1.
Across the length and breadth of the world of Gaea, there existed two vast powers. By the dawn of the Third Millennium, as the miracles of industry spread to every corner of Gaea, the great civilisations had unlocked such wonders of the universe that previous generations could scarcely have imagined them. But with these wonders, and their ability to create, so too came the ability to destroy.
The far larger and more populous of these two realms was the Khanate. Born from such humble beginnings, in the arid steppes of Mongolia, by the thirteenth century this empire expanded in all directions with a speed, ferocity, and intensity of success that it seemed impossible for the Mongol horde to be stopped. They did not know defeat, and by the dawn of the sixteenth century their armies had conquered all of Eurasia. This magnificent empire spread to the Portuguese coast to the frozen wastes at the other end of the world. The jungles of India, the deserts of Arabia, the thousands of Japanese islands and the great islands of Asia all the way to the ice realms of the south; all were under the flag of the Khanate.
Through sheer necessity, the Khanate had acquired a democratic culture and it was this which allowed it to survive despite occasionally cataclysmic rebellions. Some, such as the Teutonic Revolt of the 1600s and the Delhi Uprisings of the 1800s, cost tens of millions of lives to be put right in scenes of such carnage that the very legitimacy of the Khanate’s existence was rejected. The worst of them all came throughout the 1920s in the Great Islamic Rebellion, when the Khanate was finally ejected altogether from much of Arabia. Only through the delegation of authority, and the granting of extensive freedoms, could the Khanate hope to survive and yet by the dawn of the 21st Century the strain of maintaining such a remarkable empire was becoming impossible to bear. In this time, the empire was changed drastically in all ways. The Mongols were changed beyond measure by the assimilation of so many cultures – some would say that Mongolia no longer existed – and by the year 2000 the centre of political gravity had so thoroughly shifted to the Far East that even the capital itself had two centuries prior been shifted to the colossal metropolis of Yedo on the Japanese islands. A pure-blooded Mongol held far less sway over this empire than a man of Chinese, Arab, or French stock.
The second great power was Oceania. Born from the greatest defeat the Khanate ever knew, when its vast fleet was obliterated in its effort to conquer the British Isles in 1401. Flooded with millions of refugees from all corners of Europe – not least the Pope, who (until his return to Rome in 1722 upon the restoration of the Papal State) declared Winchester in 1388 the last bastion of Christendom – these chilly little islands experienced an economic and cultural flourishing unlike anything seen since the time of the Romans. Yet Britain would surely have been subjugated, were it not for its great luck in beating the Khanate in discovering the New World. Over the following centuries it was the English – soon rechristening themselves the British as they formed a confederation with the Scottish and Irish – who dominated control of the new lands known tentatively as Oceania. From this came vast new wealth, while the Khanate displayed a stunning lack of interest in overseas exploration, so confident were they in their dominance of the world. But their vision was so lacking, so unaware that the world was much larger than their empire, that it allowed the British to get there first. Regular wars inevitably erupted over control of the New World, but by the year 1900 the Khanate had been entirely expelled by its newfound greatest rival. For in this time, amid pleas for representation and democracy, the capital of Britain’s equally remarkably empire which spread from the frozen islands of the north through the vast plains, deserts, and jungles to the very bottom of the world, a new Federation of Oceania had been born. With it, the capital shifted from the megacity of London to New Athens, on the island of Taino, and so the great continent of Oceania became the centre of power in this vast democratic structure. It is a great irony regularly commented upon that both the British and the Mongols crafted empires which eventually left them rendered into backwaters.
Wars between these two entities were common, but never conclusive. Historians identify seven separate conflicts between 1500 and 1900, each vast in scope, but never identify a victor. By the end of the Ten Year War in 1900, with the state of affairs essentially restored to normal after the shedding of millions of lives, the great Khan Dayan commented at the peace conference in Niani that “it is impossible for either of us to destroy the other.” So it was that a peace settled; one which would last a century, and which would provide time for industry to grow across all the world. But it would be a fleeting peace. By the year 2000, as the wonders of industry made available vast mechanised armies, an arms race of unimaginable scope was underway. The Khanate was building at least two million combat vehicles a year, and its population of seven billion dwarfed the three billion of Oceania. The Federation could not hope to match such production, yet faced only with the options of build or die had no choice. Great rewards were offered in Oceania to women who could produce large families; it was obvious to all that Oceania was preparing for war. Even in his speech commemorating the beginning of the Third Millennium, Chancellor Alisander Marchande warned his people to “prepare for great trials ahead.” There was no questioning what he meant. Those who lived on the English coast, the wild frontier where the Federation ended and the Khanate began, could see warships of the Khanate pass by as often as those of their own navy.
There remained, of course, smaller states across this world who struggled to exist in the shadow of the two superpowers. By agreement between Oceania and the Khanate, efforts to colonise Africa altogether had been abandoned – the Khanate had already been expelled from the northern deserts by Islamic warriors. Now Africa was a jumble of protectorates, petty kingdoms, and a trio of regional powers by the names of Mali in the west, Zalu in the south, and the vast Morocco which encompassed the entirety of the north and presented the greatest obstacle to any Khanate incursion into the African frontier. All jealously guarded their independence, and they were mostly respected in this for neither superpower wished to provoke a renewed conflict. Arabia too was home to various powers, virtually all intensely rooted in Islamic tradition, grown fat and rich from the desperate thirst for oil natural to the two superpowers.
Elsewhere there existed small Pacific islands, granted independence by Oceania in exchange for military basing rights, but everywhere one went one was in the shadow of the superpowers. Oceania and the Khanate possessed all the world. But both wanted it for themselves, and soon they would set the world aflame once more.
Thoughts?
