Forward in the Name of God - a Scotland AAR

Chapter 10​

King Henry the First of Scotland looked at the sheaf of casualty reports, battle updates and petitions from parliment that lay heaped on the table before him and grinned broadly. The generals sat around him shuffled nervously. King Henry grinning was never reassuring. Bonnie Prince Charlie's brother managed to combine his older sibling's flippancy with a sense of religious zeal, a combination that, while common in most of scotland's greatest Kings, often served to plunge the nation into crisis after crisis. The King reached down and picked up a handful of papers, examined them and then cast them back onto the pile. He turned to face his assembled generals and smiled.

"Well, all things considered, I think the war's going bloody well."

The looks of confusion in the eyes of the generals told another story alltogether, but all of them held their tongues.

All of them except Marshal Alexander Alban. The wily old campaigner, a vetran of the bloody Meath campaign, went bright red and clenched his fists tightly before slamming them down onto the table top, sending papers swirling into the air and causing a few of the assembled war council to jump.

"Going bloody well?" he rapsed. "Going bloody well?"

He snorted indignantly.

"At least you got one of those words right."

The Kings eyes narrowed. With one hand he raised the massive cigar he was holding and flicked it contemptuously towards the ornate ash tray in front of him. At the same time he jabbed a chubby finger in the direction of Marshal Alban.

"What exactly do you mean, marshal? I hope you're not criticising our war effort against the Spanish? After all, we wouldn't want our troops to flounder on the rocks of your cynicism."

He let out a short jarring laugh, punctuated by little snorting sounds. A few of the war council nervously laughed also. Marshal Alban drew them a look that could melt iron, and turned his attention back towards the coiffured buffon in the velvet jacket with the frilly cuffs that sat on the King's seat.

"This war, is a farce. There was no precedent for the attack on Spain and her small colonial holdings, and because of this our troops are spending more time putting down revolts in the home islands than they are fighting our supposed enemies."

The King snorted again and flicked a powdered curl that had dropped in front of his eyes out of the way.

"Why don't you leave the politics to me, marshal. It is evident that you have no inkling of the delicate political situation that led to this current crisis."

Across the table Admiral McCaig, resplendant in his blue and white uniform, coughed politely.

"He does have a point, Alexander. It is not ours to question the reasons for war, but to win it. And besides, the war at sea is going very well indeed."

Alexander threw his hands up in air.

"That's because there IS no war at sea. Your navy crushed that of Spain on day one of the war, and all that's left for you to do is to zip troops over to those god foresaken malarial islands that the Spanish so fit to colonise and occasionally battle with some pirates - pirates that I may add were funded by this government."

The King smiled.

"I believe the term is 'privateers' - and besides, my government have NEVER condoned their use."

He chuckled obnoxiously at his little joke.

"So, Marshal. What is it that you're agrieved with? The fighting? The killing? Because if these reports are to be believed - and they are compiled by YOUR officers - then we are doing very well indeed. Spain has been crushed, Corsica occupied, and all we're waiting for is their last few colonies to come under our dominion before we force peace upon them."

Leaning back in his chair he took a long drag on his cigar before flicking ash in Marshal Alban's direction.

"So what exactly is the problem?"

Alexander bristled. Bonnie Prince Charlie (later Charles III) had been an idiot, but at least his politics stayed within the tenuous realms of legality. His brother on the other hand seemed to jump from whim to whim, claiming to be guided by a higher power - a justification that it was extremely hard to argue with. The Marshal folded his arms.

"My issue is neither with the tactics, nor with the progress of this war. I object to the fact that the war is illegal. We had no reason to go to war with Spain, and our population know this. We..."

He was cut off abruptly as King Henry hurled an ash tray in his direction, it's contents scattering over the assembled generals. Standing up the King's face flushed scarlet as he screamed at Marshal Alban.

"No reason? No fucking reason? It was God's will! Is that reason enough for you, you brachiating idiot?"

Petulently he kicked his chair over.

