The Union Forever: A TL

[theklicktator]

Hey everyone!

With Mac Gregor's permission, I'm doing another entry on entertainment in the world of 'The Union Forever'. This time, I'll be focusing on one of the most popular American comics books ever created.

Captain Venture (1962-1996)

A picture of Captain Venture circa 1963, during the 'Solar Age' of his comic book run

Captain Venture is considered to be one of the most popular comic book superheros of the 20th century. Many historians hold that the character is responsible in no small part for the popularity and enduring influence of the comic book industry. Several careers of some of the most prominent storywriters and artists in the business have worked on Captain Venture over the decades.

While the Captain Venture that most are familiar first debut in 1962, the origins and concept of the character go back much further. During the Great War, Corporal Josef Pomerantz was a Jewish immigrant from Romania who served in the trenches with the American Expeditionary Force as a medic.

While caring for patients, he would draw doodles for them of an American fighter pilot called Captain Venture, a dashing figure who looked every part the ideal American hero, and was usually drawn doing comical things such as socking Napoleon square in the jaw, rescuing a gorgeous woman from hapless jeering Austrians, or cheekily flying his plane, the Ruby Gale, leaving foes in his dust. The illustrations cheered up injured soldiers and it was not uncommon to find carvings on the sides of wooden support beams in the American trenches proclaiming things like "Venture says lick 'em for Uncle Sam!" or "Keep 'er steady, Venture protects".

One of the later imaginings of the Ruby Gale, an airship that Levi named after his future wife and his mother.

Although the doodles were popular, and many in the public relations branch of the Army were looking for him, Levi never came forward to claim his work for reasons that still remain unclear. He stored many of his unfinished drawings in a shoebox in the family attic, and started a tailor shop in New Jersey upon his return to the United States after the war.

Upon his death in 1959, his son Aaron, a talented artist in his own regard, was clearing out his father's attic when he came across the box filled with Levi's work. Shocked at the discovery, and realizing the secret his father had kept all those years, Aaron decided to honor his father's legacy while adding his own twist.

While his father's drawings had various fantasy elements in it, Aaron had always been inspired by the science fiction novels of Robert Wilcox. He decided to take the risk of working less hours his father's tailor shop, and work on publishing his own take on Captain Venture: a dashing, daring, astronaut that flew across the cosmos, finding adventure wherever he went and and upholding American values along the way. After several months of fruitless searching, a failing entertainment company by the name of Amazing World Comics took a risk on his product. The company had mostly concerned itself with detective tales, or science-horror stories and they were losing ground to their more established rivals in the industry. They gave Pomerantz a three issue contract in their Tales to Amaze comic, hoping that it would help boost flagging sales.

When his first Captain Venture story debuted in the March 1962 issue of Tales to Amaze, it set itself in a science fiction world of the 25th century, where "humanity has conquered the barbarian within, and now looks to conquer the stars". While taking place in a fantastical world that was rich with Aaron's bizarre and ingenious ideas, the comic stayed true to his father's messages, and contained light-hearted, comical stories that as Aaron put it: "tell tales that give a man hope, and make him smile even in his darkest moments, just like my father tried to do". Soon, Amazing Worlds Comics was demanding more and more comics about the exploits of Captain Daniel Venture, and Aaron took the risk of quitting his job completely to work on the series full time.

The comic was wildly successful, and soon Captain Venture comics were sold in every drug store with merchandise was flying off the shelf as fast as they could put it out. Phrases and terms from the comic started to enter into language at large, and people who were not usually fans of the medium soon found themselves lining up when a new shipment was arriving. In 1966, Amazing Worlds Comics officially changed its name to Venture Comics as a sign of gratitude towards the character that put them on the entertainment map.

Originally, Aaron stuck close to his father's ideas, using footnotes that Josef had included under his illustrations, but as Pomerantz became more comfortable with his writing and completely used up whatever sparse story notes his father had handed down, he started to take Venture further out into the stars. New alien races were discovered, and while some critiqued them as thinly veiled allusions to cultures and societies of the day, most were happy to pick up a new issue and see Captain Venture outfox the evil Chairman Kwan or the brutal warlord Hidalgo the Conqueror. Pomerantz had also seen the horrors of persecution firsthand, and firmly believed that the stories he wrote in Venture Comics could be used to spread messages of tolerance and individualism. Soon, Captain Venture was meeting, working, and becoming friends with all sorts of aliens that were very thin allusions for the persecuted in the country and the world at large.

