Dreams of Modernity is a collaborative worldbuilding project undertaken by a group of friends on Discord from roughly February of 2024 to the present day. Together, our group has moved from server to server and project to project as writer-nomads, exploring genres such as soft science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history. Time and time again, however, we have found ourselves drawn to a genre that can't be easily described... elements of cyberpunk dystopia, mixed with solarpunk optimism, alternate history dynamism, transhumanist techne, traditionalist metaphysics; exploring historical trends of class and labor, the rise and fall of civilizations and empires, modernity, and humanity's place in the universe.
Dreams 2013 is the vision of a world where advanced artificial intelligence coexists with CD players and the PlayStation 3. A foggy, long-forgotten memory of childhood nights spent crouched at the television watching Nickelodeon as rockets blast off towards the surface of the Moon. Halo LAN parties on Sony VAIO monitors produced and delivered without a single human intervention. Meals at the dinner table grown beneath solar panels and flowing winds.
Yet, at the same time, Dreams 2013 is a world not unlike our own where great and deadly conflicts lie just beneath the surface of that day-to-day normalcy. Dreams is a world divided between a declining United States, a surging People's Republic of China, and a recovering Soviet Union. Dreams is a world where the Middle East lies in ruins, where the technological elite positions itself to dominate the near-future with bioengineering and genetic tailoring, and where twenty years of economic speculation have finally come undone, unleashing financial chaos across the globe.
Dreams of Modernity will, in all likelihood, not remain confined to 2013, however. Just as R. Talsorian expanded from 2013 to 2020 to 2077, we too plan to expand our world from 2013 onwards ad infinitum. Yet, there remains so much to be done in our foremost era; the millenial age, the information age. We invite you to explore our world.
The United States, as of 2013, remains the foremost superpower on Earth. Yet, ever decedant and wasteful, it has continued to squander its opportunities, potential, and gifts. Its civil service has fallen to apathy and ignorance, its military has emerged from a decade of war cynical and defeated, and its economy has suffered for the past three years from an economic crisis the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression. Its people lie homeless on the streets, stand in lines at food banks, and isolate themselves for fear of catching SARS - a new pandemic that has swept across the globe. Politically, the nation is tired of broken promises. Clinton promised progress and prosperity - he delivered unprecedented sexual scandals and tragedies at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Perot promised peace and stability - he delivered an invasion of Afghanistan, a war in Saudi Arabia, and the Bloody Summer of '99. Bush promised an end to the wars - he delivered nothing but empty platitudes, ineffective leadership, and stagnation on the frontlines. Finally, Obama promised change and hope - he, too, delivered nothing but more war, more political violence, and more defecit spending. Now, the United States has chosen for their president Ron Paul, who has promised to be everything these leaders weren't - revolutionary. Novus ordo seclorum; for the sake of the world, restore America now.