The world of Johnathan Pierce takes place in an alternate world where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand never happened. The initial bombing took place as planned, but the gunman that should have claimed his life later that day was instead found dead in an alley, cut down with a sharp instrument. The survival of Archduke Franz Ferdinand meant that World War I lost its triggering moment and the war was consequently delayed until August 13th, 1922.
This long eight year gap proved to massively shift the tides of war. This was eight years of technological improvements, eight years of new alliances, eight years of revolutions. England was fighting an Irish rebellion, and Russia was still restructuring itself after deposing its monarchy. On the other hand, Germany had spent the entire time planning out the war, and Austria-Hungary, renamed to the Austrian Confederacy, had become a seat of technology.
War, however, was inevitable. There were too many ideological cultural differences, too many old grievances, too much greed. That the war could be staved off for so long at all was in no small part due to Archduke Franz Ferdinand peace-loving nature. It began small-scale. In the years leading up to 1922, several skirmishes had been fought in the colonies of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. No one wanted to go first and officially declare war. More out of necessity that anything else, a united British, French and Russian force told a united German, Italian and Austrian force to seize the fighting or else.
The Great War, as it would come to be known, was fought first by proxy, but spilled into the European continent. It was meant to be a quick war, as wars had been in the past; as wars had been against native populations. Technology, however, had entered the art of war, and as casualties escalated, an arms race began. Like a cancer, hostilities spread, and more and more parties were drawn in to the fighting, hoping to exploit the situation or trying to help. Horrified by the atrocities but unable to stop them, the world spiralled deeper and deeper into a global war.
Thirty years later, on the eve of January first 1953, a peace treaty was formally established. War had ended not because it had accomplished anything, but because it had run its course. Thirty years of ceaseless war had left countries the world over broken in more senses than one. There were no one left to fight, and there were no more resources either. The war ended not out of a resolution but a necessity. It was a war devoid of victors.
Some powers emerged strengthened. The US had entered the war late and enjoyed a lack of theatres of fighting on its own soil. Russia had pushed hard in the beginning, withdrew toward the middle due to a lack of interest, and was finally provoked to enter again in the latter stages. The Ottoman Empire had been a strong factor throughout the war and expanded greatly throughout the Middle East. Colonies in Africa and Asia had been completely abandoned as the colonial reach did not have the strength to continue its presence.
Other powers emerged battered and bruised. There was no more British Empire. There was no more German Empire. Europe as a whole fractured into isolated alliances. Those who could not see the writing on the wall kicked and screamed. Italy would struggle for decades to keep itself together before splitting in two. The Nordic countries settled their differences and formed a Scandinavian Union.
The United States returned its soldiers quickly, unwilling to stay behind and try to help stabilise its overseas neighbour. They had been forced out of isolationism to which they comfortably returned, ignoring the plights of the world. This is a United States with no interest in Korea or Vietnam or Afghanistan; a United States with a hundred more million residents than our world. Their commitment to isolationism led to a post-war restructuring of their military to focus solely on home protection. Thus was formed the LHD, the Local Home Defence. Military stations were built in extension of most major towns.
Many look to the US blinded by the light of the gold-paved streets. Some resent them for their isolationist politics and for not involving themselves in global politics. In particular, nationalistic terror groups have the made the US the target of several attacks to get them to open their eyes. The US has remained firm in its stance, however, and the constant threat of terrorist attacks by European nationalist groups has only made the public even more fearful of the outside world.
Many new cities and towns has been constructed to support the population boom. One of them is Ferman, a so-called town of hope erected in the wake of the Great War. Veterans returned home demanding jobs which they could find in abundance in the various heavy industries. America, and the world at large, demanded modern conveniences like cars and fridges. Many towns like Ferman prospered all over the American continent. Ferman’s development in particular was headed by Gifted Enterprises, then just an architectural firm, who took the challenge of wrangling civility out of the swamps of the state of New York.
Even today, their touch can be felt everywhere. Many public places and some government ones too are marked by an idealism and hopefulness and extravagance that blew in across America lot a hot summer’s wind after the war. The hospital in Ferman is a true architectural marvel that thirty years later would be impossible to finance. They also designed many of the modern homes to the east of town that would later be integrated into a suburban area, and Sacrisyard, a central part of town with parks and high-rises.
But the prosperity could not continue. The cost of wages and production continued to rise, and so much of the industry moved overseas. It began in the eighties but really took force in the nineties. The large industrial section in the north-east of town became more and more abandoned. Warehouses and factories were left to rot. A handful of jobs remain, but most people have migrated either to the service industry, to restaurants, to clerk jobs, to desk jobs, or to homelessness.
Today, Ferman stands as one of the most well-preserved examples of modernist-era architecture and a sad example of bygone hopes and dreams for the future. The industrial sector is almost quiet. The apartments with cheap rent for veterans has made Sacrisyard a gathering point for the city’s undesirables. The large lake where people could go for a leisurely cruise has run dry. A nostalgic desire to preserve the city’s monuments to glory at all cost has left outside development interest tempered. Projects have been started and abandoned time and time again.
There is a spark of hope, however. Gifted has taken an interest in the town again. Perhaps they can contest with the corrupt decisions of city hall and once again make something of Ferman.