, The Federal Democratic Republic of North America, and the Confederation of American States.
The FDRNA is the remnants of a post-Brexit, post-Commonwealth Canada, plus portions of the former US that wanted out; primarily “Union” states. It more-or-less resembles the US as someone of the early 21st century would recognize it, with a parliamentary government and universal health care.
Cascadia is the west coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington, with slices of Nevada and Idaho. Silicon Valley remains a technological powerhouse; LA still rules the entertainment world; Seattle, a powerhouse in coffee and aerospace, is the capital. Oregon still has amazing weed.
The CAS is the remnants of what’s left. It’s largely considered a failed state, a third-world backwater (it does include Florida, after all). It has 3 exports that provide over 90% of its GDP: mercenaries, guns, and corn. Its capital is Atlanta. The CAS government is best described as an oligarchic theocracy; it has a President who is selected by an Electoral College, who is selected from the House of Representatives, who is elected by those who can afford the “voting rights fee”.
The EU survives, held in place by the strong economies of Germany and France. England is on its own (Scotland having left the Commonwealth to stay in the EU; Canada left the Commonwealth when the US disintegrated; Australia left last, but left after a brief wave of nationalism). NATO is gone, but the EU holds the line, still, against Russian expansion.
Criminal oligarchs with nuclear weapons. A free-market economy gone mad. A web of financial connections and strong-armed treaties essentially rebuilt the old Soviet Union, but with a different ideology: cash rules everything around them. It flirts with nationalism, it flirts with regional power projection, it flirts with peace and it flirts with war. All it really cares about is money.
China is still (!) a “planned economy” and manufacturing powerhouse. North Korea has “gone dark”; it withdrew from all communication in the mid-21st century, after numerous threats of nuclear war (some theorize a rebellion and collapse of society). Japan overcame its “demographic crunch” and in the wake of the collapsed USA returned as a tech giant.
The continent of Africa was called “the new Wild West” earlier in the 21st century. Now, in 2091, it’s the “center of the world”. A powerhouse of natural resources, manufacturing, and growth-focused economic policies, the “dark continent” is now brightly lit by neon and digital currencies.
A number of nations engaged in savvy, aggressive expansion during the mid-21st century, as the former titans of western power struggled. China and Russia invested heavily as western corporations worked to divest themselves of their former national allegiances.
South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya became manufacturing and business capitals; southern nations like Zimbabwe converted themselves into high-end eco-parks for the nouveau riche; so-called “restive” nations like Mali were invaded by the resurgent African Union; a common criticism is that they have been “colonized” again, this time by corporate-backed mercenaries (with numerous allegations of mistreatment and abuse by racist CAS forces).