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"Apotheosis by CyberPhoenix001

In this world, in the 2nd century BC, Hindu merchants from south-east Asia managed to travel as far north as Japan, which was linked into the Hindu trade routes. With this new expansion, Hinduism never loses its maritime traditions, linking much of south and oceanic Asia in a trade network allowing for the spread of ideas, religions and experiences.

Hinduism slowly and steadily spread throughout the Japanese Isles creating a syncretic religion with Shinto traditions, beating Buddhism to the punch. Outposts in the Philippines and Indonesia spread the influence of the Indian thalassocracies and the Hindu religion further into oceanic Asia, which ended up becoming an “Arc” of Hindu nations throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Meanwhile, across Eurasia, the coalition of tribes that formed the Huns in OTL never formed and, as a result, the nomadic migrations into Europe and developments of states within were drastically shifted. The Goths ended up settling down in the Balkans, and were joined by the Vandals in Dacia, who were never driven west. There was no Battle of Adrianople or Sack of Rome, meaning that the Western Roman Empire struggled on for another century before eventually coming down in 520 AD.

The Franks still rose to prominence, but never developed into the Carolingian Empire of OTL, though successive attempts to unite the feudal region do occur over the centuries. Without the Visigothic invasion, Hispania became more central to the affairs of the Western Roman Empire, with western Europe as a whole being largely Germanised over the centuries.

Without the distraction of the Huns, Aetius was able to properly fortify Britain, largely preventing the initial Anglo-Saxon settlement. Unfortunately, as dynastic disputes continued to play out in North Italy and Greece, Britain was once again largely left to fend for itself against invaders, which it did slightly better than OTL, resulting in a much more culturally varied *England that, without Saxon political ascendancy, ended up a hotbed of internecine warfare between the settlers.

The Scandinavian raids started largely on schedule, but they were able to get a much stronger cultural foothold on Britain than OTL, in effect largely Nordicising the northern region. To this day, *Scotland is firmly entrenched in the Nordic sphere, though Ireland remains independent.

With a more populous and developed south-eastern Europe and a less organised west, the Slavs expanded into the Baltic and northern Europe as far west as the Elbe, cementing their position. Some time later, the Magyars migrated through eastern Europe and end up settling in the Alps.

Islam never arose, but a new, more inclusive and expansionist form of Zoroastrianism arose out of Persia and competed with Christianity for influence in Arabia. Neither side managed to completely come out on top, but the Zoroastrian faith did spread to a maritime Aksum after the conversion of the King and beat out Christianity amongst the general populace. From there, the religion spread down the southern coast of Africa and into the interior.

History follows.

There were two historic conquerors in Eurasia who managed to rapidly build up fiercely expansionist empires; both a Turk and a Mongol, respectively. The Turk (in the 8th century) managed to conquer all of Central Asia as well as the Caucasus and much of Eastern Europe, displacing a lot of tribes in the process, most notably the Magyars who ended up in northern Italy. However, after suffering a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the ERE, the empire crumbled with his death.

The Mongol (in the 12th century), on the other hand, spread much like Genghis Khan's empire did, but he ended up dying in the middle of his empire-building after eating something he shouldn't have, leaving his empire in the hands of his far-less-capable brother. Being a less competent strategist, he never managed to conquer all of Cina (still pronounced China; just spelt differently), with Buddhist regions at the south remaining independent (butterflies meant that despite campaigns of persecution of Buddhists in Cina, they never managed to eradicate it in the south before being invaded).

After the *Mongol Empire inevitably crumbled, not even having made it as far as Europe, Buddhism once again took force in Cina, with many Confucian texts and scholars having been destroyed and killed respectively by the Mongols. As Buddhist forces reunited the broken nation, they began the long Chinese tradition of Buddhist theocracy, which, strangely enough, would end up a more stable beast than Confucian Cina of OTL.

