The Hohenzollern Empire 5: Holy Phoenix - An Empire of Jerusalem Megacampaign in New World Order

[GhostRider124]

Yeah, looking at the Angeloi, Maximists and Inquisition as individual bad actors without looking at the circumstances that lead to them was probably what made the Committee’s takeover possible to begin with. As Boris said, while authoritarianism is possible anywhere, Jerusalem itself could only happen in the Reich. I know there is an epilogue in the Handmaid’s Tale where historians hold a convention discussing Gilead’s reign, but this reminds me of a video that Hello Future Me did for ATLA, where a hypothetical in universe history class talked about the circumstances that eventually lead to Fire Nation Imperialism, I could see post Jerusalem histrionias talking about Roman history in a manner simlar to this.

A part of me feels like it will be more like this video by Simon Whistler on one of his channels “Today I Found Out” in which whatever government comes after might not deny the crimes but does nothing about those that deny such crimes happened in the first place like OTL’s Japan.

However, two other points that he makes, such as Japan’s transition to democracy being difficult due to it not having no unified government before the Empire and how it was believed that at the time you should not give any positive coverage to the communist countries at the time was in full swing dose make me think that the Reich will go the route of OTL’s Germany. Since the Reich had a government before the Committee and the Cold War has been over for a few decades at this point.

 

[zenphoenix]

On one hand I am very grateful that Wilhelmina was not shot but I still feel bad for Sophie. Hopefully the wound is not that bad like she clams it is.

Hope she gets better.

I can imagine Wilhelm was talking to the courier through gritted teeth because on one hand he wants to be happy that Wilhelmina survived but has to play along like he douse not or else him and his family will be killed.

It must be excruciating having to fake hatred for one of his few remaining relatives outside his immediate family.

I was going to say that this sounds like an event in OTL but I was not sure until I saw the Spoiler.

It was based on the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and was combined with the assassinations of various Russian political dissidents poisoned with Novichok. I think the symptoms I described here are for Novichok poisoning. The article is almost word for word like its real counterpart. Putin did say all that stuff, while Erdogan said the line at the end (that I added from a separate article).

Thankfully this attack did not cause her to want to go back into hiding like I feared but has caused her to realize that as she said.

She realized even if she hid, they would still find her.

I’m glad that Wilhelmina and Sophie survived that assassination tempt and Jerusalem will be further isolated thanks to that lone wolf’s actions, tho I’m worried that this might give Jerusalem free reign to do even more terrible things without fear of scrutiny from the rest of the world. Futher than that, I fear Jerusalem being an obvious pariah will distract people from equally heinous atrocities from other menaces like Han and Zhao.

Han is very lucky he can use Jerusalem as a bogeyman to excuse his own actions and give his people an enemy to rally against. Just like how Chiang used the Soviets as his scapegoat.

This goes to show the power of propaganda. If people keep pedaling a certain narrative over time for political expediency more and more people will believe it and even when those same people try to change course those that they brainwashed will turn on them and clime that the brainwashers are no longer on their side. This has happened both in OTL and in TTL with predictable results.

Jerusalem is turning its entire next generation into fanatics, and the older generation is too scared to set their children on the right path, if they even want to. I now see parallels to the generational divide in Man in the High Castle, where the older generation who remember America before Nazi rule are mostly silent and reluctant sympathizers (with some true believers and opportunistic collaborators), while their kids are brainwashed as Nazi true believers to the point where they might even submit themselves for euthanasia upon learning they have a genetic disorder.

Like we discussed before, this will only get worse the longer Jerusalem lasts, to the point that the Reich may never truly recover from the Committee.

There will already be lasting consequences for the first generation raised on the committee's propaganda. It will get worse if the committee...shepherds a second generation as well.

That was an interesting conversation between Olga and Borislav. On one hand I can agree with what he is saying in that throughout the Reich's history you had events that many Romans in the early 2000's might look at and think of them as isolated incidents by bad/corrupt people and that not only were the rest of the Romans good but that they at the time felt like they had transcended that type of attitude. But when you look at the big picture it has always been there hiding under the surface until the mask was able to come off again for potentially (depending on weather the Committee collapses or not) the last and final time.

In a way, the Reich's fatal flaw is hubris. The arrogant belief that the Reich no longer has to deal with racism and prejudice because it was all in the past and obviously the Maximists and Angeloi were defeated. It was most on display in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviets and the apparent triumph of liberal capitalism which would usher in the end of history. But as the people soon learned, history never ended. It had only just begun.

By only cutting out the weeds but ignoring the roots, the Reich failed to address the common systemic issues that caused its outbursts of authoritarianism and repression. The nation and its people are doomed to repeat the cycle of authoritarianism and indifference until they eventually address the problem at the source.

Yeah, looking at the Angeloi, Maximists and Inquisition as individual bad actors without looking at the circumstances that lead to them was probably what made the Committee’s takeover possible to begin with. As Boris said, while authoritarianism is possible anywhere, Jerusalem itself could only happen in the Reich. I know there is an epilogue in the Handmaid’s Tale where historians hold a convention discussing Gilead’s reign, but this reminds me of a video that Hello Future Me did for ATLA, where a hypothetical in universe history class talked about the circumstances that eventually lead to Fire Nation Imperialism, I could see post Jerusalem histrionias talking about Roman history in a manner simlar to this.

I watched that video a while ago and it was definitely an indirect inspiration for the questions I wanted to ask in this arc. If the committee ultimately falls, I could see historians again discussing Jerusalem as the natural culmination of a thousand years of sweeping every distasteful social issue under the rug and hoping it goes away if nobody knows it’s there.

I do find it interesting that all of these so called "populist" leaders like Wilhelm and Han were born after the collapse of authoritarian regimes or conservative eras in power such as the "Red Scare" for Wilhelm and the Guominjun for Han and view them as a type of "Golden Age" although with Wilhelm I know he simply wanted to have absolute power and was not fascist like the Committee I still find it fascinating.

