The Wheel Has Turned Around: Prologue

The law is inside out, The world is upside down. Les Miserables

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The year is 2054 AD. Very little has changed about the known world that remains valid. If anything, the world has regressed. Bloody civil wars and international terrorism has resulted in many things, and one of the most massive is the splitting of the United States of America into three distinct and separate groups: The East, The Center, and The West. The East begins in Maine and curves its way down to Florida, and its eastern border is the state of Ohio, splitting a few states into parts, but basically continuing up and down in a straight line. In the West, Northern most border is Alaska, and the Southernmost is Hawaii. The eastern border is Montana, cutting through Wyoming, and Colorado. The Center is all the other states left to it.
The East is considered the greatest threat to all powers. It has the greatest military might in the known civilized world and has constant access to what was formerly known as Europe, now Basanon.
The West is the cultural center of the world, and has oriental allies in Japan, Taiwan, and other western factions. It is abundant in natural resources, and the richest country of the three.
That leaves poor Center, in the middle of a tug-of-war game for power. It's only true asset is its miles of farm land, and good terrain. Otherwise, it has little to no valuable resources, and no army to allow it to stand on its own.
In other parts of the world, different Empire's are vying for power, but none with such strength and vigor as the former U.S.
After several biological and chemical attacks in all different places in the world, advanced sciences have disappeared. The fastest way to travel is by horse. Armies are reduced to swords and numbers, not technology and guns. The old ways have reappeared.
Like in all dictatorships, arts are strongly questioned, and writing was banded, for fear it might be used as a weapon. This has changed in recent decades, though no one is quite sure why..
For artists, there are only two groups that have both the money and the strength to protect you. They are musicians and actors. Parents give their children up to such artistic groups, or crafts for hopes of a better life, and on fear of death for them. If one is extremely talented, you may be chosen as an apprentice to a professional at your craft, and eventually become a master yourself.
These are dangerous times, and there are two, major lands that might rise against each other: Shiro and the East: Kurai and his Queen Rein and the West.