Psychic Overlord

Earth, 2042.

This year was not really a remarkable year among the many across human history at first glance. It had all the usual traits, the typical shocking celebrity deaths that crumbled the lives of the fans that adored them, the internet-breaking reveals of scandals and immorality of some rich celebrity who seemed nice, and the occasional proxy war here and there initiated by the same two culprits.

The world by this time had changed greatly, with technology making a great leap forward. Electric cars were becoming more mainstream as coal and oil began to fall behind, with the moguls who owned these enterprises finally shifting over to nuclear power - albeit unwillingly - and opting to peddle power instead.

The rise of the value of electricity and the creation of more powerful technology like glass phones, AI-operated appliances like washing machines, cookers, dishwashers, and more meant that the demand for power was rising in the average household.

Now, even the simple home Personal Computer that could subsist on 500 watts of power in the power supply unit now had a minimum requirement of 3000 watts for what was considered 'potato' computers in this age, a direct increase of six times!

Arms race? Hah, that was of the old era. Now the world was locked in a power race, with each party seeking ways to improve power generation and especially to achieve the still elusive nuclear fusion technology. Any country or private entity that achieved this would immediately come out ahead of all others, but would also bear the greed of all other powers as they covetously looked on.

Since around 2035, there was a rise of VR technology, especially FIVR, Fully Immersive Virtual Reality. Of course, this rise did not refer to the technology actually coming into play, but rather than the desire for it rose as basic VR technology advanced farther and farther.

As early as the beginning of the 21st century, many tech enthusiasts had dreamed about FIVR, with even multiple pieces of era-defining fiction being created around the idea that pushed the desire down to the common man. This desire had been simmering since then and completely boiled over in 2035.

Keith Lunin, a PhD in Computer Science who started a small company called "Online Utopia", had announced to the world that preliminary testing was successful on their nascent FIVR technology, allowing the brain to fully interact with digital technology!

The world was taken by storm. This Keith Lunin, who had previously been a nobody who relied on funding from his wife's rich family to sustain his startup that had high operating costs and no sign of profits, was suddenly in the eye of the entire world!

"Online Utopia" practically disappeared overnight under the weight of funding from investors and brokers rushing over, becoming the Lunin Corp that owned multiple businesses in all fields. Even if Keith resisted, there were simply too many powerhouses who wanted various cuts of the cake, with various intensities.

Navigating them while keeping his family afloat was what had caused him to change.

But that was back in 2035.

Now it was 7 years later and the technology he developed had been through multiple trials and was being perfected day by day. The truth was, even if FIVR was discovered back in 2025, it wouldn't have hit the streets that very year but would require multiple checks to make sure it was completely viable for military use, much less for civilian and economic uses.

In 2045, the world's political landscape had changed.

There was the United Federation, which comprised of the former United States of America that combined with Canada and Mexico. The US had assimilated both countries in 2030 in response to the revival of their old enemy, the USSR; however, the new alliance of Eastern Bloc countries was now named such.

The Russian Union was made up of Russia and the forcibly reclaimed Ukraine after the country's defeat in 2028 and subsequent accession to Russia during post-war negotiations. Other former USSR countries hovered between joining the bustling new federation and rising or being isolated against a powerhouse that had taken back the biggest piece of meat.

The first to respond was actually Europe, who through the work of the UN, NATO, and the EU, combined these three organizations to form the European Defense Force. The reason for formation was to counter any hostility that may erupt from the new Russian Federation and protect sovereignty.

This new organization started out back then as a mere group but now became the ruling power for Europe. Even their voted presidents and prime ministers had less realistic political sway in their own countries than the members sent to represent the country in this council.

The United Federation may never have been born if China, the other world superpower who was looking to replace the world order, had not also forcibly reclaimed Taiwan and embargoed the Western countries of the all-too-precious Semiconductor.

Somehow… somehow, China convinced all the East Asian countries to unite into the Asian Dragon Alliance. With them, Japan and Korea (North) as the leaders, Asia was soon rallied under one banner and became a serious threat to the West since after World War 2, both Korea (South) and Japan had become basically political playthings for the USA.

During that era, the internet exploded with memes as no one believed that nuclear war was not coming. Too many lines had been crossed and too many interests had been snuffed out, and the ensuing retaliation would surely lead to war, right?

Wrong.

You, the average man, understood the problems of war and did not want to die. How much more the rich fellow who had cars, women, land, food, and drinks at his beck and call, so bored with life that they even chased abhorrent vices for fun?

Cold wars, proxy wars, and performing trade embargoes as well as economic sanctions were one thing, but all-out war was another. No matter how well one planned, anything could happen, and the political geography of the world could change forever by the end of it.

Africa and South America also formed their own alliances, but they were unfortunately not as noticeable as the main four for historical and pretty obvious reasons.

This was the general makeup of the world in 2042, a lot of changes but, in fact, many things were stable because they were forcibly kept stable by both those in power and the people of the world because no one wanted to suffer stupidly.

Within the United Federation, where the Lunin family was based, the states had changed as Canada's provinces and Mexico's estados had been added to the 51 that made up the USA. With nearly a hundred states now, the internal makeup of the federation was quite diverse and many things had shifted around over the past decade.

One was the cities, with those notable ones from the USA like Miami, Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago having their names changed based on the economic prosperity (GDP), quality of life, and crime rate in a form of ranking system.

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc.

The popular cities from Canada and Mexico also did the same, but Canada used French terms like Premier, Deuxième, Troisième, etc., while Mexico naturally used Spanish for its cities in the form of Primero, Segundo, and Tercero, etc.

So Alpha City, where the Lunin family was based, was not the most prosperous city in the USA area of the Federation and naturally, the shadows it hid were something the family could never have predicted.