Issue #132 of Captain Venture in 1972 during what was called the 'Schwartz Age'. Venture was always pictured as friendly towards his alien shipmates, and Pomerantz made constant strides to portray Venture as a man who judged someone by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Although Pomerantz himself was a talented artist, he preferred to focus on the stories at the heart of the comics and leave the illustrations to others. As the years went on, Pomerantz would work with some of the best artists in the industry, with many of them contributing to the many 'ages' that the comic went through. He was also keen to work with other writers that Venture Comics employed, and would often end the calendar year with a collaborative miniseries that saw Captain Venture dealing with some of the current issues of the age. Some of the best comic book stories ever made, such as Exodus from Nebular V, concerning the horrors of an alien civilization fleeing the destruction of their planet, to The Great Devourer, which saw a cold war between the Nova Union and the Ron'Tarr Hegemony became hot, were created during these collaborations. The public ate it up. In a 1979 poll, Captain Venture and many of the other crew members on board his new ship the Rubicon were some of the most recognizable American figures in the world, trailing only behind Ricky Raccoon and Shane Bayard's other Dreamworld characters.

After almost forty years of writing and drawing the character, Aaron Pomerantz announced his retirement from the comic book industry to focus on his family as his health was beginning to fail him and in 1996, published his very last issue of Captain Venture, a comic which today could fetch a large sum of money for a first edition on one of the various globtrix marketplaces. Venture Comics quickly named a replacement, but found that capturing the Venture spirit was easier said than done. Soon, people began whispering about the 'Venture curse' that caused many a writer and artist to produce sub-par quality work and tank their career after they were mercifully removed from the series. After gamely attempting to limp along for almost ten years, Venture Comics quietly announced that they were cancelling the series that had given them their very name. While many fans were outraged at the decision, few had any idea about what could be done to fix it.

 

[Mac Gregor]

Believe it or not here is an update! Also, I am happy to announce that we finally have threadmarks for the entire TL. Cheers!

The African War

2025​

The second quarter of the twenty-first century began with Africa still engulfed by war. With the All-African Alliance losing ground to the Coalition for a Democratic Africa, the Central Committee of the Technate of China entered a special session in Peking to assess the situation. The Technate’s leaders found themselves bitterly divided over the course of action to take. Many felt the time had come to cut their losses, as it seemed that continued fighting could only undermine their AAA proxies’ position at the negotiating table. Others felt, that a massive influx of aid could tip the scales and possibly take Nigeria out of the war. Executive Yang Zhanshu was eventually able to coble together a consensus of continuing to fund the AAA for another six months, staking his political reputation on the effort.

Nigerian Theater

As in the previous year, West Africa launched another drive towards Lagos in an effort to win the war. This time starting in March, the West Africans advanced deliberately securing their line of supply across the Ouémé River. The advance turned into a bitter slugging match as Nigerian cataphracts, supplied by the British, fought it out with their rivals, equipped by the Chinese. The West African advance reached within 60 miles of Lagos before running out of steam. The Nigerian counterattack however, proved incredibly difficult and failed to push AAA forces back across the Ouémé and Niger Rivers. By June, both sides were forced onto the defensive by mutual exhaustion.

Great Lakes Theater

By February, the East African offensive into Abyssinia had stalled due to logistical limitations. This allowed AAA forces to regroup. In April, an attack on Field Marshal McWilliams right flank nearly ended in disaster for the CDA. The next two months saw repeated thrusts by both sides. However, neither was able to make much headway. By midyear, the front had stabilized around the Ahmar Mountains. Attempts to bring Somalia and Puntland into the war on the CDA side failed, but an uprising in Aksum threatened to cut Abyssinia off from the sea. Unfortunately, for the CDA, an attempt to conduct an amphibious landing in Aksum to link up with the rebels failed when it tried to force its way through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. A well-planned AAA defense consisting of a combination mines, underwater autocraft, and anti-ship missiles, mostly supplied by the Technocratic Union, forced the CDA armada to retreat after heavy losses. The ICR and Katanga remained relatively quiet during these months, as both sides had diverted resources elsewhere.

