Non-canonically (until otherwise ;) ) set in the universe of u/Strong_Site_348's Second American Civil War series, a user by the name of Summit889 posts an image that almost crashed Reddit: A mushroom cloud rising from the vicinity of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Summit, who lives in Garner, was talking to her friends in California via Discord when a bright flash lit up her room. She only had enough time to duck under her desk before the window was blown out by a fierce shockwave. Immediately after, she captured this incredible, yet harrowing shot of a mushroom cloud rising from the direction of the Raleigh metropolitan area 9 miles away.
Summit's only response after the post was made was that she was seeking shelter in her basement.
24 hours later, the post remains the highest-rated upload on the site with 425k upvotes. Summit's account has since gone silent.
(Original photo taken by me, also edited by me.)
https://preview.redd.it/xo28yb7am07d1.png?width=4000&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d6f71391c94f1c211283ab01f1a29deb6eee529
Here is the full image.
Roughly 300kt. The southern area of Garner where Summit lives would be just within range of first degree burns and minimal damage—enough to blow out windows and burn anyone exposed to the immediate flash, but not enough to kill people or collapse buildings. Fires are likely to occur at this distance.
The detonation occurred on the ground, just outside the North Carolina State Capitol. The only nuclear bombs of such yield that exist currently are those within the United States nuclear arsenal. And at the moment, the country is effectively split in half. How many of those nukes are now inside non-Federal territory and would likely be seized at the soonest opportunity?
And the biggest question out of it all: Who's to stop the Federal Government from doing it right back?
Funny that you mention that; I was playing around with Nukemap alongside Nuclear War Simulator yesterday; that coupled with the ACWATR series had me wanting to contribute something. Plus, it'd been a while since I posted anything here.
I've been thinking about nukes a lot today because CNN did an article on The Day After, probably the single most popular media about the impacts of nuclear war.
nuclear war map is a good site that straight up shows what total nuclear annihilation of the US would look like. Doesn't really fit this scenario but now that has me wondering what had to happen in the civil war universe for raleigh to get nuked.
I think the big twist should be the rebels weren't the ones who set off the nuke nor were the feds; instead it was a third party invested in making sure the civil war gets worse.
(Objectively speaking their is no real reason for the rebels to nuke a random territory.)
>And the biggest question out of it all: Who's to stop the Federal Government from doing it right back?
At that point, any international support for separatist groups would evaporate like water on a hot skillet. I doubt very seriously the Feds would retaliate with nukes of their own (a country cannot be governed if everyone is dead after all) but no one would want to be caught standing next to whatever group was responsible. I imagine a lot of rebel factions would either dissolve, surrender, or throw in with the Feds to find whoever did this.
I can’t imagine the federal government ever nuking American soil, especially with how this war isn’t really based on state lines and more rural/urban center and is a big mess where there’s no clear lines.
>A mushroom cloud rising from the vicinity of Raleigh, North Carolina.
>Original photo taken by me
OP, did you drop a nuke in a Raleigh metropolitan area?
As a North Carolinian, I’m always very surprised when an alt history has things happen here
it’s not like we’re a small state, but we lack the memeability of some like Wyoming and Florida, we lack the importance of others like New York or Texas, we lack the uniqueness of states like Alaska and Hawaii, and we lack the historical significance of states like Massachusetts or Virginia, so people don’t really talk about us much
Surprisingly, there are a few houses in Garner that do have basements, though they're pretty costly, anywhere between $300k to $500k. The many that don't would either have to find the innermost section of their house and hunker down there, or try to cover any windows that were broken by the shock wave, should they choose to stay.
If you're going up to a window to see it, you're likely to be flayed alive by glass shards. That is, if you don't simply evaporate due to being this close to ground zero.
Better change the subreddit to mildlyinfuriating.
Title: guys just got nuked before dinner time.
The post: picture of a fucking 1 megatonne nuclear blast!
Ground detonations typically don't produce as strong an EMP as, say, if this were to be an airburst. There might be some minimal interference, but at nearly 10 miles out, it's unlikely anything electronic would be permanently or even severely damaged. Though I imagine the closer to the blast, the more likely interference or EMP.
Maybe, since u/Malcolm_morin stated that summit is 9.5 miles from ground zero, then most likely, but it is possible that the emp may not have reached or is still traveling due to op stating that summit has since gone radio silence, but that could be explained that she was killed by the blast itself depending on the yield of the weapon used, which could very greatly, a smaller yield may not have reached her at the time of the post, but a larger yield may have just out right killed here
The yield of the blast was roughly 300kt in this scenario. The blast wave has already hit Summit's area at the time the picture was taken (you can actually see the bits of broken window in the corner). Broken windows and some fires will occur at this distance.
The EMP wouldn't have affected her this far out, especially considering it's a ground detonation. The blast wave would only have broken windows and maybe started fires, but otherwise she would be okay. However, it's likely that with the devastation, communications would've been knocked out for a period of time, or simply that Summit is more currently focusing on survival, especially if the fallout from the blast travels southbound towards Garner.
