| Timeline : Superpowers | |
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| Terra Suum |  |
| Central Government | None, yet |
| Capitals |
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| Largest City | Rome |
| Population | 7,924,000,000 inhb. |
| Density | 53.2 inhb/km2 |
| Area | 148,940,000 km² |
| Major Languages |
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| Poverty Rate | 750 million people |
| Governments | 5 Monarchies; 5 Republics |
| Economy | Mixed, dominantly capitalist |
| Real GDP |
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GDP per ca. |
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| Average Wealth |
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| Highest Development | Rome, Equiv. ~2150 |
| Lowest Development | UCC, Equiv. ~1980 |
| Slavery Rate | 0.9% |
| Formation | Approx. 4.54 billion BCE Evolved approx. 120,000 BCE |
| Dominant Currencies | Denarius (Dn) Chao ( ¥ ) Cocoa (₡) Ōban ( 大判) |
| Religiosity |
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Earth (La: Mundus) in the Superpowers alternate history is almost alien to OTL. Hardly one structure or cultural artifact resembles our own. Ideological conflicts of our world, over issues such as the place of sexuality in society or environmentalism, never received widespread attention. Looking at the laws and technology of this world, one might feel like a stranger in a strange land.
Yet it is inhabited by human beings like any other version of modern Earth. Its cultures form a tapestry of diverse traditions - a tapestry draped in many areas by a deep purple fabric. The dominance of the Roman Empire over the planet establishes many of this world's most distinguishing features.
Major divergences in the global timeline include Europe avoiding descent into stagnation, America giving birth to powerful civilizations in their own right and the general success of large empires against destructive political fracturing.
Geography[]
Main Articles: Geography & Climate
Governments[]
Main Article: Alliance of Earth
As of 1999, there is no global international military, sovereign, legislature, judiciary, constitution with jurisdiction over the entire planet.
Only ten countries independently govern their own citizens, the result of millennia of smaller states being gradually assimilated by conquest or mutual confederation. History has shown a trend of union, rather than separation, of polities that only seems to be maintaining its course.
Some countries believe themselves to be leaders on the international stage or in their geopolitical region. The Maya, as the largest native American nation, are the self-proclaimed government of Columbia (Aztlan), covertly desiring control over the entire supercontinent. Mongol China considers its people the rightful rulers of the Earth, loathing the Roman Empire for its size and power.
Rome, for its part, as the oldest living empire on the planet, believes it has a duty to unite humanity under one government. Unlike countries that indulge in racial supremacism - Japan, China and the Conglomerate - Rome treats people with racial blindness. Its plans legitimately have the long-term in mind, viz. bringing the human race an interstellar hegemony. This is the Roman dream.
Federated states may be comprised of smaller, marginally independent polities - like a city-state within the Maya Conglomerate or a House in the United Chiefdoms. The latter are truly sovereign, merely relying on a federal government for defense and infrastructural development.
Only four countries determine their policies by a majority decision of citizens, so-called Republics. These are places where an elected official is Head of State and executor of public legislation. Most ancient of the republics is the UCC. Every 3 years the Council of Elders elects a Supreme Chief to lead the Union. As Elders are elected by majority in their House, the UCC's democratic system extends straight to the public. Therefore, it is classified as a Federal Presidential Republic.
Next oldest is the Scandian Republic, led by a Protector who is elected in five year cycles by a spontaneous representative assembly. A different body, a legislative organ, can impeach a Protector for misconduct. This other body, the Løgting is a non-representative parliament formed of members from each Kingdom, fancy term for a province. The Nordic form of government makes it a Unitary Parliamentary Democratic Republic, where central authority is wielded from Stakholm.
Other democratic countries are the Grand Zulu Repuplic, a Unitary Presidential Republic, and Majapahijian Republic, the same kind of state.
Others centralize leadership in the body of a sovereign, who may wield limited or absolute powers over the state. Tawatinsuyu, the Four United Provinces of the Inca, is a Hereditary Constitutional Theocracy led by a Sapa Inca, descendant of the sun god Inti. Officially, the Sapa Inca only subjects himself to a written constitution because of his supreme generosity, and he does in fact reserve the right to take absolute control when he deems fit.
The Maya Conglomerate has a most intriguing type of monarchy. Its Kab Ajaw (Federal King) is elected by a parliamentary body from among members of the Royal family on the previous king's death. Their choice is based on an elected king's merit as a federal leader, meaning the government is a Federal Hereditary Meritocratic Monarchy, with a hint of popular government through the monarch's election.
Succession in the Mongol World Empire is purely hereditary. A reigning Khagan will select his heir and while in power, has absolute power over the state, making his state one of two Autocratic Monarchies.