Southern Theater

The CDA met with the most success in Angola. At the third Battle of Cuanza, South African and Zambezian forces finally broke through AAA lines. Elation over finally breaching this barrier was short lived however as the following Battle of Luanda proved to be one of the costliest of the war. Despite fierce fighting, Angolan and Congolese forces were eventually forced out of the country completely. CDA troops captured the mouth of the mighty Congo River in June. This deprived Léon Mihambo’s regime of access to the sea and vital foreign supplies. Still AAA forces prepared to fight in the impossibly rugged Congolese interior during the second half of 2025.

International Reaction

By midyear, the AAA and their TU backers found themselves completely isolated on the world stage. The financial strain of supporting the AAA, compounded by a growing number of embargos by foreign nations, had pushed the Chinese economy into recession for the first time in years. Russia was in the midst of a troop buildup on the Manchurian border a fact that greatly alarmed the Chinese and Korean militaries. Moreover, the war was not going well. Despite the massive infusion of aid, Angola had been lost to the CDA and Nigeria had not capitulated. Yang Zhanshu was forced by the Central Committee to resign on July 9. His departure was somewhat ironic, as he had replaced his predecessor Yu Qishan after his failed gamble during the Ryukyu Island Crisis of 2011. Now Yang’s plan to put the Western alliances to the test over Africa had failed to accomplish much besides profuse bloodletting. Yang was replaced by Sun Xiaowen, China's first female head of state in over a century. A week after Sun consolidated power, the Chinese representative at the Fellowship of Nations officially called for a ceasefire in Africa and a suspension of military aid to the belligerents. Though some members of the CDA and ComNat wished to continue the war, as they were winning, American President Desmond Parker backed Sun’s effort for an immediate end to the fighting. After more than 2 years and 8 months of fighting and millions of deaths, the ceasefire ending the African War went into effect at noon on July 22, 2025. ​

East Africans celebrating the ceasefire
July 22, 2025​

 

[Mac Gregor]

Hey everyone, due to a promotion at work, the imminent birth of my second son, and writing a novel, I will be putting this TL on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Thanks to everyone who has helped in the past. I fully plan to resume this project at a future date and take it to 2062. I will continue to check in so feel free to ask questions or offer content. Cheers!

2025

Foreign and Domestic Developments ​

Practitioners of Hanfu in Peking​

Hanfu, a social movement promoting the wearing of traditional Chinese fashion, proliferated in several Chinese cities. Though not inherently political, many understood the spread of Hanfu as a silent protest against the Technate and its heavy-handed insistence on ultra-modernism. While Technate authorities generally tolerated the practice, a demonstration in Mukden by protesters in Manchu costumes was broken up by police resulting in six deaths.

Three space agencies and one private organization took advantage of a favorable interplanetary transfer window and sent unmanned spacecraft to Uranus. If successful, these will become the first probes to reach the outer planet since Russia’s Svetilo mission when they arrive in 2037.

Chilean tennis player Matías Sarabia beat his husband Iago Feijóo to win the German Open clinching all major international tennis championships. The competition between the homosexual couple garnered widespread media attention.

Japanese researchers at Keio University unveiled a new polyethylene terephthalate digesting enzyme. This mutated enzyme breaks down plastic molecules faster than the ones found in nature. Scientists hope that enzymes such as these could be used to help fight the growing tons of plastic waste plaguing the world’s oceans and landfills.

During the summer, Kaiser Wilhelm III died after 36 years on the throne. His eldest son was crowned Friedrich V. Unlike his reactionary father, Friedrich was reputed to favor progressive reforms. While these sympathies were shared by many Germans at the time, they proved to be a point of contention with the Conservative Chancellor Uwe Boehler, who was reelected without a majority the same year.