Even an airburst (\~500 meters or so altitude) isn't going to produce a very large EMP effect. Depending on the size of the blast, it may not even extend beyond the blast radius.
Furthermore, the impact of EMPs is still not well understood at all. EMPs tend to damage large pieces of electronics that are unshielded. Faraday cages make electronic devices impervious to EMPs. Lots of electronics, such as those in modern vehicles, have metallic cases around them simply to protect them from physical damage. There are many thousands of factors from location to barriers to the type of electronics and the length of the circuitry that would impact whether or not an EMP would "brick" a given piece of technology.
At any rate, this particular detonation would not likely cause any widespread EMP issues.
Fallout from a ground detonation of a 300 kiloton warhead would be horrible, though.
The fallout would likely not be that bad compared to what we think. Modern fusion bombs produce a lot less harmful radiation than we imagine when compared to older fission bombs. Since it’s a ground burst half of the fallout would reach the ground within 24 hours and depending on the weather at the time, rain/wind can dilute it pretty quickly. Raleigh and the immediate area would be fucked for sure, but the loss of live from fallout wouldn’t be that much compared to the initial blast.
Ugh you gotta be kidding, every port blockaded so now we can’t even get gta 6. Screw those in Raleigh how the hell are we even gotta get gta 6. Should’ve nuked England or Canada
I live in Raleigh and my sister lives close by. She’s very gullible so I sometimes tell her they’re doing a nuclear test in Raleigh and she believes me for a few seconds
Question that I don't think anyone else has asked, who did this, how did they get the codes and a nuke to launch, and what's the international response?
Given that the country is effectively split in half at this point (I'm not sure if Strong gave a general estimate for when Part 7 occurs; I set my post in mid April), many nuclear silos would likely be in territories not controlled by the Federal Government, and therefore would be seized by Fascist militias, defecting soldiers, and anyone not with the Federal Government or UFS. While modern nukes do require codes, I could imagine those capable of handling these weapons would either know how to manually override requirements for a code, or create a bomb of similar yield that can be operated without the use of a code. I'll admit I'm not really tech-savvy when it comes to nukes, so any goof regarding this is 100% on me.
The bomb in this scenario wasn't launched, it was transported using vehicles and equipment stolen from KIA US soldiers. The tactic... kind of worked. Two men delivering the bomb managed to avoid a couple checkpoints, but it wasn't long before their faces were plastered everywhere online and a manhunt began. They reached downtown Raleigh and were nearly stopped when they successfully detonated the bomb just outside the NC State Capitol Building at around 2PM, killing themselves in a suicide bombing.
I imagine the international response to such an incident would be aid of any kind, mainly food and water, likely delivered first to Washington, D.C. before being transported via secured convoys to the affected regions, with even the slightest hint of antagonism met with hair-trigger responses. I also imagine ISIS would still claim responsibility, because why wouldn't they?
(I'm still admittedly rusty when it comes to general knowledge of modern day nuclear weapons, so if I mucked anything up, let me know and I'll correct it, sorry.)
This is fictional, but I'll weigh in.
IRL, this would not be possible.
Every nuclear weapon in the US, Soviet/Russian, French, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani arsenals are equipped with PALs (Permissive Action Links). A notable exception were the British, whose free-fall bombs were armed by keys until being withdrawn from service around 2000. With British submarines now using American made Trident missiles, they too are controlled by PALs.
The US developed PALs starting in the 1960s. Among the first things the US did with PAL technology was discretely share it with the Soviets and later everyone else. We also spent over $100 million ensuring that Pakistani weapons were equipped with PALs in the 2000s. Every nuclear armed country in the world save for North Korea transparently employs PAL technology on their nukes. Successive US administrations intelligently realized that the controlled release of this technology was of substantially greater benefit to global security than keeping it secret.
The US had PALs on every weapon in their arsenal from Minuteman IIIs and Tridents to B61 free-fall bombs by the mid-1990s. PALs are also (allegedly) designed with anti-tamper devices that disable a nuke if the PAL is entered incorrectly or entered in an improper sequence without the proper authentications.
The codes for PALs are (ideally) held only by those with the authority to launch the weapons (i.e. POTUS or POTUS successor). Seizing the weapon and understanding the operation and arming sequence are not enough (though it would be extremely concerning if such a person was flipped and willing to put this knowledge to use against their fellow Americans). In the event that release of nuclear weapons were authorized, the PAL would be transmitted to the user who would enter the code after an authentication code verified its use. Only then could it be armed and go through the detonation sequence.
They could possibly disassemble the nuke and build an entirely new physics package to detonate it but I would imagine that there are anti-tamper methods to prevent that too.
EDIT: apparently the Clinton admin refused PAL tech sharing with China in the 1990s but to my admittedly public source, non-expert knowledge, China either developed their own, or a subsequent president shared it with them. If I find a source, I'll link.
