Tomorrowland

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*"The victorious fight for more than just money, honor, or glory. Convince a person that the cause they believe in will not only benefit them, but their children and their children's children, and they will die for that cause."*

Henri Hauptmann, Activist member of the Columbia Future Society

## A World of Possibilities

In the modern age of 1969, there is a war that rages without cease. It has been raging since the 19th century, if not longer, and shows no sign of stopping whatsoever. It is a fierce, no holds barred fight for the future - the future of architecture, of style. The utilitarian, gleaming skyscrapers and monochromatic clothing of the Allies brings images of a bright, prosperous future where all mankind is equal; the glamorous technology and seamy neon underbelly of the Sprawls promise a future where anything is possible, as long as you have the right payment plan; even the Soviets build their immense bulbous factories and worker's barracks as a sign to the future of Communism. The United Technate of the Americas is not immune to this lure, this battle to determine the future of style - but they take a slightly different approach.

Foreigners to cities the Technate has swayed over find themsleves almost in a daze - as if they left the normal world behind, and entered an alternate reality in which World War 2 had never happened...and Interbellum never ceased. Far from the gleaming silver spires of Allied Cities of Tommorrow, or the foreboding towering arcologies of the Sprawl, the skylines of cities touched by the Combine are filled with gold, brass, and bronze art deco skyscrapers that rise to the sky, accompanied by tall robotic-inspired statues that point forward - forwards, forvever, into the future that never came to pass, and a future that the Combine intend on restoring.

Every aspect of the Technocracy is marked, in some way, by the shadow of both the Interbellum period's designs, and what that generation believed the future to look like. Art Deco is a prominant element in many of the Combine's buildings and decor, emphasizing both a blend of function and form in whatever it is incorporated in, while the streamlined Ford-designed cars and trucks that go to the Combine emphasize sleekness and curviness with simple, yet striking ornamentation. Walking down the streets, it's not out of place for the strains of an old (or sometimes even new) latin jazz, swing, or ranchero song to emanate from the buildings nearby. Even the clothing is old, men and women alike with three piece business suits or trenchcoats and fedoras, blended with whatever the native dress of the area happens to be.

The transportation systems of the Combine are varied. While an average family might expect to use their car or truck for most daily tasks, new releases of wood, plastic, or even rubber air-frames has seen a good deal of the Combine's civilians take to the air in one-person airplanes or gyrocopters. Train lines snake their way across the land, and in the sky silver airships fly on planned out aerial transport and cargo routes. And for a few, highly important Councils, the use of high-speed pneumetic tubes is a daily occurence as they whiz from city to city.

The Combine is a shining beacon in the world to some. From across the earth, people come to join it - inventors, entrepreneurs, hobbyists, scientists, futurists, average people, and dreamers alike flock to the United Technate of the Americas, hoping for a new start, a way to show off what they know, a future they can be a part of creating. And in every city, those inventors and adventurers can be found.

The vast majority of the Combine's citizenry are adventurous, a fact that greatly shows in the various stuff they produce. The nationally published "Amazing Stories" magazine showcases these wonders off, and is available to the citizenry of almost any nation on Earth. Though many who pick up one of these magazines outside of the Combine pass it off as 'buying it for the laughs', more often than not those same people can be found goggling at the contents within - a begoggled woman in a pilot's uniform standing proudly on the deck of her watercraft, propelled through the water by a rotating metal column; an elderly Mexican farmer, lounging dour next to a three foot tall anti-coyote automated sentry gun; a bronze skinned man, shirtless and in the Amazon, eagerly handing a piece of meat to the head and stamen of a six-foot tall carnivorus plant. The people of the Combine seem to care not for danger, for they plunge into every invention, every activity with a kind of infectious optimism enough to sway even the most cynical of minds at times. It is this that has given the Combine the reputation - and indeed, the ability - of being a wonderland of invention - where pneumatic tubes are laid down one day, and plans for a rocket station are pursued the next.

Though the most popular, and encouraged aesthetic in the Combine is of the Interbellum, and Art Deco and Streamline Moderne, not all choose to fall within this line of visual style when they make their inventions. For every person working with shined polished steel and chrome plating, another toils in her workshop, arms deep in engine grease and with electricity sparking around her machines, and yet another studies the form of an insect as he paints with latex and black rubber. A variety of styles may be found around the Combine's inventors, and some even form clubs to discuss how they might best convert everyday household objects to fit their style even more.

