..:: The New Era ::..

To better understand the stories of Charlise & her family, Fluke & his family, and everyone else from the New Era category of my characters, it would probably be useful to realize that the time period and world they live in is fundamentally different from our own...to the point where I figured it was probably worth an explanation. Given that fact, I tried to break it down into smaller categories to explain the setting of this particular group of character stories...starting with the time span of the New Era itself, followed by a little bit of history, a brief description of the government and its initiatives, and the differences between life in the New Era and life in our time period.

Time Period

The biggest point I have to make is that the New Era is not a future version of our time...its on its own completely different time-line. For example, 2009 in our day is not the same as 2009 in the New Era time-line...they're very different...if that makes sense. New-Era 2009 is far more advanced technologically and scientifically than 2009 in our time.

The New Era (abbreviated N.E.), which followed B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era, which ended with 1999) began with the year 2000; so if you're referring to a specific date, you would technically say 2000 N.E. or 2099 N.E. By technically, I mean that would be correct....although people in this time period generally don't tack N.E. onto the end when referring to dates; just as we don't say 2009 C.E., they wouldn't say 2009 N.E.

The current year in the New Era is 2099.

I think that just about covers the time frame, its pretty simple and self-explanatory and there's not really much else to say to clarify further so I hope that all makes sense.

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A Little History: In the Beginning

With that out of the way I suppose I'll start discussing the Government of this time period, which is significantly different from ours. Now, from here on out, when I say 'the government' or 'the time period' or anything like that, I'm referring not to our world and time period, but to the world of the New Era.

For the sake of not boring myself (and whoever happens to be reading this), I'm not going to go into immense detail, but rather just touch on the key points and aspects.

Since the early 2000's, the U.S. government began to undergo massive reforms, much of it in response to its many inefficiencies in areas such as economy, energy, and foreign policy. Its flaws were being painfully brought to light as the country's economy sank deeper and deeper and America was steering towards an economic crisis. But you probably already know about all the issues that were going on in this time. It was the daring initiatives of a President and his cabinet to steer the country away from crisis, and towards a new outlook.

After that President took charge, his service to the country was so beneficial that he was permitted, for the first time in more than 100 years, to serve a total of three terms as President of the United States. His ideas were radical; and called for many reforms. His policy was that no issue would be left untouched, and that his presidency would be about fixing the errors of the past, so the country could move forward towards the future.

It was under his time in Office that the economy slowly began its upward climb out of recession, thanks to a series of heavily supported programs to restore it.

Now, if youre anything like me you're probably getting pretty bored at this point because government and politics is a load of boring shit so I'll try and...not get into too much detail.

To just skip all this boring history crap, this great president left his MANTLE OF GREATNESS! to his son, who became the next president and also lead a series of reforms, primarily in the energy crisis.

Thanks to his support and all of that, nuclear fusion, a cleaner and more efficient power source, was harnessed, and fusion plants replaced those we have today that produce assloads of radioactive shit. He also supported research into the development of more natural power sources like solar and wind, as well as landfill material, which proved to be an energy goldmine....good news.

The President also lead a second initiative that helped big car companies to develop solar & hydrogen-powered cars at affordable prices! These sleek new energy-efficient cars, many getting at least 75 mpg, quickly replaced the old gasoline cars, which were soon prohibited by law due to the pollution they caused.

Due to his aggressive taking of charge on the energy crisis and all the solutions and new technologies developed during his presidency, he was nicknamed the "Green President".

I'll be honest here. I don't like history. So to just spare myself and whoever's reading this a really long and tedious description of the history of this world and just get back to the main point, I'll wrap the history up with a quick summary. After the "green president" and his father, there came a long line of great leaders not only in America, but around the world too, as the various nations soon became caught up in a common goal of world advancement and reform. It was this thinking that would begin to unify our world, pushing it forward into a New Era marked by the development of futuristic technologies and HUGE advances in medicine and science. This time period began with the creation of the New World Union.

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A Little History Continued: The New World Union & The International Constitution

Now the first new president who lead the country out of recession also had some new ideas about how he wanted to work his foreign policy. As he saw it, the old way wasn't working and refusal to negotiate was leading to unneccessary prejudice, misunderstandings, wars, and ultimately, a painful lack of world progress. Perhaps he was somewhat naive in his solution but as he saw it, it was nice and simple; sit down and have a good civil talk with the other nations and listen to them. Not long after he took office, he arranged to host a meeting not at the UN, but at a different but equally prestigious location. He invited ALL the leaders of the various world countries; it was an open invitation and all these world leaders were encouraged to come, the whole point of this meeting was just to talk and set a lot of things right and to negotiate.

Well, as it turned out, a LOT more people showed up than what he had expected...though like he expected, it wasn't long before the conflicting opinions of each leader began to show through; it was clear that the countries of the world all had very different outlooks on issues. Through this problem though, the U.S. President saw a solution, although he decided to wait for a little while before explaining it. Instead, he quietly listened while the other leaders debated and argued heatedly, criticising each other's policies and laws and countries. Mentally, he took notes of what was going on and why everyone was arguing; though he also noticed that there were certain things that many of the leaders did in fact agree on, and it was this idea of common agreement that would be the foundation on which his new plan was to be built.

So after letting the group argue and fight for a good hour or so he asked for everyone's brief attention. He explains how he'd noticed everyone fighting and whatnot and goes on to note his specific observations, making it clear that...fighting and arguing is the exact OPPOSITE of why he'd arranged the meeting; that that method of negotiation will never accomplish anything. He let that sink in for a moment and most people by now were all 'oh yeah okay i see what he's saying mm-hm yeah that makes sense'. Once he saw he was getting through to them, the President made some kind of simple statement saying that perhaps instead of arguing and finding fault, the leaders should start with the things they have in common. Then of course someone spoke up all like WELL WE CANT JUST IGNORE THE FLAWS!1 and the President just nodded and said that they would discuss these "flaws" in each other's countries, and would work them out in a civil manner, with everyone participating and listening to each other's input.

Simply enough, that's how it went. Many of the leaders liked the President's down-to-earth, laid-back but efficient style of thinking and negotiating. He presented his ideas with class, and listened just as well to the ideas of others. Of course, as could be expected, there were those leaders who did not care for him.

Regardless, many more similar meetings were held after this first one. It was a whole new style of negotiation; everyone listening and bringing their own ideas to the table, debating and discussing and changing ideas until they had something that the majority was satisfied with. That was, after all, the goal; unified agreement.

It was soon decided to document these discussions and the new decisions that came out of them, and these documentations would soon pave the way for the ultimate product that would come out of these meetings. Eventually, the leaders found that many of their differences were rooted in their laws and customs; some of them had problems with the way others dealt with things, and it was realized that the only way for everyone to agree was, well, to start totally new. A clean slate.

Probably around 80% of the countries were all for it; roughly 20% (mostly countries at war with themselves or run by rebel/corrupt governments) did not. Majority ruled, and the many countries that supported this idea decided to go through with it.

This idea soon gave birth to what would become known as the International Constitution. Based to a degree on the original U.S. Constitution, it was a document of Biblical proportions (literally haha...this thing is like five encyclopedias stacked on one another; its a book of colossal proportions) which contained guarantees of human rights, laws and the punishments for breaking them, powers delegated to the government and to the people, rules on International Policy, and so much more, every law and rule and right you could think of; it was The Law now, the creation of the greatest world leaders, the document that close to 80% of the world was in firm support of.

I didn't forget about those 20% who were not.

