Can people help me out a bit with brainstorming some of the alternate history for my upcoming Egalitarian Xenophile Earth + Knights of the Toxic God c

[Mímisbrunnr]

So, I am planning on making my new Stellaris campaign an alternate history Earth where the events of the Knights of the Toxic God play out.

I have been, for RP purposes, trying to work out some broad strokes details of how the alternate history plays out.

General Guidelines:

• We will be Fanatic Egalitarian + Xenophile democracy, just like the United Nations of Earth. Though this may seem odd as Knights, the gist of the idea is that a combination of the Knights gradually coming to value the "protecting the weak" side of their chivalric vows more + being learned scholars in the pursuit of the Toxic God + an analogue to the Enlightenment causes a shift over hundreds of years, including the deposing of the monarchy at some time roughly in the mid 1600s to mid 1800s [period where English Civil War / American Revolution / French Revolution / Revolutions of 1848 took place in the real-world timeline].
• I am assuming that the Toxic God visited Earth in the year 1300 [chosen only so that the traditional 2300 mid-game year represents the millennial of the Toxic God's arrival]. (For context, Edward I "Longshanks" of England, Phillip IV "the Fair" of France [who in real history purged the Templars some years later], William Wallace are among the many figures who are contemporaries to the event).
• The Toxic God will also be called "Wormwood" by the people of the Earth, after the poisonous "star" in the Book of Revelation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormwood_(Bible). I am thinking of having the epicenter at the site of Chernobyl, Ukraine, for bonus points references with name etymology [as the word "Chernobyl" is another name for the plant species called wormwood in that language. Real-world Chernobyl also has a monument to the mythical star Wormwood, so the idea is "but in this alternate timeline it really happens, except its the Toxic God"]. Of course, the Toxic God's effects are planetary in scale.

Beyond that, I'm trying to figure out how the alternate history in between plays out, and how I can use this to "flavor" how I envision the resulting society of space-faring knights on the quest in 2200. I have a few key points, but I really want to try to figure out what happens in between them, or the details of how they happen.

Also, especially, as the intro to the origin mentions that there is a King who unifies the land in the wake of the Calamity, I'm trying to figure out WHICH king ends up being that one (the unifier) in the alternate history. The intro text does meant that they fought wars that purged "heretics", so they don't have to be an exactly nice person, and our future Egalitarian Knights would have since evolved in a different direction from their founder's example. The King does not need to be necessarily one of the rulers, like Edward or Phillip, that I've mentioned. Any king, regardless of location on Earth, who was contemporaneously alive and ruling in 1300 could be a candidate for the RP's purposes.

Also, if anyone has a more specific suggestion of WHEN in the say 1650s - 1850s range the monarchy should be overthrown/removed in my RP's alternate history, I'd greatly appreciate it.

That said, I'm interested in all relevant suggestions about any aspects of the RP: anything to flesh it out.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cry_Havok]

So, I am planning on making my new Stellaris campaign an alternate history Earth where the events of the Knights of the Toxic God play out.

I have been, for RP purposes, trying to work out some broad strokes details of how the alternate history plays out.

General Guidelines:

• We will be Fanatic Egalitarian + Xenophile democracy, just like the United Nations of Earth. Though this may seem odd as Knights, the gist of the idea is that a combination of the Knights gradually coming to value the "protecting the weak" side of their chivalric vows more + being learned scholars in the pursuit of the Toxic God + an analogue to the Enlightenment causes a shift over hundreds of years, including the deposing of the monarchy at some time roughly in the mid 1600s to mid 1800s [period where English Civil War / American Revolution / French Revolution / Revolutions of 1848 took place in the real-world timeline].
• I am assuming that the Toxic God visited Earth in the year 1300 [chosen only so that the traditional 2300 mid-game year represents the millennial of the Toxic God's arrival]. (For context, Edward I "Longshanks" of England, Phillip IV "the Fair" of France [who in real history purged the Templars some years later], William Wallace are among the many figures who are contemporaries to the event).
• The Toxic God will also be called "Wormwood" by the people of the Earth, after the poisonous "star" in the Book of Revelation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormwood_(Bible). I am thinking of having the epicenter at the site of Chernobyl, Ukraine, for bonus points references with name etymology [as the word "Chernobyl" is another name for the plant species called wormwood in that language. Real-world Chernobyl also has a monument to the mythical star Wormwood, so the idea is "but in this alternate timeline it really happens, except its the Toxic God"]. Of course, the Toxic God's effects are planetary in scale.

