The Third Epoch (Nova)

Summary

December

The Third Epoch began on the first of December. The epoch began in an era where diplomacy shifted from iron-blood style constant warring, to a more relaxed discussion based strategy on international relations. The early part of the Epoch demonstrated the final death of Prestige power, through the Prestige Imperium capital moving to an inactive city, thus ending the time of Prestige dominance forever. Asia saw considerable development throughout the era, starting on the very first day wherein IanNotEN united the Indian city states and formed the first Indian nation. India would prove an important region in Asia, as the world began to shift away from Europe and into the East. The second day saw Oliveer resurrect Austria, and the collapse of the Treaty of Osaka. Unlike the Treaty of Ulm, Osaka attempted to divide the Asian continent into clear land borders, and proved a catastrophic failure, culminating in the Jing dynasty leaving the United Coalition entirely. The Catalonian-Yorktown War also ended on the second of December, bringing the last remnant of The October War to an end. This era saw the triumph of Regionalism over Globalism, solidifying the power of sovereign states that claim territory. This tide, while seemingly reversing in late December with the advent of the New World Order, only continued, and by April 15th is seen as the normal way.

In Europe, December saw the collapse of the long standing European Union, of which Spain was a major beneficiary. This correlated with the rise of two European superpowers, the Second German Empire and Russia. The Russians were able to build a massive state extremely quickly, surpassing even Canada, marking to many the end of a one powerful state. While initially extremely decentralized, Russia slowly centralized and formed a world superpower. Despite this, unlike all other hegemony (including Canada at it's prime) Russia never exerted much influence. The other power to rise was the 5th Germany, the first to be considered strong since the fall of the German Empire. The use of realpolitik allowed the Germans to unify and form a powerful, centralized dictatorship, and a powerful military-industrial complex. They also expanded throughout central and western Europe, seizing all of France, Italy, Poland, much of the Balkans, and Papau colonies. Germany never was as strong as the Russians, however used their influence far more, with relations from Sonlow to Oceania to Malaya, in order to propel their influence. Another European power rose in late December, that being the first United Kingdom. This powerful monarchy rose out of thin air, with individuals such as GeneralRhombus becoming notable figures within it. The United Kingdom was able to expand extremely quickly colonially, seizing territory from Hong Kong, South India, Australia, etc. While many forget this, the rapid British colonization defined politics in Asia and Australia for the next four months. The rise was so rapid it made traditional European powers, such as that of Chancellor Paper, worry profusely. The rise was followed by a gargantuan collapse however, leaving the British Isle, and everywhere they colonized, extremely unstable for a very long time. British instability saw the founding of the UU and UE, and German interventionist raids in France and Cowny. Britain was then able to reconstruct, however, through reestablishment by GeneralRhombus on the 31st.

Asia's development was not entirely one sided. The nation of Japan collapsed during the time, with the Emperor leaving to return to Canada. India's establishment initially was sluggish, stagnating after the leave of Ian. Then, the British colony of Kerala, quickly conquered all of Southern India, angering Magenent of India. Kerala was different from the city states that developed naturally in time, as it was enormous in population, wealth, and size. This started an Indian dualism between Whopper's India, and Magenent's India, a dualism that still vaguely can be seen today (through the Japanese Raj and Lantau). Australia, while not Asia, would be linked to it, and saw a revival from the old days of Australasia, with a new community to inhabit the continent after independence from Britain.

January

January saw the continuation of the December political landscape. Western Europe was in shambles as British Reconstruction began, however German Reconstruction ended with a Germany at it's apex, featuring a strong alliance between the two states. France saw a dualism between Kade-Sarmango, whom previously despised each other, and Frank's France. These French states had constant civil war across January, with occasional UE and German intervention. Spain continued it's colonial empire, slowly and steadily solidifying their Latin American territories, bickering with the Canadians over colonization of America, and holding a strong alliance with Germany until mid-January, wherein relations never truly recovered. Europe was much more defined by the events occurring east of France, the rivalry between Russia and Germany. This rivalry never broke out into war, but featured many disputes and skirmishes that nearly started conflict. The rivalry created a deep hatred between Germans and Russians, one that continues. Germany in the time slowly made a transition into isolationism and non-interventionism, culminating in the crowning of Carlito II von Hohenzollern, turning the German Federation into the Second German Empire.