To be fair Wilhelm Karl was born in 1961, so a better era to compare him against was the Angeloi, but again, he’s not fascist, he just wanted to be an average authoritarian/absolutist autocrat.

You could also apply that to Elias and the rest of the Commitee as well, who don’t remember the Angeloi and barely remember the Soviets’ oppression of the Occupied Territories, so they do smilar things to what to what those regimes did to the Reich. On the flip side, you have Zhao who does remember the crimes of the Junta, but was still bought into a nationalistic lie of the Junta’s rule being a golden age for China. In some ways he’s worse than the other dictators today who didn’t‘t live through authoritarian terror.

Actually, Elias and Theodor are the youngest committee members, as Moria and Josiah are at least old enough to remember the last few years of the Cold War (I imagine Josiah to be around Martin Sheen/President Bartlet’s age, so older than Bradley Whitford/Joseph Lawrence) and Heinrich actually fought in the war to some extent. And for the record, Zhao doesn’t particularly like the junta as he still hates it for continuing Penglai colonial rule. But he isn’t above allying with Jerusalem or Han when it suits him and playing off the two against each other to get what he wants.

By the way Zen, since you bought up Persona 4 and Jungian shadows in the context of Jerusalem being the Reich’s shadow, I ended up remembering this video I watched awhile about the character Adachi even tho I didn’t play Persona 4 when I saw it. I’m sure you’d be interested in it, seeing how it brings up Jungian shadows towards the end to make a comparison. I’ll put in a spoiler just in case.

Just watched the video and I do see hints of it feeding into the Reich/Jerusalem dynamic.

Spoiler

Personally, I think the Adachi/Yu dynamic is better suited for Josh/Alex. Josh prides himself on embracing toxic masculinity, staying stuck in the past by obsessing over beating Alex for something that happened years ago, loves to destroy things, and really doesn’t plan things out aside from arbitrary destruction. He kills because he can, and he likes it. He never had the friends and support system (even if it comes from people like Manfred) that Alex had. He never had the family life Alex did, or anyone like Thea to keep him on the right path. So it was inevitable he would end up as this vulture. Because he was always alone and grew to hate the world for it. The committee merely directed that hatred wherever it wanted.

On that note, since we mentioned before how Elias and Wilhelmina were born in the same generation, I wonder if there‘s an argument to be said that Elias is Wilhelmina’s shadow, something that Wilhelmina could’ve become had her life gone a different way. They both did lose people they loved thanks to Sentinel’s machinations after all. That might actual be another reason why Elias is so determined to kill Wilhelmina himself besides his grudge against the Reich and the Hohenzollerns, he sees where a better path he could‘ve ended up with if he wasn’t powerless and is bitter about it.

I was thinking more that Wilhelmina’s character arc is internal and that over the course of this narrative she will have to confront all of her negative qualities to become a better person and leader, with her shadow being similar to the Jungian idea as an inner self full of your negative qualities. But I could see Elias being her foil and shadow too. He did lose almost everybody who meant something to him, which twisted him into someone driven only by hatred against those he blames for his suffering: the Hohenzollerns. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina managed to move forward from her losses with the help of her friends and family (in a later update I mention how Persona 3 with its themes about grief and loss resonated very heavily with her), staying grounded and positive. Elias’ hatred might take on a class angle as he believes Wilhelmina is only where she is due to her noble birth, and without being born a princess she would be exactly the same as him. He’s jealous she didn’t suffer like he did. Slowly, his grudge and desire for revenge against the Hohenzollerns is turning into a personal vendetta against Wilhelmina, even though they have never met face to face.

I never thought that Elias would make the Sentinel connection; in my notes, he always blamed his sister’s death on the terrorists. But since the files showing Sentinel’s involvement in November 9 were released, he could easily have known that Sentinel killed both his sister and Elisabeth Alexandra. Maybe that’s the reason he joined CB several weeks later, seeing a group he could easily bring under his control and turn against the Hohenzollerns with.

Now that I write this all out, I also see comparisons with the Theodor/Thea dynamic. One refused to move on from the deaths of their parents and became a hateful mad scientist bent on burning down the world just to make a profit, while the other moved on, made some new friends, and refuses to use her inventions to perpetuate suffering. They are like foils to each other. Theodor could easily have been the sane one while Thea went crazy with grief.

Quite relieved it was Sophie, and all the better that she's okay. Wilhelmina sounding truly ready at the end is just hype.

She still has a long way to go, but this is a good start for her. She’s ready to start her journey.

A part of me feels like it will be more like this video by Simon Whistler on one of his channels “Today I Found Out” in which whatever government comes after might not deny the crimes but does nothing about those that deny such crimes happened in the first place like OTL’s Japan.

Germany’s mandatory recognition and teaching of the Holocaust’s crimes (as well as its recent recognition and apology for its genocide in Namibia under the Empire) is an outlier, unfortunately. Around the world, many countries simply sweep undesirable historical events under the rug. Turkey, even before Erdogan, has never acknowledged the Armenian genocide. Russia refuses to acknowledge the Holodomor and other Soviet crimes. Ireland and Britain did not acknowledge the religious boarding schools for mothers who gave birth out of wedlock until relatively recently. Even in the United States and Canada, not many people know about the treatment of Native Americans like the Trail of Tears and the residential schools. Perhaps any sane government who overthrows the committee might do the same.

However, two other points that he makes, such as Japan’s transition to democracy being difficult due to it not having no unified government before the Empire and how it was believed that at the time you should not give any positive coverage to the communist countries at the time was in full swing dose make me think that the Reich will go the route of OTL’s Germany. Since the Reich had a government before the Committee and the Cold War has been over for a few decades at this point.