Beyond that, I'm trying to figure out how the alternate history in between plays out, and how I can use this to "flavor" how I envision the resulting society of space-faring knights on the quest in 2200. I have a few key points, but I really want to try to figure out what happens in between them, or the details of how they happen.

Also, especially, as the intro to the origin mentions that there is a King who unifies the land in the wake of the Calamity, I'm trying to figure out WHICH king ends up being that one (the unifier) in the alternate history. The intro text does meant that they fought wars that purged "heretics", so they don't have to be an exactly nice person, and our future Egalitarian Knights would have since evolved in a different direction from their founder's example. The King does not need to be necessarily one of the rulers, like Edward or Phillip, that I've mentioned. Any king, regardless of location on Earth, who was contemporaneously alive and ruling in 1300 could be a candidate for the RP's purposes.

Also, if anyone has a more specific suggestion of WHEN in the say 1650s - 1850s range the monarchy should be overthrown/removed in my RP's alternate history, I'd greatly appreciate it.

That said, I'm interested in all relevant suggestions about any aspects of the RP: anything to flesh it out.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

It's got to be one of the Mongol successor states to unite Earth under the Toxic God. This is right after the initial fracture of the great Mongol Empire. Blessed by the Toxic God the Ilkhanate, Yuan, and Great Horde proceeded to take over and three way split Afroeurasia. The disruption of the climate caused by the toxic god even allows the Great Yuan to invade Japan. The presence of a physical god upends all religion on earth, and a broad swath of syncretic polytheisms arrise, though a syncretic Tengri faith becomes dominant. With the Toxic God being tacked on to existing religions, this explains why the society is never "spiritualist", eveyone knows the toxic god, but everyone has different ideas on his meaning.

In the Century since the three Khans dominate afroeurasia, until the age of discovery the three great hordes have an uneasy status quo, but with the discovery of the new world there is one last great war for dominance, and the (choose) becomes dominant, and moves on to dominate the new world. At this stage Earth is Fantic Militarist + Authoritarian.

The Khans become famously hands off of their holdings further and further from their Capitol (at this point either Constantinople (Great Horde Path), Khanbaliq/Bejing (Yuan Path), or Baghdad (Ilkhanate path)), and final world dominance slowly erodes the warrior tradition, and distance from the throne erodes the authority of the throne. The Knights are the closest to the Khagan's authority, and their meritocratic recruitment (loyalty to the Khagan and skill with bow, blade, and horse) slowly fades out authoritarianism. Earth is Egalitarian, Xenophile, and Militarist

As the Khagan's authority wanes with the age of enlightenment the Khagan is increasingly a figurehead. Elected cadres of knights of the Toxic God come to rule the world, and the Khagan stops receiving tribute. The age of revolution begins, and elected knights lead their allies in a century of war against the Khagan. The first revolts are in the Americas in the 1600s, and by 1850 the final holdout of the Khangan falls. Earth is F-Egalitarian + Militarist

Fragmented nation states spend the next several hundred years squabbling, but there are no more great wars. As trade becomes more and more important, philosophy becomes more important that force of arms. By 2100 earth is united again, F-Egalitarian and Xenophile. During the Atomic Era the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl made the city become renamed Wyrmwood. Seeing this as a blessing from the Toxic God the followers of the Toxic God used their last political power to move earth's capitol to the closest major port city: Odessa. Mongolian is the language of Business across earth, and Ukrainian gains prominence once the Capitol is in Odessa. Various Mongolian influenced pidgins are used all over the world, and due to the long period of Xenophilia few languages have gone extinct

In 2200 the great habitat is built in the Lagrange Point between the Earth and Moon. It is Humanitie's greatest project to the point, an artificial inhabitable world at the ideal launch and build point. the United Nations of Earth proclaims themselves a star nation, and in honor of the history the Secretary General takes the title of Explorer Khan. While starting with slower than light travel and generation ships, the hyperlane network is eventually discovered, and the quest for the Toxic God is set to go beyond Sol's gravity well with due haste.