The majority of these countries' leaders ceased to attend the "International Meetings" as those came to be called, disliking everything the International Constitution was. These countries were not ostracized or forgotten about; their leaders were welcome to attend the meetings if they changed their mind, and as always, civil negotiations were always an option.

The countries in favor of the International Constitution (U.S., Canada, Mexico, the vast majority of Europe, Russia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Asia, Australia, a few middle eastern countries and many many MOAR, just to name a few) continued their regular meetings in various locations within their countries, and this group soon became known as the New World Union. The New World Union had near unanimous agreement in decisions they made, and it was an unspoken law that, to be in this Union, a country had to accept the International Constitution as their own. A few more did, and some continued to stand against it. Regardless, the New World Union would quickly be moving forward into a New Era unlike anything before on Earth, starting with many initiatives.

One of the first things to happen was the slow creation of a global currency, the Union Dollar. This was the currency that came to be used in all countries of the New World Union...to enhance that sense of..togetherness I suppose you could say. To reinforce the fact that they were many countries, but one union. Needless to say that took awhile but programs and incentives to use the new money eventually lead to the replacement of the money we know today, and the useage of the Union Dollar, in hopes that it would soon become the new international currency.

To this day, the International Meetings still take place today, and to host their meetings, a massive skyscraper, the tallest building in this time period, was constructed. This building, called the Union Building, stands in Washington, D.C. and is essentially the political capital of the United States and in a sense, of the world. Its nearly 100 floors high, takes up several city blocks, and is complete with hundreds of deluxe hotel-style rooms, restaurants, stores, and of course, the meeting rooms for political affairs. The Union Building is a marvel of engineering and technology and is, in this time period, a symbol of the United States and the New World Union itself. Its also where the "President" (aka King or Dictator in this time period) of the United States lives...and has replaced the White House and other such buildings in that respect.

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Modern Day of the New Era:
(This is basically the section that should explain about how the New Era is different from our era. This is the world in which Charlise and Fluke and all them's stories occur)

The New Government System

The government in the New Era is another thing that's...drastically different from our own, both on a small scale and on an international one. Today's governments for the most part are more....democratic...people get to vote and elect leaders and things like that. The New Era governments...are nothing like that...let me explain:

Each country in the New World Union is governed by a King...sometimes called a Dictator. The two terms here are interchangeable...people use either one to refer to a country's leader. The Dictator stands above the law and has absolute power over his country...he oversees all the laws, all government functions, and all decisions made within his country's borders. He can pass any bill or law he chooses without opposition....what he says goes...his power is absolute and unchecked. They do have some degree of influence over other countries in the Union.....and will exert that influence when and as they see fit to do so. Every so often, the New World Union Dictators come together for meetings and to discuss and implement various leadership policies and things that need to be done in the Union and outside it. To put it simply...the Dictators are the absolute world leaders. Dictators are voted in by the Senate and the people of the higher ranks in the Ministry (mentioned later)....however, the vote is powerless unless the Dictator chooses to step down and transfer power to the new leader. This has happened before...and when it does...the only way to remove the adamant Dictator is through force....or death...something that has happened before in this time period.

Now beneath the Dictators...you generally have a larger group of 'second-in-commands', so to speak. In the New Era United States....these second-in-commands are the Senators. Now...don't think Senators like we have in our time period...these ones are entirely different. First off, each state only has a single Senator...and this Senator is like a small-scale Dictator...he or she has absolute power and control over his/her state and it's laws....they are free to do as they please. For example....if a Senator wants to raise revenue in his/her state, they can write up a bill to raise sales taxes and have it passed the same day. The bill does not get voted on or approved...the Senator alone has the absolute power to pass it into law and can do so if he/she chooses. The only check on the Senators' power is the President/Dictator of the U.S.; while Senators have absolute power in their state, the President/Dictator has absolute power over the entire country....and can overturn a Senator's bill or law if he chooses to do so. Going back to the earlier example, if a Senator passes a bill to raise taxes and the President decides that's a bad idea, he can immediately cancel the bill and return that state's tax rates to their previous form...and there is nothing the Senator can do about it....he/she is entirely subservient to the President.

To aid them in their decision-making process, each Senator has a cabinet of ten individuals whom they choose and whom must be approved by the President. The cabinet oversees things on a smaller scale so that the Senator isn't having to micromanage every little thing going on in their state. For example...one of the cabinet members may oversee the states education system, one may oversee law enforcement and security, one may oversee construction and building, etc. Generally, each cabinet member oversees more than one aspect...and their job is to know those aspects inside and out and come up with plans and initiatives to maintain them. They are in almost constant communication with one another and with their Senator and are responsible for using their knowledge to aid the Senator's decision-making and offer solutions to various state issues. It's worth saying though that, aside from their individual areas of specialty, the cabinet's power is limited. The Senator still has absolute power over his/her state and the cabinet has no power to change or force a decision from their Senator. The cabinet members....while they have power over their individual areas...are subservient to the Senator..and to him/her, are nothing more than advisors. What the Senator says, goes. For example....if the Senator wanted to raise taxes, like in the previous example....all the cabinet members might well advise against it and disagree...but in the end, the Senator can and will still pass the tax bill into law, and the cabinet is powerless to stop it.

Some more about the Senators....they can be male or female...and while for the most part you're going to see men in these roles, there is a substantial number of woman Senators in this time period as well...each one as powerful and driven as any of their male counterparts....they have to be in order to walk in this role. Senators are hand-chosen by the President....people do not vote for who they want their state's Senator to be, this is a decision by the President alone. There are no scheduled times when Senators are chosen.....however at any time, the President can decide to remove one and put in a new one that he sees more fit for the role. This doesn't happen too often though...

Now being that things are very uniform in the New World Union in terms of government, every New World Union country has it's own similar variant of the President/Senator/cabinet....hierarchy going on. For example...New Era Canada also has a President, a Senator for each of its provinces, and a cabinet of ten members for each Senator. It's more or less the same set up wherever you go in the Union.

This is the government that people in the New World Union live by. People do not have the privilege of voting on anything...they don't choose which bills are passed, and they don't choose who leads them and their country. The only people who get to vote on such things are those in Government or those who are part of the Ministry (which I'll mention later). There is no "checks-and-balances" system in government, unless you count the power hierarchy between President/Dictator, Senator, cabinet, etc. There is no House of Representatives. Power is held in the hands of very...very few.

People hardly see it as oppressive though....if anything...most anyone you talk to in this time period is in support of the government. It is because of the government that the New Era time period is the way it is....a futuristic marvel of a place where living standards are through the roof and the world is moving forward and progressing at a rate never thought possible. Unlike in our time period, bills and laws can be passed in hours, not years....change happens at an incredible pace, and major differences can be made in leaps and bounds every day.

I think that about sums up the basics of the New Era government systems....below, I'll go over the government's equally-powerful counterpart...the Ministry.

The Ministry

The Ministry of Science and Technology....most often simply called The Ministry, is the most powerful organization in all of the New Era time period...second only to the New World Union government. It is the birthplace of countless achievements and advancements in science, medicine, engineering, and technology.....advancements which are a landmark trait of the time period....and the home of some of the most advanced technology...considered incredible even in a society where such is the norm.

The Ministry is, as I've said, a vast and powerful international organization.....each New World Union country has it's own branch. The capital of the Ministry however, lies in Washington, D.C..and this is where the highest Ministry executives work and live. Yes...like the government, the Ministry is composed of hierarchical ranks. There is the President of the Ministry...who governs the entire thing on an international scale and is based in D.C. Next below, each New World Union country has it's own leader of their branch of the Ministry in their respective country. Below that, (in each country) you have the highest-ranking senior executives, each of whom oversees a different field of science or engineering within the Ministry. Below that you have the junior executives who typically specialize in a smaller field of study...and from there is another subordinate rank...and at last beneath that, you have the rest of the members of the Ministry.

