And, the official fiction Shall Not Perish, which was linked but I can't find it for my life, which is summarized here-
Basically, the president goes on the radio in-case anyone can hear him, explains that the current situation is the gov'ts and his fault for becoming complacent and being incompetant, explains that people need to rely on themselves now because no help is coming, then summarrily dissolves the US Gov't and orders troops abroad to come home, and those in the country to place themselves under the command of local authorities. Good night - and good luck.
This occurred as an IC event roughly 4 weeks before we return to the game.
Further content will be added haphazardly as I think of freely availiable stuff to throw in.
It's bad when the nobility order useful dwarves imprisoned/beaten/Hammered for failing to produce their talc dildoes or whatever, it's even worse when they sign orders to kill "whom it may concern, RE: Talc dildo production failure".