ΚWorld War 4
World War 4, or the Fourth World War (often abbreviated WW4), was a global military conflict that lasted for thirty minutes on 3 March 2132. It was the most disastrous war in history, with more than 12 billion casualties.
Chronology
At approximately 03:20 UTC, a nuclear missile was launched from the United States of America. The destination is presumed to have been China which responded with missile launches of their own. Within ten minutes, missiles were launched all over the world by various nations. Within thirty minutes, there were thousands of nuclear missiles airborne. Before 04:00 UTC, most major cities in the world were already destroyed.
Background
On 21 May 2050 CE, The People’s Republic of China withdrew its membership in the United Nations and invaded Japan and Korea. The United States of America, in defense of its old allies, immediately declared war and demanded the United Nations also step in. The United Nations was slow to react due to Russian interference and it was not until June that the UN declared sanctions against China.
The first American troops were already in Japan, fighting the Battle of Okinawa. Casualties were numerous and the Americans were forced to withdraw. By July, Japan and Korea were fully occupied, China declaring them to be protectorate provinces. Chinese belligerence continued throughout the next twenty years as China annexed all of Asia, excluding Russia.
This event, popularly referred to as World War 3, was not a true global conflict, since it was mostly restricted to Asia. The rest of the world, which had depended on Asian-made products for over a century, began a slow economic decline. By 2070 CE, the economies of the world were experiencing a major depression which they would not recover from until 2100 CE.
Meanwhile, on 21 May 2075 CE, twenty-five years after it had withdrawn their UN membership, China declared itself to be the new Middle Kingdom. Within its borders lived half of the world’s inhabitants. A new emperor had been crowned who, the Chinese declared, reigned over the whole Earth. Chinese ambassadors visited every capitals of the countries of the world, demanding they send tribute to their new ruler. Most countries, afraid to decline, sent various national treasures to the Chinese regent. Eventually, by 2085 CE, diplomatic relations had been established with every nation in the world (except the Vatican, which was ignored). In 2090 CE, China rejoined the United Nations and became the sole member of the UN Security Council.
As the United States economy recovered, voices of dissent to the Chinese alliance became louder. In 2115 CE, the United States withdrew from the UN and cut diplomatic relations with China. In retaliation, the Chinese demanded that the United States was to be cut off from the rest of the world. In 2121 CE, Canada and Mexico joined with the United States and formed the North American Union.
For the next eighteen months, there was no communication between North America and China. When a missile was launched from the state of Alaska, the Chinese responded in kind. No facts are known regarding the initial launch, but it is generally thought to have been due to human error. Nuclear defense procedures that had been in place for more than a hundred years were suddenly activated. Missiles originating from sixteen nations were automatically launched, aimed at various countries. Almost no part of the globe was spared from the nuclear disaster.
Aftermath
It is estimated that the population of the world in the year 2124 CE was about 13 billion people. With the critical events of World War 4, the population was reduced to less than 500 million people. Every urban center that had a population numbering more than a few thousand was obliterated.
There were twenty-five cities that were not completely destroyed. As the nuclear fallout settled, these cities began to contact each other by radio and by satellite. A year elapsed when it was finally decided that they should form the Council of Cities. This date, 1 January 2125 CE became the starting point of the new calendar, which was called the Post-war Era, now referred to as the Post-human Era, or more simply the Post Era.
Many small villages had survived the nuclear holocaust. At first, it was thought working with them could rebuild the now-radiated world. In fact, many people who had survived outside the cities migrated to help rebuild. But, many inhabitants of the villages returned to superstitious beliefs, most based on religion. Villages cut off contact with the cities, especially when the inhabitants of the cities began to mutate.
Scientists of the cities worked hard against the mutation but it was quickly realized that the cities themselves were the cause. Some aspects of the genetic change seemed beneficial: people became taller, stronger, and more intelligent. But there was one major negative side-effect: the mutation prevented procreation.
The Council of Cities appointed twelve top scientists to determine the best solution. In the year 50 PE, it was decided to further isolate the villages and use them to replenish the populations of the cities. Small-scale nuclear weapons were detonated around every village, changing what little survived of the world into irradiated wasteland.
ΛCouncil of Cities
The Council of Cities (COC) is an inter-city organization whose aims are facilitating cooperation in population controls, technological and medical advances, and sharing of information. The COC was founded in 1 PE after World War 4 to provide a platform for dialogue between cities. It contains several subsidiary organizations to carry out its functions.
