In 2030 there were 8.6 billion souls. By the winter of 2031, there were at most 20 million survivors. The Burnout is what happened in between. 

The term “Burnout” was created by Chessman and his network of friends that would eventually become the Order of Formers. Whether or not the collapse of civilization would have occurred without the Order’s intervention is a valid question. It is a certainty that they made the collapse far worse than it might have been otherwise. Scholars believe that the Burnout officially began with the formation of U3C: an international coalition of government officials, financial elites, and other experts from the world’s most prosperous nations (According to Chessman, “U3C” is a subtle nod to the fictional Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), which is responsible for opening a portal to Hell in the DOOM franchise). U3C, Unprecedented Civil Collapse Coordination, was dedicated to predicting what the collapse of civilization would look like and ensuring that certain groups survived it. The entire organization was controlled by Formers. 

Storms in previous years had already crippled many of the world’s most vulnerable countries and political relations had deteriorated to a point where global cooperation was virtually impossible. As such, supply-chains were in disarray and even some of the wealthiest countries were operating entirely off of reserves. In 2030, U3C began “liquidating” vulnerable countries by toppling their governments and producing enormous flows of refugees. U3C claimed to be able to direct these refugee movements to cripple certain countries while leaving others unaffected: this was a lie. By the Spring, virtually every country south of the Equator had fallen into anarchy. The last communications from European governments were received in May. Formers is the only faction in America that has any knowledge of what happened to the rest of the world after that. They claim it was slightly less violent than what happened to America.

Canada leveled every highway, bridge, or land-based entry point to their country for 200 miles along the American border. America tried to execute similar tactics with their Southern half. Tens of millions of desperate refugees from South America were arriving each week, despite nearly genocidal countermeasures from U3C (at this point they had absolute control over America’s armed forces). U3C’s solution was to gradually pull-up stakes in most of the country and consolidate resources in a handful of “Last-Stand” cities. Most Americans were left without any kind of infrastructure or support apart from their local emergency services, and these were quickly exhausted. Many citizens left their homes and tried to reach the Last-Stands, creating a domestic refugee crisis. 

By the summer of 2030, the Last-Stand cities had collapsed. U3C had no control over the situation (Formers had some extremely well-equipped bunkers in Manhattan). What followed was known as the “Locust-Era”. The dominant powers in the country became rogue military-detachments that operated as “mega-maruaders”, scouring the country for resources and equipment. For several months, the country was ransacked by travelling bands of raiders until most settlements had been looted of anything valuable or were completely destroyed. When winter hit, most of these groups died out. The only surviving factions were the largest, most well-lead, groups of marauders or people who had successfully fortified their communities to resist attacks. 

The Great Clans, Cities of the Guild, Free Clans, West-Range Federation, Strets, Verdance, peoples of the Swells, and any other group in America (except Formers) were all founded by these survivors.