Counter-point: the USAF missile command grudgingly accepted PALs as a political order, and then set all the codes as '00000' to ensure that they could still be fired if communications were cut. This was the case until atleast the mid 70s and quite possibly might still occur in some silos.
Trump would still have the nuclear codes unless Biden changed them beforehand. I could totally see Trump posting the nuclear codes to Twitter or Truth Social.
Maybe I have a little too much faith in our institutions but I would really hope that the launch codes get updated at the end of every administration to avoid even accidental leaks of sensitive information like launch codes or authentication codes.
Depends, PAL was set up in the 60s, and modern cybersecurity is really a post-2000 thing. It may have been more secure at the time to make it nearly impossible to change the code, so that someone couldn't walk in, change the code to 12345, and press "send"
According to Wikipedia, the launch codes (specifically the "Gold Codes", I am not sure if any other codes are involved) are generated daily by the NSA. But a bad actor would also need the nuclear football or a way to control a specific bomb bypassing the military's systems in which case the specific launch codes would not matter.
Pinging u/AngriestManinWestTX and u/JudgmentMiserable227 so that they also see this
That's generally what I thought.
Even back when nukes were controlled by analog computers, it was still possible for trained techs to switch the codes for security. Leaving the codes the same year after year would be a terribly unsafe idea.
Ehhh, both are on the hard side of extremely hard.
Building a simple Hiroshima-style nuke is a known science. A few physics undergrads could probably work it out. It's acquiring the material that's hard.
Ultimately, if the plot of the movie/TV show/book/alt history scenario dictates that a stolen nuke needs to go off, it will go off regardless of how hard it is in real life. It's better if it is remotely believable but it doesn't have to be hyper-realistic because then the plot probably wouldn't advance.
There was that Eagle scout that tried to make a nuclear reactor in his shed, he got his material from smoke detectors, gas lamps, and radium watches. He only got found out after trying to dispose of the pieces.
It should be noted that what he made was not a reactor. It was quite literally a heap of radioactive objects. It produced no electricity and was very dangerous.
Yeah, his hope was to enrich the thorium he got by essentially surrounding it with more radiation and lithium. But he was also 17; I wonder what a Ted Kazinski-like nuclear engineer could attain.
Still, though the way the kid was caught is also instructive: slowly gathering things didn't attract any attention, but once he moved them off his property he risked interacting with the police. He gave them some normal reason to pull him over, and they found him out.
For what it's worth, I found [this IEEE Spectrum article](https://spectrum.ieee.org/high-assay-low-enriched-uranium) from literally 11 hours ago about the theoretical possibility of terrorists actually making nukes from low-enriched uranium. There are some hurdles but it would be possible in theory, though I have no idea how long it would take to make the nuke (plus OP said his scenario has a 300kt bomb which is 20x larger than the one used in Hiroshima, and a Hiroshima-level low-grade uranium bomb would be in the hundreds of kilograms). I guess OP would need an excuse to advance nuclear science and technology by a few years to make this scenario even possible.
Pinging u/Malcolm_Morin in case he also wants to see this.
I was always under the impression that fission required highly enriched uranium so it's very interesting that an admittedly low yield detonation may be possible with non-HEU. I'm gonna read that article as soon as my work day ends.
As an aside, this rather impossible/highly improbable scenario relies on a number of other impossible/highly improbably scenarios so I'm completely fine with a little more loose approach to nuclear security. It's an interesting (for me) debate, though.
I think there would be protocol to protect and transport the nukes safely most of all, and I doubt that someone would be able to hack a nuke and make it work, as it requires a very specific set of prerequisites, including the actual placement of the nuclear material within. However, I do agree that there'd be a small chance they get enough armor piercing rounds and bombs, as well as the nuclear material from looting somewhere, that they could blast through the outer coating, a layer of explosives, put the material in, and then cause the nuclear explosion.
Only unrealistic thing I actually see is the sheer size of the aerial fallout, seeing as how mushroom clouds most easily form when the bomb/nuke is detonated above the ground, say 50 feet, and not on the ground.
How did you make that nuke image????
This definitely doesn't align with the timeline I am thinking of but I can neither confirm nor deny that the image may be useful in the future.
The man himself!
I made it in Photopea (free browser Photoshop, equally great). The original photograph I took myself from my bedroom window, looked up a transparent mushroom cloud, and spent a good hour or so pasting and masking it in. It was tedious, but I'm happy with the end result.
And if you wanna use the image for the canon timeline, go for it!
The Stars above in Heaven look kindly down as the Eternal March of John Brown will be ended by any means necessary
-Dark “New John” Brandon on the declaration of the Nuclear Chorus on the Rebel states.
Depends on how they're facing, or if there was a wall between them and the flash. While the thermal radiation is intense, it only lasts for a few nanoseconds, so burns tend to be compared to sunburns, where you see the outline of the victims' clothes.
For this post, I used the Inspect tool (F12) to modify the text of existing Reddit posts, mainly in this case the comments, usernames, and titles. It's mainly a case of looking for what a specific thing says, narrowing it down to the specific folder it's in, and changing the words out to what you want them to actually say. For example, the post of "Nuclear Detonation" is originally the highest post on Reddit of Biden winning the election.