History
Following in the wake of World War 4, an organization was needed to maintain cooperation in solving inter-city problems. Although the founding of the Council of Cities is considered to have taken place on 1 January 1 PE, it had no formal organization until later that year. The Overseer Council was the first body to be organized. The General Assembly and the Secretariat were formed in 10 PE. The Science Council was created in 38 PE.
Organization
The organization has four principal organs: the General Assembly, the Overseer Council, the Science Council, and the Secretariat. There are also several agencies responsible for carrying out the purposes of the COC.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the main deliberative assembly of the Council of Cities. Composed of the twenty-four member cities, the assembly meets in regular annual sessions. Over a two-week period at the start of each session, all members have the opportunity to address the assembly. The first session was convened on 10 January 10 PE via satellite.
When the General Assembly votes on important questions, a two-thirds majority is required. All other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member city has one vote. The Assembly may make resolutions on any matters within the scope of the COC, except matters which are under Overseer Council consideration.
Overseer Council
The Overseer Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among cities. Composed of twenty-four Overseers, one from each of the cities, the council meets on an irregular basis, whenever its members deem fit.
Science Council
The Science Council assists the General Assembly in promoting inter-city scientific and technological cooperation and development. It has twelve members, all of which are elected by the General Assembly for a twenty-five year term. The council meets once per year in June.
Secretariat
The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of inter-city civil servants. It provides studies, information, and facilities needed by Council of Cities bodies for their meetings. It also carries out tasks as directed by the General Assembly, Overseer Council, and other COC bodies. The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the General Assembly or Overseer Council any matter.
ΜInduction
Every post-human alive in the Earth was once human. There are a small percentage of post-humans who can claim to have existed before the Post Era but the overwhelming majority of post-humans were once humans living in the villages. The process by which they become post-humans is referred to as “Induction.” There are three basic phases involved in Induction: Initiation, Education, and Naturalization, each of which has its own steps.
Initiation
The first step of Initiation involves the removal of the human from his village. This is usually accomplished when he is near the edge of a village’s forest perimeter. It is essential to remove the villager when they are alone. This is usually determined using remote surveillance and robotic drones. Villagers are removed following a strict quota system, so as not to interfere with a village’s ability to be self-sustaining.
Occasionally, two villagers may be removed at once but this is under extremely rare circumstances. Usually, the villager removed is male but there are instances where females have been removed.
The second step of Initiation is the removal of the human’s memory. This step was the first formalized step of Induction, even before the villages were isolated. Villagers with intact memories had a tendency to want to return to their birthplace, and this could not be permitted, for numerous reasons. This homesickness had the added side-effect of increasing their stress, decreasing their productivity, and could eventually led to an extremely early death.
The third step of Initiation is a set of medical procedures designed to make the human at least appear post-human. The permanent removal of body hair is followed by skin de-pigmentation and the implanting of nano-machines and communication ports.
Once these three basic steps are performed, the Inductee is referred to as Alpha and may progress on to the next phase of Induction.
Education
Without the implanting of nano-machines and communication ports, the education of a post-human might take many years. But thanks to technological advances, the education phase takes a mere four to six weeks. Using advanced memory engrams, the Alpha is programmed with the basic knowledge needed to survive. Using a series of twenty-four engrams, the Inductee is transformed from a pre-modern human into a specialized, skilled post-human.
The first four engrams contain the core educational requirements given to everyone in the world: Science, History, Language, and Art. The next five engrams contain the secondary educational requirements. This includes a fairly well-balanced education but with a skew based on the lowest scores of the first four engrams. This is often the most stressful stage of an Inductee’s education. The next six engrams are chosen by the Inductee. Depending on the Inductee’s interest, they can include anything, from Musical History to Biological Engineering to Theoretical Metaphysics. The next five engrams are based on the Inductee’s abilities and are the first step in a specialized education. The final four engrams are the final steps of a specialized education and will determine the Inductee’s career.
Naturalization
Following the education phase, an Inductee is referred to as Omega. At this point, the Inductee must be naturalized. Different cities have their own traditions and these change from time to time. For example, Saint John’s currently requires that you swim naked in the ocean for thirty minutes while in Santa Fe, an Omega must sing a traditional song in front of his teachers. At this point, the Inductee graduates and becomes a citizen of the City.
