The present. Saboteurs and Fringers emerge as potent tools of 'diplomacy by other means'.

G10, Group of Ten largest economies on the planet, nows includes the US, Cathay, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Hindustan, Zhongguo, France, the UK, and Italy.

Superstitious paranoia infects the Directory arm of the American government. Rumours of cults and religious zealots generate a great deal of negative media publicity, but the public appears to sympathize with religious factions. Internal CIA and NSA memos indicate a high degree of "fear of something" among agents and even hint at secret-society-style initiation rituals.

Rumours of a new disease called 'Necrosis' which brings the dead back to life begin to circulate among Fringer circles.