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onearmedexmerc) wrote2012-12-18 12:04 am
onearmedexmerc) wrote2012-12-18 12:04 am
Entry tags:
World History
World History: (The world history is the same as Ginia Solana’s. With the permission of Ginia-mun I have used her version. The bits in italics are my own additions to the history with agreement on the validity of these changes and additions by Cata.) The world is Earth, but one that drastically changes in the 1960s. During a meeting in Washington D.C. where many of the world's leaders and speakers rallying for peace and seeking an end to the Vietnam War were present, a large and sudden explosion occurred, killing and injuring hundreds of people. Important figures who died that day include the President and Vice President of the United States, a few of the more liberal members of China's collection of power, the USSR lost their head of state, France lost their prime minister, England her Queen and their Prime minister ends up too wounded to stay in office. While various criminal groups and terrorist organizations tried to take claim for the event in the following days and weeks, using fear and panic, the reality was the explosion occurred due to a gas leak and a building not up to par with codes and regulations. In short, a freak accident with catastrophic impact. Regardless of who was responsible for the event, the damage was done and many countries were left in a sudden state of chaos without their leaders and the Vietnam War only worsened.
With the death of the president and vice-president among other key figures and speakers, the US government was left in a state of chaos. Through the line of presidential succession, the speaker of the house, Andrew Locke, was appointed president. With his focus and interests more on war and American safety, and with riots and chaos beginning to spread across some of America's larger cities (Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc.), Locke took advantage of the situation to introduce drastic measures. Police were given more power and support in order to put down riots and in the worst areas, military patrols were introduced to keep the streets safe at night. Strictly enforced curfews were established and more security cameras were placed around the cities. In short, many American cities and states were put in a state of martial law. While this worked to some degree, the presence of military troops and the feeling of being oppressed only served to further fuel anti-military sentiment. Local gangs and organized crime groups saw this as a chance to win civilians over onto their side and began fighting and pushing back against the military and police. Others who just wanted to keep their families safe and realized the danger of military or crime groups taking over also began fighting, taking up arms to protect their family and livelihood.
This resulted in three distinct factions; the military, organized crime and gangs, and self-made vigilantes later termed as “hunters”. Chaos and fighting raged through the United States, focused around many of the larger cities or areas with heavy criminal activity. The military response was to create specialized units to curb violent outbreaks and deal with “domestic terrorism” through heavy force and even assassinations. Some members of these specialized units, disgusted by their orders, left the military and began passing information (and weaponry and training) onto the other two factions. By 1965, the Vietnam War had ended with the communists successfully taking over South Vietnam. By 1970, the United States was nearly in a state of uncontrolled chaos as its civilians, military, and government all waged war against each other.
Taking advantage of the confusion and loss of a great number of UN members South Korea invades North Korea. The country is reunited by force. Many North Korean politicos flee their homes as the new regime makes it their mission to remove all traces of the old division of their country. Those who do not flee as executed as betrayers of the Korean people by keeping North and South separated, a lie, but one that worked. The dust clears and the area that once housed North and South korea becomes a new country known as United Korea.
The ripples expand on an international level. Many countries faced remilitarization and strictly controlled borders. What was happening within America's borders was similar around the world. Australia cut itself off from global politics becoming an isolated country with a limited immigration and emigration. Taking advantage of its isolation many paramilitary groups sprung up in Australia, whose government was willing to turn a blind eye to their actions as long as they were paid. These paramilitary groups became Australia's weapon against violent upheaval across the globe, giving them unrivaled military might which they could be convinced to hire out for the right price.
Due to the instability of China after the event,Taiwan managed to establish freedom from China's control. It held onto such freedom with the backing of Japan and the new United Korea. No longer under China's government, Taiwan established itself as a technological and industrial power in the new changed world. One that would eventually rival Japan and become a competitor to the United States.
For those born in the 70s and 80s, violence became a way of life. The distinction between the lower, middle, and upper classes grew. The upper classes lived in safe gated communities or well-guarded skyscrapers, the middle classes in apartment complexes and suburban neighborhoods where the best protection was a loaded gun and good locks on the doors and windows, and the lower class and impoverished in slums and poorer neighborhoods that often became recruiting grounds for gangs, hunters, and military alike. Because the military kept most of their focus on larger cities, smaller cities and towns fell under the control of hunters or gangs/organized crime factions. (Hawaii and Alaska, due to being disconnected from the rest of the country, practically became their own countries and near resorts, keeping a very close eye on who came in or out of the state.) Hunters also began taking on wider roles, becoming more like guns-for-hire or jacks of all trades in some areas, while others focused on keeping their communities safe through acts of vigilante justice. It wasn't uncommon at all for the wealthy to hire hunters as personal bodyguards or for even the government to hire hunters as spies and even personal assassins. Corruption had eaten through the country and now all that mattered was finding a way to survive.
This lifestyle was near global, with only a few countries that were noticeably better or worse to live in.