I have to disagree with his statement about no unified government before the empire. Japan had a unified if decentralized government under the Tokugawa shogunate; true disunity was last seen in the Sengoku era, which the Tokugawas ended by uniting Japan under their rule and defeating all of their rival daimyos. And after the Meiji Restoration, Japan had been building democratic institutions based on the British, German, and American systems. Under the reign of the Emperor Taisho, democracy actually flourished and the vote was significantly expanded. The era of the 1910s-20s was known as the Taisho democracy era because Japan’s democratic institutions had been very developed by then. Of course, the Meiji constitution from what I remember gave the military substantial power in the civilian government, and the next emperor after Taisho was…Hirohito. Still, when MacArthur and the Americans began their occupation, they simply had to restore and empower existing institutions to bring back democracy (without the military and aristocratic influence this time), not build it all from scratch. It was deprogramming the people from 15+ years of propaganda building on 70-80 years of Meiji-era imperialsim which was more challenging. I think that’s why MacArthur kept the monarchy as it was aside from making Hirohito renounce claims of divinity (I read once that some Japanese only came around to the idea of a republic after hearing a conspiracy theory that the emperors were actually descended from Indians and thus not “pure” Japanese). Even in the first 20 years of postwar democracy, Japanese culture and society remained very conservative, and one of (ex-PM) Shinzo Abe’s ancestors, a war criminal or at least a denier/supporter of militarism, became PM. Old habits die hard, really. Japan has never confronted its wartime past, at least at the top and in ways that actually mean something, so it never moves on from it. I could see a similar situation happening in a post-committee Reich, but that depends on who’s put in charge. And if Wilhelmina is assertive enough (if she takes the throne or is even still alive by the end of this).

Sorry for the long detour into modern Japanese history, I took a college class on it where I did a lot of research and wanted to set the record straight.

 

[TWR97]

I'm glad that was just an assassination attempt, hope endures through it all, but alas I think grim tidings will come in the near future. But I'm glad Wilhelmina is finally stepping up to be a leader. Also it seems that whole 'those who fail to learn from the past, are condemned to repeat it' quote certainly applies to Han's foolishness, the price the Chinese people will eventually pay for wanton ignorance of the atrocities committed that Tsai and her generation fought against is going to be a heavy one indeed.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

I watched that video a while ago and it was definitely an indirect inspiration for the questions I wanted to ask in this arc. If the committee ultimately falls, I could see historians again discussing Jerusalem as the natural culmination of a thousand years of sweeping every distasteful social issue under the rug and hoping it goes away if nobody knows it’s there

While we are here, I watched Hello Future Me’s recent review of the Testaments on his secondary channel, and his discussions of the theme of disillusionment in the book sort of reminds me of how Olga’s faith in Romanitas is being shaken by the reality of the Reich’s shadow that Boris and Valentin have warned her about and the Commitee represents. I find interesting how this part of Aunt Lydia’s arc applies to Olga, given their brutal pasts. Come to think of it, while I know Wilhelm Karl and Gertrude’s arcs were inspired mostly by Serna Joy and Joseph Lawrence respectively, I could see similarities with Aunt Lydia‘s disillusionment arc with their character arcs as well.

I never thought that Elias would make the Sentinel connection; in my notes, he always blamed his sister’s death on the terrorists. But since the files showing Sentinel’s involvement in November 9 were released, he could easily have known that Sentinel killed both his sister and Elisabeth Alexandra. Maybe that’s the reason he joined CB several weeks later, seeing a group he could easily bring under his control and turn against the Hohenzollerns with.

That reminds me, are all of the things that the Syndicate (with the exception of anything Jotun related of course) did public knowledge as well, since you mentioned how people know the Syndicate/Sentinel’s conspiracy‘s role in Abraham Green and Ragnar Beck's assassinations. I presume that means they would know about the Smoking Man killing Gorbachev to start WW3 as well, which ended up tying into Elias' childhood trauma in the end.

Speaking of the Syndicate/Sentinel, I know leaking the existence of aliens would've discredited X-Division's efforts to expose Sentinel, but I wonder what the Committee's reaction to the Jotun's existence would be if they believed it? I may have said this before, but I feel like if Jerusalem survives this somehow and goes to space, they'd either go full fanatic purifier or enslave every alien species they came across. Maybe they'd even use the threat of alien invasion to "unite" humanity against the "xeno menace."

 

[zenphoenix]

I'm glad that was just an assassination attempt, hope endures through it all, but alas I think grim tidings will come in the near future. But I'm glad Wilhelmina is finally stepping up to be a leader. Also it seems that whole 'those who fail to learn from the past, are condemned to repeat it' quote certainly applies to Han's foolishness, the price the Chinese people will eventually pay for wanton ignorance of the atrocities committed that Tsai and her generation fought against is going to be a heavy one indeed.

"History may not repeat, but it rhymes." Han is damn well making sure it rhymes if not repeats.

While we are here, I watched Hello Future Me’s recent review of the Testaments on his secondary channel, and his discussions of the theme of disillusionment in the book sort of reminds me of how Olga’s faith in Romanitas is being shaken by the reality of the Reich’s shadow that Boris and Valentin have warned her about and the Commitee represents. I find interesting how this part of Aunt Lydia’s arc applies to Olga, given their brutal pasts. Come to think of it, while I know Wilhelm Karl and Gertrude’s arcs were inspired mostly by Serna Joy and Joseph Lawrence respectively, I could see similarities with Aunt Lydia‘s disillusionment arc with their character arcs as well.

I think you mean Gertrude to Serena and Wilhelm Karl to Joseph. But yeah, we have seen how other committee members have slowly become disillusioned with the world they have created. Jacob was vocal about his disillusionment, and he died for it. Josiah is disillusioned to some degree, but he sees the suffering as necessary and forces himself to accept it. Gertrude sabotaged her own rights and is now paying the price.