But even with the amazing, futuristic everyday inventions and weekly discoveries the people of the Combine make, there is a darker side to things. For every miraculous invention produced and patented, two more sit, dusty and unfinished because of their creators lack of time or funding to complete them. For every invention that will go on to save lives, another explodes in testing or simply fails to work correctly, killing their maker and even at times bystanders. For every adventurer that discovers a rare plant, or brings back the work of a lost civilization, another simply disappears - gone missing while investigating a Syndicate crime ring, never returning from a planned exploration and colonization of the Antarctic, or dying while attempting to fly to the moon in a self-made rocket with not enough fuel to even clear orbit. And there are less lethal, but still problematic concerns as well - the constant battles for publishment, the arguments and lawsuits over patent rights and violations, and looming over everything the need, the constant need for more funding, more energy to be used and traded. There are attempts to solve these, of course - pamphlets warning of the dangers of un-scientifically inspected experiments are handed out at all Bureacracy Halls in every city, and the solutions for funding range from intense scrutiny and desisions of every credit handed out in the major cities to two towns pitting battle-modified combine harvesters against each other to decide who gets the funds to build their water driller - but some problems still slip through.

Indeed, with all the innovation, entreupreneurialship, and discoveries that happen, it takes a strong force to be able to corral and lead this populace into a unified goal. And that force is the Backers - men and women who's role in the government of the Combine is not to invent devices or technologies, but more intangible concepts - words, ideologies, strategies. While the term Backers is playfully derogatory, coined by the average person on the street, it is an apt one - they are the ones who oversee the allocations of funding, and carefully plan out the steps needed to shape the nation and the people into a technocratic Utopia in the years to come. And Backers are not always at the top Council level, running the nation - they can be low level street agitators, calling out problems and issues so that the average person may know them and input their thoughts; managers and supervisors who report production levels and watch the satisfaction quotas; and even military commanders ensuring that the Technocratic Fronts are able to go where they need to in order to increase, protect, and defend the Combine people.

Together, this creates a competitive and yet cooperative system - a constant clash for resources and power, but one that allows the most effective to rise to the top and, in turn, provide solutions to the problems of others, resulting if possible in win-win situations. You might be low in the overall chain in the Combine, but you are never prevented from being able to rise higher.

### Life, Latin Style

#### The Heartland Reversion

Nowadays, travelling through the agricultural farmlands of the United Technate is a wonder to behold. Far from the bustling gold-plated metropolises, even in the most remote areas you’ll find marks of the Technocracy's presence, from the odd farmer or two watching a field of seeds with an Android scarecrow at his side, or another using harnessed anaconda-sized earthworms to plough their cornfields, even the farmlands of Yucatan and the Amazon hold a beauty of their own. However, the sight that surprises foreign visitors most is how every village, no matter how remote or small it may be, always seem to possess some kind of local industrial centre, research institution or a localised power plant providing electricity to even the smallest of villages, all with the symbols and characteristically bright colours of the Technocracy,and all of them beacons of the future. It may seem obvious to most that all these changes came into place when the Technocratic Governments took place, yet few can think of how this happened so quickly…

The modernization process began in the early days following the Technocratic Revolutions. Revolutions are nothing new for Latin America; political instability has plagued the region since their wars for independence against the Iberian Kingdoms. Caudillos and dictators came one after the other trying to take their piece of the alfajores, oppressing their citizens for their own personal gain and profit, only for the sick and tired people to rebel, overthrow the dictator and appoint another one in his place, falling back into the cycle. This was a fact that the Columbia Future Society was all too aware of, and if they were to succeed where many had failed they had to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors, and ensure that the countries they would conquer would not fall into post-revolution anarchy, making sure any opposition would be as low as possible, as quickly as possible. In short, they had to convince the masses that their cause would bring peace and prosperity to their countries. Yet the Society knew they wouldn't convince Latin America to join the revolution through words alone, they would need physical acts of appeasement to bring the masses under their control.

