PANEM, A FUTURE HISTORY
Chapter 1: How It All Began
November 8, 2016 – Donald Trump wins the United States Presidency in the closest election in American history, defeating Bernie Sanders 270-268 in the Electoral College, despite Sanders having won the popular vote. The win is the result of a stunning upset in Florida, with the traditionally democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade county going Republican for the first time in almost 30 years (the last time was 1988 for George H.W. Bush), albeit by a very slim margin, but enough to award Florida's 29 electoral votes to Trump, who had been trailing 268 to 241. However, Sanders does not concede, citing irregularities being reported in Miami-Dade along with several other voting districts.
November 10, 2016 – The Sanders campaign officially petitions Congress and outgoing President Barack Obama for a formal inquiry and investigation into the election results, citing allegations that potential voters were turned away from polling stations due to "lack of acceptable identification." The petition is signed by over 1 million citizens along with 47 members of the House of Representatives and 4 United States Senators.
November 11, 2016 – Approximately 50,000 protesters gather in Lafayette Square outside the White House in support of the investigation, claiming that Bernie Sanders is the true President-Elect of the United States. They are met by nearly 30,000 counter-demonstrators in support of Trump. The protests inevitably turn violent after only a few minutes of intense back and forth verbal taunting, with fighting between the Sanders and Trump factions as well as between both factions and the police. After approximately 10 hours, the violent demonstration ends with 116 dead, nearly 1,500 injured, and over 5,000 arrested.
November 30, 2016 – In addition to the Miami-Dade area, reports of irregularities, intimidation, and disenfranchisement at polling stations pour in from all over the country through television, radio, internet, and social media outlets over the next few weeks. These largely match the findings of Congress at the conclusion of their investigation. This ignites a new round of mass protest around the country, with the most activity occurring in the Midwest and coastal areas. Conversely, the vast majority of counter-protest activity takes place in the deep-south and southwestern United States as well as Alaska.
December 1, 2016 – Bernie Sanders officially contests the election results and files suit with the United States Supreme Court. The entire nation is on edge as preliminary hearings for Trump v. Sanders are scheduled to begin the following week. Bernie Sanders hires prominent New York attorney Michael Heavensbee as lead counsel, while Trump selects the high powered Jonathan Abernathy from Chicago to represent him.
December 8, 2016 – Trump v. Sanders begins with opening statements from both camps. Heavensbee's position contends that while several voting irregularities have been noted across the country, including intimidation and disenfranchisement against potential democratic voters, the particular focus will center on the Miami-Dade area of Florida, which has a strong democratic presence and is one of the most influential voting districts in the state, and has seen the highest number of irregularity reports. Heavensbee intends to prove that disenfranchisement took place, noting the reports of voters being turned away for no valid reason other than vague statements of "lack of acceptable identification" as well as improper poll closings which prevented voters from casting a ballot due to employment time constraints. He also intends to show that voters were sent home when polling station closing times had been announced, even though they had arrived prior to closing. Should it be proven, a motion would then be filed to petition the Supreme Court to nullify Trump's election and award the Presidency to Mr. Sanders. On the other side, Jonathan Abernathy intends to prove that no improprieties took place, arguing that interviews with voters and polling station staff in the Miami-Dade area revealed no discrepancies, and that a recount still showed Trump as the victor. He also notes in his opening statement that voter demographics are constantly evolving and changing, and an electoral victory can happen anywhere at any time for any candidate. His ultimate goal is to have the election results upheld in favor of Mr. Trump.
December 22, 2016 – After two weeks of intense arguments from both sides and deliberation from the Justices, the United States Supreme Court votes to uphold the election results in a 5-4 vote. Chief Justice John Roberts provides the prevailing opinion, citing the lack of impropriety evidence other than circumstantial presented by Mr. Heavensbee. All forms of media explode with furious reaction from Sanders supporters, and protests ignite nationwide to the point of civil unrest, as new evidence comes to light of more disenfranchisement around the country. However, Mr. Sanders pleads for calm, stating that "the democratic process has prevailed, and this is another example of the ideals of our forefathers. Let us reconcile and make our future a brighter one." He then calls Mr. Trump to officially concede and congratulate him on his victory.
