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The influence of the Sergals spreads... It's nice to see what's happening in the rest of the world.
The Roman Empire stands restored in glory - the division caused by the Crusade is over!
The Roman Empire stands restored in glory - the division caused by the Crusade is over!
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Sweden and the Conquest of the New World - 1527-1700 AD
Although England was the first European country to colonize Sicalia, it did not take long before other European powers followed suit. In search of silver and other precious metals, Sweden established the colony of Silvermark on the southeastern coast of South Sicalia in 1527 AD. France, Frisia, Castile, and Galicia founded their own colonies to grow cash crops—mainly sugar cane—on the northeastern coast of South Sicalia in 1535 AD, 1538 AD, 1549 AD, and 1585 AD respectively.
England began to establish colonies along the east coast of North Sicalia in 1538 AD in order to acquire furs, and later to grow tobacco. Saxony and Scotland similarly founded colonies of their own in the northeastern parts of North Sicalia in 1553 AD and 1606 AD respectively in order to tap into the lucrative fur trade. While Scotland’s colony of Nova Scotia remained small, Saxony’s colony of Kanada experienced a great deal of expansion, partially due to the fur trade and the Grand Banks fishery.
Fuelled by the wealth from their silver mines in South Sicalia, Sweden established the colony of Westland at the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1572 AD, with the intention to grow cash crops as well as build a commercial empire in Sicalia. By 1590 AD Sweden founded the colony of New Sweden on the east coast of North Sicalia in order to expand their reach further north.
France went on to set up two highly successful colonies in the western parts of North Sicalia, such as Charlesiane, which would end up bordering Mechicko and Westland, as well as the colony of Alésqac in the northwest. Frisia meanwhile established the colony of Arjansland on the coast west of Mechicko. England founded its colony of Cascadia in the northwest, between Alésqac and Charlesiane.
The late 16th century saw the development of the flintlock musket in Sagaria, which was adopted as the main weapon of the Sagarian army in 1601 AD. Sweden was the second country to implement the widespread adoption of both flintlock muskets and bayonets as part of King Valdemar II’s military reforms in the early 17th century. Valdemar II’s reforms were largely due to the growing wealth of Sweden as well as its close relationship with Sagaria. Another notable aspect of these reforms was a change in attitude towards Swedish sergals. Like in most of the rest of Europe, the Swedish crown had provided sergals with land to subsist on in exchange for military service. But thanks to the greater authority and wealth of the Swedish monarch, sergals would now instead be recruited to serve as Sergaljägare—an elite unit of professional soldiers who acted as skirmishers, scouts, sharpshooters and runners. Most notably, the Sergaljägare were trained to use rifles, which were highly accurate but also slow to reload and clean, whereas the rest of the Swedish infantry were trained to use smoothbore muskets. King Valdemar II also pioneered the use of line infantry which, when working in tandem with Sergaljägare, made the Swedish army the second best fighting force in the world, second only to the Sagarian military.
As a result of Valdemar II’s reforms and Sweden’s imperial ambitions, the Scandinavian kingdom began to endeavor towards turning Sicalia into a Swedish continent in the early to mid 17th century. This began in 1633 AD when Sweden declared war on England for colonial territory, with France and Austrasia joining the war on the side of the English. The First Anglo-Swedish War lasted for six years and ended in a decisive defeat for England and its allies, resulting in the loss of roughly half of its colonial territory on the eastern seaboard of North Sicalia, which were absorbed by New Sweden.
Sicalia in 1600 AD
Sicalia in 1700 AD
Sweden later launched another colonial war in 1659 AD, this time against Frisia, which ended in a crushing defeat for the Frisians in 1665 AD and forced them to cede all of their South Sicalian colonies to the Swedes. Between the Second Anglo-Swedish War of 1685 AD and the countless wars of conquest waged against the indigenous Sicalians, Sweden came to dominate South Sicalia and a large portion of North Sicalia as well by the end of the 17th century. However, not all of the indigenous were directly conquered—both the Lenape and the Muisca were turned into protectorates.