The Ministry is responsible for scientific research, development, and advancement in all fields of study....whether that be finding new medicines and cures, or developing a more aerodynamic model of car. The Ministry is essentially divided into two broad areas; Science, and Engineering. The Branch of Science is where you'll find pure and applied scientific research going on....and the Branch of Engineering is where you're going to see a lot of actual technological developments. The two Branches often collaborate and work together and people from each Branch are generally knowledgeable in the subjects of the other.

Within the two Branches you have more specific fields. For example...in the Branch of Science, you have the fields of Biology, Chemistry, etc. In the Branch of Engineering, you have the fields of Electrical, Mechanical, Automotive, etc. That's just to name a few. Then within each field you have sub-fields....for example in the Branch of Science's field of Biology, you have the sub-fields of Microbiology, Zoology, Marine Biology, Medical sciences, etc. It's a very....organized kind of deal....and often, you see overlap in some of the sub-fields, which may be a part of both the Branch of Science and the Branch of Engineering. Some sub-fields even have their own sub-fields.

Each Ministry member typically specializes in one or a few specific sub-fields which are their areas of expertise....although members are expected to be thoroughly knowledgeable in many areas outside their field of specialty...and the Ministry runs programs to enforce this expectation. Like...even if a person specialized in...Marine Biology, they would still be expected to be well-versed in other biological fields of study, as well as medical and veterinary, and have a strong background in chemistry and likely physics as well. Or...if you had a person who specializes in a sub-field of Electrical Engineering...they would be expected to be knowledgeable of some of the highest fields of mathematics and physics, as well as in other areas of engineering. A lot of the purpose of this is that...Ministry members, especially those of the higher executive status, are expected to be well-rounded and knowledgeable....particularly because they often have to collaborate on work outside their field of study.

To get into the Ministry is...a very difficult and rigorous process. First of all, in order to even think about being a part of it, you must have been placed in one of the Ministry fields for your Career Study Program (discussed later). Ministry fields would be....scientific, medical, or engineering careers...and you must have been placed in one of these to even be considered for the Ministry.

Second...you may only become part of the Ministry through invitation only....it's..a very exclusive thing; you can't just walk in and apply, you have to be invited.

Third...there are a lot...a lot of tests, exams, and whatnot that you need to pass to get in....you get checked and cross-checked and more or less everything you've ever done and everything you work for and believe in is examined thoroughly. First of all...Ministry members must be of Synthetic birth status (discussed later on), or an Ouranian (Ouranian people (c) to Nini..not me) of comparable high birth status. Those of natural birth status are not permitted in the Ministry....nor are those found to be physically or mentally flawed or imperfect in any way, shape, or form. A person seeking to be a part of the Ministry may not have natural-born children, natural-born descendents, or any other close relatives that are naturals....unless they publicly renounce the natural and completely relinquish any ties to that person or anyone who supports that person. You have to be....essentially...physically and mentally perfect to even be considered for work in this organization. After taking several different physical and mental examinations.....if a person passes these, they are tested even more. They have to pass intelligence tests, aptitude tests, psychological analysis tests, and more....and demonstrate their knowledge in a wide variety of subjects. The whole purpose of all these exams is to weed out those who might not be quite fit for work in the Ministry....this is an organization that wants only the best of the best....standards for acceptance are extremely high.

If at last a potential candidate passes each and every test.....they then are required to take the binding Ministry Oath....an oath on their life that as a part of the Ministry, they will dedicate themselves in full to the organization and to the pursuit of science...that it will be their highest and utmost priority for as long as they shall live. The Oath requires that a person formally dedicate his or her life to the organization...and swear that they will hold nothing in higher regard than the Ministry and its interests....that their life is the Ministry...and the Ministry is their life. The person must also swear on their life, and under lie detection, that they hereby renounce anything and anyone which opposes the Ministry or the pursuit and advancement of science in any way, shape, or form...and that an enemy of science is an enemy of oneself...and an enemy against which one will fight to the last breath.

That's just...a summary of the Oath (one day I'll write the whole thing out asdasd)...it's..really long....and it's essentially a life-binding promise of one's uncompromised and unparalleled loyalty to the Ministry, and a sworn statement that the person is taking a stand against anything which opposes the Ministry or science itself. This...implicitly means opposing not only people who disagree with the Ministry....but opposing things like religion or philosophy...anything that does not support science, or cannot be proven by science. If a person can pass each and every test, meets all rigid qualifications, and truthfully takes the Oath...they are to be sworn into the Ministry. It's a process easier said than done.

After being sworn in, the final step is to take the Mark of the Ministry....which is a laser-imprinted mark in the form of the Emblem of the Ministry that goes on the right side of the person's chest (directly over the heart). It's...not too painful to receive...it would be a sensation similar to being written on with a frozen pen...the laser burns so hot it gives the feeling of an icy cold. When finished, the Mark shows up just a slight shade lighter than the person's normal skin color...it is not overly conspicuous....but is made to glow a luminescent blue when shown under certain types of light...when it is necessary for a person to reveal their identity as a member of the Ministry. The Mark of the Ministry that a person takes is permanent...it is imprinted deep into the skin and impossible to taint or remove...once you have the Mark, you have it for life....and that's exactly what it is symbolic of...once a person is sworn into the Ministry, it is a part of them...and they are a part of it. It also symbolizes their promise of the dedication of their life....and the penalty for breaking the Ministry Oath in any way- death.

Ministry members wear specific uniforms...there's one for men and one for women...and they also each wear the Emblem of the Ministry on the right side of the shirt. They also wear...an ID of sorts beneath the emblem, which is a badge that has that person's name (first initial, middle initial, last name), what Branch of the Ministry they work in, and their area of specialty. Higher-ranking members of the ministry have other embellishments representing their achievements, status, or favor bestowed upon them by a Dictator.

Being a part of the Ministry....means not only having high status in a world where science and technology is so important a part of the culture...but it means privileges that many don't have. For example...people in the Ministry get to vote for President/Dictator...and they can nominate Senators as well as have some say in government decisions. Many Ministry men and women are Senators themselves....Senators are often chosen out of the Ministry. The government and the Ministry are very...interconnected. Even in the capital of Washington, D.C., the Union Building (international capital of New World Union government) and the Ministry Building (international capital of the Ministry) are interconnected and built so that they cross one another at several points...its hard to explain but just..understand that they are connected...two massive superstructures joined together...symbolizing the union of Government and Ministry....power and science...together.

I think that's enough about that...maybe I'll add more when I feel like it.

Green & Efficient Energies

So...okay, one of the things that was agreed on heavily by the New World Union was that there was an energy problem. Gasoline fuel and nuclear power plants and all of that was...not as efficient as it should be, and it was really killing the planet. The energy crisis needed solving. Okay. Well, at the time, the U.S. (now lead by their humourously known "Green President") was a world leader in efficient energy, having already harnessed nuclear fusion and wind/solar technologies for use in power plants. The United States was setting the standard for clean, efficient energy, and the bar was to remain high. Everyone saw the U.S.'s example and sought to follow it aggressively, achieving THAT standard for their own country.

