I am worldbuilding a soft sci-fi setting called The Arm. The setting revolves around an interstellar humanity which is divided into many factions of a mostly ideological nature. Most of humanity lives within a socialist state, but the present day of the setting also contains a corporatocracy, an independent republic of heavy-worlders, a theocracy, and nomadic fleets of communal spacefarers.

After the fall of Germany, which fought back until they were pushed all the way west to Paris by the Sino-Soviet Pact, the Second World War ended, and the Cold War started back up. These are the borders of the nations that were directly allied with or occupied by their respective blocs

It isn't that much, but it is what I have so far, I would love feedback or any ideas on things to add.

July 8, 1947: The Space Race Begins with the USSR launching its first satellite into orbit, with the help of Chinese rocket scientists.

June 15, 1948: China launches the first human into space.

July 24, 1948: The USSR launches its own astronaut, who is also the first woman astronaut.

September 30, 1948: The USA launches its own satellite.

January 21, 1949: USA launches its first human into space.

September 3, 1949: USSR achieves the first space walk.

July 29, 1949: China launches the first probe to reach the Moon.

October 11, 1950: USSR launches the first probe to reach another planet (Venus).

July 24, 1953: PRC-USSR Joint Project lands the first humans on the Moon.

May 14, 1955: USA does its first manned moon mission

February 23, 1962: USA does first probe landing on a comet. This was only possible as the comet came within 100,000 km of earth

March 9, 1962: PRC-USSR Joint Project lands the first humans on a comet. This is the same comet, the mission was done when it came the closest, at a mere distance of 45,350 km from earth.

January 27th, 1981, first permanent Human colony on the moon done by the PRC, USSR, and the UPRSEA (United People's Republic of South East Asia, a union similar to the USSR)

Context: This is a science-fantasy world with intelligent animals. I like to call it "communist non-anthro Zootopia." Their governments are mostly divided by taxon, so you have the Feline Government, Rodent Government, Vulpine Government, Avian Government, etc. Even though specific taxa control different territories, like Feline Territory, Rodent Territory, etc, all taxa that have signed the peace treaty between predator and prey (an ideology called Unitism) can freely live in each other's territories, where they're still represented by their taxonomic government.

*Catnip is a really common recreational drug among Felines, and it is legal and regulated. A bottle of catnip oil (the most common form of the drug) would have a label like this:

WARNING: PRODUCT CONTAINS NEPETALACTONE (Catnip). HIGH CONCENTRATION: 60% nepetalactone by mass, sourced from cultivated herbs. Causes dissociation, euphoria, transient cognitive impairment in Felines. Do not use if underage, pregnant, nursing kittens, or with other psychoactive substances. It is illegal for Felines to operate hovercraft or other heavy machinery within three hours of consuming any catnip product. Consult a physician immediately if psychoactive effects last longer than one hour after discontinuation of usage, or if other side effects are experienced such as nausea and vomiting, convulsions, seizure, psychosis, or loss of consciousness. Regulated and licensed by the Feline Ministry of Health. Product license number: 100827615. For more information, visit health.feline.gov/catnip

If you go to the link listed on the label, you'll get the following article:

Everything you need to know about Catnip, Silvervine, and Nepetalactone

Nepetalactone, the active chemical in the herbs Catnip and Silvervine, is the most common psychoactive drug among Felines, with a history that predates our evolution of sapience and long before recorded Feline history. The scent of Nepetalactone causes pleasurable dissociative effects in all Feline species, and is routinely used recreationally.

In colloquial language, the term "catnip" is broadly used to refer to any Nepetalactone product, including silvervine and synthetic Nepetalactone, but this article will refer to these substances separately.

Where does Nepetalactone come from?

There are three major sources of Nepetalactone: Wild herbs, cultivated herbs, and synthetic, all of which are regulated by the Feline Ministry of Health.

The pastime of sniffing out wild catnip and silvervine growing in the forest is theorized to be as old as the Feline taxon itself, and continues to this day. Occasionally, a cat who finds and rolls around in a wild catnip or silvervine patch will get seeds stuck to their pelt, and plays a role in propagating the species when the seeds fall off far away from the plant as the cat travels. Wild herbs are the mildest source of Nepetalactone, producing only a short high of moderate intensity. However, they are also the safest source, with the lowest risk of side effects, long term health complications, or overdose. Wild Nepetalactone herbs can be found throughout Feline Territory and the rest of the the world. In Feline Territory specifically, the propagation of catnip and silvervine was done mostly inadvertently by Felines consuming them recreationally, and genetic lineage analysis of these herbs have been used to track the migration of Feline populations and crosscheck our earliest written history.

As technology advanced, Felines began to cultivate catnip and silvervine, intentionally planting them where they live and selectively breeding them for Nepetalactone production and psychoactive effects. The boundary between wild and cultivated herbs are not well defined, as gene transfer regularly occurs between them, but in general, cultivated herbs produce a much higher concentration of Nepetalactone, as well as other chemicals that enhance or modify the psychoactive feeling they give. Catnip and silvervine seeds of many different lineages are sold commercially, each with slightly different psychoactive effects, and cultivation efforts range from a few plants in a garden or as potted plants in a den, to large scale vertical farms that grow herbs for industrial Nepetalactone oil production.

In the last decade, after the Feline Revolution and subsequent legalization of Nepetalactone, direct synthesis of the chemical from basic elements have been rising in popularity. As is the development of synthetic Neperalactoids, which are modifications to the natural chemical structure to produce artificial psychoactive compounds not found in nature. These sources of Nepetalactone and its artificial analogues have the highest risk compared to herbal sources (though the overall risk is still fairly low). They are typically the most concentrated products on the market, with many being nearly pure Nepetalactone, and not diluted by any of the side products typically found in herbal oils that can serve to balance or moderate the psychoactive effects. Additionally, artificial Nepetalactoids can interact with the body in unexpected ways and may cause serious health effects, especially if used long term. Or they might not have very significant health effects at all. These newly developed chemicals, by definition, have limited or nonexistant animal testing data, so a cat that consumes these products is implicitly participating in their long term health and safety testing. This is a risk that an adult cat has the right to choose to take, but the risks of damage to one's health must be carefully considered and kept in mind.

Mechanism of Action

Nepetalactone targets a Feline's pheromone receptors, organs typically used for scent communication between animals. The vast majority of animals produce pheromones, which are a combination of volatile organic chemicals unique to the individual animal. In terrestrial ecosystems, these chemicals evaporate from the animal's body and are left behind when the animal makes contact with a surface, and are used to identify the animal. Pheramones give important information about who is nearby and who has been here in the past. Nepetalactone binds much more strongly to these pheromone receptors than natural pheromones, temporarily disabling regulatory mechanisms and feedback loops, which causes a massive overproduction of neurotransmitters that overstimulate the brain, which causes the characteristic "high" that it is known for. These effects last for as long as the Nepetalactone exposure persists, though the pheromone receptors will eventually run out of precursor chemicals for synthesizing neurotransmitters, at which point the psychoactive effects will subside while the receptors recover.

