Timelines: What if Spain Failed to Control the World?

[Woody Man]

I see a red door and I want to paint it black...

Haha I got it, and I'm only twenty

But things are definately hotting up on both sides of the timeline, I'm hoping the present day key holders can sort things out and get some action in!

[ForzaA]

“The Keys of Saint Andrew,” he recalled wistfully, “from Constantinople and France; the Keys of Saint Peter from Antioch and Venice; the Keys of Saint James from Jerusalem and London; The Keys of Saint Mark from Alexandria and Vienna; and the most important… the Keys of Rome… the Keys of Saints Peter and Paul from Rome.”

hmm.....any significance to Peter getting THREE keys?


Also; YAY! finally caught up.. EXCELLENT story.

[Incognitia]

I begin to see an interesting parallel emerging...
Two sets of keys, which are really one.
Two Timelines, which are one story.

Hmm?
Also some interesting reflections on quantum weirdness, the fact that there is only one set of Keys and one Timepiece.

All in all a good, thought-provoking update.

[Murmurandus]

That might be a little to cryptic for some of these youngsters.

They can look it up on that interweb thingie they all talk about...

[Grubnessul]

Or you could just explain it for those of us that are curious, yet lazy

excellent update again Cannonized! Didn't know Spain still haden't conquered the Persians yet. Reference or just coincidencal simularity between the Romans never being able to conquer the Persian Empire and Spain pretending to be a world empire?? xD

[Avernite]

Or you could just explain it for those of us that are curious, yet lazy

excellent update again Cannonized! Didn't know Spain still haden't conquered the Persians yet. Reference or just coincidencal simularity between the Romans never being able to conquer the Persian Empire and Spain pretending to be a world empire?? xD

I do think even I know it, and you can't be MUCH younger than I. Listen to the top 2000, if I got it right

Also, I think the Persians are somekind of revolt?

I also find it funny that boring Venice has a key...

Unless France and Venice really are the 'duplicate' key-things.

[dharper]

I see a red door and I want to paint it black...

No colors anymore, I want them to turn black...

For the people who don't get it, Google and the line in quotes usually works for me. In this case, though, I didn't need it. Yay for being old!

I'll update the Wiki with the new keys info.

[dharper]

I also find it funny that boring Venice has a key...

Not at all - remember, in a way they represent the last pure Roman outpost there is. They kept a large fraction of the Roman navy and due to their safe location were able to avoid being conquered by the Barbarians. Many Romans fled there after the fall of Rome, and Venice ended up becoming a major trading power when trade was falling apart...in a way, you'd think they'd have had more than one key. This, of course, assumes that they even knew of the keys...

[canonized]

Avernite: XD Two and One in this case would be a logical contradiction since they would be talking about the same thing in the same manner whereas the trinity speaks separately of three persons and one divine nature which would just make it unimaginable but not inconceivable (in the strict philosophical sense of the terms) . There is , however , one condition of Aristotle's expounding on the principle of non-contradiction that I intentionally left out that would explain why they are both the same and separate and not be a contradiction . I'll let the young geniuses out there try to guess it first XD

grayghost: haha , you'll never let me live that down , will you ? XD

Murmurandus: I'm afraid I never listened to the song though I did google it when you mentioned it . I'll have to look it up on youtube when I get home from uni .

grayghost: don't tip your hand , old man ! XD gosh , now to think of it , Murmy's probably old . With him going to office business trips and knowing old songs and all that . But I'll lay off ! But hey , at least glad you're caught up ! Now the next thing you need to do is update your beautiful gem of an AAR , young ma-- er , old man !

Mettermrck: Haha , I must admit I'm thoroughly confused by what you mean . Maybe you're confusing Alvaro and the Cardinal and the French counterpart ? You mean Renault ? - confusion abounds - My apologies if i'm not following along with what you mean ! If it's referring to the Cardinal , we haven't given him a name yet . Well I take that back , I have thought up of one name for him already but his proper name I haven't thought up of yet . I wonder if I should let you guys decide a name for me hmm ..

Kurt_Steiner: Hmm .. I'm guessing you mean Jagger since J is a Y sound in Spanish XD XD clever

English Patriot: Congratulations ! XD Yes , action will be happening in the next update . Considering also that Dr. Ueda has yet to make his move that Dr. Alejandro ordered .

ForzaA: Hello there ! Very glad to have you aboard ! Congratualtions on being the 79th unique commentator ! Caught up in secret , I see XD . Please feel free to tell us what you think about past chapters as well !