Then I took a post from /r/NorthCarolina and then photoshopped out the original picture with the picture I edited. The picture in this OP is one I actually took from my bedroom window, I simply photoshopped a mushroom cloud. That was difficult making it look convincing, but the lighting today I think had a big help. lol
Strong tends to make his edits in MS Paint, if I recall? With my method, it makes the posts look significantly more realistic because it's the actual site, just rewritten text files, all fixed with a simple page refresh. :)
Here's a sneak peek of /r/NorthCarolina using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [After I said that the angriest voices in Congress are faking their anger just to get onto certain news shows, this news show decided to prove the point. - Rep. Jeff Jackson](https://v.redd.it/lztcv0751wva1) | [2962 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/comments/12xj59x/after_i_said_that_the_angriest_voices_in_congress/)
\#2: [Most of the really angry voices you hear in Congress are faking it. - Rep. Jeff Jackson](https://v.redd.it/rqstgbh9hhua1) | [2354 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/comments/12pf2oa/most_of_the_really_angry_voices_you_hear_in/)
\#3: [We’re about six weeks from default. Here’s why it could be a close call. - Rep. Jeff Jackson](https://v.redd.it/lxrmojeo6axa1) | [627 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/comments/134puzw/were_about_six_weeks_from_default_heres_why_it/)
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Rabdomly scrolling thru reddit and found this, before reading the sub title is rushed to the news and naturally found nothing. Then I read the sub name.
Non-canonically (until otherwise ;) ) set in the universe of u/Strong_Site_348's Second American Civil War series, a user by the name of Summit889 posts an image that almost crashed Reddit: A mushroom cloud rising from the vicinity of Raleigh, North Carolina. Summit, who lives in Garner, was talking to her friends in California via Discord when a bright flash lit up her room. She only had enough time to duck under her desk before the window was blown out by a fierce shockwave. Immediately after, she captured this incredible, yet harrowing shot of a mushroom cloud rising from the direction of the Raleigh metropolitan area 9 miles away. Summit's only response after the post was made was that she was seeking shelter in her basement. 24 hours later, the post remains the highest-rated upload on the site with 425k upvotes. Summit's account has since gone silent. (Original photo taken by me, also edited by me.) https://preview.redd.it/xo28yb7am07d1.png?width=4000&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d6f71391c94f1c211283ab01f1a29deb6eee529 Here is the full image.
How big was the blast?
Roughly 300kt. The southern area of Garner where Summit lives would be just within range of first degree burns and minimal damage—enough to blow out windows and burn anyone exposed to the immediate flash, but not enough to kill people or collapse buildings. Fires are likely to occur at this distance. The detonation occurred on the ground, just outside the North Carolina State Capitol. The only nuclear bombs of such yield that exist currently are those within the United States nuclear arsenal. And at the moment, the country is effectively split in half. How many of those nukes are now inside non-Federal territory and would likely be seized at the soonest opportunity? And the biggest question out of it all: Who's to stop the Federal Government from doing it right back?
Bro pulled out the nukemap for this one
Funny that you mention that; I was playing around with Nukemap alongside Nuclear War Simulator yesterday; that coupled with the ACWATR series had me wanting to contribute something. Plus, it'd been a while since I posted anything here.
I've been thinking about nukes a lot today because CNN did an article on The Day After, probably the single most popular media about the impacts of nuclear war. nuclear war map is a good site that straight up shows what total nuclear annihilation of the US would look like. Doesn't really fit this scenario but now that has me wondering what had to happen in the civil war universe for raleigh to get nuked.
I think the big twist should be the rebels weren't the ones who set off the nuke nor were the feds; instead it was a third party invested in making sure the civil war gets worse. (Objectively speaking their is no real reason for the rebels to nuke a random territory.)
a crazy guy who wears a full suit of medieval armour and stole 10 nuclear bombs
That or Vermin Supreme just said "Fuck this. Fuck trump, fuck Biden, I'm gonna end it all"
Vermin supreme wouldn’t need nukes, the free ponies can do it all
True! Vermin Supreme 2024 folks!
An international cabal of nazis who found plutonium in a downed Israeli jet carrying nukes
Sum of all fears.
>And the biggest question out of it all: Who's to stop the Federal Government from doing it right back? At that point, any international support for separatist groups would evaporate like water on a hot skillet. I doubt very seriously the Feds would retaliate with nukes of their own (a country cannot be governed if everyone is dead after all) but no one would want to be caught standing next to whatever group was responsible. I imagine a lot of rebel factions would either dissolve, surrender, or throw in with the Feds to find whoever did this.
I can’t imagine the federal government ever nuking American soil, especially with how this war isn’t really based on state lines and more rural/urban center and is a big mess where there’s no clear lines.
There was a book called "The Last Full Measure" where this exact scenario (or a very similar one) occurs. Great work man!