Even after discontinuing exposure to Nepetalactone, the psychoactive effects may last for up to an hour, as it takes some time for the existing Nepetalactone molecules to unbind from the receptors, and for the brain to clear the flood of neurotransmitters.

History of Nepetalactone legality in Feline Territory

For the vast majority of Feline history, Nepetalactone was completely unregulated by the law. It was an important cultural element, used during social gatherings, cultural ceremonies, and even some religious rituals.

It was only during the age of the Feline Empire that Nepetalactone was outlawed. During this time, cultivation, distribution, and use of the substance in any form, even naturally growing plants in the wild, was criminalized with mandatory prison time. Even so, Nepetalactone use continued to be very common in Feline Territory. This was also the time when the empire enforced hunting and predation as a way of life despite the vast majority of Felines having become heavily anti-predation, and all plant based alternative foods were banned. As such, Nepetalactone was frequently sold by the same underground networks that sold plant based foods, leading to Nepetalactone becoming one of the symbols of the Feline Revolution and the Unitist (anti-predation) movement in Feline Territory.

After the Feline Revolution, Nepetalactone was legalized by the newly formed Feline Democratic Republic, and has been regulated by the Feline Ministry of Health as a Class 1 (the lowest risk category) recreational drug ever since. Currently, the only legislation restricting Nepetalactone is a prohibition on sale of the substance to kittens, and a prohibition on operating heavy machinery or performing any safety critical task while under the influence of the substance.

There is no recorded evidence that other taxonomic territories and taxonomic governments have ever prohibited Nepetalactone, as it only causes psychoactive effects in Felines. Nepetalactone is regularly produced and sold in other territories, and we work closely with other Unitist ministries of health to ensure the safety of these products.

Can Nepetalactone cause loss of instinct control?

There is a myth that Nepetalactone can cause Felines to "revert" to our natural instincts and pose a danger to nearby small animals. This is not true, or at least, extremely unlikely to the point where we have never encountered a confirmed case of this occurring. Numerous studies have been done on the Feline brain under the influence of Nepetalactone, including live brain scans of Felines while using the substance, and there has never been evidence that the cat's mind if at any risk of losing its conscious faculties.

Any Feline who has used Nepetalactone can also subjectively attest to this: While it can reduce your reaction time or make you forgetful, you are still in full control of your faculties. Additionally, Nepetalactone makes Felines less likely to want to engage in physical exertion, as while it is a stimulant at the neuron level, it overloads the brain and makes it less able to respond to external stimulus. A Feline under the influence of Nepetalactone is much more likely to idly stare at a mouse than try to chase them.

Finally, many Felines live in Rodent and Avian Territories, and Nepetalactone is sold there, regulated by their ministries of health. We consult with their ministries regularly and freely share medical data, and there has never been a concern raised about Felines under the influence of Nepetalactone being a hazard.

Nepetalactone-induced psychosis

At extremely high doses, particularly when consuming synthetic Nepetalactone, hallucinations of various forms may manifest, ranging from a blooming haze at the edges of one's vision, to flashes of colour or bright dots racing across one's field of view, to lifelike visual and auditory artifacts that are difficult to distinguish from reality. This is called Nepetalactone-induced psychosis, or NIP.

This is generally considered a negative side effect, and lifelike hallucinations are one of the symptoms of Nepetalactone overdose. However, some Felines, namely heavy Nepetalactone users, actively seek the psychedelic effects that Nepetalactone can cause, inducing what is often described as a lucid dream state, where one can mentally control the artifacts they see and hear. In most such cases, the Feline is in a state of partial sedation, and is generally not able to move or interact with the real world, though vital bodily functions like breathing and heartbeat are not affected. NIP typically resolves by itself once the pheromone receptors become saturated and stop responding to the Nepetalactone.

If NIP is encountered and is not desired, discontinuing exposure to Nepetalactone will quickly dissipate any visual and auditory artifacts. Physically moving oneself away from the source of Nepetalactone to a place with fresh air is recommended to help the effects subside more rapidly.

If you encounter a Feline under the influence of Nepetalactone and is non-responsive, remove the source of Nepetalactone and/or move them to fresh air. If they do not regain consciousness within a few minutes of the end of exposure, call emergency services.

Health and safety

The long term physical health effects of herbal Nepetalactone is generally low, even for heavy or frequent use. However, synthetic Nepetalactone, particularly Nepetalactoids not found in nature, have limited long term health data, and caution is strongly advised when using these products.

While Nepetalactone is generally considered low risk, the following conditions have been known to occur:

• Nepetalactone-induced psychosis: see the previous section.

• Scent blindness: Because Nepetalactone activates pheromone receptors much more strongly than natural pheromones, long term use can reduce the sensitivity of these receptors, making it difficult to detect pheromones and generally resulting in a reduced sense of smell.

• Nepetalactone withdrawal syndrome: If a Feline who chronically uses high doses of Nepetalactone suddenly discontinues usage, there can be mild withdrawal symptoms, such as depression, boredom, loss of interest in daily activities, and a strong urge to continue using Nepetalactone. These effects usually subside after a few days of abstaining from Nepetalactone.

However, by far the biggest health and safety risk associated with Nepetalactone is when Felines operate heavy machinery like hovercrafts, or engage in other safety critical tasks that require their full attention, while under its influence. Nepetalactone reduces reaction time and short term memory, and makes one more easily distracted. This can endanger or kill other animals as well as the user themselves, and is explicitly illegal. Always wait a minimum of three hours after using Nepetalactone before doing anything safety critical.

Should I use (or keep using) Nepetalactone?

A Feline's relationship with Nepetalactone is critical, and it is generally unhealthy to use it as a coping mechanism. If you find yourself using Nepetalactone habitually, try to discern why. Boredom is the most commonly stated reason for Nepetalactone use, but a more healthy way to deal with that is to find productive activities that are personally fulfulling to you, not try to eliminate the feeling of boredom with psychoactive substances. Additionally, it is not recommended to self-medicate with Nepetalactone to treat conditions like depression or anxiety. A doctor may prescribe Nepetalactone for some mental health conditions, but such substances can also make the condition worse, and the decision to use it to treat mental health issues must be in consultation with a professional for the best chance of success.

This is a complex issue and heavily depends on the individual. If you require advice on your relationship with Nepetalactone, or you need help breaking a Nepetalactone habit, the Feline Ministry of Health offers counselling and treatment as part of its universal healthcare plan.