December 23, 2016 – Mr. Trump gives an official victory speech in his home state of New York to tens of thousands of his supporters. However, he is continually interrupted by protesters who have gathered within the venue. After only a few minutes, Trump becomes visibly enraged and deviates from his speech to address the protesters directly: "Listen here, you bunch of bleeding heart freeloaders, I won the election! The Supreme Court upheld the results! I am your next President, whether you like it or not! Get used to it!" His fiery statement is met with thunderous applause and celebration by supporters, but is lambasted in the media as unprofessional and potentially alienating, which does little to calm the growing unrest in the nation.
January 20, 2017 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States.
January 30, 2017 – President Trump immediately acts on one of his early campaign promises by asking Congress to approve the enforcement of a particular clause in the Immigration Act which allows the United States to bar entry to anyone deemed a threat. Mr. Trump argues that Islam has become too radicalized and that the country cannot afford to risk the safety of its citizens anymore. Because Islam is a religion and not a race, President Trump argues for a total ban on immigration against ethnicities most likely to practice Islam. He proposes a total immigration ban against all foreigners of Arabic, Persian, South Asian, Mediterranean, and Bosniak origin.
February 6, 2017 – After days of fierce nonstop debate, Congress narrowly grants authority to President Trump to enforce the ban, which takes place immediately. All immigration is stopped, all hearings cancelled, and all visas are revoked for those affected. The ban is met with massive disapproval among the American public as well as from several international organizations, primarily the United Nations and Amnesty International.
February 10, 2017 – News outlets across the country are abuzz with stories of massive protests that have again erupted nationwide in opposition to President Trump's ban, with a spike in recruiting from ISIS also being reported. This prompts large scale petitions to President Trump and to Congress to reverse the ban. President Trump stands firm, even openly defiant, claiming that the ban "removes a major cancer from American society." This ignites a complete firestorm of criticism of the President, with even some of his closest allies in Congress becoming nervous and privately urging President Trump to take a more cautioned approach to his rhetoric.
May 7-10, 2017 – The most devastating terrorist attack in history occurs on American soil. In a coordinated effort among over 500 ISIS operatives, mass bombings and shootings occur in 10 major cities – New York City, Chicago, Miami, Detroit, Boston, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. The attackers use high powered fully automatic assault rifles, sniper rifles, Molotov cocktails, RPG launchers, hand grenades, and dirty bombs. The assault lasts nearly 4 straight days and results in 40,000 deaths, over 200,000 injured, and over $180 billion in damage, including the complete destruction of the Willis Tower in Chicago and the Needle in Seattle, with parts of Detroit and Boston rendered uninhabitable from the terrorists' dirty bomb detonations. Of the 500 ISIS operatives, 382 are killed, 110 are captured, and the remaining 18 are thought to have fled the country into Mexico from San Diego.
May 11, 2017 – President Trump meets privately with his cabinet in an emergency meeting and declares "Enough is enough. It is time to get rid of this scourge once and for all." He then gives a televised address to a shell shocked and massively outraged nation to discuss the events of the attack and his plan of action. It is at this point when Mr. Trump announces that he is working with Congress on what is to become known as the Security Act. The proposed law completely terminates all immigration to the United States from all foreign nationals, regardless of their country of origin. In addition, it moves to reclassify Islam as a cult, making it exempt from first amendment protection. The most controversial, if not outright unconstitutional provision, calls for the rounding up and subsequent forced relocation of any citizen who is a member of the Muslim faith. The "evacuees" would be sent to federal housing complexes where they would be kept under constant surveillance.
May 13, 2017 – The Security Act stalls in Congress, as even the staunchest allies of Trump find it a bit too extreme. However, this quickly changes when another ISIS cell activates in Phoenix, Arizona and detonates 10 dirty bombs at different points in the city, causing another 8,000 deaths instantaneously along with 11,000 more injuries. The 10 member cell then spreads out in downtown Phoenix and each member sets off a suicide bomb that claims another 900 lives and injures another 1,000.
