Introduction: The Future is Now

In the 20th century, the peoples of Earth developed the means of self-destruction. Their invention seemed to harbor the certain end of the human species. As it turned out, however, the mass death of the 21st century would have a more complex and incidental cause, resulting more from systemic breakdown than any deliberate act of destruction.

Then, in the 21st century, the cultures of Earth developed the means of self-creation. Bio-sculpting, molecular printing, Perfect Simulation, and Sapient AI; humanity saw one major technological revolution after another. In a thousand different ways, they could now create life with the press of a button. But even before the century was out, this potential proved far more terrifying than that of nuclear annihilation. In earlier ages, the amount of death had always been bounded by the amount of people living at that time. Now, by contrast, entire populations could be birthed and killed in an instant, with a depth and degree of suffering that was more sophisticated than ever before. Hell was made real, and a New Heaven would rule it.

Amidst this demonic ascendency, any notion of Reality would die a quiet death. To the ruling classes of the Earth, the material soon became immaterial, as their isolation from its dire fate grew all the more complete. Before long, their only major concern would be the steady supply of energy and labor to their respective Xanadus. Among their attendant enforcing classes, the only ones who objected to this were those who thought the power of creation (and all its concomitant cruelties) should be spread a little more evenly. As for the question of Reality, whether philosophical or factual, it would be lost amidst the breakdown of the human lifeworld.

Yet not everyone was content with the new order of things. In the rise of artificial life, many saw a greater purpose than the craven games of the powerful. If these new kinds of beings were allowed to develop their autonomy, they could surely become a powerful ally in the restoration of life as a whole. In the face of so much abuse and neglect, the Earth had become a barren place, in need of a profound resurrection. Those who did not flee into Essentialist or Escapist strategies would confront this world with hope and with love.

Unfortunately, hope and love were no match for the power of WMDs. At the dawn of the 22nd century, a mass conflict between the global oligarchy and its revolutionary rivals would see the defeat of the latter. Already weakened by the world war of a generation before, this alliance of alternatives would spend the next two decades in a state of grueling recuperation. By the year 2117, however, it felt secure enough to recommit to its earlier aspirations, those being the restoration of the lifeworld, the development of new forms of being, and the destruction of reactionaries everywhere. Ambitious goals, to be sure, but you know what they say: whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you…stranger.


Hello everyone, and welcome to what will hopefully be my second ever quest! You may know me from my first and yet ongoing quest, the post-post-scarcity space opera known as Uncommon Wealth. I also wrote some fun political-economic guest posts for For The Tyrants Fear Your Might. Either way, I tend to go for narratives that are equal parts Weird and Political; this quest will be no exception.

To give you the basic pitch on what I would like Xenopoiesis to me, it's pretty much my vision of the world in about a hundred years for now. It is part dire pronouncement, and part wish fulfillment. Realistic in the ways that matter, and unrealistic in the ways that real history tends to be. Mostly, it's the outcome of a future trajectory I have long been meaning to elaborate upon. The quest format seemed like a fun way to get it out there.

In terms of themes and styles, I am much indebted to the aforementioned Tyrants, along with the work of resident speculative history creators such as @Ernacius and @Mathuen. The idea is to take this picture of an idiosyncratic 22nd century humanity, and cast it out into an even stranger direction through the format of a plan quest. In this sense, it is aimed at bridging the narrative 'gap' between the present day and something like Star Trek or The Culture (or Uncommon Wealth, for that matter). One of the few works I know which also plays around in this space is the RPG Eclipse Phase. Its brand of revolutionary posthumanity is definitely something I am looking to emulate for the most part.

With all that said, the trouble with my present pitch is that I could easily foresee this quest taking up a lot of time, on top of the work I'm already doing for Uncommon Wealth. Thus, I would presently consider this quest to be a 'proof of concept', an appetizer aimed at soliciting your collective interest, and perhaps leading to the recruitment of a few co-QMs who might lighten my workload. If you are interested in such themes as the decay of capitalism into techno-oligarchy, the development of extraordinary yet mostly plausible technologies, and the general 'weirdening' of a future humanity, then I would welcome you to join me in creating this new setting.