Of all the successor states to the Western Roman Empire (most of which are unrecognisable due to centuries of borders shifting and cultural mingling) the Iberian Peninsula (solidly Germanic) inarguably came out on top. With a relatively strong, centralised position of authority and having largely escaped the deluge of tribes that invaded Europe, Hispania took up the mantle of the WRE and continued to contest the Eastern Roman Empire's position in Italy. Wars of legitimacy continued for several centuries, both in Italy and northern Africa, until the ERE was once again embroiled in a war with Ariya (as Persia came to be known), forcing it to fight a war on both sides, neither of which held. Hispania ended up lodged in Rome, taking all of southern Italy with it.

There were also multiple attempts to re-establish imperial authority in Gaul, which were repeatedly thwarted by other upstart kingdoms in the region. Sustained by the services of Saxon and Magyar mercenaries, the north never fell under prolonged Hispanian dominance, and eventually coherent states emerged in the age of nationalism; namely, a “Greater Brittany” in the east, several smaller states lining the Mediterranean, and Bakaardo, a nation which covered OTL north-eastern France and OTL Benelux, with a Saxon confederacy to the east.

Over time, even Hispania (now known as Yspana) succumbed to the rise of ethnic nationalism, with the Vaskr (OTL Basque) in the north breaking away in the 13th century, taking a chunk of the Pyrenees with them.

In the absence of Islam, Christianity hit it big in the Maghreb thanks to Yspan efforts to spread the word of Christ, and it continued to spread all throughout west Africa, whereupon a strong centralised Christian kingdom arose along the Niger River. State-building emerged both in the interior of west Africa and along the coast, with the Kingdom forming a nexus of trans-Saharan trade. The kingdom eventually swelled to an expansionist empire, determined to bring all of western Africa under its rule. It succeeded, but at the cost of its own survival; over-farming, monarchical decadence and vast imperial overreach ensured its downfall. Out of its ashes several successor states arose, most notably the Asiki Empire around OTL Nigeria, notable not only for their relative tolerance compared to other African Christian nations at the time, but also for their system of government, which bore resemblance to a form of proto-Arkonism [1]. Because of this, the Asiki Empire has had an immeasurable effect on African history and development.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Africa, Aksum continued to spread the word of Zoroaster throughout eastern Africa, spreading down the coast as far as Zanzibar and northern Madagascar. It also triggered state-building exercises in the Sudan, triggering localised conflicts with Egypt (which remained largely under ERE control over the centuries), but ultimately made little headway in inner east Africa, though Zanzibar did have its own bout of empire-building which broadly succeeded where Aksum failed.

Over in Asia, in the 11th century the southern Indian states were united under an empire known as Vijayanagara (a slightly different beast than the OTL empire of the same name; they managed to work some nuance into the caste system, for one thing) that managed to stick, uniting the bulk of the maritime provinces that, with the end of religious wars in Egypt and the Levant, ended up bridging the east and west (chaos in central Asia had largely blocked off the Silk Road for some time), with Vijayanagara ships making their way to Europe to trade and European ships trading throughout the East Indies. This ended up triggering a reciprocal cultural fascination between hemispheres, with the East adopting certain European imperial ideals, while Europe developed a craze for Oriental styling, particularly in the ERE, which by that time had become known as the Rhomanian Empire. Trade with Cina remained a distant prospect, owing to Cina's tendency towards isolationism.

Science and technology also spread throughout the continents. The printing press (here invented in Vijayanagara in the 12th century) and gunpowder (still invented in Cina, though the Indians vigorously contest that claim) and the concept of the number zero found their way to Europe, as did the Black Death, triggering a colossal social upheaval that wracked Europe for several centuries.

In the early 15th century, during a period of renewed hostility between eastern and western Europe, the Yspan noticed that the Vaskr seemed to be producing a strange surplus of fish from an unknown source to the west. Further investigation of this phenomenon led to an astonishing discovery; there were two whole other continents across the Atlantic, rich in land, resources and opportunities. Expeditions were hastily commissioned to map the continents as word spread throughout Europe and the trade routes to Asia.

