FH Challenge: What happened here? v 2.0 (It has a much nicer map...)

[Stalin]

Below is a map of World Superpowers, circa 2037 A.D. The challenge is, create a FTL that allows the sort of world shown below to develop. The only rules are that it must be plausible and well-explained, as in the previous thread. Anyway, here's the new map (based some what on both the scenario I posted on the previous board, and a map made by RMG):

[Grey Wolf]

Below is a map of World Superpowers, circa 2037 A.D. The challenge is, create a FTL that allows the sort of world shown below to develop. The only rules are that it must be plausible and well-explained, as in the previous thread. Anyway, here's the new map (based some what on both the scenario I posted on the previous board, and a map made by RMG):

So we have a modern Brazil (US of Brazil or republic anyway), an EU that doesn't include any of the UK except Northern Ireland so there's a POD there that has Britain lose there. Russian Orthodox state, Chinese empire, maybe Ottoman empire into Turkestan, not sure what we have in Africa, and don't understand what's happened to the USA

Some of the rest could be attributed to different kind of world war 1 sort of thing... But Australia still being several provinces as independent entities implies no Commonwealth of Australia

Grey Wolf

[Stalin]

So we have a modern Brazil (US of Brazil or republic anyway), an EU that doesn't include any of the UK except Northern Ireland so there's a POD there that has Britain lose there. Russian Orthodox state, Chinese empire, maybe Ottoman empire into Turkestan, not sure what we have in Africa, and don't understand what's happened to the USA

Some of the rest could be attributed to different kind of world war 1 sort of thing... But Australia still being several provinces as independent entities implies no Commonwealth of Australia

Grey Wolf

Whatever you feel could explain what happened in the Arab World, Africa, Asia, or the Americas are acceptable (so long as it's plausible). You're right though, it is fairly evident a world war must have occurred in this future. How else would China have Siberia, Vietnam, etc. as part of it, with Africa and the Middle East mobilizing into their own enormously powerful blocs? The US is almost assuredly some kind of Conservative, Religious, Nationalistic, Militaristic or Authoritarian-Right state after such a war. Though I can see some kind of American neo-Liberalism (as in a new version of our Left-wing Liberalism, not the Libertarian/free-market ideology you have over in Europe) with some right wing elements thrown into it as occurred during the Clinton 1990’s. I suspect the US has strong ties now to the South American and African blocs in this world (as well as the UK, Australia, and possibly the Russian superpower here)..

[Grey Wolf]

"it is fairly evident a world war must have occurred in this future. How else would China have Siberia, Vietnam, etc. as part of it, with Africa and the Middle East mobilizing into their own enormously powerful blocs? "

Well, China DID used to have these areas before gradually ceding the former to Russia over 200 years (the Amur Maritime region in 1858 IIRC) and losing its suzerainty to Vietnam only finally in the 1880s

But I get what you mean

Grey Wolf

[Beck Reilly]

How about in the near future we see the complete collapse of the Russian social and government structure. In the ensuing anarchy, China invades Siberia in order to gain land for their enormous population and resources for the future. With the help of the US and Great Britain, the new Russian government is able to stop them far east of the Urals but not push the Chinese out. (Meanwhile, the US has invaded and annexed China's communist ally in the west, Cuba).

Following this semi-loss, the US turns inward while the now united EU builds Russia up to superpower status to act as a buffer between Europe and China. With the US gone from the world stage, Africa is forced to unite over time to increase the fight against AIDS, eventually slowing the disease by the 2030s. The EU (minus Britain which has, similarly to the US, turned inward following the war in China and allowed Australia to be ripped apart by competing factions) has snubbed Turkey and seized Turkish lands east of Bospourus, causing Turkey to take the oppurtunity, along with Egypt, to form a Muslim Alliance between Muslim nations in order to defend against the 4 superpowers on their borders. The EU, however, has not been able to stop European colonies from seperating from their mother nations (like Greenland which joined the US in 2025).

Meanwhile, in the US, the American National Populists (ANPs) have elected a President to the White House. The new government renounces international treaties. In Mexico, the affiliated Mexican National Populists (MNPs ; Mexico has fallen into even worse shape than the US as their economy is entirely dependent on the US) "vote" to join the US in order to speed up recovery. In South America, a similar situation has happened as the US ally, the Republic of Brazil has similarly annexed Uruguay. As the US (now the Republic of America, thanks to the Mexican annexation) the RoB, Argentina, and Venezuela sign the American Pact and Canada hesitates, apparently considering it, the world slumps towards war as the AP encroach on EU ally, Chile, and Chinese, ally, Peru.