Claudia Hunter’s coalition government of Liberals, Democratic Laborites, and Irish Democrats finally fell during the spring general election. Percival Acton won an outright majority, the first pure Tory government since Sir Ryan Baxter in 1952. Hunter’s downfall was due more to a string of messy scandals in the cabinet than her handling of foreign policy. Like President Desmond Parker in the United States, Acton promised to bring the war in Africa to a “swift and decisive end.”

After several months vetting proposals, the Astronomical Nomenclature Council named the Solar System’s 11th planet Minerva after the Roman goddess of wisdom.

Dravidism, the belief in a distinct political identity for the speakers of Dravidian languages, continued to spread with several large-scale demonstrations in Hyderabad, Madras, and Mysore occurring throughout the year. Calls for a unified Dravidian state, including from such intellectuals as Raghu Jagannath, gathered greater mainstream support.

During the summer, American billionaire Chester Avery launched the Wanderlust the largest ship yet constructed at 1,650 meters in length. Though technically registered in South Arabia, Avery styled the Wanderlust as an “independent international vessel.” While the ship boasted several thousand permanent residents, the vast majority of its 70,000 passengers were visiting tourists. Serviced by an airstrip on its top deck, Wanderlust hosted an array of casinos, resorts, restaurants, and a theme park.

The Canadian company EverHome began printing houses through large 3D printers utilizing gantry mounted nozzles. By using a cellulose fiber-based building material instead of concrete or carbon fibers, EverHome reduced the amount of fossil fuels needed in construction. The homes’ floorplan, though small, could be tailored for owner preferences and printed in a mater of days.

The second half of 2025 was consumed hammering out a settlement ending the African War. As the war was a collection of separate conflicts, no single treaty resolving all disputes was possible. Under the auspices of the Fellowship of Nations, negotiations were held in Dubai over the coming months. Broadly speaking, the Coalition for a Democratic Africa (CDA) achieved many of its objectives. CDA forces would leave Mozambique and Angola after holding free elections. Both countries were forbidden to rejoin the All African Alliance (AAA). Leader of the Congo, Léon Mihambo, was forced to abandon claims to the Independent Congolese Republic and Katanga as he struggled to maintain power at home. CDA troops would withdraw from Abyssinia and a demilitarized zone establish in its southern provinces. The most contentious point proved the status of northern Nigeria. West Africa refused to abandon its support for Usman Bankole’s State of Islamic Nigeria or its occupation of Guinea. Hostilities threatened to resume, until a compromise was reached. The AAA would remove its troops from northern Nigeria and agreed not to annex Guinea. A Fellowship of Nations led multinational peacekeeping force was dispatched to enforce the ceasefire. The Union of Nigeria refused to recognize Bankole’s government but agreed to the peacekeepers until a “permanent resolution could be determined.” Lagos kept control of its Biafran provinces. Though the peace settlements left many sides dissatisfied and issues unresolved it did bring an end to most of the fighting. Millions of refugees started to return and rebuild their shattered homes, millions of others fled abroad to start new lives in the latest chapter of the African diaspora.

 

[Mac Gregor]

Hey everyone, not saying this TL is back but with the corona virus going on I thought we could all use a pick me up. Enjoy!

2026
Foreign and Domestic Developments

Americans celebrating their national semiquincentennial in Philadelphia​

In a hospital in Kobe, Japan a button cell battery was removed by a tiny surgical drone after being swallowed by 17-month-old Murakami Eisuke. The procedure was credited as a breakthrough in treating similar accidents which kill or injure hundreds of children annually. Once inserted, the drone’s ice covering melts and it uses a small magnet to attach to the foreign object. An external magnetic field is then used to steer the battery outside of the body.

A number of border clashes were reported between troops loyal to the democratic government in Lagos and Usman Bankole’s regime to the north in the State of Islamic Nigeria. Despite intermittent fighting, the peace continued to hold. Elsewhere on the continent, Angola and Mozambique were formally admitted into the Coalition for a Democratic Africa. In the Congo, Léon Mihambo reconsolidate his hold on power and even managed to secure an impressive reconstruction loan from the Technocratic Union.

Researchers with the Technate of China’s Directorate of Health continued experimentation with human gene editing. In March, scientists announced a breakthrough in altering single-nucleotide polymorphism in eight children that made them significantly less susceptible to a variety of diseases including sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis. Many ethicists and religious leaders in the West decried this development as a crime against nature.

