The period of extremely fast redevelopment and cultural growth following the Burnout as factions tried to secure their long-term security.

No one person can claim a right to the term “Hungry Years”. It is loosely ascribed to the first decade after the Burnout. The consensus is that the era began after the first Post-Burnout winter. This period exists because of a simple realization made almost immediately after the Burnout by several leaders:

There will be a point where the generation born after the Burnout will reach the age for large-scale conflict.

This translated to:

The first faction to militarize their new generation will roll over the continent without any resistance. 

And finally:

The only way to avoid this scenario is by making sure that everyone develops military-industrial complexes simultaneously. 

Faced with this information, several notable factions theorized and exploited “loopholes” in this scenario:

• By lowering a faction’s resource needs and technological level to a hunter-gatherer state, the group will not be considered a threat by more advanced factions and will be safely ignored.
• By specializing in industrial niches and making other factions dependent on their output, a group can make themselves “too valuable” for a violent takeover. 

Regardless of the strategy, groups in America became aware that survival alone wouldn’t be sufficient. Even though a majority of the surviving population was inherently peaceful, there were distinct groups composed entirely of marauders and ex-military personnel. The peaceful factions were afraid that after their violent counterparts achieved natural population growth, they would resume their Locust-Era activities. Therefore, the peaceful factions believed they needed to develop militaries that would withstand a resurgence in barbarism. Meanwhile, the “violent” factions were concerned that once their victims redeveloped, they would attempt retribution or a coordinated extermination of marauding factions. Or they realized that resource scarcity would make fighting inevitable. Hence, these factions decided not to demilitarize and to continue building their industries. Apart from the two “types” of mutually-opposed factions, there was a third factor that contributed to the heightened tensions of the Hungry Years: the sheer resource-scarcity of Post-Burnout America. 

The actual state of available resources after the Burnout was complex. The most valuable resources for Pre-Burnout life were practically nonexistent after a year of violent competition for them:

• Internet access. Allowed long-range communication and unlimited informational resources.
• Processed/filtered food and water
• Electric power
• Hydrocarbon fuels
• Advanced firearms

Furthermore, U3C had intentionally destroyed most of the infrastructure supporting the country’s electric grid, communications systems, water-treatment facilities, and refining plants. However, the extraordinarily reduced population (around 1 million survivors, out of a country that exceeded half a billion in citizens and refugees right before the Burnout) and lack of any government or ruling body, resulted in an unprecedented overabundance of two resources:

• Land
• Man-made structures and vehicles

With this resource-scenario, technological regression was inevitable. The consensus was that groups should invest in adapting to their circumstances instead of clinging to more advanced technology. Although the overall quality of life would be lower, groups could expand more rapidly by utilizing the bulk materials left by the last civilization. Even with this supply, groups determined that their resource-needs would increase exponentially with their population growth and that conflict would inevitably erupt over access to “deposits” of valuable strip. This situation would be exacerbated by specialist factions demanding specific, rarified resources for their operations. 

As leaders considered their time-frame before the next generation became available for war (15 to 20 years), they estimated that American factions would redevelop to a technological level somewhere between the Industrial Revolution and the first World War. 

The degree of transparency between leaders and civilians during the Hungry Years varied greatly. In many cases, it wasn’t necessary. Most people assumed that their faction needed to stay militarily and industrially competitive to not be overtaken by others. Other leaders openly declared that they were locked in an arms-race. 

Even without the possibility of large conflicts, the era after the Burnout was also the time for cultural redevelopment. Surviving groups needed unifying factors besides mutual interest. Leaders needed to bond and motivate their followers in order to keep their factions running. On a personal level, people needed ways to process the trauma of the Burnout. Many existing systems of faith and trust were rejected for “failing” the previous civilization. This created an opening for new cultures and ways of thinking.

Leaders occasionally viewed this phenomena from a practical standpoint. For many, there was a serious interest in indoctrination— of loyal citizens and the soldiers who would fight their wars. Factions needed troops who were willing to go to extreme lengths to defend their homelands. Cultural distinction was also used as a retention system for especially valuable personnel. Skilled artisans and warriors would be less likely to defect to factions that had different values, traditions, and even aesthetic styles. 

The actual process of a faction developing a “new” culture was extremely similar to their technological redevelopment. Both processes combined available resources and Pre-Burnout knowledge. Depending on a faction’s demographics, experience surviving the Burnout, and the degree of “expertise” available, the resulting culture may crudely derived from the nearest landmark and a few Bible passages (Dread City?), crafted from oblique literary references and woven with found meaning (Nessuns), or even centered around a single instance from the worst parts of the collapse, (F5). Factions have been partially “derived” from Soviet (or even Maoist) propaganda, media fandoms, feudal systems from Europe, Pre-Burnout Fortune 500 companies, and various bands. 

Regardless of the incredible progress made during this time, the Hungry Years are regarded as a profoundly bleak era. Factions were desperately trying to increase their populations despite high infant-mortality rates, malnutrition, and lack of medical assets. Survivors were wracked with PTSD, citizens were deeply mistrustful of their leaders, cults sprang up rapidly, industrial projects were rushed at breakneck speeds with staggering humanitarian costs. Above all, there was no security to be had— no one had any idea about what would happen next, or if their work would all be in vain. 

Against this backdrop, America’s emerging political leaders worked frantically. Their goal was to establish a balance of power that would allow for redevelopment to continue in relative peace. Many decided that it was better to force groups to occasionally “skirmish” over scarce resources than to risk full-blown wars. Others opted to keep their factions locked in arms-races to preserve their dwindling populations. Regardless, all of them were trying to steer the country away from another Burnout, and to make societies that were better than their predecessors.nout, and to make societies that were better than their predecessors.