I could see both parallels between Lydia and Olga today but also to Olga of the past. Kid Olga was massively disillusioned by the Soviet regime after learning the truth about her parents and turning on Valentin. Young adult Olga tried to build a new identity for herself in the Reich, only for that government to turn on her as well, leading her to be disillusioned again. She came back and defeated Sentinel, but then Jerusalem happened, and now old Olga is once again disillusioned. Just like with the Soviets, she had tied her identity so closely to the Reich that she couldn't acknowledge where the Reich had gone wrong until it was too late. Her fatal flaw is loyalty. Or rather, being too loyal to her friends and nation.

That reminds me, are all of the things that the Syndicate (with the exception of anything Jotun related of course) did public knowledge as well, since you mentioned how people know the Syndicate/Sentinel’s conspiracy‘s role in Abraham Green and Ragnar Beck's assassinations. I presume that means they would know about the Smoking Man killing Gorbachev to start WW3 as well, which ended up tying into Elias' childhood trauma in the end.

I actually forgot about that incident. But Elias would certainly latch onto that event as another reason why Sentinel is responsible for killing his family, with the help of the Hohenzollerns, and since X-Division destroyed Sentinel, he focused his efforts on the Hohenzollerns.

Speaking of the Syndicate/Sentinel, I know leaking the existence of aliens would've discredited X-Division's efforts to expose Sentinel, but I wonder what the Committee's reaction to the Jotun's existence would be if they believed it? I may have said this before, but I feel like if Jerusalem survives this somehow and goes to space, they'd either go full fanatic purifier or enslave every alien species they came across. Maybe they'd even use the threat of alien invasion to "unite" humanity against the "xeno menace."

I could see that being the outcome of learning the full truth behind Sentinel. Jerusalem becomes a super Covenant but with more xenophobia.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

I think you mean Gertrude to Serena and Wilhelm Karl to Joseph. But yeah, we have seen how other committee members have slowly become disillusioned with the world they have created. Jacob was vocal about his disillusionment, and he died for it. Josiah is disillusioned to some degree, but he sees the suffering as necessary and forces himself to accept it. Gertrude sabotaged her own rights and is now paying the price.

So like the Banality of Evil that an Jewish political theorist, Hannah Arendt, talked about in response to Adolf Eichmann’s trial for his role in the Holocaust, where one does evil not cause they are evil themselves, but because it is seen as normal by the society around them and they accept it as normal and mundane as well, that and they refuse to think about what they are doing and reconcile with it. I guess that describes people like Josiah and Josh quite well, even if they had a role in creating a society that further creates both passive and active evil.

I can also see Wilhelm Karl becoming disillusioned with the idea of an absolute hereditary monarchy and divine right in the modern world as well due to how dangerous they were shown to be, even if he wants to break the blackmail and have Wilhelmina take his place as Kaiser to continue the Hohenzollern monarchy. If she becomes Kaiserin and reestablishes meritocracy, I really hope that Wilhelmina truly learns from the mistakes of the Ottonian system that itself refused to learn from the Metternich system, of how dangerous it is to have stagnant political systems, an absolute monarchy and ignoring of deep seated social issues in a society built around meritocracy. If she doesn’t, even then that may be a sign that the time of the Hohenzollerns has passed.

 

[GhostRider124]

I have to disagree with his statement about no unified government before the empire. Japan had a unified if decentralized government under the Tokugawa shogunate; true disunity was last seen in the Sengoku era, which the Tokugawas ended by uniting Japan under their rule and defeating all of their rival daimyos. And after the Meiji Restoration, Japan had been building democratic institutions based on the British, German, and American systems. Under the reign of the Emperor Taisho, democracy actually flourished and the vote was significantly expanded. The era of the 1910s-20s was known as the Taisho democracy era because Japan’s democratic institutions had been very developed by then. Of course, the Meiji constitution from what I remember gave the military substantial power in the civilian government, and the next emperor after Taisho was…Hirohito. Still, when MacArthur and the Americans began their occupation, they simply had to restore and empower existing institutions to bring back democracy (without the military and aristocratic influence this time), not build it all from scratch. It was deprogramming the people from 15+ years of propaganda building on 70-80 years of Meiji-era imperialsim which was more challenging. I think that’s why MacArthur kept the monarchy as it was aside from making Hirohito renounce claims of divinity (I read once that some Japanese only came around to the idea of a republic after hearing a conspiracy theory that the emperors were actually descended from Indians and thus not “pure” Japanese). Even in the first 20 years of postwar democracy, Japanese culture and society remained very conservative, and one of (ex-PM) Shinzo Abe’s ancestors, a war criminal or at least a denier/supporter of militarism, became PM. Old habits die hard, really. Japan has never confronted its wartime past, at least at the top and in ways that actually mean something, so it never moves on from it. I could see a similar situation happening in a post-committee Reich, but that depends on who’s put in charge. And if Wilhelmina is assertive enough (if she takes the throne or is even still alive by the end of this).

Sorry for the long detour into modern Japanese history, I took a college class on it where I did a lot of research and wanted to set the record straight.

On no thank you for correcting me. Compared to American and European History my knowledge on topics like Asian history leaves a lot to be desired. With my only decent knowledge being on Chinese history since I took a Chinese Civilization class in collage but even that pales in comparison to my knowledge of America and Europe.

I knew that Japan had the Tokugawa shogunate but I thought it was to Japan what the Articles of Confederation was to the US in were under both the Tokugawas and the Articles the local governments had more power than their respective central governments and it was not until the Meiji and US constitution's that both central governments had the powers that Japan would have in the Empire years and that the US would have now.

 

[zenphoenix]

So like the Banality of Evil that an Jewish political theorist, Hannah Arendt, talked about in response to Adolf Eichmann’s trial for his role in the Holocaust, where one does evil not cause they are evil themselves, but because it is seen as normal by the society around them and they accept it as normal and mundane as well, that and they refuse to think about what they are doing and reconcile with it. I guess that describes people like Josiah and Josh quite well, even if they had a role in creating a society that further creates both passive and active evil.