In Los Angeles the Hutagaol family opened Entoteria, a restaurant specializing in dishes containing insects. Considered a curiosity by some gourmets and gross by many in the public, Entoteria proved popular enough with health and environmentally conscious customers for two more restaurants to open by the end of the year. Some pointed to Entotoeria’s success as a visible manifestation of the recent growth in highly efficient insect farming, though the overwhelming majority of insect food stock was processed into animal and fish feed.

On the moon, a joint venture by Germany’s Imperial Space and Aeronautics Commission, the Russian Empire’s Aviation and Space Bureau, and a number of private space companies successfully used electrolysis to extract certain valuable metals form lunar regolith. This and other recent advances applying in situ resource utilization promised to greatly expand moon based industries over the coming years.

On July 4th, the United States celebrated its Semiquincentennial. America commemorated 250 years of independence with a host of parades and observances throughout the country. An unabashedly patriotic XXVIII Summer Olympics were held in Philadelphia.

In the summer, a severe heatwave swept through much of the northern hemisphere. Record draughts occurred in many countries especially on the Indian subcontinent. Particularly hard hit was Hyderabad where the Nizam’s cabinet struggled to provide relief. While the government attempted to deflect attention to the drought’s likely cause global warming, the nation’s inhabitants, known as Mulki “countrymen”, focused their anger at the state’s Muslim monarchy, which was increasingly viewed as foreign and archaic despite attempts by Nizam Asaf Jah IX to modernize and include Hindus.

During a well-publicized address commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the first Martian landing, President Desmond Parker declared that America would establish a permanent presence on Mars by 2036. Many thought of this announcement as an attempt to upstage China which went on to launch its first manned mission to the Red Planet in November.

In the fall, the Association of European States started operating a massive new particle accelerator, the Dieffenbach Supercollider (DSC). The project cost billions of German marks and upon completion became the largest machine in the world. Scientists around the globe hoped that the DSC would lead to impressive breakthroughs in particle physics in the near future.

As is common in midterm elections, the balance of power in the United States Congress shifted away from the sitting president’s party with the Democrats capturing the Senate and reducing the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. The new Senate Majority Leader, Harry Molina of Nebraska, became a leading critic of President Parker’s policies claiming they were “infeasible by a Congress honor bound to abide by the balanced budget provisions of the 18th Amendment.”

Virtual copies of particular objects, known as digital twins, were increasingly used for modeling and predicative analysis. Once only employed for expensive technically complex individual items such as aircraft engines or nuclear reactors, digital twins are now used by computers to track maintenance and run system simulations for everything from kitchen appliances to autonomous taxis and human hearts.

In December, the Seychelles achieved dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations, ending over two centuries of British colonial rule. With just over 100,000 citizens, the archipelago, long reliant on European tourism, sought to position itself as a conduit between Africa and the nations of the Middle East and the growing economic heft of the Community of South Asian States.

Flag of the Seychelles Commonwealth​

 

[Mac Gregor]

Hey y'all, I know it has been awhile but I'm pleased to announce that some new content will appear on The Union Forever in the next few weeks. While this isn't a full resumption of the timeline it will include at least a 2027 update and some standalone articles. The first is provided by longtime friend of TUF theKlicktator . Thanks for your support. If anyone else has any submissions send them to me via PM. Cheers!

Dreamworld's The Presidents (2025-2026)

In honor of the American Sestercentennial (250 years), Dreamworld Film Company announced that starting in 2025 it would be producing a limited series on every single U.S. President, starting with George Washington, showing one episode a week for 41 weeks straight until finishing with the episode featuring incumbent president Desmond Parker on July 4th, 2026.

The limited series documented the life of each President of the United States, including their life before, during, and after their presidency when applicable. Though each episode varied in length, with the episode on Robert Todd Lincoln being over 2 1/2 hours in particular, each episode was given the full financial support of Dreamworld and final approval of the script was held by each president's official library to ensure historical accuracy and political neutrality.