May 14, 2017 – The Security Act swiftly passes through Congress, and President Trump wins a key provision which allows him to effectively declare a "special state of emergency" which not only federalizes all police, fire, and national guard forces, but allows the President to declare martial law as well as bypass the legislative and judicial branches, essentially allowing Trump to run the country as a dictator.
May 15, 2017 – President Trump immediately utilizes the Security Act and declares martial law across the United States in another address to the nation. He also uses this opportunity to announce an initiative in which "all persons of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, South Asian, Bosniak, and Balkan origin will be relocated to undisclosed federal housing districts and placed under immediate surveillance." The law is challenged in the courts but immediately upheld due to the "extenuating circumstances which have befallen the United States and now subsequently threaten its sovereignty." Now completely free of legal challenge, Trump carries out his plan of relocation.
May 17, 2017 - Citizens who meet the description set forth in the law are forcibly removed from their homes in the middle of the night and taken to local detention centers where they are held indefinitely without due process. Those who resist are immediately arrested, with some even being summarily executed on sight, right in front of their families. The Security Act also contains a small and obscure provision which allows those deemed a "threat" to the United States to be considered enemy combatants and therefore subjected to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, meaning that a person could be subjected to a court martial rather than a civilian trial by a jury of their peers. This provision will be heavily used and strictly enforced. This provision also allows the President to extend its definition to protesters, who under the law are considered "insurrectionist agitators," and can also be treated as enemy combatants. As a result, demonstrations are quickly and harshly suppressed by military and police forces.
June 27, 2017 – President Trump issues an executive decree which enacts tight controls over the media, with FCC officials now being present at all media outlets regardless of size, who cannot release information until it has been reviewed, edited, and approved for release. President Trump claims that the information controls are "regrettable but necessary in order to prevent the spread of information which terrorist organizations operating within the United States may find useful for further attacks." In reality, however, the decree serves little purpose other than providing propaganda mixed in with the occasional game show or sporting event.
August 13, 2017 – Four ISIS operatives are apprehended in Laredo, Texas, and found smuggling nuclear materials and a detonation device bound for Washington, D.C. On the way to the detention center, one of the operatives accidentally divulges information when speaking to another of his comrades in Arabic, unaware that one of the ICE agents transporting them was an interrogator while stationed in Afghanistan a decade earlier, and as a result was also fluent in Arabic. The ICE agent learns that the nuclear device was provided by a rogue Russian general, the explosive device by a hardline Chinese government official, and also that they were being smuggled across the border by members of the Zetas drug cartel. He promptly relays this information to his commanding officer, with both promptly being summoned by the Department of Defense for further questioning.
August 14, 2017 – President Trump again goes on national television and discloses the information obtained from the apprehended ISIS operatives to the American public. While Trump is already suffering from incredibly high disapproval ratings, this new information provides him with a bit of a boost in support, as Americans seem thankful that a massive disaster has been avoided. However, this does not last long, as President Trump's rhetoric becomes immediately hostile and outright belligerent toward the governments of Russia, China, and Mexico. President Trump then issues an ultimatum to all three nations: turn over those responsible for planning this attack within one week, or face war. The Mexican government immediately complies and even allows U.S. military and Customs forces to operate within northern Mexico. Russia and China, however, claim to have no knowledge and therefore are unable to assist the United States. President Trump responds with immediate skepticism and reiterates his ultimatum.
August 17, 2017 – The U.S. navy has secretly sent nuclear submarines and strategic bombers are put on high alert in the Bering Strait as well as the Taiwan Strait. President Trump announces that the ultimatum deadline is 11:59 P.M. United States Eastern Time on August 21st, "and not one minute after." In response, both China and Russia set their militaries on high alert, and begin arming their missiles in preparation for war. Stock markets go tumbling and oil speculation is at its highest point ever as a result. American citizens rush the streets to stock up on supplies, leaving entire grocery stores completely cleaned out shelf by shelf around the nation.
