[aesir23]

Mustard I: Much more dangerous and persistent chemical weapons in WWI magnify the civilian and military casualties by an order of magnitude in all theaters of war. Even worse, much of the soil near the European fronts is permanently tainted. In the next decade, famine, mass sterility, and countless civil wars reduced Europe to a mostly depopulated, poisoned wasteland.

Current year is 1931--the remaining super powers are the United States, the Soviet Union(whose effective border starts in the Urals, despite claims of sovereignty over vast swaths of poisoned wasteland in Eastern Europe), and the British Empire (whose official capital has been moved to Madras). Tensions are very high.

Despite what happened in Europe, chemical weapons have proven too effective to set aside completely, especially with the looming communist threat and the drain on resources resulting from the millions of desperate refugees.