Wow, that's very rough....

[Grey Wolf]

I always look for a beginning diversion back in the past - I feel there is more likelihood that this is an Ottoman polity, but I do see the problem over Thrace

Grey Wolf

[Beck Reilly]

Well, I guess you could always take the collapse of society and government and move it to the end of the SU, back in 1991, allowing for more time to develop what I said. Then again, you could have something else completely...

[Stalin]

Well, I guess you could always take the collapse of society and government and move it to the end of the SU, back in 1991, allowing for more time to develop what I said. Then again, you could have something else completely...

Yes, but that would be the future of an AH, not an FH itself.

[Beck Reilly]

Okay, well if you want a strictly FH, have the collapse occur next year. It doesn't really matter as Russia is in a near constant fear of collapse.

[Straha]

to be more hardcore have it be tomorrow not next year

[Stalin]

Okay, well if you want a strictly FH, have the collapse occur next year. It doesn't really matter as Russia is in a near constant fear of collapse.

That’s an interesting idea. Here's another thought though: What if the collapse happens in 2004, 2008, or 2012 near Election Day? You could end up with the political system in the US, Russia, China, EU, etc. completely overturned by the war. You wouldn't just have anarchy in Russia, you'd have anarchy worldwide.*

*Or at least anarchy in the UK. :)

[TheLoneAmigo]

Australia is divided in this map. Possibly a great water crisis happens in the late teens. Crops across Australia totally fail, and thousands die of starvation or lack of water. On January 13th, 2019, Queensland Premier Jack Hughes orders State Police to cross the border with New South Wales and secure water supplies. They secede from the Commonwealth. Western Australia follows, and sends police into South Australia, quick. Aboriginal extremist groups seize Darwin and execute 10,000 whites, leading to clashes across the Territory and northern Queensland. The government in Canberra tries to keep the nation together, but fails, and collapses, and the remaining state governments take affairs into their own hands while Prime Minister Alfred Monaghan flees to Tasmania.

A Victorian-Queenslander alliance manages to crush New South Wales, while Western Australia quickly seizes most of South Australia, except for the Murray Basin, which is captured by Victorian forces. In the north, the Aborignals force most of the Whites into Northern Queensland or WA, and set up a new government in Darwin (Renamed Gollona). In Northern Queensland, the fleeing Territorians make an alliance with the remaining One Nationers and form a incredibly racist state. Aboriginals as well as Asians are placed into "internment camps" where they are given barely any food or water, and die in the hundreds.

Secretary-General Jacques Allemane urges the security council to intervene, but the world is quickly distracted by the rapid Chinese invasion of Russia and the Third World War.

Peace eventually comes to Australia, with Victoria the obivious winner, controlling Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney as well as Melbourne. Premier Albert Anderson declares the formation of the Democratic Republic of Victoria, but does not grant voting rights to anyone but those born within the borders of the old Victoria. The Sydney Opera House burns and Melbourne celebrates its new position as the largest city in Australia, not realizing that the title is unimportant now that Australia is far from a popular tourist destination.

In Queensland, the state is split between racist hardliners who want to unify with the Australian Republic of Queensland established by One Nation and unificationists who want to reunify the continent. Premier Jack Hughes is deposed by unificationists and replaced by Premier Howard Jones, who cracks down on "racists" and establishes censor boards to control the media.
Western Australia goes Rural Right-Wing and illegalizes immigration, subsidizes farming, closes its borders and sulks.

Tasmania remains as the rump Commonwealth of Australia, and refuses to recognize the various succesor states established on the Mainland.

In the end, "The Friendliest Nation on Earth" has been turned into a war-torn nation filled with racists, censors and fanatics by years of excessive drought.

[Stalin]

Australia is divided in this map. Possibly a great water crisis happens in the late teens. Crops across Australia totally fail, and thousands die of starvation or lack of water. On January 13th, 2019, Queensland Premier Jack Hughes orders State Police to cross the border with New South Wales and secure water supplies. They secede from the Commonwealth. Western Australia follows, and sends police into South Australia, quick. Aboriginal extremist groups seize Darwin and execute 10,000 whites, leading to clashes across the Territory and northern Queensland. The government in Canberra tries to keep the nation together, but fails, and collapses, and the remaining state governments take affairs into their own hands while Prime Minister Alfred Monaghan flees to Tasmania.

