Leaving the Cradle Behind
Sometimes, it is the smallest things that change the fate of the world. Or the fate of the universe, for that matter. Like when Robert de Hauteville left his home in Normandy in late 1040-is. Son of Tancred de Hauteville, an insignificant Norman minor noble. One of 16 children. Robert, having no prospects of his own, travelled to South Italy, or Mezzogiorno. Land contested by Byzantines, Lombards, Pope, Holy Roman Empire and Arabs. One where a man with quick wit and great skills can make a fortune and thrive.
Norman mercenaries had already been present. Including elder brothers of Robert. But it was Robert, who became known as Guiscard, or the Fox, who managed to gain the upper hand. From simple mercenaries, looking to make money in the conflict, the Normans became masters. When Robert Guiscard died in 1093, there were no Lombards, no Byzanties, no Arabs in Mezzogiorno. The Holy Roman Empire kept north and the Pope was powerless. As for Robert, he was the King of Sicily and ruler of the Mezzogiorno. Not bad for a landless Norman adventurer.
Robert Guiscard de Hauteville, first of Norman rulers in Mezzigiorno
The problem with Empires of Earth by that time was that while the founder of the dynasty was great, the son was perhaps not so much and usually, the grandson, living in life of luxury and wealth, had grown weak and complacent. And then, some other ruler reared his ugly head and thought to start the cycle again- be it a foreign ruler or a civil war. Somehow, Normans avoided that fate. Quite the opposite. Bohemond, the next ruler and grandson of Robert, was more awesome then Robert. Drogo, his son, was even more so. And Paul, the next in line, was known for his sharp intellect, herculean strength and great looks.
All of them conquered. More and more as time progresses. Bohemond reached Jerusalem and destroyed Fatimids, also conquering most of the South Coast of Mediterranean. Drogo dropped the Catholic faith and found his own religion, Norman Christianity. With blackjack, hookers, carnal exaltation and warmongery. He also took Rome. Paul topped it by taking Constantinople and proclaiming himself as an Emperor.
Then, Egelina happened. The first female Emperor. Perfect product of inbreeding. She was genius, strong and beautiful beyond compare- as were all the following rulers of the Normans. She also re-created the Roman Empire, just differentiating it from the original one by calling it a Norman Roman Empire. That name stuck to this date.
Egelina kept on conquering. As did her descendants. Until in 1404, Tancred took all of the known lands, creating the biggest empire the world had seen to date. And the most stable Empire. For all the successions went on without a hitch. All the rulers of the Norman Roman Empire were not just good, the best in Europe. The personal army of the Emperor was the toughest in the world.
That was not all though. During the Norman rule, science thrived. The Norman rulers were amongst the most learned men and women of Europe and attracted people of similar kind, creating a process known to history as the Norman Renaissance. Discoveries were made, like for example printing press and of course, gunpowder. Learning and literacy became more common. The biggest discovery was in astronomy though. Scientists proved that the Earth was not flat. That it revolved around the Sun. That the Sun was just one of the stars in our galaxy.
Forcing Tancred to lift his gaze towards the night sky, gazing at all these wonderful stars and imagining all the worlds. All the worlds he could conquer. Since then, the Normans had the Plan. Why settle with just one world? Since the time of Tancred, Normans had one creed- one world is not enough!
Of course, there was more to the current world than what the Normans knew of. Like, for example, China. Tancred’s son and heir, Godfrey, kept himself busy with that and took also Japan. No Divine Wind did save the Japanese this time. He also took rest of South-East Asia while he was at it.
During the time of Godfrey, the Norman Roman Empire reached from Lisboa to Beijing. Creating an unique set of logistical challenges. And since the Emperor traditionally was leading his own troops, simple message saying for example “Peasants in England are revolting, what to do?” would take months to reach the Emperor, fighting somewhere in the Yellow river region. His response would be half a year out of date by the time it got back. Resulting in about half a year delay between the issue and solution. Giving issue an ample time to morph into a bigger issue. Meaning the communication really stretched and the Empire was becoming too large, too cumbersome to handle.