 

[Mímisbrunnr]

It's got to be one of the Mongol successor states to unite Earth under the Toxic God. This is right after the initial fracture of the great Mongol Empire. Blessed by the Toxic God the Ilkhanate, Yuan, and Great Horde proceeded to take over and three way split Afroeurasia. The disruption of the climate caused by the toxic god even allows the Great Yuan to invade Japan. The presence of a physical god upends all religion on earth, and a broad swath of syncretic polytheisms arrise, though a syncretic Tengri faith becomes dominant. With the Toxic God being tacked on to existing religions, this explains why the society is never "spiritualist", eveyone knows the toxic god, but everyone has different ideas on his meaning.

In the Century since the three Khans dominate afroeurasia, until the age of discovery the three great hordes have an uneasy status quo, but with the discovery of the new world there is one last great war for dominance, and the (choose) becomes dominant, and moves on to dominate the new world. At this stage Earth is Fantic Militarist + Authoritarian.

The Khans become famously hands off of their holdings further and further from their Capitol (at this point either Constantinople (Great Horde Path), Khanbaliq/Bejing (Yuan Path), or Baghdad (Ilkhanate path)), and final world dominance slowly erodes the warrior tradition, and distance from the throne erodes the authority of the throne. The Knights are the closest to the Khagan's authority, and their meritocratic recruitment (loyalty to the Khagan and skill with bow, blade, and horse) slowly fades out authoritarianism. Earth is Egalitarian, Xenophile, and Militarist

As the Khagan's authority wanes with the age of enlightenment the Khagan is increasingly a figurehead. Elected cadres of knights of the Toxic God come to rule the world, and the Khagan stops receiving tribute. The age of revolution begins, and elected knights lead their allies in a century of war against the Khagan. The first revolts are in the Americas in the 1600s, and by 1850 the final holdout of the Khangan falls. Earth is F-Egalitarian + Militarist

Fragmented nation states spend the next several hundred years squabbling, but there are no more great wars. As trade becomes more and more important, philosophy becomes more important that force of arms. By 2100 earth is united again, F-Egalitarian and Xenophile. During the Atomic Era the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl made the city become renamed Wyrmwood. Seeing this as a blessing from the Toxic God the followers of the Toxic God used their last political power to move earth's capitol to the closest major port city: Odessa. Mongolian is the language of Business across earth, and Ukrainian gains prominence once the Capitol is in Odessa. Various Mongolian influenced pidgins are used all over the world, and due to the long period of Xenophilia few languages have gone extinct

In 2200 the great habitat is built in the Lagrange Point between the Earth and Moon. It is Humanitie's greatest project to the point, an artificial inhabitable world at the ideal launch and build point. the United Nations of Earth proclaims themselves a star nation, and in honor of the history the Secretary General takes the title of Explorer Khan. While starting with slower than light travel and generation ships, the hyperlane network is eventually discovered, and the quest for the Toxic God is set to go beyond Sol's gravity well with due haste.

I have to admit that I am feeling rather silly right now for having not even THOUGHT of the Mongols, but you make an excellent point. They were a super-power empire - largest land empire ever - so they would be a far better candidate for bringing others into the fold than any of the European state. I guess that the reason Mongols slipped my mind is that "Knights" make you archetypically think of Europe and especially Western Europe, which led my mind to place too much weight there. But the Mongols had lots of mounted warriors, and as they bring Europe into the fold in this timeline (as well as the samurai of Japan), they could basically draw from both the European Knights, the Japanese samurai, and their own traditions as they develop the early Knights of the Toxic God. Great idea, making it the Mongols!