It's kind of a mix of both. Some just commit evil because it has been normalized by society, while others truly are evil and commit evil acts because they want to do it. The former category can apply to a lot of the apathetic Romans who went along with the committee, while the latter applies to people like Josh who are truly monsters even with the new norms of the committee.

I can also see Wilhelm Karl becoming disillusioned with the idea of an absolute hereditary monarchy and divine right in the modern world as well due to how dangerous they were shown to be, even if he wants to break the blackmail and have Wilhelmina take his place as Kaiser to continue the Hohenzollern monarchy. If she becomes Kaiserin and reestablishes meritocracy, I really hope that Wilhelmina truly learns from the mistakes of the Ottonian system that itself refused to learn from the Metternich system, of how dangerous it is to have stagnant political systems, an absolute monarchy and ignoring of deep seated social issues in a society built around meritocracy. If she doesn’t, even then that may be a sign that the time of the Hohenzollerns has passed.

Wilhelmina has a lot to address even before she can think of taking the throne.

On no thank you for correcting me. Compared to American and European History my knowledge on topics like Asian history leaves a lot to be desired. With my only decent knowledge being on Chinese history since I took a Chinese Civilization class in collage but even that pales in comparison to my knowledge of America and Europe.

I see. Well, I hope I cleared up a few misunderstandings. Due to my upbringing, I was pretty familiar with Chinese history, but I found Japanese history, especially the history of the later Tokugawa period to the war and aftermath, equally interesting.

I knew that Japan had the Tokugawa shogunate but I thought it was to Japan what the Articles of Confederation was to the US in were under both the Tokugawas and the Articles the local governments had more power than their respective central governments and it was not until the Meiji and US constitution's that both central governments had the powers that Japan would have in the Empire years and that the US would have now.

The Tokugawas did centralize Japan under their rule. That was the whole point of them winning the Sengoku wars and unifying Japan. Yes, the daimyo clans that pledged loyalty to the shogunate did retain some independence and control over their diplomatic military affairs, but the Tokugawas were firmly in charge. They passed many laws regulating the samurai class as well as inter-Japanese and foreign trade (although the popular conception of Sakoku as being total isolation never truly happened). Among other things, they forced all daimyos and their families to spend at least some of their time in the capital of Edo (Tokyo) so the shogun could keep an eye on them and take hostages in case of rebellion.

 

[GhostRider124]

I see. Well, I hope I cleared up a few misunderstandings. Due to my upbringing, I was pretty familiar with Chinese history, but I found Japanese history, especially the history of the later Tokugawa period to the war and aftermath, equally interesting.

That is completely understandable. I find Japanese history fascinating as well especially the Empire years but I do not know that much on the Tokugawa/Edo period since there douse not appear to be that much information about it on websites like YouTube. I only know about the Sengoku Jidai period thanks to EU4.

 

[zenphoenix]

That is completely understandable. I find Japanese history fascinating as well especially the Empire years but I do not know that much on the Tokugawa/Edo period since there douse not appear to be that much information about it on websites like YouTube. I only know about the Sengoku Jidai period thanks to EU4.

I typically don't get historical information from Youtube since although there are some good history-oriented channels there, there's also a lot of channels which have inaccurate, incomplete, or false information. For the Tokugawa and Meiji era, I mostly got this information from my textbooks and looking up sources on Wikipedia. Even now, I still have my Japanese history textbooks. Funny enough, r/badhistory does give some accurate analyses with sources while refuting obviously bad history takes found on the Internet.

 

[GhostRider124]

I typically don't get historical information from Youtube since although there are some good history-oriented channels there, there's also a lot of channels which have inaccurate, incomplete, or false information. For the Tokugawa and Meiji era, I mostly got this information from my textbooks and looking up sources on Wikipedia. Even now, I still have my Japanese history textbooks. Funny enough, r/badhistory does give some accurate analyses with sources while refuting obviously bad history takes found on the Internet.

Yea for me it is either Wikipedia or YouTube with one of my go to YouTube history channels being "Kings and Generals". They animate their videos but not to the point of other channels in were you feel like you are watching a cartoon. They use just the right amount/style of animation. For actual history documentaries I use "Timeline - World History Documentaries" because I feel like they are what the History Channel should be.

 

[zenphoenix]

Yea for me it is either Wikipedia or YouTube with one of my go to YouTube history channels being "Kings and Generals". They animate their videos but not to the point of other channels in were you feel like you are watching a cartoon. They use just the right amount/style of animation. For actual history documentaries I use "Timeline - World History Documentaries" because I feel like they are what the History Channel should be.

I really miss the old History Channel. I remember watching a lot of their great history documentaries as a kid, before they went downhill.

 

[GhostRider124]

I really miss the old History Channel. I remember watching a lot of their great history documentaries as a kid, before they went downhill.

Yea now it is all Ancient Aliens, American Pickers, and Pawn Stars. Although to be fair at least American Pickers and Pawn Stars dealt with history in some form.

 

[zenphoenix]

Yea now it is all Ancient Aliens, American Pickers, and Pawn Stars. Although to be fair at least American Pickers and Pawn Stars dealt with history in some form.

Yeah, although I didn't much care for them. As for Ancient Aliens, while I knew it was all crazy and the facts had been distorted, kid me at least got some enjoyment out of it by pretending it was a sci-fi mockumentary.

 

[GhostRider124]

As for Ancient Aliens, while I knew it was all crazy and the facts had been distorted, kid me at least got some enjoyment out of it by pretending it was a sci-fi mockumentary.

Yea Ancient Aliens is a bit cuckoo.

 

[zenphoenix]

Yea Ancient Aliens is a bit cuckoo.

In any case, I abandoned History Channel not long afterward. Turned to just reading the textbooks themselves in school.

 

[GhostRider124]

In any case, I abandoned History Channel not long afterward. Turned to just reading the textbooks themselves in school.

Yea. I would recommend Timeline as a great substitute.

 

[zenphoenix]

Yea. I would recommend Timeline as a great substitute.

Maybe I will check it out.