Colonies all across the east coast sprung up along the coasts of North and South Elysium (the explorer who ended up naming the continents also happened to be a patron of the classics) fairly rapidly, for different reasons. Yspana, looking for national pride, set up shop along the *Mississippi and spread throughout the Gulf and continental interior. Bakaardo and Asiki, both fiercely commerce-oriented nations, went in looking for profits, with Asiki colonising south-east of South Elysium and Bakaardo taking the north-east. The northern regions of North Elysium were settled by Svaireik, a less heavily Christianised Sweden, largely 'cause no one else wanted it, with the Vaskr holding out in *Newfoundland and its surrounds out of sheer bloody-mindedness.

Beorn, the Nordicised northern region of the British Isles, made it into *Mexico and located the wealthy regions within. Unfortunately, this did not escape the attention of the other European powers, and soon the region became awash with attempted colonies, adventurers, entrepreneurs and exiles all competing to carve out their own little empires, leaving *Mexico a hodgepodge of little statelets and miniature nations. Beorn was forced to give up its aspirations for Elysian colonialism and instead mostly turned its attention to the spice trade while Airu (OTL Ireland, which united in the face of attempted Viking invasions), fiercely independent and nationalistic and not one for colonialism, looked over the chaos in the west with a look of resigned condescension.

The easternmost coast of North Elysium was taken by a hodgepodge of nations including Brittys, the aforementioned “Greater Britanny”, a Slavic state in northern Europe known as Sorzem, and even Rhomania taking a few small pieces of the Elysian pie, though few of these smaller colonies lasted, with them being swallowed up over time. However, a lot of the most lasting developments took place over on the west coast.

Khamanu (OTL Japan), which never cut itself off from the outside ITTL, was solidly Hindu by the time the Elysian continents were discovered, and unified into a relatively strong federal empire. Having already colonised the furthest regions of Siberia up north, they seized upon the opportunity to move into the lands to the east, forming the colony of Ashiwema in *California; a colony which quickly became a byword for the Land of Plenty once the gold was discovered.

(Khamanu still gave rise to its own warrior class and culture, but not to the same extent as OTL. Also, they used Damascus steel for their weapons; Khamanu culture being bigger on individuality and openness to new ideas than OTL Japan.)

However, they were soon joined by a less-than-welcoming power; Cina. Looking to colonise the Elysian continents not out of commercial desire or national pride, Cina went in for another reason entirely; to spread their brand of fundamentalist Buddhism. Armed with cannons, rifles and a fanaticism to rival the OTL Crusaders, missionaries stormed into South Elysium, with catastrophic results.

The Andean civilisations were doomed from the very start. Disease ripped through the populations as Cinese armies toppled the native monarchies and replaced them with repressive agrarian communes. Religious adornments, ornamentation, and luxuries in general were prohibited, with entire villages put to the torch for resisting, in the name of “bringing Enlightenment to the savages in the East”. Indeed, so fervent was the devotion of some colonists that it was reported that they totally destroyed any items that included gold, casting the offending metal into rivers so as to eliminate the possibility of further temptation towards materialism (actually a foreign fabrication, but the idea made it into the popular consciousness and is now a widely held misconception). The whole affair was such a catastrophe that it united the Hindu Arc for the first time in centuries in a direct campaign against the Cinese, ending with the pacification and seizure of the colonies and largely ending Cina's thirst for religious expansionism.

Centuries passed. Wars were fought with bouts of peace in between. Colonies expanded and were swallowed up, broke apart and united. Borders shifted, as did alliances. Progress marched on.

Some of the more interesting points of this period of history include the slave rebellion in the Bakaardoan colony of Noi Balchia, becoming a more successful “Greater Haiti” and destination for freed slaves everywhere (as well as renaming itself “Viyarica”), the Turko-Slavic expansion throughout northern Asia and the founding of the nations of Praetoria in western *Australia by Rhomanian ex-mercenaries and of Midgard in OTL New Zealand by a devout group of Svaireikian pagans, fleeing persecution in the now-solidly Christian Svaireik.

Africa still underwent a period of colonisation by both European and Asian powers, but it was a slightly more muted effort, with many colonies retaining significant levels of independence and culture. Brittys managed to snag the Cape from Bakaardo, but ended up having to contend with a confederation of native African tribes that govern most of south-eastern Africa as well as the lower half of *Madagascar. Asiki managed to largely keep west Africa to itself with the assistance of its long-time ally, Yspana (the slave-trading rates were pretty good) working to keep other powers out and the Maghrebian theocracies in check. The Congo was divvied up between powers, and surprisingly fared better as a result.

