Editing United States of America (section)

==History==
===Background===
[[Brockton Bay]] was founded as a big trading post and port back when America was being colonized.<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/tangle-6-2/ Excerpt] from [[Tangle 6.2]]</ref>

[[Vikare]], the first superhero, operated in Michigan, and set the tone for a brief-lived [[Golden Age of Parahumans]].<ref name="1.x">[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/07/02 Excerpt] from [[interlude 1.x]]</ref>

During the Cold War, [[Scion]] destroyed a nuclear test missile and the facility that launched it. This wasn't widely known, but it led the US to de-emphasize nuclear weapons under the (correct) belief that he would stop any nuclear conflict, effectively ending the Cold War.<ref name="SB1">That's essentially it. Scion was stopping raiding groups and paramilitary groups in Africa and the Middle East, and then began to respond to weapon testing in much the same way. Scion shot down one test missile from a country away and then hit the launch facility. This wasn't widely publicized, but it did have ripple effects in terms of culture and America's military spending/focus.<br/><br/>Part of Scion's motivation in doing so was to prevent a scenario where the shards couldn't find hosts (for much the same reason, he would have gone out of his way to stop, say, String Theory). Part was Norton's instructions. But the countries basically realized that it wouldn't work. - [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/15198095 Comment by Wildbow (archived on Spacebattles)]</ref> Although the details weren't publicized, it was generally known that the threat of Scion was what led nuclear powers to stand down.<ref name="15.y e1">Unlike the major players in the Cold War, the monsters he was thinking about weren’t so rational that they’d stand down with Scion in the picture. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/10/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 15.y]]</ref>

The [[Protectorate]] and [[PRT]] were founded as US organizations under President James Griffin,<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/06/22 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 24.x]]</ref><ref name="I15.z"/> although they later expanded to [[Canada]].<ref>[[Gestation 1.6]]</ref>

[[Dragon]] was forbidden from using viruses to infect the computers of Americans that didn’t have a warrant out for their arrests. She later found a way around this, making use of computers she allowed an Indonesian cartel to infect.<ref> - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26.x]]</ref>

The United States briefly adopted a policy of tattooing [[Simurgh]] victims with a white bird on one hand or on one arm so others would know to take care. The policy lasted for four years, covering two of her visits to the US, including Madison. It caused prejudice and violence against those affected, and many others got similar tattoos in protest.<ref>Doctor Foster had been asked to keep an eye on those being released from the city’s quarantine. Each individual got a tattoo of a bird on one hand or on one arm, marking them as someone affected by the Simurgh.<br/><br/>It had been a short-lived policy, covering only two of the Simurgh’s visits to America in the span of four years. Shortly after the second event, the idea was abandoned. The idea, that people could take extra caution around anyone with a tattoo of a white bird, only generated prejudice. The affected individuals couldn’t find work, they were beaten and they had their lives threatened.<br/><br/>The outcry had meant it was hard to spread the word about what the tattoos were intended for, and the problem was further exacerbated when some people had started getting the tattoos as a matter of protest. In some poll a year back, something like six out of ten people had been unable to say why the tattoos existed.<br/><br/>But it wasn’t likely that the tattoos were why [Christof] had been asked to oversee this situation. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/02/14 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 18.f]]</ref>

[[Teacher]] killed the Vice President of America before fleeing to the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/cockroaches-28-2/ Excerpt] from [[Cockroaches 28.2]]</ref>

When a portal to [[Earth Aleph]] was created in the US by [[Professor Haywire]], treaties were made to prevent them finding a way to invade the alternate Earth with the help of [[parahumans]] and acquiring their resources, becoming the world's greatest superpower. All attempts to transmit people or objects between the worlds were banned.<ref name="17.6"/>

The United States clamped down on gun control policy,<ref name="R2"/><ref name="R1"/>, it is unknown how this has affected illegal gun running.