Incognitia: Thank you very much ! And yes , you saw very well the parallels that were intended by that title and the clues therein . The twinship is present in the macrostory as well so well done in pointing that out !

Murmurandus: google makes the world go round and people seem instantly erudite !

Grubnessul: Persia has always been the bane to European Empires of old but yes , if you look at the 2 maps that I've uploaded so far , Persia controls a big chunk of the area surrounding the three major sites of Islam that Spain conquered . Spain has not actually conquered much further than those areas .

Avernite: I'm afraid that the reason why certain boring countries or the placement of certain keys won't be revealed until close to the very end of the story XD . It's one of those things that I actually pre-planned . But the reason why certain nations have the keys will be evident later on .

dharper: Everyone should follow dharper's example and help us update the wiki pages ! He's been doing such a great job so thank you very much ! Very great work and good citations too . Exactly what we needed !

[canonized]

Oh yeah one more thing ...

I've decided who will be the real life "model" (as in the physical inspiration for the character) for the new Cardinal-Substitute of the Silent Room .

I'd like to know what you guys think .

I mean , after doing Dracula , Count Dooku , Scaramanga , and Saruman , maybe he could do a good guy for a change , right ?

So what do you guys think , when you imagine the new Cardinal , could you imagine .. him ?

Let's all pause and think about the ramifications .

P.S. any name suggestions for our new Cardinal ?

[Woody Man]

EXCELLENT!

[RGB]

Looks awesome. He has gravitas. Excellent feature in a cardinal.

How to name him? No idea. Where's he supposed to be from?

[VILenin]

Christopher Lee is an awesome fit for any part. Now, though, I'm invariably going to be thinking of his various bad-guy quotes while reading about the Cardinal.

"The Timepiece is a dangerous tool, your Eminence!"

"Why? Why should we fear to use it?"

"They are not all accounted for, the lost Keys!"

And so forth.

You mentioned maps, but you haven't posted one of the modern world yet, right? The revelation that Persia is still an autonomous state is somewhat surprising, considering the trouble they've given Spain in the past. The existence of ten keys is also an interesting development (though it makes sense now that it's been established that there are two seperate timepieces, not just two copies of the same one that's been temporally displaced). What, I wonder, is the significance of the second set of cities and why doesn't the Key of St. Andrew have a specific home (just "France"). Aargh! You've got me trying to root meaning out of everything!

Finally, this may have been asked (and answered) at some point prior, but I find myself wondering how much the Silent Room actually controls things. They seem to nominally serve the Emperor but at the same time are the driving force behind every major Spanish endeavor. This changes their role from shadowy operators who are helping Spain along to Shadowy rulers who are manipulating Spain to their own ends (not necessarily malicious, but still...). So, to be succinct, to what extent is the tail wagging the dog?

[canonized]

English Patriot: I thought you'd like it XD

RGB: Meißen of course XD

VILenin: Haha , thank you for that ! Someone asked for a map of the modern world yet and someone (it might have been Grubby) posted a blank map of the world and said all the white spots is Spain . I think I misunderstood the questions earlier , I was referring to Persia being independent in the past but it is not so in the present . It merely retains heavy terrorist/militant/insurgent elements that keep that region destabilized .

As for the Silent Room . They are indeed the Gray Eminence and it is referred to explicitly by General Gonsalvo in the first chapter . The Silent Room , if one can imagine , is the Player's room . Just as players don't assume the roles of the monarchs in the EU games , so do you not assume that perspective or rule style in this timeline .

HOWEVER . There IS a reason why the Silent Rooms exist . It is an important feature of the plot and ending . Silent Rooms are something ... unique .

[Mettermrck]

I'm all for Christopher Lee! Yep, brain moment with the Cardinal...I meant him, not Alvaro. *edited post*

[Judas Maccabeus]

Wooo! New character, and based off Christopher Lee at that. Wonderful. Also like the discussion of the keys and their relation to each other. I think I'm getting better at working out the religious references and allusions when the Timepieces come up...

[canonized]

Mettermrck: Haha no problem and thank you for the support XD

Judas Maccabeus: You should share of your musings with us ! We're a very ponderous bunch this week !

[RGB]

If he's from Meissen name should be Heinrich. Sounds both dignified and to me a little sinister.

Feel free to disagree.

[ColossusCrusher]

The story is MORE complicated than that graph...wow.

[comagoosie]

unbelieveable
EDIT: since this is the 2000th post it should be longer.
It might be helpful to name the cardinal after your mother-in-law so no one will bribe her.