The defining moment of the modern era (for Europeans and North Elysians at least) came in 1877 when a succession crisis in the traditionally neutral Kingdom of Firirk (OTL Denmark) triggered an invasion by Svaireik when it appeared that the side of the heir loyal to the Svaireikians was losing. This in turn triggered a counter-invasion by their Baltic rival Sorzem, afraid that Svaireik was attempting to cut off their access to the Atlantic. War spread throughout Europe and North Elysium, not out of obligation, but because tensions had been growing between the local powers during a long period of peace, and now was believed to be the time to take advantage of it. What became known to the Europeans as the War of Nine Kingdoms and to the North Elysians as the Burning War ended up raging for seven years before burning out as the final peace treaty was signed in 1884.

In the aftermath, Svaireik was forced to cede much of its influence in the Baltic as well as in Firirk, which was ceded to the Sorzemic sphere of influence. Bakaardo was split up, with the Magyar state of Tanqri (which had already absorbed the Saxons in a previous campaign) gained control of the Low Countries, south-eastern OTL France and northern Italy. Yspana absorbed south-western OTL France as well as Vaskr, preceding a large amount of nationalist guerilla warfare in the decades to come. Airu, following an abortive invasion by Beorn with assistance from Svaireik, was given direct control over *Wales, and the rest of the Isles were ceded to their localised sphere of influence as well.

Borders were shuffled around in North Elysium as well; the giant Svaireikian state dominating the north split in two between east and west, with Ashiwema annexing the region of OTL Oregon. The nations of *Mexico finally managed to coalesce into some larger federations, and the Vaskrian colonies (now declaring themselves the legitimate Vaskrian government) expanded at the expense of the broken Svaireikian nation and clashing with the former Yspana colonies in the Great Lakes region. The officially-past-their-prime Bakaardoan colonies were partitioned, being absorbed by the former Sorzemic and Brittysian colonies and the remaining Rhomanian colonies in the Arrakian Sea (OTL Carribean) and the Yucatan Peninsula were granted independence.

But none of that compared with the wave of revolutionary thought that swept the northern hemisphere in the aftermath of the wars. With the wars taking a heavy toll on the economies and populations of the nations of Europe and North Elysium, the populace came to blame their Kings and Queens for their suffering (including in the independent colonies; standard practice for granting independence ITTL involved offloading a spare heir onto them and declaring them an independent Kingdom) and with the monarchs still retaining a substantial amount of power compared to OTL, their subjects accused them for dragging them into wars that, whether they had won or lost, had still suffered greatly as a result.

Arkonist spirit surged throughout the northern hemisphere as political discourse took a decidedly radical turn. Monarchs all over the northern hemisphere found themselves besieged by the people they governed. One by one the Kings and Queens were toppled, with Arkonist governments taking the helms. Most of them managed to avoid spiralling into violent infighting or dictatorship and set up working, viable systems of representative government, with the exception of a few governments in North Elysium and both Brittys and, most notoriously, Rhomania.

An astute and expedient politician in Rhomania (formerly referred to as “the sick man of Europe”) soon rose up the ranks of the new government and cemented control, intending to restore the former Roman Empire under Rhomanian control. Instituting a program of modernisation in both the military and civil services, Rhomania quickly rose to become the greatest threat to peace in the region, as Yspana, Tanqri and Sorzem cemented an alliance to combat the threat of Rhomanian imperialism, while Rhomania courted the sympathetic Brittysians and their old ally Svaireik, which had escaped Arkonist revolution but had instead succumbed to a form of *Communism with heavy emphasis on the teachings of Jesus known as Distributionism.

Meanwhile, over in Asia, in 1910 Cina, determined to unite all of Asia under their rule launched an offensive against the Hindu Arc, marching into Burma and launching a naval campaign against Khamanu while a coalition of anti-Vijanagayara states launched a campaign against the south. The fighting was bloody, especially during the land campaign against Cina by Khamanu during the turnaround, though troops from the various nations in *Indonesia and from the Hindu nations across the Pacific helped push back against the Cinese incursion, with the Arc finally doing away with the state of Cina altogether, dismembering it and placing various areas of it under their spheres of influence.