January most importantly saw the rise of the reset rumors. While the works of Hlar in December to bring about a reset saw controversy, massive rumors began to be spread about a reset that would occur in April. These rumors had a very real effect on the server, as a destabilizing force. They caused riots that would occur nonstop until April 1st's false reset, wherein the rumors cooled. The most notable thing to occur as a result of this was the collapse of the Second German Empire into Prussia and Austria through the 20 days darkness. While temporarily revived for 10 days afterwards, the nation eventually fell entirely. Britain fell into activity, as did France, and Western Europe was effectively dead aside from Spain. This time was considered the final shift of world events from Europe to Asia.

February

February was more of a transitional period, and saw the mass development of Asia, through the refounding of Australia and reestablishment of the current Japanese Empire. Valkyria became a haven for old players that wanted a home, and the Asia saw a burst of conflict. Tufan-Neodonian relations were extremely poor, and a new Mongolian state under Dak was formed. Hong Kong formed the important Kowloon Republic and Australia became a battle ground for Asia's wars. Asia was extremely unstable at this time, with nations often collapsing and reforming. The Chinese dynasty of Zhou, however, remained mostly the same as prior, aside from worsening relations with Japan. The climax of conflict was felt in the Indian Civil War, wherein Whopper and Magenent fought for control of India. Europe saw relatively little activity, with the reestablishment of Alfatra being one of the few events. North America saw the establishment of Rome.

March

March started a reasonably peaceful month, again seeing the further development of Asia. North America saw instability through Kingston establishing many new nation-states, and Spanish-Russian troops met to support one another in the Second Battle of Riga, with Frank being banned shortly after. Persia, once a great power during the October War, finally collapsed, and the ancient Ottoman Empire joined the Caspian States. Mongolia was also refounded, briefly conquered all of France, and used reset rumors through the Cult of Qi to cause instability in Asia and Japan. Japanese-Chinese relations were extremely low at this time, With Japanese expansion in China and Asia as a whole. Australia became relatively stable in this time, and West Asia's Caspian States became a solid force in the region. The first Olympics were also held in Saint Petersburg, with Mongolia and Russia tying for the most number of medals. Llamaism also peaked at this time.

March began to shift when the Second Austrian Empire, and corresponding Second Night of Terror occurred. This state layed the foundations of future German ones, however was relatively inactive. Attacks began to occur in Guyana and Llamaism splintered even further. A War Day was also held, however stopped from a crash. The War saw the German industrial complex meet once more, fighting alongside the now quit CCCP to collapse Russia, despite CCCP troops not being able to actually attack. Spain made very significant advances, and Canadian troops swept across the globe. The Battle of Saint Petersburg became the largest the server had ever seen, and was a humiliation for the defense. Furthermore, wars were fought by Spain, and Japan effectively collapsed with half the nation being banned for exploiting a glitch that allowed for infinite gold. This was a temporary falter, but ended Sly's reign as Shogun of Japan, bringing in MineHero's reign. The month ended with Whopper quitting, however Indian dualism continued with his successors.