Sergal demographics in Sicalia in 1600 AD
Sergal demographics in Sicalia in 1700 AD
An interesting side effect of the colonial wars of the 17th century was that many of the sergals who were brought to Sicalia to fight ended up settling down in the colonies.
As Sweden grew more wealthy, powerful, and influential, its society came to prosper. Culture and science flourished, resulting in many new innovations in art, music, and architecture. While the quality of life for the average Swede improved somewhat, the vast majority of Sweden’s wealth was concentrated into the hands of the royal family, the nobility, and the burghers, and this would end up having dire consequences in the mid-18th century.
Wild to see almost all of the New World dominated by the Swedes. I fear that this chapter in this alternate world's history may be every bit as dark for the First Nations and South/East Asians as our own is. But that may be a discussion for another forum.
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That is a very extensive (and relatively rapid) conquest of most of Sicalia by Sweden.
I'm also surprised it didn't affect events outside of Sicalia, honestly. There weren't territorial or monetary (debt) effects on Britain or Frisia?
I'm also surprised it didn't affect events outside of Sicalia, honestly. There weren't territorial or monetary (debt) effects on Britain or Frisia?
I mean, yeah definitely. Things will start to improve in the 18th century, though.
Now that I think about it, both England (remember, there is no unified Britain) and Frisia probably suffered from debt following their defeat, and that would certainly have helped contribute to the former's decline and fall. They did not lose any territory outside of Sicalia, though. Sweden's borders within Europe remained largely unchanged throughout the 17th century, so they seemed to have focused their ambitions almost entirely on the New World.
To be fair, Sweden at this point is swimming in cash. For much of the 17th century, Sagaria is collecting a little over a thousand ducats a month from its home trading node in the Baltic, which also happens to be the Swedish home trading node. I'm guessing that they collected anywhere between 300 and 500 ducats from that trade node alone, given how much trade power they had there.
In addition, due to its proximity to Sagaria, Sweden also had a lot of sergal-inhabited provinces, which provides a nice boost to manpower, so that would also benefit them when waging war.
The Childcare and Scientific Revolutions - 1550-1700 AD
Prior to the 16th century, Sagaria was unique in the world in that its children were raised communally and provided with free education. This began to change following Shesu Lefin Igan’s accession as Pope Sixtus VIII in 1549 AD. Prior to becoming a bishop, Shesu had served as both a priest and a teacher in one of Sagaria’s church-run schools, while also working as a part-time childrearer in the communal creche. When, in his younger years, Shesu traveled outside of Sagaria for the first time to go on a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, he was surprised by how uneducated most people were and appalled by the treatment of orphans by both the church and society at large. After becoming Pope, he devoted his life to improving childcare for the poor throughout the Catholic world.
Over the course of his 19 year Pontificate, Sixtus VIII established a new system of orphanages modeled after the communal creches of Sagaria. These would be staffed by sergals whenever possible, as Sixtus VIII considered his own species to be better communal childrearers than humans. He also passed sweeping reforms to the Church’s current school system, basing it off of Sagaria’s schola communis and schola major. This became the basis for the modern public school system, providing a general education for both boys and girls, as well as opportunities for higher learning for the gifted.
Of course, such a comprehensive childcare system required funding. As such, Sixtus VIII decreed that Church spending on art and architecture would be decreased, and that the collection of tithes, especially from the wealthy, would become more strictly enforced. Naturally, this made him very unpopular with the upper class in Europe, but they later came to appreciate him, as a fully literate and educated populace would end up paying dividends.
Because of Sixtus VIII’s controversial reforms, it’s likely that anyone succeeding him might have overturned them. As such, he maneuvered to ensure a successor who supported his work. Pope Martinus VII acceded in 1568 AD and upheld Sixtus VIII’s reforms, and between their 43 year reign, the new childcare system became a normalized and accepted, even celebrated, part of the Catholic world.