August 18, 2017 – Senator Bernie Sanders, Trump's opponent in the 2016 election, drafts a letter signed by nearly every member of the House and Senate which calls for President Trump to withdraw his ultimatum. The letter addresses Mr. Trump directly, stating "Mr. President, it is bad enough that you have already thrown away the Constitution within a mere 7 months of your first term, but this is going too far, even for you. We urge you to please reconsider your ultimatum. Do you really want to go down in history as the man who potentially caused more deaths than Hitler and Stalin combined?" In response, President Trump has Sanders arrested, tried for treason in what many considered to be nothing more than a kangaroo court, and then put on death row to be executed the night before the ultimatum deadline. The other congressional signatories of the letter are given censure as their one and only warning.
August 20, 2017 – As promised, Senator Bernie Sanders is executed by firing squad on orders from President Trump. Before his death, Senator Sanders' last words reportedly were: "The United States of America has been through dark days before, and those dark days are upon us again. But we have always been a nation to endure and triumph in the end. We will get through this." He is then shot dead in a short but intense volley. The American public goes into a period of deep mourning as they listen to the follow up broadcast from President Trump deep within Cheyenne Mountain, who then calls Sanders a "traitor to our values and a detriment to our power and unity."
August 21, 2017 – The day of the ultimatum has arrived. At 11:00 P.M. Eastern Time, President Trump has his forces at DEFCON 2, with the order to go to DEFCON 1 at midnight. Throughout the hour, the President receives frantic telephone calls from both Chinese and Russian government officials promising that they have no knowledge of the planned attack and pleading for time. President Trump simply responds to every plea with "Too late." Then, at 11:45 P.M., NORAD radar detects several nuclear missiles headed for the U.S. from China, Russia, and North Korea as well. Every face in the situation room turns ghost white as Trump now faces the unthinkable – nuclear war. It is presumed that Russia, China, and North Korea figured there would be no convincing President Trump to back down, so they figured better to strike first in hopes that they will destroy as much of the United States as possible before they themselves go down in flames. President Trump immediately orders American forces in the Bering and Taiwan Straits to retaliate with everything in their arsenal, which they do. The Emergency Alert System is then activated in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Citizens go into a general panic as they scramble to find whatever cover or shelter they can, but so many are ill prepared that they can do little except hide in their basements, which offer virtually zero protection against the force of a nuclear explosion as well as the subsequent fallout. American satellites then detect other oddities – they notice nuclear missiles aimed at the polar ice caps as well as glaciers in Northern Canada and Antarctica. U.S. military officials and scientists are horrified beyond belief as they realize what is happening – a nuclear attack on ice caps around the world would cause them to melt and push sea levels up drastically, not to mention cause tidal waves of unprecedented force.
August 22, 2017, 12:03 A.M. – The first missiles hit. Within seconds, Washington D.C., Omaha, New York City, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Los Angeles are vaporized. At the same time, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Pyongyang are obliterated. In addition, Seoul, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan are wiped out completely by North Korean missiles that were launched at the same time as the missiles headed for the U.S. Approximately 90 million people are killed instantaneously by the blasts within population centers. Millions more will be killed within the next couple of days from fallout.
August 22, 2017, 12:08 A.M. – Russian and Chinese missiles detonate in the air above the polar ice caps in Greenland, Northern Canada, the Arctic Circle, and Antarctica as well as on land in the coastal areas of these targets, and the effects are far more devastating than even the direst predictions from scientists. Within minutes, the shock wave causes tidal waves hundreds of feet high that race toward the United States' eastern seaboard at breakneck speed. Hours later, Alaska, Hawaii, and Northern Canada are completely underwater.
August 23, 2017 – Continental Europe is almost completely inundated. Paris, Rome, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Reykjavik are the first to be submerged. Most citizens have been hiding underground in anticipation, and therefore are completely helpless against the rising sea that swallows entire countries whole.