 

[zenphoenix]

A Housewife’s Script​

Nuremberg - June 20

The alarm blared. Ex-astronaut Frederica Eisenburg opened her eyes. It was probably five in the morning, which was as scheduled. She got out of bed and got dressed. She picked out the same drab long brown dress she wore for the last few months and put it on. She hated the dress. It went all the way down to her ankles and was very heavy. It always got caught on things. And in what was probably the hottest June she could remember, it was too insulating. But the law stipulated she must wear a dress of that length and color. So she really had no choice. Next, she put on the next piece of her mandatory outfit, a bonnet which covered her hair after she tied it up in a bun. The bonnet was itchy and irritated her ears, on top of making her head hot and sweaty. She also couldn't turn her head as much or see out of the corner of her eyes. Guess this was what they chose to replace her flight helmet with.

After making sure her outfit was compliant with the law, Frederica went down to the kitchen and began cooking breakfast. She had done it plenty of times before, but after the committee took over, something felt off about her routine. Like she was no longer enjoying it. Cooking was no longer a hobby, but a legal requirement for her. It took all of the fun out of it. And her food was longer as tasty as she remembered. Made no difference.

At 5:30, her husband Sigmund came downstairs. He had also spent the last half hour putting on his state-mandated outfit. He wore a navy blue business suit with a black tie that didn't stand out at all. A pocket Bible stuck out of his breast pocket by one inch as legally required, with the words "Holy Bible" clearly visible. A Jerusalem cross pin had been attached to his tie. His hair was gelled up and slicked back like that of a stereotypical salesman. It was every bit as forced and artificial as Frederica's outfit. He hated it too. Before the committee, he had processed examination data for the Bureau of Qualifications. Sigmund was always a private person who didn't like gaudy clothes.

“Morning,” he said.

Frederica served her breakfast: sausages and bread. Nothing special. Most of her flashier recipes had been banned. Apparently currywurst was now heresy.

“I wanted to make omelettes, but the Home Guardian you sent to the grocery store said they ran out of eggs,” she said, “Something about the supply lines in the west being cut.”

“The loyalists in the west are getting bolder and bolder,” Sigmund said.

“So we can’t eat omelettes today,” Frederica said.

“It’s okay,” Sigmund said.

“I suspect the Home Guardian was lying to you,” Frederica said, “He looked under 30. Painfully socially awkward. Couldn’t look at me. I don’t know why they gave him a gun and assigned him to us. He probably couldn’t even go into the store. I don't think he even knows how to use his gun properly. He has no trigger discipline. Kid probably just wanted to shoot stuff.”

Sigmund lowered his voice. “Frederica, lower your voice. You know he’s listening outside. As are the other Home Guardians. You already said they have no trigger discipline.”

“I know, I know,” Frederica said.

“I’ve tried to be as understanding as possible, but I can’t keep this up forever,” Sigmund said, “You need to do something on your end.”

Frederica tapped her ear, feeling the GPS tracker and barcode tagged to her earlobe like some twisted price tag. “I’ve done plenty. All of us women have. Most of us against our will. And I hate that it's only most of us. Because that means some of us actually wanted this.”

“I know that,” Sigmund said, “I’m trying to help as best as I can, but not everyone is like that.”

“I should’ve left when I still had the chance,” Frederica said.

“You wouldn’t make it off the block before every Home Guardian in the city gets a text direct to their Panwith your exact GPS coordinates in real time,” Sigmund said.

“Should’ve left way before this,” Frederica said, “When I was a KL colonel and an astronaut. When people knew me as the woman who stood on the Moon. When I was more than just a plain old housewife stuck on a script.”

“I get it,” Sigmund said, “But there’s no use dwelling on that. We need to focus on surviving.”

“And how exactly do we do that?” Frederica said.

“Play our parts,” Sigmund said, “Wait out the storm.”

Yeah, but what if the storm never ended? How long did they have to pretend?

They ate their breakfast. Sigmund turned on the “news,” not because he wanted to, but because he had too. They were tracking each household's news watching hours and had set a mandatory daily minimum, like they had done with church attendance. Frederica hated it. She felt like watching whatever Bysandros ranted about every day made her lose brain cells. He probably left her less informed about current events than if she hadn't watched any news at all.

This morning, Bysandros was doing one of his (slightly) more “honest” segments, regarding the insurgencies in the west. The TV showed images of the Pyrenees Mountains, occasionally interrupted with explosions. Black helicopters, bearing the silver wings and the Jerusalem cross of the Seraphim air force, mercilessly rained down rockets on men and women fleeing through the trees below.

“Here’s a live look at the Pyrenees, where the 13th and 29th Divisions of the Crusaders of the Lord are presently smoking out a pocket of fascist Basque guerrilla separatists, with air support from our faithful Angels in the Seraphim 21st Airborne Division,” he said.

The scene changed to a close shot of a Basque prisoner, identified as a Pablo Garcia-Diaz. His face was dirty, with a visible scar on his cheek and blood covering his nose and chin. Yet he continued smiling, even after Crusaders pistol-whipped him. He said something in Basque, probably a shout of defiance, but the audio cut him off, and he was shot in the back of the head.

“On to our next story,” Bysandros said, “An underground espionage ring in the Eastern District has been crushed thanks to a brave and righteous team of Home Guardians. They had been smuggling traitors over the border into Russia. Five members of the heretical Jesuits have been arrested, and more arrests are anticipated in the coming days.”

Two of the heretics were shown on screen, looking as disheveled as Pablo. They were a middle-aged couple in farmers’ attire. Despite their dire circumstances, they maintained an air of dignity around them. Although they were a thoroughly Orthodox order, the Jesuits had fiercely resisted the committee, unlike the rest of the Church which surrendered without a fight. The Jesuits prided themselves on their commitment to preserving knowledge and helping the weak and poor, which made them targets twice over. There could only be room for one “Christian humanitarian order” in the committee’s book, and that was the Shepherds of the Future. The two Jesuits were also shot.