A Victorian-Queenslander alliance manages to crush New South Wales, while Western Australia quickly seizes most of South Australia, except for the Murray Basin, which is captured by Victorian forces. In the north, the Aborignals force most of the Whites into Northern Queensland or WA, and set up a new government in Darwin (Renamed Gollona). In Northern Queensland, the fleeing Territorians make an alliance with the remaining One Nationers and form a incredibly racist state. Aboriginals as well as Asians are placed into "internment camps" where they are given barely any food or water, and die in the hundreds.

Secretary-General Jacques Allemane urges the security council to intervene, but the world is quickly distracted by the rapid Chinese invasion of Russia and the Third World War.

Peace eventually comes to Australia, with Victoria the obivious winner, controlling Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney as well as Melbourne. Premier Albert Anderson declares the formation of the Democratic Republic of Victoria, but does not grant voting rights to anyone but those born within the borders of the old Victoria. The Sydney Opera House burns and Melbourne celebrates its new position as the largest city in Australia, not realizing that the title is unimportant now that Australia is far from a popular tourist destination.

In Queensland, the state is split between racist hardliners who want to unify with the Australian Republic of Queensland established by One Nation and unificationists who want to reunify the continent. Premier Jack Hughes is deposed by unificationists and replaced by Premier Howard Jones, who cracks down on "racists" and establishes censor boards to control the media.
Western Australia goes Rural Right-Wing and illegalizes immigration, subsidizes farming, closes its borders and sulks.

Tasmania remains as the rump Commonwealth of Australia, and refuses to recognize the various succesor states established on the Mainland.

In the end, "The Friendliest Nation on Earth" has been turned into a war-torn nation filled with racists, censors and fanatics by years of excessive drought.

Wow, that's disturbingly plausible. So now we have a Genocidal/Apartheid-Australian nation, an increasingly Authoritarian anti-Racist Australian nation, and a semi-Communist/sham Democracy Australian nation. Great job, maybe I'll incorporate some of the scenario you just came up with into the FTL I'll be posting here in a short while.

[Lizard King]

Below is a map of World Superpowers, circa 2037 A.D. The challenge is, create a FTL that allows the sort of world shown below to develop. The only rules are that it must be plausible and well-explained, as in the previous thread. Anyway, here's the new map (based some what on both the scenario I posted on the previous board, and a map made by RMG):

Fascinating - I'd be interested to know how you did the map - and where did you find the blank maps ?

[Straha]

somewhere deep in the old forum

[Stalin]

Fascinating - I'd be interested to know how you did the map - and where did you find the blank maps ?

Sure, I'll be glad to answer your questions.

First off, how I did the map: I took out a map which Ian had made, and cut-and-pasted it onto MS Paint. Next, I began re-coloring the borders. Then I began erasing some of the lines, redrawing the borders, and adding the colors for the various countries (and water bodies). After that was completed, I began drawing the outlines of the national symbols. When that was completed, and then I used darker shades of the colors previously used to create an almost super-imposed shading effect (mainly by outlining the symbols, and then spending a good amount of time trying to create a “metallic” shading effect for most of the symbols). When the shading effects had been complete, I wrote the title of the map once in a black font, and then another time in a white font this time.

Now, where I got the map: I got the map from Ian's gateway site. The exact adress was: http://gateway.alternatehistory.com/graphics/OTL-world.gif Someone also gave some blank map links on the Interplaner UN thread on the old ASB section of AH.com

[Stalin]

I think that the flag I have for the USA in this FTL map right now has a insignia in it that's too odd. Here's a slightly revised version of the map, with a red eagle and NATO-type star insignia in the middle of America:

[Stalin]

This is an earlier scenario I wrote, but I've revised it to include new bits and pieces...

The world Superpowers of the late 2030's:

RRP USA: When the Millennial Generation began to mature and WWIII occurred in when China attacked Taiwan and Siberia, the US went through hard times. Massive casualties, a weak economy, crippling national debt, violence and political bickering had all taken their toll on it. But then out of the Republican Party, a new right-leaning neo-populist, or "Justice-Conservatism" movement began to form. It rejected the small-government and pro-free trade beliefs of the traditional right, almost as much as it did social liberalism, secularism, and globalism. It promised reform, security, elimination of "degenerative influences on American society", the uniting of the Americas, and more importantly renewal of American power.