"Forward in the name of God! That's always been our nation's watch word! This principle has guided all of our rulers - all of them! - since the time of King David I! And now, because a few petulent peasants and intellectuals disagree with it you, a soldier sworn to serve God, your King and your country, DARE", he spat the word, "question my will?"

As the King stood there, shaking with rage, all eyes turned on Marshal Alban, who sat stonefaced, staring at the diminuitive tyrant. When he spoke his voice was cold, calm and dangerous.

"I have served you, and your brother before you, loyally and abley. There have been mercifully few wars in our time, but those that did flare up I fought in bravely, because I believed that I was doing good. In the war with Ulster I saw their belligerence against a smaller neighbour - an ally of ours - and I knew that our intervention was justified. The war was long and bloody, with many brave warriors dead on both sides, but finally we carried the day."

He paused and took a drink of water from the glass in front of him before continuing.

"But this conflict. This senseless attack on Spain. What is the point? Have they threatened us? No. Has their tiny empire encroached upon ours? No. Did their leige, Corsica, in any way threaten us? Of course not. The whole reason we've gone to war is on some mad whim of yours - a claim that we are somehow doing God's will, and that we should send our sons out to lay down their lives to feed your ego. Why must we senselessly battle like this?"

He stood up, smoothed down his smart blue uniform and gestured to his fellow generals.

"Brothers. Open your eyes, I beg you. Let us cease this senseless and ILLEGAL conflict which is causing up rising throughout the Empire, and causing brother to fight brother! The blood of our civilians - decent, hardworking, law-abiding citizens - stains the ground of our Empire. These brave, far-seeing souls have seen what is happening and, refusing to stand by and see justice perverted have risen up and shown their unhappiness. And what happens? We send our troops in to put them down. This is maddness! Utter maddness! We cannot stand by and let this happen. We cannot allow insanity to rule our Empire. All of us - each and every right thinking citizen - must take a stand and let the world know that what is right and wrong! Fly a flag for liberty and freedom and shine the light of righteousness upon the tenebrous darkness of tyranny! We must..."

Everyone suddenly jumped as a loud bang reverberated around the room. Marshal Alban collapsed to the floor, clutching at a gaping, bloody hole that had been ripped in his chest. He reached for the table, twitched once or twice and then lay still. The generals' eyes were drawn to the huge cloud of black smoke slowly swirling towards the ceiling that emenated from the barrel of King Henry's pistol. He grinned at his audience, tossed the pistol over his shoulder and sat down on his chair, placing his feet on the table. Reaching forward, he picked up his cigar again and gestured towards Marshal Alban's body.

"What a fucking cock."

The generals simply blinked fearful in his direction. Henry took a drag on the cigar and slowly exhaled, puffing smoke rings into the air as he did so. As these small circles of acrid black smoke floated lazily upwards Henry turned back to the generals, casually indicating the pile of papers in the centre of the table, some of which were splattered with tiny red droplets of blood. He grinned.

"So, this war then. It's going bloody well?"

Nobody argued.

---

Well, that's about it from EU2. We had a small, rather whimsical war with Spain which dragged on and on and on for no real reason.

And then it finished.

Bit of an anticlimax really.

Screenies to follow soon - I've got a cunning plan for Vicky to make the world more interesting (as I can't be bothered with WC).

Apologies for the lack of an update. I've played almost all the way through Vicky and found out that the convertor I'm using is rubbish.

Sooooo... I've restarted and am playing Revolutions.

Given that I've not played before that should be interesting...

Don't worry - I should be updating it tonight. So far I've played the game in Vanilla Vicky up until 1898. Luckily I decided to do a test export only to find that the utility I was using created game files that wouldn't work in HoI2. I've had Revolutions hanging around for ages and haven't installed it yet so, given that it comes with a converter, I thought I'd give it a blast. I don't know whether to carry on the game in Vanilla Vicky till 1920 then load the save file into Revolutions and then carry on, or else just restart completely. The second option makes most sense but it's also rather scary given the amount of work I've put into it already...

Hi ya,

Apologies about the delay in updating.

Before I post my first proper update I thought I'd start by giving an update on the state of the world in 1836.

