Context
The year is 2020. North America has collapsed under the weight of the Second American Civil War, which started in 2018 and shattered what remained of the United States.
Federal forces survive only as a cornered remnant, dug into Washington D.C., surrounded by hostile factions, militias, warlords, and breakaway states. The entire world has changed.
Old alliances shattered, new powers rose, and the global balance shifted into a darker, unstable era.

World & Geopolitics
— The United States

Massive economic debt after foreign wars, political polarization, internal extremism, collapsing infrastructure, and the catastrophic defeat in the Middle Eastern Grand War.

— The European Union

Now the strongest bloc on the planet. They established proxy forces in Canada and launched a military intervention in northern U.S. territory, creating a containment cordon to prevent the civil war from spreading.

— The Soviet Bloc

Still exists, led by the Soviet Republic of Russia.
A powerful, centralized adversary with global influence.

The Directorate — SSD
The Standard Strategic Directorate (SSD) is a covert organization operating deep beneath the ruins of the old U.S. government. Part intelligence agency, part megacorporation, part cult-like research program. It is controlled by a single figure known only as The Host.
His real identity is classified his power is not.
The SSD maintains:

• hidden laboratories,

• underground bunkers,

• strategic assets within corporations worldwide,

• and autonomous paramilitary branches.

They specialize in:

• experimental human augmentation,

• anomalous technologies,

• political manipulation,

• and the creation of enhanced operatives.

To the outside world, they do not exist.

The Augment Initiative – Powers Program
Deep within the SSD lies the Augment Initiative, a classified program designed to produce post-human assets.

Subjects undergo:

• genetic reinforcement,

• neural stimulation,

• exposure to unknown compounds,

• and integration of anomalous technologies.

Only a small percentage survive.
Those who do gain extraordinary abilities called Augments.

Internal Classification:

• Class A – Primary Anomalous Assets

• Class B – Augmented Field Operatives

• Class C – Experimental Subjects

• Class D – Unstable Initiates

Augments are considered weapons first, people second.

The Player Character

The player begins as a broken American survivor a homeless wanderer, refugee, or displaced civilian.
Stripped of identity, documents, history, and purpose after the fall of the U.S.

To society, they are invisible.
To the SSD, they are raw material.