Dave's ASH Archive - World Politics

Last Updated: 5/16/06

Map

Click here for 2024 Map

    The map above gives a rough lineup of the geopolitical situation on Earth in the year 2026. The meaning of "influenced" will be explained in each power's section. See the Academy series for more details on each of the world powers, this page will sketch out the basics and also serve as a place to find updates.

The United World

  The United World was officially founded in 2018, although its seeds were in place as far back as the 1990s. It acts in many of the roles the old United Nations used to fill, but with some differences. The United World does not yet have a strong military arm, nor does it see internal peacekeeping as a priority at the moment. Rather, the UW is more concerned with matters that are more global, such as the internet and dealings with alien powers, both extraplanetary and extradimensional. STRAFE, the Superhuman Tactical Resources and Affiliated Field Experts, is sanctioned by the United World to act against threats that conventional military forces are either too slow to react too or are otherwise not things that armies are good at dealing with.
   As of early 2026, the members of the United World are: the North American Combine, the Eurasian Union, the Moslem Confederation, the Central Asian Confederation, the People's Republic of China, and the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization. The Moslem Confederation's membership is always uncertain, and the three parts of the former Chinese super-state are only recent members.
   The United World's headquarters are located in Australia, which is a neutral country and UW protectorate. Australia, New Zealand and several Indonesian nations have joined together in an alliance that falls under UW protection. The United World's only real military forces at this point exist to keep this protectorate secure against Khadamite threat. However, the UW can officially call on aid from the Planetary Confederation, a potentially big stick that is rarely invoked.
  In theory, the UW has jurisdiction over any territory not formally part of the North American Combine, the Eurasian Union, the Moslem Coalition or one of the three Chinas. In practice, Khadam holds sway over much of this unclaimed territory, especially in Africa.
   The United World banner is a deliberate reference to the old United Nations flag, but using a different projection of the world map, and a unifying oval rather than a wreath of olive branches. The symbolism is geared more towards unity than peace, as is the UW itself.

North American Combine

   The North American Combine is the strongest economic power in the world of 2025, partly due to the lesser damage it suffered in the wake of the Godmarket, but mostly because it has no immediate rivals on the ground. The Eurasian Union must spend considerable resources keeping Khadam, the Moslem Coalition and China out of its territories, and those other three powers were all hit hard by the Causality War (although China will not admit to this fact) and the events following it.
   The core of the NAC is the three States of Canada, Mexico and America. Each is broken up into Sectors that map fairly closely to their pre-unification states or provinces, although some of the more populous states were broken into multiple sectors, such as North and South California Sectors. Constitutional freedoms have been slowly restored over the past two decades after being suspended during the state of emergency at the turn of the century, but citizens of the Combine still don't enjoy the freedoms they might have had during the 20th Century.
   The Combine's influence extends into much of South America and the Pacific islands. Most of this territory is nominally under NAC law, but often the true law comes from the corporations which have set up shop in the area. South America is riddled with small corporate feifdoms which resemble upscaled "company towns," with no law but the bottom line. These are slowly being brought into NAC regulation, but it's still something of a wild frontier.
   The flag of the NAC is a combination of the colors of the flags of the three core States (each retains its original flag as a State flag). The seal of the Combine is an eagle with a shield over its chest, the shield bearing the pattern from the flag.

Eurasian Union

   Born out of the European Community and the shattered remains of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Union had to pull together quickly in the first decade of the century, thanks to a mulitude of enemies around it and many prospective member states who were ripe for the picking by powers like Khadam or China. The charismatic Lenard Duvallier managed to bring the nations together in 2005 as a more economic than political entity.
   Economic power quickly translated into political power, as the richer nations started to dictate policy for the poorer nations. A few minor wars were fought with China, resulting in Bangladesh being ceded to China in return for guarantees of Japan's safety and promises not to invade India. The EU is very pro-United World, although each nation has slightly different reasons for wanting the United World to succeed. Richer nations see it as a path to wider trade and higher profits, while poorer nations hope that they might someday be able to use the UW as a tool to gain greater indepedence from the EU without being gobbled up by hostile neighbors.
   EU-influenced nations are generally members of the Union, but they either lack significant power or are threatened border regions. India and South Africa are such minor powers, as is Israel (on Cyprus), while Morocco and much of Siberia represent border regions.
   The flag of the Eurasian Union is based on the European Community's banner, which was twelve golden stars in a circle on a navy blue field. The ring of stars has been replaced by a star in a solid ring. Some have joked that the ring represents the gold which keeps the EU together.

