States and the Stateless

Each region of the planet has its own Nations Table, giving the basic statistics for the various nations (and colonial territories) in that part of the world. The following items are given for each country.

Name: The most common name for the country or territory in English. This is usually the country’s “official” name, although some longer names have been abbreviated in common use.

Alliance: The major international alliance in which the country stands as a member, if any. The alliance codes are: AME (American Bloc), CAR (Caribbean Union), CHI (Chinese Bloc), EUR (European Union), IND (Indian Bloc), ISL (Islamic Caliphate), PRA (Pacific Rim Alliance), RUS (Russian Bloc), SAC (South African Coalition), and TSA (Transpacific Socialist Alliance). If the alliance code is given in parentheses, this indicates that the territory is a colonial possession of one of the alliance’s member states.

Population: Population of the country or territory as of January 1, 2155.

Stability: A measurement of the country’s political and social stability. Very Good indicates a country with no significant social unrest; any social dissent is easily dealt with through the established political system. Good indicates that there is some social unrest, but little or no violent resistance to the state. Fair indicates the presence of violent unrest which the state is generally able to handle. Poor indicates social violence which is growing beyond the state’s ability to control. Very Poor indicates a full-blown state of civil war; in extreme cases the country may be a “nation by courtesy” in which the central government has effectively lost control of its territory.

Power: A measurement of the country’s weight in world affairs. This is usually a combination of economic productivity, diplomatic influence, and the raw ability to project military force. The Power score is logarithmic in nature, with each point indicating a factor of 2 in relative strength. For example, a country with a score of 15.0 is roughly twice as powerful as one with a score of 14.0, and four times as powerful as one with a score of 13.0. The People’s Republic of China has the highest score (20.0). Any nation with a score of 18.0 or higher can be considered a Great Power on its own account. Nations with scores between 16.0 and 18.0 are important second-tier countries, which may be in contention for Great Power status.

CR: The Control Rating of the country. CR may vary from region to region within the country, and effective CR may change for different areas of law. The given CR is the most prevalent within the country’s borders; major exceptions are described as needed.

Wealth: A measurement of the country’s standard of living. The distribution of wealth varies considerably from nation to nation. This measure might be considered the level of the Wealth advantage (or disadvantage) that is most common among citizens of the country.

Aside from the entries in the Nations Tables, each section also includes narrative descriptions of some of the nation-states in the region. In general, any nation which has a Power score of 10.0 or more, or which has changed significantly since 2000, will appear here.

During much of the 20th century, the world was dominated by the conflict between two “superpowers,” the United States and the Soviet Union. All other nations were forced to define their foreign policy with respect to this bipolar system – either allying with one superpower against the other, or working hard to remain neutral.

Today, the world is much more complex. There are no superpowers. Instead, depending on how one counts, there are between six and 10 Great Powers. None of these power centers can dominate the world, but all of them can make their influence felt worldwide. Relations between them are in a state of flux, with agreements holding only so long as common interests permit. The most common list of Great Powers in 2155 has six members: China, the European Union, India, the Pacific Rim Alliance, the Transpacific Socialist Alliance, and the United States.

The current system is reminiscent of 19th century world politics. Indeed, it appears likely that the bipolar system of the mid-20th century was an aberration in world history. This may be an ominous sign. After all, the old Great Power system led to two devastating world wars…

With a few exceptions, Central Africa remains the world’s poorest region, characterized by unstable government, border wars, and populations outstripping their economic infrastructure. The situation is particularly dire in the old Democratic Republic of the Congo (once known as Zaire), where several successor-states have arisen and continue to struggle for power.

Despite considerable natural resources, Angola lagged in economic development for much of the past century, due to a chronic state of internal warfare. Relative peace has held since the mid-2070s, and development since then has been slow but steady. Angola may be the next major nation to join the South African bloc.

Decades of internal corruption and ethnic violence have slowed development of this central African country. At present it is very unstable and may be sliding toward another episode of civil war.

Cameroon is one of central Africa’s success stories, having enjoyed stable government and steady economic growth through much of the past century. At present it has a full Third Wave economy, specializing in factory farming, textiles, light machinery, and computer manufacturing. The government is very careful to stay out of any disputes among its African neighbors.

Chad has enjoyed some development based on petroleum and uranium reserves, but the southward march of the Sahara Desert has devastated local agriculture. At present the country must import food, and hunger-driven violence is common.

For the first few decades after the turn of the century, this large Central African country suffered from ineffective government, famine, pandemic disease, and civil war. By 2030 the unified nation was defunct. Although some of its successor states have made progress since then, the region continues to be a flashpoint for regional unrest and war. See Haut-Zaire, Katanga, Kivu, and Kongo.

A relatively small population, abundant natural resources, and decades of stable democratic government have all made Gabon the most prosperous nation in central or western Africa. This prosperity is not evenly distributed. Although actual poverty is now rare, the bulk of the population enjoys little access even to Third Wave digital technologies. Meanwhile, the technically educated elite live at a modest Fifth Wave level. Gabon is currently under consideration for membership in the South African Coalition, a move which Nigeria vehemently opposes.

During the breakup of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the provinces of Equateur and Orientale became the new nation of Haut-Zaire, its capital at Kisangani. The rump Kongolese state struggled for years afterward to regain control of Haut-Zaire, setting off border wars and terrorism. In turn, Haut-Zaire has often tried to consolidate control of the region’s gold and diamond mines by putting pressure on nearby Kivu. The current regime in Haut-Zaire is a corrupt military dictatorship, which uses terror tactics and ecological warfare even against its own citizens.

After the collapse of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, its southernmost province formed an independent nation with a capital at Lubumbashi. Since then Katanga has managed to hold its own in battle, and has parleyed its mineral wealth into solid economic development. Today it is the most stable and prosperous of the Zairean successor states. It is currently loosely allied with the South African Coalition; negotiations for formal entry into the alliance are underway.

The Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces of the old Democratic Republic of the Congo have been independent since 2028, forming the nation of Kivu with its capital at Bukavu. Kivu has rarely enjoyed stable government, and is often the target of foreign invasion from nearby Burundi, Haut-Zaire, or Rwanda.

The Kongo Republic is the remnant of the old Democratic Republic of the Congo, comprising the old provinces of Bandundu, Bas-Congo, Kasai-Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, and Maniema along with the old capital of Kinshasa. The central government is corrupt and effectively impotent; most power is in the hands of warlords in the countryside.

At the beginning of the century, Rwanda struggled for decades to resolve old hatreds between its Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, and to disengage from a series of regional wars. Since about 2040 the country has been stable, but economic growth has been stubbornly elusive. Negotiations are ongoing for entry into the South African Coalition.

Much of East Africa has made some sporadic progress in the past century, especially as South African influence has slowly spread up the coast. The nations of the “horn of Africa” are still some of the most unstable and desperately poor in the world.

This ancient country has suffered terribly throughout the 21st century, as modest agricultural and industrial development have been outstripped by a booming population. Almost 300 million people live in abject poverty here, sometimes dependent on outside aid even for food. The official government is a socialist democracy, but its effective authority extends no more than a few miles from the capital.

For most of the 21st century, Kenya has managed to remain a stable country, developing slowly but steadily with help from South Africa and (to a lesser degree) the European Union. Local society is strongly Preservationist, and has concentrated on developing Kenya’s natural resources while keeping most of the country in as wild a state as possible. Bioroid manufacture and the development of radical new human genetics have been almost unheard of here. Most of Kenya’s people are the result of very conservative genetic therapies, and are close matches for the original human stock.

Kenya is one of the most prosperous nations in subSaharan Africa. It is moderately developed, having fully absorbed Fourth Wave biotechnology, and is roughly comparable to China in technology and standard of living.

Since 2108 Kenya has been the focus for the Olympus Project, the first attempt at constructing a “beanstalk” ground-to-orbit system for Earth. When completed, the beanstalk will bridge the distance between the summit of Mount Kenya and geosynchronous orbit, cutting the cost of interface transport dramatically. Primary investors include South Africa, the European Union, Australia, and Japan.

The Olympus Project has brought a great deal of investment to Kenya, boosting the local economy. Unfortunately, it has also brought some unwanted outside attention. The American launch facilities in Ecuador, for decades the busiest spaceport on the planet, now face obsolescence almost overnight once the beanstalk is completed. Meanwhile, the Transpacific Socialist Alliance also opposes the beanstalk project, fearing the economic advantage it would give to the capitalist nations. These rivals have been pursuing a number of strategies for stopping or subverting the Olympus Project, making Kenya the site for considerable scheming.

After years of oppression and civil war, the predominantly non-Muslim population of southern Sudan succeeded in winning its independence from Arab Khartoum in the early 2020s. The new nation’s capital was established at Juba. Unfortunately, South Sudan has struggled for most of the century in its quest for political stability and economic development. The current government dates to 2090, when Kenyan and Ugandan troops supported a pro-democratic insurgency against the previous military dictatorship.

The bulk of mainland Tanzania was consolidated once again in the late 2070s, after years of negotiation supported by South African and European mediators. The new nation of Tanganyika has had relatively stable government since then, and has made significant economic progress despite the strain of a fast-growing population. Tanganyika is a staunch member of the South African Coalition.

By the late 2040s, a long and bloody civil war had left the old United Republic of Tanzania in wreckage. For decades the country was divided into several successor states, although that number fell to two by about 2070. See Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Uganda suffered under a particularly brutal dictatorship from 2018 into the late 2050s, during which time social stability and economic growth both declined. The country’s fortunes have reversed since then. The current elected government has held power since 2087, and has done much to promote advanced agriculture and hightechnology industries. Uganda joined the South African Coalition in 2114.

The island of Zanzibar retained some autonomy even after joining the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964. During the Tanzanian civil war of the 2040s, Zanzibar withdrew from the union and has yet to return. At present, Zanzibar is a member of no major power bloc, although local factions have ties to the Islamic Caliphate, the South African Coalition, and even the Transpacific Socialist Alliance. Negotiations have been going on for years regarding a reunion with the mainland, but given the current political situation they are unlikely to be completed anytime soon.

North Africa is dominated by the row of Muslim Arab nations along the Mediterranean coast. Most of these are stable and relatively prosperous, with ties to the European Union. Away from the European trade zone, a few states remain poor and backward.

Algeria is one of the largest and most prosperous Arab states of northern Africa. It is generally opposed to the Islamic Caliphate, and has been investigating the possibility of forming a rival north-African alliance of Islamic states.

A booming population strained Egypt’s political and economic institutions early in the century. The result was the foundation of an theocratic state in 2026. For almost 20 years, Egypt was the focal point of Middle Eastern turmoil, threatening nearby Israel, opposing the growth of Saudi power, and angering the world community through its neglect and destruction of pre-Muslim relics. A secular government was re-established in 2045, but Egypt continues to struggle to recover its former stability.

Today Egypt is the largest Arab nation outside the Islamic Caliphate. The current government is bitterly opposed to the Caliphate, and may be preparing to take a leadership role among those Muslim nations who reject its authority. Relations with Israel have improved, but continue to be chilly.

During the past century, Libya has evolved from a military dictatorship to a healthy, functioning democracy. Despite some difficulty in the transition from a petroleum economy, local industries are thriving and the population has a reasonable standard of living. At present Libya is an independent state most closely tied to the European Union, although there is strong popular support for membership in the Islamic Caliphate.

The kingdom of Morocco has enjoyed stable government and steady economic growth throughout the past century. It is independent of any major power bloc, but the current king is openly friendly toward the Islamic Caliphate and the notion of joining is becoming more popular.

The so-called Spanish Sahara, a coastal region in northwest Africa, was occupied by Morocco after Spanish withdrawal in 1976. After decades of insurgency and political negotiation, the region became the independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 2029. The country has almost no natural resources, and remains one of the poorest in the world.

The Khartoum government has been in the hands of Muslim fundamentalists for most of the past century. Islamic law is strictly applied throughout the country, even to foreigners and non-Muslim citizens. As a result, Sudan is effectively isolated from much of the world, although it does significant business with other Muslim countries. It is a full member of the Islamic Caliphate, and is notable as the most stringently fundamentalist and anti-Western member of that alliance.

See also South Sudan.

Tunisia has a long tradition of stable government and an open, egalitarian society. Although it is not a member of the European Union, trade barriers between Tunisia and the European Union are practically nonexistent and joint ventures are very common. Tunisia has invested a great deal in sea-bottom development, again in cooperation with the European Union.

The southern portion of the continent is the center of an “African Renaissance.” Led by the Republic of South Africa itself, many nations in the region are rapidly building stable societies and prosperous economies. Most of these nations are members of one major power bloc or another, taking active part in global affairs.

Madagascar is something of an anomaly in African affairs. The island nation was first settled not by Africans, but by seafarers from far to the east. The major local language, Malagasy, is most closely related to the Malay dialects spoken in Indonesia. Perhaps because of this ethnic affinity, Madagascar developed relatively close ties to Indonesia and Malaysia during the 2030s. Through this channel, nanosocialist ideas became popular on the island in the 2070s, and a nanosocialist government came to power in 2086.

Madagascar is a poor nation, which has not enjoyed much benefit from the growth in prosperity among its neighbors on the African mainland. Resentment of this fact has made the current nanosocialist regime quite hostile to the wealthy African states. Backed by Indonesian military aid, Madagascar is building up its military forces and acting as a staging ground for covert activities on the African mainland. Much of the past decade’s spread of African nanosocialism can be attributed to spies and diplomats operating out of Madagascar. Naturally, South Africa takes a dim view of this activity, and has taken an increasingly confrontational stance in response.

Malawi is a full member of the South African Coalition. Although there has been considerable economic growth over the past century, the country remains poor, dependent largely on agriculture and light industry. The current regime is investing heavily in cybershells and advanced infomorphs, hoping to jump-start an advanced industrial economy.

This island nation east of Madagascar has an unusually high standard of living for the region, based on a Fourth Wave economy with healthy biosynthetic and pharmaceutical industries. The island is dominated by its ethnic Indian population, and since the 2080s it has allied itself more and more closely with India. Local nanosocialist agitation exists, but has little popular support.

Mozambique is a client state of South Africa. Recent economic development has been quite rapid, with new Fourth Wave industries springing up backed by South African investment. The younger generation is cosmopolitan and heavily influenced by the South African brand of Transhumanism; this is leading to considerable social conflict with older, more conservative Mozambicans.

This African nation has enjoyed considerable economic growth in the course of the past century, driven by the extensive local mining industry. At present, the bulk of the population lives at a low Third Wave level. The political elite, with connections to foreign mining interests, are extremely wealthy and have access to the full range of Fifth Wave technology. Since the mid-2080s the government has been taking steps to reduce income inequality, investing in widespread technical education and locally owned industries.

Reunion Island remains an overseas department of France. Long-standing tensions between local ethnic groups were resolved early in the century, with a comprehensive package of economic reforms. The island currently has a Fourth Wave economy and reasonably equitable distribution of wealth. Nanosocialist agitation has been common in recent years, but seems unlikely to threaten the government.