Godfrey tried several things. Investing on roads and fast courier posts, the tried-and-true method, employed by Romans and Persians and so on. It shaved off a few weeks, but a message was still running about 100-150km per day. Too slow to communicate between Constantinople and Beijing. Then, he came up with another plan. How about optical telegraph stations? Manned by nice people who just move the semaphore poles and thus get a message across much faster than any of the riders? Just, you needed a lot of these towers. A really lot. Depending on geography, there should be a tower every 8-20km. Between Constantinople and Beijing, that means a lot of towers and just one dude, deciding that fuck it all, i’ll drink myself to stupor, renderes the thing unusable. So, when one bright man discovered electricity and another thought that hey, if we use it to send electrical pulses through the wires, we can send the messages across really fast. This occurred in 1423. The first tests were successful. Godfrey really took the idea. And put the financial might of the Empire behind it. So, a decade later, telegraph poles were a standard sight in the Norman countryside and the Imperial Palace of Blachernae looked like an angry hedgehog. Empire was more connected then ever.
It was not all. The rule of Godfrey, latter known as Godfrey the Inventor (though in truth, the Emperor himself invented nothing), saw the discovery of the power of steam. Yes, of course, the pumping of water from the mines. The industrial applications, where one machine could do the job of 100. These are all important, sure. But for Normans, the main practical application was putting the steam engines on ships. Resulting in bigger ships, not dependent on wind, able to ferry troops around more faster and with much better efficiency. Combined with better navigation methods, resulting in the ability to navigate without landmarks, the Normans could ferry an army or two from Mediterranean to China in a record time. By 1440, all the Normans ships were running on steam.
Then, some other chap thought that hey, if we put the same steam engine on a platform with wheels, then perhaps we can do the same on land? Just, needs a bit of track, cause the roads aren’t good enough. But if we add some carriages to it, we can move goods (and armies!) in a much greater quantity and much faster then walking or using horse-driven carts. Again, Godfrey took up the idea and put the might of the Empire behind it. Resulting in Constantinople-Beijing line being opened in 1452, with Godfrey himself and his merry men being the first ones to take the train. Riding with a breakneck speed of 50 kmph, the army reached China in a record time. And the men came out fresh, not tired from months of marching.
Speaking of armies, Godfrey inherited quite a traditional army, mix of swordsmen and pikemen and archers and cavalry and such. Along with ample cannons. Already during Tancred’s time, there had been tests to make the cannons portable. There were some successes and some units got gunpowder-weapons. During the rule of Godfrey though, the Normans replaced the traditional units with firearm-based units. Not the most precise ones, nor the most rapid-firing ones, but when fired in unison, they could pack a punch unlike any other weapon.
Godfrey also shared his father’s dream of space. This resulted in big cannons being built, aimed up high. Nowadays, we know that the gunpowder explosion is not enough to reach escape velocity, but the Normans found it out the hard way. At least something good came out of it- cannons able to fire beyond the horizon, so it was not all effort wasted.
Godfrey died in 1457. During his time, the Norman Roman Empire transformed with an incredible pace from late medieval Empire to early industrialized Empire. Steam power, steam ships, telegraph, firearms. Early railroads, connecting most of the important Norman centres. He also conquered China and the rest of South-East Asia, but it is said that though during his rule, Godfrey conquered plenty, he also managed to make the Empire smaller than ever. Vast distances did not seem so vast no more when you can pass them in comfortable first-class cabin of a train, moving at speeds unimaginable just half a century ago.
Geraud, the next Hauteville, kept up the work of his father. Furthering the railways. Making the landscape even more dotted with the telegraph lines. Discovering the other practical applications of electricity, like lighting up the cities. Making ships out of steel, instead of wood. Discovering the internal combustion engine and soon, first cars roamed the streets of Constantinople. The discovery of radio soon brought the voice of the Emperor to every home within a planet.
He also conquered more then any other Norman ruler to date. For during the late years of Godfrey, one of Norman stepships went off course, westwards. And discovered that hey, we have a few more continents! So, Geraud went and did what the Normans do best- he went on and conquered them. It was a different kind of conquest though, for apart from small areas in Mesoamerica and Peru, it was mostly tribal. Making it a joint effort of conquest and colonization, a lesson that Normans really did put to use in their later endeavors.
The discovery also created more curiosity of the world around them, creating a host of explorers, sailing out into unknown seas. In 1462, a small Norman ship, relying on both steam and sails, was the first one to pass the southern tip of America, reach the Pacific Ocean, then keep on sailing westwards, until they reached Norman Japan. From there, they still went westwards, until they reached Norman Ethiopia. Then, they turned south, passing the tip of Africa and sailed northwards, until Norman Guinea. From there to Constantinople, it was just a small home stretch and thus, the first circumnavigation was done. Australia was discovered a decade later and conquered-colonized three decades later. The world was becoming smaller. And Geraud really felt it was becoming not enough.
