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The world is in a state of confusion and disarray. This is a dark, scary place in which to live right now. The environment is failing, the quality of life for almost everyone is dropping, there are no real leaders, crime is rampant, and all the hard work in your life usually leads to nothing. In 2033, the rich get much richer, and the poor continue to get much, much poorer.
Physically, the planet is awash in pollution, the seas are empty of stock fish, the skies are gray and hazy, the temperatures have risen, global sea levels have risen as well, washing inland thousands of feet, destroying cropland and low lying areas worldwide. There aren’t many fossil fuels left. There aren’t many forests left. Skin cancer is the leading killer. More and more people are born with environmental side-effects, from allergies to pulmonary problems.
Politically, no one really knows what is going on. Most countries are run by puppet governments, controlled by industry. Elections are far and few, and when they do happen, the results are known to certain parties long before the vote takes place. In the few truly democratic places in the world, many of the megaconglomerates are trying desperately to get their people into a position of power. Many a democratic nation has been ‘converted’ this way.
Megaconglomerates are taking over almost all aspects of life. From insurance to healthcare, police forces to polling stations, employers to employees. No business can survive unless it can compete globally, and even if it can, a larger conglomerate will most likely absorb it. Many of the Megaconglomerates are almost enforcing the ‘corporate family’ lifestyle. Business comes first, then your family, then yourself. This is leading to some major problems in many areas of the world. It is not surprising to find an employee’s home to be filled to the brim with their employers’ merchandise, whether or not it is a good brand. In their eyes, it is the only brand.
Urban decay is not a problem anymore, as ‘Downtown Revitalization Projects’ have evicted lower-class people and torn down their homes, making way for prime commercial buildings and land. Low cost tract housing neighborhoods aren’t so low cost anymore. Many of the poor have migrated to the outskirts of the cities, sometimes taking over vast sections of land, erecting shanty towns and taking over abandoned industrial parks. Some of these communities are friendly, and always welcoming newcomers, but many are closed, and don’t allow outsiders at all. More often than not, the police are happy to just leave these people alone, as they are far out of the way of prime tourist and residential attractions.
Overpopulation is a problem the world over, even though in most places, fertility rates are dropping as more and more people are affected by the harshness of their world. Urban Overpopulation is a big problem in developed nations, as more and more people move from rural to urban areas. The Poor Population is growing faster and faster each year, as there is more of a rift between the wealthy and the poor.
The UN is still a major power in the world, refereeing conflicts, peacekeeping warzones, and aiding refugees
and victims of war. They are currently trying to intervene in the second polar war, the war being fought in Ant-
arctica over resources. Despite their many attempts at finding peace, the war rages on, again.
Japan is the economic hub around which the world rotates. Japan is currently in a state where they export everything, and import next to nothing. After the war in 1945, Japan forced all of its wealthy to give up their fortunes in the name of the motherland. A sort of equalization was achieved, where all people were in possession of a set amount of savings. From that, traditional Japanese values to employers was translated into the kind of adoration and servitude given to corporations today. With a strong work ethic and a solid technological background, Japan emerged from the second millennium on top of the electronics and research industries.
It is the case now that anything electronic anyone owns comes from Asia, and eighty percent of that comes from Japan. All the major advances in technology (computers, telephones, televisions, satellites, robotics, cybernetics) has come for the most part exclusively from Japan, and in particular, Genom Enterprises Incorporated.
As well as being the leading techno-industrial producer in the world, Japan is the most technologically advanced nation as well, having the highest per-capita consumption of Boomers to people, and the greatest number of cybernetics and AI systems in the world.
Nationalism is still very strong in the Land of The Rising Sun, but these sentiments are mixed and somewhat misrepresented as corporations exert more and more control over the people’s lives. The nation is democratic, although most of the electoral candidates are puppets of certain corporations, more and more members of the Genom family.
Japan lends a lot of support to the UN, sending troops and technology, (more recently Boomers) to aid in any way they can the polar wars, and troops to aid in the peace efforts between Russia and China. Japan doesn’t really feel the need to protect itself, as no one is in a position to attack them, and if they did, that’s what the current Americo-Japanese relations are for. Technology and information for protection and Raw materials.
Japan rightly acknowledges and believes in its position in the world, dominance through economy.
The USA is still an important, powerful country, but they are still licking their wounds at losing their position to Japan, decreasing some of their national pride. However, this has led to an even stronger relationship between the two nations, America needing access to Japan’s technology, and lending military support to the island nation. The US remains as over-armed as ever, constantly using its threat of it being the most militaristically powerful nation in the world to force economic trade at its leisure. America is sending support to the UN and Neo-Nato in the Antarctic, fielding substantial forces in the way of troops and machines of war.
Living in the USA has become a perilous thing to do. Crime is rampant, and racial tension has become a staple of daily life. Drugs have become more and more popular, with the advent of the net, junior chemists at home can produce what once took vast resources and space to produce. Smoking has been outlawed, but there is still an underground tobacco trade.
In the south, it is not uncommon to have entirely segregated neighborhoods in the largest of cities, where people of one race do not allow anyone else but their own inside. In the workplace, Many problems have arisen from all sides about having to work with other races. Violence between races has become commonplace, with gangs and vigilante groups on the rise.
