Okay...here's my idea for a wildly divergent Earth. My original goal was to have a world marked by transhumanism that had backslid into barbarism...trying to do that within the comfy confines of 2007 was too hard though, so I improvised. Hope it's all right. Suggestions and so forth are welcome.
Our world:
In 1953, the structure of DNA was first revealed using x-rays and some imagination.
In 2004, an asteroid called Apophis nearly struck Earth, for a brief time having the highest recorded impact probability of any non-manmade object in space. It was not detected until only months before its projected possible impact.
No connection was ever made between these two events.
This world:
In 1953, the structure of DNA was first revealed using x-rays and some imagination.
In 1961, Earth is struck by a 350 meter diameter asteroid that is belatedly named in the chaos that follows...Apophis, after the Egyptian universe-devouring serpent. Not only does this cause physical devastation throughout central and south america, but the fallout is contaminated with a deadly extraterrestrial virus.
1965 - The Apophis Plague has spread pandemically, forcing the reconciliation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact to combine research and relief efforts.
1967 - Breakthrough. The operational principles of the virus are finally understood. This not only leads to research into a cure, but spurs the beginnings of research into genetics. The alien enzymes and proteins of the virus are easily adapted into tools to manipulate, sequence and tag genetic markers and molecules.
1970 - A cure for Apophis is developed. The toll on human and animal life is staggering though. Ecologists warn that the loss of biodiversity may be unsustainable, and that even plants and grains may undergo mass extinction due to ecological collapse.
1972 - The remnants of the superpower governments authorize a program of intense research into unlocking the genetic code of humans and a few species of 'critical' animal life deemed necessary to restore the Earth to a habitable level.
1975 - Although the bulk of Earth's population is rural or pre-technological (urban centers were hardest hit by the Apophis Plague) and reconstruction is slow, the research project grows quickly due to a circular resonance between the genetic research and the organic 'tools' refined from Apophis being used to conduct the research. Each new discovery leads to a refinement of the tools needed to make more discoveries which further improves the tools. In addition, crash training programs offered by the United States and USSR, or what's left of them, begin to have an effect...bringing more minds to the table. Already though, a backlash movement is forming, contending that some of the things being discussed...cloning to repopulate, transgenics, genetic defect correction and its red-headed stepchild genetic augmentation...were not only immoral, but could create another supervirus by mistake...or by design.
1978 - The human geonome is 'mapped,' to the same extent as the Human Geonome Project on our line has been. Scientists have already created specialized retroviruses and heavily engineered bacteria to help them manipulate DNA. Unfortunately, by now, the burdens of running decimated states begins to show. Since 1970, the 'rule of law' has been limited, with the governments simply unable to muster the manpower to re-establish their control. The research that has been done has been at some cost, and the central governments of both the USA and USSR are in the end too diminished to continue on. The fracture point is when the backlash against genetics solidifies and results in a walkout of qualified administrative, military, and scientific personnel. They then focus their efforts on reconstructive goals...getting people back into cities, getting engineering and electronics back into the focus of technological advance, and using other methods to combat the possibility of ecological collapse (a concept many of them do not take seriously to begin with).
By 1980, the ideological split has become sociological. The central government is no more. Unable to sustain it by themselves, the cadre endorsing further genetics...largely research and administrative staff...has gone to the people directly. Cloning livestock at first, and then making and marketing useful transgenic features that can be granted to offspring, and later even bestowed via retrovirus to an adult, they begin acting on a long range plan to repopulate ecological niches of the planet by any means necessary. In the slowly repopulating cities, the largely military government is more authoritarian, but also extremely effective.
20 years later, the world is gripped in a new Cold War.
The cities of humankind have grown, and linked via internet communications. They are fortress states though, each one walled and access strictly controlled. Their government has never forgotten its military roots, and while there is a democratic parliament, the military executive still has final say. Society is built on the notions of duty, service, honor, and the sacrifice of the few for the many. Education is patterned after military academies and tightly state-controlled. The government has come to be called the 'Coalition States of America,' based on the original coalition that left to form their own government in protest of the godless and dangerous emphasis on genetics the previous administrations had pressed.
In the rural midwest to the western coast, the Clades hold their ground. Originally a term coined to define a new genetic classification, the word 'clade' gradually became a social, and then a political demarcation. A clade, genetically, refers to a set of common genetic traits that are not enough to define a new species, but represent a dramatic departure from the base species' norm. A dog is a species...but a specific breed of dogs could be called a clade. Clades breed true within the clade, but can crossbreed within their species. Clades can have dramatically varying phenotypes, but have certain unifying characteristics within their species. Clades were, until the 1980's, unknown in humankind. When genetic 'upgrades' started becoming available in prepackaged templates, clades were born. All recipients of the same package had traits in common that set them apart. It was natural for such to gravitate towards one another. The word clade gradually came to mean something akin to 'clan.' A loose affiliation of the genetically upgraded. In time, the clade one belonged to was just as important as family. It defined one's role in the world, not just one's abilities. The long term plan has come to fruition, and the ecosystem has been sustained...partly through introduction of cloned and modified animals...and partly by the introduction of specialized human beings, designed to fulfill environmental roles.
The so-called "Pures" and the Clades are increasingly at odds...each viewing the successes of the other as a potential threat.
...
Ahem. You can see I've thought a lot about this. This is just the world my character is from.
Though it might be fun to actually run this someday. Hee.
Anyway, I'll try to get a sheet up today sometime. Thoughts are welcome!
