Edward Bellamy's Cornerstone

Origin
Edward Bellamy wrote the utopian novel “Looking Backward”, where he imagined a future society where the economic poverty and political strife of the Gilded Age had ceased. The protagonist Julian West awakens in the year 2000, where the United States has become transformed into a socialist society and all resources, wealth and information were spread out equally between the people. Crime had been reduced to a medical condition and modern conveniences such as warehouse stores and debit cards where commonplace. Although his descriptions greatly took cues from Marxist teachings, Bellamy called the movement Nationalism to avoid unnerving capitalist and democratic loving Americans. The novel was a great success, only trailing behind Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Ben-Hur in publishing and inspiring clubs all across the country dedicated to seeing the fruition of Bellamy’s utopian world, or at least extensive social change for the masses.

Effects
Using as structural support will release an umbrella of energy that will engulf an area the size of a town. The resulting dome will transform various buildings, devices and even to a limited degree people into a futuristic version of theirselves. The depiction seems to be heavily influenced by the current time period’s expectations of the future, so activation in 1980 will produce a different outcome than 2015. Many technological marvels will suddenly appear while social norms are expected to differ, all in a supposedly more advanced and benign civilization. In every version, the masonry will always be unharmed and at the geographic center powering the field. It is known to militarize some of the populace when the stone’s continued usage is threatened. If under the effects for too long, the whole area can be taken back and absorbed wholly by the cornerstone if tampered with.