A Slow Fall Into Madness, Part 5. (Unfiltered)
Still going on!
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Politics, Reset
At the time of Zeroth Contact, many nations had democratic forms of government, and most at least pretended to. Most of them had established political parties; none of them lasted more than fifteen years before collapsing. In some places, they were simply replaced by rough equivalents. For example, in the old United States the Democratic and Republican parties imploded in the infamous 2056 election, which ended up being decided in the House of Representatives after a week of voting. By 2060 they had been replaced by the Columbian and Dynamic parties, superficially resolving the problem. In other countries (particularly the ones using the parliamentary models), the divisions were more significant, with the parties showing no real connection with what happened before. Religious-aligned parties became much more popular, of varying levels of ecumenicalism.
Those countries that were monarchical (whether official, or not) generally found themselves moving away from a model where the monarch reigned, but did not rule. Popular approval of the various kings skyrocketed during that time, whether justified or not. With that approval came more actual power. For example: by the time of the Consolidation Wars the Windsor dynasty in England had regained operational control over the military, had real say in foreign policy, and only slightly less in domestic. Other realms in Asia and North Africa likewise saw a rise in royal popularity and power.
This newfound respect for monarchy extended even to dynasties out of power. The old European Union in particular rediscovered a zeal for the von Habsburg dynasty, appointing many of its members to positions of responsibility throughout Europe. This practice arguably resulted in civil war in the 2070s, as the family split into two factions, and made Europe do the same… but that is considered a contentious argument.
The True Gaians
This group was the most significant supranational entity to arise in the post Zeroth-Contact era. It began as an environmental organization, evolved into an extremist religious cult, and ended up an international terrorist conspiracy. The True Gaians largely believed that humanity had been spared from the xenocides because Earth was special. Whatever that special thing was, it had to be preserved. From there it was only a few steps to get to the point that anyone who opposed the True Gaians was an enemy of the planet and needed to be destroyed.
Strictly speaking, True Gaians approved of industry and growth, and did not think of human beings as being a disease or mistake. Nothing to them was truly ‘unnatural.’ They simply could not accept that anybody had the right to disagree with their beliefs, and saw nothing wrong with killing their opponents. Their atrocities would later be dwarfed by those of the Consolidation Wars, but the True Gaians caused a lot of damage before then.
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