Deep Dive: Russia 2028 - Part One: Norvinsk Region

    The universe of Russia 2028 houses many of my favorite games. Contract Wars and Escape from Tarkov are the most prominent, although there is also Hired Ops, the live-action film series, short films (Chronicles of Ryhzy and RAID respectively), and the three books. It is my all-time favorite setting of any fantasy media, with RimWorld being in a close second. Obviously, this has led to me making GURPS campaigns based off of the source material. So, take your Tushonka and I will explain everything you need to know to run this world in GURPS.

    The Russia 2028 universe, despite its title, doesn't entirely take place in 2028. The first entry in the series chronologically is Contract Wars, then Hired Ops, then Escape from Tarkov, and finally the titular Russia 2028. Sadly, the final entry never came to fruition, although at the time of writing Nikita Buyanov has hinted that they are going to start on it.

    Now, there is also an immense background to this. Long before any of the conflicts in the Norvinsk Region happened, before the area was even established, the North Stream gas pipeline was being constructed. In the real world, this happened at the beginning of the 2010s, placing the earliest events of the universe to be around this time. The exact location of Tarkov City is unknown, but the lore states that it is on the other side of the Finn Gulf from Leningrad.

    During the construction of the pipeline, the Kremlin decided to name the area the "Norvinsk Special Economic Zone". While it is rather unclear what the actual benefits are, previous media and wikis say that they offer special tax statuses along with the "attention of government" making the area extra enticing for companies to move to. In no time, there were already two bustling cities; Norvinsk City and Tarkov City. The area is loosely based off of Skolkovo in real-world Russia.

    The two cities are rather high-tech, with Tarkov City having high-speed rails, a large port, and comfortable roads. Along with this, Tarkov City has lots of industry and raw-resource refining structures. Norvinsk City has more office buildings and financial companies in it, being the financial powerhouse of the zone. There is a large bridge that connects the two zones.

    If you have ever played Escape from Tarkov, the lore is vastly different than the original lore of Russia 2028. Zombie viruses, total lore rewrites from what was already present in the game, ignoring predetermined lore, overwriting lore from the books, etc. While some changes are good - like the Arena being an organized death sport and Lightkeeper being a main cult connection - many retcons are annoying. I will not be including some retcons or simplifications of the lore.