(òᴥóし)

[akje]

And now for something completely irrelevant: a brief history of the fictional nation of Imperium, as chronicled by Sir Bodsworth Bartleby, rector of Kensington College, St. Tristan's University.

● 1700

• Londinium has the highest level of engineering on the globe as far as they know
• Londinium becomes heavily industrialized
• machines replace humans in the workplace, and unemployment soars
• not enough work for everyone, so there's low wages for those who do work
• overpopulation brings forced conformity, and all those with differing views on religion, politics, etc. are considered disruptive to society and are oppressed

● 1750

• once their engineering of ships improves, they begin the age of exploration
• explorers look for new countries to colonize
• Imperium is discovered and colonization begins
• the natives are killed off, and the surplus of Londinium is shipped there
• they repopulate the new continent with their own kind
• they name the new continent Imperium
• at first Imperium has an agriculture-based society like Londinium
• so they create the slave trade to work the land
• they soon resent Londinium for taxing them and taking a share of their profits
• they go to war with Londinium to gain independence

● 1800

• Londinium develops the steam engine and industrialization begins
• the Imperian north copies Londinium and becomes heavily industrialized
• Luddites in the north try to stop the industrialization, but fail and flee south
• the south clings to agriculture and rejects progress
• the north needs cotton and other agricultural resources from the south, but the south makes more money selling to Londinium, so the north is in competition with Londinium once again

● 1860

• the north elects an anti-slavery president, so the south secedes
• a civil war begins

● 1865

• war ends with the north winning; slavery becomes illegal
• southern reconstruction begins
• blacks are given the right to vote
• they vote many black politicians into office
• southern whites fear they'll legalize white slavery in retaliation
• they form the clansmen to intimidate blacks from voting

● 1870

• a popular southern author writes a book glorifying the clansmen
• his novel The Clansmen sits on the bestseller list for many weeks
• the novel is made into a stage play
• it's a huge success, and is performed to packed houses

● 1875

• Londinium invents motion pictures
• motion pictures become popular everywhere, including Imperium
• Screenland in Imperium becomes the movie capital of the world

● 1880

• The Clansmen becomes a blockbuster film, with unprecedented profits
• a new clan is created in the south in response to the film
• lynchings, cross burnings and other acts of terror become frequent
• hundreds are murdered by clansmen through the years
• invention of wireless telegraphy, the telephone, the gramophone
• Imperium discovers Eudonia has a machine that cures all disease
• they send a delegation to negotiate for it
• Eudonia responds that they have to obey Eudonian law first
• transitioning supposedly begins, but Imperium never intends to transition

● 1890

• industrialization continues around the globe
• thousands of immigrants arrive in Imperium every day, displaced by machinery
• former slaves are now in competition with whites and immigrants for jobs
• the number of jobs in Imperium decreases as machines replace humans
• poverty, tenements, and child labor become commonplace
• destruction of the environment is rampant as factories pollute the landscape

● 1910

• financier J.P. Gorman builds an airship to escape the smog and air pollution
• the military pays him to use it for a sneak attack on Eudonia
• the new airship Titan sets sail on its maiden voyage loaded with soldiers