Context: This is a science-fantasy world with intelligent non-anthro animals living in harmony. Think Zootopia but with regular animal shaped animals that are also quite a bit more technologically advanced. One of their main forms of transportation is the hovercraft; which is used both for local urban transportation, hopping from point to point within their lush forest cities; as well as long haul and intercity transport. These hovercrafts employ a high degree of automation, and air traffic control is generally done not with radio calls back and fourth between the pilot and controller like in our aviation network, but by having the hovercraft connect directly to a dispatch server to receive instructions, which are then displayed to the pilot. This makes the aviation network more efficient as a central air traffic control node can precisely coordinate hovercraft movements to make the most use out of the infrastructure. However, due to their reliance on the computerized system, a security vulnerability in said system would be disastrous.

The following is an article from the Feline Ministry of Security, detailing a recently patched 0-day vulnerability found in an air traffic control protocol used the Feline hovercraft network. Imagine a bunch of developers who are literal cats scrambling to fix this issue the instant it was discovered before someone hacks their hovercraft network and starts remotely taking control of their hovercrafts to crash into trees that have buildings in them, crash into flocks of birds, and other woodland creature acts of terrorism.

CVE109-10028FL: DispatchToElsewhere, a memory corruption vulnerability in FDTMS resulting in remote code execution on Feline Ministry of Transportation hovercrafts

This article pertains to the public disclosure of a now patched security vulnerability in the aircraft-side implementation of Flight Dispatch and Traffic Management System (FDTMS) developed by the Feline Ministry of Transportation (FMT). This vulnerability affected all hovercrafts operated by the Feline Ministry of Transportation, and resulted in arbitrary code execution in the primary flight computers of FMT hovercrafts.

The Flight Dispatch and Traffic Management System is an air traffic control protocol that allows advanced coordination of hovercraft operations within Feline Territory. The codebase for the system is extensive, but for this article, we will only focus on the problem component: the buildDispatchTable function which is responsible for parsing a digital flight plan into a table of procedures that the onboard computer will follow during the flight.

When a flight plan is transmitted to the hovercraft, buildDispatchTable is invoked. As its name suggests, it parses the flight plan data to construct an Dispatch Table in the onboard computer's memory, which contains navigation information that is to be followed during the flight. A typical dispatch table is shown below for a flight between Moonpeak Airport (MPK) in Feline Territory to Central Valley Airport (CVY) in the Unified Territories. The fact that this fight crosses a territorial boundary is relevant to the vulnerability.

As shown in the table, when the hovercraft crosses an internal boundary within a given territory, a RegionChange entry is used. However, when the hovercraft crosses a territorial region, which also necessitates a region change, the standard prescribes that only the TerritoryChange entry is needed, and the region name included within it. However, it is also possible to omit the region name in the TerritoryChange entry, and separately issue a RegionChange.

The buildDispatchTable function did not take into account the possibility of a region change being separately supplied in the case of a territory change in the way it calculated the table size and therefore how much memory to allocate for the construction of the table. Therefore, a malicious dispatch message could be crafted to overflow the table and inject machine code into memory. An outside actor spoofing radio signals on government frequencies can send a malicious dispatch message to any hovercraft in range, and because the dispatch table is constructed before the cryptographic keys of the dispatch message is checked, remote code execution can be achieved by anyone, as the exploit is accessible before the authenticity of the message is verified. A pilot would only see a "Dispatch rejected due to key error" message, at which point the exploit has already gone through. Additionally, the onboard computer will simply discard the malicious dispatch table and reload the previous valid dispatch table upon failing to verify its authenticity, effectively deleting evidence of the exploit's entry point.

The implications of this vulnerability is severe, as an attacker can gain remote control of the hovercraft and its flight control systems, and can issue malicious commands with fatal results. Moreover, the possibility of a Feline hovercraft being used to commit acts of terrorism in another territory significantly raises the urgency of this issue.

Exploit proof of concept

The Feline Ministry of Security is not aware of any live attacks using this vulnerability. However, we have verified that the following proof of concept could result in remote code execution. By hiding the payload in a malformed ATC server URL, we were able to send machine code to all the Feline hovercrafts we tested, running WhiskerOS versions 1.0 to 3.3 (the latest version) and FDTMS Client 5.1 or lower.

Due to its need to directly interface with the hovercraft's engines and flight controls protected by WhiskerOS Secure Mode, FDTMS executes in a privileged context, meaning any code execution in the software is able to bypass Secure Mode sandboxing and take direct control of the hardware. There is no way to secure the flight control computer once it has received a malicious dispatch message outside of turning it off and back on, which obviously cannot be done in flight. If the malicious payload includes a way to persist on the local storage device, the flight computer would need to be removed from the aircraft and have the entire system wiped and reinstalled in order to restore secure operation.

Response

All hovercrafts operated by the Feline Ministry of Transportation was grounded until their flight computer software was updated to fix the vulnerability. Hovercrafts already in flight were ordered to land immediately on the nearest available pad. The vulnerability has now been patched for the entire FMT fleet.

Root Cause Analysis:

The following issues were identified as contributors to the existence of this vulnerability:

1. Attempting to parse received data before checking cryptographic keys. In the future, no operations on received data should be performed before its origin and integrity are verified.

2. Failing silently on a malformed dispatch message. If a hovercraft receives an invalid dispatch message, it should not automatically revert to the last valid state and report as ready for dispatch. Pilot and/or ATC intervention should be required to clear the error and the hovercraft should be inhibited from dispatch until such an action is taken. This would give aviation staff a chance to detect the attack before the hovercraft takes off.

3. The dispatch message parser being more tolerant of malformed dispatch tables than necessary. If the standard prescribes that a region change and territory change should be a single entry, the parser should not accept separate entries.

4. Executing more code in a privileged context than necessary, bypassing WhiskerOS Secure Mode. Only the modules that require system/hardware access should be given such privileges, not the entire FDTMS software suite. For example, the dispatch message parser does not need to be privileged.