That attitude lead to laws being developed regarding clean and efficient energy; all of the New World Union was participating actively in the making of these laws, sharing and discussing their technologies. U.S. scientists were sent overseas to help with the development of new technologies in other countries to help them solve their own energy issues. The whole point is, everyone was sharing what they could, people and resources, to help other countries. It was....like a friendship...you know...you help me and I'll help you. :)

This really sped up the process of technology development worldwide and within a few years, major changes had been made. Gasoline cars were outlawed in all New World Union countries, replaced by solar battery & water/hydrogen-powered cars that FAR outdid those of today. These new cars achieved at least 75 mpg and their only exhaust product was water vapor. They were a LOT safer too, as well as sleek and pretty :) And affordable; as an incentive, people could trade their old cars in for a pretty good sum of money with which to purchase one of these..new breeds of car.

Fusion power plants replaced the old nuclear fission ones which were soon taken down and...destroyed basically. The fusion-powered plants ran on reactions like those of the Sun, producing ENORMOUS amounts of cleaner energy with next to no radioactive waste or by-products. Nuclear power plants using anything but nuclear fusion to produce energy were outlawed in all New World Union countries.

Wind and water energy were also introduced as major power suppliers, though on a smaller level than nuclear fusion. (After nuclear fusion plants, solar energy and clean biofuels became the second main energy sources) In addition, a massive initiative was passed to clean up the polluted rivers, lakes, and oceans of the world, and this went on for many, many years. Look into most any river or water body in one of the New World Union countries, and you will see that it is a clean and clear shade of blue, and safe to swim in. Purification technologies also took root in these countries as well, gaining the capacity to filter pure distilled water from even the most unlikely of sources. "Water theaters", massive outdoor amphitheaters with walls of solar panels, can be found in many cities along coastlines; intaking water and using the sun's energy to evaporate it into pure vapor, where it is collected and returned to liquid form, minus any salt or pollutants. Water theaters serve countless purposes, and are even popular hang-out spots for people in this time period.

I think by now you get the point; gasoline, fossil fuel, dangerous greenhouse gases, and nuclear waste were a thing of the past. Solar- water- and wind- power, along with clean nuclear energy, was what powered the New Era. That was the law of the International Constitution. And with all these countries working together, development of new energy technology was moving at a breakneck pace.

To summarize the Eco-related laws in the New Era, Fossil-fuel/gasoline powered vehicles (cars, ships, planes, etc.) of any kind are illegal and no longer in use, nor are the factories and industrial processes of our time that spewed out pollutants and greenhouse gasses. To simplify....anything you can think of in our day that was a major pollution-issue...does not exist in the New Era.

More Cities & Suburbs

Another thing that needed to be addressed was the rapidly growing world population. Obviously they couldn't just nuke half the world population and be all PROBLEM SOLVED!1 n__n No.(Well...not yet) They needed an actual solution, so they resorted to...well..the obvious. Build more cities and suburbs.

You would think this whole thing would totally go against the previous section about SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!1 but if you think that way then you misinterpreted the aforementioned section. The previous section was about new, clean, efficient energies. Why were these energies brought about? FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND, not all for the Earth. No human being wanted to live in a world filled with smog and toxic waste, that was the primary motivator for "clean" energy. It wasn't all about the planet. In this Era, its all about the people and the new heights they can achieve as a world.

So back to what I was saying, it was agreed that more living areas would have to be built. It was a bit of a touchy subject...but eventually, the New World Union countries began a massive deforestation of much of their wilderness areas...I'm talking a huge wipeout of forests and wilderness areas. This great deforestation was followed by a building BOOM as millions of houses and suburbs took the place of what was once free nature. New cities sprang up left and right in uncountable quantities, high-rise condos, office buildings and skyscrapers reaching towards the stars as they dotted the skyline, as inumerable as the stars themselves. More homes for more people.

The same thing happened with farmlands...those are now replaced by big cities and suburbs. Crops are grown in vertical farms...farms within huge 100+ story buildings...which are commonly referred to as "food towers".

Open wilderness is close to non-existant in the New Era; you're not going to find things like big national parks or forests, open farmland, jungles or rainforests, vast deserts or mountain valleys. Those were more or less eradicated long ago, in the beginning of the New Era. They are something of the past, and only by reading about them in books or visiting museum exhibits can you ever know that they existed.

If you want an analogy, think about this. Think about how much land belonged to the Native Americans before Columbus or any of those guys came. Now think of how much land the Native Americans own now. Only tiny reservations. Barely a fraction of what it once was. Same thing with the forests of today, and the scare nature that exists in the New Era.

Nature still does exist....but in this time period, it is primarily limited to Green Parks (large park areas about the size of a couple city blocks, covered in lush grass and containing several trees and countless flowers), a very small number of National Parks, "untamable" wildernesses (like extremely mountanous areas), and tiny, hidden areas of nature that one can find, if they know where to look....

Now think about some places you might now. Poor areas, 'ghettos' lol, red-light districts, or simply outdated and old-fashioned areas. Like the wilderness, those areas are a thing of the past, something for the history books. In the beginning of the New Era, one of the initiatives was the modernization and reform of so-called "bad" areas. These were swept through and essentially demolished, destroyed, eradicated.

The New Era is all about moving forward into the future, and areas such as these were hindering that process greatly, so as the New World Union saw it, they had to go. Demolition of these areas was faster than that of the wilderness, and it wasn't long before old buildings and cities were wiped off the map, replaced by shiny new buildings towering into the sky, elaborate business districts, and things of that nature. Poor districts were torn down and replaced quickly by new and expensive suburbs, safe and high-standard, new homes for the future.

Remember that there are....no poor areas or ghettos in the New World Union countries. There are no dangerous areas, there are no old-fashioned or outdated areas. They have long since been replaced by business districts, office buildings, new futuristic cities, and homes.

Reformed Justice System

Well, one of the most crucial things to note is that the Justice System of the New Era is, like most things, drastically different from our own. It was...one of the first things that the New World Union dealt with because it was the one thing everyone had trouble agreeing on. The International Constitution outlines the Justice System of all the New World Union countries....meaning, in all those countries, this new justice system is exactly the same.

Crimes are punished the same way whether you're in the U.S. or Europe or Mexico (or any New World Union country), and you can no longer escape the law in one country by fleeing to another. If you're wanted in...the U.S. and you flee to another New World Union country, like Mexico, then not only can the U.S. law enforcement still pursue and capture you in Mexico, but the Mexican law enforcement will also come hauling after you too and hand deliver you right back to the U.S. so you can be punished. The New World Union countries work together to catch criminals and extradite them back to their countries. If you are caught running to another country after being convicted in your home country, your sentence will be doubled. For example, if your original sentence was eight years and you run away to a different country, you will be caught and your sentence will become 16 years instead of eight. In the New Era, you don't run from the law.

Development of advanced forensic technologies and sciences, as well as having many, many more law enforcement officials and undercover investigators for agencies of the time similar to the FBI, means that the likelihood of escaping after committing a crime is slim to none. In the New Era, less than 0.01% of murderers escape being caught after their crime. Thats just one example. In other words...if you commit a crime, you can be sure almost beyond doubt that you will get caught, likely within a matter of hours....that's how advanced the forensic technology of this time period is.

Crimes are also more heavily punished in the New Era...much more so than in this day and age. The number of years a person is to serve for a crime is a set-in-stone number, dictated by the International Constitution. These numbers are much higher than what you'd expect today..and they are not variable like today's laws. For example, in the New Era, if you commit the crime of rape, you will be sentenced to 30 years in prison, no more, no less. Posession of illegal substances warrants a sentence of ten years for the first conviction, and thirty years for the second conviction. The crime of first-degree murder warrants the death penalty. Death penalty is used in all New World Union countries, and thus far has proved a convenient solution to prison overcrowding.

