WWI ended just as generals had received approval to begin development of plasm for use in augmenting soldiers. Within a few decades, human-altering plasm, called quicksilver because of its color and texture, came to be in wide use. As the market for plasmed organisms swelled, there was a rennaisance of trade. The mandala expanded under continual use, and the demand for mana swelled.

The Shashi had come to live in nearly every society of the world. Early on, the Shashi had come into contact with the Seeded Way, and had taken it up with great devotion. During the rise of theocracy in the world, the Seeded Way had spread among the various communities of Shashi. During WWI the Shashi who lived under theocracy had had to abandon their faith, practice covertly, or immigrate.

As the demand for mana grew, the Shashi began to realize that many people saw them as a commodity. In societies where the Seeded Way was practiced, the Shashi felt secure, but in the theocracies, the Shashi began to turn inwards and become distrustful of outsiders.

The stratified, communal structure of societies began to break down as new forms of transportation led to a swell in migration, and as mercantilists gained power. People began to enjoy civil liberties, popular tastes, and individualism. Because plastics were performing the bulk of society's labor, people had time for leisure, travel, and experimenting with quicksilver.

Western Europe became a source of cheap labor for the rising mercantilist interests of Eastern Europe. A Gnostic sect fled Western Europe to escape poverty, persecution and the coming plague that their priests had predicted. They landed on the Eastern Atlantic seaboard and viciously colonized the area, using highly-intelligent plastics. Within two generations they had become a power in their own right, laying claim to large swaths of territory.

Qing had become a mighty power. There was no official state religion, but people freely practiced traditional Taoism, the native brand of the Seeded Way, or a synthesis of the two. Adepts in the sprawling land used their sensitivities, knowledge, and esoteric nurturing abilities to refine the production of plastics. The largest population of Shashi on the globe guaranteed them access to the mandala. Qing and the junior trading partner that it had in Nippon quickly came to dominate the global plastics trade.

Dorje Bala took note of Qing's rising power, and consulted with the mercantilists of the other theocratic powers. Backed by its allies in Europe and the Mediterranean, Dorje Bala invaded western Qing. Quickly, the conflict escalated, and the allies of the two powers were drawn into the war. The theocrats of the various powers declared a holy war against their enemies. WWII had begun.

The war was shorter than WWI, but, because of the advanced plastics involved, far more vicious. The theocrats were very serious about destroying the infidel this time, and much of the war effort was directed towards mobilizing troops against the Vedic and Taoist states. The theocracies were careful to not antagonize Africa, which maintained a policy of strict neutrality during the conlict.

Because of their devotion to the Seeded Way, Shashi of the theocracies were rounded up and put into camps. Towards the war's end, there were extreme demands placed on the mana supply. Shashi who were weak or sickly were quietly taken out of the camps and harvested.

The snow monks of Noooselaquaq, despite their very distant descent from Taoist immigrants were identified as heretics by the theocracies. Noooselaquaq came under attack from European forces and retaliated with an invasion of Western Europe. At some point during the invasion, a European or Noooselaquaqer military commander detonated a highly intelligent, self-replicating meatspore bomb. The meatspores spread throughout Western Europe and began acquiring animal protein for the building of dendrites.

Qing was forced to cede territory to Dorje Bala and to pull back all of its oversea operations to defend the homeland. Nippon pulled out of the war, as did the Khan of Sarai, paid off by Europe. The Shashi communities began to fear invasion and the camps, and became more insular as a wave of anti-Shashi sentiment rose within Qing itself.

Europe became increasingly alarmed about the meatspore menace, and called on its allies to end the war. Treaties were signed. Qing was forced to pay reparations. WWII was ended.

Africa, disgusted with the war, finally closed its borders. Barriers went up around the portions of the mandala that had been colonized by Africa.

The meatspores wholesale devouring of populations in Western Europe frightened the world. A world-wide treaty, signed in Dusseldorf, was put into place that identified several "thresholds" not to be crossed in the further use of plastics: 1) plastics would only as intelligent as was minimally required to perform a given task, 2) all experiCalxion on humans would be banned, as would quicksilver that caused changes in non-somatic (inherited) traits, 3) plastics would no longer be self-replicating or bred; instead when new plastics were needed, they would be cloned anew, avoiding any kind of mutation, and 4) no mutagenic weapons would be used in warfare. All states signed except Nippon, the Theocracy of Golgoth, and Africa.