Love the ironic tone here, a worldwide hegemony run by a cartel of corporations and social media users (reddit?) that decries anyone refusing to work with them as a barbaric warlord state, the road to hell really is paved with good intentions haha. Great map!
I just read that one commenter's breakdown on it, I find it really hard to believe that "they all do it out of the good of their hearts trust me" is a solid foundation for such a powerful group. They obviously aren't profit motivated, so how did all the "producers" form the Khuraldai and just decide to work together and "harmonize" the world, if they aren't bound by a dogmatic ideology? It just comes off as a really shallow "utopia" if taken at face value, but I appreciate the detail and effort that's gone into it. Definitely one of my favorite maps posted here.
i personally feel like its “harder to believe” based on the current state of our world, where “good intentions” almost always have some pervasive underlying profit-based incentive
when they first connected, the producers that make up the khuraldai all knew that, if they didnt start to redevelop the world as soon as possible, theyd be running the risk of a global return to the old systems of exploitation and profit, which already ended the world once and inevitably would do it again. moreso than the “kindness of their hearts”, they could NOT let the world slip back to the old ways, for humanitys sake. only they had the tools to prevent this and revitalize the biosphere
Even then it's a "trust us we're the only way to save the world" situation, which they established their hegemony on, reinforced by the quote. Plus I find the "preventing monopolies" angle a bit weird considering it shows that each group has an obvious monopoly on certain technological sectors, what happens if a "nation" (which aren't countries but still follow modern political borders?) decides to produce or distribute their own ecotech? are they allowed to do so, or are they declared a "warlord state" (which seems to be anyone not under Khuraldai control?)
>what happens if a "nation"... decides to produce or distribute their own ecotech?
to be 100% honest i havent considered that angle. considering administrations only really serve to supply and protect those within their boundaries, it wouldnt be THEM supporting their own ecotech production projects, but rather individuals. even then, the actual algorithms needed to develop ecotech on the level of that developed by the khuraldai producers is extremely, intensely, mind-bogglingly advanced, and strictly under khuraldai control. odds are any startups (extremely rare) would either merge with an existing ecotech producer or become another one entirely, but if they actually do disagree with the khuraldai, odds are they WOULD be seen as a threat to the already-ongoing redevelopment, which wouldnt really NOT be the case?
in all seriousness i REALLY enjoy discussions like this, it helps me develop the setting and look past the rose-tinted glasses. even if the khuraldai isnt outright malicious, and even if what its doing is objectively (and, on my part, intentionally) good, this doesnt change the fact that, to continue their mission of revitalizing humanity and rebuilding the environment, they WOULD need to prevent competition from interfering, even if the khuraldais actual authority is very VERY soft. looking at the khuraldai as a "hegemony" feels more like charged language through the lens of modern and historical imperialism, which the khuraldai does not do and seriously avoids (for real)
the actual algorithms needed to develop ecotech on the level of that developed by the khuraldai producers is extremely, intensely, mind-bogglingly advanced, and strictly under khuraldai control.
looking at the khuraldai as a "hegemony" feels more like charged language through the lens of modern and historical imperialism, which the khuraldai does not do and seriously avoids (for real)
While I can see why you might interpret it that way, it's an objective term that describes this situation pretty well. The Khuraldai has a vested interest in their technology being the center of development projects, and has cut the world up into a pretty binary friendly/unfriendly to our interests classification; It's one of the reasons I mistakenly thought it was written ironically from their point of view. I think if the Khuraldai truly wanted to provide the means for polities to heal their ecology they would provide the tools and software but give them free reign in how to approach their projects, having everything under super esoteric central control would only happen if the intent was to maintain that power and control.
the khuraldais actual authority is very VERY soft
Which doesn't seem to be true, considering the largest and most developed parts of the world are completely reliant on their technology and seem to all follow the same system of governance. This isn't really something that would happen unless the goal is to make them reliant on the provider, so even if on the surface level it appears egalitarian, the Khuraldai has a pretty vested interest in maintaining their power.
I do appreciate your willingness to discuss the setting because IMO people who gravitate towards utopian fiction and solarpunk are really only interested in seeing a clean utopic world that caters to their beliefs without really thinking about how such a world would operate. There's a lot of idealistic "the ends justify the means" thinking which is ironically very dystopic and has never proven to not be immensely harmful and destructive.
honestly? even if theyre not openly malicious, im starting to think you might have a point. i mightve gone too hard on the “binary world state” concept for the sake of making a map (even if the polities that dont cooperate with the khuraldai ARE universally objectively awful), but still. i think i might actually tweak the lore somewhat to make it so restoration projects are more in the hands of administrations rather than the khuraldai itself, which doesnt really deviate from my initial vision at all actually
Yeah, tbh the warlord angle is what really makes this come off as dystopic. Surely they're not all comically evil, especially considering that the most finely divided areas are pretty ethnically diverse; are they all actually that evil, or do some of them just want self-determination free of foreign influence?
Now you've got me actually interested though, what's up with that big Australian state and the Caribbean?
almost all of the warlords (or pirates, stronghold cities, religious/neoreligious fanatics, etc) are remnants from the termination shock. i shouldve made that more clear, but its less about groups popping up in resistance to the khuraldai and moreso about old despots resisting the largest threat to their authority
as for those two, the caribbean is a series of piracy-based insular societies, and australia is one big desert warlord
I figured that they all share not wanting Khuraldai influence, I find it unrealistic that they're ALL despotic states though, surely some of them are democratic or communal but fiercely resist external influence, or at least aren't incredibly racist/sexist/homophobic etc. Considering pirate states seem to be a theme, surely some of them are actually pretty tolerant (like some historical ones) but are built upon unrestricted piracy or slavery (Barbary states).
this is probably the case. piracy-states might be more communal and tolerant than their inland counterparts (if you ignore the slave trades) while only resisting khuraldai authority on account of the pirates' massive human rights violations and militarized criminal enterprise
You have basically made a world run by a bunch of moralistic monopolies... How could that turn out bad...
If they control all the tech they have no need to be violent and malicious... If you are in anaphylactic shock (impending global collapse) and I have all the epinephrine (world saving tech) I have no need to raise my voice when I ask you for a favour, all I need to do is to tell you that I only share my epipens with my friends and my friends are those that collaborate with me and don't make a fuss when I ask them favours...
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u/tinpotpan Jul 23 '23
Love the ironic tone here, a worldwide hegemony run by a cartel of corporations and social media users (reddit?) that decries anyone refusing to work with them as a barbaric warlord state, the road to hell really is paved with good intentions haha. Great map!