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[Sanctume]

The Great Deluge flooded the Los Angeles basin and literally created the Great Los Angeles Lake. 
As for remaining infrastructure, the old Staple Center miraculous remained unscathe. 
The LA Lakers basketball team still play to this day.

There is also less traffic now that gasoline is very hard to obtain, so the bike-to-work movement surged.

The old homeless population died, and those millions ex-home owners hit by the 2008 housing crash no longer needed to pay their mortgage and remain in their dwelling. 

Central California's farmlands are now spitting out the new billionaires as the Hollywood in the south and Silicon Valley in the north are now useless.

South Southern California remains a mighty military center in the west coast with San Diego naval port as the hub of force and technology.

Q: Are there any news of South East Asian counties?  Surely the Great Deluge wipes most of them out, but it will leave fertile lands.

[Ardent Debater]

A: During the Flare and the Great Deluge, the coasts were flooded, and with no power, it was impossible to support such a large population. Without the electrical machinery necessary to maintain the agricultural industry, and the foreign imports vital to feed the massive population, there was an enormous famine, and millions died as a result. The succession of disasters broke the backs of the National Governments, leaving a lawless wasteland where food was many times as valuable as gold. In the hundreds of years since then, Civilization has begun to restart, although most of the Technology was lost. The region is under the control of several dozen, small, feudal Kingdoms with a Medieval level of Technology, The 3rd Han Dynasty of Guangdong has begun to assimilate the region, and with their superior Technology and ancient Ideology, it's only a matter of time before the region lies under their control.
 
Q: What's happened in Utah since the Flare?

[HugeNerdAndProudOfIt]

A: Utah is a satellite nation of the U.E.F., known mostly for it's recent advancements in biofuels.

Q: what system of government do the Dolphins/Octopuses follow?

[Greatness942]

A: Joint Patriarchy/Monarchy for the Dolphins. They have a royal bloodline dating back to the surviving members after the Flare. Thus, they have an appointed King and Queen. The Octopi are a bit more...complicated. It has a system of voting a leader up, like Democracy. That leader's first born son or daughter takes charge after the first leader's death or impeachment like a Patriarchy or Monarchy. After the First Born dies, leaves, or is ousted from rule, the cycle begins again.

Q: Have the mutations on Earth spawned any beings thought mythical before the Flare? Like Sasquatch, or the Jersey Devil? Perhaps even beings of fiction, like Werewolves or Zombies?

[VoidSlayer]

A: No truly supernatural creatures have been conclusively documented, but superstition has been brought back in full force, even in areas where organized religion has declined.  With the addition of numerous animal and human mutations with odd or previously unseen abilities, many legends of old and new are told by Seekers.  Venom breathing deer, heavily armored bats, spine throwing fish are just some examples.  Every region has dozens of mythical monsters.

The most disturbing version of this are where human mutants with superficial changes are called pejoratives based on myths.  Horned babies are called demons, those with large canine teeth are called werewolves and so on. 

However there are zombies.  The Solis fungal infection affects the central nervous system, rendering the victim immune to most pain and triggering an almost constant high.  The victims are also driven to enormous hunger as they are fed upon by the infection driving them to viciously attack others.  Spores are released by small ridge like protrusions on the skin, infecting others that are brushed up against.  Dropped spores can last for decades even in moist and warm conditions.  Fortunately, the infection rate is closer to Leprosy then Ebola.  Many people are naturally resistant (due to other harmless microbes or a strong immune reaction), washing the hands or body of those in contact with the spores easily prevents the spread and high doses of anti-fungal agents can prevent or reverse early stage infection.  Late stage though the brain damage is so severe that recovery is impossible.  No major outbreaks have been recorded in almost 50 years.

Q: Why has no major power attempted a space program?

[Asgarus]

A: There is simply not enough capacity to spend ressources on such a task. The big players have to focus everything on holding control over their pieces of a broken world, and even with superior technology, like the The 3rd Han Dynasty and the U.E.F possess, reaching space currently is an impossible task.

There is, although, a small group of technology fanatics, calling themselves "Technologists", who have several bases in old technology centers, especially targeting secret military facilities for their potentially superior technology.
They study all technology they stumble upon, even things the U.E.F doesn't know about, but they aren't big enough and have no access to the ressources needed to start anything big. Since they found the scattered pieces of the ISS, though, they always keep it in the backs of their minds to fly to the stars again some day.

While mostly keeping to themselves, they sometimes seek contact to other settlements and even the U.E.F to find specific technology or spare parts needed for their researches an experiments. They tend to avoid conflict at all costs, but have shown in the past that they are quite capable of defending themselves.

Their main base is, not that surprisingly, located inside the old Area 51 complex, or what's left of it.

Q: What happened to the (geographical) poles?