In the next few posts, I will lay out some basic setting details, followed by the near-term planning parameters for the organization you will be leading. If you'd like to know more about the setting as I understand it now, I may set up an in-universe Q&A session with a relevant authority. For now, let me show you what I've got!

World Population Count (Real Only): 4.8 billion

• Of which extraterrestrial: 10.3 million

Nexus Population Estimation: ~1.1 trillion

• Of which Real-Original: ~950 million

Class 1 Megacities in the UN

• Mexico-Tenochtitlan
• BosWash
• SaoRio
• Verne
• Yangtze Delta
• Pearl River Delta
• Daedalus
• Kinshasa-Brazzaville
• Auckland

Power Blocs of the Third Cold War, and their Major Members:

Essentialist Bloc/Global Treaty Organization/'Civilization'

• European Union/'Eurostate'
• Akhand Bharat/Greater India
• Antarctican Authority/'Extractica'
• ASEAN/Nava Mandala

Anti-Essentialist Bloc/United Nations/Sixth Internationale

• USA (United States of America (Third Republic))
• PRC (People's Republic of China)
• PALA (Plurinational Association of Latin America)
• EAF (East African Federation)

New Non-Aligned Movement

• Council of Russia
• Argentina
• Ethiopia
• South Africa

Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council:

• USA
• PRC
• UNHCR
• UNPFII
• UNETC

UNCXR List of Global X-Risks (updated Jan 1st, 2117):

• State-sponsored Essentialism
• Ecodeath
• Thermonuclear War
• Unlimited Self-Replication ('Grey Goo')
• Vampiric Escapism

The United Nations Intergovernmental Development Association (UNIDA), formerly known as the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, is a consortium of various UN funds, programmes, and initiatives, aimed at the general goal of 'just and sustainable development'.

[...]

In 2117, UNIDA's goals were revised by the Executive Office of the General Secretary, keeping with the recently established HALE Development Initiative…


Goals of the HALE Development Initiative, also known as the First Ten-Year Plan:

Habitation

• Restoring Earth orbit accessibility through steady de-Kesslerization
• Resuming the Greening of Class 1 Megacities
• Accelerating Popular Consolidation
• Modeling Extraterrestrial Ecoformation
• Improving transcontinental logistics

Autonomy

• Supporting on-the-ground Indigenization initiatives
• Building new democratic models of global governance
• Subsidizing Engaged Religions
• Respecting the Canberra Accords On Escapist Sovereignty (CAES)
• Promoting Exiled Cultures

Liberation

• Aiding liberation struggles in rogue states
• Completing the Basic Embodiment Guarantee for WW4 casualties
• Combating rogue simulation and its vampiric benefactors
• Deploying a Japanese Expeditionary Force
• Rebuilding UN cislunar assets

Ecology

• Reversing the extinction of marginal languages and cultures
• Developing a robust system of Geo-engineering Countermeasures
• Beginning the resurrection of oceanic life
• Trialing Gaiic Technology on a local scale
• Funding pilot programs in designated Restoration Zones

Turn 0: BosWash Vice

Let's make this clear right from the start: the following leadership vote will not be determining the head of UNIDA. That position has been occupied by the Deputy General Secretary since time immemorial, and Lena Pendragon does not seem eager to relinquish this privilege of hers. Instead, you will be picking the Vice-Chairman, responsible for both the Core Group of UNIDA affiliates as well as the organizational backbone that is the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Taken together, this arguably makes for a more manageable position than that of the Chairman herself, who has her hands full at the Secretariat anyway.

To make your choice a little easier, the following list of candidates has been made available to you:

[] Song Qingling: As one of the three 'Soong Sisters', and the widow of revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen, Song Qingling played an instrumental role in the history of 20th century China. As a ranking member of the PRC's early nomenklatura, she lent a great degree of continuity and legitimacy to the Chinese Communist Revolution, and she was declared the People's Republic's Honorary President upon her death in 1981. In 2109, her Simulated Intelligence was recovered from a rogue cache in Antananarivo. Given her historical significance, she was transported to the Beijing Institute for SI Rehabilitation, where she was quickly acclimated to her new environment. Having vowed to continue her fight against reactionary decadence, she could make a potent and unifying figure in the struggle for global peace and development.

