It is the year 2010...

The American dream has become a nightmare.

A dramatic rise in terrorist attacks executed on US soil erodes
national confidence in the Federal Government’s ability to maintain order
and security throughout the country. Extremist militant groups, both foreign
and domestic, strike at US holdings with seeming impunity. The Federal
Government’s inability to directly counter these threats begins
to chip away at the cornerstones of national unity.

The seditious debate over how to respond forcefully to the rising crisis
begins to fracture the tentative fraternity between the Federal and State
Governments. The increasingly sensationalist media-bloc fans
the flames of public paranoia and discontent.

Violence reaches a boiling point on both coasts as various ethnic
and special interest groups are blamed for society’s rapid disintegration.
The tenuous public conscience finally snaps as race riots, violent
anti-Federal demonstrations and outright urban warfare erupt
throughout the nation’s major population centers.

Local governments, unable to stem the tide of the growing anarchy,
turn to the Federal Government for a final solution. Martial Law is
instated across the land as Federal armed forces move in and quickly
take control of thirteen eastern states. The massive police action quickly
spirals out of control as numerous guerilla militias rise up to spread
terror and destruction up and down the East Coast.

Outraged by this unprecedented Federal action, and driven to
circumvent similar events in their own territories, a number of central
and western states declare their intentions to secede from the union. In a
final bid to keep the nation from fracturing any further, the Federal Government sends its troops into the heartland of America to restore order at any cost.

The Second American Civil War has begun…