Of course, since most children outside of Sagaria spent most of their days working or helping their parents, they were not able to attend school as often as those who lived in the orphanages. Because of that, the late 16th century and the 17th century saw highly educated orphans rise to prominence. These came to be highly valued by the upper class in the Catholic world, as their lack of family ties meant that they were more loyal to and reliant on their employers.
Nevertheless, following the implementation of Sixtus VIII’s reforms, literacy rates began to rise sharply throughout the Catholic world, which is largely believed to have helped transform the Renascerian movement into the Scientific Revolution. The efforts of Sixtus VIII and Martinus VII and how much it benefited society was fully recognized in the 17th century, which resulted in the canonization of them both.
The birth of the Scientific Revolution was due to a number of factors—the reexamination of past wisdom, the flourishing of new ideas thanks to the printing press and rising literacy rates, technological innovations, a love for novelty, as well as the desire to explore and investigate lands hitherto unknown by Europe. The Scientific Revolution was largely centered on Sagaria and Sweden, as their wealth and vast colonial empires allowed them to nourish this movement, as well as allowing collectors to more easily gather a wide array of exotic specimens and artifacts to create “cabinets of curiosities”—early equivalents of today’s museums.
The philosophical underpinning of the Scientific Revolution was established in Sagaria in the late 16th century by Falas Rané Atani, often considered to be the mother of empiricism. She rejected the Aristotelian scientific tradition and instead proposed inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry. This came to be called the Falasian method, or simply the scientific method, and it marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today.
Another important Sagarian figure who helped give birth to the Scientific Revolution was Elena Neran Eshucan, who used newer and more accurate instruments to build upon the astronomical works of Queen Sifel II. She invented the first refracting telescope in 1582 AD and with it she saw the mountains and craters of the Moon, and the moons of Jupiter. With improvements made with Sagarian glass making, Elena was able to increase the magnification and clarity of her telescope in 1598 AD, allowing her to see the ring of Saturn, as well as a previously unknown planet—Neptune. Elena was also notable for stating that the laws of nature are mathematical, which was repeatedly demonstrated throughout her works, and is why she is widely considered to be the mother of modern physics.
Meanwhile, the Swedish astronomer Nils Bragge established that the planets moved in elliptical orbits rather than circular ones as he developed his laws of planetary motion between 1588 and 1598 AD. This allowed him to create a model of the solar system that was an improvement over the original system originally set forth by Queen Sifel II.
While figures such as Elena Neran Eshucan and Nils Bragge studied distant objects in the sky, others began to observe what could never be seen before. Sifel Lacar Tinashan invented the compound microscope in 1593 AD, and ten years later the first detailed, anatomical images of insects were published. The 17th century saw a renewed interest in Epicurean atomism and corpuscularianism as a hybrid or an alternative to Aristotelian physics, which would eventually evolve into the modern atomic theory in the 18th century. This inspired several students and teachers of Saint Sesev’s University to experiment with and improve Sifel’s original compound microscope in a quest to see the hypothesized atoms. Thanks to several advances made with Sagarian glass and lens making, this led to a series of new microscope designs which eventually allowed them to observe bacteria and other microorganisms in 1650 AD. At the same time, detailed analyses of human and sergal anatomy began to overturn humoral medicine, as a deeper understanding of the body and its organs was developed.
Portrait of Lazzaro Romani
Of course, the figure most associated with the Scientific Revolution is Lazzaro Romani. His parentage is unknown, as he was admitted to the orphanage of Santa Maria a Ripa in Rome as an infant in 1617 AD, where he was raised. He was identified as a gifted student by his teachers, who recommended him for a scholarship, which he received in 1635 AD, allowing him to pursue higher learning at Saint Sesev’s University in Sagaria that same year. While studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree, Lazzaro discovered the generalized binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became calculus. After earning his BA in 1638 AD, he continued his studies while also developing his theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation.