The United States has become a major resettlement area for refugees of failed states and areas devastated by Endbringers and the like. With the '''Preservation Act''', legislation signed during the Bradley administration, helping such people to get on their feet.<ref name="15.5 c1.1">Fantastic question, and one I’m not sure I can give a fantastic answer to.<br/><br/>Why is that? Well, primarily, there’s the issue of trying to quantify ‘damage’. As stated in Legend’s pre-battle speech (early in arc 8) there’s almost always grievous losses but they aren’t always the same sort of losses.<br/><br/>You have the events that left the world reeling: Lausanne, Hawaii, Kyushu, Newfoundland, Moscow, Sydney. The attacks that left major areas uninhabitable or unrecoverable, with wide-reaching effects on the rest of the country/region/world. In this setting, for example, Japan isn’t a world power and it’s still dependent on international assistance 12 years after Leviathan’s visit to Kyushu.<br/><br/>But even there, where do you say, “Ok, that’s the sum total of the damage done”? The disaster at Kyushu, the number of refugees seeking living space/work and the pressures on the rest of Asia’s pacific border might have led to some more unrest and tension. Some friction, some ‘small’ wars, infighting and intermingling. Refugees and immigrants. Many settle in major cities across America because President Bradley’s Preservation Act gives them a hand in getting on their feet.<br/><br/>Do you factor that last point into the damage as well? [[Lung]] comes to Brockton Bay in part because of the booming population of Asian immigrants (which hasn’t yet set down roots). Bakuda was born to a Westerner mother and Immigrant father. Do you count the damage they’ve done? Ditto for [[Mannequin]] and the Simurgh.<br/><br/>But that’s only the major hits, the broad strokes of the brush and all the repercussions/spatter that follows from that. Attacks end in other ways, for example. Legend mentions mass loss of life. There’s economic damage that follows from that, disease and explosions in the population of vermin when a quarter million people die in a concentrated area.<br/><br/>There’s the deaths of countless heroes, and how that biases things further towards the general villain population. If the selfless throw their lives away for the greater good and it’s primarily the selfish (or the very powerful) who are left, how does that skew things?<br/><br/>And I should stress that weak points aren’t necessarily just areas which are geographically vulnerable. There’s places where there’s ongoing conflict (like we might point to the middle east over the past decade), places where it takes little effort on the part of the Endbringer to deal maximum devastation (ie. a nuclear power plant, military bases) and spots where a great many resources are invested (be they great minds collected in one place or major projects like Dr. Gramme’s major projects in trying to save the world). Did anyone else catch the mention of the water crisis? Leviathan isn’t always attacking cities, and the world has only so much accessible freshwater.<br/><br/>I digress.<br/><br/>To answer your question in the general sense? Relatively few places have been hit as hard as the major examples listed above. But figure this has been going on for 20ish years. Behemoth shows up in the early 90’s, attacking once a year, roughly (twice in 1994), Leviathan shows up in the mid 90’s (now we’re up to 2-3 Endbringer attacks a year), and Simurgh comes in just after the turn of the century (now 3-4).<br/><br/>I mentioned in a comment during the Endbringer arc, but I said something like ‘Behemoth is the cape-killer and Leviathan levels cities’. Figure each Endbringer has attacked 16 to 20 times so far, account for the bias towards killing capes (Behemoth) vs. wiping out landscapes (Leviathan) and that Brockton Bay is pretty middle-of-the-road for the kind of aftermath you see, and maybe you can make an estimate.<br/><br/>Ballparking it? 8 or 9 Endbringer attacks in America over 20 years. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/colony-15-5/#comment-5639 Comment] by WildBow on [[Colony 15.5]]</ref> This allows Capes such as [[Miss Militia]] to obtain citizenship with ease.<!--cut into this so it can be dealt with piece by piece.--> While trade was impacted in part by [[Leviathan]] attacking port cities he did not attack individual ships as such international trade is intact, if battered.