People's Republic of China

    China went behind a curtain of silence after the turn of the century, claiming to the outside world that they had suffered no losses from the worldwide disaster, and quickly moving to absorb nearby nations. Japan's ties to the Eurasian Union kept it safe, and parts of Malaysia were able to remain free of Chinese hegemony by joining the Moslem Coalition. Isolationism, plus bitter memories of the wars of the first decade of the century have kept China out of the United World.
    China's Premier was perhaps the world's most powerful Anchor, able to suppress supernatural powers over the entirety of the People's Republic. As nations fell into Chinese control, the Anchor Effect extended over them, aided by specially-recruited Anchors who patrolled the fringes of Chinese territory. The Premier's death in July 2023 (along with much of the government, in a nuclear explosion engineered by the Devastator) unleashed a wave of supernatural power over China and threw the government into disarray. Fortunately, no nuclear weapons were launched in retaliation, but the nation spent months in turmoil.
    A year after the destruction of Beijing, China had largely settled down and gotten its public face in order, with a seemingly unified government continuing to maintain a policy of isolationism. In fact, however, dozens of minor rebellions flared up every month, stamped out with ruthlessness or co-opted by one of the politicians seeking to carve out his own kingdom. Behind the "Bamboo Curtain," China was in chaos, and it was only a matter of time before the secret wars became public.
    Two years after the destruction of Beijing, the People's Republic finally lost its battle to keep its internal divisions secret. Two new political entities announced their existences to the world: the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO), and the Central Asian Confederation (see below). Most of the territory lost to these polities came from satellite nations, not China proper, with Tibet and the westernmost province of China being the most significant losses. The People's Republic has recently normalized relations with the rest of the world and joined the United World.
    China's flag is the same as it has been since 1949, a red banner with five gold stars.

SEATO

    Despite aggressive Chinese policies of intermixing, the nations that broke away to form SEATO generally do not have significant ethnic Chinese populations, being a mix of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Malay and other ethnic groups that have clung to their cultural identities in the face of assimilationist doctrine. SEATO was formed in late spring 2025 by several nations who realized that they stood a better chance of freedom together than they did separately.

    As the name implies, this is a coalition rather than a single nation. The specific name SEATO was deliberatly chosen in an attempt to curry favor from the North American Combine, whose American state had been behind the original SEATO's formation. Most citizens of the member nations don't like the Combine much more than they do China, but they figure that they can play the giants against each other and remain free. It is a dangerous game they play. SEATO has recently joined the United World, and tends to vote with the Combine.

    SEATO does not have an official flag yet, but the member nations have revived their TwenCen flags. In the case of Vietnam, there is some talk of going back to a pre-Colonial banner, to further distance themselves from China.

Central Asian Confederation

    Unlike SEATO, the Central Asian Confederation is not simply a collection of TwenCen nations breaking away from Chinese influence. While it does contain nations like Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, it also holds chunks of what was once western China, Outer Mongolia, Bangladesh, and even the formerly much- disputed Kashmir. A number of nations such as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are on the fence, trying to be friendly to both the Moslem Confederation and the Central Asian Confederation. The CAC is rumored to be strongly courting India, which is driving Pakistan into a closer relationship with the Moslem Confederation.
    The CAC is largely held together due to the efforts of an extremely charismatic woman who calls herself the Western Dragon. She is rumored to be a supernormal. The flag of the CAC is a simple green banner, six times as long as it is wide, with gold tassles at the end.

