Gridlink

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 mankind.

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

China has split into a number of independent countries. Many other Asian nations have annexed various former Chinese provinces. (Notably, Japan's annexation of islands in the Sea of Japan.)

East Europe

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.

01[21:16] <~corporalcoin> HCS are also called "Afacere ploioasa". A-fa-chair plo-io-sa.
01[21:17] <~corporalcoin> This literally translates in English as a "wet job".
01[21:20] <~corporalcoin> The locals will moslty speak Romanian, most ousiders will seak the others.
01[21:20] <~corporalcoin> *speak
01[21:20] <~corporalcoin> English is spoken fluently by at least 6 billion people and is the Lingua Franca.
01[21:23] <~corporalcoin> Roughly 45% of Romanians speak standard English fluently, with a further 5% knowing solely how to read and type it. Dialectile English is common at another 15%, with a particular focus on internet English, AKA Grigg's English.
01[21:24] <~corporalcoin> 98% of Romanians speak Romanian.
01[21:27] <~corporalcoin> (Also: "Probabil Lupta Situatzie" is Romanian for High Combat Situation.)

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.

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 indepedant 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 recognised as extraterratorial 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 independance from Japan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan currently maintains the world's largest standing army and holds more extraterritories 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 Ukriane, 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 countryis still recognised as expanding, it is no longer recognised as a threat.

Russia

The Tri-Way Split

The TriRussian 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 Imprerial Kazakh Sovereign States. Whereas the nation is Socialist in name, the country is generally a capitalist nation; healthcare is subsidised, 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 imigrants, to which the country is welcome, and constitutes a major part of the reason it has the world's highest population.

UK

The United Kingdom is less affluent than in previous generations, but still maintains ahigh 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 natinal 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.

Off world

There are a few off-world colonies, mainly lunar or Lagrangian. Mars has proven too far from the Sun for current terraforming technology. There is (at least) one world terraformed, this is an expensive process and the joint venture is bankrolled by Canada, Germany and Japan (they also maintain a controlling interest in the planet).
There is an orbital ring around the Sun, which collects energy that would otherwise be wasted and beams it back to Earth and orbital colonies.

Xenosophonts

The idea of a SKREEE alien is pretty popular. A native animal on the planet Discovery (humans are such fags for names like that) are often portrayed as them in fiction, though they're only as scary as an earth Tiger.
There's what some call the Sky Manta, which fed on the native tribes of Newfoundworld. That's pretty close to a Cliff Racer, but it's pretty easily beaten with advanced technology such as "a roof". � Earth has found nine planets that naturally sustain life, and, obviously, exploits the shit out of them. Two of them have sentient life, one has sapient life somewhere around the level of a human child, and the rest have varying levels of indigenous life. Discovery Natives tend to be the most common aliens other than humans, and there's not that many of them; you may have met one or two.

Economics

The ¥€$ - Yes- is the world's most widely used currency. Most countries refer to them still as "Dollars", "Euros", or "Yen". Other major currencies are the Swiss New Franc, the Euro-American ¥€$, the HK-AU Dollar, the South Chinese Wulong, the Israeli Shekel, and the Canadian Dollar. The Pound is used in the UK and India, and the HK-AU Dollar Hong Kong and Australia. All three currencies - Dollars and Pounds- are interchangeable in these nations. Hong Kong nominally rejoined the UK, India unofficially, and the UK and Australia in part cooperating for financial benefit. The Pound/HK-AU is a trade currency throughout Southeast and South Asia, and sees some use in the border regions of East Asia, though not the de facto currency in these regions.
Oil, Natural gas, and natural Coal are rare and expensive, though Coal is easier to synthesize.

Technology

Climate

Global warming hasn't killed us all only on account of clever application of technology; climates are about the same as they are now, for most places.

Energy

We tend to use small-scale fusion power, surprisingly. It's proven easier to use smaller reactors than larger ones, so small fusion reactors tend to power groups of houses, large vehicles, or such. So, what do drones and cars and the like run on? Piezoceramic batteries. Highly pressurized layers of ceramic and lithium containing more charge than seems right. Do NOT break the small mirror! There is the equivalent of a laser in there!

Sophonts

AIs exist. A few orangutans and dolphins now have evolved enlarged language centres, partially due to South American experiments. In 2183, an orangutan known as "Genio" was unveiled in Nicaragua; he was fully able to use sign language, understood fluent Spanish, and read voraciously. He was nonetheless the only real success from their experiments. Some genetic experiments have lead to extremely smart dogs, but nothing up to the level of the aforementioned examples. Sentience and sapience take a while to evolve, and human dickery doesn't seem to work too well in hastening it.

Language

Language has shifted and swayed a great deal, including and especially English. The 20th and 21st century saw the rise of the internet and indefinite information storage, and other semi-permanent media has existed for a long time. This has somewhat reduced the amount of change in language, though some changes have been inevitable, including major influences from Hindu into British English and French into European English. The English languages are officially recognised as seperate, though the differences are mostly dialectile; thee are no major fundamental differences, and speakers of one- while not fluent can generally get by in another. Various Englishes are incredibly common worldwide; roughly 2 billion- 20.89%- people on earth speak at least one type of English fluently, and another 3 billion know the language to some degree. This nonetheless leaves another 5 billion who cannot speak a word, something that tourists and heavy 'net users still tend to forget. It should also be noted that this figure does not include the number of English languages that have diverged sharply from standard English; while it includes Standard African English, it does not include Ugandan English, AKA Lugandishi.

Useful Links

Gridlink/FixUp, the rough ideas page.