Jack of Harts

Los Angeles got it bad when the Second Great Depression came over America. First it had the gang violence that weakened law and order. Then the Islamic State of Detroit sent agents to sow chaos there. Including Rogue AIs that made a particularly nasty hash of the local networks. An alliance of technogeeks and friendly AIs finally drove them out, but not before they sparked off the Los Angeles Blackout that brought the city low. Worse than the New York City Blackout of 1977. There were riots and arson and the city burned like a bonfire. Like the funeral pyre of civilization. The second largest city in America died that day. Oh, the fires went out. And some neighborhoods even began to rebuild. But the city as a whole died and refugees fled into the desert in hopes of finding more hospitable places to lay their heads.