NationStates Jolt Archive

In just a year, the changes in the Resurgent Dream had been staggering. It wasn't just the tragic events of the Shattering, although that had certainly fundamentally altered the nation's demographics. Political parties had realigned at least twice, leaving the nation with a two party system consisting of the Progressive and the Conservative Democratic Parties. The Resurgent Dream had become the key nation in the Commonwealth of Peoples, normally called the Danaan Commonwealth, where they were joined by the peoples of Marlund and Adoki.

Old allies like Lavenrunz and Menelmacar had gone largely inactive while new allies such as Excalbia and Pantocratoria were becoming increasingly central to Danaan foreign policy. While tensions with powerful adversaries like the Reich remained high, Danaan soldiers now expected to be deployed in police actions against insurgent and terrorist forces throughout the world rather than against any single developed enemy.

New players had also emerged onto the stage of Danaan politics. From the obscure Culture Ministry, Sarah Sacker had become the leader of the Progressive Democratic Party and the Prime Minister of the Resurgent Dream, setting a number of records in doing so. Miss Sacker was the first African-Danaan, the first never married woman, and the youngest person to ever hold her office. Princess Sarah, the long-standing Danaan ambassador to Pantocratoria, was transferred to Excalbia where her father believed she was more likely to encounter a proper suitor. Princess Diana, a classical scholar, was sent to Pantocratoria in her stead. Meanwhile, the enthusiastic mariner, Prince Arthur, was sent to Tartarus, the land of the current Queen consort's birth. Nearly everything seemed to have changed since even one year ago.

Oddly enough, the Shattering had in some ways made things even more fantastic. The unexplained event had driven the Fae back to the Dreaming and destroyed most of the advanced technology and supernatural forces in the Resurgent Dream. However, that fundamental change also fundamentally changed how Danaans could relate to the remaining Fae, to other sorts of non-humans and post-humans, and to futuristic technology, all of which continued to exist in the multiverse and continued to bleed over into Danaan society. Where once such people and such things would have simply blended in to the diverse tapestry of Danaan society in the fairy age, now they stood out like fantastic or superbeings, existing in a society which in many ways was not prepared for them. To rectify this situation, Parliament, the first Parliament to sit under the Constitution of 2006, created a Cabinet-level Department of Paranormal Affairs. The department's job was primarily to deal with the special needs of the non-human community, making sure they received an equal opportunity in Danaan society without denying one to anyone else. However, the Department was also charged with apprehending criminals who through the innate powers of their species, through occult means, or through hyperadvanced technology, were beyond regular law enforcement. For this purpose, the Department employed the Resurgent Dream's small reserves of hyperadvanced technology as well as a variety of non-human and post-human agents. They also coordinated their efforts with the primarily Fae Order of Steel, a recognized chivalric order in the country, and the Space Defense Force, based on an Air Force base in the Lunar city of Selinia.

Having claimed the territory of Sahor, the Danaans had also discovered evidence of an ancient, matriarchal society there, dominated by warrior women. While the continent of Ambara had been populated for nearly a thousand years, this was the first sign of human life which predated Japanese settlement in Adoki. No existing Ambaran Aborigines have been found but a great number of cultural artifacts have and have undergone extensive study by Danaan anthroplogists. A musuem devoted to this lost civilization had been opened in Naoley, featuring countless artifacts and information on all the most popular theories.

Danaan foreign policy had also become a little less idealistic. Many observers attributed this to a sort of growing up effect. When the Resurgent Dream had first entered the field of international politics, it was a complete irrelevency, a tiny nation of only five million people, without nuclear arms, without much of a military, and without an effective, centralized state. They could easily afford an unyielding idealism.

Now, the Resurgent Dream had real international responsibilities. They had no illussions of being a superpower of any kind. They had learned a lesson from now inactive nations which had tried to set themselves up in that way, only to learn that the modern world is far too large and has far too many nations for any one to ever really dominate. They had seen how inactivity in the international scene could drive some of the largest, most powerful, and most respected self-proclaimed superpowers into obscurity in a matter of months. They had seen the frustration of allies which had assumed they should be able to decisively effect the balance of the international system only to find their efforts futile. No. The Resurgent Dream operated in a limited sphere and was content to do so.

Still, there were real responsibilities. Danaan actions could have serious effects in Ambara, the Pantocratorian Archipelago, the Excalbian Isles, and a number of other places where Danaan interests were strong. And, because of this, they had to deal with all sorts of people. They were allied with Marlund, a nation which remained much less reconstructed than it liked to think, although things were improving. They were allied with Adoki, a nation moving towards democracy but still plagued by widespread racism and xenophobia, a nation which refused to apologize for past human rights abuses and refused to try or even dismiss from the service General Daisetsu Tabuchi, the man who had used biological weapons to spread disease among Syskeyian civilians during the Second World War. Yes, it was a dirtier world without the privilege of ideological posturing.

Danaan foreign policy had also become a little more idealistic.

OOC: Shouldn't that be 'less idealistic' or 'more pragmatic' or some such?

Of course, old allies were still valued. The island of Uinen remained the site of a Danaan-Menelmacari Friendship Park, jointly managed by the foreign ministries of both nations. Of course, now the park was dedicated to the new Menelmacar, the combination of Menelmacar and the Necrontyr Star Empire which had emerged following the wedding of Elentari Sirithil to Emperor Mephet'ran of C'tan. More importantly, Menelmacar had earned further good will by decolonizing the United States of America and reestablishing the republic in that country. American nationalism had been viewed sympathetically by many in the Resurgent Dream, especially in the Principality of Wintermore, and the fact that the Elentari had granted America her independence back without being forced by internal or external pressure had one widespread applause in the Danaan press.

Prime Minister Sacker had, of course, never met either Sirithil or Mephet'ran. Sirithil had been a frequent visitor to the Resurgent Dream prior to the Shattering, due, according to some tabloids and scandalsheets, to a sordid love affair with High Queen Agwene. However, since the Shattering, no major Menelmacari figure had visited the Resurgent Dream nor had any royal or cabinet level official of the Resurgent Dream visited Menelmacar.

The Resurgent Dream was gradually becoming part of a single Commonwealth of Peoples that looked like it would end up including Laneria, Adoki, Marlund, Hipolis, Nabarro Abarca and Finara, a Commonwealth which was becoming more organized, more connected and more apt to act as a unit, comparable to the various attempts at union which forged the world into larger and larger units. The population of all these nations combined was over four billion, more than twice the size of the Resurgent Dream.