1.1 high tide

HIGH TIDE is set some time in the future, where nearly every piece of dry land on the planet has been submerged underwater after a series of huge tectonic events known as THE FLOODS. During these events, Earth's major land masses all split, and began to sink or tilt inwards, creating devastating tsunamis, earthquakes, ocean overflows, and storms all around the globe, over a course of just five years. Matters were made worse by a cyclical movement of the moon closer to Earth, which brought on higher water levels, as well as the fact that ice floes, glaciers, and other sea ice had already been melting at copious levels prior to the events. Unsurprisingly, many lives were lost.

Around fifteen years before the floods, governments all over the world had predicted their occurrence. In order to protect this information from causing immense panic worldwide, a society of politicians, geologists, seismologists, architects, biologists, and other officials and scientists from every nation was formed to share this information, collaborate to find solutions, and control knowledge. Most of the ~20,000 staff have been in this group, the Global Agency for Seismic Emergencies, since its founding, and have been working nonstop to research the coming phenomena. Though there was no way to tell when exactly the floods would begin to occur, luckily many new technologies and shelters suited for the changing environment were completed and produced before that. Massive shelters being built under large cities, under the sea, and in some desolate areas were heavily guarded until three years prior to the floods, when the GASE finally revealed the news. There weren't too many issues with getting citizens of all countries to begin packing and moving towards their nearest shelters, as the world was already experiencing major earthquakes. (known as the Pre-sink Period)

Now, with the help of specialized machines called pressure accommodation chambers, the five billion human survivors of the floods have been able to live safely under, or on, the water. Most of my characters will be based around a small agency, called the Cormorant Retrieval Agency, which basically hires scouts to travel to abandoned areas to try and retrieve belongings of people who commission them. (really tall people supervise the surroundings and also help on missions, but they usually can't fit in smaller wrecks) They have a strict training process in order to make sure all staff are great at their job. (don't worry about them having kids work, pretty much all the higher-ups are young or grew up in the CRA) 

Worldwide culture has changed greatly following the events of the floods. Some people have abandoned ancient, traditional beliefs in favor of progression and community, while others have retreated deeper into these ideologies as they feel that the disasters were punishments enacted upon humanity for straying from the "right path". In general, cultures have become slightly more homogenized as people must work very closely together. Unfortunately, this has manifested as a general loss of value for artistic endeavors & entertainment due to the sheer amount of time being dedicated to underwater survival, at least until the world society is stabilized again.

If you have any questions about the floods' effects on society, culture, life, science, etc etc please ask me i really want to develop this world further