Worldwide, the smaller developed nations with mostly homogenous populations do better than most. Conglomerates like Russia, China, Canada, the U.S. experience the greatest troubles, with Australia being among the first to splinter. Fed by the disparity between regions, South Eastern Australia begins to form its own economic and social rules, cutting itself off from the rest of the country. As the Sydney area then begins to show some signs of economic recovery, other regions around the world decide to take a similar approach.

Russia becomes a snakepit of competing ethnic and national fighting around its Slavic core. For generations, Russia had sent people to Siberia. Now, Siberia sent its weather to the people of Russia. They shivered, and began to move west and south.

In the U.S., Southern California is the first to make a similar move. Amid violent fighting between Hispanic, Anglo and Asian minorities, they impose economic and political restrictions on their neighboring regions, claiming that an unfair burden is being placed on them by their State and Federal taxation. Following closely on Southern California’s heels, a separate Hispanic region forms around the shell of Los Angeles. Many other states suffer a similar fate…