The State of Nature Prologue – A Short Story

In the year 2064 there had been immense technological advancements in the fields of medicine and science. These developments were followed up with just as much backlash by the way of a group that calls themselves the “New Age Luddites” of “NAL” for short. The NAL were against all the progress, and they made it known throughout all of the world.

In the year 2073, what came to be known as World War V broke out with Europe, Africa, and South America fighting against North America, Asia, and Oceania. War raged on for seven long years, killing most battle-aged men. Those who were left were the older men who knew life from before the war and advancements. These men were also those who made up the NAL, which made their voices heard. The NAL gained favor with young mothers as well because they had seen their husbands slaughtered in an all-out war and wished to preserve the lives of their young children.

By the year 2080, the Second Treaty of Versailles nullified all disputes throughout the world. The terms of the agreement created a tetrarchy in which each hemisphere had its own leader but worked in unison to create a set of laws to govern the whole world. In addition, each sovereign nation elected a certain number of representatives based on their population. The structure of representatives mirrored the House of Representatives in the old United States of America up until 2049. The representatives from each hemisphere voted on their own Roi. The Roi was the man or woman who worked with the other Rois to form the tetrarchy. Each Roi was elected for a six-year term with the possibility of an additional two years. All military funding was abruptly halted, and most tax payer money was focused on the infrastructure, space expedition, and scientific advancements. However, the NAL was gaining support and grew to hold 35% of worldwide representative offices and one Roi. The Roi was named Francenzo Galimaeri. Galimaeri was the first in a long line of political leaders who followed the ideas of the NAL. Galimaeri wrote, in 2085 the Luddite Manifesto outlining his views on progress.

By 2098 Galimaeri’s pamphlet had become standard reading. He pulled ideas from Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and other political theorists, and revolutionaries.

After years of Galimaeri’s ideas brewing within the hearts and minds of the world, in 2110 the tetrarchy was dissolved and so was every country, state, and village governmental system. Most of the older generation during World War V that had led the NAL right after the war, had died, and there was a shortage of middle aged men because so many had died in the war. The population of the whole world had reduced to half of what it was in the early 2000s due to famine and birth regulation. What was left of the world’s population were middle aged men that survived the war, and had trained their lives to stay alive in the world, the women who tried to protect their children, the children who had seen their fathers die in the war and tried to avenge them, and those who grew up innocent. Before the dissolve of the tetrarchy, they set in motion one final piece of legislation. This bill came to be known as the Champions Act. This act established a “stage” on each continent. The stage was a fighting arena for all able bodied men who wished to compete to see who was the strongest man on earth. All rules were abolished, including murder. The world was left in a frenzy. Every man who was not ready to defend their families or themselves, were slaughtered. It was made clear very clearly who were going to make it to the stage. Most of the battle was making it to the stage; fighting for food, water, shelter, and life. Nothing was guaranteed after the Champions Act. It was the year 2110.