Shattered Union is set in an alternate history version of the United States. In 2008, David Jefferson Adams has been elected as the 44th
President of the United States following a disputed election and a tie vote in the
Electoral College (and subsequent
tie-breaker by the United States House of Representatives), becoming the most hated and unpopular president in
U.S. history. A combination of foreign terrorist attacks and poor economic conditions contributes to civil unrest. As a result, rioting springs up all throughout the
United States, resulting in
domestic terrorism. In response, President Adams uses the
Homeland Security Act and declares
martial law on many areas of the country, but it is particularly concentrated in the West Coast.
Four years later, during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, the
Supreme Court of the United States disqualifies all the popular presidential candidates from several states, effectively handing Adams his reelection. The public reacts violently when incumbent Adams accepts a second term.
During the
Inauguration Ball in
Washington, D.C. on the night of January 20, 2013, a low-yield
tactical nuclear weapon is detonated in an apparent
groundburst, presumably having been concealed there in advance. The
yield is sufficient to destroy most of the city, killing Adams, his cabinet, and most of the
U.S. Congress, effectively
wiping out the presidential line of succession, resulting in the United States being thrust into total chaos.
The
European Union Parliament meets in an emergency session, and votes to send
peacekeepers to the
Washington Metropolitan Area to secure international interests and protection of European citizens in the United States. As secessionist sentiment rises in America, the governor of
California declares home rule, and California secedes from the Union on April 15, 2013.
Texas follows a few days later on April 17, 2013, taking neighboring states with it and re-forming the
Republic of Texas. Other factions form in the following months, and by 2014, all hopes for a peaceful resolution are gone and the
Second American Civil War begins.
Early in the war,
Russia invades and occupies
Alaska, using the expanded operations of the European Union as an excuse. The invasion is personally led by President Nicholai Vladekov, an ex-general and former
Soviet hardliner, who claims that Alaska was never really part of the United States, and that Russia is merely reclaiming its former territory. What little resistance does occur is confused and disorganized, making the invasion largely unopposed.
Later,
Interpol reveals the results of its investigation regarding the Inauguration Day bombing. President Vladekov had been dealing weapons on the black market for more nearly thirty years, and masterminded the D.C. bombing as part of his goal to disrupt the world economy, so that Russia could regain its military dominance, and more easily control Europe. Protests throughout Russia force Vladekov to declare martial law in Moscow.
After the former
contiguous United States is unified under one faction, the independent Commonwealth of
Hawaii agrees to join the new government. Vladekov refuses to cede control of Alaska, so the faction's forces prepare to invade the state and drive the Russians out of
North America. A closing cinematic depicts the aftermath of the war.
If the invasion fails, the reunified U.S. is still suffering unrest and faces an uncertain future. If the invasion succeeds and the player faction's reputation is very good, the troubled American states are "united again under uncommon greatness" – a leader whose merciful acts and strategic and tactical brilliance will be spoken of for centuries to come. If the player faction's reputation is very bad, the U.S. transforms into a new fascist state, "one that will never again feel the sting of dissent".
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