The Republic of South Africa is, without question, the most successful nation on the continent. Over the past century, it has built a peaceful, prosperous society, one which has done much to solve the deep problems plaguing Africa as a whole.

The Republic’s society is a model of multiracial integration, to an astonishing degree considering the nation’s history. Local law is fiercely opposed to any hint of ethnic discrimination, and emphasizes equal treatment for all. Intermarriage between ethnic groups has become quite common.

Another phenomenon, almost unique to South Africa, has been the production of “transracial” human types. These genetic upgrades or parahumans are specifically designed to either meld features of every human racial type, or to create distinctive physical forms which match none of the “natural” races. Transracial modifications first became popular in the 2060s, as part of a pan-Africanist movement emphasizing cultural and physical diversity. Today they account for perhaps 15% of the population. (In GURPS terms, having transracial features is a 0-point feature.)

South African biotechnology has been a significant factor in the continent’s development, ever since the rise of Ithemba Biotechnologies in the 2030s. This has naturally led to South African dominance in local politics. Today the Republic leads the South African Coalition, a bloc of more or less prosperous African nations which have all benefitted from its expertise in genetic and ecological engineering.

Today the Republic is a fully developed Fifth Wave nation, with technology and standard of living comparable to those of many European nations. It is a world leader in biotechnology and ecological engineering, and is rapidly developing its Fifth Wave industries. It is also the main commercial and financial center for sub-Saharan Africa.

Zambia underwent a period of political instability early in the century, culminating in a civil war which destroyed most of the country’s infrastructure. Recovery began in the 2040s, but has been rather slow. The government is rumored to be sponsoring clandestine research into dangerously advanced nanotechnology.

At one time Zimbabwe was the nation most devastated by the AIDS epidemic, with well over one-third of the population infected. Once South African biotech firms had made an AIDS cure available, Zimbabwe soon became closely aligned with South Africa. The relationship between the two countries was the cornerstone of the South African Coalition, and remains very close. The subject of a political union between the two countries comes up every few years, but so far has not gathered significant public support.

West Africa has made some progress in the past century, although no breakthrough on the order of the south African renaissance has taken place. No major power bloc has significant interests in the region. Local politics usually center around tensions between Nigeria and a group of smaller nations led by Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Benin is economically unremarkable, still struggling to attain a modest Third Wave standard of living. The country is more notable for its religious setting. Benin has long been known as the birthplace of voudoun, and the religion was at the center of a nationalistic movement which swept the country in the 2060s. Present-day voudoun as practiced in Benin is a very cosmopolitan faith, borrowing heavily from both Transhumanism and the Majority Cultures movement. It has proven popular outside Benin, catching on in the Caribbean, Latin America, and even the United States. Today, the National University has a healthy department of voudoun theology, which attracts scholars from around the world.

Burkina Faso is desperately poor. Over two million Burkinabe workers migrate south to Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana each year for seasonal agricultural labor. The income they gain during this period is a major driver of the local economy.

This nation was formed in 2057 by the division of Senegal. After decades of sporadic separatist violence, negotiations led to the independence of the regions south of Gambia, around the Casamance River. The new republic has suffered from unstable government and sluggish economic growth ever since, and remains quite poor.

Once almost completely dependent on cash crops, the Ivorian economy is now at a modest Third Wave level. Diplomatic disputes with Nigeria have been frequent over the past few decades, and may be escalating toward armed conflict. Cote d’Ivoire supports pro-democratic insurgencies in some of its less stable neighbors, notably Liberia.

Despite a fast-growing population, Ghana has enjoyed very rapid economic development through much of the past century. Today the country is fully industrialized and is moving rapidly toward full Third Wave status. The small but vocal technical class has been agitating in recent years for democratic reforms and free elections.

Guinea struggled with corrupt government and internal instability at the beginning of the century, but since the 2050s there has been steady growth. In 2104 the government purchased a set of powerful AIs to advise officials. A large cadre of cybershell observers gathers data on conditions around the country; many human citizens resent the monitoring and are prone to petty sabotage. The system is not precisely cyberdemocratic, since ordinary citizens have little voice in government.

Mali’s industrial sector is almost nonexistent, and its agriculture is increasingly hampered by expansion of the Sahara Desert. The current government is negotiating for closer ties to Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, in exchange for access to genetic technologies which might improve local agriculture.

Niger has suffered badly from ecological degradation, especially as the Sahara Desert moves into previously productive agricultural areas. Niger relies on foreign aid from France and the rest of Europe to keep its economy afloat. Neighboring Nigeria has often tried to interfere in local politics.

The most important nation in West Africa is Nigeria. Nigeria’s regional influence is due less to its technological base than its large population and oversized military. Its government is democratic and has been reasonably stable since the mid-2080s, although the military is an important factor in local politics and has deposed the civilian government on occasion in the past.

Nigeria is undergoing serious internal difficulties at present. For decades, local politics have been dominated by Muslims of the Hausa and Fulani ethnic groups. This dominant faction is strongly Preservationist. Meanwhile, a Africanized version of Transhumanism has taken root in the mostly Christian Yoruba population, encouraging them to begin wholesale gengineering of their offspring toward several Homo superior parahuman designs. Violence between the two factions has grown more common of late, and a full-scale civil war with ethnic and religious overtones seems possible.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has often found itself at odds with the smaller nations of West Africa, particularly Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. Nigeria’s government has often used threats of force when trying to resolve disputes with its neighbors.

For most of the century, Senegal has had stable government and steady growth. The country is currently at an early industrial level, and is investing heavily in lowenergy industries such as genemod agriculture and software development. See also Casamance.

Togo has had a stable democratic government since mid-century. The capital of Lomé is one of the most important commercial and financial centers in West Africa, heavily supported by European (especially French) investment. Much of the city is at a Fifth Wave standard of living, while the rest of the country remains quite poor.

Central America is currently on the front lines of the confrontation between nanosocialism and free-market capitalism. Several of the region’s smaller countries have joined the Transpacific Socialist Alliance, while powerful Mexico seems likely to be an ideological battleground in the near future. The United States is becoming increasingly involved in local politics.

This nation has been stable and relatively prosperous for well over a century. Although it is politically independent, it cooperates closely with the United States. This relationship has grown closer since the nanosocialist takeover of neighboring Nicaragua.

El Salvador has been a member of the TSA since a nanosocialist party took power during the peaceful elections of 2104. The current regime is quite moderate, and contributes little to the effort for nanosocialist expansion. Indeed, there are rumors that the local government cooperates covertly with the United States in exchange for loose American enforcement of the anti-TSA sanctions. Nearby Guatemala has been threatening to topple the Salvadoran government should these rumors turn out to be true.

Guatemala has been a member of the Transpacific Socialist Alliance ever since the previous government fell to a military coup in 2106. The local nanosocialist regime is ruthless and particularly committed to exporting revolution. It supports the Honduran government with troops, and has done much to destabilize the southern regions of neighboring Mexico.

A fierce guerrilla war is proceeding against the nanosocialist Honduran government. The government is openly supported by nearby Guatemala, while the insurgents receive clandestine support from the United States.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which ruled Mexico through most of the 20th century lost its grip on power in the first years of the 21st. The result was years of social and political upheaval. In the end the Mexican democracy was considerably more robust, less characterized by single-party corruption and minority rebellion. Meanwhile, relations with the United States improved considerably, as American politics were influenced by the growing Hispanic population. By 2065 the two nations were close allies, and cross-border trade was causing a Mexican economic boom.

Today Mexico is a healthy democracy with an advanced Fourth Wave economy. Although Mexico is still overshadowed economically by the United States, the disparity between the two is much smaller than in 2000 and is still shrinking. Mexican leaders look forward to a time when their country will stand as an equal partner of the United States.

The major challenge facing Mexico today is the rise of nanosocialism. The current central government could be considered a moderate nanosocialist regime, which respects foreign patents and copyrights but nationalizes intellectual property created by Mexican citizens. However, portions of the country have seen a dramatic rise in radical nanosocialism. Nearby Guatemala has been sponsoring covert subversive activity in southern Mexico for several years. The Mayan and mestizo populations in deep southern Mexico have lagged behind the rest of the country economically, and their relations with the central government have often been tense. If Guatemalan agents are successful in setting off an uprising, the consequences could be grave.

Nicaragua went nanosocialist after the elections of 2086, and has since joined the Transpacific Socialist Alliance. The country is too involved with the difficulties of internal development to contribute much to the alliance.

Independent for decades, Panama has recently realigned itself with the United States out of fear. Before the new alliance was signed in 2091, Panama was under fierce pressure from the nanosocialist regime in nearby Colombia. Since then, American troops and military aid have flooded into Panama to prop up the local government and protect the still-important Canal.

North America remains one of the most prosperous regions on the planet. Local politics became considerably more complicated in the 2030s with the breakup of Canada. Although the United States still expects no military threat from the north, it must often engage in complex diplomacy where once it enjoyed a simple relationship with unified Canada. Meanwhile, the United States itself is showing signs of internal instability.

Two former Canadian provinces formed the Union of Alberta and British Columbia (sometimes called the “ABC Republic”) in 2049. The Union is a prosperous Fifth Wave nation which trades extensively with Japan and other parts of Asia. It is a full member of the Pacific Rim Alliance. Relations with Canada and the United States are occasionally strained, and in fact there have been several (so far bloodless) border confrontations with the United States.

Ironically, after years of dispute over Quebecois separatism, Canadian unity finally foundered on another issue entirely. Disputes over taxes and environmental policy caused British Columbia to secede in 2048. Once the union had been broken, other provinces chose to elevate their own disputes with the central government into pretexts for secession. Even the autonomous region of Nunavut, far in the arctic north, began agitating for independence. By 2060 Canada had been whittled down to its core, with Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan the only provinces remaining in the union.

The final dissolution of Canada was remarkably amicable, aside from a few disputes over the division of national property and the undeveloped northern territories. Today Canada maintains a friendly relationship with most of the splinter states. Canada is a prosperous Fifth Wave society, with strong economic ties to the United States. Since it adjoins three of the Great Powers (the European Union, the Pacific Rim Alliance, and the United States) Canada sees a great deal of international trade. It also has a chronic problem with smuggling across previously undefended borders. See also Alberta and British Columbia, Maritimes, Montreal, Newfoundland, Nunavut, and Quebec.

Greenland attained full independence from the Kingdom of Denmark in the 2030s. The local economy has struggled for much of the century. In recent decades there has been heavy investment in various Fourth Wave industries, such as fish-farming and cold-adapted pharm animals. This strategy has paid off, so that today the population has a comfortable Fourth Wave standard of living. Arctic-adapted parahumans have recently been settling in the far north in large numbers. There is some agitation for union with nearby Nunavut, driven by common economic and environmental interests.

The Maritime Union is composed of three former Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) all of which seceded from Canada between 2053 and 2060. The unified nation was established in 2048 and has since joined the European Union. The Maritimes have a comfortable Fourth Wave economy, and are world leaders in fish-farming and other forms of pelagiculture.

When the province of Quebec separated from Canada in 2051, the city of Montreal went with it at first. However, many citizens were uncomfortable with this position, and agitated for a plebiscite to determine the city’s ultimate fate. In the end, the city chose neither continued union with Quebec nor a return to Canada. Instead, Montreal voted for the status of a “free city” with its own independent government and laws. At first, Quebec resisted this move and threatened to use force, but pressure from the United States and the rump Canadian state prevented violence. By 2056 Montreal had severed all political ties and was an independent city-state.

Today Montreal has a Fifth Wave standard of living and a booming economy. As an intermediary between the European Union and North America, the city has a considerable income from trans-shipment and other forms of foreign trade. The local banking, biotech, and electronics industries are also important. Montreal’s blend of Quebecois, Anglophone Canadian, and American traditions also makes it a major cultural center, with a vibrant artistic community and entertainment industry.

Newfoundland seceded from Canada in 2054, later joining the European Union. The island republic is currently a prosperous Fourth Wave state, somewhat ahead of the nearby Maritime Union.

Nunavut is an unusual nation, dominated by Inuit culture and populated in large part by Arctic-adapted parahumans. It has a healthy Fourth Wave economy, and its population and economy are both growing quickly. The Nunavut government is pursuing trade and diplomatic ties with other far-northern political entities, such as Greenland, Russia, and the state of Alaska. The ultimate goal is an “Arctic League” devoted to the protection of the Arctic environment and the indigenous cultures of the far north.

Although it was for long the primary focus of secessionism in Canada, Quebec did not finally declare its independence until 2051, once Alberta and British Columbia had already seceded. After independence Quebec suffered through a period of instability and seemed likely to fragment further. When Montreal became a free city, the situation stabilized.

Quebec currently has a healthy democratic government and a Fourth Wave economy. It has been a member of the European Union since the early 2050s, and has become closely tied to France in diplomatic affairs.

The U.S. has often seemed an actor among nations, devoted to playing one role or another on the world stage. “Land of the Free” was followed by “the Arsenal of Democracy,” then by “Leader of the Free World.” That last role survived for decades, bolstered by the largest national economy on the planet, the most powerful and advanced military, and a truly imperial network of alliances and defense commitments. By the 2030s, however, the U.S. was unable to maintain its leadership role. Former allies were asserting their independence in world diplomacy. Meanwhile, the American economy was being surpassed by those of other nations, and its military power was in slow decline. By the era of the Overturn the United States was simply one Great Power among many.

American society is sharply divided along cultural and generational lines. The political system is dominated by a bloc of elderly, wealthy, Christian, and deeply conservative voters. Arrayed against this dominant coalition are Transhumanists, cultural minorities, recent immigrants, the underemployed, and the younger generation. The schism reveals itself in almost every aspect of American society, from federal budget policy to popular entertainment. American internal politics are quite lively. The ancient Democratic and Republican Parties still dominate events, although the grand alignment of liberal and conservative factions has shifted several times in the past century. The Democratic Party has been ascendant since the Tricentennial elections of 2076, due to strong support among Hispanics and the super-elderly. Democrats are currently the nation’s major conservative party, promoting Preservationism, strict regulation of new technologies, and diplomatic and economic isolation. Republicans are the nation’s leading liberal party, providing a haven for technocrats, industrialists, scientists, and supporters of the American space program. Republicans tend to promote technological innovation and global free trade; a few Republicans are openly Transhumanist in sentiment.

Despite the continued dominance of the two major parties, a series of election reforms early in the century opened up the political system somewhat. Today most Presidential elections involve several third-party and regional candidates, who become involved in coalition-building between election day and the installation of a new government.

The long-established workings of American politics have recently been disturbed by a new political movement, calling for cyberdemocratic reform of the political system. This “People’s Power” movement is fragmented, and includes both establishment politicians and armed radicals. The latter have been quite active since 2110, forcing the American military to fight a low-level counterinsurgency campaign in several of the country’s urban zones.