In addition, given the fact that microcameras, scanners, psyplanes (discussed later), and other high-tech surveillance systems exist and are watching the public all the time, in the overwhelming majority of cases, when a person commits a crime, it is documented via surveillance film. This is the only evidence needed to make an arrest and sentence a person. The bottom line is, if you commit a crime and you get caught (ie a psyplane "saw" you try and break into someone's home), you do NOT get a lawyer or any kind of legal defense. You have no right to defend yourself because it has been proven that you commited a crime, and as a result, you will go to prison to serve your assigned sentence. No trial, no lawyer. Period.

In summary, crime is heavily punished in the New Era; the reformed International Justice System and the new futuristic forensic technologies offer no compassion or escape for convicts. Average crime rate in the New World Union countries is extremely low, and enforced to remain that way.

Reformed Education System

Education is key. Most everyone can agree on that, so reform of the school system and requirements was one of the first things the New World Union countries decided to do. Now just as the U.S. had set the standard for new energy, this time, it was Korea (which had been unified awhile back..) that set the standard for education. As could be expected, they were, as a whole, much smarter than the U.S. and other countries because they PUSH their kids in school and the kids don't slack off like idiots. The kids there were performing as a MUCH higher level than kids their age in other countries, at young ages they were already learning the fundamentals of mathematics and science and putting those to use even at their young age. By the time they were middle-schoolers they may as well have been in college already. Failure was unacceptable.

That was the standard to which the rest of the New World Union countries pushed the children of their nation. School lessons were reformed and teachers were put through more advanced courses to provide the best education. Eventually, all the countries of the Union held their children to the educational standards that the Koreans held their children to. Things changed. A lot.

First of all, the school system got a MASSIVE overhaul. In the New Era, you attend school (not counting college) for ten years. Five years of elementary school (1st-5th grade; there's also kindergarten, which teaches things like reading, writing, spelling, and the basics of mathematics), followed by five years of high school (6th grade-10th grade).

Now I was talking before about educational standards; let me tell you, they are MUCH higher than anything that you would expect from our time period. Starting in first grade, at the age of five, children learn basic mathematics up to three-digit addition, subtraction, and multiplication, as well as relatively simple division. They also learn about square and cube roots, percents, and fractions, as well as the basics of the scientific method as they participate in simple science experiments. If children are learning this at the age of five and six, it doesn't take much thought to figure out what kinds of things they will be learning by the time they graduate high school and enter college at the age of fifteen.

BUT back to first grade for a moment, let me take a minute to explain what is easily the most important aspect of a child's schooling in the New Era: the Career Study Program. Children of the New Era, at the start of first grade, are required by law to begin what is called their Career Study Program. This program, which they do for the rest of their school years, begins with the completion of medical, analytical, personality, and aptitude tests & scans, followed by placement into a career field determined by the test results. The child then is placed as an "intern" of sorts into a company/environment of that career, and are expected to do as an intern would...learn about their future career, practice, and put their all into it. Its a part of their school curriculum, and once the child has placed into a career, their classes from that point on are tailored towards that career. (For example, my character Haley was placed in the Medical field as a pediatric nurse....she now takes classes like medicine, biology, and other things of that nature.) All children do this, and once you've had your career selected, its extremely difficult to have it changed...you don't get to pick your major in college, that is determined by your Career Study Program and test results which are taken three times throughout your school years. The whole point of this is to put children into their intended place...the place they are meant to be in and the place in which they will make a difference. The believe in this Era is that with everyone working in their place towards the common goals of technological, scientific, and world advancement...the world will ultimately become a better place, and more progress will be made.

Mathematics and science are very heavily emphasised in school, with foreign language being another emphasized course, though not as much so as the first two. Students in ALL the New World Union countries were put more or less on the same educational route, a route that would be called unachievable by today's standards. To give one example, in our society, second graders learn the basics of addition and subtraction. In the New Era, second graders work with pi, finding area of 3D figures, and the solving single-variable equations and inequalities....things of that nature. Most graduate high school at the age of 15, already with courses under their belt like university-level chemistry and physics, and advanced calculus, and the ability to speak at least one other language besides their own.

I SHOULD also mention that really quick; foreign languages are strongly emphasized. Just as kids begin their Career Study Program at the age of five (1st grade), they also begin taking a language course, which they continue on during the remaining years of their schooling. Upon entering high school, students are also required to enroll in a second language course. Both times, the language is chosen by the learner, although the first language to be learned must be selected from a list of specific (most influential) world languages. The second language learned can be essentially anything the learner chooses. Because of this, people in the New Era are generally fluent in at least two languages, though some manage to master three or four, though anything more than that is considered something of a rarity; an exceptional skill.

Failure in school is not an option. Dropping out of school is not an option; the law of the International Constitution requires students to graduate all levels of schooling up through the final year of high school. You won't see people skipping school either...accumulation of more than five absences (not counting doctor/dentist appointments & family emergencies and things like that) per year results in an automatic failure of that course. Accumulation of x tardies results in failure. Fucking around in school and doing things you're not supposed to will most likely result in- you guessed it- failure.

In the New Era, failure is extremely rare. Why? Because in the New Era, if you fail, you basically fuck yourself over. Every student has what's called an Academic Record that has information not just about their grades, but in-depth descriptions about their academic performance and behavior in school.

Universities judge acceptance or rejection primarily on the Academic Record...they look for A's. B's are acceptable and C's won't necessarily spell doom, but anything below that and you're treading dangerous waters. In other words, if you've got all these D's and F's and bad notes in your Record that talk about what a slacker you are, you can kiss any chance you had of success goodbye. In the New Era, Universities simply will not accept you if your grades are bad. Simple as that. If you show your ass at school, you won't get a higher education and you'll never make it far in the work world. This is not a society that coddles you with all the self-esteem and support and love and tries to help you when you don't give a shit. This is a society driven by science, law, rules, and world advancement. If you fail, you fail, and its no one's problem but your own.

In this Era, the people you see serving fast food and mopping up restaurant bathrooms are the ones who said "screw school" and skipped and failed and all of that. That's where most of them end up, but hey, you need people to do those jobs right? Although...even the teenagers of the time period have better jobs than that.

In the New Era, students work much harder and towards a higher achievement. Nobody wants to fail.

With all that in consideration, the society of the New Era was FAR more intelligent than today's society....and with more people having more intelligence, this paved the way for yet more advances in science and technology, propelling the New Era into its future at lightspeed. People weren't graduating high school and sitting on their ass in their parents basement. People were graduating four-year universities, if not something higher, and contributing to the world with inventions, theories, and discoveries. Moving the world forward.

A Glimpse into the Science and Technology of the New Era

I've mentioned many times already that the New Era was marked by advancements in science and technology. In this section, I'll try and give a little overview about some of those specific technologies and advancements.

Before I get into that though, the biggest thing that would be helpful to know first of all is that in the New Era, there are two classes of society, simply named; first-class, and second-class. Innocent enough names right? Well, on to the explanation.

Synthetic Birth and the Class System

In the New Era, close to 60-70% of the world population of the current day was born through what is commonly known as the synthetic birth process. This method has all but totally replaced natural reproduction; it is convenient, morally debatable perhaps, but it is the method of the day, and one of the most important things to know about the New Era.

