Jack of Harts

The Japanese Home Islands fell to a Chinese invasion during the Second Great Depression. As did most of the nations surrounding China. There were a lot of refugees from those nations, and many went to their neighbors, trying to get just a little bit further from the Chinese invaders. Whereupon they would have to run again when the Chinese expansion continued. The largest single refugee fleet crossed the entire Pacific and landed in Los Angeles. This was after the Los Angeles Blackout, and Los Angeles was not in good shape. But it had always been home to one of the largest Japanese populations outside the Home Islands, so when the new Empress of Japan set sail, Los Angeles was her destination. She put all of her surviving resources into rebuilding the new home of her people when she arrived. They called it New Nippon or New Nihon. Outsiders never did fully figure out when they would use one name over the other. Americans just took to calling it New Japan because it was a name they understood.

The Republic of California did not include Los Angeles when it was originally formed. That city suffered much when the Second Great Depression hit. Honestly, it had been suffering for decades, and the depression simply accelerated the city’s downturn. The Cybernetic Wars and the Islamic Jihad brought more chaos to the city, and the Los Angeles Blackout is still considered a seminal event of the time period. It brought the city all the way down and shattered her governmental structure. Riots rules the streets and there wasn’t enough of a government left to join anybody or asking anyone for help. Los Angeles was the largest city that utterly failed during those years, and it has proven a cautionary tale in the centuries since.

By the time the San Ysidro Peacekeepers and Judges restored order in San Diego, Tijuana, and the other nearby cities, they had informally become the southern edge of the new Republic of California. They official joined as San Ysidro, San Diego, Tijuana, and all of several other cities. It’s a long name. Never used except in the most painfully formal of situations. Most people simply call it San Ysidro, after the council that represents them to California and the United States. Each city elects representatives to that council, and agrees to work together towards the common good in public, all while trying to tip the balance towards their own good behind the scenes. It is a seemingly chaotic mix of cooperation, competition, and cheating as each city tries to pull one over on all of the others. But the San Ysidrans have mostly kept the peace. And there are always Judges and Peacekeepers ready to step in if that peace is broken.