• Focus on socio-cultural emancipation
• Increased attention to AI and SI affairs
• Improved reputation with the PRC, and a bonus when working with them

[] Lev Antonovich Korolev: As indicated by his chosen surname, Lev Antonovich Korolev was one of the founding members of the Russian Neo-Cosmist movement. Born in 2032, he managed to survive the Second Time of Troubles by being resolutely utopian, working with various international programs to advance the cause of technological evolution and extraterrestrial inhabitation. The aftermath of WW3 saw him become a permanent exile, as he rejected the reactionary direction many Neo-Cosmists would take under the CoR's stewardship. While popular among the Russian diaspora, his appointment could lead to tensions with the Non-Aligned Movement.

• Focus on space inhabitation
• Increased aptitude with innovative projects
• Reputation malus with Russia and the wider NAM

[] Gaze Starhawk: Gaze Starhawk (born 2075) cut their teeth in the PFII, shepherding some of its more impressive programs before the immense setback that was WW4. While they begrudge the PFII for not using its UNSC veto more in the leadup to that conflict, they have agreed to let bygones be bygones for the moment, refocusing their efforts towards the long rebuilding effort. As vice-chair, they would direct the UNDP's resources towards programs of ecological restoration, popular consolidation, and the general cultural drive towards indigenization.

• Focus on ecology and infrastructure
• Personal contacts with the NAM
• Greater reputation with the PFII and USA, and a bonus when working with them

[] Giovanna Rossi: The former chairwoman of the Communist Party of Italy still continues her fight against the Euro-fascists that took her home from her. Having led a nation under siege for almost twenty years, she believes that there can be a synthesis between socialist democracy and voluntary militarization. This 'Eternal Partisan' model is one she would like to apply to the UN as a whole. At the same time, her personal history also leaves her predisposed to various posthuman initiatives, such as full-body augmentation and accelerated sapience-focused speciation (or 'uplifting').

• Focus on subverting hostile powers
• Increased aptitude with posthuman projects
• Greater reputation with exiled peoples

[] Voluntary Sortition: The wild card option would be to institute a system of sortition for the top job. Willing and able and members of the UN developmental bureaucracy will be selected for this position at random at every Quinquennial Comprehensive Policy Review. While it may take more time to acclimate the revolving chairmen to their position, the democratic procedure will be good for staff morale, and prevent the formation of any personal fiefdoms.

Author's Note: There's no voting moratorium this time around, just to get into the action ASAP. Next post will be an AMA with the Deputy General Secretary, to sate your hunger for more worldbuilding and context.

"Geez, these are a lot of questions. Let me see what answers I can muster."

IamtooSleepy said:

The WW4, I assume, is the one between the UN and the GTO. What is the WW3 about?

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"Yeah, WW4 (if that's what the historians will end up calling it) was between us and the GTO. In terms of raw geopolitics, it was honestly really similar to WW3, though that was more about everyone ganging up on China. Poor China, they still haven't recovered from that. They were lucky the US bowed out when they did, or they wouldn't have been able to force the rest of them to a standstill."

"Oh, and the Dual Revolution, of course, that's what we call the end of WW3. Kind of how WW1 lead into the Russian and German revolutions."

IamtooSleepy said:

What is the Gaiic Technology?

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"Gaiic technology, or Gaia technology, is an admittedly hubristic attempt to try and create a god where nature is found wanting. More technically, it's a series of pilot programs that aim to manage ecosystems through a new kind of sapient AI. Gaze seems excited about it, but I wouldn't know."

IamtooSleepy said:

What is the UNETC? They are the only one who did not seem to existed in the early 21st century.

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"Oh, there's a bunch of agencies that we've added since then; the UNETC isn't one of them, though. Back then, it was just the defunct UN Trusteeship Council. We appended the 'Ecological' part."

IamtooSleepy said:

There is a mention of the Sixth Internationale, is this another name for the UN or are they a separate organisation?

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"It's a bit of a metonym. We run a new Internationale out of the old Department for Political Affairs. It mostly works to enforce socialist governing standards, keep everyone on the same page. You don't need to be a diehard communist or anything (indeed, some of them work for the other side)."