In the north and the west, things are better, but crime is still pretty bad, especially on the west coast, where the Yakuza has gained a foothold, and is set up to distribute merchandise to the rest of the continent. On the east coast, the Mafia, set to organize and take over all aspects of crime, and make them profitable.
With the acquisition of Canada in 2003, the US has no real need for any of the Agricultural or raw
material imports that many nations do need today, and, Green Food Inc. based out of Canada, exports grain,
vegetables and other agricultural products world wide. Raw materials are taken from the Canadian north.
Canada, the largest country in the world, was annexed by the United States in 2003. It was a peaceful takeover, with the Americans keeping all the facets of Canadian life in place, while exerting control over their economy and resources. The Canadians are still bitter over this, however, and there is a source of tension between the two people.
With the joining, Canada has gained a much-improved economy, with one standard North American (N.A.) Dollar. They have had an increase in jobs, through American relocation, faster access to the world’s technology, and improved security. The only major changes made were the privatized healthcare, and the change from Canada’s Multicultural braid, to the US’s Melting Pot.
Crime in the Canadian states is low, as well as poverty and unemployment. They are the least populated,
with the most land area, and the most abundant resources.
With the organization of the EC in the 90s, there was a lot of confusion by the citizens as to what exactly was going to happen. Basically, what came of the deal, was an organization of countries, into having a centralized government, with a ‘European interest’ regulating laws and controlling economic interests, while each country still keeping an ‘individual society’ clause, letting countries maintain their own interests between each other in the EC.
With the ‘Russian Revolution’ in 1997, protesting the move and its small part to be played in it, there has been a tense alliance into the EC on its part, with not so much resistance as before. The RR of 97 started as the Russian businesses and military became increasingly wary about its future in the EC, while the people were fast becoming happier and happier with the deal. When the Military and the head of the Russian Economic Faculty pressured the president into backing out of the deal, (and they couldn’t sufficiently explain the reasons to the people) the people revolted, rioting and protesting all over the nation. Neo-NATO was brought in the subdue the military, who was becoming excessively brutal in their methods of dealing with protesters. Slowly, but surely the Russians were brought into the deal, and much to the chagrin of the Russian Economic Faculty, has done very well with itself.
The unofficial head of the EC continues to be Germany, supervising the EC governing body and more or less
in control of Neo-NATO. They are the technological and mechanical center of the EC, and their products are some
of the most durable and well-made products in the world.
In 2033, China’s ‘one child’ policy seems to have worked. China has been surpassed by India as the most populous place on Earth. Still, they do not feel happy enough with what they’ve got. They have embraced their communist regime, and have adopted an expansionist policy similar to Russia in the early and mid-20th century. Faced with the joint forces of the EC, Japan and the US, China looks to the South Pole as a means of expanding territory.
The Antarctic Pact of 1975 was broken in 2003, when China transported mass amounts of troops to the South Pole, and began taking control of land to set up mining facilities and transportation hubs. The UN was quick to intervene, but when the Chinese killed several inspectors and troops during a visit, the beginning of the First Polar War was marked.
When the war was finally over, two years later, the Chinese were forced to withdraw to their home territory, and almost immediately began to squabble with the Russians over territory concerns. Minor fighting led to some interference by Neo-NATO, and the Chinese were once again, beaten back into their own property.
In 2031, when India invaded Antarctica with several South African concerns, China stepped in to gain itself
some resources. The Second Polar War rages on.
In 2033, the Middle East has become one of the most war-torn places in the world. Following the 1998 bombing and subsequent occupation of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait by the United States, the people have become restless, and rebel groups are the norm. Stone throwing groups of students and young people are common, as well as scenes of young people horribly hurt from ‘rubber’ bullets fired by US troops. The US uses the oil it pulls from these regions to ship singularly to the US, the EC and Japan. Since the disbanding of OPEC, the US has made itself the primary oil concern in the world.
In Saudi Arabia, following the annexation of Yemen and Oman in 2002, the Oil continues to flow with the aid of the powerful and rich Saudi Oil Barons. They provide oil to the rest of the world, at whatever prices it wants, although to its credit, the prices have been very reasonable.
In Israel, nothing has changed. Anarchy has taken over, and fighting rages on. No one can be sure what is
going on at any given time. Armed soldiers patrol the streets around the clock, each group from different factions.
Many people suggest that soon there won’t be enough people left to continue the fight.
With successful underground tests of many nuclear devices in the late twentieth century, India has risen to become one of the worlds’ most dangerous countries. UN inspectors have not been allowed in India for several years now, and the UN has responded by revoking India’s membership. India has used its dues to purchase more nuclear weapons.
With its dramatic overpopulation, and its litters of nuclear devices, its ongoing border disputes with China, the
world anxiously waits for the day that war will inevitably break out. With the launch of the Space Net in 2006,
the hope is that any long-range missiles or rockets will be shot down. Hopefully.
North Africa is a wasteland. Ceaseless fighting, overpopulation, and disease have taken their toll on the north. All that is left is Northern Morocco, Algeria and the Nile River delta. Bands of Nomads wander the wasteland, as well as fanatics, exiles and rebels.
Central Africa is mostly wasteland as well, all the way down to Zaire. South of that the land is becoming increasingly infertile. The only really stable place left is in South Africa, although it is a dirty, polluted place, where industrialists are kings, and the workers are basically slaves.
Many megaconglomerates have moved production here because of cheap labor, cheap land, and basically no laws.
Life beyond Terra Firma
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