Here is a sample of the early parts of the timeline I have designed so far for the Collaborative World Building Project I talked about in an earlier post, the Project is called the ETU-Project

August 11th, 491 CE: Dai Viet forms, united by Dai Minh

September 31st, 519 CE: Gunpowder invented by alchemists from China, various states that would go to form India, and Dai Viet

August 21st, 1152 CE: Gunpowder brought to Europe by Mongolian soldiers

February 13th, 1848: Mexican-American War results in US annexation of Baja California, Texas, Chihuahua, and Sonora

January 1st, 1827: China's century of triumph begins, lasts till the warlord era starts, sees most of Asia (French Indochina remained under the control of France in exchange for a treaty port France gave China) decolonized as Europe can't project power into China's sphere of influence

1850-1853: First US Civil War

May 3rd, 1855: Abraham Lincoln assassinated by a Mexican nationalist

June 17th, 1865: Franco-Italy war, saw heavy industrial development of French Indochina for more weapon manufacturing

1908-1915: World War I

October 15th, 1915: Soviet Union forms

November 19th, 1928: The Great Qing dynasty collapses into several warlord states after WW1 weakened their cohesion, the Chinese soviet republic, and the republic of China, each state proclaimed themselves the true China

1927-1943: Great Depression in the USA

1937-1946: All the major events of World War II

August 12th 1937: Mexico begins its expansionist wars to gain the power needed to declare war on the USA

3:30 AM Coordinated Universal Time November 3rd, 1939: First nuclear bomb is detonated by the Soviet Union in a test, less than an hour later the USA detonates their first atomic bomb as well

October 8th, 1942: Chinese Soviet Republic unites China, excluding Taiwan which was still under Japanese control, they form the People's republic of China

1943: China repels Japanese invasion, and kicks the Japanese off the mainland

December 9th, 1944: The People's Republic of China gains naval and aerial supremacy over Japan, People's republic of China begins naval invasions

8th of August, 1945: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, final attempt to draw an outside power into the war so Japan isn't annex by China

October 25th 1945-January 28th, 1946: Soviet Union sieges Berlin, and helps evacuate people for the up and coming Operation Sol

January 29th, 1946: Third Reich ends with Soviet thermonuclear bombing of Berlin called Operation Sol, Italy surrenders a few hours later as they were relying on Germany of AA cover

1949-1953: Korean War caused by rebels propped up by the USA in the south trying to destabilize the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, ends in the nation being divided down the 36.25th parallel north, and 9 million dead, of which 175 thousand were US soldiers

1947-1972: Indochina Liberation War (similar to the IRL Vietnam war, and saw the Frence and USA being kicked out of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Siam, and Berma with the Peoples Union of Southeast Asian forming)

July 24th, 1953: PRC-USSR Joint project lands first human on the moon, using the Dà yuèjìn rocket

1996: Soviet Union dissolves, China becomes De facto leader of Eastern Block as they had the next most soft power and the next largest industry, producing around 1.5 billion tons of steel that year; dedollarization begins as Saudi Arabia agrees to sell oil to China for Yuans

1999: Shock Capitalism fails in last post-soviet state of Ukraine, the Soviet Union fails to reform as many post-soviet states can't agree on many important subjects, some of the major ones are where the new capital should be, how to go about denazification (every one of the nations did denazification anyway, they just couldn't agree on how far to go, with Kazakstan going the farthest and Georgia doing the least), and whether to do another land reform.

1999-2002: Gulf War (32-month conflict), Iraq's leader is killed and a puppet government is installed by the west but collapses in just 2 years with help from the People's Republic of Iran and Democratic People's Republic of Afghanistan.

If you have any questions about the timeline ask and I'll try my best to answer.

For a year or so, I have been working on an alt-history sci-fi project that was meant to be collaborative. However, only one of the other people has done much of anything. If you are interested in joining, say so, and I can tell you more about the setting.

Are there people in your world that just don't get it, and keep spouting opinions that make no sense given the context of your world or would be disastrous if actually implemented? What are some of the most common bad takes in your world and what makes them so bad?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3167507

I've posted about this world before here and here.

It's an alternate history. Colonialism never happened in the first place. The world remained tribal, and traditional cultures remain strong. But 21st century tech develops. There is a lack of capitalism and exploitation.

I downloaded these pics from the multiversal interwebs:

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Traditionally nomadic cultures – such as this Australian bushman – remain nomadic in the 21st century. But their lives are made easier by technology. Under capitalism, developing technology keeps some people poor but increases the wealth of a few. In the solarpunk, non-colonial world, people use tools like this off-road tricycle to make their traditional lifestyles easier.

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North American cultures follow the still-great buffalo herds. They use offroad vehicles that run on gasified biomass they harvest as they go. These vehicles are no faster than a horse. That guy on the right? I guess he's a tourist from a traditional European country; he's visiting his friends. They'll speak the Esperanto-type language to each other.

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This picture was taken in a subway station in Cahokia.

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This is a typical sight in the northeast megaregion. This is what the longhouses of the Haudenosaunee people look like in the 21st century.

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The fishing cultures of North Europe live within the ecological limits. Some fish are still wild-caught, providing 5-10% of the diet. Others are farmed in open ocean farms. Members of a large (town-sized or city-sized) tribal confederacy have the customary right to harvest from these waters, and manage the wild stock and the farms as a commons.

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My post linked above discusses guilds. One guild that exists, alongside doctors, tailors, and microchip-fabricators, is the Soapwitch guild. They have knowledge of local wildflowers, oils, and that sort of thing. Their job is to provide soap, perfume, toothpaste etc. for free to members of their tribe (instead of Unilever and Colgate doing it for profit). It's their tribe's reciprocal obligation to give them food, shelter, protection, etc.

Sooo this is gonna be a long one. It's some sci-fi fantasy thingy, but whatever just read.

So geographically its kinda a mess right now, but the only really important thing is that their is a large monster filled wasteland in the north, called the northern no man land.

Major factions

This list is incomplete, and only contains factions that have at least one character and a little bit of lore in them at the moment. First the leftist factions:

Nordfront

Originally a paramilitary group founded to protect the independent Communities (such as small counties, city states and villages) in the far north from the monster of the northern wasteland. Today it still serves in that purpose, but has also developed into a marxist-leninst group that works to liberate all people of the world. The group, under various names, has existed for several hundred years.

The Eastern Republic

A young socialist republic in the east (woah who would have thought!). It was founded 20 years ago after the end of a civil war, which the revolutionary forces won with support from Nordfront. It has since developed into one of the biggest scientific and economic powerhouses in the world.

Demokratische Republik Nordland/DRN (Democratic republic of north land)

A socialist state in the north west. While mostly isolated, it's national university is the center of global science. It was founded nearly 90 years ago, when the quickly modernizing region required a proper government to be created. It is one of the major supporters of Nordfront and Everblue Engineering.

Everblue Engineering

A more or less state owned company run by the DRN, Nordfront and the Eastern republic. It's jobs include, but are not limited too: Industrial cooperation, construction of research and military installations, covert support for revolutionary movements, trading, etc. I could make a whole own post about them, but this will do for now.

now the other factions in no particular order :

Lionese Empire

Basically the British empire but fantasy scifi. That's kinda it (for now).

The Federation of Independents

A collection of independent villages in the Iron Mountains. They are protected by the Union of Dragons (a local group of dragon-born). Very limited industry.

The 12 Cities

A southern desert country (similar in climate to northern Africa), currently occupied by the Lionese Empire. It primarily consist of 12 cities. Duh.