Modern American society is dominated by no one culture, but the most common cultural flavor is Hispanic rather than Anglo-American. English remains the sole official language, but Spanish slang and loan words have become common in the “standard” American dialect. Most Americans are more cosmopolitan than their ancestors of a century ago, although they feel closer ties with Latin America than with Europe. This shift is reflected in American foreign policy, which since mid-century has been more deeply involved with Central and South America than with Europe or the Far East.

Today, many Americans are ambivalent about their national identity. Even patriots tend to focus admiration on a specific aspect of modern American society: the space program, the rapid pace of technological innovation, the high standard of living, the richness of the local entertainment industry, the nation’s cultural diversity, national history, or some other item. The United States has become a place where personally constructed identity – the individual’s choice of genetic, cultural and technological style – is more important than any sort of national consciousness. Some Americans consider this a sign of final decline for the nation, while others revel in the freedom of the time.

For most of the century, the United States was the world’s leader in almost every area of technology. To a great degree, the Third Wave civilization was built by the United States, and the technologies of computers and digital networks have always been most advanced here. The American segment of the Web is richer and more complex than any other. The United States was slower to adopt radical biotechnology, but it had become a center of human genetic alteration and bioroid manufacture by the late 2040s. Recently the United States has tended to fall behind Europe in the development of cutting-edge Fifth Wave technologies, but so far this disadvantage has been minimal.

American foreign policy has yet to recover from the country’s loss of superpower status. Since the 2050s the United States has avoided alliances with any other major power, restricting itself to relationships with strategically placed minor nations. American policy is particularly cool toward the European Union and the Pacific Rim Alliance, although long-standing partnerships with Australia and the United Kingdom remain in effect. The United States’ best relationships are with Latin America, specifically Argentina, Ecuador, and Mexico.

* Many regions of the United States are Wealthy.

South America is a reasonably stable and prosperous place. Even so, finely balanced international tensions exist. Powerful independent nations such as Argentina and Brazil face off against the American wing of the nanosocialist bloc. The United States is also deeply involved in local politics, defending its close relationships with Argentina and Ecuador.

One of the most powerful and prosperous nations in South America. Argentine ground vehicles are widely regarded as the best in the world, and are exported to markets as distant as Japan and Western Europe. Significant recent investment in Fifth Wave industries seems likely to pay off soon, bringing Argentina up to the leading edge of technological development. Argentina is not a formal ally of the United States, but the relationship between the two countries is very warm.

A nanosocialist coup brought Bolivia into the Transpacific Socialist Alliance in 2076. Of the three South American TSA members, Bolivia is by far the junior partner. Its people still lack access to most Third Wave technology. The nanosocialist regime has never gained the support of the rural population, who have been mounting a low-level guerrilla campaign against the central government for over 20 years. Bolivia has a longstanding dispute with Chile over access to the sea, and may call upon its nanosocialist allies to help it resolve the problem by force.

Brazil is sometimes called the “China of South America.” The comparison is apt; although Brazil lags behind its neighbors in technology and standard of living, it boasts the largest economy on the continent. Indeed, Brazil has the fifth-largest national economy on Earth, and seems likely to play an increasingly important role in world affairs with time.

Early in the past century, Brazil was often snarled in controversy over environmental issues. The vast potential resources of the Amazon basin were regarded as key to Brazilian prosperity, but at the same time any development of the region threatened some of the most valuable rainforest ecosystems on the planet. The tension between these facts led to considerable internal strife, as well as a series of disputes with the world community. During the 2030s, Brazil developed a significant local biotech industry, encouraging policy-makers to impose effective protections on the Amazon basin. This proved not so difficult, once preserving the rainforest was regarded as more profitable than destructive development. Deforestation was halted by 2045, and has somewhat reversed since then as ecologists slowly learn to reconstruct the natural ecosystem.

Brazil has a variety of Fourth and Fifth Wave industries, notably bioroid manufacture, genetic engineering, pharmaceuticals, and heavy robotics. Indentured bioroids and engineered parahumans are relatively common. The country also has a small but very active space program, dating to the early 2010s when Brazilian investors helped build the first launch facilities in Ecuador.

Decades of stable government and strong economic development have made Chile one of the wealthiest countries in South America. Today Chile has an advanced Fifth Wave economy, and is a world leader in robotics and artificial intelligence. Foreign trade is very important, especially with the United States and European Union.

Chile has long had a troubled relationship with its Andean neighbors, Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia in particular has a long-standing grudge against Chile, regarding the Atacama Desert region in the far north. This area was seized by Chile over 200 years ago, cutting Bolivia off from access to the sea. Bolivian governments have often voiced their desire to recover the region. Currently the nanosocialist bloc is applying heavy diplomatic pressure on Chile, and staged border incidents are becoming more common. Chile’s powerful military has thus far deterred attack.

Colombia managed to deal with internal insurgency and corruption early in the century, and enjoyed several decades of relative peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, a nanosocialist coup toppled the elected government in 2081, setting off a new round of internal violence. Today Colombian exports are becoming notorious once again, although the current products are saboteurs, spies, and “black” nanoware rather than narcotics.

Ecuador’s unique position in hemispheric politics is due to a long-standing relationship with the United States. In the 2020s, the American corporation Columbia Aerospace built the world’s largest spaceport outside Quito. Using several innovative technologies, Columbia Aerospace soon dominated the ground-to-orbit market and ushered in a new era of space development. Part of the process involved massive investment in Ecuador’s economic infrastructure, which was turned to good use by a series of effective local governments. By 2050 Ecuador had surpassed all the other Andean states in stability and economic productivity.

This new prosperity roused some envy, of course. For much of the 21st century, Ecuador has had to defend itself against possible attack from Colombia or Peru. Ecuador has carefully maintained a close alliance with the United States, and has cultivated a small but very professional and well-equipped military of its own.

Today Ecuador is a moderately prosperous Fourth Wave nation. The population is unusually rich in variant human types, and bioshells and cybershells are quite common. The nation’s leaders are aware that their long relationship with the United States may be about to change as the Kenyan beanstalk approaches completion. The government has been carefully playing up the possible threat from its nanosocialist neighbors, hoping to keep the United States involved in South America even after Atahualpa Spaceport is no longer such a critical element of American foreign policy.

This South American country suffered from political instability and corruption early in the century, but has been relatively stable since the 2040s. Economic growth has been slow, and the current standard of living is unusually low for the region.

Peru has been a haven for radical politics since the success of the Red Sword insurgency in the early 2060s. The Peruvian government declared its support for the principles of infosocialism quite early. By the mid-2080s the Peruvian government was supporting infosocialist groups all over South America. Today Peru leads the American wing of the TSA.

Peru’s economic and technical base is about average for the TSA. It does not pose a serious military threat to the more prosperous nations of South America, but it provides plenty of nuisance value. Spies, saboteurs, and political operatives fan out from Lima, infiltrating nations as far away as Argentina and the United States. Meanwhile, Peru and its ally Colombia do pose a threat to Ecuador, surrounding it and outnumbering its armed forces.

Suriname suffered from economic mismanagement early in the century, but has since managed slow, steady growth. Local society has long been notable for its rough balance between wildly variant religious traditions – Catholic, Hindu, Muslim, and Protestant elements are all significant in the population. In the early 2060s this mixture gave rise to a syncretic movement called Degeloven (from “De Gereformeerde Vereenigde Geloven,” roughly translated as “the Reformed Unified Faiths”). Degeloven borrowed religious ideas from all the faiths prevalent in Suriname, along with neo-paganism and a heavy dose of Transhumanist philosophy. The resulting memetic structure has caught on in many odd places. About 20% of the people of Suriname consider themselves followers, and there are several million in other countries as far away as Brazil and the United States.

This minor South American nation has not always enjoyed stable government, but its economy is healthy and living standards are high. Uruguay was a biotech sanctuary early in the century. The University of Montevideo remains one of the world’s foremost centers of research in genetic engineering.

Venezuela has been in a long decline since the fall of the oil industry and the secession of the wealthy Zulia state in 2073. The current government is working to encourage investment in cutting-edge industries. It has recently made diplomatic overtures to the United States, hoping to gain increased aid against nanosocialist infiltration. See also Zulia.

The former Venezuelan state of Zulia stands on the country’s western border, on both sides of the Lago de Maracaibo. Early in the century, long-standing resentment of the central government led to the formation of a peaceful separatist movement. Unfortunately, Zulia was the site of much of the country’s oil wealth, and the Caracas government was determined to retain control. Independence did not come until 2073, by which time Venezuela’s economy had long since been forced to give up dependence on petroleum exports. Today Zulia has a healthy Fourth Wave economy with a diverse range of local industries. The political situation has been stable since independence, although since about 2090 there has been some trouble with economic and memetic sabotage sponsored by the TSA.

In many ways, Central Asia is the forgotten corner of the world. The former Soviet republics here have struggled for the last century with deep social, economic, and environmental problems. Currently they are usually pawns of their more powerful neighbors, such as China, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia.

This “nation by courtesy” is bitterly divided along ethnic and ideological grounds. Despite sporadic attempts at coalition-building over the last century, today it remains fractured into various factions, each controlling their own territorial regions, and occasionally going to war against one another with the backing of outside powers (such as China, Iran, Pakistan, or Russia). Afghanistan is one of the most desperately poor nations on Earth.

At the beginning of the century, Kazakstan faced serious problems: an unstable economy, ecological devastation left over from the Soviet era, and tensions between the Russian and Kazak populations. Balanced against this was significant oil and mineral wealth, along with partial control over the old Soviet launch facilities at Baykonur.

Faced with these challenges, Kazakstan struggled along for several years. The last elected government fell to an ethnic-Russian putsch in 2033, which seized control with support from the military. By 2039, an oil tycoon named Sergei Maksimovitch Zarubayev had outmaneuvered all his rivals and become the country’s dictator.

In 2155, Zarubayev is still the absolute ruler of Kazakstan, having stayed in power through a combination of physical longevity, clever politics, and utter ruthlessness. More than any dictator in modern history, he has stamped his personal vision on his own country. Ethnic Russians form the elite of his state; non-Russians (and especially Muslims) suffer vicious police-state oppression. Under him, Kazakstan has meddled in politics all over central Asia: supporting nationalistic movements in Russia, interfering in the internal affairs of other post-Soviet states, rattling sabers with China, and so on.

Kyrgyzstan’s economy is at an early Third Wave level, fairly stable with a significant export sector. The local government is a corrupt dictatorship, which generally follows Russia’s lead in foreign policy. Several prominent members of the government are rumored to be in the pay of the Zarubayev regime in neighboring Kazakstan.

Tajikistan has traditionally fallen into the Russian sphere of influence, but the current government has been negotiating with China for military and economic aid. Both Russia and the Zarubayev regime in Kazakstan are likely to intervene if the Dushanbe government shows signs of moving too close to Beijing.

Turkmenistan has had little success in making the transition to democracy and open markets. The current government is closely tied to Iran, but there are several anti-Iranian insurgency groups in operation.

This country is currently the stage of a guerrilla war between Islamic fundamentalist and pro-democracy factions. The Zarubayev regime in neighboring Kazakstan is intervening with troops and arms sales.

East Asia has become the fulcrum of the world community. China, Japan, and Korea are all populous, wealthy nations with a great deal of power in global affairs. The situation here is one of watchful peace. As has been the case for nearly a century, the other nations of East Asia step lightly around China, while carrying on massive trade with the now-awakened giant.

Just as the 20th century was often called “the American century,” the 21st can be considered “the Chinese century.” Today’s China is the most powerful single nation-state on the planet. It is not the most populous, the most technologically advanced or the most prosperous nation. Even so, the People’s Republic stands near the top in all three of these measures, and thus has the largest economy in the world. Meanwhile, it enjoys internal unity and a sense of national purpose that multiply its effectiveness in world affairs.

The People’s Republic was originally a Communist state. In 2155 state power remains with the National People’s Congress, which is still dominated by the Chinese Communist Party. Despite the name, the Party has evolved far from Mao Zedong’s version of Communism. China remains an authoritarian state, in which political and civil rights are limited in order to protect the Party’s domination. The Chinese people do enjoy a variety of civil and economic rights, especially in the “special administrative regions” of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Privately owned business is the main driver of the economy. Indeed, since about 2065 the senior Party leadership has been composed primarily of successful businessmen.

The Chinese system of governance has changed in other ways as well, allowing regions within the state greater independence. At the beginning of the century, there was already considerable tension between China’s highly centralized political system and its decentralized economic system. About 2025, a new generation of Communist Party leadership began to deliberately loosen the grip of the central government. Henceforth, portions of China would be permitted to experiment with democracy or other “dangerous” ideas, so long as the experiments were safely limited in geographical scope and the authority of the Party was not threatened.

This careful opening to new political ideas had some precedent in the “one country, two systems” rule under which Hong Kong and Macau had been allowed to retain democratic institutions. Soon the notion faced its sternest test, as the Chinese government opened negotiations with its “renegade province” on Taiwan. The so-called Republic of China was offered almost total internal autonomy, its democratic and free-market institutions to be left intact. In exchange, foreign and defense policy would be turned over to the Beijing government, although Taiwan was guaranteed representation in the appropriate ministries.

The negotiations went surprisingly well. Although there was an active independence movement on Taiwan, the ruling Kuomintang party had always supported the idea of eventual reunification. Reassured that they would not be robbed of their hard-won democracy, many Taiwanese supported reunification on the grounds of common culture. Reunification was complete by 2037.

Strict state controls have tended to make Chinese adoption of Third Wave technologies rather slow. To this day, ordinary citizens outside the “special regions” are not permitted to use advanced privacy technology. The state has traditionally made large investments in systems which allow it to monitor telecommunications traffic and otherwise track the activities of its citizens. “Abuse” of web technology is a serious offense in most parts of the People’s Republic.

On the other hand, since the 2030s China has been a leader in the area of biotechnology. Bioengineering was applied to agriculture early and on a massive scale, making China a world leader in agricultural exports as early as 2050. Human cloning, variant human genotypes, and bioroid manufacture all gradually became important elements of the Chinese economy. These industries have made China an industrial powerhouse, even without the universal adoption of Fifth Wave technology. Of course, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan all have advanced Fifth Wave economies, and represent the leading edge of Chinese industry.

The Chinese government strives for self-sufficiency in world affairs, despite extensive economic ties to the rest of the world community and full participation in most international organizations. The People’s Republic follows its own diplomatic course, rejecting any “interference” from outside and refusing to form substantive alliances with any other nation. For their part, the Chinese people are not entirely happy with their own government, but most are patriotic and distrustful of foreigners. Most think of China as a nation set apart, dedicated to carving out its own destiny without the help (or interference) of others.

For over 20 years China has been engaged in political and covert maneuvering on a grand scale, less to build an empire of its own than to prevent any of its rivals from building a strong anti-Chinese position. Today Chinese agents might be found almost anywhere in the world, ferreting out secrets, trying to manipulate national politics, or supporting friendly movements in the local population.