“As we study the universe, it becomes clear that the mechanical perfection of its workings is akin to a clockwork, wherein the clockmaker is God.” - Lazzaro Romani
While philosophers of the Scientific Revolution had gradually developed and adopted a mechanistic philosophical outlook on the world, Lazzaro believed fundamentally that the universe was a sort of clockwork that followed immutable laws, and the mathematics and universal laws of motion described in his works established a system that seemed to be able to describe the whole world in mathematical formulae—which came to be called classical mechanics and dominated scientists' view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Lazzaro’s work contributed to many advances during the Industrial Revolution which soon followed, and his conception of a clockwork universe would come to influence the theology and philosophy of the Enlightenment.
A lot of the fruits of the Scientific Revolution can be attributed to the continued patronage of the social elite of Sagaria and of Sweden. Telescopes became highly popular as many wealthy Sagarians and Swedes came to spend their spare time studying the stars, and as such they helped fund experiments with glass and lens making in the hopes of improving their telescopes. The early 17th century also saw the development of submarines, which at the time were essentially boat hulls covered with waterproof leather that used heated sodium nitrate to give off oxygen and absorb some carbon dioxide, allowing the craft to stay submerged for at least three hours. Although their potential benefits were immediately apparent, these early submarines were very rarely actually deployed, as they were at the time deemed too costly and unreliable.
Finally, the Mercantile Clans funded inventors who experimented with ways to improve production and resource extraction. This eventually led to the invention of the atmospheric engine in 1693 AD, and the coke blast furnace in 1694 AD—technologies that ushered in a new revolution: the Industrial Revolution.
With the industrial revolution kicking off almost a century early, it'll be exciting to see how society progresses from there.
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A Scientific Revolution supported by the Church completely? That's interesting.
The early Industrial Revolution should lead to increased technological advancement overall - which could prove problematic. I don't think Paradox has mechanics for that, but it's possible.
The early Industrial Revolution should lead to increased technological advancement overall - which could prove problematic. I don't think Paradox has mechanics for that, but it's possible.
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The Catholic Church of this timeline is a lot stronger and more dominant than in OTL, so they don't feel threatened enough to clamp down on anything that vaguely looks like heresy. Add to that that all of the leading figures of the Scientific Revolution are Catholics and thus view and explain their discoveries through a Catholic lens. Of course, it also helps that the Church was primed with heliocentrism back during the Renasceria.
I wouldn't say that Paradox doesn't have mechanics for it. In EU4, Sagaria is perpetually ahead in tech by 27 years. And in Vic2, I edited the files so that the relevant countries start with higher literacy, which means that tech is researched faster.
The Rise of Capitalism - 1361-1700 AD
From the 14th century, capitalism—the investment and trade of goods for profit—started to become a key force in European economics, politics, culture, and warfare. Later, the establishment of colonial empires and the creation of trading centers to finance them began to drive this new wave of global commerce.
The establishment of the Sagarian Mercantile Clans’ extensive trading network, the discovery of Sicalia, and the development of ocean-going ships capable of sailing vast distances in the 15th century kickstarted the modern era of capitalism. The enterprise of investing money to make money now had a global reach with potentially massive profits, simply because of the scarcity of precious commodities and the large distances involved. The value of goods from the east was so huge in Europe that it paid for the costs of such voyages many times over.
The return of investment might have been high, but so were the risks. Ships often succumbed to storms, reefs, and pirates, with the result that all of the goods would be lost in an instant. Investment in ships, rigging, guns, and crew, as well as refurbishing and filling the ships with outgoing stock, was also huge. Such undertakings tied up large sums of money for long periods, sometimes years, before any profit could be realized.
The clan structure of Sagaria naturally facilitated this, as the risks and profits of any business venture would have been borne and shared by all of the clan members. However, elsewhere in Europe, other methods of spreading out the risk of trading ventures were developed, resulting in the creation of joint-stock companies. Investors bought into these companies—even if they had no personal connections to their trading activities—by buying stocks in them on the open market. They could sell their stocks but, crucially, could not withdraw their capital. An investor’s share in a company’s stock could also be sold at whatever price the buyer and seller agreed on.