Western Europe​

Western Europe is dominated by the Scottish Empire in the west and Bohemia-Moravia in the centre. Russia, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire occasionally squabble in the east and rattle their sabres westwards but so far haven't managed to challenge the two great powers. Sweden is the main power in northern Europe, but she is surrounded by the Scots and her allies, who stand ready to keep any ambition in check. Thankfully things are relatively peaceful, due to a complicated web of agreements that see the Scottish and Bohemian Empires allied and ready to put down any potential trouble makers (as France found out to its cost!). Other countries include Spain (the small yellow blob in Iberia), the Papal States (the small yellow blob in Italy and the hook of Holland), Finaland (the white blob where Finland should be) and Serbia (the wee red country). France is cowering between Scotland and Bohemia




The North American continent is largely untouched by European influence. The United Tribes of America (I thought simply calling them "Cherokee" was a bit off given that this nation was made up of many tribes from EU2) are the turquoise coloured states, while the Empire of Scotland is in dark blue. Not long after this was screen shot was taken the Confederate States declared their independance from the United Tribes. Given that Scotland wasn't too happy with the United Tribes they immediatly guarenteed the independance of the Confederates.

Central America​

Mexico (the heirs of the Aztec Empire) are the major power here, although the close proximity of the Papel States to the south prevents much in the way of expansion. They're quite content to keep to themselves though, and do a good job of maintaining cordial relations with their stronger northen neighbour.

South America​

The great untouched! A virgin continent waiting to be pillaged by Europeans. Spain has already started in the south east, while Bloiva (dark red) and Peru (brown) sit around and watch. Nothing exciting happening yet, but watch this space.

North Africa​

Aside from the colonial holdings of Scotland, Africa is made up of two Scottish allies - the Kingdoms of Morroco and Algeria, and the independant nation of Sokoto.

Southern Africa​

Although Scotland has a foothold in the south, they are faced against Transvaal (light blue), Zanzibar (yellow) and Ethiopia (brown). Further north is Egypt - a good chum of the Ottoman Empire. Luckily for Scotland Transvaal and Zanzibar are perpetually at each other's throats.

The Middle East​

Although there is a solid block of Scottish influence here, the dominant power in the Middle East is, without a doubt, the Ottoman Empire. Further north Russia, Bulgaria and the Crimea jostle for influence.

Central Asia​

At last! An area with very little Scottish influence! Jaipur and Indore (I think) are the main Indian powers, with the Ottoman Empire sweeping in from the west and China from the east. Elsewhere Nepal, Tibet, Thailand and Vietnam (can't remember what they're called in Victoria) hope to escape the attentions of the larger powers. If there's going to be a powder keg area of the world, this will be it...

Aside from these areas, Scotland has a foothold in Australia and half of Japan.

I'll be posting a "proper" update very soon, but I thought it would be interesting for you guys to see what the world looked like in 1836 following the long transition from 1066...

Chapter 11​

Deo Vindice - 1840​

King Henry sat in the throne room of Edinburgh castle and stifled a yawn. If there was one part of his regal duties that he hated more than any other it was meeting and greeting foreign ambassadors. Henry was posessed of that singularly aristocratic outlook that all forgeiners, no matter where they came from, were ireedemably stupid. Naturally some were more useful than others, but all were ultimately fit only to be regarded contemptuously and patronised as necessary.

He stretched languidly and turned to the man standing at his side.

"So, First Minister, which piece of pond life am I meeting with first, hmm?"

Kenneth Graham, the First Minister of Scotland, was a tall, gaunt-looking Aberdonian. Unclasping the massive ledger book he held in his left hand, he licked a fingertip and rapidly flipped through it, the pages making a whirring sound as they turned. Eventually he found what he was looking for and turned to his liege.

"Our first honoured guest is ambassador Stephens from the Confederate States of America."

Henry sat up and raised an eyebrow.

"The where?????"

"The Confederate States of America."

The king waved a hand and scowled.

"I'm not deaf, First Minister and I wasn't asking you to repeat what you had just said. My statement was simply a way of expressing my confusion at your mentioning a country that I've never heard of before."