One major problem that soon came to the attention of the leaders of the Technocratic parties was that many rural communities, largely unaffected by the changes made in the big cities, were also the main sources of rebellion when someone began to brutally put down the common folk of their nations. Simply put, the ideas of a 'Utopia' and 'Peace through Progress' fell on deaf ears in these places, far from the centres of industry and production to see the results of the promises, used to their old ways of life. For the Technocrats to win the hearts and votes of these people, they had to bring the light of Utopia **to them**.

It started simply enough. Major educational reforms, proposed by the Ministers of Education and Welfare, were passed, and so many state technical schools were built in the poorer and more rural areas of the United Technate. The locals were all too eager to learn new things, as they knew that knowledge and education meant more possibilities for a higher salary and a better way of life. Yet the Parties' aim, however, wasn't to bring these people to the cities, for this was only the first step in what would be known as the “Heartland Reversion”.

The next step was to copy the Ford model of free labour that had already been set up in the United States decades ago, so as to bring a better quality of life to the rural communities while allowing them to keep their agrarian way of life, something that wouldn't have been possible if everyone had migrated to the cities. This was not the only change made to keep the agricultural industry strong, as no matter how many Automatons there were working on the fields or how advanced their eugenically engineered giant tomatoes were, a nation simply cannot keep up with the demand for food without people actively working on the fields. Thanks to the wonders that are Geobacter plants, any village no matter how small could have their own electricity generator, sustainably produced by the waste that they created, mulch and cesspits that could be naturally boosted with the by-products of cattle herding and farming. This not only greatly decreased any losses in production a community had due to blackouts (increasing their revenue in this manner) but it also allowed for the party to literally connect every village together via the means of radio and television. Yet in the off season this also meant that their brand new workforce with many individuals with technical knowledge had nothing to do. This problem would bring on the final step of the reversion, community industries.

The name of community industries gives a good idea of their nature; these are various manufacturing jobs, companies and buildings that have been transferred to small, rural communities to provide income in the idle months where there was nothing to cultivate or grow. Thanks to the Geobacter plants that were installed in these communities, these decentralized industries have flourished, quickly spreading throughout all of the United Technate, alleviating a good deal of the other, more specialized, industrial centres from producing common-garden goods.

This process of "spreading thin yet thick" has given many benefits to the Combine, as it has helped the nascent nation become an industrial powerhouse in in an impressively short span of time, being able now to produce all the infrastructure, vehicles and heavy machinery without the need to outsource their work to other nations or companies. Not having the need to recur to forced labour or forced industrialization, this has helped greatly to boost their economy, the once impoverished masses in the farmlands now owners of (moderately well-off at least) family business and has finally swayed the public opinion greatly in favour of the Technocratic Party, securing the popularity of the government and as such making sure they’re paving the road to a good, prosperous, *bright* future.

#### Power Overwhelming

*"To be honest, I'm not sure what's the Technate's people obssession with elevator music."*

- The Vicar, on a public interview
Many tourists visiting the cities or major towns of the United Technate have come back reporting the almost tangible feeling of energy in the air as they walked around and saw the sights. This has often been attributed by more youthful tourists to the sheer activity that goes on in the morning hours, the incredible exchange of information and ideas that happens all over the Technate, and the buzz of many thousands or even millions of people going about their daily lives. While this may be true, older or more perceptive visitors will often note a more physical explanation for the tingling, almost electrical feeling: the vast amounts of electrical stations and radio towers that dot the landscape.

The Combine's fascination with radio power and electrical transmission sprang out of a need to coordinate the efforts of different party news and movements in the different Technocratic states over vast distances, as well as a push towards providing affordable electricity and radio access to all citizens of the Technate. New electrical power stations and substations were raised weekly, and wired transmission towers sprang up from Mexico to Brazil everywhere the Technate could reach. Parallel to the spread of power came radio masts, erected in cities and towns in such numbers that several city skylines contain almost as many visible masts as skyscrapers. Perhaps most surprising and exciting of all, in the 1968 Technocratic scientists managed to crack the secrets of something long desired by the greater western scientific community - the secrets of wireless power transmission. An immense generator currently in construction near Mexico City will, once built, shoot a constant beam of ultraviolet light up into the sky via immense arc lamp, a metal grid linked to giant generators placed over it to send electricity high into the ionosphere where specially designed Technocratic airships, vehicles, and even one day perhaps entire cities will be able to use it to power their own reserves.

