Water Through His Shoes and Stars Through His Soul

The Water passed through His Shoes and the Stars through His Soul.

Inspired in part by Matteo, in part by a desire to redo this map, this WIP takes place about 110 or so years in the future, give or take. As you can see, there are already some major changes; noticeably I've actually tried my hand at chipping away a few coastlines with a raised sea level of which I'm quite proud, desertification has set in, Europe is a very different place and -le gasp!- America has a monarchy.
Don't worry, it's not some despotic hellhole where gays are executed and Vermont a police state. The Emperor -seated in the capital of Chicago- is actually of a dusky complexion and a fairly liberal fellow at that. Yes while originally suffering from division and secessionism in the 21st century and going through a painful political transition in the early 22nd America has reasserted itself as an important global power if not what they used to be. They're patriotic, opulent and traditional -capes are seeing a comeback- and after the destruction wrought across many cities in the 2nd Civil War neoclassical architecture has come to dominate the nation's major cities. Their patriotism is mostly benign though there's a small militaristic bent in some areas of society. For instance the Roman salute has seen a revival at universities, among the military and in the Midwest, (better known as the Nazi salute to us) but given most people are 217 years removed from the Second World War it doesn't have such uncomfortable connotations associated with it. It is a largely liberal place however; there's social welfare, people's sexuality is not really a considered factor anymore in a positive or negative way, and while ethnic identity is still a thing ethnic nationalism has been dead for a long time given one out of three people is ethnically mixed. But they are fond of their pomp and formality, snapbacks and that sort are thankfully extinct in lieu of pressed suits, coats and dresses while art is essentially Roman revivalist though 3D meta-sensory art is very big at the moment.

China, comparatively, has become what many would call a 'pragmatic' nation. They finally abandoned pretending to be communists in the 2050s and established a new political philosophy combining elements of both capitalism and communism known as Injunctivism. It basically advocates for bureaucratic distributist model that means no single body of government has too much power; the judiciary is very powerful and companies while not necessarily government owned are all party to large, corporate syndicate like structures. They too saw a bit of a renaissance in Chinese religion -especially Taoism-, culture and architecture -there are some neat pavilion skyscrapers dotting the coast- and thus much as America would come across to someone in 2016 as oddly anachronistic. With 2 billion people they are a major cultural exporter and so their fashions and values are prevalent across much of the civilised world and especially the rim of the Indian Ocean.
India and Africa at the moment are rising stars. India went through a tough patch but is as of 2126 about on the same level as China. However in an undeniably multipolar world and with China still a healthy superpower they are not relying on the collapse of the current hyperpower to launch themselves onto the world stage.

The New California Republic is a majority 'creole' state with a predominant ethnic mix of White Americans, Hispanic and various brands of East Asian. They're very sleek, modern and technocratic but have politics akin to modern Italy and a complex about distinguishing themselves from America. To their east is the Kingdom of Deseret, a staunch American ally that was rewarded for it's loyalty to the revolution during the Second Civil War with it's independence à la San Marino. The state religion is Mormonism but they possess large and active minorities of Sunni Muslims, Hispanics wishing to escape the din of California and English settlers.
South America is largely a Brazilian playground, and the nation has taken the senior role as superpower of the Americas They are still a vibrant, culturally intermixed nation but much as America have readopted many features of their Imperial era and Brasilia is pockmarked with grand Romanticist and Neoclassical megastructures. They're also aggressively conservationist, going so far as to occupy Peru's Loreto Region in order to ensure the restoration of the Amazon. They are making moves to do this in the Congo as well. The other big power is the Republic of Colombia which has adopted many of the pretensions of the American system of government and are more or less a literal oligarchy, much to the chagrin of their democratic neighbours.

Europe is divided into two blocs; the Carolingian Republic and the Poland-lead Intermarium.
Throughout all the fluctuations of the socio-political landscape France and Germany grew closer and closer. Their languages share many many loanwords and their cultures are near inseparable; certain areas aare still annoyingly distinct but the bulk of both countries largely became one in the same over a period of years, something that scholars believe was kick started by their joint occupation of the flooding Low Countries. Luxembourg is their capital.
Initially an alliance of conservative, somewhat reactionary countries that were frightened of Russia and Muslims the Intermarium developed into an alternative EU focused on the old Visegrad group and eventually grew to encompass most of Eastern and Balkanic Europe. It is very religious and militarised and oddly closer than the EU ever was; despite this it has a strong Slavo-Vedic tradition due to the presence of so many Indians -a side effect of their alliance with India- and possesses the same merito-syndicalist superstructures as that country and funnily enough is pretty pro Muslim nowadays.

