The Old World

The Old World (known simply as The World before the Nuclear War) is the name used to refer to both Earth and human civilization previous to nuclear devastation in 1993.

Nuclear Devastation
Main article: The Nuclear War

Following the launching and subsequent detonation of the world's nuclear weapons, most of the world's major city centers were leveled in the initial blasts. World capitals from New York City to Moscow were obliterated almost instantly, with only their foundations to even show they had ever existed. Shortly after the first explosions, those that survived the bombings were subjected to a wave of incredible heat that literally melted people's skin and blinded countless others. The increase in the world's air temperature began to rapidly melt polar icecaps and dry up bodies of water.

Along with the heat wave came the radioactive particles, which were carried far across the world by the nuclear winds. These particles found their way into almost any place that wasn't sheltered, causing aggressive cell mutations in all life. These mutations caused tumors in most creatures, resulting in quick and painful deaths. However, others that survived their mutations experienced very unfortunate side-affects. Eye witnesses report seeing still-living humans melted into the sidewalk, and others witnessing birds rapidly 'reforming' into fleshy abominations. To this day, experts are unsure of the cause of these dramatic mutations, though countless new species were formed from them.

Earthquakes ravaged areas near the edges of tectonic plates and electromagnetic pulses permanently damaged the wiring of most electronic devices, causing despair for even those who weren't nearby the nuclear blasts. Soot was thrown into the stratosphere as a result of the explosions, blocking out the sun in most places for nearly two decades, in a time known as the Nuclear Winter. During this time, the global temperature dropped substantially, killing any flora that had survived the previous blasts, and freezing any remaining bodies of water for several years. Only those who managed to hide in fallout shelters survived, and by this point, most of these shelters had been unoccupied for several years, or even decades.