Radioactive

Radioactive:

A request by metalheadjohn. In this world the nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor has some completely unpredicted results. The fallout from the reactor actually has mutagenic side-effects that create stable (and logically impossible) strains of mutation.

At first there wasn’t much to notice aside from the dangerous levels of fallout that drifted across the European continent. Chernobyl was evacuated and cancer rates spiked dramatically on Europe and there was some panic about the meltdown. It was only a few months later that the real horrors of the reactor meltdown emerged. At first natural life recovered in the affected area without any noticeable issues outside of what was expected to be the norm but after the first few months of growth, strange creatures began to emerge from Chernobyl.

It all started when an unnaturally massive, semi-bipedal lizard emerged from the region around Chernobyl. It rampaged across Ukraine and ravaged a good chunk of Kiev before the Soviets nuked it into submission (which did the recovery from the fallout no favours). It was referred to as Kaiju by some insensitive Japanese when it made global news and some even made the obvious connection to Godzilla. Another, similar to the creature Gorgo, emerged from the North Sea and attacked the South English Coast before the Royal Navy pounded it to death with enough heavy ordinance.

Both sides of the Cold War mobilised forces in case another monster emerged from Eastern Europe and prepared to fight whatever appeared. This, however, proved to be a disastrous move that would devastate the European continent.

It was after both forces had managed to successfully destroy several waves of giant invertebrates (the aircraft carrier sized snails proved to be surprisingly resistant to conventional arms but thermite eventually melted their flesh) that everything took a turn for the worse. Radiation emanating from the bodies of the slain insects infected the machinery of the army and animated them with a bizarre sentience. Humanity’s vehicles and some of their weapons turned bloodthirsty and soon infected civilian machinery. Vehicles ran down everyone in their path, automated infrastructure trapped people wherever they could and advanced weaponry fired itself at bystanders.

It was a miracle that no nuclear weapons or launch systems were infected but the damage had been done and much of Europe had been weakened. Distrust of modern machine spread throughout much of the world when the news broke and people became paranoid of what else could emerge from Chernobyl. Several years went by with manageable threats appearing and being dealt with but no-one could stop the perverse jungle that was spreading out from the former reactor and swallowing up the surrounding countryside.

It was barely three years after the ‘Maximum Overdrive Incident’ when a few people in Poland began to fall ill. In a matter of seconds what started as a feeling of discomfort and agitation turned into homicidal, rabid violence that proved to be contagious. In a matter of days entire nations were being overrun by the virulent contagion and the distrust of machinery from before left much of Europe horrifically under-serviced and unable to coordinate an effective response. A Quarantine zone was established but it was only accomplished by effectively triaging everything east of the Rhine, north of the Danube and west of a hastily and heavily mined line in the dirt that the USSR was able to set up. The victims soon either turned on one another or expired from exposure, starvation or heart problems but the infected zones were virtually depopulated.

More horrors followed afterwards and though no new ‘mutation zones’ emerged anywhere else in the world, it seemed the products of the Ukrainian one weren’t going to be confined to their starting zone. The horrors spread and the world struggled to counter them as it became very clear that this wasn’t going to stop any time soon.

The year is now 2050 and the world is a very different place since Chernobyl went into meltdown.

The Cold War ended a little earlier, leaving the USA as the sole superpower much sooner than OTL. The US is still the global hegemon and has avoided most of the horrors that afflicted the Old World but things have still gone quite horribly wrong and some monsters have landed on the US’ shores.

As a result of the continuous threats from radioactive monsters overseas and their frequent movement to the Americas, the US is much more militant and paranoid overall. There are procedures in place that are issued to the public that help coordinate responses to outbreaks of Rage Virus and (theoretically) Maximum Overdrive. The actual effectiveness of these procedures is rather dubious but the placebo effect they provide has helped improve social cohesion in the face of the continued crisis. More people are supporters of the NRA and the Second Amendment due to the inexplicable ability monsters like the giant ants and spiders have to evading detection before they breed and attack.

The US political system is much the same but both major parties are devoted to increasing the efficiency of the military. Where they differ in regards to the armed forces is what they prioritise. The Republican party are more dedicated to volume and putting men and hardware down in areas threatened by radioactive mutants and America’s enemies. The Democrats now present themselves as technophiles who want to improve military technology and reduce the amount of people needed to protect America and its interests.

The US has a rather large population of neo-Luddites who reject modern technology and tend to live life in a similar fashion to the Amish but with less religiosity. A number of other subcultures have also developed in America as a result of the numerous crises that Chernobyl has produced. There are several cults dedicated to the larger and more unnatural creatures that the radiation has produced and people who consider the mutative qualities of Chernobyl’s specific radiation to be the products of an eldritchian being that lives in Ukraine.