The First Minister took a deep breath before smiling politely.

"Your majesty, the C.S.A is a small kingdom in North America that has recently broken free from the Union of American Tribes. I believe that they are here to crave our protection."

King Henry rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Good-o. I do like a good begging session."

He clicked his fingers in the direction of the two guardsmen by the door.

"Bring in our guest."

There was a great, heaving creak as the massive double doors swung open to reveal a long, wood panneled gallery, adorned with pictures of former Scottish rulers (pride of place being given to a massive portrait of King Alexander the Unforgetable). A plush, red carpet ran the length of the corridor, and soldiers from the palace guard stood rigidly at attention at even intervals along the gallery, their shining ceremonial breastplates, helmets and sabres gleaming in the candlelight. From a side room a herald, accompanied by a tall man in a grey uniform, appeared and raised a trumpet to his lips from which he blew a loud "Pa papa pa pa pa pa paaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The king and the First Minister covered their ears and glowered darkly at the herald who shrugged apologetically before announcing "Most wonderful, august, exalted Caledonic majesty, I humbly present ambassador Stephens, loyal servant of the Confederate States of America, who begs a moment of your time."

Henry, non-plussed, waved the herald away and regarded his visitor. Ambassador Stephens was a tall, thin figure whose grey military uniform hung akwardly from his skinny frame. A wickedly sharp looking sabre dangled from his red belt and his gold eppaulettes glinted as he walked. However, his most noticable feature by far was the massive, black beard that Stephens sported.

King Henry rubbed his own baby-soft chin thoughtfully. He had never been able to grow much in the way of facial hair, and thus felt rather left out by this generation's fashion for mutton chop side burns. Tilting his head to the side he leaned in close towards his First Minister.

"Fasincating" he whispered. Kenneth look puzzled but, consciously aware of the King's capricious mood, kept his voice even and professional.

"What is, highness?"

The King bent closer, not taking his eyes off of Stephen's chin.

"He's got a...badger or something attached to his face! Is this some kind of cultural thing? Like those people that wear feathers and stuff in their hair and the ones with those big cow hats?"

King Henry's grasp of frontier life in North America was sadly limited. The First Minister shook his head.

"No majesty. The ambassador has simply chosen to grow a very big beard."

The King shook his head in amazement.

"Fascinating."

Looking Stephens up and down he grinned.

"So then, ambassador. What can I do for you?"

Stephens bowed politely before begining to explain the purpose of his mission to the Scottish Empire's capital. After less than a minute Henry raised his hand, cutting him off.

"Enough! Enough! First Minister!"

Kenneth dutifully came to his liege's side.

"Yes, majesty?"

"Where is the interpreter?"

"The what, majesty?"

Henry punched his First Minister on the shoulder.

"I can't understand the language - why haven't you brought an interpreter?"

The First Minister looked puzzled.

"Sire, he's speaking Scots."

Henry snorted.

"Is he buggery! All I heard was 'Droan droan y'all. Droan droan injuns. Droan droan Florida.' You're not telling me that you can understand this savage?"

The First Minister smiled.

"I'm from Aberdeen, sire. When you can understand that dialect you can understand almost anything."

Henry frowned.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny. No what's badger-chops going on about?"

The First Minister shot an apologetic glance at the ambassador.

"I believe, sire, that the ambassador craves your Caledonic majesty's protection for his nation. They are a brave people, but they are few and poor. Until they can raise a substantial army they will for ever face a threat from the tribes to the north of them, a Union, it will be remembered, that they broke from only recently."

The King waved his hand.

"Yeah - fine. Draft a statement saying that we will guarentee the independance of the CSA. Anyone trying to test us on this will bayonetted - the usual stuff. Hopefully someone will think we're bluffing and I'll get to see those new ships of ours in action."

He paused.

"That last bit doesn't have to go in."

The First Minister smiled.

"Naturally majesty."

"So, did he say anything else?"

Kenneth glanced at Stephens who nodded.

