Editing Gridlink (section)

= The State of Things =
There are over ten billion humans on Earth and about four billion humans off-world. About nine billion non-human sophonts are known to mankind, though it's projected that this figure could be wildly incorrect. The most commonly encountered non-human sophont is the Discovery native, known by several different names. There are a few million non-human sophonts on Earth, mostly AI and Discovery Native.

== America ==
The USA has split into two regions, North and South.
Latin America's states are more powerful than in previous generations.

== Canada ==
Canada has becoming something of a superpower, even absorbing the state of Alaska. It's currency (the Canadian Dollar, CAD) is one of the world's major traded currency.

== China ==
[[Image:China.gif|thumb|Map of the assorted ex-Chinese states]]
China has split into a number of independent countries. Many other Asian nations have annexed various former Chinese provinces; Tibet is entirely a free state, some parts of Ximjiang are Kazakh, and Jilin and Heilongjian are separate from North Korea only unofficially. Notably, Japan also controls Liaoning, Jiangsu, and part of Shandong.

== France ==
France has ceded a small region to form a separate Islamic state that lives in relative peace. French is one of three national languages, the others being European English and German.

== Germany ==
Germany has become ''the'' major power in Europe. Both European English and German are official languages. Currently the world's richest nation, Germany is in no small part responsible for the power of the ¥€$ as a currency.

== Israel ==
Israel now occupies several territories, such as Jordan, the Lebanon, the Sinai region of Egypt and and a large portion of Syria; expansion was heavy for the country in 2045, when terrorist threats and internal pressure sent the country on an expansionist bent. By 2098, it had captured its current territories, and the entirety of Syria.

The country is currently considering further expansion into Egypt, which currently boasts a greater GDP, in no small part due to the massive Sun Farms used to suply much of the region's energy.

A number of cities outside of Israel are officially considered independent Israeli colonies, though whether the city or the country the city resides in return this feeling varies. 

Investigation into human rights abuses continue following the 2203 Cyprus Intrusion, a failed expansion attempt. Terrorist attacks are also a frequent event.

== Japan ==
Japan, the weakest of the ¥€$ states, nonetheless maintains a high standard of living and a high employment rate. It maintains a vast amount of online space, most of which remains sadly unused. Japan maintains heavy use of English as a second language, though Russian is now also taught in schools. 

China attacked Japan in early 2031, and his failed attack was seen as part of the decline of China as a state. Japan now controls the Shadong, Liaoning and Jianso regions, which are officially recognized as extraterritorial colonies. These areas are a strong trading base with Russia and the rest of the Chinese States.

Japan briefly controlled North Korea in 2079, which since regained independence from Japan

== Kazakhstan ==
Kazakhstan currently maintains the world's largest standing army and holds more territories than any other nation. Beginning in late 2164, a massive sequence of expansions took Kazakhstan hold of most of Central Asia, leaving only Afghanistan and Mongolia (relatively) unmolested; it also cut up through Russia, spreading into the Ukraine, where further expansion has proved difficult.

Kazakhstan has lost size in the past forty years-- the ex-Chinese Xinjiang region has almost entirely seceded. Political tensions between the country and Romania, particularly, are high, and there is also a negative relationship between it and the Federation of Western Russia.

International sanctions against Kazakhstan are now far fewer, and while the country is still recognized as expanding, it is no longer recognized as a threat.

== Korea ==


== Romanian Republic States ==
The Romanian Republic States (RSS) now control much of Ukraine and Moldova is one of their protectorates, so the country is a lot richer than it has been in the past. Romania has so far resisted Imperial Sovereign Kazakh (ISS) takeover, in part due to an alliance with West Russian troops (who maintain a solid presence in the Bashkir region). The Khanti-Mansiyskie East Socialist States (KMESS) has trade relations with the RSS, but West Russia and Kazakh ISS both maintain strong blockades - the former economically, the latter militarily.

Roughly 45% of Romanians speak standard English fluently, with a further 5% knowing solely how to read and type it. Dialectical English is common at another 15%, with a particular focus on internet English, AKA Grigg's English. 98% of Romanians speak Romanian.

=== Deva ===
Deva, Romania has a lot of the feel of Hong Kong, Las Vegas, or Birmingham, with shining lights and skyscrapers. It was also contender for capital of the RRS after the bombing of Bucharest. It's a very high tech down, with high population density. English, Russian, German, Hebrew and Romanian are all languages that one might encounter.