Similarly to Tawantinsuyu, Japan takes its emperor to be a living God, albeit a minor one. Nevertheless, the Heavenly Sovereign is vested with absolute power, like a Khagan, and while the Han Assembly is a parliament of sorts, it has only customary legislative control and no constitution. Thus it is an Autocratic Theocracy.
Rome's government makes classification difficult. Laws are an affair of the public (res publica), not the Caesar, and are regulated by an unbreakable constitution. Roman citizens even boast about living in the most republican and democratic country in the world. The judiciary is likewise egalitarian and operates democratically. However, military and executive powers are in the hands of an emperor, the Pontifex Maximus and most august Caesar. Despite the insufficiency of classifications, Rome is known as an Autotheocratic Constitutional Republic.
Military[]
From the year 2000 there are 11 national armed forces, plus an additional 3 private military companies. Furthermore over 100 non-incorporated terrorist organizations exist around the world, most of which are poorly funded and largely incapable of causing too many problems. The largest of these organizations by far are the Mongol Armed Forces, which include the five main branches of their military. Male Mongol citizens must serve compulsory military service in any branch from the ages of 18-24, whilst women must serve in a more technical military field for half that time. However, propaganda, resentment for foreigners and high-wages has made the number of soldiers in the Mongol armed forces a lot higher than it would be under just these laws. Currently they field around 8.4 million professional infantrymen, 18,000 armored vehicles/tanks, 2,200 naval vessels and 1.1 million active airmen. More significantly though the Mongol Empire has over 800 million men and women between the ages of 22-42 who have performed several years of military service at some point in their lives and plans are in place to arm and retrain half of them in the event of a national emergency. This is the single largest available pool of servicemen that any nation has ever had in human history. The idea of 400 million trained soldiers being raised at a moments notice by the Mongols is one that has kept any nation from fully invading them for the past 70 years.
Nevertheless, the Roman Armed Forces are considered to be the most powerful military on the planet. The weapons, armor and surveillance technology available to each soldier makes one Legionary easily equal to several hundred enemy soldiers. Furthermore the Romans have 200 weapon satellites in outer space with enough firepower to level entire countries in a matter of days. As the last war has shown however, these measures can be countered, though recently Roman technicians have been working on ways of countering the countermeasures themselves, such as replacing all standard space missiles with hypersonic alternatives. In addition the Romans have 3 million trained national guardsmen, 2,500 vessels as part of the Classis and nearly 40,000 advanced aircraft. The Roman conscription pool is also impressively large, with more than 500 million people available for military service, and about 20 million within the above age groups that have had military experience. However, they have not made preparations to the same extent as the Mongols, nor do they have any compulsory military service for people who are fit enough for it. The Romans would therefore still be outnumbered at more than 100 to 1 if a war were ever to occur.
Another notable armed forces is the Legio Terrae (Legion of Earth), which is the military arm of the Alliance of Earth. The primary section of the Legio is made up of soldiers, aircraft and ships that are volunteered by the 4 member nations. These are temporary loans and usually shift in and out of the Earth Legion every few years. The mixing of soldiers from the different countries has been noted to be an effective way to encourage international unity between members, as well as show off the skill of a nation's soldiers. This section varies in size but is usually about 2-3 million man strong.
The other section is a new one that has just recently emerged in the last decade or so, first contributing in the Third World War. The soldiers of this branch are known as Milites Factis and are in fact genetically modified clones bread specifically for the purposes of war. Derived from the Inca Militias Program started in 1964, the project finally bore fruit with the birth of the genetically modified Enoch in 1979. The following year the first "batch" of clones was started with an expected deployment date of January 1, 1992, as the increases to their metabolisms gave them one tenth of the average human life span. Ultimately they were deployed more than a year early in order for them to help the war effort, but currently batches of clones are only expected to be deployed every four years. There are currently 6 million Milites Factis, with plans to raise this number to 18 million by 2012. Proponents of the program have publicly boasted that in the future all wars may be fought by clones. The government's of the Earth Alliance eagerly hope that will be the case.
Economy[]
Due to most countries' ability to satisfy their own demand for different resources and a variety of types of products, international trade in the modern world is at a surprisingly low level (constituting roughly $7,754 billion US a year). Rome is the largest exporter, contributing to about 25% of all exports. The most prolific importers are the Japanese who spend nearly $1,560 billion US on foreign products each year. The Romans use their wealth in the balance of trade to finance huge investment programs in foreign countries. In particular, they contribute to 38% of Japan's $687 billion US yearly capital account surpluses. The daily turnover in global Foreign Exchange Markets is roughly $2,890 billion US with the most extensively traded currency being the Roman Sestertius (which is used by Romans for international trade and equals a tenth of a Denarius) at 98% out of a measured 200% of all currencies traded. The main currency trading center is Constantinople but Mayapan, Shenzhen, Machu Picchu and Medina are significant centers as well. The Sestertius (HS) is widely considered the primary currency for international trade and the international measurement of financial statistics. In an exchange, one Roman HS would equal $5 US in 2753 AUC and 2010 AD as measured by average price levels in each nation.