However, just as the war was ending in Asia, another war was starting back in Europe, but it went in a different direction than everyone was expecting, with Rhomania invading and annexing formerly peaceful Ariya. No one was sure what the Rhomanian Arkon was planning, but that was his intention, for he was a long-term thinker and intended to keep them off-balance. Fortunately for the rest of the world, they figured out his goal as his tanks moved into the Arabian Peninsula; with the world already deep into the Oil Age [2], he was planning to seize control of the world's oil supply.

With war still far from a desired prospect by many of the nations of Europe, many nations began shoring up their own supplies of fuel and moving to switch to alternative sources of energy in the name of national security. Giant crash programs close to the relative scale of the Manhattan Project were implemented to switch to renewable resources. The Rhomanian Arkon, seeing his chance for European domination escaping, attacked.

The war was chaotic and brutal, spreading to Africa and South Elysium as well. Italy was rolled over, with much of Rome suffering heavy damage (only a bare fragment of the Colosseum remains), with Rhomania beating back the Tanqri and even mounting a land invasion of Yspana, with Vaskrian guerillas blowing up military targets and even the *Parliament, killing a large number of government representatives and the Yspan Arkon. Also, the African Berber theocracy of Marrasa took the opportunity to assist with the invasion of Yspana, which in turn led Asiki to enter the war against them out of obligation to their old ally Yspana.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Africa, the ailing Aksumite Empire, seeing the way the wind was blowing, joined up on the side of the Rhomanians, seeking to restore their influence currently being lost to the rising power of Zamarya in the Sudan region (the Rhomanians particularly welcomed this new ally, as the Svaireikians had in fact bowed out of war, lacking sufficient military preparation). Down south, the Confederation of African Kingdoms launched a war against the Brittysian Cape and Hindu northern Madagascar in the name of “liberation”, while in South Elysium, Viyarica, under the grip of a new theocratic religious movement combining elements of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Buddhism into a wholly unpleasant blend of a religion called Suuatarism, began a war in central South Elysium against the former Asiki colonies in an attempt to bring them into their fold.

The All-Engulfing War, as it came to be known, was devastating. But as peace was declared after four years of bloodshed, the victorious nations picked up the pieces and moved forward.

* * *

Today, in 2014, 95 years after the end of the All-Engulfing War, the world is mostly peaceful, but is currently divided by several new ideological divides.

In the aftermath, the new Panterran movement took hold, which posited that peace was most easily achieved through economic interdependency between states. With the colossal cost of the war immediately evident, the relatively new movement gained substantial traction, and new economic alliances emerged as new infrastructure was built to connect nations around the world.

However, given the inherently Distributionist nature of Panterran economics (unifying economies by transcending borders) many initial alliances were largely between quite well-off nations, who were not keen on linking their economies with less prosperous nations and seeing their capital going towards fixing what they saw as nations that were nothing more than money sinks. As a result, a lot of less-than-affluent nations were left out to dry in the new global order; many turned inwards, or were taken over wholesale by corporate entities,  powerful new players in the world order.

Opposing the league of economic unions formed around the world is the Coalition, a not-so-united smattering of highly nationalistic nations led very loosely by Airu, which, in the aftermath of its invasion by Beorn and subsequent pushback and victory, put forward a very different point of view regarding the nature of the world, which is that political economic integration leads not to prosperity for all as the economies build on each other, but instead leads to destitution for all as the weaker economies drag the stronger ones down (the Airuvians going by experience from their attempted integration of *Wales). Economically libertarian-esque (but big on defensive infrastructure), the Coalition does virtually all its major trade through corporations, using them as neutral third parties.