Africa is roughly divided down the middle. The west, lead by Nigeria, is a pro-Brazilian, superficially pro-Indian confederation of nations opposed to Chinese Injunctivist domination, which tends to revolve around Beijing as an economic, quasi-Mandate of Heaven equivalent. Nigeria, after sorting it's corruption and devolving some powers to local legislatures in the north and east, easily became the most powerful nation in Africa. Even against a resurgent Ethiopia, a federalised East Africa and an authoritative Egypt Nigeria has managed to maintain their place among the stars and is widely considered a superpower with some 400 million inhabitants. Having modernised, adapted and synthesised many Yoruba and Hausa traditions fashion is rich with encrusted jewelry and colourful fabrics and native Kings and Sultans are known and respected the world over.
Meanwhile, eastern Africa is a collection of Injunctivist regimes all loyal to Beijing and some more powerful than others. The two biggest powers are Ethiopia -enjoying a stint of Rastafarian revivalism- and East Africa -having developed a rich naval tradition and being the primary voice for further integration among the African Union even where it does not benefit Beijing-.

One of the areas that did not benefit from Climate Change was Central America. Beset by increasing humidity with subsequent crop failures and a rise in plaguing mosquitoes, political instability reached breaking point in the mid 2050s and set off the collapse of states the beginning of new migrations. This second Volkswanderung -the scholarly consensus of which includes mass migrations from the Middle East to Europe and Central Africa and from South Asia north- was born primarily by Mexico but also Colombia, the Venezuelan states and the then United States. These migrations began to peter out towards the beginning of the 22nd century but left a shambolic mess of drug-addled dictatorships and anarchy where Central America used to be. A joint operation agreed upon and largely supplied by Brazil, China and Canada began in 2110 and as of 2126 remains a joint-occupation after several attempts at propping up varying republics and regimes failed. Beijing, Ottawa and Brasilia are hoping they can withdraw by 2130 but are currently in disagreement as to the forms the new directly appointed governments should take.

With American influence being removed in a new period of isolationism in the late 2010s the Middle East was left to Russian, Iranian and later Chinese devices. Syria despite all of Russia's attempts to prop up the local regime did not last and Sykes-Picot became a thing of the past when Iraq too fell apart. Attempted Israeli expansion into Lebanon -admittedly egged on by an extremist group occupying the northern strip of the Israeli-Lebanese border- prompted an invasion by the newly minted Mesopotamia and Saudi Arabia -a strange turn of events given the two's prior antagonisms- and would eventually draw in Turkey and Jordan on the Israeli side. Iran, for their part were satisfied to sit this conflict out due to already having effective suzerainty over Iraq and Kurdistan at this point though they would later support a concurrent if separate conflict against Turkey to expand their latter satellite's territory.

This by and large lead to the end of Israel, though a fairly extreme Jewish state would continue to hold Jerusalem and a strip of coastline well until the present. It also lead to a reduction in Jordanian territory. Despite this victory, Saudi Arabia at least would not last as increasing desertification and a failing oil prices spelt the end of their economic productivity. They eventually collapsed, the parts still livable being absorbed by their neighbours and the Holy Cities reviving the Hashemite throne and unifying with Jordan. Of course by this point Chinese influence in the Middle East was truly established and Mesopotamia and Jordan-Hejaz became Chinese satellites.

China's attempts to subdue India via proxy were largely foiled by accident. Afghanistan's collapse was precipitated by a brief revival in Islamic extremism, ethnic strife and a failure to adapt to radical shifts in climate. This violence rocked Pakistan and fueled nationalistic reactionary policies that only ended up increasing issues. A renewed conflict in Kashmir against India eventually developed into an all-out war that despite heavy assistance from China -which did succeed in separating India from Kashmir- lead to a Pakistani collapse and occupation of Punjab and Sindh. Despite being closer to Pakistan than India, with their demise Iran turned to India over time and formed a strong alliance that permeates to this day.

Kazakhstan and Karakalpakstan benefited greatly from climate change; a re-flooding of the Aral Sea and an expansion of the Caspian lead to a revitalization of fisheries in both countries, submerged harmful salt-laden soil thus preventing it from being blown over fertile land, and has revitalised and increased the size of pastureland in both countries. Aside this, increased Chinese economic activity and eventually new markets emerging both from the north and west upon the collapse of Russia has lead to the two -and much of Central Asia- becoming an economic powerhouse and the centre of the new Silk Road network that interconnects the Middle East with North-Eastern Europe and East Asia. By region, Central Asia is the richest location on Earth.
Alongside these two, though with different political realities, Siberia has awoken as a broad breadbasket supplying much of Asia and Africa and dominating the cattle market. This has drawn ranchers and plantation workers from across the world, and the renewed Siberian identity is complemented by large minorities of Texans, Spaniards, Christian Chadians, Somalis, refugee Aimaqs, Uzbeks and Tibetans.

