Chicago escaped the worst of the war due to its location on the North American continent. A majority of its infrastructure remained intact in the post-war era, excepting a lack of organized government. Without the previous federal government’s support, the city’s officials soon lost what tenuous control they had over the population. Several criminal organizations, including the Mafioso families who had lost much of their power in the pre-war years, stepped in, filling the power vacuum and fighting amongst one another for a greater share of control in the Chicago metro area. These power struggles would often see a family or group gain power one week only to lose it the next to a rival.
Even with the organized crime families and their rivals fighting amongst one another, Chicago served as a beacon of hope to many in the otherwise dark days following the war. Building a sizable population of survivors, the city thrived as a trading hub of pre-war good and technologies, and life continued unabated in many aspects.
Chicago has, in part, built its reputation as a post-apocalyptic metropolis. Though many locales show their age, a majority of the city still stands, worn but not broken. Many of the larger structures and buildings are maintained through a conservation effort begun by a group of architectural students in the years following the war and continued today.
Viktor ‘Vitya’ Ivanovich Gorchev was born into this environment and raised into mob life before travelling to New Nevada.