Utilizing their unrivaled resources and the patriotic fervor gripping the country, Dreamworld spared no expense in bringing the history of the presidents to life, such as the Battle of Havana featuring Theodore Roosevelt breaking the record for the most extras ever used in a battle sequence for a television series. Some of the best American actors, actresses, and directors in filmmaking jumped at the chance to be a part of the production, seeing it as an opportunity to display their patriotism and clean up at the awards ceremonies in the following year.

Reception for the series was overwhelmingly positive from viewers, with almost every episode holding the #1 viewership rating when it debuted. Upon seeing the episode for Andrew Jackson, the New York Times remarked that "rarely is the life of such a complex figure as Jackson given the opportunity to tell its own tale. The Presidents doesn't demand you worship or decry the man, only that you listen and learn. I can think of no higher praise for the series than this: the week until the next episode will be torturous."

The Presidents however was not without its critics. A number of historians and activists thought that several episodes glossed over controversial topics such as slavery and the treatment of Native Americans. Prominent feminist Jennell Harleigh wrote a scathing critique of the episodes on Presidents Margaret Stewart and Carla Navarro citing a prevasive subtext that styled their accomplishments as “impressive… for a woman.”

One of the actors who most benefitted from their appearance on The Presidents was action star Benjamin Whitehorse. Originally of Citizen Maverick fame, Whitehorse was long considered a macho action star with limited acting capabilities that was good for little more than bringing in mountains of dollars at the box office. He surprised his critics with a complex, believable portrayals of Frank MacArthur and Peter Rowland. He was widely considered the best in the entire cast of presidents, stealing the Griffith Award for Best Actor in a Leading Dramatic Role from frontrunner Jason Shadle for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln.

During the press tour for his episode, Whitehorse surprised his critics once again by showing off the rigorous research he had done to portray his presidents was able to give complex answers in numerous political topics with ease. With his rising popularity and recently discovered aptitude for politics, the Republican Party tapped him for the recently opened Senate seat in Arizona which he won in the 2026 election.

Benjamin Whitehorse on the campaign trail outside the Arizona State Capitol in Halleckville, AZ. His portrayal of Presidents Frank MacArthur and Peter Roland was widely considered to be the best of the entire series and even won the plaudits of current President Desmond Parker. Parker's endorsement lead to even more popularity with Republicans, making him a rising star in the GOP.

 

[Mac Gregor]

2027
Foreign and Domestic Developments

Genetically engineered bioluminescent plants
2027 World's Fair​

The 2027 World’s Fair was held in Aden, South Arabia. Notable exhibits included a prototype for a powered exoskeleton with potential applications for improving mobility for the disabled and to augment strength for certain industrial tasks. Another show case that caught the public’s attention was a display of genetically engineered bioluminescent plants from Japan.

After a series of court cases, the Sami, an indigenous people group in northern Scandinavia, won certain mineral and fishing rights on the Gulf of Bothnia. These concessions were a rare victory for the Sami who had often been exploited by Nordic and Russian governments. Sami advocate Niko Jusso heralded the decision as “a big wing for the Sami, our Sampi homeland, and native peoples around the globe.”

Scientists at the University of California created a way to arrange individual atoms to store information. By placing single xenon atoms on a sheet of nickel, data could be stored in a very small amount of space written in either letters or binary code. Unfortunately, because atoms naturally move around, the process had to be conducted at temperatures near -269 Celsius. It was hoped that further research and experimentation with different materials might allow the atoms to be kept at warmer temperatures.

The longtime dictator of Mesopotamia Isa Abu Samad died of liver failure on June 13. Having ruled since 1988, Abu Samad had kept the petrostate closely tied to Persia and its power bloc, the Organization for Mutual Development. Efforts to install his son Haydar in power sparked a wave of violent protests by Sunnis and reformist Shias who wished to see their country forge a different path. With Persian assistance, Haydar managed to consolidate his authority as leader through brutal repression, with the death toll believed to be in the thousands. Haydar loudly blamed Turkey and the Sunni Arab states for “stoking discontent.”

In July, China became the third nation to land a man on Mars. A stunning accomplishment for the Technate, it came over a decade after the United States and Germany put footprints on the Red Planet. The mission, dubbed Fāxiàn 4 , followed the earlier American model of spending only a month on the surface before beginning the more than a yearlong return mission. Chinese leader Sun Xiaowen lauded the three-man crew’s success, and declared that China and the Technocratic Union had “closed the gap” with the West.