In the synthetic birth process, there is no pregnancy, and children are not conceived through intercourse. Instead, when a couple wishes to have a child, they go into a special hospital center where samples of their cells are taken. The cells' DNA is scanned and computer-analyzed, and a computerized list of traits is generated. The parents-to-be can use this list like a catalog to select desirable traits for their child-to-be; they can choose gender, eye color, skin tone, height, most any appearance factor you can think of, freedom from predisposition to disease (and freedom from things like unwanted hair or acne), and so much more....there are millions of traits to be selected, and its all up the the parents. In other words, creating the perfect child is as simple as filling out a multiple-choice questionnaire on a screen. The computer itself constantly scans selected traits and makes suggestions for the parents, such as reminding them to be sure to fill out certain questions to make sure their child will not be predisposed to certain illnesses. Certain traits must be selected before the cells will be combined.

Once the parents finish the selection of traits, the cells are again scanned and one is selected from each parent and combined according to the traits the parents selected for their child to have. The cells are combined in a special small chamber designed to imitate the womb...it has all the nutrients and more that a growing fetus needs, and the nutrient level, temperature, light level and more are all fully controllable. Machines continuously regulate these levels to precise calculations and nurses are always on standby in the Fetal Area of the hospital where all these embryos are developing..waiting for their birth and the arrival of their parents to come pick them up.

(The remaining unused cells are often grown as stem cells and used in transplants for people with certain illnesses. Some of the cells, however, are used in scientific research)

The technology involved in raising the fetus to birth is so advanced that it can speed up the process with no harm to the developing baby. With synthetic birth, the baby takes only five months to fully develop to birth, and is often twice as healthy as one born from its mother's womb. That, and since the baby is born synthetically, in a hospital womb-like chamber, there is no chance of miscarriage or fetal damage like their would be if it was being carried inside its mother. The mother herself is free from the troubles of pregnancy; no morning sickness, no limits on travel or activity, no walking around with a balloon for a stomach, no worrying about rushing to the hospital, no pain of delivery. The majority of the population, men and women alike, see it as an immense and indispensable convenience.

Now with that explained, remember when I mentioned First-Class and Second-Class?

Members of the first class are those born using the synthetic birth process; they are the ones who have been bred to be of superior quality in health, appearance, and even disposition and intelligence. Members of the second class are those conceived and born naturally. Though in the New Era, natural birth is...uncommon and some frown upon it and find it primitive, you won't...neccessarily be ostracized from society if you do happen to be second class. People of the first class probably won't want much to do with you though. With that being said though, it is the members of the first class that are more highly considered for higher jobs and things of that nature..meaning...they have a strong advantage in society. The first-class individuals are the ones making the advances in science and technology and being doctors and medical people and scientists and all that bullshit.The goal of the New World Union is to raise the percentage of people created through synthetic birth..and thus far..they are achieving their goal. (FUN FACT! Charlise and her family members were all born through synthetic birth! So was Fluke and all his family)

Incentives exist as well for using Synthetic Birth. It DOES cost money, however, for each child a family has through the Synthetic Birth system, that family receives a large tax cut. If a family has a child the natural way, they receive a massive increase in taxes as "punishment". Population is also heavily controlled as well; families are not permitted to have more than four children. Four is the limit. If a family has four children and goes over the limit, the child is taken away and....almost always euthanized. Should a family attempt to hide a forbidden child, once they're found out....the child will be taken away, and the penalty for the parents for hiding the child is twenty years in prison.

Given that and how expensive it is to have children ($25,000 to have a child Synthetically; $50,000 punishment fee for a family that has a natural-born), most families have very few, if not only one. The most common number of children in the New World Union countries in the New Era is two. Second most common number is one, third most common is three, and rarely...extremely rarely...you'll see families with the maximum of four children. Anything more than that...as I mentioned...is illegal (except outside the New World Union).

Originally....the gap between Synthetically-born people and Naturally-born people was relatively small...in the early years when Synthetic birth was first being popularized, the two groups lived together in relative harmony. As time went on though...those of Synthetic-birth status...came to rise higher and higher in society...widening the gap. Those that were genetically superior were the ones considered for the important jobs, the ones given power, the ones whom society looked up to. Eventually, Synthetic-birth status became a requirement for being in government and being in certain high ranking positions in the working world....and all over the New World Union, "Exclusive" areas started popping up...Exclusive malls, neighborhoods, schools, places where ONLY Synthetically-born people were allowed to enter. Exclusive...just means "Synthetically-born people only". Its...essentially evolved to a point where its..borderline prejudicial...

Well now that I've gotten through the synthetic birth process and all that first/second class crap I can move on.

The International Database

When an individual is born, they are immediately fingerprinted, and given their own place in the International Database, a databank which holds information about every person in the New World Union. If you were to look up your own personal spot in the Database, you would find every bit of information about yourself that you could imagine; whether you are first or second class, physical information, a full picture & description, your Academic and Permanent records, criminal records, your family history, EVERYTHING and more. The ID also helps immensely with tracking and catching criminals. For example, if there's a fingerprint left at a crime scene, all police have to do is computer-scan it and the ID will not only give a name, full information on whose print that is, but it will also tell you the suspect's location and records. Case closed.

Fingerprints are a big deal in the New Era...your fingerprint is like your own personal key. In school, students press their finger to a special pad on their locker in order to open it; the pad is a tablet-like computer screen that scans your print, determines if you are the locker owner, and opens for you if you are. Cars are equipped with a similar system, a small computer screen that responds only to its owner's fingerprint. The car will only start if the scanned fingerprint is its owners'; if not, a loud alarm will sound. House doors also have the same system.

Eye-recognition scans work in a similar way and are used almost as commonly as the fingerprint scan. In order to gain entrance into certain government areas or business buildings, offices, and locations, a special scanner uses a laser-light to scan your eye and a computer pulls up all your information and determines whether or not you have the right to enter into that location.

When you apply for a job, you don't fill out an application. You go in for the interview and a fingerprint or eye scan system is used to determine your suitability for the job. The computer scans your eye or analyzes your fingerprint, and your potential employer can see all your records and history in seconds and quickly determine whether or not to interview or excuse you. Many times, this decision is hinged on whether you are first or second class....its something everyone knows, but no one can really prove it or do much about it.

Technology and Security

I already talked about crime and how its dealt with in the New Era....so now, I'll talk a little bit about some of the government-run security measures that help the crime rate remain low.

In addition to fingerprint scans and recognition, everyone in the New Era is required by law to be microchipped....that is...a tiny microchip only nanometers across is implanted into the back of the neck...just below the base of the skull. (The chip integrates into the nervous system.) This is generally done at birth, and the microchips computer can have information added to it remotely as you grow. The microchip is like a personal biographical supercomputer...it contains every fathomable detail about the person in whom it is implanted....your full name, your lineage, your birthplace, current living place, health and birth status, lineage, career history, school, permanant, and criminal records, photos, identifying information, and much, much more. Everytime you do something..basically...what you've done is stored as data on this chip. For example, when you graduate high school...this information, in detail, is transcribed onto your microchip, along with your grades, and anything else you did while in high school. Another example...if you were convicted of a crime, that data is also permanently stored on your microchip.