America’s closest ally is the European Union, which has suffered horribly since the Chernobyl Incident. Between the Maximum Overdrive Effect, the Rage Virus and no end of mutated monstrosities, Europe is a battered continent. The EU is a federated entity but most of its member states are battered, economically damaged and subject to near total military occupation by NATO forces from elsewhere.

The UK left the EU after the Rage Virus Incident rocked the entire union but ended up pulled back into their orbit as the various crises piled up. The UK was just about to be officially brought back in again when the recent outbreak of giant mobile plants cut a swathe of destruction across the Rhine and into Belgium. With so many other member states damaged, the UK found itself as the strongest and most economically secure state (even if it needed US assistance for that). Now the EU is pretty much a satellite of the UK with the European Parliament set up in Manchester.

The rest of the EU is closely federated and paranoid. A fair degree of xenophobia has seeped in as well as the biggest fear is the next radioactive disease that will emerge from Eastern Europe. Other areas beside the EU were also relatively undamaged but the UK’s position as the strongest militarily cemented their positions as well. The former Warsaw Pact territory has been annexed and claimed but their actual ability to control it is dubious and often requires other NATO forces to be actually secured. Militancy is high as is religiosity with a lot of apocalyptic cults popping up with terrifying frequency though they tend to fade away just as quickly after peaking in relevance and popularity. Despite the Maximum Overdrive Effect the EU has embraced a rather technophilic attitude in order to help fortify themselves.

The USSR has suffered almost as badly as Europe, spared the worst only by being so much bigger. There have been massive demographic shifts as the majority of the population and vital infrastructure has been shifted east to Siberia and there is a defensive line of sorts stretching from the Urals down to the Caspian Sea. They do still occupy their western territories but they are often forcibly settled with necessary personnel, their families and political dissidents (who usually end up on the border of the Ukraine Exclusion Zone).

By this point the USSR is a socialist nation with heavy overtones of nationalism in a sort of ‘red-brown’ system. The government is still totalitarian and maintains intense control but the near collapse of their economy in the worst years of the attacks by radioactive phenomena has led to numerous reforms. The Red Army, who took control during the worst years and built the ‘Soviet Empire’ also still have a lot of power which helped erode the old communist system a little bit more. Small levels of capitalism are allowed now but most of it is in relation to small businesses, usually started by farmers to help sell surplus produce. Larger corporations have been set up to aid the economy but the government always has majority control of shares and exercises a lot of control when they fell the need to.

The USSR has been in the process of developing a new ‘Soviet’ supranational identity but its hitting some snags, especially after their attempt to set up an empire in the Middle East to compensate for their losses in Russia. The ‘Soviet Empire’ that was built in a period of global chaos and uncertainty by a combination of hook and crook, is a bit of a mess and the Soviets are still struggling to pacify some of their new overseas territories. Radical Islamism is becoming a problem in many of their majority Muslim territories as well, adding to further problems. At one point the KGB covertly released some of the radioactive monsters from the Exclusion Zone into regions prone to rebellion. This was planned to flush guerilla forces out, a plan that has paid off in the ways they wanted and brought new problems that the naysayers to these plans predicted now that the monsters and troglodytes have run amok.

China has developed somewhat differently, embracing an even closer relationship with the US earlier as the USSR floundered and then seemed to pursue an expansionist policy in the chaos of the worst years of the crisis. They have moved closer to a ‘socialised capitalism’ model of government and economics like the Soviets.

China is still a totalitarian nation but it has moved even further to a socialised capitalist state than OTL and is suffering from even worse environmental problems because of it. There are some concerns that the constant dumping of toxic materials might create another mutagenic Exclusion Zone but the lack of unnatural consequences (there are, of course, plenty of regular ones) has kept the Politburo confident that they can get away with their current policies. International pressure is being put on China to curb their pollution, both for regular environmental reasons and also out of fear of some other Exclusion Zone phenomena developing.

India is much the same albeit with a slightly more environmentally conscious approach as they are much less willing to pollute the Ganges like the Chinese have the Yangtze. They do, however, have an even bigger wealth disparity than their Chinese counterparts and a less repressive government keeping a lid on it. The arrival of radioactive insects from further north and their less than effective response to them is also causing further problems. Tensions are beginning to mount in the subcontinent.

The radiation of the Ukrainian Exclusion Zone is bizarrely unique and has produced numerous different phenomena. There are, however, several different products and strains of mutation that have emerged and have been categorised for the sake of combating them.

