After The End

After The End is a popular Ed Islandian post-apocalyptic book and game series based on the premise that the fifth Great Snowzerland War (in the series simply known as the Great War) had escalated into a full-blown nuclear conflict, forever changing Antarctica's landscape into a nightmarish radioactive wasteland of both penguin and mutant threats.

Background
Rarely touching on the nuclear holocaust itself, After The End focuses on the survivors in the decades following the Great War, from the masses huddled in the Bridgestadt metro system to the formation and expansion of the New Snowjave Republic to fortune seekers making a living in the melting Antarctic mainland. Across Antarctica, threats from radiation, mutants, bandits, or any other danger is an almost daily occurrence, with penguins simply trying to survive in the harsh wastes.

Mutants are a common threat across Antarctica, from the mole-like Nosalis in the Bridgestadt Metro to the monstrous Super Mutants in Snowjave to the mysterious and uncaring Anomalies in The Zone, the vast majority are hostile towards penguins and attack them on sight. The most dangerous and misunderstood mutants are the Pygoscelis Novus, colloquially known as the Dark Ones. 'Evolved' from penguins mutated in the atomic fire, they possess jet black feathers and rather tall stature, standing a full head above the tallest penguin. Dark Ones possess psychic abilities, but their attempts to communicate with penguins are often interpreted as attacks.

Bridgestadt Metro
Bridgestadt had been directly impacted by several nuclear warheads during the Great War despite Ed Island's neutrality in the conflict, further demonstrating that no country truly 'won' the war.

Snowjave Wasteland
Only three warheads targeted the entirety of Snowjave, two of which managed to detonate. The third was shot down over the city of Virgo and caused no damage to the gambling city below.

South Pole Wasteland
As the capital of the United States of Antarctica, South Pole City was targeted by dozens of warheads from numerous nations aiming to destroy the superpower. Despite this, many groups of survivors began to group in the capital as soon as the nuclear fallout began to subside, building small communities in the ruins of the once great city.

Bridgestadt Metro

 * The Ring - A powerful group of over 20 metro stations formed shortly after the Great War, all along the metro's outer 'ring'. The Ring maintains a high standard of life in comparison to the rest of the metro, but is not without its faults; many of its officials are corrupt and would rather line their own pockets than help the greater metro population.
 * Victory - Centered around the four stations below Bridgestadt's Victory Avenue, Victory maintains a neutral power in most conflicts within the metro and has often hosted peace talks between the larger governments. Victory is the scientific capital of the metro, hosting many surviving scientists and leaders from before the War.
 * The Reich - A small conglomerate of metro stations heavily inspired by the Wulfen of the 1930s, the Reich seeks a unified Metro free from anything and anyone they deem to be mutants. They are a staunch enemy of the Reds and are near-perpetually at war with the stations.
 * Ed Island Volkspartei Flag.png The Reds - Communists grouped (rather ironically) under the Stasi headquarters, they attempt to spread Communism throughout the metro and are permanently at war with the Reich. The Reds have very little support from the rest of the metro, but often trade with neutral Ring and Victory stations.
 * League of Stations - Smaller stations grouped together with the common simple goal of survival. The League raised a common army to help protect against bandits, mutants, and anything posing a threat to their stations.

Snowjave

 * New Snowjave Republic Flag.png New Snowjave Republic - A democratic government formed out of the ruins of New Crosston, the NSR drives to unite Snowjave under one civilized nation. While being a modern civilized nation in a post-apocalyptic world, the NSR has been criticized for being corrupt and overly bureaucratic, with tribal villagers once having no more government than a mayor soon finding themselves having to pay taxes and submitting to NSR rule.
 * The Ruler's Army - Artificially created and grown under an irradiated military base, the Ruler's Army consists of so-called 'Super Mutants' formed from dipping penguins into a radioactive mutagenic substance. The Ruler, perhaps the most mutated of them all, seeks to spread his Unity across all of post-apocalyptic Antarctica.

Books

 * After The End: Underground (2011)
 * After The End: Steps into Shadow (2012)
 * After The End: Reich (2014)
 * After The End: High Waters (2016)
 * After The End: The Zone (2018)

Video Games

 * After The End (2012)
 * After The End: Snowjave (2013)
 * After The End: South Pole (2015)
 * After The End: New Virgo (2017)

Reception
After The End has been praised for its deep and intricate worldbuilding and simultaneously grim-yet-hopeful demeanor towards the apocalyptic wasteland.

The end of the Shops Civil War significantly affected the future of the franchise. The series author stated in an interview that he strongly opposed the use of nuclear weapons in conflict, and that After The End was in no way taking advantage of the nuclear annihilation of Shops Island. A planned video game installment, After The End: Vonkouver, was cancelled late in development and a portion of the franchise sales were directed to a relief fund for Shopper refugees.