ΝVillages
There are 169,697 villages in the world with an approximate population of 700,000,000 humans. Nearly all villages have reverted to a pre-modern condition; they have abandoned all technology but those required for farming, hunting, and medicine. Most follow the traditional beliefes of the Common Era religions and are unaware of the existence of other villages or the cities.
The ideal population of a feeder village is currently estimated to be a minimum of 4,000 people. This is to maintain genetic stability and avoid inbreeding. Most villages experience an induction once per four years.
Each of the fourteen cities control a district, which contain a specified number of villages, as determined by the Global Census of 75 PE. Each city retains its own right to make decisions regarding inductions and culling. The district of the former city of Christchurch is administered directly by the Council of Cities.
There has been some debate in recent years to redistribute the feeder villages based on current city populations. In the millennium that has passed since the districts were created, several cities have experienced higher population growth while their villages have not. At the same time, several cities have experienced lower population growth in comparison to their feeder villages. The Council of Cities has made no decision on this issue but it is expected that eventually the imbalance of ratios will become too much to ignore.
Population of Villages
| City | Feeder Villages | Village Population (estimated) |
| Saskatoon | 10,132 | 43,000,000 |
| Rio Gallegos | 10,469 | 42,000,000 |
| N’Djamena | 10,691 | 40,000,000 |
| Santa Fe | 9,854 | 42,000,000 |
| Tomsk | 10,892 | 41,000,000 |
| Dudinka | 10,478 | 40,000,000 |
| Santiago | 10,211 | 40,000,000 |
| Cheyenne | 9,872 | 40,000,000 |
| Manaus | 9,462 | 40,000,000 |
| Luanda | 8,985 | 37,000,000 |
| Murmansk | 9,005 | 34,000,000 |
| Ulan Batar | 7,431 | 28,000,000 |
| Yakutsk | 8,156 | 31,000,000 |
| La Paz | 6,899 | 29,000,000 |
| Okhotsk | 6,610 | 25,000,000 |
| Astana | 3,890 | 16,000,000 |
| Buchara | 3,751 | 15,000,000 |
| Brisbane | 3,258 | 13,000,000 |
| Kabul | 3,649 | 14,000,000 |
| Lusaka | 3,122 | 14,000,000 |
| Maputo | 3,509 | 14,000,000 |
| Anchorage | 3,474 | 14,000,000 |
| Saint John’s | 3,022 | 12,000,000 |
| Port Moresby | 2,586 | 10,000,000 |
| Christchurch | 289 | 1,000,000 |
Life Expectancy
According to current statistics, the average lifespan of village residents is 33 years, although some may live up to 45 years. The most common cause of death is radiation sickness (61% of all deaths). Natural illnesses cause a large number of deaths (22%), as do accidental deaths (16%). Other causes of death include execution and murder (1%). These statistics exclude the large rate of infant death (10%).
Culling
Every so often, a village may need to be partially or entirely exterminated. Usually this is due to contagion but occasionally there are other reasons. There are several accepted methods by which a village is culled.
The most common form of culling is low-level irradiation of the village’s water supply. It has the effect of killing and sterilizing the weakest and oldest members of the village. In this way, the population will be reduced to its youngest and strongest members and then the irradiation can be reversed. After this type of culling, the village will be ready for induction again in a few hundred years.
Another type of culling is the simple destruction of the entire village. This is usually accomplished by a small nuclear detonation. This, of course, reduces the village to desert and has not been used since the Christchurch Incident.
An alternative method of culling that results in total extermination is viral infection. This has the advantage of releasing the land for re-use in the near future. The idea is that another village may have a section of its population transferred to the now empty village. Although there are a number of villages that have been culled in this way, none have been re-populated as of yet.
ΞCities
As of 1 June 1152 PE, the population of the cities of the world is 16,786,317. The post-human population of the world has been relatively stable since the year 917 PE, with a growth rate of about 0.2% per year. There are 24 cities in the world. Each is controlled by a City Hall of elected representatives and monitored by an Overseer.
History
All of the cities currently in existence were founded before 1 PE. Some can trace their history for thousands of years but little remains of the original cities. Many of the cities re-shaped themselves drastically after World War 4 when most experienced a massive influx of people from surrounding villages and other surviving but heavily damaged cities.