Some things about the magic system

Now the first thing to talk about are the following groups:

• animal-born: Those born with the traits of animals (these can be mythological beings like dragons too)
• magic-born: Those born with an extremely high natural affinity for magic
• non-humans: human like beings that are not actually humans, for example animal spirits, aka animals with human level intelligence who can also communicate with humans

Note that most non-humans are magic born. Magic-born are extremely rare in normal humans and animal-born, although slightly more common in the later.

Casting

Most people need casting units to use magic. This is because ordinary people don't have any way do control magic by them selves. While casting without a casting unit can be learned to some extent, however for most casters it is not a skill worth perusing. Modern technology has made casting somewhat easier, mainly through Computer Assisted Casting Units (CACU).

Animal-born

They have some traits from a specific animal, fictional or real. They can also be refereed to as specific-thing-born, for example wolf-born for those with the traits of wolfs or dragon-born for those with the traits of dragons. These are also called the races of the animal-born. The extent of differences between 'normal' humans and animal born varies greatly. For example, other than the ears and tail, a cat-born will only vary minimal from 'normal' humans. However the dragon-born have significant differences to them, such as height, additional organs, significantly higher strength, etc. on top of their obvious 'animal' traits.

Magic-born

Most of them have specialized organs to use magic. This means that they do not need casting units to use magic. In fact, usually casting units are detrimental to their abilities. Due to the fact that magic is natural to them from birth, to them it is as simple as breathing. Magic-born are thus far more capable than ordinary people. A magic-born ten year old often is better at using magic than a trained professional non magic-born caster. However this is not necessarily a good thing: Almost all education for casters, which is necessary to actually make use of one's magic ability, is aimed at non magic-born. This is simply because magic born are so rare, that even filling a class with them would be pretty hard in, and finding an adequate teacher would also not be very easy. This leads to most magic born not having good control of their abilities. Due to the fact that they are quite powerful, a major loss of control could lead to both the deaths of anyone to close and the magic-born themselves.

I'll now go to sleep. See you tomorrow internet people.

This is something tangential I've developed for my science-fantasy world with intelligent animals. For context: In this world, different taxonomic governments represent groups of related species. You have the Felines, Vulpines, Rodents, Avians, etc. Each of them technically belong to a different State but frequently intermingle and live in the same area, and taxonomic governments tend to also have territory/land associated with them where they primarily control the area, but other animals can and very much do still live there. Taxonomic governments have jurisdiction of the species within their scope no matter where they live, and are the ones responsible for having an ID system that works both within their own taxon and with other taxonomic governments and other official organizations.

Instead of making everyone carry ID cards or passports, which would be cumbersome for four-legged or winged animals to use, I envisioned a DNA-based ID system. The tech for this is definitely in the Star Trek levels of sci-fi, but it's basically a flat surface that you press your paw, wing, or other body part firmly onto, and a mechanism below produces a mild energy beam through your fur and skin which interacts with DNA in your cells and gives returns based on the specific sequence, and it's a safe, non-invasive DNA sequencer that can get a full read of your genetic code in seconds. The DNA scanner also checks for things like active metabolism and DNA synthesis and are generally configured to not even attempt to scan non-living cells, so you can't do something like use someone else's severed paw to make the system think you're them.

But since your full DNA sequences can be, for one, several gigabytes long and not conducive to things like printing onto certificates and migration papers or even just sending over the network to other agencies, and also contain actual information about things like your species, sex, family history and a bunch of sensitive stuff that you wouldn't want just anyone having access to, they typically take a cryptographic hash of the DNA and use that as an identifier for an individual animal. Kind of like how humans might have something like a social security number, animals in this world have a DNA Hash that governments use to identify them. Whenever a government agency in our world asks you to show some kind of ID like a driver's license, passport, health card, etc, they just have to scan their DNA and their information is automatically pulled from the right agency, using the hash to look it up. Even things like crossing international borders (of friendly nations) can be done with just a single biometric scan with no passport or ID card required. Basically, if you're animal in this world, the various government agencies around you refer to you as something like "8ed254569e8ddccea1784f569609aa32ced2691e2d22e99583ebd426cac76bd8" which is derived from your DNA sequence, and since you can't change your DNA, the same hash algorithm will always produce the same identifier, but better for privacy since it's impossible to reverse the algorithm and derive the original DNA sequence from the hash, and in theory only your own taxonomic government would have your full DNA sequence stored away on a server somewhere. Also extremely hard to falsify since it's literally identifying your body and not a card or anything that can be replaced.

What do you think? Does a system like this make sense? Are there glaring logistical or security issues that I'm not seeing? (Beyond just having a non-invasive and rapid DNA sequencing system in the first place, but that's what sci-fi handwaving is for.) Do you think a system like this is actually superior compared to physical ID media?

For context, I have a science-fantasy world with intelligent, non-anthro animals trying to live in peace with each other. A major problem is of course what the carnivores eat, and their solution is something called Dietary Enzyme Supplements, which carnivores take in order to supply artificial, carefully engineered digestive enzymes that allow them to digest plant matter and directly synthesize essential nutrients that would otherwise only be found in meat inside their own digestive tracts. It's something that works really well for its intended purpose and that they're really proud of, and I talk more about their history with solving the predation problem here if you're interested.

For the species, taxa, and factions that have committed to banning predation and having predator and prey live in harmony, dietary enzyme supplements are typically freely available and a guaranteed right under their constitution, along with plant based food in general. Dietary enzymes are ubiquitous and work really well for their intended purpose, and represent the very bleeding edge of their chemistry and nutrition science prowess.

The most advanced dietary enzymes, those intended for obligate carnivores like cats, contain trace amounts of a special quasi-element called Intium as part of how they work, which is also a really powerful substance that power most of their super advanced sci-fi tech. However, due to how versatile and powerful it is, Intium is also extremely dangerous if misused, so it is heavily regulated by the government, and the only real "consumer" product that contains it are those obligate carnivore dietary enzymes. The next most accessible source is hovercraft fuel and the internal components of hovercraft engines, both of which are prohibitively expensive and require an aviation related license to purchase, while dietary enzymes are both free at the point of access and anyone can just go into a grocery store and take them without anyone else batting an eye.