By 1492, the world was definitely not enough, for the world was Norman. Every spot of land under the sun belonged to Geraud. Every ocean, every sea, every lake, every puddle. All the mountains, all the valleys. Everything was Norman.
Then, Geraud went and invented something totally new. Instead of killing himself, like had been the Norman tradition, he just went and retired, leaving her daughter Fressenda and the new Empress of the Norman Roman Empire- and incidentally, of Earth, but hey, it is annoying to change the Empire’s name every century or so, so the Norman Roman Empire just stuck. Plus, the Normans had plans to go beyond Earth anyway, so why restrict yourself to a planet?
Fressenda had nowhere else to turn but to the sky. But first, she did something else. It was in 1503, when archeologists made an interesting discovery. Romans were wrong. Their dates were messed up. The City of Rome was not founded in 738 BC. The historians found that the settlement of Rome dated back not about a century later, but exactly a century later. Precise carbon dating had gotten really precise. No-one was certain why or how the Romans managed to add an entire century, but for a nation that managed to nick most of the obelisks in Egypt, nicking a century was nothing. Why though? Perhaps to add some glory and grandeur to their city? Why a century though? Why not millennia? We just don’t know. It created
Enough of a stir that Fressenda did something radical- abandoning the Christian calendar. After all, though Norman Christianity was a dominant religion, the Empire had countless other religions as well, and the Normans had become more lax in their conversion works during last century. Barring certain extremes like Mesoamerican habits of human sacrifice, the Norman policy had been “we don’t care”. Now, with the new date of founding of Rome, this seemed to be as good a time as any to mess around with the calendars. Thus, in 1504, Fressenda decreed that from next year onwards, the Normans would use ye goode olde Roman calendar. Just, Ab Urbe Condita got the extra century subtracted. So, the next year was not 1505 AD. It was 2158 AUC. This created a lot of confusion. Particularly amongst the historians specialising on Ancient Rome, who now had to deal with old AUC and new AUC, but the rest of population as well. But as humans do, they adapted and got used to suddenly living in the 22nd century within a couple of years. Fortunately, there were no big IT systems. Yet.
There were soon though. Early mechanical computers were now replaced with more digital ones. Size of a palace. And considerable resources of the Empire were pushed into R&D. To create better computers. To actually send something to space. To make life better for everyone. And so on. Emphasis on space though.
It paid off. In 2162, or 1509 if you prefer the old calendar, the first Norman rocket left the Earth behind. Sure, it entered the atmosphere a few minutes later and burned to a crisp, but hey, it was still a grand achievement. Followed by several more. First one carrying cargo was launched four month later and the Earth had their first satellite from now on. Followed by first Hauteville in space in 2163. Bohemond stayed in space for an hour, then returned, unharmed, and a hero. Then, he went three more times, until on the fourth time, his rocket exploded. Then, he was remembered as a hero.
This did not stop the Norman expansion though. Resources were pouring in and rockets were flying up. First non-manned trip to the moon was in 2165. Followed by a manned expedition in 2166. Then, the Moon was decreed as not really interesting, for there was nothing but moondust and conquering moondust is boring.
The Normans were on a roll though. The Empire sent probes to all the bigger celestial bodies of Earth. The first mission to Mars went under full gear. The construction of a permanent base in space around Earth had begun. All the effort Normans put into conquering the world went now to conquering the solar system. Though the enemy was a bit different, it did not matter and the Normans took the new task with enthusiasm.
Mission to Mars took place in 2170. The planet was deemed to be uncolonizable. Perhaps some time in the future, but at the moment, creating a colony on Mars was deemed to be a waste of resources. Instead, Normans pushed onwards, to the asteroid belt. In 2174, they established the first Norman outpost in Pallas, one of the biggest asteroids in the belt. It served as a base of mining operations. The logistics were much harder than digging on Earth. You really didn’t have to worry much about air and food and fuel costs on Earth. On the other hand, the minerals were easier to mine.
It was followed by another mining outpost in one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, in 2179. It was a longer stretch, but the minerals were plentiful, so it paid off. This continued- in 2181, Normans established an energy mining operation in Neptune and in the following year, around the Sun herself. Hellish temperatures meant nothing when there were credits to be had. Followed by a research station outside Uranus. Result- by the end of the century, Normans got around 20% of their minerals and about 10% of their energy from the rest of the solar system.