Khamanu, having emerged largely unhurt from the wars around the world (Cina managed to establish a beachhead in the south, but it didn't last long), stands as the top player in the world. It leads an economic union of the *Indonesian states, much of south-east Asia, the Hindu east *Australian Arkonate of Padanya, Ashiwema, a federation of Hindu states in Central Elysium and the Hindu south Andes; a union known as the Rim Association. Fuelled by a seemingly endless supply of Cinese cheap labour, Khamanu capital dominates the world, with fingers in the pies of all the other major nations in the world, as well as a great deal of the lesser ones.

Currently rivalling the Rim Association in Asia is a union of Indian nations led by the badly-battered Vijayanagara. Much of this integration was generally at the point of a gun, however, and is not translating well into economic progress, given the energies they must divert towards battling rebellion and insurgency. It occupies all of India, extending through south-east Asia and down the Malay Peninsula, as well as Sumatra and Madagascar (establishing control over the whole island was difficult as the Confederation refused to leave after the A-EW was over). They do not have quite the economic muscle that the Rim has, but are still making headway all the same, and if they have to squash a few nationalists in the process every now and then, well, that's just the price one has to pay for progress.

Yspana, despite being on the winning side of the A-EW, suffered considerably as a result of it; Vaskrian independence was re-established, continuing a long history of enmity between the two peoples. The economy and infrastructure were horrifically damaged as a result of the land invasions of Rhomania and Marrasa, leaving many people destitute and anger at the government running extremely high. After a tumultuous decade of poverty, hardship and the threat of Distributionist revolution, a reformer managed to come to power and set a new path of order and prosperity for the nation.

Today, Yspana is a secular, prosperous, democratic state. With the reformer's decision to strike a balance between the demands of the hard-line conservatives and the Distributionists, he steered the country down a path of moderation that has worked out quite well for the majority of citizens. Yspana has since negotiated the acquisition of *Sardinia and *Sicily, directly incorporating them into the state. It was also one of the founders of the European Concord, the economic and slowly-integrating defence union that encompasses much of Europe.

Tanqri suffered during the war as well, but not nearly as much. Regaining virtually all of its lost territory, it now spans almost the entirety of central Europe, including a former southern chunk of Brittys, giving it an additional coastline in far western Europe. Culturally a mix of Turkish, Hungarian, Slavic and Saxon, they have managed to become extremely wealthy through tourism and cultural exportation, making them all but indispensable to the European Concord (they were the initial backers for the European transcontinental maglev network, and still have the largest network of any of the participant nations). However, this has come at the cost of allowing a lot of Corporate influence into their nation, something frowned upon by others in the Concord, who only see money flowing out of Europe. Meanwhile, Tanqri has been suffering from something of a corruption epidemic, with inequality at an all time high, and many cite the outbreak of gambling and prostitution outlets in the capital as direct evidence.

Sorzem arguably gained the most out of the war, having shorn off Rhomania's northern provinces giving them geographical depth and gained substantial reparations to boot, Sorzem lies content in northern Europe. Actually, since the mutual integration of their two houses of government, it's now technically the Sorzem-Firirk Co-Arkonate, an odd beast if ever there was one. Socially democratic in governmental style, they do fairly well, both controlling the Baltic Sea and having patched things up with Svaireik at the same time. Svaireik, after going through a fundamentalist phase with regard to their Distributionist ideology (the *gulags were not fun for anyone), has largely mellowed out, but has eschewed further ties with Europe in exchange for closer relations with Beorn and, with more difficulty, their former colonies in North Elysium.

Rhomania, after losing the A-EW, suffered a tumultuous blow to their Neo-Imperial ambitions. The northernmost and most culturally divergent states in central Europe were severed from Constantinople (which itself suffered heavy damage thanks to bombings during the war), as were Egypt and the Caucasus. Ariya's independence was re-established, and given a hegemony over much of the Arabian Peninsula (something its Christian inhabitants were none too pleased about).

Today, Rhomania has managed to acclimatise itself to the prevailing political climate and return to the world stage. Constantinople, long since rebuilt, remains a pinnacle of historic culture, and the byword for cities that balance modernisation with heritage. Roman Restorationists, who still stand for the re-establishment of the Roman Empire are considered a lunatic fringe group, and will hopefully stay that way. There is also quite a substantial Distributionist movement afoot in Rhomania, though they are currently neutral about the possibilities of Panterranism, with their attitude towards the rest of the world remains “we'll join you when we feel ready”.