Joint-stock companies enjoyed a much more long-term and independent existence than other companies, as they built up their capital and buoyant markets for their shares over time. In return for being given a commercial monopoly abroad, these companies provided protection on the ocean and employed their own armed ships and troops to protect their coastal entrepôts and trade, allowing them to make local war and peace.
Specialist traders, called brokers, began to emerge to arrange deals between buyers and sellers of stocks and shares in return for a cut on each transaction. In Dagskrona in Sweden, the brokers gathered at first in coffeehouses where a system of stockbroking gradually became established. Merchants, brokers, ship owners, and sea captains would meet to discuss investment and insurance for new voyages in these coffeehouses. They would also be used by brokers to negotiate with investors to buy and sell shares in joint-stock companies and trading ventures. In 1671 AD, the brokers of Dagskrona came up with the idea to produce lists of share prices and shipping departure data, which were displayed at the coffeehouses they frequented. Not long thereafter, they also began to sell newsletters of share and commodity prices there, which were published twice a week.
By the end of the 17th century, King Bertil VII of Sweden established the first formal stock exchange building in Dagskrona, cementing the city as one of the foremost financial centers of the world. There, ships were chartered, cargo insured, and stocks and shares bought and sold.
Meanwhile in Sagaria, while the Scientific Revolution was in full swing, the Mercantile Clans began to develop new ways of organizing labor in order to increase the output of goods. This resulted in the creation of manufactories—forerunners of modern factories—where workers were organized and specialized through division of labor to mass-produce manufactured goods. This proved so successful that following the Sagarian property reforms that the Mercantile Clans pushed through in 1689 AD, they began to set up manufactories throughout the Kingdom. However, the actual working conditions in these manufactories were more often than not abysmal, and among the workers, this caused a growing resentment towards the Mercantile Clans and the corrupt clan leaders who kept turning a blind eye to their plight.
Sagaria has aided in the formation of capitalism? I wonder what the future communists will think of that?
Speaking of which, that last paragraph seems to imply that there will be a lot of socialists in the future.
Speaking of which, that last paragraph seems to imply that there will be a lot of socialists in the future.
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I mean, they're imperialistic colonizers whose leaders are highly corrupt and pretty much solely driven by the desire to increase their profits, so I don't think they'd look too fondly at them at all. xD
That is, if communism even exists at all in this timeline.
Since the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution happen pretty much concurrently in this timeline, that's going to significantly alter the evolution of modern political philosophy. Add to that that Sagarian society is already highly communal. So the political movements on the horizon could probably be described as socialist, but they'll definitely be a bit different from the socialist movements of OTL.
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Age of Reason and Industry - 1700-1750 AD
The turn of the 18th century saw the Scientific Revolution mature and blossom into the Age of Enlightenment, leading to the rapid development of new ideas in the realms of philosophy, politics, science, and industry. Saint Sesev’s University in Sagaria became the beacon of this new age, as many of its revolutionary ideas originated from its students and professors. Most notably at the beginning of the century, a group of students were working on a colossal and ambitious project to assemble a complete encyclopedia of all knowledge, which was finally published in 32 volumes in 1716 AD.
The turn of the 18th century also saw booksellers become an increasingly common sight in the cities of Sagaria. Furthermore, the system of public libraries that had first been established by Queen Rusin in the early 12th century had their collections greatly expanded, allowing them to start lending out books. As literacy soared in Sweden, King Bertil VII used his country’s wealth to copy Sagaria’s public library system in 1712 AD, and many other European countries would follow suit in the early to mid 18th century.
Additionally, the early 18th century saw the rise of feminism as an ideology. While purely agnatic systems of inheritance began to fall out of favor in much of Europe in the High Middle Ages, by the Renasceria many European countries started to shift towards a more cognatic system. Around that time it also became more common for wealthy families in Europe to send their daughters to Sagaria to pursue higher education. And because Sagaria had a mostly matriarchal culture, these women’s views on gender came to be heavily influenced by it. As a result, the 16th and 17th century saw a growing number of women rise to the position of monarch or the head of their family. However, these changes were limited to the upper class—the royals, the nobility, and the wealthy burghers—whereas the rest of society remained strictly patriarchal. The feminist thinkers that first arose in the early 18th century criticized this state of affairs, and instead sought to establish political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes throughout society.