Outside of Europe and the United States, Japan is the most prosperous and technologically advanced nation on the planet. Japanese society changed considerably in the course of the 21st century, overcame severe structural problems in its economy, and became a founding member of the prosperous Pacific Rim Alliance. Today Japan is seen by some observers as retiring from the world, and by others as boldly leading the way into a posthuman future.

Japan’s population declined by over 30% during the 21st century, despite the widespread use of geriatric and rejuvenative technologies. The Japanese have simply gotten out of the habit of having children. While Japanese society still values and cherishes children, fewer individual Japanese have childbirth and childrearing as a personal goal. Meanwhile, the fall in birthrates and the dramatic extension of lifespans has made the average age of the Japanese population higher than that of any other nation. This change in Japanese demographics has also made the country conservative in outlook. Political and social leaders are almost all from the ranks of the very elderly, and they are primarily concerned with maintaining the prosperity which has allowed the distinctive Japanese society to flourish, while remaining somewhat apart from the rest of the world.

The human population of Japan exists largely as a management and leisure class. Ideally, a young Japanese citizen is trained as a manager, creative artist, or scientist, earning shares in one of the nation’s keiretsu as he ages and gains experience. Eventually, he reaches the status of an “elder shareholder,” who does little but manage his investments. Some young Japanese reject this path, preferring to pursue leisure or cultural activities. Most such youths live with parents or other elders. Others live solely on the income generated by inherited investments, or emigrate: the PRA nations, Elandra, Luna, Islandia, Mars, and Yametei Station in the Main Belt are popular choices.

Despite its innate conservatism, modern Japan is not known for Preservationist sympathies. Large sectors of society are openly transhumanist, and Japan has responded to its population decline by producing a national workforce which is mostly artificial. Sapient infomorphs and high-end cybershells are quite common in Japan, dominating all but a few occupations. Japan’s “artificial citizens” have nearly full civil rights and are regarded as an integral part of society; there have even been marriages between SAIs and humans, although these are still uncommon. Indeed, the distinction between infomorph and human citizens has been blurring in recent years, as many Japanese create shadows of themselves in lieu of children, or undergo destructive uploading into cybershell bodies.

At first, only the elderly, eccentric, or seriously infirm became ghosts, but the accelerating tendency of healthy young people to choose to abandon their bodies for uploads is worrying even to many Japanese. Many who could not otherwise afford uploading are making use of a well-organized transhumanist underground that provides unlicensed ghost clinics. However, these establishments often suffer from substandard procedures or equipment, and this can result in would-be ghosts ending up as fragments or worse. Police have shut down a few ghost clinics, but others continue to flourish, operated by idealistic transhumanists, new religions, and criminal cells.

Despite such bumps in the road, most Japanese remain confident in their future as a nation. They believe they can reach a social consensus on issues such as uploading, and not only preserve but perfect Japanese culture in the context of a world where the very definition of “human” is changing.

The peace treaty ending the Korean War of 1950-1953 was finally signed in 2031. Final reunification of Korea took place on 15 August 2040, on the anniversary of independence from Japan. For decades afterward, Korea struggled to integrate a northern half, with a history of brutal Communist dictatorship and grinding poverty, and a southern half, with a history of capitalist prosperity. In 2155, heroic effort and superb statesmanship have attained considerable success.

For many years, Korea was the only major Pacific Rim Alliance state with a potentially hostile land border (in this case with China). As a result, the Korean army is larger in proportion than that of any other PRA member. Koreans are acutely conscious and very proud of their role as bulwark of the Alliance. Korean national consciousness is very strong; many Koreans feel that they are the natural future leaders of the Pacific Rim, destined over the next few generations to eclipse the “decadent” Japanese and “barbarian” Chinese.

Korea lags in technology behind Fifth Wave nations such as Japan, but it has fully assimilated into the Fourth Wave economy and is catching up rapidly. Some sectors are already at the Fifth Wave level, notably the local cybershell industry (which exports much of its product to Japan). Bioroids are not particularly common in Korea, but Korean genetic research is quite advanced, and the country produces many cutting-edge species designs. Korean scientists have also become known for delving into the more exotic realms of physics, experimenting with areas like gravity manipulation and the properties of degenerate matter. Most analysts expect Korea to reach the “leading edge” of technological and industrial development within another 20 years.

Despite a rapidly growing population, the republic of Mongolia has enjoyed considerable economic growth in the course of the past century. The traditional agricultural sector now accounts for only a small portion of GNP, replaced by mining, light manufacturing, and a growing telecommunications industry.

Relations between Mongolia and nearby China have often been stormy, especially since the 16th Dalai Lama moved his base of operations to Ulaanbaatar in the early 2050s. Mongolia remains the world center of lamistic or “Tibetan” Buddhism and a focal point for criticism of the Chinese government. Tensions have never risen to the point of open war, but China often harasses people or goods moving across the border.

See China.

Early in the 21st century, American involvement in the Far East sometimes clashed with local interests. Korean reunification proceeded in spite of American diplomacy rather than because of it. American saber-rattling aimed at China unnerved its regional allies, particularly Japan. Meanwhile, the presence of American armed forces in the region came to be an irritant to Asian powers increasingly willing to undertake their own defense.

The United States’ withdrawal from the region was slow, and did not begin until Korean unification and the return of Taiwan to China were both clearly inevitable. American forces withdrew from Japan and Korea first; in response, the two nations signed their own mutual-defense treaty in 2030. Australia joined the new alliance in 2036, due more to concern over Indian or Indonesian aggression than any breakdown of relations with the United States. From the core formed by these three partners, the Pacific Rim Alliance grew.

In 2155, the PRA is a major player in the balance of power worldwide. The alliance’s major partners have very different societies, with minarchism supreme in Australia, gerontocracy in Japan, and cut-throat capitalism in Korea. Despite these cultural differences, the allies cooperate quite well in the diplomatic and military arenas. Naturally, they do not attempt to share any framework of common laws or free-trade provisions.

The PRA’s primary rivals are India and the Transpacific Socialist Alliance. Relations with China are usually cool, and PRA forces are also deployed against any possible threat from there. On the other hand, the PRA members have extensive trade links to China and there is little incentive on either side for conflict. The PRA maintains extensive air and naval forces, but has a relatively small army. All of the major PRA states have extensive foreign intelligence systems.

The recent addition of Thailand to the alliance has complicated its strategic situation considerably. Thailand remains surrounded by hostile nanosocialist states, and is regarded by China as being within its own sphere of influence.

Southern Asia is dominated by the growing power of India. Although India remains rather backward and poor as a whole, its huge population and economy make it a regional superpower. At the same time, instability in the region’s larger countries (including India) makes southern Asia a flashpoint for global conflict.

Bangladesh came late to the nanosocialist camp, joining the TSA only after a local nanosocialist party came to power in peaceful elections in 2081. The nation took little part in the Pacific War, and has since managed to avoid involvement in serious confrontation.

Once one of the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh managed rapid progress in Fourth Wave biotech industries in the 2030s and 2040s. Today the country still lags far behind the Fifth Wave nations, but desperate poverty has been almost eliminated. Most of the populace has adequate food, water, housing, and health care. The main lack felt by the citizenry is in access to information services. Outside the urban areas, many people even lack telephones, much less full web access. In any case, Bangladesh has been cut off from the global web ever since it joined the TSA.

Among the TSA nations, Bangladesh probably approaches most closely to the ideal of making the benefits of modern technology uniformly available to all its citizens. The poorest citizens have enjoyed great progress in their standard of living, while the nation’s leaders ostentatiously maintain an austere lifestyle. Most Bangladeshi citizens are quietly proud of their country’s progress, and work hard to press on further.

Bangladesh is dominated by the low-lying Ganges river delta. Even before global warming caused ocean levels to rise, much of the country was often devastated by monsoon storms coming off the Indian Ocean. Many citizens were relocated to higher ground in the course of the century. Meanwhile, Bangadeshi gengineers have specialized in adapting human beings to amphibious or even underwater existence. Today, the continental shelf off the Bangladeshi coast is densely settled by various “merpeople” variants, lacking advanced technology but developing their own distinctive ways to live underwater. Bangladesh intends to be a major player in undersea development as this community expands.

Bangladesh is an important jumping-off point for covert nanosocialist activities to the west. A long-standing relationship with India makes it relatively easy for Bangladeshi spies or diplomats to operate there. Meanwhile, Bangadesh has long been an exporter of labor to the Islamic countries around the Persian Gulf. This flow has been restricted by anti-TSA sanctions, but it still exists and can be used by covert operatives.

For most of the past century, India has exercised considerable influence in its own region. For example, Indian troops won two short conventional wars with Pakistan in the 2030s. India also provided much of the diplomatic weight enforcing Singaporean neutrality in the late 2080s. Despite all this, India has continued to fall short of truly global influence. Although it has a large population, a well-educated elite, and a sound military establishment, its serious social problems have prevented it from attaining global power anytime in the last century. Today, India seems to be a “sleeping giant,” perhaps ready to awaken and shake the world.

India is characterized by factionalism. Its huge population is chronically divided along lines of religion, ethnicity, class, language, and ideology. Indeed, in many ways India is less a nation than it is a loose confederation of many nations. This factionalism has often weakened Indian government and caused rapid shifts in policy.

The dominant trend in current Indian politics is a struggle over nanosocialism. The local nanosocialist movement goes back to the late 2060s, and has managed to win a substantial bloc of seats in the People’s Assembly. Meanwhile, the conservative Indian National Alliance opposes the further spread of socialist ideas. The INA has held the government since 2097, and has done much to make India a more effective power on the world stage. Its policies are based on a confrontational stance toward China and the Transpacific Socialist Alliance, an aggressive Indian space program, and the development of Fifth Wave industries. Despite the INA’s successes in economic and foreign affairs, it has failed to stem the growth of Indian nanosocialism, and it seems possible that the coalition will fall within a few years.

If the INA loses power, either peacefully or through civil war, then India would almost certainly join the Transpacific Socialist Alliance. This would more than double the population and economic strength of the Alliance, and bring the powerful Indian military onto the side of the nanosocialist bloc. This would certainly discomfit the TSA’s main rivals, China and the Pacific Rim nations. On the other hand, India’s entry into the TSA would also upset the alliance’s leadership structure, forcing Indonesia to step down from its current position of prominence. Outside observers have noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm among the TSA leadership toward the prospect of nanosocialist revolution in India. Clearly, whether India succeeds in increasing its global influence or not, it stands at the fulcrum of today’s balance of power.

India is the most populous nation on Earth. The percapita GNP is about half that of the United States at the beginning of the century, but this productivity is not shared equally by the whole population. Instead, about 10% of the population has a high standard of living with the full range of Fifth Wave technology, while the bulk of the population lives at a much lower standard. India has done much to ensure that all its citizens have an adequate diet, protection from infectious diseases, and decent housing, including the creation of a small number of very impressive high-biotech arcologies. Despite this, in much of the country even a telephone or a personal computer is still a luxury.

For decades, India has applied its own distinctive approach to technological and economic development. The social elite maintains cutting-edge technological skills, and acts as a managerial class. Meanwhile, Indian entrepreneurs have always had access to a vast pool of unskilled (but hard-working and inexpensive) labor. They have often found ways to apply such workers to produce the same goods and services as a much smaller skilled force. The strategy of investing relatively little in the workforce has carried over into the adaption of new technologies. While India has produced several impressive megaprojects, domestic industry has not invested heavily in sophisticated computers, robots, bioroids, or gene-altered human labor – but Indian businessmen have often manufactured such goods for export.

This small island nation is among those most seriously affected by the slow rise in sea level over the past century. The highest point in the country is just over a yard above the current sea level. Meanwhile, the Republic’s fresh water supplies have been drastically reduced by the intrusion of sea water. The Republic’s government is generally dominated by India, which provides critical support to the local economy. Recently the Republic turned over all of its sea-floor development rights, on terms very favorable to India.

Since the region of the Laccadive Sea around the Maldives is potentially quite rich, this move has sparked controversy both in local politics and in the world community.

Nepal remains the world’s only officially Hindu state. It is still an isolated and backward country, dependent on economic and political aid from outside.

The past century has not been kind to Pakistan, which suffers from a booming population, internal instability, and a long-standing confrontation with India. The current military government dates to 2087, and has managed to hold the country together only through a mix of brutal repression and the redirection of its people’s frustration against their foreign neighbors. The current government has been fairly effective in encouraging economic growth, bringing Pakistan finally up to a low Third Wave level.

Pakistan’s military forces are not impressive, but its intelligence agencies have are very willing to engage in clandestine activity. Pakistani-supported terror groups have attacked a number of targets in India and the Islamic Caliphate, and there have been threats of similar activity as far away as Europe and the United States. Rumor has it that Pakistan is developing virulent “nanoplagues” and other terror weapons, possibly with the help of fugitive scientists from the TSA’s Bioweapons Directorate.

Sri Lanka managed to resolve long-standing difficulties between its Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups by the early 2040s. The cost was acceptance of Indian arbitration, leading to increased dependence on India in diplomatic affairs. Today Sri Lanka is a member of the “Indian bloc” of nations, coordinating defense and foreign policy with India as far as possible. Sri Lanka has a moderately industrialized economy, which provides a modest but comfortable standard of living for most citizens.

As the infosocialist ideology spread, nations which had accepted it found themselves at odds with the capitalist world. By undercutting the concept of intellectual property, they threatened the economies of many other nations, provoking a menacing response. To defend their ideology in a hostile world, several nations of the nanosocialist bloc formed the Transpacific Socialist Alliance in 2074.

The TSA is primarily a diplomatic and military alliance, dedicated to the defense and spread of nanosocialism. Its member states share few cultural traits. Since nanosocialism is not hostile to religion, the member states retain diverse traditions. They also speak a wide variety of unrelated languages, from Malay to Spanish to Vietnamese. The official language of the alliance, used during all deliberations of the Alliance Council in Djakarta, is English.

Most TSA member states have high military budgets, but the alliance remains vulnerable to attack. TSA military establishments are at a technological disadvantage, and the alliance also faces a serious strategic problem with its membership divided by the width of the Pacific Ocean. TSA diplomacy concentrates on keeping its potential foes off-balance, hoping to prevent a two-front war.

The TSA was not originally conceived as an economic partnership. Even so, ongoing trade sanctions have encouraged its members to cooperate in economic as well as military terms. The TSA nations trade extensively among themselves. They also have their own segment of the global web, somewhat isolated from that of the outside world. Several TSA nations are doing moderately well despite the trade sanctions. Effective local governments (and the porousness of the sanctions regime) allow them to continue technological and economic progress.

If East Asia is the fulcrum of the world, then Southeast Asia is its “cockpit” – the place where tensions run highest and bloody fighting is a constant possibility. This is the heartland of the Transpacific Socialist Alliance, but it is also a region where Chinese and capitalist blocs have critical interests. The bulk of the Pacific War was fought in this region, and the war’s scars are still painfully obvious.