Radioactive gigantism is one of the most well known products of the Chernobyl radiation. The monstrosities that are created by this effect are usually formerly small fauna from the Exclusion Zone that are swollen to immense, impossible sizes. Giant insects, giant molluscs, giant lizards and giant rats that can range in size from cats, dogs and humans to the size of skyscrapers. Some infamous creatures like the titanic upright lizards that first emerged and have spread into the world’s oceans, the prolific, man-sized ants (that have managed to build nests on every continent) and the sheep-sized rats that continue to dominate sewers across Eurasia have proven surprisingly difficult to eradicate despite their size. The giant humans grown by the radiation vary depending on the disposition of the victim but those who are either mentally unstable or already prone to violence usually end up becoming dangerously unhinged in a variety of neighbourhood wrecking ways.

Outright mutation is the next most common and also the more disturbing and alien in what it produces. Whilst victims of gigantism are merely swollen to immense sizes, these mutations are much more varied and fantastical. This phenomena is less likely to spread from the immediate area of the Chernobyl site but the horrific jungle of mutated vegetation is spreading spontaneously. Large portions of Eastern Europe have been covered by a thick forest of mutated plants including man-eating flowers the size of trees, massive trees that bear off-coloured fruit as big as cows and fungal growths that looks like bulbous, fleshy tumours. Within this forest are five, legged deer, massive dinosaur-like reptiles, troglodyctic humanoids and all manner of other mutant horrors. Other monstrosities will also appear in this part of Europe and spread further, establishing their own nests in order to reproduce.

Human mutants come in a variety of forms but there are several common strains that have become the most disturbingly prolific monsters. The most numerous are the cannibalistic, pale-skinned, often eye-less troglodytes that have set up, large ghoulish communities in caverns, sewers and other subterranean environments around the world. Some have the ability to craft tools but are otherwise animalistic, savage and abnormally aggressive. There are others that have more outlandish mutations, often sprouting oversized, animal or insect traits like spider legs, extra eyes, animal ears and other things. The most feared, however, are the mental mutants, people granted telepathic or telekinetic powers by the mutagenic radiation. Though some are benign, others have used their unnatural abilities to enact reigns of terror wherever they exist.

Mutated viruses are the second most feared phenomena produced by Chernobyl. The most famous is the Rage Virus which induces a psychotic anger in the victims, is highly infectious, grants people a rabid strength and specifically targets humans. Others aren’t as widespread but still terrify people to this day like the infection that melts people into organic smile (that sometimes becomes ambulatory) or the plague that covers its victims in massive, pulsating tumours. The most bizarre is the Maximum Overdrive Effect, a disease (for want of a better term) that seems to infect machinery, giving them sentience and a murderous desire to destroy humans. Both mobile and immobile devices are affected by this phenomena and will try to find some way to kill whatever humans are close by.

Despite all of this, the need for cheap power hasn’t dissuaded people entirely from nuclear power. The world’s reactors are more safely managed and there are incredibly harsh policies for companies that fail to meet the stringent safety standards that nearly every government holds. The disposal of radioactive material is also just as strict and illegal dumping can hold the death penalty in many countries.

Technologically this world is only a little ahead of OTL in most areas though others are much further. The Maximum Overdrive Effect has stunted technological growth as many people are now very distrusting of automation. Amish style agrarianism is rather popular in many places outside the US where they started. Innovation still carried on and the need to combat all of the other threats that now blight the world has prompted more and more technological development and its integration into wider society.

There is an internet that is highly involved in every facet of the modern societies of the developed world. It is, however, also heavily modified and built with numerous blocks and redundancies designed to isolate portions of it should the Maximum Overdrive effect take hold and quarantine them. This method has proven to work in the long run though several close calls still keep the world nervous. People are still sceptical of automation though so there are still plenty of openings for unskilled labourers (but also more demands for labour so immigration is an even more contentious issue). Public transport is also more popular, specifically the kind that runs on rails as they are less likely to go on far-reaching rampages without destroying or immobilising themselves. Trams and bicycles are the most common way to get around cities and trains perform most overland cargo shipping.

Military technology is where most innovation has gone, despite the threat of the Maximum Overdrive Effect. Powered armour is now a reality though it is very bulky and available only to a few major states and, even then, only accessible to a fraction of their soldiers. Efforts have been made to produce conventional missiles with higher and higher yield explosives and even lasers are being tested though the viability of those weapons is much more questionable. Nuclear missiles are still not seen as the best solution to monster attacks as the worries that they will simply exacerbate the radiation problem remain prevalent.