Moslem Confederation

   The deaths of all those who followed pagan gods in 1998 ignited a renewed fervor in the "major" world religions (which had been getting dangerously marginalized in the late 1990s), and Islam was no exception. A short and bloody war with Israel resulted in the "Holy Land" being reduced to radioactive ruin, and much of the Jordan was destroyed by fallout. The Moslem Confederation (also called the Moslem Coalition) arose out of the alliance to fight Israel, but stayed together to help promote Islam and recover from the war. While the individual nations originally ranged from total theocracy to democracy, the surviving Confederation members joined in a single Theocracy, rule by holy men. Considered socially oppressive by other nations, it is nonetheless a stable system. Especially since many of those who might have dissented died in 1998 or shortly after.
   The brief war against Q'Nos has brought the Confederation closer together in some ways, but this has also thrown their differences into sharper contrast, and outside observers tend to think something is going to have to give. Either the Confederation will loosen, or it will fracture along doctrinal lines.
   MC-influenced nations are nominally members of the Cofederation, but have to tread lightly with powerful neighbors. The flag of the Moslem Confederation is not a fixed banner, but always involves Islamic elements, such as the crescent moon. Pictured here is one of the more common designs.

Khadam

    Khadam is actually a fairly small city-state, located at about 10 degrees East longitude, 25 degrees North latitude, at the site of the older city of Ghat in Libya. It is ruled by a council that is a mix of the original Technomancers and representatives of the alien Pranir trading houses, and is very much an authoritarian state. The average citizen is lucky if he's not used as fodder for experiments or sold for his organs to the Pranir organleggers. Still, people flock to Khadam for that one chance in a thousand of hitting the jackpot and finding good work, as a security guard or lab assistant or whatnot. Mercenaries make up a large part of the population of this black market spaceport.
    Khadam's influence ranges over most of Africa and scattered enclaves in South America and even Antarctica. The products of their genetic experimentation make such areas dangerous to be in, and have slowed the encroachment of other powers into the Sahara and subsaharan jungles. Several lesser Pranir houses have established their own spaceports in Khadam-influenced areas for the purpose of offloading cargo that's too nasty even for Khadam's loose standards.
    Derek Radner, aka Triton, is currently the Chancellor of Khadam, having displaced the last of the Zugmann heirs. The Conclave of Super-Villains helps him retain power, but it also helps that several of the formerly ruling factions were weakened significantly during a series of internecine conflicts in 2023-4.
    Khadam's flag was designed to vaguely remind one of the Nazi banner without being immediately recognizable as such, since the nation was founded by an expatriate Nazi (see Academy #1).

The Kingdom of Q'Nos

   The newest of the major world powers, this kingdom is ruled by an ancient Pureblood named Q'Nos. Q'Nos lost most of his power in struggles with other Purebloods and was "demoted" to the status of demigod, and further humiliated by his defeat in the 1990s at the hands of Solar Max I. Freed by Solar Max II, he set about building an army out of the mythical creatures in the twisted wastelands of what once was Greece (aka "Shattered Hellas"). During a brief war with the Moslem Confederation, he lost much of his mystic power to the leader of their supernormal cadre, but the war was only a smokescreen covering his attempt to summon up his mother, the Leviathan.
   In the wake of his failure to conquer the world, Q'Nos retrenched and started planning for long term power, making his kingdom a refuge for misfits and freaks from around the world (a move that briefly caused tensions with Khadam). The revelation that Venus's terraforming was the result of his mother's banishment to that world has caused him to claim the entire planet as his birthright, and Khadam has openly supported this claim in exchange for considerations. Where this will go has yet to be revealed as of January 2026.
   Q'Nos's banner is the golden double-headed axe, or labris. He wields such an axe, coated in mystically-created Collapsauron, or hyperdense gold.
Back to the ASH resources page.