During the Scientific Revolution, many farmers began to treat farming as a science, particularly in Sagaria, where such efforts were funded by the Mercantile Clans. Improved seeds in Sagaria and later in Sweden yielded new varieties of fruit and vegetables, and numerous new horse-drawn threshers, cultivators, grain, grass cutters, and seed-drills were used. And in the early 17th century, some farmers began to pioneer four-field crop rotation, growing wheat, turnips, barley, and clover in sequence, which greatly increased crop yields by improving soil fertility and reducing fallow. This also provided livestock with a fodder crop and a grazing crop, allowing them to be bred year-round, which greatly increased the availability of fresh meat and other animal products. Four field crop rotation proved so successful that it was implemented throughout Sagaria by the mid-17th century, and it was later popularized in Sweden in the early 18th century, and elsewhere in Europe and Sicalia around mid-century. The beginning of the 18th century also saw the development of much more scientific and effective methods of selectively breeding animals, resulting in the creation of new varieties more specialized for the various tasks they were to perform. This was closely followed by the invention of the swing plough in 1705 AD, which consisted entirely of the coulter, an iron-covered mould board and handles, making it much lighter and thus easier as well as more efficient to work with.
As a result of this dramatic increase in agricultural productivity, more people could be fed, which resulted in a massive population boom. It also meant that less people were needed to work the fields. In Sagaria, many were instead assigned to work in the manufactories of the Mercantile Clans. With the introduction of new technologies, such as the Flying Shuttle in 1705 AD and the Spinning Luca the following year, these manufactories evolved into modern factories.
Sagaria experienced a dramatic increase in iron production beginning in 1710 AD, as the steam engine began to be used to power blast air in blast furnaces. Then, in 1712 AD, Tenatar Faré Gerasie invented an improved steam engine. Unlike the atmospheric engine, the Tenatar engine was much more fuel efficient and enabled the development of a double-acting cylinder in 1719 AD, with both upwards and downwards power strokes, increasing the amount of power from the engine without increasing its size. This also meant that it could be used to directly drive the rotary machinery of a factory or mill, which rapidly increased the rate of industrialization. 1719 AD also saw the development of two significant iron manufacturing processes—rolling and puddling, which produced structural grade iron at a relatively low cost. As iron became cheaper and more widely available, it began being used as structural material for bridges and buildings.
As scales of production increased, so did the amount of goods and capital that needed to be transported. Although Sagaria had maintained an excellent road network for centuries, it became apparent that more effective means of transportation needed to be devised. Starting in the early 18th century, canals were built and waterways expanded to allow bulk materials to be more cheaply transported long distances inland. However, in 1735 AD the first railways began to appear all over Sagaria. Of course, the wagons on these early railways were drawn by horses, as the locomotive wouldn’t be introduced until 1756 AD.
While the field of chemistry first began to be developed in the mid-17th century as the alchemical traditions of old were reshaped into a scientific discipline, atomic theory didn’t develop until a century later, when Ferena Lafie Isutan noticed that chemical substances seemed to combine and break down into other substances by weight in proportions that suggested that each chemical element is ultimately made up of tiny indivisible particles of consistent weight. In 1758 AD, she published a treatise where she outlined her atomic theory in detail and provided her rationale for it.
This massive wave of innovation was largely due to Saint Sesev’s University, as the Scientific Revolution and the generous funding provided to it by the Mercantile Clans had gradually transformed it into a vital institution of Sagarian society. As a result, several design bureaus, research institutes, and industrial research laboratories sprung up around it. And because Saint Sesev’s University had a long history of being considered the most prestigious university in Europe, and later the world, it attracted many students from abroad who helped fuel its research.