There were, however, some benefits through all of this. The sudden focus on military and defense pushed ahead research for weapons and technology, resulting in an earlier boom of computer technology. The internet brought the world back together as the United States began establishing itself as the leader in new technology. Outpacing Japan and Taiwan, though both countries nipped at the United States collective technological heels due to a difference in the way the Japanese and Taiwanese people thought. Medical research also advanced at an accelerated rate as constant fighting necessitated the need for better technology and knowledge. Unfortunately, due to heavy military and government involvement and funding, many hospitals became the testing ground for new studies and research programs. Ethics waned in the face of new possibilities and discoveries, and promises of heavy funding.
And so this way dystopia comes.
With the death of the president and vice-president among other key figures and speakers, the US government was left in a state of chaos. Through the line of presidential succession, the speaker of the house, Andrew Locke, was appointed president. With his focus and interests more on war and American safety, and with riots and chaos beginning to spread across some of America's larger cities (Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc.), Locke took advantage of the situation to introduce drastic measures. Police were given more power and support in order to put down riots and in the worst areas, military patrols were introduced to keep the streets safe at night. Strictly enforced curfews were established and more security cameras were placed around the cities. In short, many American cities and states were put in a state of martial law. While this worked to some degree, the presence of military troops and the feeling of being oppressed only served to further fuel anti-military sentiment. Local gangs and organized crime groups saw this as a chance to win civilians over onto their side and began fighting and pushing back against the military and police. Others who just wanted to keep their families safe and realized the danger of military or crime groups taking over also began fighting, taking up arms to protect their family and livelihood.
This resulted in three distinct factions; the military, organized crime and gangs, and self-made vigilantes later termed as “hunters”. Chaos and fighting raged through the United States, focused around many of the larger cities or areas with heavy criminal activity. The military response was to create specialized units to curb violent outbreaks and deal with “domestic terrorism” through heavy force and even assassinations. Some members of these specialized units, disgusted by their orders, left the military and began passing information (and weaponry and training) onto the other two factions. By 1965, the Vietnam War had ended with the communists successfully taking over South Vietnam. By 1970, the United States was nearly in a state of uncontrolled chaos as its civilians, military, and government all waged war against each other.
Taking advantage of the confusion and loss of a great number of UN members South Korea invades North Korea. The country is reunited by force. Many North Korean politicos flee their homes as the new regime makes it their mission to remove all traces of the old division of their country. Those who do not flee as executed as betrayers of the Korean people by keeping North and South separated, a lie, but one that worked. The dust clears and the area that once housed North and South korea becomes a new country known as United Korea.
The ripples expand on an international level. Many countries faced remilitarization and strictly controlled borders. What was happening within America's borders was similar around the world. Australia cut itself off from global politics becoming an isolated country with a limited immigration and emigration. Taking advantage of its isolation many paramilitary groups sprung up in Australia, whose government was willing to turn a blind eye to their actions as long as they were paid. These paramilitary groups became Australia's weapon against violent upheaval across the globe, giving them unrivaled military might which they could be convinced to hire out for the right price.
Due to the instability of China after the event,Taiwan managed to establish freedom from China's control. It held onto such freedom with the backing of Japan and the new United Korea. No longer under China's government, Taiwan established itself as a technological and industrial power in the new changed world. One that would eventually rival Japan and become a competitor to the United States.
For those born in the 70s and 80s, violence became a way of life. The distinction between the lower, middle, and upper classes grew. The upper classes lived in safe gated communities or well-guarded skyscrapers, the middle classes in apartment complexes and suburban neighborhoods where the best protection was a loaded gun and good locks on the doors and windows, and the lower class and impoverished in slums and poorer neighborhoods that often became recruiting grounds for gangs, hunters, and military alike. Because the military kept most of their focus on larger cities, smaller cities and towns fell under the control of hunters or gangs/organized crime factions. (Hawaii and Alaska, due to being disconnected from the rest of the country, practically became their own countries and near resorts, keeping a very close eye on who came in or out of the state.) Hunters also began taking on wider roles, becoming more like guns-for-hire or jacks of all trades in some areas, while others focused on keeping their communities safe through acts of vigilante justice. It wasn't uncommon at all for the wealthy to hire hunters as personal bodyguards or for even the government to hire hunters as spies and even personal assassins. Corruption had eaten through the country and now all that mattered was finding a way to survive.
This lifestyle was near global, with only a few countries that were noticeably better or worse to live in.
There were, however, some benefits through all of this. The sudden focus on military and defense pushed ahead research for weapons and technology, resulting in an earlier boom of computer technology. The internet brought the world back together as the United States began establishing itself as the leader in new technology. Outpacing Japan and Taiwan, though both countries nipped at the United States collective technological heels due to a difference in the way the Japanese and Taiwanese people thought. Medical research also advanced at an accelerated rate as constant fighting necessitated the need for better technology and knowledge. Unfortunately, due to heavy military and government involvement and funding, many hospitals became the testing ground for new studies and research programs. Ethics waned in the face of new possibilities and discoveries, and promises of heavy funding.
And so this way dystopia comes.