"We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency."

- Douglas MacArthur

"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated."

- George W. Bush

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With the attacks of 9/11, the US went through a massive shift due to the trauma it caused. It promised to wage a crusade against all terrorist groups and states across the globe, and nothing could stop them.

In the same year as the attacks, the US led the invasion of Afghanistan with the help of sympathetic nations. The Taliban was rapidly defeated by the coalition forces, but the main target of the US, the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, escaped capture at the battle of Tora Bora and seemingly disappeared like a ghost. This failure prolonged the US invasion of Afghanistan for a decade and led the US into a global manhunt for a single man. Which would even see a dubious and controversial war in the Middle East led by the US of A, under a flawed casus belli, whose real intentions were as clear as day.

However, even amidst the bad news, good news still appeared. Just two years later, the bloody Korean War came to an end with the death of the KPLA's leader that same year, and consequently, the end of their armed struggle. This ended the conflict with a nationalist KLA victory, but with the nation devastated and utterly broken from almost half a century of continued warfare, the People's Republic of Korea's leadership began a long and slow process of recovery.

But even with the conflict finally over, the Korean leadership and people still felt divided, as the ever-present specter of the Empire of Japan haunted them, even more so with the continuous occupation and cultural cleansing of the island of Jeju. Alongside it, the belief in an eventual return of Japan to the region was seen as an inevitability. Those fears and paranoia would lead the nation to align itself with the Republic of China and also pursue a nuclear program to serve as a deterrent against Japan.

No matter the cost and suffering, this new Korean nation wouldn't allow Japan to conquer it again, and it made a promise to itself that all of Korea would be completely reunited, no matter how long it took; they would make Japan pay for the suffering it caused to the nation and its people.

With the end of the Korean War and Korea's eventual alignment with China, the two nations, alongside the various minor Indian states, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, ratified the Sino-Pacific Security Accord. A military alliance mainly aimed at breaking Japanese hegemony in East Asia, it also secured cooperation between Korea and China in their territorial ambitions in Jeju and Taiwan, respectively.

A year later, the Trident Alliance grew in size as the Baltic States were accepted into the alliance. This practically imprisoned the Russian Baltic Fleet in St. Petersburg, as the only neutral nation in the region was Sweden, which closely worked with the alliance member states. The following year, the US, alongside South Africa, Israel, India, Hyderabad, Bengal, the Philippines, and Liberia, ratified the Treaty of San Francisco, a second attempt by the US to form its own international military alliance.

Much like the Cold War, this new age was becoming another multipolar world, this time between the US, China, and Japan, as the world's center of attention slowly returned to East Asia, as it always had been in the past.

However, the world's attention would once again be brought back to Europe in 2008, when tensions between the Trident Alliance and Russia skyrocketed due to Georgia's accession to the Alliance that same year. The Russian government demanded the removal of Georgia from the Alliance under the threat of armed intervention, but none of the Trident Alliance member states backed down. Instead, they prepared for a potential conflict.

This reaction by the European and Asian member states forced Russia to back down. Not only would they be facing a three-front war, but the Russian economy was also unprepared for a large-scale conflict, as were its armed forces. Due to the Russian government's refusal to scrap its capital ships, due to the Russian leader's insistence on keeping them for their prestige and a larger arsenal of nuclear weapons, all the while its systemic corruption only further diverted their limited funds, the Russian state and military were in an almost bankrupt state.

With their bluff found out and forced into a humiliating withdrawal to save as much face as possible, the Russian Federation was forced to lay low to avoid reprisals from the richer Western and Asian nations. For the time being, peace was preserved, even if it was at the cost of reinforcing Russia's isolation.

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It would only be after a whole decade had passed that the US would finally find Al-Qaeda's leader and kill him. When the president at the time announced this fact, the news was met with jubilation by the American populace at the death of the most infamous terrorist in history. And it would be in this feeling of jubilation that the US would withdraw from Afghanistan, effectively resuming the Afghan civil war and allowing the Taliban to rise back to power once again.

However, in that same year 2011, the US was also passing through bad times. The Great Recession that started in 2007 with the burst of the American housing bubble would go on to affect the entire world. This would cause a series of effects across the globe, such as the rise of political instability, but the biggest one was the growth of the American-Japanese rivalry even as the island nation barely managed to keep itself afloat.

As the world recovered from the financial crisis, the sentiment between both nations wouldn't recover, as American analysts began saying that the Empire of Japan would overtake the US economy in the next decade or so. At the same time, thanks to a faster recovery, Japan returned to attempting to spread its influence into Latin America, or the so-called US backyard.

This rapidly growing rivalry, alongside the rise of radicalism caused by the effects of the Great Recession, which many Americans started to believe was only worsened by their trade deficit with the Asian powerhouse, the growing presence of Japanese companies and products in America, and a changing society unsatisfied with the existing and growing social inequality and outdated civil rights, would begin to affect American politics in a way never seen before.

In 2020, all of these circumstances would culminate in a historic American Election. The two mainstream American parties found themselves split in their candidacies and unable to find a suitable compromise. Both parties launched their Presidential Campaigns with two candidates each, splitting their votes. At the same time, the problems caused by the recession, their growing trade war with Japan, the mistakes caused by the War in Afghanistan, as well as the problems caused by the American hasty withdrawal from the region, would push just enough people to the independent parties. When the counting finished, a certain man had come out on top.

With only 23% of the votes, the man known as Harry Lee Falkner became the President of the United States of America. This man was a famous, or rather, infamous American politician, well-known for his outspoken nature, as well as his "vibrant" opinions about many things.

Once he was inaugurated as the new president, President Falkner's first policy was the start of protectionist acts against Japan, Europe, and even China, under the argument of decreasing the influence of foreign actors in the American economy. This move was met with criticism from inside and outside the republic, and many specialists warned that this would only increase Japan's influence.

The second move by the American president was the start of another isolationist policy, as this administration began to pull back from many of its foreign commitments, and during a certain interview, the president made a statement regarding this decision of his...

"The United States has done too much for the world free of charge; now it's time for the world to pay back its dividends to America."

Just like his protectionist acts, the president received much criticism at home for his actions and opinions, especially those regarding his thoughts about Civil Rights, and even from other nations, but to a much lower extent, since the US withdrawal left a power vacuum, which no one complained about taking over.

Yet at the same time, as this president was pulling back from conflicts, he also began to search for conflict with Japan. Under his administration, the US 7th fleet was ordered to be stationed in Guam instead of its usual post at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, or Manila, Philippines, in what was a clear move to intimidate the Empire of Japan by moving a large naval force right into the middle of their Pacific territory, bringing the rivalry of the two nations to a new stage.

In four years, the tensions between the US and Japan grew exponentially to the point that many claimed that a new world war was on the horizon, one that would be much bigger than the previous ones. And when President Falkner was reelected under similar contrived circumstances to four years ago, these fears were only reinforced. But no one could see that their "inevitable" conflict between the two economic giants would come to an abrupt end...

Huge storms gathered around Japan, continental America, and many other places around the planet. Initially, no one saw them as anything more than the usual, but as the storms showed no signs of weakening, wireless communications started to fail, and weird light sightings were reported at seemingly random locations.

When they finally noticed it, it was already too late... In the blink of an eye, Earth's fragile balance of power was broken, and the world was plunged into chaos.

But this is where our journey in this universe ends, as we move on to our next stage, a broken place with secrets hidden beneath its surface. A place where our second act shall occur. A place where its future will be decided upon blood and steel.

(A/N Notes: This US is intentionally *sparkle* ideal *sparkle*)