Sunsets on Britannia explores an alternate timeline of the United Kingdom. It primarily focuses on a time period starting from 2062, considered by most to be the start of what is known as the Sunrise Era.
The name Sunsets on Britannia derives from the time period directly succeeding the Sunrise Era, known as the Sunset Era. This is generally accepted to have begun around the year 2180 and led to a significant downturn in stability and prosperity in the UK.
Prior to the 2062 Sunrise Era the world’s nations and old alliances were beginning to fracture. Disagreements over policies like climate change; how to tackle it and if it existed sowed the seeds to further disagreement. Many countries began to focus on their own interests over that of the world’s and the United Kingdom could no longer rely on others to back it on the global stage.
Upon seeing these divisions across the globe Queen Elizabeth II, whose reign had been known for public restraint, started to become more political, especially surrounding the issues such as social care and climate change. When she died, her successor, King Charles III, continued this trend leading to unprecedented and dramatic shifts in the Crown’s interference with internal, and ofttimes global politics. The public, a majority of whom were still in favour of a strong UK monarchy, embraced King Charles’ views and began to put pressure on a government they saw to be self-serving, weak and unambitious.
The public’s pressure lead to increased coalition governments, with no party able to command a majority. This in turn had the knock-on effect of reducing party politics, freeing the Government to focus primarily on the country. Realising that public opinion of the political system was at an all-time low, combined with external threats and uncertainty, the UK Government pushed forward with an ambitious long-term plan.
Named New Sunrise to inspire citizens, the plan would tackle major issues of the time, including health and social care, climate change, education and defence spending. Alongside these core issues major infrastructure projects would be started to increase inter-city connectivity designed to bridge the North, South divide. As well as these projects, significant investment in future technology and technology companies would help to kick-start a new industrial/technological revolution.
New Sunrise would have a knock-on effect of increasing the financial and social prosperity of the United Kingdom. Both of which had begun to plateau in the previous decades.
Sunsets on Britannia 