Food Riots of 2076
OOC Info: The information below can be considered general knowledge. It can be assumed that your character had an opportunity to come across this information in their travels or that if they were to 'look it up', this information would be straight forward to obtain.
A Wild Virus
Prior to the Food Riots of 2076, a large majority of the world relied heavily on krill and shrimp farms as their main source of protein. These aquatic protein farms served as a weak point in the global food reserves, as food mega-corporations chose the cheaper Taiwanese Penaeus monodon, or giant tiger shrimp, as their species of choice to be cloned and mass-harvested. In 2076, a mutated strain of Vibrio harveyi, a highly infectious and deadly virus for aquatic life, spread throughout the worlds krill and shrimp farms, devastating the food supplies and causing global food prices to skyrocket. Shortly after the discovery of this virus and the plummet in global food supplies, the Food Riots of 2076 initiated.
Food Riots of 2076
Starting in the Winter of 2076, billions around the globe suffered immensely. Those without the means to harvest their own food or purchase more expensive substitutes often starved to death. The lack of available food led to a marked increase in crime and poverty, as millions around the globe perished from simple starvation. The inability for world governments to assure their respective citizens that food was indeed coming to them resulted in panic and anger. As mobs grew outside government establishments, demanding food and monetary compensation for their suffering, political uprisings sparked around the globe. The government of Indonesia collapsed within and was soon split into many city-states over the course of mere weeks. Other countries suffered similar, if not worse, fates.
Waymuth City
During the Food Riots of 2076, Waymuth City was hit just as hard as many other countries were. After more than a year of suffering, martial law was called into effect during the Spring of 2077, causing much of the riots to come to a halt. The Waymuth Justice Force, led at the time by current Chief Justice Horace Grimaldo, initiated controversial anti-riot measures that led to the deaths of hundreds due to the brutality of the tactics put into place. The Waymuth Justice Force deemed participation in a food riot to be punishable by clone death, which was met with much controversy, but ultimately led to the decrease in food riots and crime. Despite public controversy, the Corporate Council publicly approved of the actions of the Waymuth Justice Force with much enthusiasm, going as far as to publicly denounce those who criticized the actions of the WJF and TERRA.
Aftermath
Months after the advent of the world-wide food shortage, a team of scientists at ViriiSoma Pharmaceuticals created a method of water treatment that would result in the eradication of latent Vibrio harveyi in any water supply. Upon being implemented in the major protein farms around the globe, the incidents of shrimp farms being infected dropped drastically. ViriiSoma Pharmaceuticals' team, which comprised of various scientists involved in numerous fields, received the Nobel Peace Prize, along with a multi-million dollar payout. ViriiSoma Pharmaceuticals continues to produce and supply the world with the chemicals necessary for their patented water treatment technique.
