Street Cultivation: World History (Patreon)

Surprise! SC3 is done, but the content isn't quite finished! This is going to be an appendix in the third book, so I thought I'd show everyone here. The introduction below will be part of it, but I'll just say that setting this up was a fun exercise... but also a tricky one, because I didn't want to blunder straight into serious issues in world history or modern politics.

I hope it's interesting to everyone, anyway!

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Street Cultivation isn't an alternate history, as there's no point of departure and the existence of lucrim would leave the world fundamentally unrecognizable. Instead, my goal was our world "phase shifted" into a familiar mirror. Nevertheless, this world does have established modern history for the sake of various political situations and subplots. If you're interested in some of my notes on the subject, read on.

There are several different calendars in use, and the Global Lucrim Authority officially considers it 5778 for political reasons. However, for the sake of showing the phase shift, this history will use the Gregorian calendar. Rick and other Americans use the equivalent of this.

~1400 CE: The greatest world powers are China and the Nokan Empire. Siberia is a hotspot of violence, but has yet to annex Russia and become a world power. Europe is another hotspot, but lacks a godweight. North and South America are largely unknown to the rest of the world, but the nations across them are aware of one another and engage in several brutal wars.

~1450 CE: Lucrim users from several nations venture far outside their borders and encounter one another, but the world powers are culturally conservative and forbid travel. This stalls global exploration for decades, though some disobey these orders.

1599-1607 CE: World War I

With Europe in an extended stalemate, several nations attempt to increase their power by conquering foreign lands and learning new techniques. Some campaigns are successful, but their forays into China and the Nokan Empire prove devastating. Top fighters from those nations as well as Siberia engage in brutal fighting, resulting in the deaths of tens of millions on all sides.

European powers fall back, humbled, but the old world powers are troubled by their losses. This remains the bloodiest single conflict in world history and led to an international agreement that established international codes of conduct, such as godweights not slaughtering noncombatants.

Two events occur that are not considered important at the time: Siberia is unbalanced by the war, then European and Native lucrim users begin fighting in North America.

1611 CE: A final neutrality pact is established between China and the Nokan Empire. China withdraws from global affairs, declaring itself self-sufficient and uninterested in the trade or techniques of lesser nations.

1619 CE: Old world powers make several attempts are made to extract resources and techniques from South America, but they are repulsed with heavy losses. These conflicts solidify the position of the Incan Empire on the continent.

1634 CE: Decades of conflict in North America result in a treaty between settlers and Native populations. The first alliance between them fails, but it leads to increased trade and intermixing. Several united governments are attempted, but eventually fail.

1687 CE: Tsar Chernobog leads Siberia to claim most of northern Asia, but stops short of Chinese territorial claims. The new nation of Siberia begins research into lucrim harvesting and extra-planetary combat, but is mostly ignored.

1698 CE: After dividing from Canada and Mexico, a new nation on North America finally proves stable. It challenges its European ties and starts a revolutionary war, and their new techniques formed from multiple sources prove surprisingly formidable. The war ends with trade agreements in under a year and the United States of America are officially founded.

1699 CE: Troubled by the rapid revolution, several immortals begin deepening research into global lucrim harvesting. The world powers consider both events insignificant.

1714 CE: Slavery has long been part of most nations, but a more systematic global slave trade begins to move slaves from weaker nations to those more powerful. Most are from Africa or South America. The Nokan Empire participates, gaining considerable profits by selling inhabitants of weaker nations. The Incan Empire takes a similar role in South America, but increasingly pushes to reduce the slave trade.

1749-1751 CE: World War II

Border conflicts in Asia lead to serious conflict between Siberia and China. Angered, the Chinese empire sends its godweight onto the field, but the world is shocked when the Lion of Qin is defeated by Tsar Chernobog. Siberia has completely changed the nature of war with extreme long range attacks, such as lucrim bolts launched at nearly light speed from space.

The war is brief but devastating. It is ended by negotiations led by the Nokan Empire, concerned about potential collateral damage. Germany and the USA send supposed godweights to request a seat at the table, but are refused. China is forcibly reopened to trade, leading to increasing resentment.

1751-1900 CE: Cold war threatens between the Nokan Empire, China, and Siberia. Conflicts are increasingly not about honor, but about resources such as Middle Eastern oil. The conflict never goes hot, but there are several brief encounters between the godweights that lead to political fallout. Numerous negotiations fail or briefly succeed, leading to growing sentiment that some form of agreement is necessary.