August 24, 2017 – The eastern United States is rocked by tidal waves so powerful that Florida is completely inundated immediately, with the rest of the eastern seaboard underwater not long after. You have to go as far inland as Atlanta before you reach dry land. The northeastern seaboard fares slightly better, with New England completely flooded but mostly intact, although the damage and casualties are no less immense.
August 30, 2017 – Another massive wave of deaths rolls across the globe, mostly as a result of radiation sickness from the fallout. All electronics not protected against EMP's or moved underground have been disabled as well, rendering emergency services completely useless. In a mere eight days, approximately 600 million people are dead, with millions more still expected. The death toll is predicted to peak at approximately 2 billion before the situation begins to stabilize. Continental Europe is virtually devoid of all life along with Western Russia and Eastern China, which are also heavily submerged underwater from the melting caps. South America is also near complete inundation all the way up to Panama. The Middle East and Africa suffer extensive damage and casualties as well, and although an exact number of deaths is unknown, there is speculation that they suffer approximately 15-20 million deaths minimum. Australia also suffers immense casualties due to most of its population living in coastal cities that were also completely washed away by the rising sea levels, and millions more are likely to die, as the Australian outback is a harsh and unforgiving territory that is ill suited for sustaining millions of lives.
September 2, 2017 – NORAD estimates the current number of dead at approximately 850 million, with roughly 150 million of those being Americans, although that number does not take into account the now hourly reported cases of deaths from radiation sickness, rioting, and complete overall breakdown of social order. Survivors have since gone underground, where they will likely have to remain for centuries before the land on the surface is deemed safe enough to inhabit.
September 19, 2017 – President Trump writes a long letter to the American people. In it, he professes his sincerest apologies for all that has happened, and expresses genuine regret for everything he has done. He ends the letter by stating "May God forgive me, because nobody else on this earth will, nor should they. I wish you all the best, and may your recovery toward a strong and prosperous nation be a speedy one." He then reads his letter out loud on an old reel to reel recorder, and then promptly commits suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his private quarters.
September 20, 2017 – The remaining government officials decide to keep the President's suicide a secret, and instead decide to declare his death the result of a heart attack. All records of his presidency are sealed within a vault in the complex. In a secret meeting, a vote is held to establish the new capital right there in the Rockies. Scientists who were stationed in the new capital estimate that it will be at least a minimum of 400-500 years before the surface could be deemed safe enough to sustain life once again. Elsewhere across the country, citizens in areas relatively unaffected by the blasts or the flooding take whatever supplies they can, which consists of food, medicine, fuel, and electronics not damaged by EMP waves. They then join the rest of their fellow citizens in the relative safety of the underground, where they will have to build a new society over the next several centuries. Excursions onto the surface are extremely rare and short in duration, lasting an hour at most to forage for whatever food and supplies can be found.
September 21, 2017 – Approx. June 2500 – The world's population, including that of the United States, continues to decline rapidly, not just from the fallout of nuclear war, but from new diseases that result from lack of adaptation to life underground, lack of access to adequate medical supplies, and also a vast decline in the birth rate due to males and females being rendered sterile from the effects of radiation combined with disease. As a result, those deemed fertile are treated with the highest priority, and given the highest amount of rations and the best available medicine. While this manages to slow down the decline somewhat, it is unable to have a significant enough impact to immediately reverse the trend. The population of the United States dwindles all the way down to a mere 10 million before the decline stabilizes.
June 28, 2500 – Scientists in the new capital make a trip to the surface, and find that radiation levels have decreased enough to the point where the land may be inhabitable once more. The ozone layer seems to also have recovered somewhat, as exposure to sunlight does not have a negative effect provided one gives themselves proper protection. It is also discovered that while several thousand species of both plants and animals went extinct during the war, new flora and fauna have arisen in their place, stemming from genetic mutations that have occurred in the ecosystem as a result of the radioactive particles that drifted across the continent.