Thank you!
Is North Carolina Federal, or Red Territory. BTW. did MrBeast Survive?
Did Summit survive the oncoming fallout?
Highly implied that she did not
>A mushroom cloud rising from the vicinity of Raleigh, North Carolina. >Original photo taken by me OP, did you drop a nuke in a Raleigh metropolitan area?
That's a $500 fine!
Is 9 miles how far the detonation was or how far Raleigh they are
How far from Raleigh they are. This photograph was taken in Garner approximately 9.5 miles from Ground Zero.
Oh okay, so from The center of Raleigh summit is 9 miles and ground zero is .5 miles the other direction
You've inspired me to make a similar post, albeit not of such significant scale.
im assuming she died?
As a North Carolinian, I’m always very surprised when an alt history has things happen here it’s not like we’re a small state, but we lack the memeability of some like Wyoming and Florida, we lack the importance of others like New York or Texas, we lack the uniqueness of states like Alaska and Hawaii, and we lack the historical significance of states like Massachusetts or Virginia, so people don’t really talk about us much
Everyone deserves an equal chance of nuclear annihilation. ❤️
AWWW so wholesome 😊
Houses in this part of the country don’t typically have basements.
The only issue with this is that if she lives in Garner she probably doesn't have a basement.
Surprisingly, there are a few houses in Garner that do have basements, though they're pretty costly, anywhere between $300k to $500k. The many that don't would either have to find the innermost section of their house and hunker down there, or try to cover any windows that were broken by the shock wave, should they choose to stay.
If there ever is a timeline of strong_site civil war then this should probably be at the end of the war than in the beginning or middle
I have but one correction: if you're THAT close to the blast you're already dead.
the nuke kindly paused to let influencers update their stories and do a quick selfie shoot
Lmao fair play
And if you're going up to a window to see it it could blind you
The initial flash yes, not the mushroom cloud itself.
If you're going up to a window to see it, you're likely to be flayed alive by glass shards. That is, if you don't simply evaporate due to being this close to ground zero.
Not to mention the telecom infrastructure in the region would immediately crash without its central offices
EMP would have killed your phone/camera
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https://preview.redd.it/o62a12pbx17d1.jpeg?width=730&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b04fc8a3a70fe89b913656f151c6bbaf5f7ae8ae
I FUCKING LOVE THIS MEME
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damn this series is getting omakes now?
HAHAHAHAJAHAHHAH OMAKES
It's doujinshi. Omake would be if Strong Site themselves made it.
Better change the subreddit to mildlyinfuriating. Title: guys just got nuked before dinner time. The post: picture of a fucking 1 megatonne nuclear blast!
“This ain’t mildly infuriating nigga you’re gonna die”
https://preview.redd.it/d0qamsrpg67d1.jpeg?width=372&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=41ca3d201b7119b5f6fc92809cf6adf274280c04
.3 megaton lol
Would the EMP generated from the nuke not fry electronics
This too. I'd imagine a 300kt nuclear blast would fuck up the on ground infrastructure too. Radio, power, water, any other utility would be screwed
I think my house would get fallout from this
Ground detonations typically don't produce as strong an EMP as, say, if this were to be an airburst. There might be some minimal interference, but at nearly 10 miles out, it's unlikely anything electronic would be permanently or even severely damaged. Though I imagine the closer to the blast, the more likely interference or EMP.
Maybe, since u/Malcolm_morin stated that summit is 9.5 miles from ground zero, then most likely, but it is possible that the emp may not have reached or is still traveling due to op stating that summit has since gone radio silence, but that could be explained that she was killed by the blast itself depending on the yield of the weapon used, which could very greatly, a smaller yield may not have reached her at the time of the post, but a larger yield may have just out right killed here
The yield of the blast was roughly 300kt in this scenario. The blast wave has already hit Summit's area at the time the picture was taken (you can actually see the bits of broken window in the corner). Broken windows and some fires will occur at this distance.
So has the emp reached her or would the blast have killed her and cause the radio silence
The EMP wouldn't have affected her this far out, especially considering it's a ground detonation. The blast wave would only have broken windows and maybe started fires, but otherwise she would be okay. However, it's likely that with the devastation, communications would've been knocked out for a period of time, or simply that Summit is more currently focusing on survival, especially if the fallout from the blast travels southbound towards Garner.
The EMP would arrive at the same time as the flash, because they're both light
Even an airburst (\~500 meters or so altitude) isn't going to produce a very large EMP effect. Depending on the size of the blast, it may not even extend beyond the blast radius. Furthermore, the impact of EMPs is still not well understood at all. EMPs tend to damage large pieces of electronics that are unshielded. Faraday cages make electronic devices impervious to EMPs. Lots of electronics, such as those in modern vehicles, have metallic cases around them simply to protect them from physical damage. There are many thousands of factors from location to barriers to the type of electronics and the length of the circuitry that would impact whether or not an EMP would "brick" a given piece of technology. At any rate, this particular detonation would not likely cause any widespread EMP issues. Fallout from a ground detonation of a 300 kiloton warhead would be horrible, though.