Tiwonge Banda, an East African refugee who settled in French Algeria, published The Skeleton Road. Written after her family and home were destroyed by AAA soldiers, it detailed her harrowing flight and the horrors she braved in surviving the African War. Praised for her courage and writing prowess, Banda refused to accept any profits from the novel, giving all of the proceeds to charity funds throughout Africa, stating that "it would be wrong to make money off the suffering of a continent."

In the United States and other developed economies, Agri-drones are increasingly used in farming to weed, fertilize, harvest, and monitor crops. These machines took a variety of shape from flying quadcopters dispensing pesticides to autonomous tractors. Agri-drones did much to further precision farming, but resulted in decreased demand for agricultural workers. As such, the League of American Republics witnessed an 18% drop in visas for seasonal workers by the end of the decade.

In the autumn, Irish poet and eco-activist Eireen Daley scaled Nelson’s Pillar in downtown Dublin and chained herself to the statue at its top. Daley’s actions were meant to press for greater measures to combat climate change. Widely covered by the media, Daley’s example spawned hundreds of copycat demonstrations around the globe, some of which resulted in serious injuries due to police intervention or accidents.

The Turin Pact’s European Space Research Organization (ORSE) increased efforts to find signs of life on exoplanets with the start of the Coeus Initiative. Named after the titan of inquiry from Greek Mythology, the project strove to identify certain gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets through spectral analysis. If on suitable worlds significant quantities of oxygen or methane were detected, that could indicate photosynthesis or biological processes. The Coeus Initiative also searched for the presence of chlorofluorocarbons, which might be indicative of a technological advanced civilization.

On November 29, over 18 months of sustained protests fueled by economic stagnation, lack of political representation, and ethnic identity came to a head when the Nizam of Hyderabad Asaf Jah IX abdicated. Asaf Jah and his family fled into exile to the Union of Gulf Emirates, ending his Muslim dynasty’s 303 years of rule over the Deccan state. An interim government was established representing the Dravidian speaking Hindu majority. Both Madras and India had recognized the new administration by the end of the year,

Brazilian automobile manufacturer Renascimento unveiled A Onda, a new electric self-driving vehicle for the mass-market. With the aid of improved battery-supercapactor hybrids, the A Onda had a hitherto unheard-of range of 955 km. The stylish A Onda became a bestseller throughout the Americas and a desired import in Europe. Imitations, such as the Liberty Auto Company’s Pioneer were soon to follow.

The 2027 Renascimento A Onda​

 

[Mac Gregor]

Hey everyone, here is a lovely cultural addition provide by friend the timeline, traveller76. Thank you for your support. Enjoy!

Culture: Asia-Pacific War Films from the Sub-continent.

Actress depicting Kasi Kalyana in While You Were Gone (2028)

Nearly fifty years since the end of the Asia-Pacific War, the Hindi and Dravidian film industries produced a series of movies about the conflict. From Bombay came याद आती/Yaad Aatee/Remembering, directed by Gayatri Nikita, which chronicled the lives of Indian soldiers during the invasion of Hyderabad. From the South would come Letters Home/లెటర్స్ హోమ్/கடிதங்கள் முகப்பு/ಪತ್ರಗಳು ಮನೆ/കത്തുകൾ ഹോം (Telugu/Tamil/Kannada/Malayalam), directed by Yamuna Kashi. It detailed a young man (Anish Navneet) discovering letters from his father who died during the war. Unlike many previous films about the war, these largely shied away from any patriotic or nationalistic sentiments and instead depicted warfare and the lives of soldiers closer to historic reality. While some critics were concerned about the violence of some scenes, veterans’ groups and military experts appreciated the accuracy, with some thinking it beneficial to preventing future conflicts. These two films become popular worldwide, winning several awards and breaking a number of box-office records. Both Gayatri and Yamuna would herald the beginning of new generation of female directors and producers. A critical film regarding the rule of the REP would also be released called While You Were Gone/जब तुम गए थे/Jab Tum Gae The, directed by Chetana Sonam. The film covered the arrest and imprisonment of a young female University student (Kasi Kalyana) by the ASA and her time in a labor camp. The film touched on the treatment of minorities, women and the LGBT community under Harshad's rule. While not as commercially successful as Yaad Aatee, Jab Tum Gae The would promote conversations regarding the Asia-Pacific War and REP rule. Kalyana would become one of the first openly LGBT actors in the Indian film industry. Lastly, some historians have argued that the films helped enable a series of meetings in the 2020s between veterans and families of both sides as a form of healing.

