It was the United States at one point, a little over two-hundred years ago. Old world government got into a nuclear conflict with another country and they pretty much wiped most major cities off the map.

[ Worlds being different seems to be the norm here, certainly. It's definitely not the norm where Len comes from, so this is a learning curve he's just going to have to keep throwing himself into. It's reassuring to hear that New York is at least in approximately the same place. It also means that Matthew should probably (hopefully) recognize any significant locations he rattles off. He continues with a leisurely, explanatory drawl: ]

I'm from around Santa Fe, in what used to be New Mexico. Been doing most of my work around the New Vegas Strip. Desert ain't changed much, from what I can tell, but the fallout's still pretty bad just about everywhere. We still get radiation storms and the like. Wasteland's crawling with raiders and monsters and the local politics are something of a shitshow at the fuck factory.

[ A beat, followed by a huffed laugh. ]

...If I'm bein' honest, the Free Cities are a little akin to home in that regard.