Warning: Pre-Alpha
This game is currently in pre-alpha, and at this time, I do not recommend running a game in it yet. Every single game mechanic and piece of lore is subject to potentially breaking changes.
Thank you for your interest in this game! You can follow its development at https://www.youtube.com/@trekiros
-Trek
The Flare
The Flare is the name of the event which caused society to collapse.
When the Flare happened. The Flare happened on September 8th, 2093, around 9pm GMT (meaning, it was evening in Europe and Africa, night in Asia, morning in Australia, and daytime in the Americas).
The solar flare itself lasted for about 2 days, but its effects are still felt to this day.
The First Few Moments. When the solar wind hit Earth, most electronic devices, even those which were unplugged or out of battery, started being overloaded.
Electrical sparks flew everywhere, causing many fires, especially in highly-populated urban areas. Some appliances simply exploded on the spot.
Indoors, every single lightbulb, power plug, microwave ovens, smartphones, televisions, laundry machines, hot water tanks, etc. became an electrical hazard.
Outdoors, cars started crashing into walls, planes started falling from the sky, trains derailed, and any exposed power line shot electrical arcs for hours.
In the parts of the world where the sun had already set, the sky was covered in bright auroras, and it was possible to see as if it had been daytime.
In the parts of the world where the sun was visible, anyone who was outside at the time was exposed to deadly amounts of solar radiation, grew sick, and died within a couple of months.
After a couple hours, the ground started shaking in many parts of the world, including ones not usually known for seismic activity. Many buildings started to crumble, some collapsed.
Areas which already had a lot of volcanic activity were hit the hardest: new volcanoes emerged from the ground overnight, and started spewing ash into the sky. Coastal regions were hit by several tsunamis.
The Long Winter. It took about two years for the volcanic ash to slowly fall from the sky, in the form of acid rains. During that time, temperatures dropped below freezing for most of the year.
Most crops died, and without long-range communication, it was nearly impossible to coordinate an appropriate disaster response.
Famines swept through the world's population, and as people grew desperate, it became impossible to maintain order. Most had to resort to violence, either to steal food from those who had some, or to protect themselves from those who didn't.
The Calm after the Storm. After the skies cleared, things got relatively more peaceful. However, the flare triggered the Earth's geomagnetic reversal, a phenomenon which should take around 7,000 years to complete.
Until this process finishes, the Earth's magnetic shield will only have a fraction of the power it normally has.
Humanity was reduced to small groups of scattered survivors, just trying to make it to the next night.
What the world looks like today
Auroras in the sky
At night, you don't see most stars, because the night sky is covered in beautiful snaking auroras.
Their color indicates how strong the solar wind is. If the auroras are just blue or green, everything is fine.
However, if they are multicolor and the blue or green fades into a pink or an orange hue, this means a solar storm is brewing, in which case it is best to find shelter.
Red Overgrown Plants
Plants are thriving under these conditions where they get ten times more sunlight than usual.
Most buildings and streets are covered in creeping vines, as Nature slowly reclaims its place.
However, just like the Red Forest around Chernobyl in real life, much of the light they are absorbing these days falls into the ultraviolet range. Because of this, plants have taken a red hue instead of their usual green tint.
Crumbling Infrastructure
Earthquakes are still commonplace, twenty years after the Flare. Most buildings show cracks or even holes.
Some skyscrapers are leaning dangerously to the side like they're about to collapse. Others already have.
When survivors build settlements in the wasteland, they use materials which are not too brittle, like wood or metal, rather than stone or concrete, to try to account for the tremors.
Glitched Electronics
The vast majority of electronic devices have stopped working. The vast majority of those that still work... Don't work quite right.
It is common to see AI-controlled robots have incomprehensible and erratic behavior, or for holograms and hardlight constructs to have visual glitches.
These glitches can range from harmless, to funny, to deadly, depending on what device is glitching.
Nocturnal Expeditions
Going outside during the day is still dangerous unless one is equipped with anti-radiation equipment.
Because of this, most survivor groups sleep during the day, and are active at night, using torchlight or their vehicle's headlights to navigate the wasteland in the dark.
In urban centers, it is still possible to go outside during the day, using the shadows cast by skyscrapers, and subway tunnels, to traverse the city without being exposed to sunlight.
Wild Climate Change
Due to having very little protection against the Sun, the global temperature has increased by a couple degrees.
This has had some major effects on the climate. Hurricanes, dust storms, acid rains, and other weather phenomena are commonplace.
Additionally, the level of the sea has risen by a few meters. A lot of coastal cities have the first level of their buildings flooded. The survivors who dwell there navigate their cities using canoes and boats.