The Swedish middle and ruling class watched the developments in Sagaria with great interest and sought to implement this great transformation into their own country. They sent the best and brightest to study in Sagaria so that they could bring back the expertise needed to industrialize Sweden. Following his accession to the throne in 1716 AD, King Adolf introduced sweeping reforms to increase the power and authority of the crown, as well as to encourage economic and industrial growth.
While Sagaria had always been highly urbanized when compared to its European contemporaries, as less people were needed to work in agriculture, people instead flocked to the cities, where many ended up working in the factories. This resulted in a massive explosion of urbanization. Sweden experienced similar developments, but there the changes were much more dramatic, as the Swedes had historically been much more rural. However, for those forced to move to the cities, life was often squalid and miserable. For much of the 18th century, the influx of people to the cities outstripped the facilities available, leading to the creation of working-class slums where the food supply and sanitation were so bad that many died from malnutrition and disease, which was further exacerbated by industrial pollution.
This radical transformation and the plight of the workers did not go unnoticed by the philosophers and political commentators of the day. And in 1721 AD, Lecar Silan Rusie published “An Inquiry into the Nature of Industrial Politics”, which heavily criticized the social and economic inequalities in Sagaria and the exploitation of the working class. He called for a new social order guided by reason and equality, where the supreme authority of a nation lay with the people and not with any monarch or plutocrat. Furthermore, he called for the mobilization of the workers and intelligentsia to establish this new order. Lecar’s ideas terrified the ruling class of Sagaria, who had him executed for treason that same year and attempted to suppress his work. However, all this did was turn Lecar into a martyr and galvanize his supporters, and as a result his ideas spread to every corner of Sagaria, Sweden, and beyond.
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Sagaria might become a republic. That might a disaster... or a blessing in disguise.
It's nice that technology is getting better...
It's nice that technology is getting better...
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I think republic does suit Sagarian society more than monarchy
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The thing is... you know how they completely wrecked the Muslim world during the Crusades? Imagine an industrializing Sagaria launching a crusade, not for Christianity, but for the revolution, and consider what that might entail for the rest of Europe.
Masters of War - 850-1775 AD
The beginnings of Sagaria’s modern military organization can be traced back to the mid-9th century. At the time, Sagarian mercenaries were often hired by the Byzantine Empire due to the sergals’ unique military prowess. And upon returning home, their experience and knowledge often allowed them to rise in the ranks of the Sagarian military. Compared to the Byzantine Empire’s highly organized military, that of Sagaria was a mess, with each army being organized in whatever fashion its commander felt worked best, which often caused confusion whenever two or more armies had to cooperate. Working in the Byzantine Empire, the Sagarian mercenaries were so impressed by the organization of its armies that when some of them attained the position of commander at home, they decided to copy it. This proved so successful that by the High Middle Ages, the military structure that had been borrowed from the Byzantine Empire had become the standard. Even so, given that Sagaria had no cavalry and instead relied on the mobility of its infantry, the system borrowed from the Byzantine Empire was adapted to better suit their own style of warfare, and its basic structure would remain largely unchanged up until the late 18th century.
The base unit of a Sagarian army was the contofernie, which consisted of ten soldiers or ilucar (literally meaning “someone who bears weapons”). Of these ten soldiers, eight were actual combatants while two served as caraluté (luggage carriers) and carried most of the equipment aside from personal gear, which the other eight carried by themselves. The decarcé was the leader of the contofernie and was responsible for organizing the unit and maintaining discipline to ensure that all of its members lived, trained, hunted, and fought together effectively. Carried with these ten soldiers were tools for repairing equipment and clothes, a tent for shelter, cooking utensils, and other supplies. The contofernie was designed to be as self-sufficient and mobile as possible, so when traveling long distances or designating a meeting point, each unit could move on its own. Thanks to this structure, Sergal army units could easily split off when needed and move independently to surround larger, less maneuverable enemy armies.