"The CSA would also like to enquire as to the prospect of purchasing Florida from us. To their people it is a place of signifcance and natural beauty, an ancestral paradise where..."

He was cut off by a wave of Henry's hand.

"Where's Florida?"

The First Minister, stopped in his tracks, struggled to regain his train of thought.

"Florida? It's at the extreme south east of North America, sire. Just south of the CSA."

Henry rolled his eyes.

"I can't even understand what bushy-boy is saying, never mind place his poxy little country on a map. More detail please!"

Kenneth thought long and hard before brightening.

"Remember when you went to Cuba sire, on that tour of the Empire?"

Henry looked thoughtful before grinning widely.

"The place with the cigars and the dusky maidens?"

Kenneth nodded.

"The very one, sire."

Henry's face had taken on a far-away expression.

"Ah. Cuba. BIIIIIG cigars. Fine brandy. Pretty women with not a long on."

He sighed.

"Good times..."

Kenneth coughed.

"Sire - you'll recall after your visit to Cuba that you took a boat north to the American mainland. Your first stop off point was Florida."

The King looked concerned.

"What? You mean that shitty wee place with the sharks and the crocodiles and the swamps and the malaria and the biting insects?"

The First Minister looked over apologetically at their guest.

"Yes sire - that was Florida."

Henry laughed.

"Fuck it - tell them they can have it for nothing. It's a complete dump!"

The ambassador's eyes almost bulged out of his head but he wisely said nothing. Kenneth glanced at his pocket watch.

"Is there anything else, sire, or should I send the good ambassador on his way?"

The King looked thoughtful.

"Actually, there is one thing."

He stared thoughtfully at the ambassador.

"What's a 'y'all'?"

Well, if he sounds like a standard posh Brit he probably didn't understand him either!

Foedere Et Religione Tenemur - 1843​

From The Encyclopeadia Caledonnica (15th edition)

When King Henry Benedict Stuart died in 1843 without issue the Scottish parliment cast their eyes around to find who his legal successor would be. Henry's closest living relative was Charles Emmanuel of Sardina - his second cousin - but he was dead. Charles' hier, Victor Emmanuel - his brother - was also dead. His daughter Maria has also recently passed away - clearly death was contagious in the Sardinian royal household - which meant that the legal claimant of the Scottish Empire's throne was Duke Francis of Modena, Maria's son. Amidst great ceremony the slightly puzzled looking Italian was crowned at Edinburgh Cathedral. The Scots have always been an accomodating people - there had been Scottish settlements on the Italian peninsula for over half a millenia after all - so they quickly accepted King Francis I as one of their own.

He proved to be a popular King - it seemed that he was genuinely interested in the wellfare of his new subjects. Despite only speaking very limited (and heavily accented) Scots he often went amongst the poorest factory workers and talked to them about their problems. However, with this apparent benevolance was the ever present regal need to remain in control and assume that "father knows best". When one factory labourer suggested to him that the people should be allowed to vote for a government to look after them, it was said that Francis ordered the offending party to spend a night in the cells to "cure him of his anarchist ways".

Although the new King appeared, on the surface, to be a force for change, the reality seemed to be that any alterations to the social landscape would happen on his terms. In otherwords, business as usual. Furthermore, Francis I was quite keen on curtailing any power that parliment might have. Citing "divine right" Francis started to slowly reduce the Scottish government to a collection of note takers and secretaries - removing any politician who happened to show any degree of ambition, common-sense or savvy, leaving in their wake a swathe of yes-men and sycophants who would pander to his ever growing ego.

Thankfully for the development of the Scottish Empire, a small bureacratic accident occured that would change the face of Scottish politics forever.

--

"Stop stammering and tell me what he's done!" yelled Kenneth Graham, First Lord of the Treasury. Since King Francis I's ascension he had found himself "reassigned" from the post of First Minister to something "more suited to his talents." His companion, a young clerk called Alexander Davidson flinched slightly and held his hands up.

"Don't shoot the messenger, boss! I'm just telling you what happened."

Kenneth shook his head.