Also, you wentin way more detail that I reasonably hoped anyone would provide, so thank you so very much for tha]. While I am still going to keep the topic open to see what other perspectives, if any, I receive, you have given me a lot to think about. Even if I end up using more of another idea, I definitely see a LOT from this that I can borrow, and as things currently stand I'm highly tempted to adopt much of what you've written here. But again, I want to give more people a chance to respond so I can see other takes on it before committing. But as it stands, VERY nicely done.

 

[TrotBot]

So, I am planning on making my new Stellaris campaign an alternate history Earth where the events of the Knights of the Toxic God play out.

I have been, for RP purposes, trying to work out some broad strokes details of how the alternate history plays out.

General Guidelines:

• We will be Fanatic Egalitarian + Xenophile democracy, just like the United Nations of Earth. Though this may seem odd as Knights, the gist of the idea is that a combination of the Knights gradually coming to value the "protecting the weak" side of their chivalric vows more + being learned scholars in the pursuit of the Toxic God + an analogue to the Enlightenment causes a shift over hundreds of years, including the deposing of the monarchy at some time roughly in the mid 1600s to mid 1800s [period where English Civil War / American Revolution / French Revolution / Revolutions of 1848 took place in the real-world timeline].
• I am assuming that the Toxic God visited Earth in the year 1300 [chosen only so that the traditional 2300 mid-game year represents the millennial of the Toxic God's arrival]. (For context, Edward I "Longshanks" of England, Phillip IV "the Fair" of France [who in real history purged the Templars some years later], William Wallace are among the many figures who are contemporaries to the event).
• The Toxic God will also be called "Wormwood" by the people of the Earth, after the poisonous "star" in the Book of Revelation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormwood_(Bible). I am thinking of having the epicenter at the site of Chernobyl, Ukraine, for bonus points references with name etymology [as the word "Chernobyl" is another name for the plant species called wormwood in that language. Real-world Chernobyl also has a monument to the mythical star Wormwood, so the idea is "but in this alternate timeline it really happens, except its the Toxic God"]. Of course, the Toxic God's effects are planetary in scale.

Beyond that, I'm trying to figure out how the alternate history in between plays out, and how I can use this to "flavor" how I envision the resulting society of space-faring knights on the quest in 2200. I have a few key points, but I really want to try to figure out what happens in between them, or the details of how they happen.

Also, especially, as the intro to the origin mentions that there is a King who unifies the land in the wake of the Calamity, I'm trying to figure out WHICH king ends up being that one (the unifier) in the alternate history. The intro text does meant that they fought wars that purged "heretics", so they don't have to be an exactly nice person, and our future Egalitarian Knights would have since evolved in a different direction from their founder's example. The King does not need to be necessarily one of the rulers, like Edward or Phillip, that I've mentioned. Any king, regardless of location on Earth, who was contemporaneously alive and ruling in 1300 could be a candidate for the RP's purposes.

Also, if anyone has a more specific suggestion of WHEN in the say 1650s - 1850s range the monarchy should be overthrown/removed in my RP's alternate history, I'd greatly appreciate it.

That said, I'm interested in all relevant suggestions about any aspects of the RP: anything to flesh it out.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

The 1848 revolutions across europe and the 1871 Paris Commune. In this universe, Marx, Engels, and the 1st International, are all Knights. Marx and Engels wrote the Toxic Communist Manifesto. Shared burdens for sure.

 

[Mímisbrunnr]

The 1848 revolutions across europe and the 1871 Paris Commune. In this universe, Marx, Engels, and the 1st International, are all Knights. Marx and Engels wrote the Toxic Communist Manifesto. Shared burdens for sure.

Well, an itty bitty catch with this is that Marx and Engels probably weren't born in this timeline in the first place, as history changes so much in the wake of the Toxic God that a lot of people probably end up with different people as their partners and parents of their children even back in the 1300s, as well as so many people dying with the Toxic God. And even those whose parents didn't change may have been born at different times and thus be different people now. So Jeanne D'Arc, Columbus, Magellan, George Washington, Robespierre, Lincoln, Marx, Engels, Smith, Einstein, Newton, Hitler, FDR, Trump, Biden, Zelenksyy, Putin, etc. - good or bad, none of these people would exist in the new timeline.