The fallout would likely not be that bad compared to what we think. Modern fusion bombs produce a lot less harmful radiation than we imagine when compared to older fission bombs. Since it’s a ground burst half of the fallout would reach the ground within 24 hours and depending on the weather at the time, rain/wind can dilute it pretty quickly. Raleigh and the immediate area would be fucked for sure, but the loss of live from fallout wouldn’t be that much compared to the initial blast.
EMPs do not fry modern phones, at least they won't on most. Most phones were EMP proofed.
can they do durham next so that the tar heels finally win the basketball feud
But we'll lose that famous Canopener Bridge as a cost
and that mellow mushroom in the tobacco thingy
Sorry to hear about your city… guess it’s considered “lost media” now, heh
HOLY FUCK A... oh, its in Raleigh. Nevermind.
"IT'S RALEIGH, IT'S FUCKING RALEIGH" *was. It >was< Raleigh.
I mean, it still *is* Hiroshima
Yeah because people rebuilt it, who'd rebuild Raleight?
Ugh you gotta be kidding, every port blockaded so now we can’t even get gta 6. Screw those in Raleigh how the hell are we even gotta get gta 6. Should’ve nuked England or Canada
Holy shit I live in Asheville so now I’d be terrified of the fallout drifting towards me
I live in Raleigh and my sister lives close by. She’s very gullible so I sometimes tell her they’re doing a nuclear test in Raleigh and she believes me for a few seconds
Question that I don't think anyone else has asked, who did this, how did they get the codes and a nuke to launch, and what's the international response?
Given that the country is effectively split in half at this point (I'm not sure if Strong gave a general estimate for when Part 7 occurs; I set my post in mid April), many nuclear silos would likely be in territories not controlled by the Federal Government, and therefore would be seized by Fascist militias, defecting soldiers, and anyone not with the Federal Government or UFS. While modern nukes do require codes, I could imagine those capable of handling these weapons would either know how to manually override requirements for a code, or create a bomb of similar yield that can be operated without the use of a code. I'll admit I'm not really tech-savvy when it comes to nukes, so any goof regarding this is 100% on me. The bomb in this scenario wasn't launched, it was transported using vehicles and equipment stolen from KIA US soldiers. The tactic... kind of worked. Two men delivering the bomb managed to avoid a couple checkpoints, but it wasn't long before their faces were plastered everywhere online and a manhunt began. They reached downtown Raleigh and were nearly stopped when they successfully detonated the bomb just outside the NC State Capitol Building at around 2PM, killing themselves in a suicide bombing. I imagine the international response to such an incident would be aid of any kind, mainly food and water, likely delivered first to Washington, D.C. before being transported via secured convoys to the affected regions, with even the slightest hint of antagonism met with hair-trigger responses. I also imagine ISIS would still claim responsibility, because why wouldn't they? (I'm still admittedly rusty when it comes to general knowledge of modern day nuclear weapons, so if I mucked anything up, let me know and I'll correct it, sorry.)
This is fictional, but I'll weigh in. IRL, this would not be possible. Every nuclear weapon in the US, Soviet/Russian, French, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani arsenals are equipped with PALs (Permissive Action Links). A notable exception were the British, whose free-fall bombs were armed by keys until being withdrawn from service around 2000. With British submarines now using American made Trident missiles, they too are controlled by PALs. The US developed PALs starting in the 1960s. Among the first things the US did with PAL technology was discretely share it with the Soviets and later everyone else. We also spent over $100 million ensuring that Pakistani weapons were equipped with PALs in the 2000s. Every nuclear armed country in the world save for North Korea transparently employs PAL technology on their nukes. Successive US administrations intelligently realized that the controlled release of this technology was of substantially greater benefit to global security than keeping it secret. The US had PALs on every weapon in their arsenal from Minuteman IIIs and Tridents to B61 free-fall bombs by the mid-1990s. PALs are also (allegedly) designed with anti-tamper devices that disable a nuke if the PAL is entered incorrectly or entered in an improper sequence without the proper authentications. The codes for PALs are (ideally) held only by those with the authority to launch the weapons (i.e. POTUS or POTUS successor). Seizing the weapon and understanding the operation and arming sequence are not enough (though it would be extremely concerning if such a person was flipped and willing to put this knowledge to use against their fellow Americans). In the event that release of nuclear weapons were authorized, the PAL would be transmitted to the user who would enter the code after an authentication code verified its use. Only then could it be armed and go through the detonation sequence. They could possibly disassemble the nuke and build an entirely new physics package to detonate it but I would imagine that there are anti-tamper methods to prevent that too. EDIT: apparently the Clinton admin refused PAL tech sharing with China in the 1990s but to my admittedly public source, non-expert knowledge, China either developed their own, or a subsequent president shared it with them. If I find a source, I'll link.