"You're not. You're gibbering. And sweating. Slow down. Breathe. Tell me what happened."

Alexander composed himself.

"Do you remember that draft paper that was prepared for you? The one outlining the costs for the various improvements to our national welfare system?"

Kenneth nodded solemnly.

"I remember it. Reading that paper almost gave me a heart attack! If we were to institute those reforms we'd have been close to three million pounds in debt."

Alexander shuffled his feet nervously and looked at the floor. The look that Kenneth gave him could have melted iron.

"What?"

Still looking at the floor, Alexander shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Well, the King requests a copy of all offical documents for 'safekeeping'. Obviously a copy of this ended up on his desk and somehow made its way to his pending tray by mistake and..."

A look of bowl-slackening terror slowly dawned on Kenneth's face. Alexander placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you ok? You've gone very pale."

"I'm going to be sick. I know I am."

Alexander patted him gentley.

"Don't be silly - you didn't even know what I was going to say next."

"Yes I do - you were going to say that he read it, liked the idea, authorised it and we're now in debt to the tune of three million quid. Weren't you?"

Laughing lightly Alexander shook his head.

"Nope! You'll be pleased to know that's NOT what happened."

Kenneth made a show of mopping his brow and collapsed into a chair, exhaling loudly.

"Phew. You had me worried there. We'd REALLY have been in the shit if he'd done something as stupid as that! Thank goodness eh?"

Alexander's expression took on the look of one who was anticipating a beating. He smiled nervously.

"Thank goodness indeed. Er... What I was GOING to say before you got all pale and shakey on me was..."

He took a deep breath and backed off slightly.

"A-copy-ended-up-in-his-tray-and-he-stamped-it-without-reading-it-and-now-we're-really-in-debt-and-everything's-screwed."

Visibly he deflated. Kenneth just stared into space. After a couple of seconds Alexander snapped his fingers before Kenneth's face, but he refused to snap out of his reverie. Instead he just sat there and mumbled "We're fucked. Seriously fucking fucked." Suddenly, Alexander brightened and jabbed a finger in the air.

"I've got it!" he yelled. Kenneth just sighed and shook his head.

"What? A suicide pact so we don't get lynched in the street?"

Alexander rapidly shook his head and proceeded to bounce around the room.

"To deal with the problem of the debt we raise tariffs, explaining to the masses that our beloved King thought fit to bring in these reforms to make the lives of his subjects better. Sure, they'll have to pay through the nose for this better quality of life, but that's not important..."

"It's not?"

"No, it's just important that THEY know that HE ordered it."

Kenneth perked up slightly.

"Oh... Ok. Go on..."

A wide grin was plastered across Alexander's face.

"Well, once things get bad the people will start protesting - after all, they'll want the power to put a government in place that listens to them and doesn't assume that it knows best. Now, either this will lead to the King granting people the power to vote and that means we get some power back, or else they'll revolt, we'll support however looks most likely to win, and after the dust has settled we'll get some power back. What do you think?"

Kenneth smiled and waggled a finger.

"I've got a better idea."

Alexander deflated slightly.

"I thought I was doing rather well there."

Kenneth patted him on the shoulder.

"He doesn't seem to read what is put through his tray. Let's speak out against tyranny and opression, highlighting the injustice of our 'government'. Then, why don't we draft a bill granting universal sufferage and freedom of politics, pop it in his tray and see what happens? If he signs it we're going to be the most popular government EVER."

Alexander couldn't help but smile.

"It's a stupid plan that could go horribly wrong."

"But not as wrong as things are just now, right?"

The other man nodded.

"Let's do it."

---

So, that's how Scotland became a democracy. Most of it was kind of roleplayey, but the section on the accidental signing of the proposal has some basis in fact. I was hovering the mouse pointer over unemployment subsidies to see how much it would cost, but I was on my laptop which registered the slightest touch of my finger on the mouse pad as a click, which put me in debt to the tune of about three million pounds...

Oh well, you live and learn!

Well, it's been a while but I should have an update soon...

