HESPERUS

THE EYES OF HESPERUS
The people of the Universe

Chapter I
The Earth is shocked
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The first three centuries of the second millennium were the scene of struggles and wars for dominance; the thirst for power, religious fundamentalism and terrorism caused the outbreak of the great world war of 2335, which lasted five years, which brought the peoples of the Earth to the risk of almost complete extinction with the disproportionate use of every type of weapon, both conventional , both chemical and bacteriological, and even nuclear warheads.
Humanity had been reduced to a few million, some areas of the Earth had become largely uninhabitable due to radioactive dust which had created widespread desertification. This convinced the surviving peoples to finally abandon fundamentalism and power struggles and establish the Great World Union (G.U.M.) whose main purpose was collaboration and the fair distribution of the resources of the poor, tortured Earth.
For more than a century humanity had begun to rebuild again; the prudent use of resources, the great discoveries of science, both in the medical and technological fields, and the peace that finally reigned, had brought back a certain well-being and security, it seemed that nothing would disturb this tranquility anymore, that the much desired golden age, but it wasn't like that.
Nature, outraged by man, wanted to take revenge on him; in 2444 a great catastrophe struck the Earth; very strong earthquakes of unprecedented power had literally split the continents and the sudden melting of all the glaciers of the poles and mountains of the planet had raised the level of the seas which had submerged the immense Asian steppe, the deserts of Africa, those of America northern and the great pampas of South America.
Due to telluric movements, the African plate had joined Europe, forming the Euro-Afro-Asiatic continent which included the highest areas of Africa, since the sea had invaded the great deserts, also making all those lands that made up the states of Arabia disappear. , of Iran, all of Palestine and Lebanon so that the eastern Mediterranean had joined the Indian Ocean; only a few islands remained of those lands; on the Asian side it extended up to the Great Wall of China after which, due to the rising waters, an immense lagoon was created which included a large part of China and most of the lands up to the foot of the great Himalayan chain ; submerged by violent tsunamis and battered by fearful tornadoes, part of the lowlands of India had been swallowed up by the ocean, as had parts of Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Jamaica and the various archipelagos, all reduced to an infinite series of small sterile and abandoned islands; Japan had also disappeared, swept away by the eruption of the great Fujiyama volcano and the explosion of its nuclear power plants.
Due to the fracture along the San Andreas fault and the sinking of the territories of Central America, the two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, had united, transforming the Americas into two large islands; that of the north was mainly made up of the former United States and Canada to which, due to telluric movements, the large island of Greenland had joined, causing the lands to rise so that a large mountain chain was created; most of the lands to the south were uninhabitable, both due to nuclear missile attacks during the great war, which had almost completely destroyed them, and due to the explosion of underground volcanoes in Yellowstone Park. The scarce population was concentrated mainly in northern Canada and Greenland and was made up of the Inuit people and those populations who had abandoned the southern lands which had now become large inhospitable deserts.
The southern island was made up of that part closest to the Andes mountain range, since the great Argentine and Brazilian plains had been submerged by the waters, it was inhabited mainly by the aboriginal populations of the great mountain range and by refugees who had escaped the catastrophe.
Europe was the one that had suffered the fury of nature the least, especially in the northern part; Italy had been the nation most affected due to the movements of the African plate, in fact, its southern part had disappeared due to the explosion of the four volcanoes Etna, Vulcano, Stromboli and Vesuvius; the central-northern part, from the borders of Lazio to the Alps, had suffered considerable damage due to earthquakes, but most of the cities, although significantly damaged, had been saved from destruction; the Po valley had disappeared under the waters and transformed into an immense gulf. The rising of the land, due to the pressure caused by the African plate, had closed what was the Sicilian canal, causing the ire this island and all of Calabria, even the Strait of Gibraltar and part of the southern areas of Spain and Portugal no longer existed; in place of these disappeared lands an imposing mountain chain had formed, so the western Mediterranean had become an immense salt lake where the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Corsica stood out, which had not been particularly affected by the catastrophe, apart from the most lowlands submerged by the water.
The World Government had established itself in the great Euro-Afro-Asian continent, where the majority of the population was concentrated; humanity, already decimated by the great war, was almost completely annihilated, it was now calculated that it amounted to just over a billion and a half souls and almost all of it concentrated on this great continent. The major industries, most of the natural resources and the large scientific research centers were gathered here. The city of Rome, which had miraculously been largely saved, had become the cultural center of various religious beliefs; there were Christian cathedrals (there was no longer a distinction between the various confessions), Islamic mosques, Jewish synagogues and Buddhist temples and they all coexisted in perfect harmony, with fundamentalism gone, people lived in mutual respect; the religious difference was mostly nominal because they were now integrating into a single religion, they had realized that, albeit in a different way, all beliefs had the same fundamental principles and, although with different names, the God they worshiped it was the same; perhaps with time any difference would disappear.
Racial distinctions no longer existed, the various ethnic groups had now completely integrated, humanity was finally a single entity without distinctions and prejudices; linguistic differences had also been overcome by adopting a single global language for all communications, both political and commercial, even if, in the various regions, local idioms continued to be used; the new language was very similar to the one that, once upon a time, was proposed as the official language of Europe; this was taught in schools and commonly used in all areas of common life, even if the older populations were reluctant to abandon their traditional languages, a bit like what happened in the old days with local dialects. The large cities of Europe had also suffered damage, but were still saved from destruction, especially the more northern ones, because those areas had suffered less from the impact of the African plate and earthquakes.
The political and administrative capital had been brought to the city of Mondialcity, thus renamed Milan, chosen because its position, internal and close to the mountains, was strategic for communications because, although far from the sea, it was connected to it by canals and navigable canals, it was also an important railway and road hub, furthermore its international airport had been upgraded, becoming one of the most important on the continent.