Prologue

In the years following the 2nd Civil War of the United States, monumental changes began to take place that left our world permanently altered. This series of conflicts, also known as the carbon wars, originally began as a humble debate between the two prominent factions in the nation regarding global temperature trends. These diametrically opposed forces, commonly known as the reds and the blues, became increasingly embittered as the debate raged on.
After a tropical storm inundated Bangladesh, the news reports began coming in revealing refugees fleeing the flooded Bengal countryside. The sight of troops in United States red uniforms aiding the Indian standing military in repelling the refugees by force quickly catalyzed an all-out stateside uprising. The newly consolidated blue militia began attacking red strongpoints, always retreating if red forces were too overwhelming. Eventually, blue’s numbers won out. Having little ability to replenish its ranks, red was finally defeated for good at the Battle of Possum Hollow Quarry. Afterward, when the treaty of Nob Hill was signed, the newly established blue government turned its efforts immediately to the two tasks that constituted its primary agenda. The second task, still a point of contention within the victor party, was to create a carbon dioxide sink that would remove atmospheric CO2 currently in the atmosphere. However, the blue government and supporters were all united behind their first task at hand: the emergency shutdown of humanity’s collective carbon output by force. The goal agreed upon was to reduce emissions from the pre-war estimate of roughly 20 gigatons CO2 yearly down to 1 gigaton yearly within the first five years of Blue’s sovereignty. Then in the following five years they were to
decrease anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to negligible.

Immediately following Red’s defeat, petroleum fueled automobiles were outlawed and coal-burning power plants were shut down. The comparatively meager energy contribution from wind powered, solar, and geothermal power plants was re-appropriated to the most vital energy needs of the nation. Families were left in darkness. X-boxes were unsurprisingly useless.

Blue immediately turned its war forces from the Red threat to the North American neighbors of the United States. The momentum brought by years of war production ensured that North America was secured quickly with little bloodshed. As the New Pan-American martial law swept the western hemisphere, it became clear what the next step would be. The blues were already allied with most of Western Europe, and most of the non-allied European nations would fall swiftly. The next biggest global offender was without question the Far East.

Thus Blue was left with the difficult quandary of “how to win a war against the nation that is your biggest outsourcer of war production.” Fortunately, the ingenuity of America’s scientists and engineers did not fail. The advent of especially low-albedo solar cells and highly efficient capacitors allowed for the introduction into the world of the first solar-powered, tank-mounted death ray. This engineering marvel the first of the “green war-machines” took days to charge. But it emitted energy in the microwave frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum that was the final word on the battlefield. The cone of energy issuing from the front of the tank could be adjusted for intensity and adjusted to a wide or narrow swath. These tanks could vaporize any organic material within their immense range, leaving buildings and machinery largely intact. Death ray production was initiated with full priority.

Contracts with the Chinese war producers were terminated one by one as final shipments were made. Then the continental scale invasion began. The death rays had such range that fighting them on the ground was nearly impossible. The invasion was so sudden, and the blues did well enough job concealing the death rays from airstrikes, that fighting them was nearly impossible. Major problems included civilian vaporizations, as well as friendly fire (appropriately called friendly vaporizations to most people). It became a subject of debate whether water vapor liberated from the corpses of enemies was contributing to the greenhouse effect. Scientists determined that the effect was inconsequential when offset with the removal of the respective carbon footprints associated with these vaporized enemies.

Eventually, as the fighting died down and Blue was left the unquestioned sovereign of the Earth, attention turned to the second phase of Blue’s agenda. The proposed course of action involved injecting a large amount of aqueous iron solution into polar ocean waters. The intended effect is that calcareous photosynthesizing plankton would thrive on this nutrient solution. These planktonic organisms take carbon dioxide and turn it into the calcite that makes up their skeletons. Although much research had been conducted into the effect this might have, it was still largely unknown what would happen if this plan was employed on a global scale. Fear tactics of politicians convinced the elderly, and the plan was put into motion. Fleets of ships launched out to sea dumping their cargo returning to land only to refill. As summer progressed, plankton concentration increased super-exponentially. It seemed that the project was a success. Scientists watched and waited. It seemed that while the earth’s climate was still warming, the rate of increase was decreasing. Scientists estimated that the climate would eventually stabilize. Continental ice was a thing of the past, and climate had forever been changed. But at least humans had avoided extinction. Things may have gone as predicted except for a variable unaccounted for.

An ancient being, living in the deep Southern Pacific Ocean quietly noted the dramatic increase of the detrital snowfall of dead plankton on its silent abyssal plain. The calcareous oozes spread rapidly, and the being disapproved (possibly because the plankton were the organism it associated with most). Known only to a small subset of the human population, the sea creature was called the Mago I Foa, by the people of the Polynesian island chain of Samoa. This creature, a sojourner from another galaxy, had madeits home in our waters many centuries ago. The Samoans said it was a large fish because they had no other words to describe its horrifying majesty. It is 1,000 feet long without its flagellum, an 800 foot long appendage used for propulsion. It is a creature of ten-fold symmetry, each of its 10 sections containing a spiny sectioned appendage terminating in a large hook. Anterior of each appendage is a row of “eyes” each eye interpreting a different band of electromagnetic information. Also, it had 10 tympanic membranes posterior of the eye arrays for sensing vibrations within the immediate body of water in which it resides. Rows of pharyngeal teeth line its mouth and esophagus.

The Mago I Foa is an intelligent being that communicates telepathically with others of its species through the cosmos. It had a genuine fondness for the people it had once known, the people of Samoa. But it could not abide these others who had taken so much from the planet that had been its home. As it rose from the deep in rage it sent a telepathic message to the people of Samoa in language that they would understand. “People of Samoa, listen. I, the one you call the Mago I Foa am leaving for the waters of my home planet. That is right, I have come from the heavens to make this place my home with you, but now I return. Before I go, I grant some among you with some of my power. Use it to subdue the others of your species and make yourselves rulers of this planet. Let this fulfill the saying of the one you call Nafanua declaring that a kingdom would be brought to Samoa from the heavens.” And with that, the monster rising out of the ocean turned toward the island, gave a somewhat thoughtful spasm of its tentacles, and continued on upward into space.

The change upon the people of Samoa was immediately evident. A portion of the population now traveled from place to place hovering about ten feet above the ground, rather than walking. These same people could levitate objects with their minds and shoot energy beams from their hands. Regardless of their social position before the departure of the Mago I Foa, the people became known as matai, or chiefs. They were the leaders of the newly born Samoan super power. They did not forget the words of the sea legend. Immediately, these matais used their power to bend the wills of nations to their own. Armies fought against single matais and were devastated. Bullets ricocheted back into the ranks from which they came, and death rays vaporized more of their own troops than they did the matais.

The Samoan lifestyle was imposed on the world. As years passed, record of the event was passed down orally. As the climate stabilized, tropical ecology fittingly advanced into higher latitudes. Rising waters, tectonic events, and massive erosion changed the landscape dramatically. The Samoan people spread throughout the world, and matais kept the peace where they were. They employed a standing army to enforce law where they could not be. The world was changed forever. Whatever change the Mago I Foa had made on the Earth was widespread. As oral tradition continued, rumors of giants, wizards, shapeshifters, and other kinds of magic filled the Earth.