The more staunch conservatives split from the GOP, and the party was renamed the Reform Republican Party, gaining some members of the Reform Party (it also replaced the traditional Elephant symbol with a White and Red eagle). Nonentheless, the RRP still went on to win the Presidency and the senate. They also went on to gain enormous influence in the Media and Entertainment. Then after all this had occurred, the president sent troops to secure the still dangerous inner city, and the resulting violence forced Martial Law to be declared. The US then proceeded to annex Cuba (which after Castro’s death had much better relations with the US), Puerto Rico (which finally became a state), Mexico (where a similar neo-populist movement had arisen), and recently the nation of Greenland. It is now eyeing Canada and Central America. The RRP USA has good relations with the Republic of Brazil and the Pan-African Federation, both of which it continued to send money and other aid to even as it continued to become more isolated from the world. It has mixed relations with the Great Sovereign States of Russia, though the public is much more sympathetic to them than China or the EU…

Republic of Brazil: At the start of the 21st century, Brazil was largely regarded as a joke. But as it continued to develop it’s industry and it’s political system became more stable in a world largely devastated by WWIII it soon began to become a major power. By the 2020’s, it was beginning to become the most powerful Latin American nation, and it’s more nationalistic factions began to use this to rise to power. Left-leaning politicians were still elected, but there was a populist, expansionist trend emerging in the nation’s politics. By the 2030’s, it had begun to absorb various states, among them Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

With the rise of the largely pro-Pan-Americanist RRP in the USA, and the election of the first Hispanic president, the ROB’s relations with America have continued to improve as of late. Both the RRP and ROB are helping each other out financially, with trade booming between the two powers. Both powers have begun the process of funding a joint space mission to Mars. And both powers have also signed protection agreements, to come to the defense of one another in the event of war. An event that seems more likely day by day…

European Union: At the dawn of the 21st century, the EU was merely an alliance of nations. Soon however, the EU began become a state entity. As this occurred, it grew militarily and financially. By the time of the Third World War of the 2010’s, the stage was set for it to become a superpower. After the catastrophe, the EU wasted no time demanding the USA pay back its national debt, partially because of anti-American resentment and partially because it needed the money from the USA. This created enormous resentment in the American public, and it further destroyed relations between the two powers. The EU didn’t care much though, it largely saw the US as ineffectual “far-right nation” that was passing its prime. They seized Turkish lands east of Bospourus, and then gradually absorbed many Eastern European states during the 2020’s. The EU, however, has not been able to stop European colonies from separating from their mother nations. It has also failed to eliminate the rise of the PAF, ROB, IC, RRP USA, and GSSR…

Great Sovereign States of Russia: After the AIDS crisis began to peak in the 2020's, and WWIII had devastated the country, many people were fed up with the corrupt secular-Democracy of Russia. They turned to a new breed of Arch-conservatives, many of whom allied with the Orthodox Church. After the rise of the Orthodox National Party, the nation became a de-facto right-wing theocracy, as Church leaders gained influence. Violence continued to rise however, and the military patrolled the streets to stamp out radicalism. Russia soon recovered, and began to annex other states. Now, it too is becoming more involved in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe...

Pan-Arab Caliphate: After Iraq occupation ended, many Arab states began to reform, while others became more extreme. But regardless of their differences, most could agree that they needed to Unite in order to stabilize and deal with the problems and political liabilities posed by Terrorism and US involvement. The nations of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and many others formed the Pan-Arab caliphate. The rising power soon found itself propelled to superpower status after WWIII, despite having lost an enormous amount of life and infrastructure. Now, it is increasingly becoming involved in Asia and Europe...

People's States of China: After starting WWIII, China lost millions of young men and women. However, it soon recovered financially and began the process of rebuilding itself. After major economic boom in the 2020's, it began to annex surrounding areas once again, despite widespread protest and international laws forbidding it. Its relations with the USA have improved somewhat however, even as it continues to become more involved in Asia and the nearby Middle East...

[TheLoneAmigo]

Wow, that's disturbingly plausible. So now we have a Genocidal/Apartheid-Australian nation, an increasingly Authoritarian anti-Racist Australian nation, and a semi-Communist/sham Democracy Australian nation. Great job, maybe I'll incorporate some of the scenario you just came up with into the FTL I'll be posting here in a short while.

Will we ever see this FTL?

[Stalin]

Will we ever see this FTL?

I've been busy and to be honest it slipped my mind. I'm re-working the original idea right now though.