| Currencies | 1 HS = | 1 大判 = | 1 ¥ = |
| Sestertius (HS) | =1.000 HS | =0.115 HS | 0.010 HS |
| Ōban (大判) | =8.699 大判 | =1.000 大判 | =0.087 大判 |
| Chao (¥) | =103.553 ¥ | =11.500 ¥ | =1.000 ¥ |
| Cocoa (₡) | =1.758 ₡ | =0.202 ₡ | =0.018 ₡ |
| Khipuch (. or Kh) | =0.584 . | =0.067 . | =0.006 . |
| Dinar (د.) | =0.110 د. | =0.013 د. | =0.001 د. |
| Sorøk (SAS) | =720.821 SAS | =82.894 SAS | =7.208 SAS |
| Tical (฿) | =140.165 ฿ | '=16.119 ฿' | =1.402 ฿ |
| Iqhuxo (IX) | =343.017 IX | =39.447 IX | =3.430 IX |
| Akofa (Ak) | =109.814 Ak | =12.629 Ak | =1.098 Ak |
Primary goods (aka commodities) tend to merely be on the periphery of developing economies as most of them focus on their production and service industries. Nevertheless, mineral fuels such as petroleum run export values of $1,200 billion US, precious stones and metals generate $640 billion US and iron and steel generate $860 billion US. Almost every country as its own method for the allocation of resources in the economy for the production of goods and services. For example, the Inca government completely controls resource allocation, deciding what every organization and household receives, in what quantities they receive it and in what way it is provided to them. Their government runs what is known as a command economy. Meanwhile, resource allocation in the United Chiefdoms of Columbia is almost completely subject to market forces as there is insufficient infrastructure in the UCC to manage its complex economy.
In the sense of government intervention, the Inca have by far the least free (most centralized) economy. Private Inca corporations do not exist and personal income for all individuals is handed out by the Khipukamayuq in Cuzco, based on social class. The Inca currency is pegged to the values of wheat, iron and gold (as a basket of commodities) in order to ensure that the state allocated money will always be sufficient. Food, property and fuel are provided by their respective distribution authorities. Health care is provided for free but the system is protected from abuse by extensive laws, that can revoke money from someone for using emergency services when they only have a minor cold. In all other things, including clothing, entertainment, vehicles and houses, the Inca use their income to make their own, highly limited choices.
The Roman economy is a fine balance between capitalism and socialism, where the choices of, what to produce, how to produce and for whom to produce are decided by market forces but the government has a hand in maintaining stable growth, low unemployment and an acceptable rate of inflation. There is almost no management of the Roman currencies anymore, interest rates are controlled by guilds of bankers and price control measures such as minimum wage exist. Certain policies such as the provision of unemployment benefits, corporate taxation and worker's unions are on the other hand nonexistent. The national constitution of Rome guarantees citizens 67% of their income and sales taxes are typically in the area of 0-10%, though they differ for nearly every possible good and service. Nevertheless, the government has enormous funds at its disposal. It is capable of financing nearly incalculably expensive public works such as transatlantic bridges, continental reverse desertification and planetary terraforming.
In spite of many countries' sizes, comparative advantage still exists. The Ottomans have a comparative advantage in crude oil production, allowing them to sell the lowest cost petroleum of any nation, while the Zulus can sell diamonds and gold with lower opportunity costs than almost anywhere else. Meanwhile, Japan and Denmarc have some of the most developed capital markets in the world and so they excel in the industrial manufacturing sector and the genetic and biological technologies of the Inca give them a comparative advantage in virtually all agricultural products. The Romans, Maya and Mongols simply have access to huge population bases and land that grants them decently low production costs in their industries and levels of output unmatched anywhere else.
Finally, something needs to be said for the recent market of celestial resources. In the last few decades, the Roman Empire has formed a mining industry in outer space that dwarfs the combined outputs of virtually the entire planet. In order to keep prices in the commodity markets from crashing due to a colossal increase in supply, most of these resources are isolated from Earth's economies and kept in the possession of the Roman state. Likewise, the quantity being mined is kept secret to prevent speculation on future supply or demand and again stabilize commodity prices. The government then uses these resources to accomplish its unbelievable public works projects, directly using them rather than buying them on any market. Howbeit, when traditional Roman production falls short of expected output these resources are used as a kind of buffer stock and are provided to the market directly by the state. Of course, all profits in doing so go directly to the government.
Culture[]
Main Article: Culture
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