Hello everyone! I want to reiterate here that this is an extreme AU. Dystopia, slavery, crazy laws and politics, the works (any readers out there familiar with my other NCIS fic in this Invasion AU know what sort of things to expect. You don't need to have read that one first though). I'm also the first to admit that I'm not the strongest case writer, but, I tried. This is the longest story I've ever written (yay!) and as usual, constructive polite criticism is welcome. I hope you like it!
It began when China discovered a new kind of element deep in the Yellow River. They called it Jing Manna-Chi, or 'life-giving energy.' From that element, scientists in Beijing figured out a way to synthesize and process it to create a clean, green, energy source that replaced fossil fuels. China exported the new material to other countries, and within a matter of months, people on every continent were clamoring for more. It burned hotter, lasted longer, and was much better for the environment than fossil fuels. The new fuel was tightly regulated and exported and China and her allies, deemed 'The Republic' became the world's most powerful country in a matter of years. People moved away from limited fossil fuels to embrace the seemingly endless supply of clean energy. The Republic grew wealthier, the armies grew stronger, and they soon controlled a generous portion of the world's economy. Many countries floundered under their control. Some disappeared entirely.
When Chinese leaders discovered fertile pockets of Jing Manna-Chi in other places on the globe, they marched in, created mines to access the element, and used brutal tactics to force people from the local populations into slavery to work the mines.
People dubbed the riots and wars that took place to protest The Republic's sudden and alarming rise to power as The Fall, referring to the fall of civilization as people knew it. Thousands died. Once proud cities burned to ash. People fled and scattered when those in positions of power were unable to hold back the driving dragon force of The Republic's power and greed for the element.
When the dust settled, when Republic leaders had the whole world on a leash firmly fisted in their palms, they built more mines. All over the world, from the Appalachians to the Alps, deepwater mining off the coasts of Argentina and Morocco, to remote posts in Siberia, The Republic sought out the element and sent people there to work.
As slavery became the norm, previous government organizations—England's MI6, Japan's NPA, and the US's FBI, CIA, and NCIS branches—disintegrated and the states and countries were dissolved and organized into small divisions to be governed by a single person, called a laoban. Washington D.C. was one of those divisions, as was London. First world countries struggled the hardest to deal with their new lot in life. Local populations didn't take kindly to being owned.
Every able-bodied, healthy citizen under the age of forty and over age twenty was deemed a slave, and their Republic-assigned slave serial numbers were dropped in a pool to be drawn out at random—those chosen worked the mines. It wasn't long before people started snapping up new slaves for their own personal use, using any means possible to keep them docile. The idea of personal slaves caught on quickly, and those who could afford it eagerly bought slaves for themselves. The Fall was in 2007. The year is now 2010.