Across the length and breadth of the world of Gaea, there existed two vast powers. By the dawn of the Third Millennium, as the miracles of industry spread to every corner of Gaea, the great civilisations had unlocked such wonders of the universe that previous generations could scarcely have imagined them. But with these wonders, and their ability to create, so too came the ability to destroy.
The far larger and more populous of these two realms was the Khanate. Born from such humble beginnings, in the arid steppes of Mongolia, by the thirteenth century this empire expanded in all directions with a speed, ferocity, and intensity of success that it seemed impossible for the Mongol horde to be stopped. They did not know defeat, and by the dawn of the sixteenth century their armies had conquered all of Eurasia. This magnificent empire spread to the Portuguese coast to the frozen wastes at the other end of the world. The jungles of India, the deserts of Arabia, the thousands of Japanese islands and the great islands of Asia all the way to the ice realms of the south; all were under the flag of the Khanate.
Through sheer necessity, the Khanate had acquired a democratic culture and it was this which allowed it to survive despite occasionally cataclysmic rebellions. Some, such as the Teutonic Revolt of the 1600s and the Delhi Uprisings of the 1800s, cost tens of millions of lives to be put right in scenes of such carnage that the very legitimacy of the Khanate’s existence was rejected. The worst of them all came throughout the 1920s in the Great Islamic Rebellion, when the Khanate was finally ejected altogether from much of Arabia. Only through the delegation of authority, and the granting of extensive freedoms, could the Khanate hope to survive and yet by the dawn of the 21st Century the strain of maintaining such a remarkable empire was becoming impossible to bear. In this time, the empire was changed drastically in all ways. The Mongols were changed beyond measure by the assimilation of so many cultures – some would say that Mongolia no longer existed – and by the year 2000 the centre of political gravity had so thoroughly shifted to the Far East that even the capital itself had two centuries prior been shifted to the colossal metropolis of Yedo on the Japanese islands. A pure-blooded Mongol held far less sway over this empire than a man of Chinese, Arab, or French stock.
The second great power was Oceania. Born from the greatest defeat the Khanate ever knew, when its vast fleet was obliterated in its effort to conquer the British Isles in 1401. Flooded with millions of refugees from all corners of Europe – not least the Pope, who (until his return to Rome in 1722 upon the restoration of the Papal State) declared Winchester in 1388 the last bastion of Christendom – these chilly little islands experienced an economic and cultural flourishing unlike anything seen since the time of the Romans. Yet Britain would surely have been subjugated, were it not for its great luck in beating the Khanate in discovering the New World. Over the following centuries it was the English – soon rechristening themselves the British as they formed a confederation with the Scottish and Irish – who dominated control of the new lands known tentatively as Oceania. From this came vast new wealth, while the Khanate displayed a stunning lack of interest in overseas exploration, so confident were they in their dominance of the world. But their vision was so lacking, so unaware that the world was much larger than their empire, that it allowed the British to get there first. Regular wars inevitably erupted over control of the New World, but by the year 1900 the Khanate had been entirely expelled by its newfound greatest rival. For in this time, amid pleas for representation and democracy, the capital of Britain’s equally remarkably empire which spread from the frozen islands of the north through the vast plains, deserts, and jungles to the very bottom of the world, a new Federation of Oceania had been born. With it, the capital shifted from the megacity of London to New Athens, on the island of Taino, and so the great continent of Oceania became the centre of power in this vast democratic structure. It is a great irony regularly commented upon that both the British and the Mongols crafted empires which eventually left them rendered into backwaters.
Wars between these two entities were common, but never conclusive. Historians identify seven separate conflicts between 1500 and 1900, each vast in scope, but never identify a victor. By the end of the Ten Year War in 1900, with the state of affairs essentially restored to normal after the shedding of millions of lives, the great Khan Dayan commented at the peace conference in Niani that “it is impossible for either of us to destroy the other.” So it was that a peace settled; one which would last a century, and which would provide time for industry to grow across all the world. But it would be a fleeting peace. By the year 2000, as the wonders of industry made available vast mechanised armies, an arms race of unimaginable scope was underway. The Khanate was building at least two million combat vehicles a year, and its population of seven billion dwarfed the three billion of Oceania. The Federation could not hope to match such production, yet faced only with the options of build or die had no choice. Great rewards were offered in Oceania to women who could produce large families; it was obvious to all that Oceania was preparing for war. Even in his speech commemorating the beginning of the Third Millennium, Chancellor Alisander Marchande warned his people to “prepare for great trials ahead.” There was no questioning what he meant. Those who lived on the English coast, the wild frontier where the Federation ended and the Khanate began, could see warships of the Khanate pass by as often as those of their own navy.
There remained, of course, smaller states across this world who struggled to exist in the shadow of the two superpowers. By agreement between Oceania and the Khanate, efforts to colonise Africa altogether had been abandoned – the Khanate had already been expelled from the northern deserts by Islamic warriors. Now Africa was a jumble of protectorates, petty kingdoms, and a trio of regional powers by the names of Mali in the west, Zalu in the south, and the vast Morocco which encompassed the entirety of the north and presented the greatest obstacle to any Khanate incursion into the African frontier. All jealously guarded their independence, and they were mostly respected in this for neither superpower wished to provoke a renewed conflict. Arabia too was home to various powers, virtually all intensely rooted in Islamic tradition, grown fat and rich from the desperate thirst for oil natural to the two superpowers.
Elsewhere there existed small Pacific islands, granted independence by Oceania in exchange for military basing rights, but everywhere one went one was in the shadow of the superpowers. Oceania and the Khanate possessed all the world. But both wanted it for themselves, and soon they would set the world aflame once more.
Thoughts?