This poor nation is a member of the Transpacific Socialist Alliance, and an unusually militant one at that. A low-intensity war continues against the Chinese client states of Kachin and Shan, carved out of former Burmese territory after the Pacific War. Outside the capital of Rangoon, the country is closed to outsiders from non-TSA nations. Many observers suspect that at least some war criminals continue to hide out in the Burmese jungles.

See also Kachin and Shan Republic.

The poorest country in the nanosocialist bloc, Cambodia subsists largely on economic aid from its allies and outright piracy of biotech and genetic designs. The current government is a brutal and corrupt dictatorship.

This microstate occupies the eastern portion of the island of Timor; the western portion is Indonesian territory. East Timor has been independent since just before the turn of the century, and is currently under the protection of the Pacific Rim Alliance. The local economy is growing steadily, supported by income from local Australian and allied military bases.

Indonesia has suffered many reverses of fortune in the course of the past century. By 2030 a series of secessionist movements had caused the loss of not only East Timor, but also the Irian Jaya province and most of the Moluccas. For decades the country struggled with internal ethnic division and corruption, before attaining a measure of stability under a nanosocialist government in the early 2060s. The new regime has aggressively pursued territorial expansion, coming into conflict with China and the Pacific Rim nations. After the TSA defeat of 2100, Indonesia took up leadership of the Alliance and has held it ever since.

Indonesia was founded more as a Javanese empire than as a unified national state, and to this day there is no strong sense of national identity based on ethnicity. This has made the country difficult to govern without repressive methods. Today, the Indonesian Infosocialist Party has used ideology to build a unified state. Indonesian citizens tend to regard the rest of the world as corrupt, driven by capitalist greed and ruthless exploitation. Whether they are Party members or not, they tend to regard their own nation and the TSA as a whole as the best hope for the soul of mankind. There is political dissent in Indonesia, but it is rare and usually centers on issues outside the basic principles of nanosocialism.

Although Indonesia has repudiated the more controversial actions taken by the TSA’s old Thai leadership, there are persistent rumors of similar “black weapons” programs being mounted somewhere in the country. Meanwhile, in the past few years Indonesian agents have been aggressively pursuing a campaign to circumvent the trade embargo by stealing patented Fifth Wave technology. It is unknown whether this indicates hidden economic problems within Indonesia, or simply a decision by the TSA leadership to step up the pace of confrontation with the rest of the world.

The population of Indonesia enjoys some prosperity and a reasonably even distribution of wealth. Indonesia has largely been cut off from the global web as a result of economic sanctions, but access to the TSA’s own web segment is commonplace. Fourth Wave technologies are available as well, although there are few bioroids or bioshells in Indonesia, and advanced human genetic modification is limited to the political elite. Fifth Wave technology is rare and very expensive, and usually involves breaking the anti-TSA embargo on such goods.

See also East Timor, Maluku Selantan, and New Guinea.

The old Burmese state of Kachin was inhabited by an ethnically distinct population, which had chafed under central rule for generations before the Pacific War. In 2100 China supported a local insurrection and helped to organize Kachin as an independent state. The new nation is still supported by the presence of Chinese troops, and receives diplomatic recognition only from China and its allies. Tensions with the TSA are quite high, and armed conflict along the border continues at a low level. The capital of Myitkyina is a hotbed of covert activity.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic was a target of Chinese invasion during the Pacific War, suffering severe damage to its industrial infrastructure. Since the war, recovery has been very slow, as once-crucial trade links to nearby Thailand and Vietnam have been almost entirely shut down. Laos is poor and very isolated from world affairs.

Malaysia has been ruled by a local nanosocialist faction since a military coup in 2082. Since the fall of Thailand, Malaysia has been the most technologically advanced nation in the Transpacific Socialist Alliance. Long-standing tensions between Malaysia and Indonesia sometimes break out into disputes within the Alliance leadership.

Before the nanosocialist coup, Malaysia had an unusual form of constitutional monarchy in which several states within the federation had hereditary rulers. The paramount ruler of Malaysia was always chosen by and from this set of local sultans. The coup deposed all of the monarchs, killing several and driving the rest into exile. There is currently an active resistance movement dedicated to restoring the federal monarchies.

Also see Sarawak and Sabah.

Maluku Selantan was founded in 2032, after a violent revolution against Indonesian rule in the Moluccas island chain. The new nation soon became a client state of the growing Pacific Rim Alliance, with Australia providing military aid in exchange for a large naval base on Ambon island. Diplomatic pressure from Indonesia is quite intense, with considerable covert activity.

The Philippines began the 21st century in a state of drift, suffering from internal corruption, widespread poverty, and ethnic insurgency. Despite this, the nation had a fairly strong democratic tradition and a sound economic base. Local development proceeded slowly but steadily. By about 2065 the Philippines were a stable and moderately prosperous country.

Unfortunately, the era of stability was short. During the tumultuous 2070s, nanosocialism became quite popular in parts of the country. The central government managed to prevent a nanosocialist takeover, with the aid of the influential Catholic Church. In 2065 the Philippines joined the Pacific Rim Alliance in an attempt to fend off further nanosocialist advances. The strategy was moderately successful at first, but in the wake of the Pacific War the Philippines saw a revival of guerrilla warfare in the southern islands. The Muslim populations of Mindanao and other islands are strongly nanosocialist, and since 2103 they have been fighting a vicious war for independence with covert Indonesian support.

Parts of the Philippines enjoy a thriving Fourth Wave economy, especially around the capital of Manila. The country has always faced extreme difficulty in distributing wealth, however, and many outlying regions remain poor. Also, the strong Catholic influence has prevented Philippine biotechnology from advancing in certain directions. With very few exceptions, human cloning, human gengineering, and the construction of humanform bioroids are all illegal in the Philippines. This has not prevented local gengineers from working extensively with nonhuman DNA.

When the Malaysian government fell to a nanosocialist coup in 2067, the governors of Sabah and Sarawak states on the island of Borneo refused to comply with the new regime. The result was a short civil war. Despite the intervention of Indonesian troops, the rebel states managed to drive off their attackers by the end of 2068. Since then, several of the federal sultans of Malaysia, exiled by the nanosocialist regime, have taken up residence in the new nation’s capital of Kota Kinabulu. Sarawak and Sabah have avoided joining any major power bloc, particularly the Pacific Rim Alliance. The new nation’s foreign policy is one of careful neutrality in world affairs.

The northern Burmese state of Shan was long inhabited by a distinct ethnic group, which was often uncomfortable under central rule. During the Chinese invasion in the Pacific War, an independent Shan Republic was created with Chinese support. The new nation receives diplomatic recognition only from China and its allies. With TSA support, the central Burmese government is currently fighting an open war along the Shan border in order to bring the breakaway state back in line. The capital of Tuanggyi has recently been devastated by sorties of long-range cybershell drones from Burma.

Early in the century, Shan state was infamous as one of the world’s most productive sources of opium poppy. The opium trade was largely suppressed by 2045, but by the mid-2070s it has reappeared. Indeed, as genetic technologies were applied to the opium poppy, it became the source of a wide variety of new and very powerful narcotics. Production of these drugs has risen sharply since the Pacific War, with much of the finished product ending up in India and the TSA nations. Although the Chinese government denies any involvement, there are rumors that the new drugs are part of a campaign of subversion directed at the nanosocialist bloc and its allies.

Singapore has long had a well-educated population and strategic location, making the city-state one of the busiest ports, financial centers, and communications hubs in the world. For the first half of the century, the city’s prosperity was unmarred. Unfortunately, the rise of nanosocialism threatened the city-state’s existence, as the major states of Southeast Asia all fell to a new revolution.

Singapore enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world, on a par with the most advanced nations of Europe or the Americas. As each new Wave of technological innovation has arrived, Singapore has always invested in the new industries. The city-state is currently a world leader in nanotech engineering, and has produced a number of radically innovative assembler designs.

Thailand was once one of the Asian “tigers,” a nation poised to enjoy dramatic economic growth and industrialization. Unfortunately, in the mid-2050s a deep economic recession brought about internal turmoil and set the country back years in its development. In 2060 the National Infosocialist Party won elections to become the largest party in the House of Representatives. The military attempted a coup in support of the losing conservative faction, plunging the country into civil war. By 2065 the infosocialists had won, with the support of ideological allies in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. The king fled into exile, and the new government restructured itself as a nanosocialist dictatorship.

Defeat in the Pacific War led to the fall of the nanosocialist regime and the return of the constitutional monarchy. Free elections were held in 2092 for the first time since the civil war. Today, Thailand is in a precarious position, a Pacific Rim Alliance member surrounded by hostile nanosocialist states. National and allied military forces are on constant alert against TSA intervention. Meanwhile, diplomatic and espionage activity are constant and intense. Today Bangkok is a common setting for espionage fiction, just as Moscow and Berlin were during the 20th century.

History has not been kind to Vietnam, which has spent most of the last 150 years either at war or recovering from war. The most recent round of this cycle began in 2076, when the Communist government of Vietnam reorganized itself along infosocialist lines. In the following decade, ideological nanosocialism spread through most of Southeast Asia and beyond, making Vietnam a member of the new nanosocialist bloc.

Unfortunately, this brought Vietnam into direct confrontation with its old rival China. Well before 2084, the PRC had already opened a “proxy war” by sponsoring anti-nanosocialist guerrillas throughout Indochina. The outbreak of the Pacific War only formalized the conflict, as Chinese regular forces invaded Vietnam from the north. By war’s end, Hanoi had fallen and the Vietnamese government had been forced to flee to the south.

Chinese troops occupied northern Vietnam for several years, despite a fierce guerrilla campaign by Vietnamese irregulars. PRC forces waited until 2091 to withdraw, Hanoi in ruins behind them. Vietnam’s economy has been slow to recover, despite aid from its more prosperous TSA allies. Much of the recovery effort has been devoted to rebuilding the Vietnamese military, causing civilian development to lag.

Vietnam remains a committed member of the TSA, despite (or perhaps because of) the disaster of the Pacific War. The ruling party is more ideologically radical than that of any other TSA nation, its rhetoric fiercely militant and anti-Chinese. The country is almost closed to outsiders. There are persistent rumors that the Vietnamese government has been sponsoring radical bioengineering projects, designing super-soldiers and other bioweapons for a future conflict.

Once the source of much of the world’s turmoil, this region is now relatively peaceful and prosperous. This is the heartland of the Islamic Caliphate, which has done much to moderate old Arab-Israeli (and Arab-Arab) conflicts.

Abkhazia was originally the northwestern corner of the Soviet republic of Georgia. It went with the rest of the republic during the breakup of the Soviet Union, but the local population was ethnically distinct and reluctant to remain under central control. Several attempts at independence were violently quashed by the Tblisi government, until a peace accord was reached in 2028. Today Abkhazia is nominally independent, but is actually a Russian client state. It lags behind the rest of Georgia and is at an early Third Wave level of development.

This former Soviet republic has succeeded in modernizing its industries, and is presently a stable Third Wave nation. It has recently joined the European Union, after being stalled for decades by a dispute over formerly Armenian lands in Turkey.

Azerbaijan enjoyed rapid development early in the century due to its considerable oil wealth. A series of wars with neighboring Armenia was resolved by outside mediation during the early 2030s. Today Azerbaijan is a full member of the European Union, closely allied with Turkey. Its economy is at a modest Third Wave level, although those who inherited old oil wealth have access to the best Fifth Wave standard of living.

Lacking substantial oil reserves of its own, Bahrain built prosperity on the banking, petroleum processing, shipping, telecommunications, and tourism industries. Today it is a moderately wealthy Persian Gulf state. Although it is a member of the Islamic Caliphate, the majority of its population is Shi’a Muslim, which causes considerable internal tension. While the Amir remains a staunch supporter of the Caliphate, popular protests against it are common. Nearby Iran occasionally stirs the pot by planting covert agents or placing diplomatic pressure on the Amir.

Cyprus was reunified in the early 2030s, as part of a general reconciliation between Greece and Turkey in the aftermath of the Aegean War (see p. 87). Currently the island nation is a federal republic, with careful constitutional guarantees for both Greek and Turkish populations. It has been a full member of the European Union since 2052.

See Palestinian Enclaves.

Georgia underwent several episodes of civil disorder early in the century, culminating in the loss of the Abkhazia region in the early 2010s. Since then, the country has experienced stability and steady growth, and it is currently a thriving Third Wave society. In 2075 it joined the European Union (over Russian objections). It has since become fully integrated into the European community. See also Abkhazia.

At the beginning of the century, Iran’s leadership had a clear mission: to unify Islam and drive out Communist, Western, and secular influences. Unfortunately much of the Muslim world did not agree, divided from Iran by religious (Shi’ite vs. Sunni) and ethnic (Persian vs. Arab) distinctions. Appeals to religion and anti-Western sentiments failed. Sponsorship of terrorism only hardened anti-Iranian attitudes. An episode of military adventurism led to the Third Gulf War of 2028, in which Western forces handed Iran a punishing defeat. By the 2050s it was obvious that the hated Saudi monarchy would win the prize of Islamic leadership, leaving Iran isolated in the world community.

The result was a period of social upheaval, the likes of which had not been seen since the 1970s. The population was severely divided, many called for democratic reforms, state secularization, and reconciliation with the world community. In 2068 a secular faction in the Iranian military botched a coup attempt, plunging the country into civil war. The secularists won, but only after years of bloodshed.

Today Iran is a neo-fascist state, ruled by a ruthless alliance of business and military leaders. Modern technology is used to monitor the population, detecting and crushing any hint of rebellion. Religion is one of the foremost targets of this repression. Although the country remains Muslim, mullahs and other religious leaders are forbidden to involve themselves in politics on pain of death or exile. The ruling regime uses psychoneural techniques to “cure” dissidents of their inconvenient beliefs, especially devout Muslims who refuse to accept secularism.

Since the end of the civil war, Iran has made some economic progress. The government and its business allies have made massive investments in education and technological improvement. Today, Iranian industry is quickly absorbing Fourth Wave biotechnology. Most biotech applications involve transgenic plants and animals or nonsentient constructs, since the country is far from suffering any shortage of labor.

On the other hand, the Iranian ruling elite is notorious for importing large numbers of bioroids for all kinds of personal service. Some of the Iranian leadership are so surrounded by their bioroid servants and bodyguards that they need never interact with other humans except by telepresence. This habit only increases the regime’s unpopularity among the Iranian people.

In 2027, the Ba’athist regime in Iraq collapsed, triggering the Third Persian Gulf War. In the aftermath of the conflict, a coalition of former opposition groups attempted to set up a government, with limited success. Not until the 2060s did an effective central government reappear, and even then some parts of the country insisted on a high level of autonomy.