The scene changed to show downtown Bremerhaven. Frederica heard artillery shells exploding and saw smoke rosing from between the skyscrapers. Occasionally, she saw groups of three fighter jets zipping by, dropping bombs and missiles on targets below. They were the same M35 models she had once flown long ago. It pained her to see the planes she flew being turned on her own homeland. But there was nothing she could do about it. Almost the entire KL had sided with Jerusalem.

“The reclamation of Bremerhaven is ongoing,” Bysandros said, “Our Angels completely control the skies, and our brave Crusaders meet victory after victory on the ground. Soon, the wayward sheep of Bremerhaven will be brought back into the fold, for their own good. Order will be restored, and God willing, we will have peace and stability.”

The scene changed again, now showing ships in the Mediterranean, full of “smiling” Africans.

“Resettlement of the tainted Children of Ham is continuing on schedule,” Bysandros said, “Three thousand have arrived this week in Imperial Homeland Africa, with another two thousand projected to arrive in Carthage for processing in two days. The resettlements of the Children of Jacob and Ishmael to their respective Imperial Homelands are also proceeding on schedule.”

Frederica turned off the TV. “Why do we even bother with this?”

They finished eating. Sigmund got his briefcase and headed for the door.

“Well, it’s time to go to work,” he said.

“You know you don’t have to do it,” Frederica said.

“They left me no choice,” Sigmund said.

“It’s demeaning to both of us,” Frederica said.

“I know,” Sigmund said, “But did we have a choice?”

“Just…be safe,” Frederica said.

“I’ll be fine,” Sigmund said, “As long as I play my part. I’m more worried about you.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Frederica said, “I’m not flying to the moon anytime soon.”

“Alright then, see you later.” Sigmund turned and left.

Frederica put the dishes in the sink and began washing them. She wanted to make some coffee to feel more awake, but coffee beans had been in short supply for months now, with Neurhomania in disarray and Abyssinia and Tawantinsuyu participating in the embargo. Coffee was now also strictly regulated, just like alcohol. She missed coffee as much as she missed flying. The two had gone hand in hand when she was at the KL academy and later at RANA. Thinking of those two places made her even more sad. Going into the academy, her friends warned her of its reputation as a “fundie frat house.” She wasn’t deterred by the rumors, but they turned out to be true. The KL, for whatever reason, attracted a lot of religiously conservative men. Many of those men became officers and high ranking soldiers who later formed the core of the Crusaders and Angels. She put up with their antics until she graduated and joined RANA. But they had to follow her to RANA, did they? When she got back from the Moon, she heard what the director said about the incident. That women couldn’t drive and shouldn’t be piloting lunar landers. Hey, in her book, any good landing was one she could walk away from. He just didn’t understand that. Unfortunately, he got promoted, and she got fired and even stripped of her pilot’s license and banned from flying, for good measure. Kaiser’s direct orders.

Some time later, Sigmund walked back inside.

“Hey, we’ve got guests!” he said, faking excitement.

He said that in that tone. Not the “Home Guardian inspection” tone. That she could handle. No, this was much worse.

“Oh my gosh!” a girl’s voice said, in Korean-accented German. “This is so quaint!”

“I know right?” another Korean girl said. “So old-fashioned! And rustic!”

Tourists. Why did there have to be tourists?

“Frederica?” Sigmund said.

“Coming!” Frederica said.

She took out a plate of cookies she baked last week for exactly this situation. After arranging the cookies in the way specified in the handbook, she went to the foyer. Sigmund looked just as uncomfortable as she was, despite putting on the customary smile. The tourists before her, two Korean girls carrying cameras, looked dramatically out of place in Nuremberg. Frederica forgot the last time she saw people wearing skirts so short and heels so high. The skirts were just about knee length—as per Jerusalemite restrictions on tourists—and their shirts covered their shoulders, but their outfits revealed so much skin through their thin stockings it was almost blinding. Their heels made them look like they were constantly tip-toeing like ballerinas, at least to Frederica. She had worn heels before, long ago, but she couldn’t help but wonder how these girls balanced on their own heels. Their heads were uncovered, allowing their locks of hair to flow freely and complement their red lips, vibrantly touched up with pink lipstick. Frederica sorely missed looking like that, although she would rather not remember the amount of time she needed to put it on. Their nails were covered in pink nail polish. Frederica couldn’t help but look at her own plain nails.

“Uh…here are some cookies,” Frederica recited, “A specialty of Nuremberg, baked with God’s love for Jerusalem.”

The girls giggled again. “How nice of you!”

They took the cookies and ate them one at a time, the one who wasn’t eating recording the other on her smartphone. At least the cookies were still edible. She couldn’t imagine the punishment she and Sigmund would go through if they weren’t. Probably burned at the stake, with her luck. Apparently serving bad cookies was heresy.

They looked around, bright-eyed and curious, their heads bobbing around like eager birds with a very aggressive cheerfulness that unnerved Frederica in how familiar yet alien it was. Fascinated, but also repelled. In a way, she was more disgusted at herself. At how quickly it had taken for Jerusalem to make looking like this—which was normal only a couple years ago—into something absolutely heretical and taboo. Maybe that was the goal, to hate herself. To redirect the hate back at herself instead of at its rightful recipient.

“Ma’am, do you mind if we take your picture?” one of the girls said.

“Are you okay with this?” Sigmund said.

That wasn’t a question. Both of them knew it. There was really only one answer Jerusalem mandated her to say. Sigmund was only saying it to keep selling the girls on the illusion. The illusion of freedom. The illusion of choice. These girls only got a guided tour of Nuremberg, carefully controlled by Jerusalem. Guides accompanied them on each step. Sigmund was only the guide for this part. Everything was staged. Even the currency was staged. They were only allowed to go to stores specifically created for tourists only, with more favorable exchange rates than the absolutely horrible actual exchange rate. And to make sure everyone stayed on script, there were cameras everywhere. Embedded in the solar panels, the rainwater filters, the electric batteries of each car, the drones constantly buzzing overhead…they were ubiquitous. If anybody did step out of line, a Home Guardian was always seconds away, with a fully armed military-issued assault rifle ready to go. So Frederica just looked down. Her answer was to say nothing. Women were supposed to be meek and defer to their betters. Also known as men.