[Ardent Debater]

A: After the Flare and the evaporation of most of the Ocean, the Earth went through very extreme climate change, and the average worldwide temperature is now 72 degrees Fahrenheit, as opposed to 57.2 degrees. This, unsurprisingly, has had very interesting effects on the world at large. Most Deserts have spread, most soil is now somewhat arid, making fertile farmland even more valuable, the summers last much longer and are much hotter than before, and ice is considered to be a delicacy that only the rich and those with access to expensive, crude refrigerators have access to.

The rising temperatures caused the Poles to melt, causing the Ocean level to rise slightly. Starving, vengeful, and feral mutant Penguin swarms ravage the southern coasts seasonally. Polar Bears have migrated southward, into Europe, Canada, and Northern Russia, interbreeding with local Grizzly Bears, causing the Grolar Bear to become the dominant Bear species. There is no word of the fate of Santa Claus, or his Elves for that matter.

Q: Have the intelligent Octopuses, Dolphins and Elk changed anatomically? If so, to what extent, and where are they most commonly found?

[Ardent Debater]

((Bump))

[Greatness942]

A: They haven't changed much. The dolphins have evolved gills, possibly due to hostile air pollution. The Octopi are much smaller, and have even better camouflage. Honestly, the Elk are the most changed, but that's only because they've evolved to better combat Humans and Mutants. Things like sharper antlers and a heightened sense of hearing have made them very dangerous.

Q: Have there been any wars since the Flare hit?

[Skynet]

A: No.

The main problem with wars is the fact that you have to fight them. That's the one thing that none of the powers-that-be wants to do, as they are too focused on suppressing dissent and murdering rebels to care about fighting far-away conflicts against other superpowers, especially over ruined technological relics that probably would just get damaged anyway. The Chinese are trying to crack down on Yellow Turbaned mutants, the UEF are shooting the Technologists holed up in Area 51, the Lords Wyoming is summoning inquisitors to arrest the "heretics" in Cascadia...etc. Even the more 'liberal' elements of Terran society (the Octopi and the Dolphins) are too worried about their own byzantine intrigues to worry about territorial expansion.

Any war would be a complete waste of resources, and could lead to economic calamity...even for the winner. So "peace" reigns.

Q: Are there any independent city-states that are not trying to get themselves 'subsumed' into one of the four major power blocks?

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

A. There are a number of small city-states in the Urals, the Himalayas, the Andes, and to a lesser extent the Rockies and Appalachians which are determinedly holding out against attempts at assimilation. Several of the Himalayan ones have formed the New Tibetan Republic, which is really a loose trading and mutual defense pact. In addition, there are a number of rebel dolphin pods.


Q. How has the geology/ cave system changed? Are there any inhabitants?

[VoidSlayer]

Q. How has the geology/ cave system changed? Are there any inhabitants?

Geology itself has not changed, the earth abides in the face of disasters which would otherwise wipe out humanity.

A significant change that has occurred is man made caverns and underground construction.  While many of those who avoided the flare hid in subways and basements, or specially built shelters, none of these were really significant enough to hold populations for significant time.

A great fear was that the flare was only the first of many.  The radical change to climate also made surface living impossible in many areas for decades.  As a result, massive underground construction projects were undertaken across the globe.  Both deep tunnel systems under the major powers and systems connecting the various outposts.  Old tunnels and naturally occurring caverns were incorporated in to speed up construction.  Some are made of concrete and steel, some hastily carved and buttressed out of the native rock.

The tunnel systems were important in creating the current strong centralized governments and interconnected communities despite air and sea travel being impossible during the worst of the disaster.

The major powers have mostly moved out of the tunnels a century ago, although hydroponics and manufacturing still occurs underground in many areas.  There are also groups of both humans and mutants who refused to come out of the tunnels.  Most of the old systems though are abandoned, built to last hundreds of years and now empty.  This also makes them ideal for secret facilities and criminals.

Q. How did the octopi and dolphins and other marine life survive the initial damage to the oceans?

[micelus]

A. While much of the ocean was evaporated, small pockets remained throughout the world. In these small pockets, marine life struggles on. As these pockets are often isolated, the theoretical universal rulers of both the dolphins and octopuses hardly ever exercise full control over their respective species.

Q: Without the cooling effect of the oceans and the oxygen provided by algae, how has life on Earth survived in its current form?

[Greatness942]

A: The answer is different for a lot of places. For example, the U.S., Canada, China, and most European countries have researched and developed simple machines and inventions for the sole purpose of storing Oxygen. The U.E.F, along with the 3rd Han Dynasty in a brief but pleasurable alliance, developed these to make life easier. Everywhere else, plant life has begun to come back after expert planning by places like Egypt and the Russian Mutant Government. The atmosphere has also compensated for damage by the Flare. It cools the Planet more, but the Atmosphere itself is in a bad way, and only time will tell if it'll last another 200 years.

Q: Has the state of the world and the 200 year time span affect Extraterrestrial sightings? Are aliens found more likely to exist, or is everyone more skeptical?

[Detoxicated]

A: State is not much different than now, though religious Ufoists have more recognition now than before the flare.
Q: Who is Fernando Sanchez?