Today Iraq continues to struggle, although internal stability has held for over 20 years. The most serious difficulty facing Iraq is its hostile neighbor, Iran. The Iraqi government is a member of the Islamic Caliphate, and serves as a “front line” state against the Iranian threat. On the other hand, large sections of the population resent the Caliphate, and would be sympathetic toward Iran if that nation wasn’t in turn ruled by such a brutal dictatorship. Baghdad is a hotbed of diplomatic and espionage activity, and an outbreak of war seems possible within the next few years.

Israel spent the first half of the century at odds with its Arab neighbors, winning two conventional wars but having mixed success against terrorism and violent Palestinian resistance. Peace came slowly, with many setbacks. By 2065 the Islamic Caliphate was working hard from the Arab side to promote a final accord. With the signing of the Treaty of Jerusalem in 2069, Israel had peace with all of its Arab neighbors for the first time.

Since then, the situation has been tense, but increasingly stable. There has been no further outbreak of conventional warfare. On the individual level, violence remains at levels which can be handled by Israeli or Arab courts. Personal contacts and business relationships have steadily increased between Israelis and foreign Arabs. On both sides, the current generation seems uninterested in renewing the confrontational stance of the past.

Today, Israel is an advanced Fourth Wave nation, with several sectors (notably the military) at a Fifth Wave level. The local economy is very well-rounded, with investment in a wide variety of industries. Israeli biotech industries are very advanced – in particular, the country’s agricultural sector has long used various forms of biotechnology to reclaim arid land and maximize productivity.

Jordan has transformed itself into the epitome of the “liberal” Arab state. The current king is a constitutional monarch, presiding over a healthy parliamentary democracy. Local society is loyal to Islam, but Jordanian religious scholars are very adept at reconciling the spirit of religious law with the conditions of the modern world. The kingdom is a staunch supporter of the Islamic Caliphate.

Jordan has also become the effective Palestinian homeland. At present the kingdom’s population is about 40% of Palestinian descent, and the royal house itself has a significant amount of Palestinian blood. Tensions between the Palestinian exiles and the native Jordanian population, once near the point of civil war, have been much reduced by decades of royal diplomacy. Jordan’s willingness to accommodate Palestinian exiles, not as refugees but as full partners in the kingdom, did much to aid the final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The emirate of Kuwait is the wealthiest member of the Islamic Caliphate. The average standard of living is very high, with even the noncitizen population having access to the full range of Fifth Wave technologies. Kuwaiti citizens themselves are among the wealthiest humans anywhere.

Although the petroleum industry has declined, Kuwait still has a vibrant economy based on banking, advanced electronics, land reclamation and nanotech industries. The emir is a constitutional monarch, with most power in the hands of a vigorous (and very contentious) national parliament.

Kuwait was once notable for its large noncitizen population; in 2000 over two-thirds of the population were immigrant workers, mostly from poorer Muslim nations. Today Kuwait continues to import labor, but it also employs a very large number of bioroids and advanced cybershells. Kuwaiti society has often experienced tension between the citizen and labor classes; this tension has grown in recent years with the appearance of an underground bioroid-liberation movement.

Since the outbreak of peace between Israel and its neighbors, Lebanon has been freed to concentrate on its internal development. Much has been done to reconcile differences between the country’s religious and ethnic splinter groups. The current republican government has been stable and effective since the early 2080s, and is experimenting with a number of cyberdemocratic ideas.

The Sultanate of Oman has lagged behind some of its Arab neighbors in economic development, but still has a moderate Third Wave economy. The powers of the sultan have not declined much over the past century, leaving Oman with one of the strongest monarchies in existence. Even so, the government is stable and the civil rights of Omani citizens are protected by royal decree. Oman is a full member of the Islamic Caliphate, although there have been religious disputes (most Omanis are members of the pseudo-Shi’ite Ibadhi sect).

When the Caliphate brokered the final peace with Israel, it recognized that the Palestinian situation remained an intolerable breeding ground for violent radicalism. The Caliph therefore personally sponsored a massive investment program for the Enclaves, with extensive education and propaganda efforts in support. Funds poured in from the wealthier Arab states, with lesser (but significant) support from Europe, the United States, and even Israel. Numerous telepresence systems were installed, permitting Palestinians to earn acceptable incomes doing work in new installations all across the Caliphate. Massive engineering and biotech works were undertaken, to improve the land and water resources available to the Palestinians. The effect was to vastly improve the Palestinian standard of living – while also reducing Israeli economic control of the Enclaves.

Today, the Gaza Strip and West Bank regions are self-governing, under an elected council whose authority is jointly guaranteed by Israel and the Islamic Caliphate. The political situation remains imperfect. Palestinians look with natural envy at the lives of their wealthier neighbors. Outright unemployment remains high, and a significant proportion of the employed population still migrates physically to work in Egypt, Israel, or Jordan. Even among moderate Palestinians, there is almost universal sentiment for a renegotiation of the status of the enclaves. It is a measure of how far the situation has evolved that this movement has mostly been nonviolent in its methods. What radical Palestinian movements still use violence are regularly exploited by outside (mostly Egyptian and Iranian) forces, launching attacks on both Israeli “occupiers” and Caliphate “betrayers.”

Qatar is a constitutional monarchy, with most government functions in the hands of an elected parliament and prime minister. It is a wealthy member of the Islamic Caliphate. The local economy has long since diversified from its dependence on oil, and now emphasizes advanced robotics and nanotechnology. Its army is small but very well-trained and well-equipped.

The Bedouin house of Saud has ruled the Arabian homeland since the 1930s. The Saudi clan has long been famous for its religious devotion and its cunning, pragmatic statesmanship. These traits found their utmost expression in the 2050s, when the house put its weight behind Ali al-Rashid. When the Islamic Caliphate was established in 2049, the Saudis were able to take a position as the secular leaders of much of the Arab community.

Saudi Arabia remains the epitome of the Bedouin state, a feudal monarchy transplanted into the modern world. The local Wahhabi sect is very puritanical in some respects, and foreign visitors will be expected to conform. Alcohol and most drugs are illegal, and all forms of the media are subject to strict censorship. Non-Muslims may not practice their religion in the country, and Jews are not permitted entry at all. Violations of law can be punished by immediate expulsion (for foreigners) or by whipping, branding, mutilation, or death.

On the other hand, the Saudi state follows many of the traditions of Bedouin politics. The king and his royal clan can rule only so long as the people follow, and the people demand that their rulers be generous and open to petitions. Saudi statesmen are adept at building consensus, and at melding the trends of the modern world with ancient Bedouin customs. The upshot is that Saudi Arabia can be a very congenial place to live, at least if one is a devout Muslim who can stay on the good side of Islamic law.

Saudi Arabia has long since given up dependence on its petroleum wealth, much of which has been depleted in any case. Today the nation has a robust “high industrial” economy, producing a variety of advanced materials and products. Saudi computer technology is quite advanced, although the local segment of the web is strictly controlled due to the need to exclude “immoral” material.

For religious reasons, radical human gengineering and bioroid manufacture have been ignored in SaudiArabia. On the other hand, the Saudis have been willing to apply biotechnology and ecological engineering to the task of reclaiming parts of the Arabian desert. Along the Red Sea coast, and in oases in the interior, the Saudis have created wide stretches of fertile fields and verdant gardens.

Saudi foreign policy is centered on the need to maintain the Caliphate and protect Arab interests in a rapidly changing world. The Saudis have maintained close ties with the United States and (more recently) the Pacific Rim Alliance – both non-Muslim powers which pose no direct threat to Saudi sovereignty.

Syria suffered considerable political and economic instability during the 2020s and 2030s. Tensions between various schismatic Muslim sects continue, although the Sunni majority has managed to hold power and keep things quiet for some time. At present Syria is a member of the Islamic Caliphate. Peace with Israel has held for almost 50 years; the most significant foreign policy challenge is a dispute with Turkey over upstream development of the Euphrates River. Rumor has it that Syria has sponsored several recent sabotage attempts against Turkish industrial facilities on the river.

Turkey has long been an anomaly within the European Union, set apart by ethnic, geographic, linguistic, and religious factors. It has also suffered long-standing hostility from its closest European neighbors, Bulgaria and Greece. Even so, over the course of the 21st century Turkey has become a major partner in the European Union, and is now close behind Germany and the United Kingdom in economic output and influence.

Turkey is one of the few Union nations which has experienced significant population growth during the past century. The country has rarely been stable. Social disputes between secularists and devout Muslims have often spilled over into unrest and street violence. Meanwhile, relations between the central government and the minority Kurds have always been poor, and periods of separatist violence were common early in the 21st century. The Kurdish regions were given considerable local autonomy in the 2050s, and violent unrest there is now rare, but visitors associated with the central government face a hostile reception.

Turkey openly embraced Fourth Wave biotechnology, and indeed much of the country’s current prosperity is based on biotech industries. For a time in the 2060s and 2070s, Turkey was Europe’s largest producer of bioshells and genetic constructs. Today, variant human types are probably more common in Turkey’s urban areas than anywhere else in the European Union. The country’s urban population is moving rapidly into the Fifth Wave economy, although rural districts (especially the Kurdish provinces) lag far behind.

The United Arab Emirates are a federation of Arab monarchies. The seven emirs have effectively absolute joint rule over the country, although civil rights for all subjects are protected by law. The emirs are often rivals, although decades-long tradition ensures that their competition for prestige is amiable and serves to help develop the country. The local standard of living is relatively high, supported by a diverse Fourth Wave industrial base.

See Palestinian Enclaves.

Yemen is the poorest country in the region, its infrastructure overwhelmed by a population which has grown by a factor of seven in the past century. The central government is quite repressive and is faced with several ongoing insurgencies. The Caliphate is attempting to coordinate relief and development efforts, with little success.

In 2000, the Arab nations suffered from a variety of factional divisions: city-dwellers against Bedouin, oil-wealthy nations against poor ones, Sunni against Shi’ites, Western allies against anti-Western states. The contradictions often limited Arab effectiveness in world affairs, as Arab states who were nominally allied against the West came to blows among themselves. The Gulf Wars of 1992 and 2013, the Egyptian-Libyan war of 2017, the constant struggle against Israel . . . all of these sapped the strength of the Arab states.

To be effective in the modern world, Arab civilization needed unity. The first promise of that unity came in the late 2030s, when a Muslim religious leader named Ali al-Rashid attained prominence in Saudi Arabia. Al-Rashid’s teachings seemed contradictory at first hearing. He preached devotion to the puritanical Wahhabi sect, but also embraced science and technology as the key to Arab success. He denounced the evil and degeneracy of Western civilization, but also taught that the proper Arab response was to teach morality by example.

Al-Rashid was blessed with great charisma and a fiery oratorical style that won many converts. By 2040 he was the most prominent Sunni religious leader in the world, openly acclaimed as the Mahdi by millions of Arabs. He had no direct political power of his own, but in 2043 he made an alliance with the House of Saud. The combination proved irresistible. Over the next few years, the Saudis used al-Rashid’s influence to strengthen their formal partnerships with other Muslim nations. During this period, they even managed a reconciliation with the anti-monarchist regimes of Iraq and Syria. Soon the Saudi alliance system took in all the Arab nations around the Persian Gulf.

In 2064, the allies agreed to set up a permanent council (the Presidium of the Arab League) in the holy city of Medina. The new council would serve as a focal point for the coordination of foreign policy and economic development. Ali al-Rashid was named Chairman of the Presidium, a purely honorary position which nonetheless gave him a unique position of moral influence. Meanwhile, the House of Saud attained effective control of the new council through typically pragmatic statesmanship.

The first action of the new Presidium was to grant Ali al-Rashid a long-vacant title: that of Caliph. This made him a recognized successor or agent of Mohammed, and therefore the foremost religious and political leader in the Muslim world. Finally, the Arab states had a rallying point for constructive action in the world community, with the Caliph to provide moral leadership and hard-headed Saudi statesmen to manage the everyday business.

Although Ali al-Rashid died in 2096, the Caliphate remains in existence today. It has not always been successful in preventing strife among Muslims, but it has done much to moderate Arab radicalism and promote Arab economic development. Many powerful Islamic nations remain outside the alliance, particularly Iran, Pakistan, and the Arab states of northern Africa. The Caliphate is outwardly cool to the West, but it can usually work with Western nations where its interests permit.

The Caribbean Sea is home to many of the world’s “microstates,” independent nations with well under a million citizens and very little influence. All of these tiny nations were once colonies of various European nations, and many of them retain close ties to the former colonial power. National governments tend to be unobtrusive, not wishing to interfere with the tourism, banking, or other industries which drive local economies. Most of the microstates of this region participate in the Caribbean Union.

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a moderately wealthy microstate, building its economy on banking, investment management, and tourism. Early in the century an underground genetic clinic operated in the islands; for several decades afterward the Bahamas were notorious for designer narcotics and an “exotic” sex industry. The current government has been effective in stamping out this trade (or at least driving it further underground).

Following the final collapse of the Castro regime in the early 2020s, Cuba underwent a period of political instability. The eventual result was a right-wing government, supported by the United States and composed primarily of former exiles returning from there. Although the new regime was able to foster rapid economic growth, it proved corrupt and occasionally brutal.

During the 2030s and 2040s, Cuba was a place where almost any underground commodity could be found – “black” biotech, designer drugs, illegal migrants, military hardware, traditional narcotics, and so on. These so-called “wild years” made Cuba notorious as a center for organized crime. In 2057, however, a new government took power and proved effective in stamping out much of the local underworld. Although organized criminal activity remains even today, the syndicates are careful to keep violence and corruption within bounds.

Since the end of the wild years, Cuba has enjoyed political stability and steady economic growth. Cuba helped to establish the Caribbean Union in 2091, and it continues to stand for the independence of small Caribbean states in a world dominated by more powerful nations.

This state shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Stable government and sound economic policies have given it reasonable standards of living and the largest economy in the Caribbean Union. A long-standing alliance with Cuba formed the nucleus for the Union in 2091. Tensions with Haiti have been an occasional problem for several decades; there have been several border incidents since 2105.

Guadeloupe gained independence from France early in the century, and is currently a full member of the Caribbean Union. The government invested heavily in biotechology from the 2020s, hoping to improve local agricultural productivity. The island was a small but significant biotech sanctuary for several decades, and its laboratories remain in the forefront of genemod crop design.

Haiti remains the poorest country in the western hemisphere, wracked not only by social unrest and crooked government, but by ecological catastrophe. Deforestation and soil erosion have ruined the country’s agriculture, and supplies of drinkable water have long since been exhausted. Today Haiti is almost completely dependent on outside aid to avoid famine and pestilence.

Haiti continues to be a source of instability in the region. Border conflicts with the Dominican Republic have become increasingly common in recent years. Illegal migration into the Caribbean Union nations and the United States is also a problem.

Jamaica had difficulty early in the century, but has experienced stable government and steady economic growth since the 2050s. The local financial industry has grown explosively in recent years, making Kingston an important international data haven and banking center. Strict financial privacy laws passed in 2098 have made the local banks quite popular with organized criminal groups and insurgencies.