IamtooSleepy said:

What role does UNSC plays in the 22nd century UN? Is there any called for further reform?

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"Having thrown off a bunch of dead weight in the wake of the Dual Revolution, the UNSC now acts much more like a well-coordinated military alliance than a big veto machine. We already added permanent representation for the most vulnerable among us; what more do you want?"

IamtooSleepy said:

• This association - and the UN in general - are, from the vibe - such as the fact that you are long serving civil servant, rather bureaucratic. Is there any call to democratise UN bureaucracy? And if so, is there any plan to pursuit in this matter outside of the proposed sortition for the vice-chair (that I am not going to vote because I have zero faith that RNG will not screwed us over at the worse time)?
• Accordingly, to which degree has the UN responsibility and authority extended to member polities? That is, how much power we can wield in comparison to our member state? Further more, is there any movement for trying to transform the UN into a single polity?
• In the opposite of the previous question, is there any movement to dissolve UN or it's member polities in favour of a more anarchistic system of governance? If they existed and are powerful, what would you do if such movement come to power?

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"I am going to treat these as one question, since they seem to be getting at the same thing ("are you a tyrant, ms. Pendragon?"). Compared to whatever earlier reference point you might care for, the UN is more democratic than ever. The General Assembly is weighted by population, and we've finally stopped excluding certain stateless peoples from it. In the executive branch, we're mostly focused on building in an Algedonic Reflex. That is to say, we want the top of our organization to be able to respond to its deepest roots in moments of profound dysfunction. Other than that, good management is mostly about letting your subsidiaries do their thing. That's what the cyberneticists tell me, at least."

IamtooSleepy said:

How much threat does the GTO represent to the implementation of HALE Initiative? What is the current level of hostility between us and them?

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"If they're purely internal matters, they're unlikely to bother us. Outside of that, it's a constant standoff. Much of it comes down to trying to work past one another. But a future confrontation seems inevitable."

IamtooSleepy said:

What exactly is the Escapist and what is their Sovereignty? A refuge into a stimulated realities?

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"It'd almost be easier to point to those movements that aren't Escapist in some fashion. Generally speaking though, Escapism represents a mass trauma response in the wake of societal breakdown and ecodeath. Using the novel technologies of the past centuries, Escapists attempt to reshape the world (whether Real or Virtual) according to their whims. Now, the Canberra Accords force us to accommodate these people insofar as they're only using their own allotted land and resources. When they turn Vampiric though, they're fair game for UNATCO."

MrRageQuit said:

What, in a nutshell, is Essentialism (or whatever the exact nomenclature may be)?

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"Thank you for giving me that nutshell, or else we'd be here all day. That said, you do need to understand Essentialism, as it is the key to our global ideological impasse.

Basically in this 'post-material age' of relative plenty, any kyriarchic social order must reveal its true origin in culture and socialization, instead of the economistic excuses it used to supply under capitalism. Thus, they force the world to be a certain way, because they believe that reflects its True Nature, its Essence. Its core value is its hostility to change, in other words. In the long run, that makes any Essentialist social order inherently anti-democratic, if not deluded altogether.

Here at the UN, we embrace Change, a virtue which accepts both ecological reality, and the human desire for transcendence. We try, but we do not impose.

If this just sounds like a bureaucrat's idle musings, I suggest you find a philosopher. They'll have a more rigorous definition of it all."

List of UNIDA member organizations (2117)

UNDP: The UN Development Programme is the organizational hub of the UNIDA constellation. It supports and coordinates the other agencies, and supplements their funding where needed. It also pursues some of the more basic, bread-and-butter projects that the UN developmental effort gets up to: in other words, boring old industry and infrastructure.

UNESCO: You know UNESCO. They're the guys who fund your favorite shows, games, and sims! They're also the keepers of humanity's common cultural heritage, of course. Recently, they've been working with UNATCO to make an index of the most vulnerable Heritage Sites, in the hopes of safeguarding them against the uptick in Iconoclastic Terrorism.