North Elysium remains a disaffected patchwork of various states, including Ashiwema, a multicultural federal union of former colonies along the east coast, a former Bakaardoan colony in the south-east known as Noi Freisa, the former Svaireikian states in the north and north-west, an interior containing a hodgepodge of former Yspan Arkonates, Native Elysian states and Corporate states (or some combination of the above), the now-relatively stable nations in the region of *Mexico, and the former Vaskrian nation in the north-east (which is now working to restore links with the mother country, much to Yspana's consternation). Border wars are horribly frequent, as competing political systems and old rivalries continue to plague the continent, rendering any sort of economic integration or cooperation horrendously difficult.

South Elysium is currently divided between the Suuatarist nations in the north, led by Viyarica who have declared it their mission to “liberate” the people of South Elysium and unite it under their rule, and the former European and African colonies in the south. The rest of the world is currently fed up with the Suuatarists, from their unsanctioned invasion of the northern Andes to their creepy obsession with fire (they have re-instigated burning at the stake as a criminal punishment). Luckily, the rest of the world has dealt Viyarica a blow by ending trade with them altogether, though the Suuatarist position of steadfastness in the face of adversity has meant that this has not deterred them in the slightest from their so-called mission (not even Airu, a nation normally desperate to court any possible allies, will side with them).

The various former colonies of the north, on the other hand, are prosperous and reasonably well-off, from the former Asiki colonies in the north-east to the former Sorzemic and Beornic colonies to the south. They are currently united in an unofficial defensive union with the Hindu nations to the west to prevent any further Suuatarist incursions, as paranoia about infiltration and possible terrorism has reached a dangerous level after the attempted bombing of a government building in the former Asiki nation of Tagrabi.

In Africa, several large-ish nations dominate. Asiki still dominates western Africa, though its power has been on the decline recently, and has been trying to reinvent itself as a cultural power. On the other side of Africa, Zamarya has achieved first-world status, with a relative living status and economy equal to that of OTL Turkey. It dominates the Sahel and the shrunken nations of Egypt and Aksum, and competes for influence in the now-insignificant Arabian Peninsula. East Africa is currently suffering a Suuatarist uprising, and the now-Federation of Africa to the south still plans to follow in Viyarica's footsteps by conquering all of Sub-Saharan Africa (unlike the Viyaricans, however, they have far less bite to back up their bark).

Africa is also host to the most number of Corporate nations per continent, second to North Elysium. Central Africa is still rife with exploitation, with most corporations simply turning their least profitable territories into their own private fiefdoms. Most of the Corporate nations around the world have largely evolved into classical oligarchies, given the difficulty in running a genuine corporate state in practice. Only one actual corporation going by the name of “Phoenix Cybernetics”, headquartered in Praetoria (ironically not a corporate state, though PC does own a rather large chunk of the *Australian interior), is actually generating a decent profit from its territories, through a lot of palm-greasing and dubiously ethical R&D that would not fly in any OTL human rights court.

The rest of the world is fairly mundane. The nation of Rashqart, which stretches across northern Eurasia all the way to the east, is, along with Vijayanagara and some Indonesian nations, one of the last remaining constitutional monarchies in the world. It has historically followed an isolationist path (except for that one time it tried going expansionist; it didn't end well) with a highly defensive posture. As a result, it naturally fit in with the Coalition, greatly straining relations with the Panterran nations. However, it has remained open to its historic ally Khamanu (joint grievances with the Cinese), and continues to supply them with industrial raw materials in an era where they are increasingly scarce, annoying the rest of the Coalition to no end.

Ariya, who after a long and unsatisfying 20th century are trying to get back up into the big leagues again. So far, they have united most of the Persian peoples and trying to create a unified infrastructure to properly administer their enlarged state (as well as their hegemony in Arabia, a task often met with resistance by Zamarya), but they are hampered by lack of trade opportunities given that much of the world has weened itself off fossil fuels. To combat this, Ariya has attempted to transition to an industrial economy, along with tourism and cultural exportation. For the moment, though, they remain a de-facto Coalition member.