June 30, 2500 – Approx. June 2560 – Society gradually begins to rebuild. More and more people come back to the surface, and are aided by the new capital, which had preserved the technological as well as scientific and medical knowledge that was sealed underground during the war of 2017. North America has drastically changed in shape, and is now the largest remaining landmass on earth. Attempts to make contact with the world outside of North America prove unsuccessful. However, North American citizens are glad once again to be able to be on the surface full time rather than the limited voyages above to scrounge for whatever food and supplies they could come across, which most often ended up empty handed. The citizens are able to rebuild their homes and villages using technology salvaged in the new capital. In the year 2525, basic transportation by wagon and by rail is operational. By 2540, basic forms of radio and telephone communication are reestablished. Ten years later, fiber optic usage is relearned, leading to the new capital having its first television sets and computers reactivated, though mainly limited to the capital itself. Citizens begin to rejoice and feel that humanity will survive and rebuild after all. In 2060, the new capital located in the Rocky Mountains has become a flourishing mid-sized city. Citizens across North America are excited at the promise of the future.
September 1, 2560 – The first large scale broadcast from the new capital is heard on radios across the nation. It is the first contact with a mass audience in over 500 years. The voice on the radio identifies himself as Marcus Rubicon, a resident of the new capital who had helped rebuild the communications arrays both in and outside of the new capital. Rubicon addresses the citizens with a message of "hope, not of fear." He also states that it is time to "forge a new path, and let go of the past. To revisit history will doom us to repeat it. Let us begin anew." To demonstrate his point, he proposes a new name for this fledgling young nation, which will be voted on by the citizens across the land. The new proposed name for this country: Panem. Rubicon states that the name, while it may sound strange, is a shortened version of an old Latin phrase – "panem et circenses," or literally, "bread and circuses." Rubicon states that while he intends not to repeat history, he does want to learn from it, and that the name Panem encompasses everything the new country should stand for – bread and water that will bring food, sustenance, and life to the citizens. The circuses are the games and entertainment that will allow citizens to rejoice and remind themselves that they are still human and should balance work with pleasure to keep their minds as strong and healthy as their bodies. Together, they form what Rubicon calls "the new hope for the nation, and the strength to rebuild itself into something greater than even our ancestors could have ever imagined." He also appeals to the citizens' sense of humor when he proposes that the name of the new capital should just be "The Capitol," because, as Rubicon states: "It's easy to remember, not to mention easy to spell." However, Rubicon states that he will leave the names up to the citizens to approve or reject, and he will announce the results in one week's time.
September 8, 2560 – Panem and The Capitol are approved by citizens in an overwhelming near unanimous vote. That evening, Rubicon addresses the nation by its new name for the first time, stating: "My fellow citizens of this new bright young nation of Panem, we have taken the first step in selecting a name. Now, we must choose its leader." He then asks the citizens to nominate a leader, but they are unable to agree on anyone else but Rubicon, mainly because he is the only voice they have heard so far. It seems that already, The Capitol is learning how to manipulate the populace, although at first it is very subtle. His first act as Panem's first president is to have a full census taken to determine where populations are concentrated, their demographic makeup, what resources are in the area, and the amount of those resources.
September 20, 2560 – Rubicon again addresses Panem's citizens via radio announcing the census has been completed, and based on the information collected by him and his "colleagues," he feels that the best and most efficient way to utilize the remaining resources on the land and in the available resources of the seas would be to organize the country into thirteen "districts" rather than several states, provinces, or prefectures. The districts will simply be numbered rather than given a name, again because Rubicon states that "numbers are simply easier to remember." Each district will be responsible for electing a mayor as well as a "governing representative" to The Capitol. The thirteen districts will also be assigned a specific task which will be used to benefit The Capitol as well as the other districts. But before this can happen, zoning preparations must be made. Rubicon announces that his "colleagues" are working with him on plans to establish boundaries of each district as well as assigning specific functions based on the demographic, topographic, and resource data collected during the census. The plans will take approximately one year to implement. Rubicon promises that once all thirteen districts have been outlined and constructed, the first free elections of Panem will be held, followed by a constitutional convention which will draft the first official charter of the young nation. Most citizens look forward to the new future, although some are already uncertain, noting that Rubicon seems to be dictating more than asking.