This is a plot I tried quite a long time ago and I'd like to give it a second go. Let me know if this piques your interest.
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In 2017, the entire world was pulled into nuclear warfare as World War 3 began. One country bombed another and that's all it took for others to retaliate, creating a back and forth nuclear war that managed to destroy most of humanity. It never officially ended due to the massive loss of life.
Twenty years later, the world is a completely different story. It is rare we see the sun anymore. The sky is usually overcast by clouds as dark as charcoal. Temperatures are cooler than they used to be and it's often a struggle to keep warm. It doesn't rain nor snow as much as it used to either. Growing crops is harder than ever with increased UV radiation due to the thinning of the ozone layer and a frost-free growing season for crops shortened by 10 to 40 days, depending on the region. Skin cancer ran rapid during these years. The population of the Earth has dropped to the thousands. Those who didn't die in the bombings died from disease, starvation or perhaps they were killed by each other.
It is a fight for survival. Laws and morals have been long forgotten. Many have resorted to becoming bandits, killing others for everything they own. These bandits sometimes group together and live nomadically, constantly killing anyone else they can find. Those of us who cling on to some idea of morals, we try to stay away from them as much as we can and fend for ourselves. Those that live sedentary lifestyles either live in random, abandoned places or in small, forted communities that often kill those who try to enter on sight usually due to fear of disease or of spies looking to expose their location. Other people aren't the only ones we have to worry about...
Animals have been mutating faster than the world has ever seen before. The exposure to extreme radiation and chemicals has caused for change in their DNA. They are bigger, faster, and definitely more hungry. There have been cases of flying snakes, eight-foot wolves, and even three-foot wasps. Humans have been mutating too, with cases of men with large eyes with the ability to accomplish night vision and of people with teeth as sharp as razors. People are evolving regressively to be less like humans and more like beasts. There are smaller cases of people just getting small mutations such as a change in strength or speed but with each different mutation, it becomes more and more evident that these mutations are becoming completely unpredictable.
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In 2017, the entire world was pulled into nuclear warfare as World War 3 began. One country bombed another and that's all it took for others to retaliate, creating a back and forth nuclear war that managed to destroy most of humanity. It never officially ended due to the massive loss of life.
Twenty years later, the world is a completely different story. It is rare we see the sun anymore. The sky is usually overcast by clouds as dark as charcoal. Temperatures are cooler than they used to be and it's often a struggle to keep warm. It doesn't rain nor snow as much as it used to either. Growing crops is harder than ever with increased UV radiation due to the thinning of the ozone layer and a frost-free growing season for crops shortened by 10 to 40 days, depending on the region. Skin cancer ran rapid during these years. The population of the Earth has dropped to the thousands. Those who didn't die in the bombings died from disease, starvation or perhaps they were killed by each other.
It is a fight for survival. Laws and morals have been long forgotten. Many have resorted to becoming bandits, killing others for everything they own. These bandits sometimes group together and live nomadically, constantly killing anyone else they can find. Those of us who cling on to some idea of morals, we try to stay away from them as much as we can and fend for ourselves. Those that live sedentary lifestyles either live in random, abandoned places or in small, forted communities that often kill those who try to enter on sight usually due to fear of disease or of spies looking to expose their location. Other people aren't the only ones we have to worry about...
Animals have been mutating faster than the world has ever seen before. The exposure to extreme radiation and chemicals has caused for change in their DNA. They are bigger, faster, and definitely more hungry. There have been cases of flying snakes, eight-foot wolves, and even three-foot wasps. Humans have been mutating too, with cases of men with large eyes with the ability to accomplish night vision and of people with teeth as sharp as razors. People are evolving regressively to be less like humans and more like beasts. There are smaller cases of people just getting small mutations such as a change in strength or speed but with each different mutation, it becomes more and more evident that these mutations are becoming completely unpredictable.