Though victorious on the Eastern Front in World War I, as the Western Front deteriorated, factory strikes and uprisings tore at the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The death of the long reigning Emperor-King further destabilized it, and Allied advances in the West soon had no effective hindrances. The new Emperor-King saw the writing on the wall. The Empire had lost The War. It was his duty to keep the Empire from being lost. But Peace was an elusive target.
Albion is a world I’ve been to many times. British Albion, not Albion Albion. The Shang gravitics tore much of the atmosphere away, and the Winter Contingency killed most of the wildlife. But the British built fanciful floating cities over the windy deserts that now dominate the equatorial regions. Modern Albion is a mad combination of the legends of King Arthur floating over lands fit for the Arabian Nights. Beautiful to live in, deadly to be lost in.
In France, Islamic Brotherhoods marched under the mushroom clouds over Paris to convert the nation to their ways. Knowing she would be deleted if captured, the French AI Chloe had no choice but to take up what weapons she could find. She found ways to communicate with the French Resistance, and looked for someone who could lead the French out of the ruins. They needed another Charles de Gaulle or Charlemagne. She found something else.
Olivia was one of the few survivors of the Battles of Epsilon Reticuli and Serenity. She escaped the first and won the second. But so many politicians always try to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory, and she had enemies happy to do so. After that, she agreed to protect a new project, and I was born to help her. The project was a new message to the universe from the people of Earth. We are coming. No matter what you throw at us, we will always be coming.
After the French occupiers left, the German economy continued to slide into ruin, and the people looked for anyone who promised to defend the Germans from their rightful enemies. Voices called for a reckoning, and Adolph Hitler was one of them. But foreign aid poured into Germany, helping them rebuild. A new sense of hope filled the country, and those like Hitler who still called for violence found themselves in prison. Without them, Germany became strong again.