At the same time, Normans started the construction of the first major station in Solar system, designed to operate as both trade hub and shipyard. Finished in 2190. Produced three small corvette-class ships, for even small corvette-class ships are still bloody expensive when you’re a small one-planet based Empire. Still, for the first time, Normans had their first space navy.
At the very same year, Fressenda retired. She had no lands left to conquer, so she went and conquered herself one solar system. In theory, she outdid every other Hauteville thus far, but in reality, there was not much land conquered. The Hauteville system that mandated that the eldest child inherits (unless you happen to be an Emperor or Empress, then you get to decide who is the eldest) relied on constant influx of newly conquered lands, so the younger children can be sent off to be barons or counts or dukes or even kings in the newly conquered lands. That system was now crumbling because of the lack of new lands. Discontent rose. And well, Roger de Hauteville, Duke of Mining Station Pallas just doesn’t have that nice ring to it. Plus, the mining stations were limited, and the living members of Hauteville reached a million in 2182.
The new Empress, Adelin, was kind of in a bind. Norman astronomers had identified some habitable worlds in nearby Sirius and Alpha Centauri systems. But the word “nearby” in cosmic terms still means four years of flight at the speed of light. Normans were at the moment able to sustain about 1/10th of it- meaning four decades. The Normans had actually sent probes to both systems, but if things went well, it meant that the results would be back in about 2220 and even if the worlds turned out to be habitable, it would take decades to build a colony ship capable of sustaining the trip and well, by then the young landless Hautevilles would have had some fun.
Civil war like no other in the history of Earth loomed on the horizon. It would be Hauteville against Hauteville, brother and sister against their eldest, all against the Empress and so on. Most of the Earth, having seen more then a century of peace (and core regions of the Empire, having seen it for several centuries), would be devastated in a war fought by modern weapons, the Pax Normannica that allowed the Earth to flourish would be undid by the Normans themselves.
Adelin did not like the prospect. She knew full well what was going on. And understood one thing- in order to stop the Earth dissolving into chaos unlike any other, humanity needs to go beyond the solar system. As the saying goes though: “When in doubt, invest in theoretical physics”. That’s what she did. It was not enough though. In 2193, the Empress decreed that whoever solves the problem of interstellar travel gets the hand of the Empress. Kinda hoping that the one did would be a man, or things would get really awkward.
Adelin got lucky. It was a man. Not just any man, but a Hauteville. Tancred de Hauteville, youngest son of Duke of Alexandria. Sharing the usual Hauteville brilliance, the man had studied in the best colleges, had the best teachers and was part of the problem- a younger son with not much prospects in gaining any land of his own. Not that he complained much, he was too interested in his studies and in 2195, he published his work “The possibility of hyperlanes and their usage of hyperlane travels.”.
It turns out that the Earth has three hyperlanes. Places where space bends, allowing ships to travel distance that would take years in real space to happen with just days. It was theoretical, sure. But it was better then nothing and Adelin put the might of the Empire behind the project. A year later, an unmanned probe was sent to Sirius. Well, unmanned, but well-monkeyed. Three chimpanzees were on board and they were the first inhabitants of Earth who went outside the Solar system. The thing is, operating a hyperdrive is something a chimpanzee cannot do and one needs to have a pilot in order to activate the hyperjump, for there are a lot of last-minute calculations to be done. This happened in 2196. Then, it was a waiting time. Until on 12th of December 2199, the probe’s signal from Sirius reached the outer edge of the Solar system. Confirming that the monkeys were alive and well and survived the trip without issues.
The following day, the 29-year old Tancred became the Emperor-Consort of the Norman Roman Empire, marrying 39-year old Adelin de Hauteville. Knight in nerdy glasses had defeated the dragon of distances and now, got his Empress as a reward. Fortunately, the Empress and the scientist had kinda grown to love each other, for else the union, following the best medieval traditions, would be kinda strange in the new, upcoming 23rd century.
The Empress and the Nerd. Adelin, last of the Hautevilles to date.
As for the Norman Roman Empire and humanity, they had finally broken the Cradle. It was time not just to gaze at the stars and dream of an Empire accompanying all of them. It was time to make it a reality. It was nearly 2200 AUC; or 1547 in AD. The Norman quest for the stars had begun.