This island remains an overseas department of France. As the island’s tourism and light-industrial sectors make it less dependent on French aid, a movement for political independence has been growing in strength.

See United States.

This country is one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean, with a well-educated populace, stable government, and a diverse Fourth Wave industrial base. It is an important member of the Caribbean Union, and is taking an increasingly significant role in hemispheric politics.

The Turks and Caicos Islands gained their independence from the United Kingdom early in the century. They are currently a typical minor member of the Caribbean Union, the local economy heavily dependent on tourism and financial services.

During the 2040s both the American and British portions of the Virgin Islands group gained their independence. In 2058 the two nations agreed to unification. Since then the Virgin Islands have prospered, taking advantage of their position along a major shipping lane (along with the usual Caribbean industries of tourism and finance).

The European Union of 2155 grew slowly, with roots in many European institutions of the late 20th century: the European Economic Community (EEC), the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and so on. Even the United Nations became a cornerstone of European unity, after its headquarters moved to Europe.

Currently the dominant institution in the Union is the European Parliament, a one-house legislature composed of representatives from all of the member states. Since revisions to the Union Charter in 2104, half of the representatives to Parliament are chosen randomly from the voting populations of the member states. The other half are elected by a more traditional popular vote. The Parliament has extensive human staff, and also maintains what may be the most powerful battery of sapient AIs in the world. These high-powered infomorphs exist to gather and correlate information for the members of Parliament, especially those “amateur legislators” who are selected by lot.

The European Union has taken on many of the functions of a supranational government. Laws passed by the European Parliament are considered to be treaties; although they are binding on all members, they must be implemented by each member state through its own legislative process. Before the Parliament even votes on a new law, lengthy negotiations must be held to build consensus among the member states. Meanwhile, the Union’s bureaucratic processes are quite complex, despite several rounds of streamlining reform during the past century. All in all, the Union has difficulty making new policies quickly or responding to sudden crises.

Citizens of the Union enjoy complete freedom to travel, work, and do business anywhere within its borders. This has made Europe (with outlying areas in North America and the Middle East) the world’s largest and wealthiest free-trade zone. Not all Union members enjoy the same high standard of living, but the core nations in Western Europe are the richest on Earth.

Significant local distinctions remain within the European Union, although most citizens have a strong sense of identity as members of “the world’s highest civilization.” Many Europeans tend to think of themselves as citizens of their own particular region first, of Europe as a whole second, and of their nation-state last (if at all). For example, a German in 2155 is likely to think of himself as a Bavarian, a Berliner, or a Rhinelander rather than a German.

Europeans tend to have a quiet confidence in their identity as Europeans. Their corner of civilization is the wealthiest, most stable, and most technologically advanced of any. There are no serious threats on the horizon. European politics can be contentious, but the essential unity of Europe is beyond a doubt. Many Europeans think of the Union as a template for eventual world government, a view bolstered by the fact that nations in regions as distant as North America and the Middle East have become productive members.

Eastern Europe is a busy region, for the most part at peace. The European Union has expanded all the way to the Russian border, and many of its regional members are working hard to reach the cutting edge of social and economic development. Russia itself is preparing to take an active role in world affairs, after decades of being engrossed in internal difficulties.

See Russia.

This nation now has a free-market democracy and the highest standard of living in eastern Europe. The local AI industry is very active, and the country as a whole is working to integrate sentient computers into political and economic decision-making. A constitutional change is currently being considered that would institute full cyberdemocracy.

Hungary is a moderately prosperous Fifth Wave nation, which has been a full member of the European Union since early in the century. The country’s armaments industry is quite important; Hungarian weapons systems are in demand in many parts of the world.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the small Kaliningrad oblast was cut off from the rest of Russia by the newly independent state of Lithuania. At first Russia went to considerable trouble to retain the region, which was a major military center and one of the country’s few remaining Baltic ports. However, during the turbulent 2060s Kaliningrad chose to press for almost complete autonomy. Independence was gained in 2088 after a long but amicable process of negotiation. It officially adopted its older pre-Soviet name, Königsberg, for the new microstate, while retaining Kaliningrad as the name of the city itself. The distinction is lost on many residents.

Today, it stands astride two worlds. It is closely tied to the European Union, although it is not a member. It is the westernmost outpost of Russian culture in Europe, and maintains good relations with Moscow. Since independence, it has parleyed its strategic position into a new role as major trade center. It is also the eastern headquarters of the Genetic Regulatory Agency (the western headquarters is Geneva), making it a key player in global biotech policy. Kaliningrad is one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe, accepting immigrants from all over the world. Construction of new buildings and residential districts is going on at a frantic pace. The city has a reputation as a place where fortunes can quickly be made (or lost). Local organized crime is currently quite powerful, giving society a risky, slightly corrupt flavor.

Lithuania lags behind the other Baltic states in economic development, mostly due to severe restrictions on advanced biotechnology and other Fifth Wave industries. Even so, the country enjoys a good standard of living and economic growth is steady.

Poland led the former Warsaw Pact nations in the drive for open democracy and robust capitalism. It has parleyed its productive workforce and strategic position into a leadership role in European trade. Since the 2080s there has been heavy Polish investment in Russian industrial growth; a number of Polish-Russian joint ventures are beginning to make their mark in the European markets.

Romania is a rather backward member of the European Union, struggling with chronic labor shortages and an unstable parliamentary government. There is a strong movement for secession from the Union, which would allow large-scale bioshell construction and other economic measures in violation of Union law.

For decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was the “sick man of Europe.” The legacy of the Soviet era was a society riddled with corruption, a political system fragmented into dozens of squabbling factions, inefficient industries, ramshackle technology, a polluted countryside, and a gaggle of resentful ethnic minorities.

After an initial flirtation with democracy, Russia soon fell into a cycle of authoritarian rule followed by civil disorder. From about 2030 to about 2075, the central Russian government had a great deal of trouble maintaining control. Regional governments went their own way, often at the bidding of local military leaders, ethnic minorities, or organized crime groups. This period of weakness culminated in the chaotic civil war of 2072-2078, in which Siberia and other areas made bids for regional autonomy or outright independence.

The civil war was traumatic, but it led to a significant revival of Russian fortunes. By 2078 the conflict had ended with the defeat of the secessionists and the rise of a “Renewal Union” faction. This coalition had the support of several power centers, including the bulk of the Russian military and the influential Russian Orthodox Church. The regime it assembled was not very democratic, but it was strong enough to bring the provincial governments into line and begin the process of rebuilding a unified Russia.

Today’s Russia incorporates all of the old Russian Federation, along with what was once independent Belarus, but without the old Kaliningrad oblast on the Baltic Sea. Russia remains an authoritarian state, but the postwar regime has made great strides. Modern technology has been applied to bring a decent standard of living to all Russians, not only the urban elite. The military has been thoroughly modernized, and an aggressive space program has resumed. Corruption and regional factionalism have been much reduced. Democratic reforms have allowed the Russian people some voice in their own government. Many Russians have begun to hope that the bitter cycle of despotism and anarchy has finally been broken.

At present, Russia has a Fourth Wave economy and is continuing to develop at a rapid pace. In fact, Russia has an unusually long history of applying biotechnology. St. Petersburg was a biotech sanctuary early in the century, and even through the anarchic decades the city remained a major center of genetic research. The current government has devoted much effort to making sure the entire population has access to genetic technology. Gene-modified humans, bioroids, and other genetic constructs are quite common throughout the country.

Russia spent much of the past century bitterly resentful at its loss of position in world affairs. Once a superpower whose dictates made the world tremble, by 2040 Russia had a smaller economy than Argentina and a military barely able to maintain order within its national borders. This steep decline was halted after the civil war, and has decisively reversed in recent years. Today, Russia is aggressively pursuing greater world influence. It is a member of no formal alliance, but it sometimes finds common interests with the European Union, China, India, and the Islamic Caliphate. Russian diplomacy is carefully pragmatic, working with other nations whenever possible but not afraid to act independently. Russia is particularly cool toward the United States and the Pacific Rim Alliance.

See also Königsberg-Kaliningrad.

Slovakia has had some difficulty keeping up with its more prosperous neighbors, but as of 2155 it has a comfortable Fourth Wave economy. Slovakia is notable for its treatment of its Romani (Gypsy) minority. Facing a steep population decline similar to those of other Eastern European nations, Slovakia chose in the 2050s to implement a strategy of encouraging replacement migration. In particular, Gypsies from elsewhere in the world were encouraged to immigrate, joining the pre-existing Romani community in Slovakia. At present as much as 20% of the population is Romani, the highest proportion of any nation-state. Many of the Gypsy immigrants have struggled in the local economy, leading to tension with the Slovak majority. On the other hand, a few Gypsies have done quite well, attaining prominence in national and European affairs as a result.

Ukraine had a slow start in the post-Soviet era; many of the old communist elite remained in positions of power well into the new century. Lasting democratic reform came only in the early 2050s, when communists began to suffer electoral defeat nationwide. The Communist Party attempted to mount an extra-constitutional coup in 2059, but gave up power when it was clear the military would not fall into line. The “Kiev Spring” which followed gave Ukraine an open, democratic society at last. Ukraine avoided involvement in the Russian civil war, and has since been a stable partner for both Russia and the European Union.

Today Ukraine has a stable Third Wave economy, and is rapidly investing in biotech and nanotech industries. Since 2109 it has been a significant investor in the Olympus Project and it may be planning to begin its own aggressive space program in the next few years.

Northern Europe, including Scandinavia and the British Isles, is perhaps the most socially stable region on Earth. All of the governments here (except for the recently independent Faroe Islands) date back over a century, and have been healthy democracies throughout that period.

The Kingdom of Denmark is a prosperous Fifth Wave state, a center for cutting-edge nanotech research. Local politics are deeply conservative and tend toward Preservationism.

See also Faroe Islands and Greenland.

These islands in the North Atlantic gained full independence from Denmark in the early 2060s. They are convenient to a wide region of shallow ocean between Iceland and the British Isles, and serve as a base for sea-floor development throughout this area.

Finland is a long-standing member of the European Union. The local computer and telecommunications industries are among the most advanced in the world, producing considerable export income. Unlike most of Europe, Finland is a stronghold of Transhumanist thought, and genetic and cultural experimentation are common.

Old tensions between Ireland and the United Kingdom have been for the most part resolved. Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom, but the Republic has formal representation in local politics. Ireland is unusually strict in its regulation of human genetic engineering and reproductive medicine. Only the most conservative genetic templates are legal for production in Ireland itself, although a loophole permits many Irish citizens to go overseas to purchase upgrades for their children.

Norway is a typical Scandinavian state, a member of the European Union with an advanced Fifth Wave economy. It is somewhat more advanced than its neighbors in biotechnology, and has invested heavily in fish-farming and other forms of pelagiculture.

Scotland peacefully gained its independence in the early 2040s, at the end of a long period of increasing separatist sentiment. Relations with the United Kingdom remain friendly, although Scotland has developed extensive ties to Scandinavia as well.

Sweden has a well-ordered society and a prosperous Fifth Wave economy deeply rooted in international trade. It maintains one of the most extensive social-welfare systems in Europe, with heavy emphasis on a short work week and plenty of leisure time. It is a long-standing member of the European Union.

The United Kingdom has seen many changes in the past century. Scotland is now an independent nation, while Wales and Northern Ireland have considerable local autonomy even within the Kingdom.

The United Kingdom is a major player in the European Union and in world affairs. Economic ties with Ireland and Scotland remain close, and the “British bloc” within the European Union falls only behind Germany in overall economic output. Meanwhile, although the Commonwealth of Nations no longer exists, the Kingdom has maintained economic ties to many of its former Commonwealth partners. Finally, relations with the United States remain close, translating into trade and joint investments. Overall, the United Kingdom remains one of the world’s foremost trading and financial powers.

The United Kingdom remains a constitutional monarchy. Several parties compete for seats in Parliament: Cornish Nationalists, Decentralist Alliance, EuroConservatives, Independent Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Socialist Alliance, and Welsh Nationalists (among others). The Euro-Conservative and Labour parties usually dominate elections. The British people lean toward Preservationism, although those attitudes are weaker in the country’s urban population. One can find many variant human types in cities such as London, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. The United Kingdom is a Fifth Wave nation, although it is not at the leading edge of new technologies. Its space presence is small but often influential, especially in cooperation with the United States or with other European powers.

Once in the shadow of the great industrialized nations of North and Western Europe, the Mediterranean countries are now wealthy and powerful in their own right. The most powerful nations of the region, Italy and Spain, both face mild but stubbornly insoluble internal problems.

The eastern portions of Spain always retained a distinct ethnic and linguistic identity, long submerged under the dominance of Madrid. With local governments taking on increasing importance under the European Union, Catalonia finally gained its independence in 2046. Today Catalonia is a prosperous Fifth Wave nation. It is particularly well-known for its entertainment industry. Many popular virtualities are produced in Barcelona’s studios.

This outpost on the southern coast of Spain remains a British military base, despite occasional Spanish pressure for annexation. Politically Gibraltar operates as a free city, with only nominal British supervision. The inhabitants enjoy a Fifth Wave standard of living, based largely on tourism and an extensive financial industry.

Vatican City remains the world’s smallest independent state, ruled by the Pope and the College of Cardinals as the headquarters for the Catholic Church. The current Pope (Zachary II) was originally a Filipino, and is deeply involved in global diplomacy, especially in the Far East.

For Italy, much of the 21st century has been characterized by a steep decline in population. Italy’s “birth dearth” has been more severe than that of any other major European state, and among the worst in the world. In 2155 the national population is only about 60% of its 2000 total, despite significant immigration from Turkey and the Arab world.

This decline has caused severe social and economic difficulties, exacerbated by the refusal of the influential Catholic Church to sanction reproductive technology or bioroid manufacture. By the late 2080s Italy was sunk in a deep economic recession, which in 2088 led to the collapse of the Italian government. After the most contentious elections in memory, the new government broke with the Church, repealing a large block of legislation restricting reproductive technology.

Italy is currently applying the full range of modern biotechnology to try and reverse the population decline. Meanwhile, Italian industries are making more and more use of imported robots, and a few Italian firms have themselves entered the advanced robotics industry. Relations between the Church and the Italian government continue to be stormy.

Portugal is a long-standing member of the European Union, and currently has an advanced Fifth Wave economy. Trade relations with Brazil have become quite important in recent years, rivaling the amount of trade carried on with other European Union members.

The Kingdom of Spain has enjoyed external peace for over a century, but internal peace has been harder to come by. The worst disturbances have usually come from the small Basque minority, which has frequently engaged in violent resistance against the central government.