“I’m sorry,” Sigmund said, reciting from his script, “Women here have different customs. To stare at them through the lens of a camera is, for them, equivalent to rape. I humbly ask that you respect their modesty.”

“OK,” one of the girls said.

Frederica continued looking down, hiding her sad expression with her bonnet. She looked at one of the girls’ feet. Her heels were open-toed, revealing her toenails were also painted pink. They were freshly painted, there was no mistaking the smell. That smell brought more memories rushing back to her. The way the polish wrinkled if she put on a second coat too soon. The way the polish sat on her nails, how it felt when she moved her toes. How it felt when she walked in heels much like those. She may have been a pilot and astronaut, but she was still a girl too.

“Uh, excuse me,” the other girl said, “I hope this isn’t out of line or against your beliefs. I won’t ask for your photo, but…I just want to know, are you happy?”

Frederica forced herself to make eye contact with them. She beheld their brown eyes, watching her curiously. She knew what they were likely thinking, because she would’ve asked the same thing in their place. Are they truly happy? How can they be happy in all this? Why? Why did they choose to be like this? Are they telling the truth? She glanced at Sigmund, who was now looking at the floor in her place. He had long resigned himself to their current fate of a meek silence and compliance. The man she knew before Jerusalem was effectively dead, and both of them knew it; the man in front of her was just an empty shell, an automaton reading a script. The only thing they could do was stick to the script and survive. Even if that meant becoming the mask they hid behind.

“Yes,” Frederica said, “We are very happy here.”

Nobody noticed her prized bobblehead of Palla, the green-haired Fire Emblem lady, hidden behind a row of fancy “porcelain” plates and “hand-woven” baskets sporting Christian motifs. From the first woman on the moon, to a “happy” housewife. That was her role now.

Stick to the script, and nobody would die.

 

[GhostRider124]

The alarm blared. Ex-astronaut Frederica Eisenburg opened her eyes. It was probably five in the morning, which was as scheduled. She got out of bed and got dressed. She picked out the same drab long brown dress she wore for the last few months and put it on. She hated the dress. It went all the way down to her ankles and was very heavy. It always got caught on things. And in what was probably the hottest June she could remember, it was too insulating. But the law stipulated she must wear a dress of that length and color. So she really had no choice. Next, she put on the next piece of her mandatory outfit, a bonnet which covered her hair after she tied it up in a bun. The bonnet was itchy and irritated her ears, on top of making her head hot and sweaty. She also couldn't turn her head as much or see out of the corner of her eyes. Guess this was what they chose to replace her flight helmet with.

After making sure her outfit was compliant with the law, Frederica went down to the kitchen and began cooking breakfast. She had done it plenty of times before, but after the committee took over, something felt off about her routine. Like she was no longer enjoying it. Cooking was no longer a hobby, but a legal requirement for her. It took all of the fun out of it. And her food was longer as tasty as she remembered. Made no difference.

At 5:30, her husband Sigmund came downstairs. He had also spent the last half hour putting on his state-mandated outfit. He wore a navy blue business suit with a black tie that didn't stand out at all. A pocket Bible stuck out of his breast pocket by one inch as legally required, with the words "Holy Bible" clearly visible. A Jerusalem cross pin had been attached to his tie. His hair was gelled up and slicked back like that of a stereotypical salesman. It was every bit as forced and artificial as Frederica's outfit. He hated it too. Before the committee, he had processed examination data for the Bureau of Qualifications. Sigmund was always a private person who didn't like gaudy clothes.

It really is sad to see what Frederica has been forced to become but I guess the silver lining is that it is good to know that the men are suffering as much as the women. Hopefully the loyalists are making headway.

“I suspect the Home Guardian was lying to you,” Frederica said, “He looked under 30. Painfully socially awkward. Couldn’t look at me. I don’t know why they gave him a gun and assigned him to us. He probably couldn’t even go into the store. I don't think he even knows how to use his gun properly. He has no trigger discipline. Kid probably just wanted to shoot stuff.”

Hearing this kind of talk maid me afraid for Frederica because I remember Manfred and Joan being sentenced to death for talking about hair.

Yeah, but what if the storm never ended? How long did they have to pretend?

I think we all fear this at this point and time Frederica.

She felt like watching whatever Bysandros ranted about every day made her lose brain cells.

I found this funny because if he is anything like some of OTL's mainstream news stations than I completely agree with her. However here that feeling has probably been cranked up to eleven.

“Here’s a live look at the Pyrenees, where the 13th and 29th Divisions of the Crusaders of the Lord are presently smoking out a pocket of fascist Basque guerrilla separatists, with air support from our faithful Angels in the Seraphim 21st Airborne Division,” he said.

I also almost laughed out loud at this sentence due to the irony.

Almost the entire KL had sided with Jerusalem.

I heard a story of the Air Force being one of the most conservative branches in the armed forces and I suppose this plays into that?

“Resettlement of the tainted Children of Ham is continuing on schedule,” Bysandros said, “Three thousand have arrived this week in Imperial Homeland Africa, with another two thousand projected to arrive in Carthage for processing in two days. The resettlements of the Children of Jacob and Ishmael to their respective Imperial Homelands are also proceeding on schedule.”

Well for those that have read the Handmaids Tale wiki on Gilead from the Book or just read the book we know were this parallel will most likely go.

Now all we need is the Jewish/Muslim parallel,

Spoiler

Jewish people were given the choice of converting, or leaving for Israel. It is implied in the novel that those who chose to leave were actually killed in secret.