The remainder of Central Asia is a smattering of Turkic states, the largest one of which is the so-obviously-anachronous-it's-not-funny Orkyr Khanate, started by a guy who fancied trying to emulate the historic Turkic and Mongol conquerors with leftover Cinese weaponry. So far, it has managed to take control of OTL Xinjiang, Tibet, eastern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It's not exactly a stable construct; in fact, most people are surprised it has stuck around this long, and both the Rashqarta and the Ariyans are beginning to get more than a tad annoyed by its antics.

Culturally, the world is far different. Religion is simultaneously more important and less important in everyday life, with the general consensus being that belief in God is good, but being open about it is not (wearing a cross in public ITTL would be seen as the equivalent of wearing a T-shirt with the Hammer and Sickle on it ITTL; it's not considered polite to advertise your beliefs). Even in the theocracies, who, while having a state religion, have largely grown to accept liberal interpretations of whatever they follow, and fundamentalists are not looked upon fondly. There is a much larger plurality of Eastern religions in Europe and the Elysian continents, and the East and West see themselves on relatively equal footing (even Africa gets pretty good treatment; after all, the Industrial Revolution did start in Africa), with racism much less of a problem.

Technology is much more advanced than OTL, thanks to an earlier Enlightenment-equivalent in Asia (which ended up getting exported to Europe), a larger worldwide scholarly culture, less overall religious hostility to progress thanks to competition and a longer state of worldwide on-and-off warfare to drive investment and innovation. Skyscrapers crowd cities, some reaching several kilometres high, and airships, after a long period of stagnation, have made a comeback with the development of nanotech. Computers operate on graphene and are cheaper than paper, and a dedicated space program has led to bases and mining operations on the Moon for precious minerals which are becoming increasingly important in today's society where they are becoming increasingly important and scarce (though no one has reached Mars yet; they're working on it though).

Transhumanism, the advancement of the human form through technology, is also starting to take off. Through the development of microsurgery that can perform operations without even cutting the skin, changes both cosmetic and those that augment the body are widely available to the average consumer. Tattoos can be implanted and removed almost painlessly in the space of two minutes, and unusual body parts have become the new must-have fashion items, complete with styles and fads (though cat ears never seem to go out of style). Some have even seen fit go further, replacing as much of themselves as they can with biological and technological upgrades with an almost religious fervour, the basis of a spreading movement dedicated to beginning what they call “the Apotheosis”, a point where humanity advances to the point where they, essentially, through their own technological progress, become Gods themselves.

Of course, this is an extremely divisive issue, with many on the other side of the spectrum pointing out how many of the augmentations the movement promotes are only available to those who can afford them, and this will inevitably lead to a stratified humanity where the strong and rich rule over the weak and poor, essentially creating a new world aristocracy. Some in the movement favour the Distributionist approach, ensuring that the augmentations will be available to all, while others favour the more blunt side of things, saying that it's simply evolution, and inevitably some will lose in the struggle for survival, but it's a necessary sacrifice if it's for the betterment of humanity as a whole.

Things are looking difficult for the world ahead. Although climate change is much less of a threat than OTL, ideological divides continue to run deep within humanity. Dasca (former Dacia), the poorest and least reformed former Rhomanian province, is currently a hub for the Roman Restorationist movement and is demanding some kind of new union with Rhomania, and over in Asia Cinese rebels in the various states are moving to reunify Cina so that they may inherit the world. Also in Asia, a recent economic crisis as a result of mismanagement in Tanqri has caused a massive destabilisation of the European Concord, with Airu using it as a rallying cry for new Coalition member nations and it seems to be working. Corporations sink their teeth into the world economy further every day as inequality continues to rise, and then there is the endless transhumanism debate, who will ultimately triumph and where it will inevitably lead humanity...


[1] TTL's primary form of republicanism.

[2] The steam engine was invented earlier than OTL in Asiki of all places, whereupon an Industrial Revolution broke out based on paper production, followed by iron and steel production. Trade with Europe and Asia ensued and soon the Revolution gripped the world.
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