The vast majority of animals that need dietary enzymes do not abuse their free access to them, since there's no benefit in taking more than the required dose and they're just flavourless pills that most animals don't just stuff their faces with. However, this is where amateur chemistry enthusiasts come in, after a post on a science forum showing how to extract Intium from ATDP, which are the dietary enzyme supplements most commonly used by Felines. The process is pretty simple, basically just burn the pills at a very high temperature and in a high oxygen environment to convert the proteins and other support chemicals into carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc, and you're left with a solid residue of mostly Intium oxide, which can then be further processed into pure Intium. This is technically legal since the government doesn't regulate what exactly you do with dietary enzymes once you have it, but the problem is that ATDP, while free to use, still has a high production cost, and only contain minuscule amounts of Intium. A domestic cat for example typically takes one pill of ATDP per week, with the enzymes attaching to the lining of their digestive tracts to prevent the still perfectly functional enzymes from being expelled out the other end after one cycle of digestion and being wasted. However, an unlicensed chemist smelting pills to extract Intium can go through literally thousands of pills in a few hours, and those pills are paid for almost entirely by Feline tax revenue so neither the Feline government nor the Feline population in general are happy about this. Of course the safety risks of working with Intium apply as well, including pretty severe explosion risks, but the amounts they extract are so small that it's hardly a public safety hazard so much as a public burden as they destroy tens of thousands dollars worth of dietary enzymes just to extract ten dollars worth of Intium. The Intium is not the expensive part of those pills, the expensive parts are the carefully engineered and synthesized proteins that surround the Intium. After a few incidents of particularly brazen and entitled animals (who notably weren't even carnivores and had no biological need for dietary enzymes, certainly not the super advanced obligate carnivore versions that contain Intium) cleared out multiple grocery store shelves for their Intium extraction hustle and went viral on their internet, attracting intense public shaming with both predator and prey calling them selfish and misusing public resources, they realized that it was a massive problem and a policy change was needed to ensure fair access to this extremely important resource.

The most obvious and immediately effective solution is just to implement some kind of rationing system, where instead of a shelf filled with boxes of dietary enzymes that any animal can take, they move them behind the pharmacy counter and require ID to obtain, where they'll check both whether you're actually a species that requires the enzyme and also use a centralized database that tracks how much you're taking per month. However, again, only a tiny minority of animals abuse the free access to dietary enzymes to do things they really shouldn't be doing anyway, so it would feel like a massive burden for the rest of the carnivore populations who literally depend on access to dietary enzymes to survive in a society where predation is banned. It would also preclude things like animals who don't need dietary enzymes getting them for their carnivore friends since they were going to the store anyway, or even things like losing your box of dietary enzymes and potentially getting denied replacements if they only allow animals to obtain them at the specific dosages they need, nor would they be able to stock up some dietary enzymes in their own nests and dens in case of supply chain issues. Not to mention the costs associated with implementing and maintaining such a rationing system which will also be passed onto the general public, potentially siphoning funds away from other public projects like housing and transportation, or just having less money to make more dietary enzymes. Free and easy access to both plant based food and dietary enzymes have been such staples in their society that they really don't to abandon it just because a few animals don't follow the rules, so they're looking for an alternative that lets them have their dietary enzymes and eat it too.

What do you think? Is their only hope to just start rationing dietary enzymes? If you were a policy maker in this world, how would you address this issue? This world is supposed to be socialist so I'd love a socialist (or leftist in general) perspective on this!

The interdimensional Christmas bug is coming to town, and every world needs their own Santa. Doesn't matter if they have no idea what Santa or Christmas is, participation is mandatory and they need to use whatever exist in-universe to replicate Santa's flying sleigh as best as they can.

The following are some guidelines for what a prototypical Santa and sleigh would entail, your world needs to try and replicate as many of these elements as possible.

1. A fat bearded man or similar species dressed in all red.

2. A huge sack of toys or whatever the kids in your universe like.

3. A sleigh or another vehicle modified to resemble the classic shape of a sleigh, one that is capable of flight.

4. Eight flying reindeer or similar species strapped to the front of the sleigh.

5. One more flying reindeer or similar species up front with a glowing red nose.

Note that the reindeer don't actually have to be the ones pulling the sleigh through the air, you can choose any propulsion system you want as long as it looks like the reindeer are pulling it.

How does your world pull it off? Who would need to be called in and what kind of equipment acquired to do this? What unique conflicts does Santa face in your world that the "real" Santa wouldn't?

If your world is also conducive to other Christmas characters like Krampus, the Grinch, Frosty, Jesus, etc and you want to replicate them as well, we'd love to hear it!

Context: This is a world inhabited by intelligent, non-anthro animals, some of which have decided to outlaw hunting and eating prey in favour of living in harmony and cooperating.

They have a zero tolerance policy for predation and it is criminalized extremely heavily. Depending on what species or taxon you are (all animals have the right to be tried by members of their own species and taxa, and they are responsible for carrying out sentences of their own kind too), First Degree Predation, where you personally kill then eat an animal, is the only crime that formally carries the death penalty. Regular first degree murder where you "merely" kill an animal without intent to eat them only has a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Second Degree Predation (aka Simple Predation) is where you obtain meat with the intention of eating it without personally killing anything, carries only a mandatory fixed term prison sentence in addition to losing certain freedoms post release.

However, their laws on the issue is very much based on intent as that is their philosophy, that because they are all sapient and no longer bound by their natural hunter instincts, they are responsible for their own actions. You don't have to actually eat the prey you killed to have committed First Degree Predation, and the inverse is technically true as well, where if you kill an animal for some other reason and only after they're dead do you decide to eat them, then you're technically only guilty of murder and Second Degree Predation instead of First Degree Predation. There are also legal ways that certain animals can obtain animal tissue, for example, as skin grafts and organ transplants, autopsy and forensic investigations, or for general research. Because animals handling tissue in these cases don't intend to eat it, it does not fall under Second Degree Predation. However, if you buy animal meat and later decide not to eat it, that's still considered predation.

Especially with the nature of eating and digesting food, law enforcement only has a very small time window to order a suspect to undergo lab testing of what's in their belly where it will actually show a positive hit for animal tissue, so my original thought is that the intent clause is meant to make prosecuting predation easier, since they wouldn't need to actually prove that the accused has animal tissue in their digestive tract at any point, just that they wanted at some point for some form of animal tissue to end up inside them.

I know there are many real life laws that use intent in a similar way, but I don't know how courts actually prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Can anyone who's delved more into the legal side of worldbuilding comment on how the courts in my world might prove (or disprove) that someone intended to eat another animal when they do not have direct evidence that the animal was indeed eaten?

Ten years after the invaders came across the ocean, the Southern Lindsen Federation collapsed after an invasion from the puppet state of the Eastern Lindsen Commision. The monarch of the federation, Brandon Holstein, fell into despair as his dream of a Lindsen unified again was shattered, and power was increasingly funneled into the hands of powerful industrialists even as he attempted to modernize his unwieldy nation. He entrusted command of the rump state to his protege, the ultranationalist solider turned utopian Albert Stahler shortly before his death.

