Chapter 3: A New Millennium

Austronesian Empire, Imperial Maharlika, Manila, Malacanang Palace.

1999, 31, 4th Week, December.

Celebrations were taking place inside the Grand Palace of Austronesia, which is the Malacanang Palace, befitting of the people's emperor that was renovated already. The Grand Palace was not to over the top. It gives off the aura of humbleness and elegance. Unfortunately, behind that elegance and humbleness stood a man that means business. Juan Delroy Maximo works hard for the people, everything that would benefit his people he does and in doing so the people of all of Austronesia loved him... sometimes he gets a cult of personality.

Despite being divided by multiple ethnicities and tribes of his empire. He made an empire inclusive for all races and ethnicities, although there is still some discrimination towards non-Austronesian, however, it is negligible. After all, it is the People's Empire of Austronesia. A land solely for the people of Austronesia.

Despite being placed by his allies at the top, he showed them gratitude by giving up most of the executive powers to the president, prime minister and towards the imperial governors and last, the imperial parliament, which was appreciated by the people. It was a move to unite the power of the emperor with the people, and where the modernist has compromised with the traditionalist giving rise to a melting pot of cultures and traditions.

Through the efforts of the people with the help of the emperor and his government, that has done the unthinkable and combined socialism with capitalism, and other reactionaries of the past. 

Now, having achieved peace and prosperity, the Austronesian People's Empire is now heading towards the golden age and with the onset of a new millennium, a new major power shall rise from the ashes of war. Or will it?

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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Maharlika, Manila, Streets Of Manila.

1999, 31, 4th Week, December.

On the streets of Manila, children were happily playing with their fellow youth and on the sidelines were men the walls of a home, providing the things inside the home and the sole main protector of the family, they were enjoying the turn of the century by drinking beer and setting off fireworks, and on the inside lies the women the light of the house, the provider of warmth in a cold day and night, that shone brilliantly throughout the night. They were preparing food for their family to celebrate the incoming new millennium.

These two people protect and provide for their younglings as they the younglings are going to be the future of the empire, so they were treated with care and love as any human being should receive.

Panning back to the sidelines, there the men were happily chatting as they were currently on off duty from their companies and in the liberation army. They were talking about different things, such as the current state of affairs and in the geopolitical situation around the world.

In the empire, even though the mainstream media is controlled by the governments and its allies, the citizens still are more knowledgeable than the common citizens of other nations as they are given extreme amounts of education and technology were in fact widespread in the country. As the Austronesians are quick to adapt to new things, while retaining the old.

"Hey, I've heard that tensions over the Pacific and in Europe are once again rising." Said by a man.

"Again? Why though? Didn't the Deutsches Reich already won the war?" Asked by another man.

"No, In Europe the tensions are rising, because the Deutsches Reich was suffering from political turmoil, apparently the Fuhrer is about to die in the coming days, from what I've heard in the liberation army is that the Fuhrer was poisoned, and so the French resistance were being blamed for it. With each news coming from the Reich, it now seems like a succession crisis is imminent. If the Fuhrer aren't able to announce his successor, the succession would default to the person next to him in power, and there are many personalities in the Reich that want to get that power, so the crisis is imminent." Answered by a man.

"How about in the Pacific? Didn't the North American Empire lose against the People's State Of Xinhua? Our brothers in Xinhua stands victorious!" Asked by another man.

"The Republic Of Japans suffered another coup, the bad thing was it was successful, which brought us into another situation. The Imperialist in Japan are back,. A day ago Japan, which is now called the Japanese Empire, had announced her ambitions to reclaim their lost colonies and power that they have lost during the second world war. The announcement also includes second Showa restoration." A man answered.

"Why have our brothers in Xinhua hasn't mobilised yet? And why aren't we mobilising as yet?" A man asked.

"Our emperor doesn't want conflict to arise again. If another world war starts, he may passively help our brothers in Xinhua by sending volunteer divisions and, with a lend-lease. Remember, our nations is a newly born empire and we have long last finally reunited with our brothers in other parts of Austronesia. We don't want it to break as soon as it was created doesn't it? What would happen to the refugees we have taken, that were running away from the ashes of war? We have a duty to protect the people of our empire, not to bring them to perdition."

"Makes sense. Praise the emperor for having thought of these so far ahead." Said by a man.

"Additionally, both sides from the Pacific must thread carefully as both of them are being backed by a powerful nation such as in the Japanese Empire being backed by the North American Empire." Said by a man.

"Understood," a man answered.