Part two of the collaboration between Plasticframed Paintings and Canadino, Whatever People Say I Am and That's What I'm Not. This story will follow the bar Easy and the rebel group that runs it, consisting of Francis(France), Alfred(USA) and Arthur(UK), with some Ivan(Russia), Yao(China) and Karl(Iceland) on the side.
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2012
Caused by global warming, pollution, and general neglect, the planet Earth experiences numerous disastrous earthquakes and other natural disasters. The last big earthquake sent a fissure across the Americas, splitting both continents into half down the middle. Asia also experienced a split, breaking diagonally across Russia into Europe. There was mass confusion, terror, death, and after the natural disasters stopped, a massive world war broke out over law and order.
Order was established by a small group of mercenaries who referred to themselves as the 'Solidities', whom as their name implied, created a strict sense of peace to counter the chaos that had claimed the world for the past years. They spread their influence through the battered nations, claiming supporters and resisters, who were instantly crushed. In just a short year, the Solidities stabilized each continent under its power and brought harmony back to a war-ravaged battlefield.
2014
The first of the Solidarity Laws are created. They ban the use of traditional firearms, nuclear power, and fossil fuels. While these laws are met with opposition, the general consensus approves of these changes and encourages more in the same fashion.
2016
The perfection of biological warfare, renamed as part of Universal Security, proves the end of modern weaponry. Firearms are allowed as long as there are no bullets or gunpowder; all such items are rounded up and destroyed. Viruses and physiological punishment are used on criminals or resisters. Opposition to Solidities rule is easily and quickly silenced and such activity rarely hits public eye.
Support and funding provides massive technological breakthrough. Universal healthcare and aid ends world hunger and poverty.
2020
The Restrictor Laws are created. They forbid gambling, alcohol, prostitution, private wealth, and habitat destruction in any way, including hunting and mining. Meat is raised in tubes. Precious metals are synthetically created. Inherences are seized by the government and previously privately owned land is also seized and used for public property. Art and literature is used solely for positive, chaste lessons.
The biggest book burning in history occurs, where several banned books and every single one of their digital and physical copies are rounded up and deleted. Several titles include The Communist Manifesto, A Clockwork Orange, and Lolita. All perverse and inflammatory titles are added on the banned list and destroyed.
The population is urged to be respectable. While religion, sexuality, gender, and ethnicity are not called into question, any known deviant is collected and never seen again.
2022
Religion is now regulated by the government, who sifts through the existent religions and eradicates any deemed 'unproductive'. The remaining are closely followed by pre-established laws and overseen by the Solidities to see no deviation is created.
2023
In the midst of mandatory schooling, an abundance of jobs, and paid taxes, the Solidities experience a ripple in their perfect society when a group who call themselves Liberators attempt a coup on several nations where their number has taken hold. After several failed communications, bribes, and compromises, the two groups reach a tense stalemate.
2025
When a Liberator assassinates a prominent Solidite, war erupts and seizes the world once again. The world is extended along a tender string of war until several years later, when rough tsunamis off the coast of India and another tremor rock the Americas and the Solidities seize control again in this panic. The Liberators are privately taken care of, while the public perceives the situation as the Solidities finally making the rogue Liberators see the light.
2033
Peace prevails and the Restrictor Laws are revised and enforced.
2037
The Solidities create its first law-enforcement program, entitled STOP, short for Service To Oversee Peace, publicly believed to keep the peace. However, it is an unspoken fact that they are being used to find and persecute underground activity.
2043
Regulus Diktat is sworn into office as World Chancellor after statistically voted in with 98% approval. He promises seven years of peace in his term.
2046
STOP successfully carries out a raid that jails a couple hundred citizens caught in an underground speakeasy. Conspiracy theories abound, but often debunked. Government public approval rating rises. Diktat is praised for his role in the sting.
2050
Diktat runs for re-election and starts his second term in office. He promises peace for another seven years.
2050
The underground bar Easy is established by Alfred, a long time political activist who had known several of the core members of the Liberators. Along with the equally well-known underground peace protestor Arthur, he starts up a second generation rebel group to carry the torch of the Liberators and succeed where they had failed.
2050
Easy has become a hot-spot for the remaining intellectuals and political activists that haven't gone missing. Having followed Arthur, Francis joins in with bar maintenance and acts as a major pillar of strength and support for the growing rebel group, also acting as a very efficient spokesperson to rally more support.
Despite his initial aversion to the underground world, Karl finds himself drawn into the inner-circle of this group through Francis.
2050
Two foreign mercenaries, Ivan and Yao, begin to frequent the bar roughly within a month of each other. Though neither claim to have any affiliations with Diktat and the Solidites, they have no prominent connection with the Liberators either.
A shaky alliance is established between the six after several other underground bars are snuffed out by the government without warning.
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A/N: Thank you for bearing with us through the repetitive double-openings, but we believe it will be beneficial to the readers in the long run. The real story will start very soon so please look forward to it!