Timeline of Events

This page goes over an overview of the history of the world of Children of Dusk. This is by no means exhaustive, and is meant to mainly go over the major plot points. For a more detailed history, please check out the respective page of the nation for more information.

## Neoliberal Era (1991-2022)

*"We have entered into a new golden age. As we stand gathered here at this new millennium dawn, we look forward as we sweep all of humanity's demons into the past. War, famine, plague... Tyranny has failed, communism and fascism were both tried and vanquished. Now only liberal democracy remains. Let us gather together, my brothers and sisters in humanity, towards sunlit uplands. The road ahead to utopia remains long and arduous, but we will conquer them one day. Until one day, all mankind can live together in peace and harmony." - Unknown author, 2000.*

*"The Neoliberal Era, in many ways, was the calm before the storm. The processes of the historical long cycle had reduced the world from a competition of empires, down to two, and the finally one unipolar world order. The Neoliberal Era represented the end of the innocence of modernity, the last years of calmness before the world would plunged into the night of the 21st century." - Encyclopedia Omnithecia, 21st century commentary.*

The timeline of Children of Dusk from 1991 to 2022 is remarkably similar to our own, with it only truly diverging around the year 2022. To not overload this page with redundant information, we will primarily talk about the points of divergence from our own timeline.

### Points of Divergence

* 1991 - Yeltsin is able to transition a peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union, and better manages the coming economic shock. He does not engage in as harsh a shock therapy, and there is overall a smoother transition, as well as less of a demographic crash. He is later replaced by Putin riding a wave of nationalist nostalgia. This would end up making Russia stronger than it is in OTL.
* 2000 - Chinese leader Hu Jintao goes all out on market reforms, and passes legislation to prevent the rise of as large a property bubble as in our timeline. He also repeals the one-child policy. Much like Russia, China is also significantly stronger than in OTL.

## The Unravelling (2022-2035)

*"The economy is broken, the dating market is broken, and the society is broken. I can't buy a house, my wages can't afford rent, and I'm too anxious to make any friends. We've been locked up for years and my relationships have deteriorated, all of society feels like it's about to have a mental breakdown. We sedate ourselves with doomscrolling, memes, and porn, and I'm not convinced anyone would notice if I die. God, why would you do this? Is there nothing but this meaningless hell?" - An anonymous Generation Z poster, 2022.*

*"The Unravelling Era was the end of the experiment of modernity. The technological experiment had been pushed to its logical limits, and had hollowed out the society from the inside. The collapse of the American-led global trade system in the Great Unravelling led to a breakdown in global trade all over the world. The death of the Long Peace, and a return to great power conflicts. Borders were unfrozen from the era of the Cold War, and the status quo was finally changing. Some call this the Long Night of the 21st Century, and the dusk began in 2022." - Encyclopedia Omnithecia, 21st century commentary.*

The initial events of Children of Dusk begin with the Great Unravelling, sometimes also known as the 2022 Unravelling. In 2022, the American global trade system gave in. An unexpected collapse in the stock market, aging demographics, and increased American isolationism broke down the world of global connectivity, progressive universalism, and the Neoliberal world order. As the artificial security of the Neoliberal Era fell away, great power competition and pure Darwinism resumed in many areas around the world.

### Notable Events

* The Great Bleeding (2022-2027), an enormous famine which ripped through the heart of Africa, causing one of the greatest refugee crises, and one of the largest humanitarian disasters in human history.
* The Second Gulf War (2022-2024), a military intervention by the People's Republic of China into the Middle East to secure their oil supplies.
* European Triple Crisis (2023-2030's), referring to a breakdown of rule of law and pattern of civil conflict across three European countries; Spain, Italy and Greece. The exact boundaries for the end of the Crisis is unclear, but is thought to be sometime in the 2030's.
* Death of Pope Francis (2027). The Holy See elects to replace him with Cardinal Robert Sarah (Pope Sarah I).
* De-Digitalization Movement (2030's), an movement primarily driven by a backlash against social media and big tech. Driven primarily by the maturing generation of Generation Alpha.
* Red Tide Protests (2028-2032), a

### Notable Elections:

* The 2022 Midterms took place shortly after the collapse of the American economy. Driven primarily by collapsing economic fortunes and general discontent with the Biden administration, the Republicans were able to win in a landslide, capturing both the House and the Senate in the resulting red wave.
* The 2023 Greek elections lead to a hung, non-functional parliament engaged in a gridlock, paving the way for the European Triple Crisis and the eventual Greek Civil War.
* The 2023 Turkish elections ended up inconclusive. After accusations of election fraud from both sides, and increased violence, the Turkish military would seize control of the government and declare martial law citing the current global situation. This violation of democratic norms resulted in NATO kicking Turkey out.
* The 2024 American Elections would see the victory of Republican Ron DeSantis, making him the 47th president of the United States.
* The 2024 European Parliament elections led a resounding victory for the hard Euroskeptics, who gained a considerable amount of seats and further weakened the European Union.
* The 2025 German elections led to the AfD (Alternative Fur Deutschland) gaining a plurality of the seats. An unstable coalition of Die Linke, the SPD, Greens, FDP, and the CDU was required to keep them out of power.
* The 2025 Canadian federal elections saw the election of Conservative Prime Minister Pierre Poilievre.
* The 2027 elections saw the victory of Le Pen's National Rally, with Marine Le Pen elected president of France.
* The 2028 American elections would see the re-election of President DeSantis.