India would be rather familiar to anyone from OTL, though with megalopoli spreading across the nation like splayed entrails housing no less than 2 billion people and connected by built up and hyper-efficient railways. New Delhi, with a greater metropolitan population of 130 million, is the most populous mega-city in the world. It absorbed Bangladesh when it collapsed due by and large to flooding, the positive side effect being that -along with Punjab and Sindh- with so many more Muslims under the government's care Hindu nationalism is very much a fringe movement. Every large religion is represented in some way in India, but vibrant Hinduism remains the most visible. Building up a web of allies such as the Intermarium, several south-Arabian nations -going so far as to annex Aden-, Japan, Thailand and Mexico, Hinduism is proliferating throughout much of the world if in a largely syncretic fashion.

Japan bombed out at 80 million people after several decades of population decline and only with relatively enormous increases in immigration and several iterations of natalist governments has the nation managed a net increase of their population. As a side effect, the younger generations are far less xenophobic and relations between Tokyo and Beijing have been normalised. The Hokkaido government is the result of a rebellion by primarily the Ainu but also other ethnic minorities that were allowed into the wintry province but not in the more metropolitan south. They established an Injunctivist government and have long been an ally of China.
Korea was one of the sadder notes of the 21st century. With American protection removed by 2025 the North launched a barrage of sub-atomic weapons and an invasion; of course this was rebuffed and rolled over by an enraged South, who were in turn invaded and occupied by China -who in the process slaughtered the Kim family, who had outlived their purpose- and established a pro-Chinese and unified government that was essentially an extension of Beijing itself. This was followed by about 50 years of occupation and a further 20 of normalisation as the Injuctivist philosophy was proliferated and now Korea is a staunchly pro-Beijing nation that has largely forgotten the terrible decades under Chinese occupation despite it being relatively recent. (And helped in no small part by Chinese censors and propaganda)

The United Commonwealth of Australia and Singapore ranks highly on the list of 'unexpected geopolitical developments'. Increasingly close relations between Indonesia and Malaya and Australia and Singapore gave birth to two unions, one a bit less believable than the other. Nevertheless with a healthy economic relationship, similar priorities in an ocean of increasing Chinese influence and preexisting military doctrines the integration of Australia and Singapore was rather simple. Australia in and of itself is becoming an increasingly important power even as under Chinese influence due to their enormous energy industry, rice farming on the coast of Cape York and large-scale geoengineering projects to unlock the full potential of the Artesian Basin. The latter development has greened up the interior substantially and lead to a population boom of some 63 million. The City of Diamantina, located at the nexus between three small seas, has some 2 million people alone.

Space by this point is in the slow process of colonisation; plans to build enormous habitats at the Lagrange points of Earth are underway and the asteroid belt is home to a motley assortment of minarchist mining colonies, inhabitants are largely Dutch-many having moved to space after their homeland sank beneath the waves-, Chileans and Argentinians, Serbs, Cossack revivalists, North African Arabs of various sorts, South Africans-especially Boers and Coloureds-, Kyrgyz and Tajiks, Rohingya and Sarawakians, all with a thin veneer of Han Chinese over the top. It's a wild place as a result.

Culture is far less uniform than at current, in the backlash to globalism local cultures, religious idiosyncracies and social memes of both a positive and negative nature took hold. For instance, women of a dark and plump nature are considered the standard of beauty across most of India and Africa, but then again Sati -or widow immolation- was revived in India. America rediscovered it's roots, but most of Europe began persecuting homosexuals again. The most extreme of these practices, especially with regards to sexual identity, were phased out and most of the world has fairly moderate views. But traditionalism is prized and regional identity a fixture of politics; segregation is not necessarily perceived as negative so long as those communities interact with their fellow communities.

Religion is interesting; Islam is the biggest religion in the world but more diversified than at the mome' largely due to the Abrahamic faiths adopting syncretic factors as their Dharmic relatives. This is in part a side effect of China and India becoming such prevalent powers. One may profess their faith for Allah, for example, while also praying to Jesus and paying tribute to Tharapita of the Estonian mythological pantheon. Religious revivalism and as aforementioned regionalist tendencies has meant that long extinct or minor religions have gained enormous quantities of followers compared to at current. Tengrism, Kebatinan, Wuism, Hausa Animism and Norse Mythology are just some of the many hundreds of religions that are widely practiced. (Though the latter most would probably get you queer looks, being a predominant feature of the nationalistic pariah state of Sweden)

The title comes from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. The full quote is “What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul”. I felt it was appropriate because the world is constantly revolutionising, and I thought the contrast between stark poverty and something so optimistic as love was a good metaphor for the socio-political fluctuations of civilisation as a whole, not to mention the future setting given stars are mentioned. But maybe I'm over thinking it. 

I hope you like it.