Stahler disbanded the army upon taking command and organized an Army of the Masses, quickly slaughtering the industrialists and bringing industry under state command. The advance of the ELC forced him to cede eastern lands, but he expanded into the microstates of the west to the SLF's former borders and beyond, spreading his dream of an egalitarian future. To the north, the cowardly but weakened collaborator state Burgune presses upon what was once Lindsen's northern border. To the northwest, the ailing kingdom belonging to Immanuel LeCoq threatens to collapse at any moment and provide a path for the ELC towards the center of Lindsen's many petty warlords and despots. Despite these difficulties, Stahler believes that his borders will once again stretch from the Raimat to the Lohne rivers.

Stahler seeks his brother Otto who was lost in action ten years ago, during the first defenses. He may not be ready for what he will find.

For context, this takes place in my world with intelligent, non-anthro animals trying to live in harmony. This is part of the backstory of my main character and why she's where she is currently.

The Felines had recently underwent a bloody and violent revolution, replacing their monarchist empire that is very pro-predation (Trophist) with a democratic republic that is very anti-predation (Unitist). Shortly afterward, they signed the Interspecies Peace Agreement and committed to banning predation by all Felines forever, to overwhelming support by the Feline public. Signing of the ISPA not only bans predation but also allows other ISPA members to engage in trade, travel, and exchange of knowledge and technology with the Felines, which is a big deal because the Felines are considered the most technologically advanced taxon, being the first taxon in history to surpass even the humans that lived before all of them millions of years ago.

The Unified Territories, which is an alliance of Unitist small and medium sized animals, including the Felines' former prey like Avians and Rodents and is considered the second most advanced, took the opportunity to call up the Feline government to ask for a favour. Basically, the Unified Territories Ministry of Science called up the Feline Science Institute (both are government research institutions), and asked if they can have Yvonne Dandelionpaw transferred to one of their labs in the UT. Yvonne Dandelionpaw is a domestic cat who played a major role in recent Feline history: She co-developed something called ATDP, a dietary enzyme supplement that allows obligate carnivores like cats to subsist on plant based alternatives (where the "DP" part is named after her); she participated in the Feline revolution fighting for the Unitist side; and perhaps most importantly, she is one of the main scientists working on something called a quantum interface, which is one of the next frontiers of science that the Felines are actively pursuing. They basically wanted her to come over and work with their own scientists that are also trying to develop a quantum interface, and essentially spun it as "hey, let's work on this together since you're an ISPA member now!"

The Feline Science Institute felt rather pressured by the Unified Territories, and responded with something along the lines of "We're just about okay with that, but you need to ask Yvonne directly. We're not going to force a Feline to relocate and take a job outside Feline territory." So they call up Yvonne initially refuses, saying "Well, it's a interesting offer, but I'd rather stay here and work with my own taxon as we rebuild after the war." But then the Unified Territories spun it in a different way to her, trying to convince her that a cat coming over to work in a UT government lab would be a great diplomatic opportunity for the two governments, and controversially, basically told her that there are researchers in the UT who are the Felines' former prey, and "wouldn't you want to be the one to reconcile with them so they realize how nice modern cats are and ditch that old stereotype of cats being pricks?" At which point she finally agreed to the transfer, on the condition that she remains employed by the Feline Science Institute and basically serves as a liason and diplomatic representative in addition to being a researcher, which the FSI was understandably also very adamant about.

She is now working at a lab in the UT capital city, but the decision to have her there is very controversial on both sides. Many Felines accuse the Unified Territories of using their position among ISPA members to basically poach Feline talent, while many UT citizens accuse Yvonne of being a Feline spy, considering that she is a high ranking member of the Feline government who is working in a classified UT lab.

What are your thoughts on this progression? Is it something that can reasonably happen when two governments are first establishing diplomatic ties? Do you think the way they spun it to Yvonne counted as coercion or guilt tripping? Any other opinions you have I would love to hear that as well!

The Ikusaban system was a sociopolitical system created by Mukuro Ikusaba following the death of Junko Enoshima at Hope's Peak at the hands of the Red Army. As vast swaths of territory were still under Imperium control, she set out to purge the planet of hope with nuclear fire to bring about the fabled Despair-Endsieg and to establish a superior race of superhuman post-hopist pure doomerites by the natural selection that the extremely harsh conditions following would inevitably lead to.

Campaigns where entire cities and stretches of land were gassed had been around since the mid-Junkosreich era but was intensified towards the end, especially with the military and logistics factions vying for control by trying to gas as much land and people as possible. No actual nuclear weapons were used until after Junko's death, and only three were ever launched; however, the result of a year of intense chemical warfare and artillery barrages was that a large chunk (approximately 13%) of Western Europe, North America, and a portion of Eastern Europe was rendered uninhabitable.

The Ikusaban system also involved a theoretical warrior race that would be instilled with loyalty by being brought up in the harsh conditions of Todesstädte, or Death Cities, and have superior fighting skill, while being additionally free from hope. High-level imperium officials believed that these warriors would be able to serve their purposes, the remaining population could safely be cleansed with advanced nuclear weaponry.

One point that the Imperium leadership failed to consider was that everybody would have fucking died.

Welcome to Lindsen! It's a sub-continent to the east of the Gorsen Mountains, which are rich in mineral deposits. Sure, the soil is bad and rocky and the climate can get pretty cold, especially up north, but here there's some of the richest oil and coal deposits in the whole world! Perhaps that's why the many nations of this divided region have turned up many industrial powers, short-lived as many may be.

The largest nation in this region is the northeaster Lindsen(the country, not the continent). They are believed to be the direct descendants of the original humans who migrated here before the theorized Ice Bridge melted and cut them off permanently from their old home, where savages still reign supreme. Well, nobody knows for sure, because any ships that leave the shallow waters kilometers from shore are sure to be attacked by sea monsters.

It's not, like, superstition or anything. There are actual sea monsters, and they eat boats and stuff.

Recently, only sixty or so years ago, in fact, Lindsen entered an exciting new era as rapid scientific advances allowed for the creation of advanced machines such as birdless carriages, airships, machine manufacturies, and many such beneficial innovations. While some worry about the negative effects releasing large amounts of smoke into the air will have, little actual consequences have been detected by scientists.

With this wave of advance comes the ultimate ideology of populism----where the people choose their leaders, widely regarded as the culmination and final form of State. In the true Lindsen spirit, a compromise between the nobles and commoners was reached. Political candidates come from noble families, guaranteeing that they are educated and enlightened.

Long ago, the matriarchic ancestors of the modern Lindsenians were theorized to have migrated across the Great Ice Bridge, where the many man-eating birds and other such carnivorous animals put the hunting skills of these ancient men at the forefront of society, a trend that has continued to this day.

