Jack of Harts

Guam is the largest and most diverse island in all of Micronesia. The Second Great Depression and the desperate defense against Chinese aggression wedded them firmly to the United States for their survival, and they soon became an official American State. Guam boasts contingents that fly every flag of Fallen Asia, though in a notable difference from the Continental States, they fly the American flag above their own. Older States often find that practice provincial or backwards, but Guam uses the American flag to unite all the peoples who fled the Chinese juggernaut and can still see its smog banks on the horizon to this day. This diverse and energized population has built Guam into one of the bustling centers of industry in the Pacific. They’ve built or settled hundreds of tiny islands all around Guam, and their western air purifying towers are some of the best on Earth and beyond. They are the bulwark of the Western Alliance, living in the shadow of China’s legacy, but holding the light of freedom aloft as Fallen Taiwan and Japan once did.

The new Empress of Japan fled Okinawa and traveled east across the Pacific Ocean in the last great fleet to leave Fallen Asia. But not every refugee, civilian or military, was able or willing to set sail with her. Most of them found their way to Micronesia in the West Pacific Ocean. Guam was the largest and most populous islands in Micronesia, and had been one of America’s primary military bases in the Pacific after the Second World War. So every surviving military asset that didn’t leave with the Empress found safe haven there. American. Korean. Vietnamese. Taiwanese. Japanese. Guam represented every fallen nation in Asia by the time China sent their very best blue-water invasion force across the Philippine Sea to crush the last great impediment to their Pacific strategy. America had shackled them for too long, and it was time for China to rise. But while China had the very best ocean-going warships in their fleet, they lacked the centuries of ocean-going experience built into the spines of other, older navies. That would prove devastatingly important when the storms came to lash the Philippine Sea and all upon it.

The western parts of the Federated States of Micronesia border Occupied Palau and are home to both a massive military presence and the southern tip of America’s the Great Pacific Firewall. The eastern islands are where most of the civilian population lives and where most of the fun happens. They have massive hotels, clean beaches, shining casinos, and anything else they can use to tempt tourists into coming to Micronesia. Or soldiers on liberty. The combination of tourists, locals, and soldiers can sometimes result in complications, the least of which is…intelligence in nature. Much like Palau, the Federated States are a hotbed of those who are romantically called spies, and there is a very non-romantic cloak and dagger war raging throughout the region as different intelligence agencies attempt to pull one over on all of the others. Or police their own. American soldiers are admonished against accepting any gifts while on liberty, and many have found their careers shortened or derailed when caught doing so despite this. But things can get stickier when it comes to the exchange of cash and favors. It is true that you can buy almost anything in the Federated States, whether you are in the bright and shiny tourist markets of the day, or the dangerous dark alleys of the night, but one should always be careful about bringing it home with you.