#fallout inspired

How Did The World End?

In the year 2085, World War III had begun.

Nobody exactly remembers how it happened, only that tensions rose and the countries, armed with nuclear weapons from the Cold War, started depleting their stocks by using them on each other.

Many cities and countries were hit, but by this point nuclear defenses had been created- and the damage wasn't as bad as it would have been, say, 60 years ago. People survived, and moved on with the war.

The lack of proper fear and high ground prompted many countries to violate the BWC and create biological weapons to wear down the populations of other countries. "Gene bombs" were created, and dropped on major cities. People fled in fear, spreading the contamination and ultimately dooming the fighting forces of each country. Sadly, humanity itself was also doomed because of this.

Super-soldiers and "tube babies" became common, all created in an effort to turn the tides of the war. The most prominent of these programs was Project NUWA, a super-soldier project that tried to force evolution onto human embryos, and Project LOTUS, which attempted to splice human DNA with that of plant genes and create stronger soldiers.

In a last ditch attempt between America, Russia, and China, they fired three thermonuclear warheads at once, which hit and created a massive explosion- the force and heat of which speeding up the melting of the ice caps and casting most of the world in water. Tsunamis and earthquakes destroyed what was left, and people's DNA was so fucked by the prior gene bombs that humanity had practically gone extinct.

In the year 2100, the old world was gone. A new world, the Wastes of Aurala, began to prosper terribly.

So... What Happened After That?

The gene bombs coupled with the leftover radiation from the thermonuclear warheads left the remnants of humanity... fairly dead. Instead of regular old humans, three new variants emerged:

Demons, Dirt-bloods, and Beasts.

Dirt-bloods were humans who just looked... wrong. Eyes too small, mouths curled up just a bit much, fingers elongated and legs backwards. The uncanny valley was strong with these folks, and they gained the name "dirty blooded" in reference to their irradiated genes.

Demons, on the other hand, were humans whose genomes had copied and mutated to resemble that of animals. They typically had beastly features, and were very clearly inhuman. The type of animal they were depended on the person and the area they grew up in.

(Humans miraculously saved from the genome-scratching were referred to as "pure-bloods", due to their genes being unfiltered with radiation or animal DNA. They were unique, regular humans, different in all the perfect ways they needed to be.)

And then there were Beasts. Beasts were people changed too much, losing themselves and turning into feral monsters. It's recommended that you leave these creatures alone- and if you do see one, put it out of its misery. God knows how long they've had to endure hell.

How Did Society Change?

Society changed greatly- television was a commodity for the dreamers, food was dried and served with little fanfare, and clean water was a precious resource only the hardest workers could find and drink.

Most groups devolved into nomadic tribes, full of those who had a fickle reason to survive, and they typically put trust and "pack mentality" first, reasoning that they survived better if together. Survival became the common instinct of everyone on the world's surface, and the idea of procreation was adamant. Marriage was a forgotten concept, people instead "mating" to preserve their remnant generations.

The animal genes also led to a lot of animalistic contest between finding mates. Many, both men and women and non-binary alike, battled for the affections of another.

(Sexuality and gender remained a fluid thing. Same-sex couples weren't uncommon, and asking for one's pronouns had become a form of greeting in this day and age.)

Children were a protected people. Every mating couple was expected to either bear or raise children, in hopes that the remnants of humanity could continue on. For those that were rendered infertile, they typically parented and doted on others in the form of surrogate families, often growing in size and becoming clans.

The idea of continuing what little was left was important. Even the sickest of the sick deserved to survive, if only to carry on the future for a little while.

Wait, What Happened To The Remaining "Pureblood" Humans?

Well, one day, a bunker full of pure humans was discovered, somehow saved from the bombing and radiation. They had been monks, who agreed to meditate in an underground monastery in defiance of being recruited as soldiers. Upon emerging in a distasteful world, many were quickly killed by raiders and cannibals, jealous that they survived the horrors of the war with little conflict.

One monk was rescued, and word got out that he could be used to save humanity- to fix everyone's genes and turn the world back the way it was. The only issue is that the lab with the required material to conduct such an experiment was in what was left of India, and the bunker they had been discovered in was far up by Northern China. The monk, named Sanzang, was ill equipped to handle a journey there.

So, he found some help in the form of an ex-Project NUWA soldier, codenamed "Wukong".

So What Now?

Well, I'll cover where Monkie Kid's cast fits into this in a later post! for now, feel free to read over this one and make your own ideas and theories! Thanks so much for reading this far!