With recent improvements in shipbuilding, new steamers with steel bottoms will finally be able to resist the crushing bites of sea monsters. Parties have already planned for a joint expedition, which will no doubt foster unity between the many nations of Lindsen (the region, not the country). If successful, they will succeed in civilizing the savages who still remain in their homelands, and exploit the fertile soils for their own use. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Kaitan is the third planet in the orbit of the star Arcturus, approximately 37 light-years from earth. It is classified as a paradise planet, with no seasons and all-around temperate climate, excluding ice caps at the poles. It is mostly terrestrial; however, many large lakes dot its surface. Kaitain has no known geological activity, though it has a magnetic field.

A single day on Kaitan is approximately 6 earth days, while a Kaitan year is around 12 earth years. This is a result of the planet's distance from its star, which is part of the reason for its fair weather----the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere, coupled to the large star, would render the planetary heat unbearable were it any closer to its system's center. To accommodate for the unusual day/night cycle, the citizenry's windows are generally equipped with spinshards to simulate night during sleeping hours.

The planet is approximately 5/4 times the size of earth, and its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, with significant Argon and Neon content. This has changed since human pioneers arrived, and the oxygen concentration is now stabilized at around 20%, the result of the mass planting of tropical and garden plants that thrive in the climate.

In stark contrast to the industrial planet of Hiram IX, Kaitan's population is more devoted to artistic pursuits, perhaps related to the pleasant environment. For example, it is the homeworld of Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist who is due to board a Soviet no-ship.

Single-celled life once existed on Kaitan, as an abundance of fossils and massed structures can prove. However, they eventually died out when they metabolized most of the previous atmosphere into carbon dioxide and were unable to evolve photosynthesis as a result of the planet's distance from its star.

Yes this is a Dune reference. I just thought it was a nice name, ok?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3035737

I'm making a github organization that uses GitConsensus to manage a collaborative markdown worldbuilding wiki. Basically, you'd vote on pull requests using thumbs up and down emojis.

I don't want this to be a thing where I point at an empty text document and say "worldbuild." What's some work I could do beforehand that could get people interested in contributing?

I'm sorry, I had to rip off another term from Dune. Anyways, enjoy this shitty Komaru mouse art by yours truly:

Well anyways, you may want to ask, what is a Fedaykin?

Well, as you've probably gathered from the title, they're elite soldiers of the red army. I realize now that I've never gone into the lore of the red army, so I'm saving that for a later post. But for now, we're staying focused on the Fedaykin.

Aside from normal Red Army soldiers, there were also dare-to-die corps of volunteers who would perform dangerous missions. Eventually, these groups gathered experience and were reorganized into the Fedaykin, possibly the only military force in the world at the time capable of confrontation with Despair Speakers. Notably, although Duncan Illinois was capable of easily taking on multiple Despair Speakers at once, he never joined the Fedaykin, citing his duties as a general.

Notable members of the Fedaykin include Komaru Naegi, and Natsuki. Because they often dealt with Despair Speakers and other similarly powerful units, they were quite well-equipped from captured Imperium equipment, including Komaru's iconic long-barreled Imperium lasgun.

Fedaykin first saw combat during the latter half of the Battle of Moscow, when they arrived along with 130 divisions of Red Army reinforcements to aid AGC Kirigiri's line, proceeding to encircle Miller's command group. More Fedaykin were present at later battles including the Battle of Hope's Peak Academy, where they were vital in taking the position that would allow for the destruction of the bridge the Padishah Kaiserin was standing on.

After the war, the Fedaykin remained as highly trained units in various socialist militaries, still existing as of the time of the Second Killing Game.

Branches off somewhat in 2022, although many things stay the same

2022: China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, and Korea create the Hanoi Pact in order to assist socialist construction in all areas

2024: Ukraine War ends, resulting in Russia taking Donbass region as well as NATO arsenal depleted. Communism in Russia has grown stronger as a result of a real antiwar movement rather than a NATO-sponsored astroturf. Ukraine still exists as a NATO vassal state and blames the war on "communism" despite Putin not being a communist.

2024-2027: The KPRF grows stronger, winning many elections. The main political divide is now between KPRF and Jedinaja Rossija

2027-28: Eventually, Russian oligarchs had enough and wanted to end the threat of the KPRF, resulting in mercenaries to be used to prevent KPRF members from entering the Duma. This was the flame that lit the fuse of the 2nd Russian Civil War. Gennadij Źuganov proclaimed that the KPRF members who were barred were "militants", leading to a major split in the party, resulting in a lot of the lower echelons reorganizing into the KPR(b). War was officially declared on the KPR(b), with Jedinaja Rossija declaring them a terrorist group.

2029: The KPR(b) ended up winning the war and proclaimed the USSR reborn, changing its name to the KPSS. The USSR joins the Hanoi Pact later.

2030: The United States starts placing soldiers in Taiwan, resulting in a strongly-worded letter from China demanding America remove their soldiers from Taiwan. America declines, resulting in the East Asia War.

2030-2034: The anticommunists, made up of the US, NATO, Occupied Korea, and some others, had the upper hand at first, but they were eventually ousted, first out of Korea, then out of the Philippines. The anticommunists also had no luck in Europe, either, with Hanoi Pact forces pushing all the way to Germany. Communism also gained popularity in Latin America, as well as the idea that LatAm should be unified into one nation. Maoist groups had a truce with China and fought on the side of the communists.

2032: In Germany, the German Communist Party (DKP), the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) all united into the Communist Unity Party of Germany (KED)

2033: In Romania, there was a patsoc takeover in the Socialist Party of Romania (PSR), resulting in them taking up socially reactionary stances

2034-35: The East Asia War, now WWIII, ended in a Communist victory. New socialist states joined the Hanoi Pact, such as:

• Republic of Japan
• Socialist Republic of the Philippines
• Indian People's Republic
• German Socialist People's Republic
• Second Polish People's Republic
• Socialist Federation of Latin America

Romania, now under patsoc government, also joined the Hanoi Pact. South Korea, now governed by the People's Democracy Party, is now a transitional state that is able to write its own laws, but its foreign policy is managed by Pyongyang and aimed at integration. Maoist groups in the Philippines and India also managed to gain a stronghold in the north of their respective countries, resulting in these MLM-governed states:

• People's Socialist Republic of India
• People's Socialist Republic of the Philippines

The peace between Maoists and MLs also deteriorated, as the Maoist CPP declared the Hanoi Pact to be revisionist, and formed their own bloc, with the Indian Naxalites (Maoist Bloc) The USSR occupied Poland in a program called "Rapid Re-communization" in order to rid Poland of reactionary politics. These policies were attacked by the Romanian government, with the PSR chairman claiming that it was "social-imperialist" and "violated national self-determination", which many Hanoi Pact communists saw as a dogwhistle for the PSR's homophobic stance. However, in Britain, the CPGB-ML upheld the PSR and also condemned Rapid Recommunization.