 

[Mac Gregor]

And here is another great piece by theklicktator. Cheers!


Culture: Old Earth Chronicles (1978-1993)

The Old Earth Chronicles are a series of fantasy novels written by American author Joel Rucker Henderson between 1978 and 1993. They are largely considered to be one of the most influential modern American fantasy novels. Many credit the books as bringing about what the Seattle Times dubbed the 'adultification' of fantasy literature.

Henderson was born on a small dairy farm run by his grandparents in Wisconsin. His parents had an unhappy marriage that ended abruptly when Henderson's father abandoned the family when Joel was only eight months old. As the author later remarked: "the only thing my good-for-nothing father every gave me was a last name. That, and a damn good idea for an antagonist".

His mother turned to alcohol to deal with the grief and she died of cirrhosis of the liver shortly before Henderson's ninth birthday. Henderson's grandparents were made legal guardians of the child and he spent the remainder of his childhood working on their farm. The work was backbreaking, and the job was made all the more difficult by the fact that his grandmother spoke very little English, preferring her native German and his grandfather was gone for weeks at a time trying to make ends meet. In an effort to bond with her only remaining descendant, his grandmother often told Henderson ancient German fables that had been passed down from one generation to the next.

A creative boy from his earliest days, Henderson was enraptured by the stories and soon began daydreaming of his own while doing his chores on the farm. When he turned eighteen, he left the farm to attend the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in ancient folklore in 1945. Though clearly creative, Henderson was forced to return to the dairy farm due to the failing health of his grandparents and assume control of the family business. Though busy, Henderson spent most of his nights on an old typewriter slowly working on a manuscript for the fantasy book he had been dreaming of since he was a child. When the farm was bought out by a larger dairy company looking to expand their operations, Henderson saw his chance and used the money from the sale to publish the first of what would become the Old Earth Chronicles in 1978.

The setting for the book was on Earth, "in a time before ours, where magic still ran amok, and man shared this world with many others both great and small". Detailing the adventures of several gnomes as well as their human, elven, and dwarven allies, the Old Earth Chronicles told a sweeping story of love, courage, redemption, as well as the continuous struggle of good and evil.

A love letter to the Germanic folklore his grandmother had spoke of, the Old Earth Chronicles was unique in the fact that it relied on very few of the tropes that had defined the fantasy genre for years. Appealing to adults as much as it did to children, the Old Earth Chronicles became a gradual success that while not considered a smash hit when it was first published, gained a steady following as years went by. Emboldened by his success, Henderson wrote an additional four books, with each successive novel covering more ground, expanding the lore of his world, and fleshing out many of the characters from his original book. An alcoholic for much of his life, Henderson died of heart failure in early 1993, resulting in his final book being published posthumously.

The legacy of Old Earth Chronicles has been massive and impactful, with many modern fantasy writers taking their inspiration from the books and Henderson's tales remain one of the most beloved pieces of entertainment to this day. A group of Canadian archeologists in 2001 named the skeletons of three foot tall hominids they discovered in Indonesia Homo Gnomius after the species of the main characters in the Old Earth Chronicles.

Though filmmakers have been keen to adapt Henderson's books for the big screen, as of 2028 all such adaptations have resulted in failure, either from ballooning production budgets that made producers balk, to the Henderson estate refusing to allow an adaptation due to divergence from the source material. Though many of the Old Earth fans wish to see their heroes on screen, there is belief in San Jose that the books are unfilmable and will remain on page alone for decades to come.

Joel Rucker Henderson (1921-1993)

 

[Mac Gregor]

Because y'all earned it. Here's a world map for the end of 2027.