April

April began with the end of reset riots, through an April fool's fake reset. This climactic beginning foreshadowed the extremely turbulent month that followed, continuing late March's l. Spain and Japan break into outright war over the Filipino islands after Spain elected Pachacuti as prime ministor, and the CCCP finally collapsed for good. The month saw the final solidifying of conflict being centered in Asia, and yet a revival of Western Europe. Britain crowned GeneralRhombus as a new King, recreating the nation, and French efforts to rebuild saw a powerful France emerge. Germany started it's 6th incarnation in the 3rd German Empire, starting a union between them and Austria. This union saw rapid success, with Germany gaining 50 members in a week, and Austria gaining 30. Mass colonization of Papau and Africa also occured. The three reviving states formed EMP, or the European Military Pact, to defend common interests, and Spain's entering awaiting French approval. Spain's victory against Japan did not mark the end of Japanese conflict, with Germans defending Sorong in the Second Battle of Sorong a battle that surprisingly did not ruin relations, though followed by a battle of Odense. Japan nonetheless continued to grow more and more powerful. France suffered minor instability shortly thereafter when Sarmango turned over power to Kade however, and Austria's position as a semi-sovereign state created a major diplomatic crisis from April 12-15 and is ongoing, with random attacks on several states by new Austrian recruits. However, tensions began to cool with the Germans signing a Non-Aggression Pact with Japan, and with the Chancellor working to stop unjustified attacks, largely ending the crisis. The rise of the Global Empire also saw a potential renaissance of globalism, notably leading to a Franco-Globalist war over Marseilles. Most recently, he Lantauns declared war on Japan over Kerala joining Japan, showing the continuation of Indian dualism, and starting the Kerala War.

The Kerala War was initially jotted down as a footnote war in Asia, not unlike the Japanese-Spanish war for the Philippines. Against all odds, however, it became the most defining conflict in the already tumultuous month of April, and even year. The war is the bloodiest since the epoch-ending October War that saw enormous amounts of devastation across Europe. The war could be seen as a culmination of Indian dualism, or a culmination of Asia's development (excluding the already highly developed and ancient land of Zhou), but it is important to note that it started over a relatively ridiculous premise; a town conflict between two Asian states. This conflict between the revived Japan and powerful Lantau was astronomically more bloody than any battle since the massive Battle of Saint Petersburg. In the opening stages of local conflict, the war saw huge amounts of civilians and combatants dead, and large scale griefing. The war became important with the intervention of the recently formed EMP however, initially just through Germany and Spain, but soon after the British. This escalated the fighting tremendously, however the use of Lantaun end crystals to kill large hordes at once evened the playing field for a time. This changed quickly when a massive amount of international intervention occurred on the 22nd and 23rd of April, most notably with Russia joining. The war also saw the start of a new type of warfare, propaganda warfare, wherein nations would spread their agendas in order to give themselves diplomatic leverage. This was used initially by Japan, but soon adopted by every state in the war. The enourmous coalition against Lantau was very reminiscent of The October War's world coalition, wherein very few states were left out of conflict. Ultimately the victor is relatively irrelevant, as with such massive casualties the only legacy that will be had is a pointless conflict started by bad policy that slaughtered countless people, a legacy not unlike The October War.

The Kerala War saw major diplomatic and cultural ramifications. Diplomatically, it reversed the trend torwards German-Japanese animosity, and even saw the two nations form an axis with Spain against Lantau. The war helped to end people thinking of Japan as a toxic state, in some circles more successfully than others, and popularized the idea of total war. Culturally the war started a trend of video news reports, such as #MunichAlert, and Ian's news services. This saw both impartial news services utilizing a new medium, and humor-based propoganda using state-run services. The War also polarized people's opinions, either you were for Lantau or you were for Japan, with some neutral states being called out as supposed enemies. The idea of war as not useless, but in fact incredibly damaging and effective also occurred, completely shifting a thought that had implanted itself since the end of the Tortugas. This change in doctrine completely shakes the foundations of world power, as having a powerful military is instrumental for influence in the modern day.

May

May saw the stagnation of many important nations, and accordingly the Kerala War. Always the busiest time of the year, it was a time when most people do not interact as frequently as normal. Accordingly it saw the rise of Japan end of Russian/Canadian hegemony. Additionally it saw Germany and Spain begin to stagnate, and Austria practically die. The month saw the huge Kerala War also end, with a fair peace agreement.