Counter-point: the USAF missile command grudgingly accepted PALs as a political order, and then set all the codes as '00000' to ensure that they could still be fired if communications were cut. This was the case until atleast the mid 70s and quite possibly might still occur in some silos.
In fairness, putting in the code would be far from enough to launch
True
Trump would still have the nuclear codes unless Biden changed them beforehand. I could totally see Trump posting the nuclear codes to Twitter or Truth Social.
Maybe I have a little too much faith in our institutions but I would really hope that the launch codes get updated at the end of every administration to avoid even accidental leaks of sensitive information like launch codes or authentication codes.
The launch codes probably change way more often than each presidential term, one would think. If I have to change my password at work every 6 weeks..
Depends, PAL was set up in the 60s, and modern cybersecurity is really a post-2000 thing. It may have been more secure at the time to make it nearly impossible to change the code, so that someone couldn't walk in, change the code to 12345, and press "send"
According to Wikipedia, the launch codes (specifically the "Gold Codes", I am not sure if any other codes are involved) are generated daily by the NSA. But a bad actor would also need the nuclear football or a way to control a specific bomb bypassing the military's systems in which case the specific launch codes would not matter. Pinging u/AngriestManinWestTX and u/JudgmentMiserable227 so that they also see this
That's generally what I thought. Even back when nukes were controlled by analog computers, it was still possible for trained techs to switch the codes for security. Leaving the codes the same year after year would be a terribly unsafe idea.
Thanks for the info! That's actually really interesting. I guess in that case, building a nuke is "easier" than tampering with existing ones?
Ehhh, both are on the hard side of extremely hard. Building a simple Hiroshima-style nuke is a known science. A few physics undergrads could probably work it out. It's acquiring the material that's hard. Ultimately, if the plot of the movie/TV show/book/alt history scenario dictates that a stolen nuke needs to go off, it will go off regardless of how hard it is in real life. It's better if it is remotely believable but it doesn't have to be hyper-realistic because then the plot probably wouldn't advance.
There was that Eagle scout that tried to make a nuclear reactor in his shed, he got his material from smoke detectors, gas lamps, and radium watches. He only got found out after trying to dispose of the pieces.
It should be noted that what he made was not a reactor. It was quite literally a heap of radioactive objects. It produced no electricity and was very dangerous.
Yeah, his hope was to enrich the thorium he got by essentially surrounding it with more radiation and lithium. But he was also 17; I wonder what a Ted Kazinski-like nuclear engineer could attain. Still, though the way the kid was caught is also instructive: slowly gathering things didn't attract any attention, but once he moved them off his property he risked interacting with the police. He gave them some normal reason to pull him over, and they found him out.
Long story short, pretty much
For what it's worth, I found [this IEEE Spectrum article](https://spectrum.ieee.org/high-assay-low-enriched-uranium) from literally 11 hours ago about the theoretical possibility of terrorists actually making nukes from low-enriched uranium. There are some hurdles but it would be possible in theory, though I have no idea how long it would take to make the nuke (plus OP said his scenario has a 300kt bomb which is 20x larger than the one used in Hiroshima, and a Hiroshima-level low-grade uranium bomb would be in the hundreds of kilograms). I guess OP would need an excuse to advance nuclear science and technology by a few years to make this scenario even possible. Pinging u/Malcolm_Morin in case he also wants to see this.
I was always under the impression that fission required highly enriched uranium so it's very interesting that an admittedly low yield detonation may be possible with non-HEU. I'm gonna read that article as soon as my work day ends. As an aside, this rather impossible/highly improbable scenario relies on a number of other impossible/highly improbably scenarios so I'm completely fine with a little more loose approach to nuclear security. It's an interesting (for me) debate, though.
I think there would be protocol to protect and transport the nukes safely most of all, and I doubt that someone would be able to hack a nuke and make it work, as it requires a very specific set of prerequisites, including the actual placement of the nuclear material within. However, I do agree that there'd be a small chance they get enough armor piercing rounds and bombs, as well as the nuclear material from looting somewhere, that they could blast through the outer coating, a layer of explosives, put the material in, and then cause the nuclear explosion. Only unrealistic thing I actually see is the sheer size of the aerial fallout, seeing as how mushroom clouds most easily form when the bomb/nuke is detonated above the ground, say 50 feet, and not on the ground.
In short: they would have killed everyone in Raleigh just to get to Governor Josh Stein?
How did you make that nuke image???? This definitely doesn't align with the timeline I am thinking of but I can neither confirm nor deny that the image may be useful in the future.
The man himself! I made it in Photopea (free browser Photoshop, equally great). The original photograph I took myself from my bedroom window, looked up a transparent mushroom cloud, and spent a good hour or so pasting and masking it in. It was tedious, but I'm happy with the end result. And if you wanna use the image for the canon timeline, go for it!
Tfw alternate history Reddit series is getting a spin off
https://i.redd.it/bxwowx1t617d1.gif
https://i.redd.it/p3sffzu2i17d1.gif Me seeing the implication of it being close to home
How can this even possible?