The purpose of the microchips is for identification purposes...as well as security; they are even more high-tech and useful than fingerprint scans in this time period. Every door you walk through and every building you enter has (as required by law) a special scanner that "sees" the microchip of every person entering, and logs it into the building's security...where officials that manage the place can see exactly who's coming and going...and whether or not they are dangerous. These scanners are fundamental to security in the New Era....like...if a criminal on the run decided to pop into a shopping mall to hide amid the crowds...the scanners in the mall doorways would see their microchip, determine that person's wanted status and criminal background, and relay the message to law enforcement, who would likely be on the spot in minutes. In addition to keeping track of who goes in and who goes out, these scanners...which aren't just around doorways mind you (They're everywhere in this time period...mostly hidden where they can't be seen), work together to "track" individuals when necessary...so say this criminal who's tried to escape in the mall thinks he can just get away from the scanner that saw him....that scanner is communicating with security and with the other scanners...and the scanners together are working to "watch" and "follow" his every movements....and with police watching these movements via scanner transmissions...this criminal is not going to get away.

Another thing I should touch on is that..removal of microchips from oneself or anyone else is illegal and punishable by prison time of ten years, with a conviction of "threatening national security". Of course...actually managing to get one of these microchips out of you would be a miracle in itself...they're embedded deep..into the spinal cord...into the nervous system; a person would be more likely to kill or paralyze themself trying to cut the chip out than to be successful in removing it. And while not having a chip is unlawful...you won't...necessarily go to prison for not having one; only if you refuse to comply and be chipped. Cases of "unchipped" individuals do happen...but those are rare...and generally happen only outside the New World Union countries....most often when hospital officials forget to microchip a natural-newborn.

In addition to the scanners which track people via their chips in buildings and outside on the ground....the world of the New Era is watched by another unseen eye....or many eyes, you could say. S-327, small, unmanned, super-computer/AI-run steal craft patrol the skies above. Known by many names (psyplanes, stealthcraft, assassins, iron angels, "eyes in the sky"), these aircraft, no more than five feet in length, are capable of flying at heights all the way up to the Earth's exosphere, and use camouflage-cell technology to change their black pigment color to match the surrounding sky...in essense, becoming invisible. Sometimes they do this...other times they don't, but even with their black coloring....its difficult to see one of these things up in the sky...and if you do...you can be sure that its long-since spotted you...probably well over a half hour ago. Though capable of much more...these craft mostly fly low...sometimes just barely clearing the tops of buildings. With built in scanners, they can "watch" tens of thousands of people at one time, identifying and analyzing their data in a matter of microseconds...to determine whether or not dangerous individuals might be among the crowds. These stealthcraft are intelligent, and though each one is usually managed remotely by two or three different specialized pilots, they can make decisions on their own if permitted to.

These stealthcraft aren't nicknamed "Assassins" for nothing either....each S-327 is equipped with an array of different weapons...though their most commonly used one is the silencer missile....a tiny seeker missile with a steel, needle-like protrusion at the front. When commanded to do so or when they "think" it is the safe thing....an S-327 can launch silencer missiles of its own "accord". This doesn't happen often...usually, if they "see" a criminal, the stealthcraft will only fire a taser-like shock to immobilize the target for police to come and handle...but S-327 can be programmed to take out not only people it deems dangerous because of their criminal record or after it learns they are on the run, but specific people it is commanded to do so, as well. For example....my character Victor, upon one political inauguration in his story...a major one...nearly faces an assassination attempt. Victor's security officials were in command of several stealthcraft...stealthcraft that had been programmed to protect Victor, and before the would-be assassin could so much as raise his gun, he was killed by an S-327 silencer missile.

Its worth noting that being killed by one of these stealthcraft....is all but painless. They fire their missiles with deadly accuracy...missiles which each have a tiny tracking device, and are deployed to hit only their specified person directly through that person's microchip. (The chip is how the missiles and stealthcraft track their targets) The missiles move at the speed of bullets, and kill their target when the steel needle at the missile's tip penetrates the back of the target's brain, causing severe brain damage and instant death....the target dies without ever knowing what hit them.

They are referred to as iron angels at times because there are those that believe...the S-327s are like countless angels...angels that watch over their world with an unblinking eye, passing judgment on those who have earned it. The stealthcraft are like angels in a sense....if ever you're out and about in one of the New World Union countries...you can guarantee that there's always at least three of them, if not more, watching over you at any given time....ready to defend you should you suddenly find yourself in danger. Hundreds of millions of S-327s patrol Earth's skies in the year 2099, if not more...even if you never so much as seen a glimpse of one.

Medical Advances and Initiatives

Many of the illnesses as we know them are non-existant in the New Era. Diseases which once plagued our world; measles, chicken pox, strep throat, mono, and many more, were eradicated with the development of new vaccines and medications. Even the common cold is exceedingly rare. (Thanks to Charlise's development of a vaccine against it) Though sicknesses still do occur, they are infrequent and happen mostly outside of the New World Union countries.

Mental illnesses are also close to non-existant...those dwindled off with the domination of synthetic birth...as parents could ensure their child to be free of such inflictions. Mental illnesses are occasionally found in second-class individuals, and sometimes occur in countries outside the New World Union, but for the most part...they're really uncommon.

Good health is highly stressed and emphasized in the New Era, and there are pills for every 'ailment' under the sun. Most commonly taken are the New World Union-endorsed Multivitamins...people in the New Era take these every day just the same as we in this time period take cereal for breakfast each morning. The vitamin is packed to the brim with nutrients, vitamins, and essential elements necessary for health...and it is the product of years and years of medical advancement and engineering. There's a brand for guys, and one for girls, which even comes complete with a birth control right inside it to guard against 'accidents' and encourage people to use synthetic birth when they choose to have a child.

With most of the small fry of medical issues taken care of, medical doctors and scientists focus their time on fighting the tougher things...such as cancer and the uncommon illnesses which weren't given as much attention beforehand.

Another big focus is an international medical initiative lead by the world leaders of the New World Union. The goal of this initiative is to provide medical aid to countries who need it, and to aid them in the development of cures and medical technology. Many scientists and doctors head overseas to lead seminars and classes in these countries and to build hospitals and medical research facilities to...bring these countries forward, technologically speaking. Its also to help these other countries see the New World Union as something good as opposed to an international tyrant with many heads. Like I mentioned before, a goal of the New World Union is..well..exactly what its name is. To bring all the countries of the world together for everyone's good and for universal advancement.

Transportation

Cars, as I mentioned before, are drastically different in this day and age. I don't want to be redundant so I'll just quickly go over what I said before. The cars of the New Era are powered by hydrogen.... Their exhaust product is only water vapor, and to measure their efficiency by our standards...they would be getting about 75 mpg...and it costs next to nothing to fill them up, they just run on water. :) The cars themselves are the product of new technologies...they are programmed with a type of satellite system which is also programmed into the road...meaning..your car can tell you at any time where it is..and your car itself knows where it is. It's like..the cars themselves are interacting with the road. Cars can be put on auto-pilot and programmed to go to a certain destination; with or without a driver. They can park themselves, even parellel park, avoid collisions, auto-adjust the seats, and turn on radio, GPS, and other features according to voice-recognition. They can also have a program installed in them that makes them 'talk'...not like in "Cars" that one Disney movie where they have mouths and ey- no. not that. The cars of the New Era have like..a radio-like system where the car's 'voice' comes from. They can be programmed to repeat phrases, give directions, or have simple conversations with their driver. And that's just the beginning. :) Each and every one of these future cars is programmed with a multitude of standard features...autopilot, GPS navigation, satellite radio, all kinds of various applications, etc.....they're as much computer as they are car.

The majority of people drive smaller cars...big trucks and things like that are rare. Road safety is also greatly improved...for example, magnetic-field walls stand between opposing highway lanes and on the edges of roads..these walls are impenetrable but cause no damage to a car if you hit them. The roads themselves are different too...they have sensors built into them which interact with the sensors on a person's car and control that car's speed...limiting it to whatever the speed limit happens to be.