Amongst other things, Deva holds some of the important stations of office instead of, or as well as, Brasov, the current capital. Indeed, Brasov was chosen to be capital due to the central proximity of the region; Devas advancement since has led it to become the spiritual and economic capital, though Brasov has the right'' in nomine''.

====Gridlink====
Notable departments within Deva are Gridlink, an elite anti-terrorist team, selected from Romanian veterans and recruits from other armies. Boasting a small team of under a hundred, it maintains a high level of professionalism and great resources.
The existence of Gridlink is an open secret-- the group is mostly known to exist, but not publicly addressed. Chief Michael Aron, former head of the Jandarmeria Română, both founded and leads the group.

Gridlink are officially a specialist group within the gendarmerie, though they actually receive separate funding and support, with different remits and jurisdictions; they are a split off from the Grupul Antiteroriste, which broke into internal and external security. Whereas the Jandarmeria is based around preventing threats to Romanian security and the Grupul Antiterroriste Externe is for extraterritorial insertion, Gridlink are a specialized response and investigation unit, considered to have superior claims to investigation rights into internal terrorist incidents. They are also outside the remit of investigation of any group with a lower clearance than the Departamentul Român de Informaţii, the Romanian equivalent of the CIA.

"Gridlink" is an unofficial name; the official name for Gridlink is Detaşamentul de Protecţie Publice, the Department for Public Safety, or the DPP; they are also known as the Grupul Antiterorist Internă, or the Internal Anti-terrorist Group. While they do not technically have extraterritorial permit, they nonetheless do find overlap with their sister group, the Grupul Antiterorist Externe.

They are often called in to take care of HCS, High Combat Situations or "Probabil Lupta Situatzie", colloquially known as an "Afacere Ploioasa", or a "wet job."

== Russia ==
[[Image:Russia-map.JPG|thumb|Map of Eastern Europe and North Asia]]
===The Tri-Way Split===
The Tri-Russian Split was an incredibly significant historical event that caused a snowballing of East European states into war and takeover, reaching into the rest of the world. It has affected the world more than the American and Chinese splits, or the forming of the newer states and empires.

=== The Federation of Western Russia ===
The most nominally Russian group, the Federation remains one of the world's richest countries.

=== Khanti-Mansiyskie East Socialist States ===
The KMESS is pretty much everything east of the Khanti-Mansiyskie region. In the last 200 years, it's been a massive site of immigration out of the simple presence of so much space to actually live, though there's a lot more urbanization throughout the KMESS. The Khanti-Mansiyskie states cover all of Siberia, from the Urals to the Lena river. It has one of the best trade relations with the Imperial Kazakh Sovereign States.

Whereas the nation is Socialist in name, the country is generally a capitalist nation; health care is subsidized, and many public services are paid through tax. It is also one of the first countries to charge an immigration tax, a figure paid by first generation immigrants, to which the country is welcome, and constitutes a major part of the reason it has the world's highest population.

=== The Far-Eastern Republic ===

=== The Kazav Autonomy: The Fourth Russia ===

== UK ==
The United Kingdom is less affluent than in previous generations, but still maintains a high standard of living and maintains a heavy trade powerbase. In all the world, it boasts the lowest crime rates, in no small part due to a zero tolerance policy; cybercrime being a major exception, where the UK fares surprisingly badly-- in part due to the government's tacit approval in off-shore cybercrimes. It is a point contention between the United Kingdom and some trade relations that, while the United Kingdom seems immune to intra-national cybercrime, the amount of data theft from other countries is excessive.

The United Kingdom also expresses some of the laxest censorship laws in the world, and maintains vast fractal-storage information vaults.

Scotland ceded from the united kingdom briefly in 2105, and rejoined in 2117 after failure as a stand-alone economy. It has recently been gearing up for a second attempted secession.

The United Kingdom officially has British English as the national language, though a large majority of the population also speak European English.

== USA ==
The United States of America has divided into two nations. The New Confederate States of America (largely composed of southern states) and the Union of Northeastern Republics (composed of New York, New England states, the northern Mid-Atlantic States (Pennsylvania, Delaware, possibly Maryland) and the Rust Belt states). California is a war zone, the borders of which are highly disputed. Alaska has joined with Canada.