After the quake, power is out, water lines are down, and most roads are effectively impassable. Shortages of food, fuel and the collapse of infrastructure are the facts the define life in North America. Although there are silos full of grain in the rural areas, with most roads unusable, there’s no way to get it to people in the cities who are starving. Official estimates have the US military repairing major highways within 8 to 12 months. Until that time, city residents can count on only sporadic food air-drops from the military or international sources. They will have to mainly rely on their own food supplies to survive. Scavenging is the rule of the day. Packs of survivors roam the streets of the cities, fighting for whatever scraps they can find.

The US military makes the occasional food drop to cities and towns with airplanes or helicopters. These are few and far between as their food and fuel supplies are limited because the broken transportation infrastructure limits their ability to restock. The international community has attempted to help. Naval vessels from various nations anchor off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to stage UN aid deliveries. Despite the generosity of the international community, the resources devoted to disaster relief for North America are dwarfed by the size of the need. The US government has initiated negotiations with the UN and EU to increase their contributions

The military is largely occupied with maintaining order in Washington DC and a few other key cities and important military installations. Their resources are stretched thin with just those missions and so most other areas must rely on their local police forces and a few National Guard troops. It’s far from enough. Social order has collapsed in many places.

Most urban areas are quickly carved up by street gangs and other criminal factions. Life becomes almost feudal, with the citizens trapped in the criminals’ territory having to provide tribute in return for “protection”. (Tribute generally takes the form of half of whatever food they can scavenge or any food they have horded from before the quake. The cash economy has collapsed in most cities; money or traditional valuables are worthless.) A few areas in Centennial City are not under the control of criminals. Centennial Park and St Augustine’s Cathedral both house large groups of homeless and refugees. Additionally, the police and National Guard have claimed a supermarket warehouse as their base of operations on the city’s south-side and a few hundred refugees are under their protection there. Also a few dedicated doctors have declared the hospital district a free zone and provide medical care to anyone from any faction who comes to them.

Fights for territory are a daily fact in life as the various gangs battle for dominance. The practice of tagging – spray painting graffiti to identify who owns what turf – is universal now – with even the cops and some heroes taking it up.

While the other factions squabble back and forth in daily territory battles, the police and National Guard are determined to liberate the city from their grasp. They employ a “clear and hold” strategy in which they drive the gangsters out of a neighborhood and then establish a “precinct house” to maintain security there as the main force moves on. The police foster close ties with the heroes of the city, with some heroes even taking up residence at the fortified grocery warehouse that serves as the police HQ. For the others, the police have a limited supply of commlinks with extremely long charge batteries (donated by one of the city’s technology-based heroes.) Their last-resort alternate communication method is the super-speedster Blue Streak who has volunteered to help the cops with communication and intelligence gathering.

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