Political activists across the country were empowered by having parahumans in their ranks and at their head.<ref>Europe saw political upheaval, Russia enlisted parahumans into its military and started hunting down those who wouldn’t enlist, activists across the United States were emboldened by leaders with powers. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/06/29/breaking-14-z/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 14.z II]]</ref> Many many other groups found themselves with a voice where they didn't have one before.<ref name=politics>It's worth stating that one of the underling ideas driving the formation of groups and ideological factions in the Wormverse is the notion that some people get a voice where they otherwise wouldn't. Give an immense amount of power to a (relatively) random section of the population and you'll see certain shifts in the overlying sentiments.<br/><br/>All the more so when you think that a parahuman with aspirations might latch on to an idea, concept, or group to get reputation, resources, and contacts. - [https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/posts/3216834/ Comment by Wildbow] on Sufficient Velocity</ref>

Legislation covered supervillain rampages and more with [[Three Strikes Protection Act]] and for when such people were sentenced to the [[Birdcage]].

By 2009 there was a President Gillen in the White House.<ref name="17.3 e1">He thought back to the bird in the cage, and the bloody newspaper that it had been standing on. He’d only been able to read part of the headline. ''President Gillen orders…'' - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/01 Excerpt] from [[Migration 17.3]]</ref> Gillen took proactive, though some considered reactive, stances against Endbringers.<ref name="17.4 e1">“No,” Myrddin agreed. “This is a bad one. Too many possible avenues to cover, too much exposure time across the board.”<br/><br/>''“We’re doubling down quarantine, and we’ll have a processing center in place shortly. The President is pushing the D.D.I.D measure.”''<br/><br/>“It’s going to backfire,” Myrddin said. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it now, and I’ll remind you all I said it with every chance I get, from now until the day I die. It’s going to backfire.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/01/11 Excerpt] from [[Migration 17.4]]</ref>. It was unknown if this was his first or second term.

===Story Start===
[[Bakuda]] created a bomb that would have wiped out electronics across a full fifth of America, but she was defeated before it could detonate.<ref name="6.x">[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/interlude-6/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 6]]</ref>
===Post-[[Battle against Leviathan]]===
People across the United States watched the aftermath of [[Leviathan's Attack]] on [[Brockton Bay]], wondering if it would become another area that simply couldn't recover.<ref name="13.x">[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/interlude-13/ Interlude 13.x]</ref> The United States Senate debated condemning the city.<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/monarch-16-9/ Excerpt] from [[Monarch 16.9]]</ref>

The [[Undersiders]] took over [[Brockton Bay]], an event which made them famous across America.<ref name="21.1">[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/imago-21-1/ Excerpt] from [[Imago 21.1]]</ref><ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/cell-22-1/ Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.1]]</ref><ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/interlude-22/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 22.x]]</ref> The [[PRT]] later argued that this constituted effectively declaring war on the government of the US.<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/cell-22-2/ Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.2]]</ref>

===Post-[[Battle against Echidna|Echidna]]===
[[Faultline’s Crew]] agreed to create portals to [[alternate Earth]]s across North America at a discount to help prepare for the [[End of the World]].<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/scarab-25-5/ Excerpt] from [[Scarab 25.5]]</ref>

===[[The Timeskip]]===
America and the [[CUI]] had a brief conflict in 2012 after the [[Protectorate]] accidentally killed the incognito CUI heir during a [[Simurgh]] attack.<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/scarab-25-6/ Excerpt] from [[Scarab 25.6]]</ref>

Teams from across America came to fight [[the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand]].<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/sting-26-4/ Excerpt] from [[Sting 26.4]]</ref>

===[[Gold Morning]]===
The [[CUI]] attacked American settlements in other worlds, not having created any of their own.<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/cockroaches-28-1/ Excerpt] from [[Cockroaches 28.1]]</ref>

=== Early [[Ward]] ===
Original United States were reduced to inhospitable landscape with ruined or crumbling cities and roaming threats from breached [[PRT]]-quarantine zones. At the second year surviving population is still migrating to [[Gimel.US]].<ref>[[Flare 2.1]]</ref>

Machine Army expanded north past [[Raleigh]] chasm, marking at least half of North Caroline and a chunk of southern states as uninhabitable.<ref>[[Interlude 3 II]]</ref>

===Post-[[Attack on Teacher]]===
[[The Machine Army]] expanded to [[Boston]].<ref name="16.2II">[[From Within 16.2]]</ref>