Public transport is also quite different...you won't see any big clunky buses out on the road...those have long since been replaced by advanced magnetic levitation trains, which can travel under or above ground and achieve speeds of up to 600 mph. The ride is smooth and bump-free since the train doesn't touch the tracks...it it guided by magnetic forces. These aren't the maglev trains that do exist today...these are..a bit more advanced. Comparing the advanced magnetic levitation train of the New Era to the one of today is like comparing the cars of the New Era to those of today. Yeah.

For big cities and airports, taxis are around too. These new taxis though make good use of the cars' autopilot abilities, and they don't even have drivers in them. To use an autopilot taxi, you flag it down, get inside, and state where you want to go. The car's internal computer records this and calculates the distance and cost, and as soon as you insert the amount of money payment into the slot, the autopilot directs the car to your selected destination. After dropping you off, its autopilot guides it back to whatever city area or airport it came from so it can repeat the process again.

Commercial planes, of course, got their share of advancement too. The commercial airliners of the New Era are sleeker, built better for safety, and like every other transportational vehicle in the New World Union countries, it runs on biofuel with water cells as backup fuel. The plane ride is as smooth as imaginable, and its hard to believe these commercial planes travel at mach 2; twice the speed of sound. No more long airplane trips. People can even have their own personal, car-sized planes....which can be flown to work along the sky highways and thus, avoid traffic.

Household Conveniences

Of course, technology was not just limited to cars and planes and trains; significant developments happened right within the common household itself. The first thing I may have touched on already is an increased security; doors open only in response to fingerprint-scanning. For the door to open, the fingerprint that is scanned must be that of the owner(s). Rooms in the house can function in a similar way; personal rooms can have locked doors that require a fingerprint scan in order to gain entry, and only certain people can be allowed in. Doors are usually made of a metal-like material and they slide open as opposed to swinging. The locks are computerized; not like the kind we have now where you just...turn them. In addition, security is greatly enhanced. Each house is equipped with security cameras that are computer-monitored 24/7 and will sound an alarm if suspicious activity or non-familiars are detected around the house perimeter. To give a description of how they work, let me give an example. Say you live in the New Era and someone is trying to break in to your house. The minute they step on your property, the highly-advanced cameras see them and scan them, running the image through the International Database and determining immediately who they are. A small alarm will sound in the house telling the owners that an intruder is detected, and it will say based on the intruder's data whether or not it thinks there is a threat. If the owner feels threatened, all they have to do is say "911" and the voice-activated security system sends the intruder's information and location to the local law enforcement bureau, and police are dispatched to the location. The owner can also choose to have the security system sound a loud alarm to scare the intruder off.

Neighborhoods, cities, buildings, almost everything you can think of with the exception of private areas, are camera & computer monitored 24/7. The cameras are programmed to respond to certain movement sequences like those that occur during a fight. They scan and analyze what they "see" and determine whether or not a danger situation is at hand and whether police should be summoned to the area. They can take hundreds of pictures per second too, so if a crime scene occurs and there's all these security cameras around, they're all taking pictures from different angles and thus, recording the crime from beginning to end and identifying the people involved. In the New World Union countries...there's not too many places you can go without being under the watchful eye of security and law enforcement. Ultimately though, its for everyone's good and protection.

Now let me talk about the computerized home-management system. Each home in the New World Union Countries is required to have one built in; its a mix of home management program and artificial intelligence, with several large, flat screens built into the wall to display information. The program is essentially connected to everything in the house; it can monitor things like how much and what kinds of food you have in stock, where everyone is, how much power your home is consuming, and how efficiently the place is being run (it can offer you advice on how to better manage your home as well). In addition, because the management system is essentially a supercomputer, it can tell you most anything you need to know, all you have to do is ask it a question. Ask it how your stocks are doing, how's the traffic on the roads today, is anything interesting happening in the news, how much would a ticket to Cancun cost, just about anything, and it will tell you. The system works with your kitchen appliances to prepare food for you, all you have to do is tell it what you want. You can tell it to cook up a frozen meal for you, fetch you a glass of lemonade, or move something from the freezer to the fridge so it can thaw. You don't have to cook your own meals in this time period. The home management system will even order more of a specific food that you need if it sees that stock is low. In this time period, people don't have to do their own grocery shopping, unless they choose to.

And of course, for when you're done eating, dishwashers have evolved to the time and are there to suit your needs. They use a high-temperature process similar to the oven's in order to kill any bacteria or germs on your dishes and destroy any traces of dirt or mess, leaving your dishes literally sterile and sparkling clean as the day you got them...if not better. It takes about 30 seconds to sterilize one round of dishes, and like most anything else in the household, dishes can be cleaned and managed by the home system.

And on the subject of cleaning, there's the trash system of the New Era. Trash cans are hooked up to a pipelike system...kind of like the septic system of a house in our time is hooked to toilets and sinks. When you throw something away, it doesnt sit in a can...it goes through it and into the pipes to a compactor where it is compressed all up, and then sent to a landfill-like site where it will wait to be burned as fuel to power factories. Its kind of like how when you flush a toilet, the water goes through the pipes and to a water treatment plant where it waits to get purified. Back to the trash cans though...theyre nice because you dont have all this trash sitting in them and stinking the place up, and you don't ever have to take the garbage out. The trash can/pipeline system takes care of all of that for you :)

Another big crowning achievement of household technologies is the cleaning device, the simply but aptly named QuickClean. The Quickclean is a small, domed, compact multi-functional cleaning machine, and in the New Era, it has long since replaced vacuum-cleaners, mops, and brooms. It is fully automatic, programmable to clean carpets and any hard surface..like hardwood floors and tile...and its good at what it does. It has sensors on it that analyze the area it has to clean, and it determines what type of messes its dealing with and how to clean them up. Like...if you put it on a carpet where there's lots of pet hair, the QuickClean will scan the area, detect the hair, and determine that it needs to use its vacuum function to clean the hair up. If you put it on a tile floor where there's a juice spill, it does the scan again, detects the juice, and determines that it needs to use a different function to take care of this new mess. It does these scans constantly and seeks out messes even its owners may not see, planning efficient routes for its own work. They are usually stored in little ports behind house walls and can be programmed to be summoned in whatever way the owner wants....because most people don't like to just leave them out in the open. All you have to do is clap, snap your fingers, or say a specific word like "clean", and the QuickClean will determine who is calling it, and go to that person so it can be assigned a task. The owner can either instruct it to do a general clean of the house or of just one area, and when the QuickClean is finished, it returns to its port. It navigates using something like a radar/sensor system and a mini-computer on board that can analyze surroundings (preventing it from falling down stairs or off a counter, and preventing it from bumping into walls, people or other objects), detect types of messes and how to clean them, and other useful functions. It also comes in a mini-form. :) Most people have 2-5 QuickCleans in their house...though some (like Crysta's ex-husband Victor) can have close to 200 of them. In short; vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping are things of the past. People don't clean their houses anymore, QuickCleans do it for them. If you were living in the New Era and you told someone you just swept your house, they would probably look at you like you've got two heads. It would be like going up to someone in this day and age and telling them that you live in a house with no electricity or running water. It's just...for the most part unheard of. QuickCleans are mildly intelligent, and are managed by the home management system, which can help direct them where to go and what to do.

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My Thoughts

Well I just finished typing out ten pages about this New Era thing..I hope that wasn't too boring to read lol. I feel like I'm forgetting a lot though so more than likely I'll...come back and add some more later on when I remember the things I forgot.