1788 CE: Concerned both by past casualties and present tensions, a number of sects join forces with the East India company to establish global lucrim harvesting standards. This is scorned at the time by world powers, but will later be considered the start of the Global Lucrim Authority.

1831-1835 CE: The USA is torn apart by a civil war between northern, southern, and Native forces over the issue of slavery. Dragonweights are used in war in violation of international treaties, leading to pressure from world powers to end the conflict. The treaties signed are unsatisfactory to both sides, leading to increasing tension.

1843 CE: Alarmed by the violence of the American Civil War, the world powers spend several years attempting to negotiate an effective agreement. This becomes the Peerless Nonaggression Pact, forbidding uncontrolled battles between dragonweights and godweights, enforced by the others. Several European nations are instrumental in this, and some say that the Demonic Legionnaire is a full godweight. The USA sends two different candidates to sign the treaty.

1867 CE: Temporary truces finally break apart, leading to the Second American Civil War. This one is decisively won by the northern anti-slavery faction. Their backers include the Incan Empire, which pushes forward to outlaw slavery both in the USA and globally. This is accepted by the Peerless and becomes international law, though debt slavery and other forms continue to exist in some nations.

1878-1936 CE: Known as the long peace, this is a period of time in which there were no substantial wars. Many philosophers suggest that the age of combat had entirely passed and there was no more need for martial lucrim arts, though they retain a strong cultural presence.

1899 CE: Two hundred years after their research began, various corporations, nations, and immortals transform the Global Lucrim Authority into a world power. Encouraged by the harvesting results and the long peace, the Peerless give their approval and the world enters a new era. Lucrim harvesting leads to an immediate increase in the quality of life for many, though negative consequences slowly form.

1937-1941 CE: World War III

After centuries of living, the World Sculptor (the Nokan Empire's godweight) decides to pass on. They use an extremely sophisticated technique to pass their lucrim on to the new World Sculptor, but their successor is understood to be less experienced.

This is viewed as weakness, and an attack comes from the north. With the Demonic Legionnaire standing apart from politics, Germany has increasingly fallen under the sway of nationalist parties. Without making use of any European godweights or dragonweights, they push into northern Africa and the Middle East to try to take territory from the off-balance Nokan Empire. This sets off a chain of alliances and power grabs that leads most of the world into war and shatters dreams of peace.

The Peerless Nonaggression Pact holds, however, with only minimal threatening among the most powerful lucrim users. The Demonic Legionnaire is universally considered to be among the Peerless, while an American godweight establishes himself and is dubbed the Chief Lucrim Officer. Instead, the war is fought with improved technology, including the first modern lucrim-using bombers.

1959 CE: In the new status quo, smaller conflicts over lucrim harvesting and other resource extraction occur around the globe. The Global Lucrim Authority gains increasing control, though it negotiates deals with individual nations. In 1959, a local civil war in Southeast Asia nearly spills over into a more violent conflict, but is constrained until 15 years later.

1974-1976 CE: World War IV

The first true test of the status quo, a war that spans multiple nations over serious issues of resource extraction. Both the causes and results are complex, a result of many different forces boiling over as opposed to a single aggressor. Yet the godweights and dragonweights remain off the field, elevating their nations to greater positions of power without lifting a finger.

Several of the conflicts are resolved by formal duels, leading to international law establishing norms for resolving conflict by nonlethal combat. Nations are broken or reformed, including Korea and several other regions, but the world powers remain mostly untouched. Instead, they look to something else: in one of the final duels, a dragonweight of a nation is defeated by a dragonweight representing not another nation, but a corporation.

1977 CE and Beyond: This is the modern world that Rick and his peers know, one that has increasing passed beyond concerns of the past. The Peerless Nonaggression Pact is considered inviolable and the world is increasingly interconnected. Some say that the world has passed beyond war, but the immortals remember a previous era that made the same claims...

The Modern World

The Peerless Nations, AKA Godweights

• Nokan Empire (the World Sculptor)
• China (the Lion of Qin)
• Siberia (Tsar Chernobog)
• United States of America (the Chief Lucrim Officer)
• European Union (the Demonic Legionnaire)

Dragonweight Nations

• Brazil
• Canada
• Central American Cartel
• Incan Empire
• India
• Japan
• Korea
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• Sovereign Britain
• Switzerland
• United Arab Emirates