With the founding of the Council of Cities, it was decided that, due to the majority of the Earth being uninhabitable, that each city must be able to sustain itself. So, as a result, every city has its own economy, monitored closely by an Overseer. Each city also has its own food and recycling plants and the waste generated by each city is nearly zero.
Government
Each city has its own City Hall, which consists of representatives who are elected irregularly. The Mayor is also elected irregularly by the representatives themselves. Representatives are elected directly by the general population and carry the power of every one of their constituents.
For example, if a representative were to carry 51% of the popular vote, then it would be able to elect itself as mayor. Of course, constituents have never allowed this to happen. In known history, any time a representative has neared 50% power, its constituents have transferred their votes to another representative.
Overseer
The Overseer has various responsibilities, too many to list, but most importantly has the power to dismiss any unelected public officer. This allows the Overseer to make sweeping changes to almost any department in the city, from public works to waste management.
An Overseer may resign their position at any time. At that time, they may appoint their own successor, who must then be approved by the Council of Cities. Although the Council of Cities has the power to veto a successor to the position, no Council has ever chosen to do so.
The position of Overseer has some historical precedent in governments of the Common Era. Some historians have compared the position to that of a king in a constitutional monarchy. Similarly, the Overseers have much personal power but choose to use that power only when absolutely necessary.
Population by City
| City | Population |
| Saskatoon | 1,102,440 |
| Rio Gallegos | 1,097,277 |
| N’Djamena | 1,054,789 |
| Santa Fe | 1,051,635 |
| Tomsk | 1,043,953 |
| Dudinka | 1,038,163 |
| Santiago | 1,007,908 |
| Cheyenne | 978,031 |
| Manaus | 943,002 |
| Luanda | 901,068 |
| Murmansk | 890,312 |
| Ulan Batar | 789,586 |
| Yakutsk | 731,971 |
| La Paz | 712,185 |
| Okhotsk | 512,657 |
| Astana | 419,833 |
| Buchara | 400,499 |
| Brisbane | 383,659 |
| Kabul | 382,474 |
| Lusaka | 375,489 |
| Maputo | 366,741 |
| Anchorage | 345,489 |
| Saint John’s | 298,815 |
| Port Moresby | 256,043 |
Life Expectancy
According to current statistics, the average lifespan of city residents is 535 years. The most common cause of death is self-termination (54.7% of all deaths). The majority of non-suicidal deaths are murders (24.5%). Other causes of death include execution (16.2%), accidental death (4.0%), and infection (0.6%).
Developments in longevity have made it possible for post-humans to live indefinitely. Indeed, many of the members in the Council of Cities have documented births in the Common Era and not the Post Era. The average age of members in the Council of Cities is 1072 years.
ΟChristchurch Incident
In 912 PE, the city of Christchurch was infected by a deadly virus. At first, the infection spread slowly, but anyone who became infected died within a few weeks. On 1 February 917, the city made a collective decision to self-terminate.
Chronology
In the summer of the year 912 PE, the city of Christchurch experienced a viral outbreak, apparently originating in its Induction and Education Centers.
The authorities made efforts to quarantine those affected by the virus but by 913, it became apparent that the virus was not contained. Outbreaks were sporadic at first but steadily increasing. Despite extensive research, a vaccine could not be generated.
During the intervening years of 913 and 915, it was observed that many of the feeder cities of Christchurch had also become infected. The city council made the independent decision to stop induction procedures and the population, already in decline, began to drop rapidly. By the end of the year 916, the population of the city was less than 12,000. On 1 February 917, the surviving population of the city made a collective decision to self-terminate and the city was destroyed.
Symptoms
The effects of the virus on the body are unknown and the symptoms of the virus do not seem particularly unusual. There are no outward symptoms of the virus but the psychological effects of the virus include feelings of depression, lethargy, and a desire to self-terminate.
Aftermath
Of the 2,031 Christchurch feeder villages, 1,742 had been so affected by the virus that they could no longer self-sustain. On 3 May 925 it was decided by the Council of Cities to cull those villages. The remaining 289 villages remain under quarantine and observation.
The origin of the virus is still unknown but it is generally assumed to have originated in one of Christchurch’s feeder villages. Data from the city’s computers remain under restriction.