The worst incident of the unrest came in 2057, when Basque terrorists released a “war plague” across northern Spain. The terrorist strategy apparently aimed at paralyzing Spanish security forces, allowing the Basques to declare their independence. The bioweapon proved to be more virulent and contagious than planned. Civilian casualties were high, and the plague quickly spread outside Spain to kill thousands elsewhere. The Spanish military immediately began a concerted campaign to wipe out Basque terrorism, with the support of the world community. The “Basque War” which followed was marked by atrocities on both sides, and ended with the forcible disarmament of the Basque minority. Some regions in northern Spain are still effectively occupied by the Spanish army.

Like Italy and many of the nations of eastern Europe, Spain has suffered significant population loss in the course of the 21st century. Since the 2040s, Spain has deliberately encouraged replacement migration with an unusually open immigration policy. Several million of today’s Spaniards are first- or second-generation citizens, having immigrated from Africa, the Middle East or (ironically) Latin America. As a result of this immigration, Spain has avoided the tension between Church and state which reached crisis levels in Italy. Meanwhile, Spanish industrialists have invested heavily in robotic technology and artificial intelligence. Today the country produces some of the most sophisticated cybershells and infomorphs in Europe.

See also Catalonia.

* Although the Holy See has very little raw power as a nation, the Catholic Church has considerable diplomatic influence worldwide.

The Genetic Regulatory Agency was established by the European Union in 2071. Later it was reorganized as a joint agency with the governments of Russia and Ukraine. Its administrative headquarters remain in Geneva, although since 2084 its center of operations has been in Kaliningrad.

The GRA exists to investigate and prevent the abuse of human genetic engineering. Much of its activity involves monitoring scientific literature and making recommendations to policy-forming bodies. GRA operatives also do a great deal of police work, investigating genetics labs and cooperating with local police to enforce genetic laws. The agency’s mission has recently been extended to deal with bioroid trafficking and the threat of genetic terrorism.

The GRA has authority only within the territory of the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine (although it works with other governments as necessary, to extradite criminals and help enforce local laws). Some allege that the GRA is biased toward a strongly Preservationist ideology, acting against transhumanism even when no danger to society has been demonstrated. Rumor also has it that the GRA operates a covert-activities branch, sabotaging genetic facilities of which the Europeans don’t approve but which are outside the agency’s direct sphere of authority.

Southeast Europe was wracked by war and civil unrest at the beginning of the century, and proved a constant source of turmoil well into the 2070s. Recovery has been patchy, with some nations enjoying considerable success while others struggle to even begin integration into the European community. The region is still an occasional focus for European diplomacy and economic assistance.

Bulgaria has been successful in establishing a freemarket economy and democratic government. It has been part of the European Union since the 2030s. It is most notable for its population shrinkage since the turn of the millennium, more pronounced than that of any other nation – at present Bulgaria has less than half its 2000 population.

Croatia is now a moderately prosperous Fifth Wave nation, and a full member of the European Union. It is a major research center for high-energy physics – Croatian industry has produced innovations in antimatter engineering, fusion power, energy weapons, and related fields.

Early in the century, a left-wing nationalist movement came to power in Greece and began engaging in political adventurism. The result was the Aegean War of 2026, a conflict involving Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey. The war caused thousands of deaths and significant damage to all combatants, but resolved few issues. The United States and the U.N. were forced to post large-scale peacekeeping forces in the region, and engage in years of painstaking diplomacy to resolve local disputes.

By 2045, Greece had recovered from the war and come under the control of a moderate coalition. At about the same time, it became the first major nation within the European Union to abolish most restrictions on genetic and biological technology. The result was a period of superb economic growth, led by the new biotech industries. Today Greece is one of the most prosperous and technically advanced nations in Europe.

Greece is a stronghold of Transhumanist thought. Greek parents are very likely to purchase improvements to the genetic inheritance of their children, and young Greeks are enthusiastic about exploring the possibilities of new technology. Much of this enthusiasm is tied in with a pseudopagan revival which has been increasingly popular since the 2070s. Although the Greek population remains Orthodox Christian, many Greeks are intensely interested in the culture and folkways of their Classical ancestors. This movement regards parahumans and other genetic constructs as examples of a “heroic” Greek spirit reappearing in the modern world. One element of the revival movement is a current effort to revive the Olympic Games; the plan is for the new Games to be for Greeks alone and open to parahuman competitors.

The elaborate circumlocution “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” was dropped in the aftermath of the Aegean War. Since the 2090s the country has been at relative peace, and considerable social and economic progress have been made. Macedonia has been a member of the European Union since 2094.

Montenegro declared its independence early in the century, marking the final disintegration of the old Yugoslavia. Today it is a low-tier member of the European Union, struggling to pursue economic development.

The Balkan and Aegean conflicts of 1991 and 2028 left Serbia’s government and economy crippled. Recovery was slow, although democratic reforms in the early 2030s led to a thaw in relations with Western Europe and considerable foreign aid. Today Serbia is a rather backward but stable member of the European Union.

See also Montenegro.

Slovenia has consistently been the most successful of Yugoslavia’s successor states. Successive governments have concentrated on providing stable administration, a consistent strategy of staying out of Balkan crises, and aggressive private investment. The result is one of the wealthiest nations in Europe, with an advanced Fifth Wave economy. Slovenia has been a member of the European Union since early in the century.

West Europe is the technological center of the world. Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have a higher standard of living and a greater density of cutting-edge industries than any other place on Earth. This region is the core of the European Union.

Austria is one of the wealthiest and most stable nations on the planet. It has a diverse Fifth Wave economy, well-known for advanced microbots and minifacturing equipment. A local cyberdemocratic movement is gaining strength, and has proposed extensive revisions of the national constitution.

See Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia.

Brussels, the old capital of Belgium, did not join either splinter state during the 2042 partition. Instead, it became a free city, one of the first new city-states of the modern world. Brussels is the capital of the European Union and one of the most cosmopolitan cities on Earth. It enjoys considerable prosperity as an industrial center, the seat of European government, and a focus of world diplomacy.

After the partition of Belgium in 2042, the northern parts of the country became the new nation of Flanders, with its capital at Antwerp. Today Flanders is a prosperous Fifth Wave nation, closely tied to the Netherlands.

France is a major power within the European Union, which could be said to revolve around a Franco-German axis. For a variety of reasons, the country has been slow to adopt new technologies in the course of the 21st century. Even so, France is a Fifth Wave nation and an integral part of the modern global economy.

French politics have been chaotic since about 2080, with no single political party able to maintain a dominant coalition for long. French society is controlled by the local Preservationist movement, which emphasizes French national identity as well as rejection of transhumanism. Meanwhile, a growing moderniste faction wishes to break France out of its economic and technological conservatism. In recent years the struggle over language and other social issues has broken out into frequent protests, some of them violent.

France has a substantial ethnic minority (the Occitans) in the south, which share linguistic and cultural ties with the Catalans. Since the independence of Catalonia from Spain, the Occitans have tended to build closer ties with Barcelona than with Paris. Meanwhile, unrest on the island of Corsica has been an occasional issue for over a century; protests and calls for independence have been very frequent in recent years. So far the central government has refused to consider granting greater autonomy to any of the outlying regions, much less outright independence.

As of 2155, Germany has enjoyed over a century of unity and peace. It has used the time to become a cornerstone of the European Union, in which it holds the largest economy and the most powerful military establishment. Internally Germany is wholly unified, all tensions between East and West long since resolved as both regions grew in prosperity. Externally, the nation has occasional disputes with its neighbors over trade, but it faces no significant foreign-policy challenges.

Germany is a multiparty democracy, with a coalition of moderate Preservationist parties that usually dominates national and regional elections. National politics are oriented toward maintaining trade and prosperity, while supporting an extensive program of social welfare benefits. Since the 2060s, local law has strictly regulated human genetic modification and bioshell manufacture.

Despite its current political conservatism, Germany has consistently been a leader in every new Wave of technological change, and is at present rapidly adopting Fifth Wave technologies. Germans enjoy one of the highest standards of living on Earth, including a social commitment to generous amounts of leisure time.

Luxembourg is a wealthy member of the European Union, with particularly close ties to Flanders and the Netherlands. Several executive agencies of the Union are headquartered in the Grand Duchy rather than in Brussels.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has the highest standard of living anywhere on Earth, and is known worldwide for cutting-edge technical research. Dutch engineers are widely regarded as the best in the world, while Dutch laboratories are at the heart of the new nanotech revolution.

The Netherlands have spent much of the last century embroiled in a heroic struggle against the sea. Much of the country, including all of its major cities, already lay below sea level in 2000. Protecting this land has grown more and more difficult as sea levels have slowly risen. Dutch engineers have more than met the challenge, preserving and even extending the country’s polders, and developing much of the technology used today to build undersea cities. As a result of this experience, Dutch land-reclamation experts are in demand worldwide.

The Swiss have moved through the 21st century in characteristic fashion. Switzerland remains independent of the European Union, although cooperation with the rest of Europe is quite close on most issues. The country is still a financial and industrial center. Bioshells and radical genetic modifications are rare, but almost the entire population has benefited from moderate genetic upgrades.

Despite decades of pressure, Swiss banks hold money or records from any source in complete confidentiality. This has occasionally brought a great deal of unwelcome attention, as when a substantial portion of the Thai treasury turned up in Swiss hands after the Pacific War. Still, in a world where privacy is an increasingly expensive luxury, a banking service of such integrity is too useful to be abolished. The banks of Geneva and Zurich continue to operate as they have for centuries.

During the 2042 partition of Belgium, the French-speaking regions to the south of the country became the new nation of Wallonia. The capital was set up at Charleroi. Wallonia has lagged behind Flanders in economic development, lacking the northern state’s access to the sea or its close ties to the Netherlands. Even so, it is a wealthy Fifth Wave society. A recent referendum proposing union with France failed, but won a surprisingly large number of votes; negotiations on the subject are ongoing.

Oceania is a region of contrasts, including large and wealthy nations like Australia, dirt-poor microstates like Tuvalu, and everything in between. In 2100 the region is a minor focus of conflict. The vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean is a potential storehouse of undersea wealth, which will doubtless bring prosperity to some of the region’s microstates while passing others by. This fact has given rise to a small but potentially important struggle.

Australian society is unique. It is best described as a minarchist state, with one of the least intrusive and most business-oriented governments in existence. Many social functions undertaken by government in other nations are managed by private institutions here, including some aspects of social welfare and law enforcement. Weapon ownership is strictly regulated, but in every other aspect of life Australians may do almost entirely as they please.

Australia is a Fifth Wave nation, not far behind Japan in technology. Australian scientists are among the best ecologists in the world, due to their long struggle against a series of ecological disasters in the Australian wilderness. Australia also enjoys proximity to some of the widest expanses of shallow tropical ocean in the world, and has long been known for expertise in kelpfarming, fish-ranching, and other forms of pelagic agriculture. Since the 2030s Australia has been an important food exporter to the populous nations of Asia.

Australian foreign policy has long defended its society against Asian encroachment. Australians are painfully aware how tempting their rich and almost-empty country might be to certain Asian powers. Part of the Australian response has been staunch support for the Pacific Rim Alliance, whose other members are either too prosperous or too distant to conquer the island continent.

For decades, Indonesia has been Australia’s primary rival. Early in the century Australia supported Indonesian stability, fearing the flood of refugees that would follow any collapse of the central government. After a policy shift in the 2010s, Australia began to (covertly and overtly) support secession movements within the Indonesian empire, leading to the formation of Australian-backed client states in East Timor, Irian Jaya province, and the Moluccas. This strategy has been moderately effective, although since the formation of the TSA Indonesia has pushed back with an aggressive foreign policy of its own. Australia remains deeply involved throughout Oceania and Southeast Asia.

This microstate is a full member of the Pacific Rim Alliance. Regional sea-floor development has boomed in recent years, bringing considerable economic growth to the island. Local society is an interesting blend of Polynesian and Indian cultures; the two ethnic groups have roughly equal populations and have managed to live amicably together for almost a century.

France has retained control of several island groups in the Pacific. The local economy is based on tourism, services to the French military, and undersea development. There is an active independence movement, which currently threatens to take up violent resistance to French rule.

See United States.

Once a French possession, the New Caledonia island group became an independent state (the Kanaky Republic) in the early 2030s. The republic invested its original nickel-mining wealth in a variety of Fourth and Fifth Wave industries. Kanaky is closely allied with Australia, and is a member of the Pacific Rim Alliance.

Bougainville, in the eastern Solomon Islands chain, was originally part of Papua New Guinea – as the result of a chain of historical accidents, rather than any rational exercise in nation-building. A secessionist revolt beginning in 1988 was eventually defeated. A later and more peaceful movement led to independence, as part of the overall settlement which created the United Republic of New Guinea. Today the Republic of Mekamui is not a member of the Pacific Rim Alliance. Nearby PRA members such as Australia and New Guinea barely tolerate the situation, and might intervene if local politics turn unfriendly.

The United Republic of New Guinea came into existence as a nation in two sections. The eastern half of the island gained independence from Australian administration in 1975, and has always been closely associated with Australia. The western half was a province in the Indonesian empire until 2030, when local insurgents took advantage of an ongoing civil war to declare independence. Backed by Australian troops, the former Irian Jaya made its declaration stick, and in 2021 united with Papua New Guinea. The unified nation remained a close ally of Australia, and became a member of the Pacific Rim Alliance in 2027.

New Guinea is rich in natural resources. However, at the beginning of the century the island had almost no infrastructure, an astonishingly high level of ethnic diversity, and a population which often still lived on a Stone Age level. Development has until recently been driven almost entirely by mining. With a great deal of foreign investment, the government has pursued a “dispersed development” model. Using modern communications technology, the government hopes to bring New Guinea’s people up to an advanced standard of living without forcing them to leave their scattered villages. The result appears likely to be a bizarre mix of the primitive and super-advanced.

New Guinea’s interior still conceals wide tracts of land that have never been explored by outsiders. According to rumor, the Alliance may be concealing almost anything in the island’s outback: black weapons-research projects, enclaves of artificial life, evidence of lost civilizations, vast hoards of gold . . .

See also Mekamui.

Isolated and insular, New Zealand has retained much of its distinctive culture over the past century. The economy is heavily industrialized and based on Fifth Wave technologies. New Zealand is loosely associated with the Pacific Rim Alliance, but stops short of active participation, preferring to maintain its independence.

Early in the past century, New Zealand suffered internal tension over the rights of ethnic minorities. Today the country has managed to settle most such issues. Over 25% of the citizens are Asian, Pacific Islander, or Maori. These nonwhite minorities have been fully integrated into New Zealand society, but have avoided losing cultural distinctiveness. Indeed, a few Maori politicians have recently developed considerable global influence, and there is a minor fad for Maori folkways and music styles in the United States and Europe.

New Zealand society carries memes similar to those of Western Europe: strongly Preservationist, but dedicated to pan-sapient rights. Bioroids and bioshells may not be created legally in New Zealand, but they may find refuge there from persecution elsewhere.

See Mekamui and New Guinea.

* CR 5 for weapons ownership and use.