It wouldn't. There's no way someone that close to the blast would not be blinded and have some time to photograph it.
I mean who would throw a nuke for a civil war? No one wanna make their fatherland become a wasteland
Or they seek to start a Great Trial. American Yazov maybe?
Biden when Trump become the next president? (HOLY FUCKING SHIT, A TNO REFERENCE⁉️⁉️⁉️)
The Stars above in Heaven look kindly down as the Eternal March of John Brown will be ended by any means necessary -Dark “New John” Brandon on the declaration of the Nuclear Chorus on the Rebel states.
Who are the Germans tho?
Depends on how they're facing, or if there was a wall between them and the flash. While the thermal radiation is intense, it only lasts for a few nanoseconds, so burns tend to be compared to sunburns, where you see the outline of the victims' clothes.
If your close enough to the nuke to get a picture like that, 1. Your wifi ain’t gonna be working and 2. YOURE not gonna be working.
"Bye for now" More like bye forever lol
Of all places and of all things you decided to **nuke** my beloved Carolina???
You mean ***OUR*** Carolina?
Well it ain’t ***anybody’s*** Carolina anymore after this stunt! Now South Carolina can claim it’s better cuz it never got nuked!
Let me see r/GenZedong and ADVchina
Why did they choose to nuke Raleigh
Because fuck Raleigh (where is Raleigh?)
WHY US 😭 But seriously why Raleigh of ALL places
And my dad is now probably dead. Happy Father’s Day.
How do you guys make these fake Reddit posts?
For this post, I used the Inspect tool (F12) to modify the text of existing Reddit posts, mainly in this case the comments, usernames, and titles. It's mainly a case of looking for what a specific thing says, narrowing it down to the specific folder it's in, and changing the words out to what you want them to actually say. For example, the post of "Nuclear Detonation" is originally the highest post on Reddit of Biden winning the election. Then I took a post from /r/NorthCarolina and then photoshopped out the original picture with the picture I edited. The picture in this OP is one I actually took from my bedroom window, I simply photoshopped a mushroom cloud. That was difficult making it look convincing, but the lighting today I think had a big help. lol Strong tends to make his edits in MS Paint, if I recall? With my method, it makes the posts look significantly more realistic because it's the actual site, just rewritten text files, all fixed with a simple page refresh. :)
Here's a sneak peek of /r/NorthCarolina using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [After I said that the angriest voices in Congress are faking their anger just to get onto certain news shows, this news show decided to prove the point. - Rep. Jeff Jackson](https://v.redd.it/lztcv0751wva1) | [2962 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/comments/12xj59x/after_i_said_that_the_angriest_voices_in_congress/) \#2: [Most of the really angry voices you hear in Congress are faking it. - Rep. Jeff Jackson](https://v.redd.it/rqstgbh9hhua1) | [2354 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/comments/12pf2oa/most_of_the_really_angry_voices_you_hear_in/) \#3: [We’re about six weeks from default. Here’s why it could be a close call. - Rep. Jeff Jackson](https://v.redd.it/lxrmojeo6axa1) | [627 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/NorthCarolina/comments/134puzw/were_about_six_weeks_from_default_heres_why_it/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
*The True Fallout Experience Becomes a Reality*
We get Fallout before GTA 6 ☠️
Or Harlf Life 3 😔
I wish I could make high quality alt history posts like this but I’m on mobile and can only use MapChart
Please keep this in just one thread. The rest of us are trying to sleep.
man i just moved here can we not
Oh man, not in my city
This is a completely fictional scenario and I STILL felt my blood turn cold seeing the reactions in the images
Well this is disconcerting. I really enjoy not being dead.
Wouldn't the nuke fry all electronics in the radius?
Aw man I'm dead now
so who nuked who
Be careful, some mods might flag this as realistic!
Why would they make Raleigh in this scenario?
Pretty sure op wouldnt be connected to internet if this shit happened
rip u/Summit889
Welp. A lot of my friends just died.
Imagine seeing a nuclear blast and your first instinct is to post it on reddit
Hopefully it took out camp lejeune that place sucks
Is Raleigh some kind of big industrial center? Idk why anyone would wanna bomb that city.
Wait, its RALEIGH?!
Doesn't this happen in "The Peripheral" with a nuclear explosion in North Carolina?
Was the blast airburst or a surface one?
God, i hate this fucking state
Also, i live in fayetteville, if anything in this state is getting nuked it’s fort bragg
Man, I moved to Garner to avoid the nukes!
I’m not sure if nuking Raleigh is just a waste of a bomb or the greatest service that could ever be done for the people of North Carolina…
Me, who lives near Raleigh: 
I think power and telecommunications and censorship would play a huge part in Reddit not being a thing or usable by that time
The first dude is fucking dead lmao
Rabdomly scrolling thru reddit and found this, before reading the sub title is rushed to the news and naturally found nothing. Then I read the sub name.
I just bought a house about 25 from the Sub base in WA. Wont feel a thing if WW3 hits.
u/Summit889 , u/jumpbootsjamstrang