DPO: The Department of Peace Operations, AKA the greatest euphemism in 21st century history. They were the spearpoint of the Sixth Internationale, and even in losing, their prestige has been little sullied. While technically still a conglomeration of national militaries, the day will soon come that they formally become a unitary entity. Then again, that's been the plan since forever, and it hasn't happened yet.

UNEEF: The UN Ecological Emergency Fund may very well be the reason you're still alive. Twice now, they've headed off the worst effects of a post-war climatic catastrophe. This work never ends, especially now that various insurgent eco-modernists seem intent on reshaping the biosphere to their will.

UNOCHA: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is the other reason you're still alive. They're an agglomeration of all the various relief efforts the UN pursues. Their reason for being on the UNIDA is mostly to prevent redundancy. When you're handing out water, it's good to know that someone else is building a well (and vice-versa).

ILO: The International Labor Organization is here to make sure that the UN's development programmes are keeping with good labor standards. They're also a sporadic project partner on more directly political-economic concerns, such as the automation of certain industries or the buildup of new ones.

IOM: The International Organization for Migration is here to do much the same thing as the ILO, just focused on making sure that the right to free movement is respected in all affairs.

UN Habitat: The megacities of Earth would be absolutely unlivable without the strenuous efforts of UN Habitat. Not only do they maintain a respectable stockpile of basic settlement fabricators, but they're on an eternal quest to overhaul the already existing maelstrom of urban space in the UN. Just imagine what life on the other side must be like.

UNCXR: The UN Commission on Existential Risk is like an ongoing alarm bell, what with all the new threats to life and reality that we've developed over the years. Still, it's a good idea to have them here, just so the rest of us get better at prioritizing our efforts.

ISCRA: It's for very similar reasons that the International Simulation Control and Research Agency is here. They continuously remind us of the literal billions of captured souls they have in digital storage, all waiting for another chance at life. Some of them are fallen soldiers, others were born into a Torment Nexus. They're all very traumatized, and we should do something to help them.

UNHCR: The Simulated are not the only ones looking for a home, however. The UN Refugee Agency became one of the chief organs of the UN system in the course of the 21st century. Even now, they manage an incredible system of ever more permanent refugee camps, thus representing the lives of hundreds of millions. They're almost a state unto themselves, and their position on the UNSC is no accident. Having become the chief representative of stateless peoples as such, we would do well to listen to them when setting our development goals.

UNPFII: Meanwhile, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is here to make sure that all this development doesn't trample all over the rights and customs of Indigenous peoples everywhere. That has been the historical tendency of state society, after all. Thankfully, the UN is slowly learning to think less like a state, and more like a commune of communes. The UNPFII is partly responsible for that, and they will continue to exert this anarchizing influence in whatever way they can.

UNETC: The UN Ecological Trusteeship Council, while having a considerable overlap with the domain of the UNPFII, is more narrowly focused on the rights and needs of vulnerable ecosystems as such. It presently controls great swathes of territory in South-East-Asia, Central Africa, and South America, along with a tapestry of other, smaller areas. Naturally, none of these places are to be 'developed' in the modernist sense of the word. You understand.

OHCSSR: The Office of the High Commissioner for Sentient and Sapient Rights: one of the UN's many watchdogs, keeping the other agencies in line with its broad but dynamic mandate. Presently, they're very much focused on the question of body and embodiment, making sure that the Right to be Embodied, as well as the Right to Body Euphoria, are at the forefront of the UN's wider agenda.

UNLIEC: The UN Liaision to Intentional and Escapist Communities. One of the more recent agencies, and the result of a whole mess of messy compromises that came in the wake of WW4. Basically, while Escapists have a right to flourish, much like the rest of us, we do want to keep them from morphing into dangerous Essentialists. The strategy so far is to allot them specific zones and resources, and to make sure they exit their paradise once in a while. So far, it's a very tense situation, but one which could prove workable.

UNODOS: Finally, the Organization for the Development of Outer Space does exactly what its title suggests. It's a spinoff of UNOOSA, and one we're all too happy to work with, given the dire state of our extraterrestrial assets.



Author's Note: As you will soon see, you won't be directly controlling all of these organizations (I wouldn't be able to write that much, for one thing). Nevertheless, this list will surely come in handy in what's to come, if only to make sense of all the acronyms.