This rapid expansion has not gone without repercussions, however: worried Allied and Continental enviromentalists have conducted research suggesting that migratory and local bird populations are seeing rising death rates due to the interference caused by newly raised radio towers, while fluctuations in the hastily created power grid means bad weather or sudden storms can sometimes cause weeks-long blackouts for more remote towns and cities. Several accidents with American airlines crashing due to radio interference and lack of warning lights on the towers themselves have only led to increased tensions with the Technate's northern neighbor. A smaller, less fatal war has already broken out between the two: American and Mexican Technate stations battle fiercely for the eyes, ears, and attention spans of citizens on both sides of the border.

#### The Birds and the Giant Bees

(Animals and plants in daily life. Adorable, creepy. Creepdorable)

### Defenders of Utopia

#### Guardians of Tomorrow

Even though the Combine extol the virtues of peaceful existence and of Utopia, there does exist enemies of this new state, people who stand against the idea of One Society; against the very future itself. The numerous groups that hide in the shadows and the back alleys of society see the Combine as a threat to their very existence, and with good reason: CBURA is extremely diligent, and is almost solely dedicated to the task of cleansing the shadows of their malodorous presences. Yet the Cults are not the only threat: the myriad other superpowers that make up the world regard the Technocracy with at best disdain; at worse contempt. And crime is no stranger even to the streets of Acapulco and Ford: gangs that have existed since before the Combine took over still trade drugs and slaves and wage their petty wars against each other. The only thing that has prevented the Technocracy from falling to those threats and descending into ruin and anarchy are the many men and women that make up the Humanitarian Guard

Composed of any and all who are willing and hidden behind their imposing gas masks, the Technate entrusts the defence of Utopia to them. Each soldier is given military training and the best equipment the Technate has to offer, for they need it in the endless fight against the dark. The Humanitarian Guard is split into many parts: infantry divisions, armoured companies, aerial forces, naval fleets, and even the very forces of nature all coexist and fight inside it.

Regardless of rank or weapon, it is they who are responsible for the Technate's surprisingly clean police force, it is they who hold the line when rowdy Continentals attempt a raid on a peaceful settlement, it is they who stand between order and chaos. Truly it is they who are the heroes of the future, for while the Founders govern peace and the Backers develop it, it is the Guard who guard it with their lives.

#### Technocratic Militias

Though there can be no denying that the Humanitarian Guard of the United Technate plays a major role in ensuring the safety of the assorted citizens, associates, creations, and other things that reside within the nation, the truth is that they are still far from being the everpresent keepers of peace like their counterparts in the Allied Nations. There are simply not enough soldiers or machines to cover the entirety of the Technate, much left anywhere else the Combine might dictate the Guard be needed, and so the military forces of the Technate focus their efforts where deemed most tactically important, and pick and choose their battles when they can.

This is not to say that the Technate is defenceless if the Guard are not present for a surprise attack, however. For there are multiple militias scattered around the United Technate, each one made of several local towns (or one larger city), and each one devoted to protecting their local area. Should a major battle break out and the Guards are in the area, then any nearby militia will be drafted into the larger Guard command structure. But even if the Mobile Guard are fighting elsewhere, or the Rear Guard are unable to reach the site in time, the militias will still fight.

They are a far sight from the gleaming gold and silver of the Humanitarian Guard, or the gargantuan machinery and siege networks of the Rear Guard. They are farmers and factory workers, equipped with fifteen or more year old equipment and what vehicles they have stored in the local garages. They are not a true fighting force, and every member is reminded that they may - and in these times, likely will - be asked to die for people and places they will never see. But, despite the odds and losses, the Technocratic Militias still march when called to war.

## Urbanates of the Future

 **Location** |  Mexico, United Technate of the Americas

 **Location** |  Mexico, United Technate of the Americas

 **Location** |  Costa Rica, United Technate of the Americas

 **Location** |  Nicaragua, United Technate of the Americas

**Bold**