Ok, so it's been over a year, but I have a nice, shiny new computer and I've got all my old save files so I might just be able to FINALLY complete this! Anyone still interested? Anyone still remember this???

Ok, so it's been a while...



Last time we spoke the Scottish Empire almost imploded due to some horrendous cash mismanagement on the part of my ministers (not me I hasten to add - oh no...). Thankfully the good people of Scotland weathered the storm, the government repayed the disgusting amount of money it had borrowed and everyone seemed so much the happier for the wonderful social reforms that were put in place (apart from a couple of grumbly nobles, but they were soon put back in their places...).

Once the Empire was more or less back on its feet financially (it's making about £2000 a day at the moment and spending 80% of it's income on social reforms) it embarked on an agressive programme of colonization and fulfilled king James' long wished for dream of a bright-blue map (at points it is quite garish - check out North America)!

Things have pottered along pretty quietly since then. The Scottish military machine is utterly massive - 515 divisions - but it spends most of its time doing nothing and putting down small uprisings that crop up occasionally. No doubt I could go WC if I wanted, but I don't think that would be much of a challenge (or fun)!

Anyway, here are some screenies to show what's going on until I get round to popping up some narrative.


Incase it wasn't obvious, the masses of dark blue are Scotland The big browny-red blob in central Europe is Bohemia-Moravia, one of Scotland's bestest buds (no Cold War here)! Russia is the dark green and Finland is the white, whilst the light blue is Sweden (who are pretty big into colonization). The very light green is the Ottoman Empire who are MASSIVE further east. Morroco, Algeria and Egypt are all Scottish satellites.


Told you Scotland had been busy on the colonial front... The light blue is Traansvaal, the light yellow is Sokoto (some uncivilized nation that I've very generously protected from desruction), the bright yellow is Zanzibar (who have a cool name and therefore haven't been crushed) and the brown is Ethiopia. Aside from the occasional revolt Africa is nice and peaceful.


...or "The Ottoman Empire" as it's better known! Scotland still controls a swathe of land captured way back in the 1200s by King Alexander and I don't think that the Ottoman's dare try and take it from them for fear that he might come back


Here's where the Ottoman Empire bumps into China, Indore, Bastar and Scotland. However, for a potentially volatile area conflicts are surprisingly few and far between. China got up itself and tried to take some Scottish posessions but it was suitably punished. Indore and Bastar also like to occasionally play "Who's the Biggest Maharajah of Them All?" but that tends to end in them returning the status quo after a few years of fruitless conflict. Maybe one day one of them will get smart and ask one of the big boys for help. Or maybe they'll both ask a different big boy for help and a huge world war will errupt. Who knows?

Australasia​

The shining beacon of beautiful light in the middle is the dominion of Australia. No, I have no idea why I granted them their "freedom". Perhaps it was too much Fosters?


The jewel in the crown of the Scottish Empire! The United Tribes have long since been defeated but their erradication was one of the few moments of conflict on this massive continent. The rest of the Scottish expansion was a purely colonial venture but they have aquired some interesting neighbours in the form of the Quebois (the light blue) and the Calafornian Republic (brown), both whom were originally states within someone else's empire but who rebelled and weren't put down. No, I can't remember who... The CSA is still there (my long time allies...) and, most interestingly, the People's Republic of Canada (the little white blob). For some reason I had some unhappy workers in that province who rebelled. I completely forgot about the rebellion until they formed their own nation, and given that it's the only communist state on the map I thought I'd leave them be. They're a nice curiosity to be studied!


Finally we come to South America. The light blue near the top is Sweden, wheras the light blue down the bottom is Argentina. Bolivia, Equador and Peru are their in their correct (or slightly larger) RL places, whilst Russia and Spain are squabbling away near the bottom. Spain's placement is largely in part to Scotland's bullying of them in EU2 which was really quite needless and mainly down to me being bored and fulfilling my sadistic needs.

So, that's how the world looks in 1921. I'll be posting some narrative soon, but I thought you'd might like to see how the map looks - quite different from 1066!

Oh, and because someone WILL ask, the population of the Scottish Empire is presently 1.6 billion...