ANALOGUES to those people could exist - people who believed in, promoted, or did similar things - but not these people themselves. (Its possible that someone with the same name might exist, but they probably wouldn't resemble the original's actions except by huge chance.)

By all means, its possible that the removal of a monarchy could follow along those lines - but it would probably be with analogue characters rather than those specific people [who probably don't exist in the new timeline].

 

[Mímisbrunnr]

It's got to be one of the Mongol successor states to unite Earth under the Toxic God. This is right after the initial fracture of the great Mongol Empire. Blessed by the Toxic God the Ilkhanate, Yuan, and Great Horde proceeded to take over and three way split Afroeurasia. The disruption of the climate caused by the toxic god even allows the Great Yuan to invade Japan. The presence of a physical god upends all religion on earth, and a broad swath of syncretic polytheisms arrise, though a syncretic Tengri faith becomes dominant. With the Toxic God being tacked on to existing religions, this explains why the society is never "spiritualist", eveyone knows the toxic god, but everyone has different ideas on his meaning.

In the Century since the three Khans dominate afroeurasia, until the age of discovery the three great hordes have an uneasy status quo, but with the discovery of the new world there is one last great war for dominance, and the (choose) becomes dominant, and moves on to dominate the new world. At this stage Earth is Fantic Militarist + Authoritarian.

The Khans become famously hands off of their holdings further and further from their Capitol (at this point either Constantinople (Great Horde Path), Khanbaliq/Bejing (Yuan Path), or Baghdad (Ilkhanate path)), and final world dominance slowly erodes the warrior tradition, and distance from the throne erodes the authority of the throne. The Knights are the closest to the Khagan's authority, and their meritocratic recruitment (loyalty to the Khagan and skill with bow, blade, and horse) slowly fades out authoritarianism. Earth is Egalitarian, Xenophile, and Militarist

As the Khagan's authority wanes with the age of enlightenment the Khagan is increasingly a figurehead. Elected cadres of knights of the Toxic God come to rule the world, and the Khagan stops receiving tribute. The age of revolution begins, and elected knights lead their allies in a century of war against the Khagan. The first revolts are in the Americas in the 1600s, and by 1850 the final holdout of the Khangan falls. Earth is F-Egalitarian + Militarist

Fragmented nation states spend the next several hundred years squabbling, but there are no more great wars. As trade becomes more and more important, philosophy becomes more important that force of arms. By 2100 earth is united again, F-Egalitarian and Xenophile. During the Atomic Era the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl made the city become renamed Wyrmwood. Seeing this as a blessing from the Toxic God the followers of the Toxic God used their last political power to move earth's capitol to the closest major port city: Odessa. Mongolian is the language of Business across earth, and Ukrainian gains prominence once the Capitol is in Odessa. Various Mongolian influenced pidgins are used all over the world, and due to the long period of Xenophilia few languages have gone extinct

In 2200 the great habitat is built in the Lagrange Point between the Earth and Moon. It is Humanitie's greatest project to the point, an artificial inhabitable world at the ideal launch and build point. the United Nations of Earth proclaims themselves a star nation, and in honor of the history the Secretary General takes the title of Explorer Khan. While starting with slower than light travel and generation ships, the hyperlane network is eventually discovered, and the quest for the Toxic God is set to go beyond Sol's gravity well with due haste.

Thinking further, it occurs to me that this idea could also be very compatible with Fanatic Xenophile + Egalitarian alongside Fanatic Egalitarian + Xenophile. I was originally planning the latter, but I suppose that either combination: Fan Xenophile + Egal or Fan Egal + Xenophile would be pretty valid for my plans.

Still, I am continuing to see if there is any further advice and see what other perspectives I can gather and weigh.

Also, got a number of suggestions on /r/stellaris that I still need to look through. You might be interested to see that someone else also suggested Mongols over there, that said.