Ten contofernie formed a centarcie, which was led by a centarces. Prior to the introduction of gunpowder, eight of the ten contofernie in a centarcie were composed of ashicar (Medieval Sagaria’s famous heavy infantry soldiers), whereas the remaining two were composed of nishanuté (lightly armored archers). Two centarcie formed a fandun, which was led by a comes, while two fandun formed a durungé, led by a durungar. Finally, six durungé formed a turman, led by a turmarces, and four turman formed a temar, which was led by a satrateg. Each unit within a temar, from a contofernie to a turman, was given considerable freedom in how they achieved their goals. Aside from setting the target and the timeline to accomplish the task, interference from higher command was minimal, allowing them to operate independently from one another if need be.
The introduction of gunpowder weapons in the form of artillery in the 13th century began to change the way the Sagarian military operated. At first, artillery was only used defensively or in sieges, but the development of field artillery in the 1470s AD resulted in the creation of artillery detachments in some Sagarian armies. Even so, because the Sagarian military focused on mobility, many commanders were unwilling to deploy their own field artillery as these kinds of units inevitably slowed the army down. This changed in the late 16th century with the invention of leather cannons, as these could be carried by soldiers rather than pulled by draft animals. Although the leather cannon possessed a vital flaw in that it would overheat dangerously after continuous use, it proved to be so effective that by the mid-17th century roughly half of all temar would consist of artillery divisions. And as military technology continued to evolve, better and lighter cannons were developed.
Firearms similarly transformed the Sagarian military. Initially, units mixed ashicar with musketeers in order to maximize defense and offense. As the musket improved, Sagarian infantry came to consist entirely of musketeers. While the abandonment of heavy infantry allowed Sagarian armies to move even faster, the inaccuracy of muskets made it necessary to use large formations of soldiers firing in volleys in order for the weapons to actually be effective. Naturally, this radically decreased the effectiveness of smaller units acting independently, and thus made the Sagarian military as a whole significantly less flexible. Because of this, the commanders of the Kingdom pushed for the development of more accurate and effective weapons, and this resulted in the invention of the rifle and bayonet in the early 16th century. Of the two, the bayonet proved the most useful and became widely used by the Sagarian military, as the rifle was difficult to clean and thus slow to reload. Even so, the number of resedar (Sagarian riflemen) in the Sagarian armies gradually grew larger as improvements were made to the weapon.
The late 17th century saw the invention of the Rusin ball, a cylindro-conoidal bullet that was small enough to easily slide down the barrel of a rifle and when the gun fired its base would expand under the pressure of gunpowder deflagration, causing the bullet to obturate and grip the rifling of the bore. This not only solved the slow loading problem, but also maximized muzzle velocity by creating a good bullet to bore seal with minimal pressure loss. Thanks to the Rusin ball, the Sagarian military was able to abandon the musket and fully embrace the rifle, which in turn allowed smaller units to function independently once again and now they were able to inflict far more damage than ever before.
The early 18th century saw another major development—wargaming. In Sagaria all sergals were required to serve in the military for five years upon reaching adulthood, and higher learning could not be pursued until after this service. Because of this, the vast majority of the students in Saint Sesev’s University possessed extensive military experience. And among many students who had served as officers within the military, strategy games such as chess found a great appeal. During the Scientific Revolution, there was a growing interest among the student body to create games that more accurately represented real military engagements. Many such games were created and playing them became a popular pastime in the university, but it wasn’t until 1713 AD that a group of students developed the first true wargame designed to serve as a professional training tool and to research military strategy. The Sagarian military quickly adopted this wargame, using it both to train their officers and to strategize. Although designed for serious military use, it was also played recreationally in a number of clubs throughout the Kingdom. The most notable of these clubs was the Grand Crusader Society, named after Saint Rusin, which was located on the grounds of Saint Sesev’s University itself.
Nice to know how military tech has advanced.
Also, wargaming is a thing now. I wonder if war-games will be mentioned again.
Also, wargaming is a thing now. I wonder if war-games will be mentioned again.
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