Even after she’s gone, Olga’s legacy still lingers.
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Hello. Sorry for taking so long in getting this update out. The reason that it was is due to the fact that in America the Holidays start around Thanksgiving which in 2021 took place on the 25th of October. That meant from October 25th to New Years day 2022 I took a break from writing. But now that the holidays are over I am going to get back to making updates for Tianxia. So here it is the Tianxia update covering Western Europe the next one will be on Southern Europe (Hispania and Italy).
Hibernia
In ancient times the land known as Hibernia was one of the few regions not conquered by the Roman Legions. In early Roman history it was not even viewed as a real place along with neighboring Albion. Hibernia along with Albion had a considerable population of Celtic inhabitants. The Celts are an Indo-European group who came from what is today southern Germania in the old Province of Noricum. The Celts would eventually expand into the rest of Germania, Gaul, Albion, Hibernia and even parts of Hispania and Anatolia/Asia Minor. However the Celts were not a unified people like the Romans and instead comprised of numerous tribes. As Rome continued to expand out of Italia it came into contact with these peoples but these interactions were for the most part always bloody. Roman expansion would push the Celts back until only the populations of Caledonia and Hibernia were spared. When the First Empire collapsed in 476 CE the Celts in Hibernia were faced with a new enemy in the form of the Vikings. The Vikings would raid Hibernia throughout the Middle Ages and some even settled in Dublin and established a kingdom on the island. The new Roman Reich under Friedrich the Great would do what the previous two Empires had failed to do and bring Hibernia into the Roman fold. When Saint Wilhelmina mended the Schism between Catholicism and Orthodoxy the Irish resisted conversion the most and it was not until the Inquisition came in that Catholicism was wiped out for good on the Island. Hibernia would suffer the most during the Sunset Invasion, along with Caledonia. The Mexica general Ocuil Acatl would even declare Dublin his headquarters. When the Reich freed the island many Hibernians desired revenge on the Mexica and would participate in Operation Sunrise Invasion years later.
By the 1800’s Hibernia was an important training ground for the Roman Legions. However by the 1800’s the Maximist began organizing. The Maximist were a movement advocating for more democracy in line with China. By May 16, 1845 the Maximist under Konrad von Habsburg staged a protest in Paris. Then Kaiser Sigismund sent in the Legions to try and maintain order but this caused Maximist rebellions across Europe. To make matters worse, by July 18, 1845 a potato blight struck the Reich driving more people to the Maximist side. During the rest of the 1840’s the Maximist Rebellion fought for control of Hibernia with most of the Island coming under Maximist control. June 3, 1847 would see all of the Reich and even Berlin fall under Maximist occupation save for a few overseas territories. However the incompetence of the Maximist Government along with Konrad von Habsburg himself lead to many people to go back to supporting the Siegfriedist to the point that on February 3, 1848 the Roman Civil War beguan between the Maximist in Berlin and the Siegfriedist who resurfaced in Constantinople. At the outbreak of the Civil War the provinces of Hispania, Hibernia, Anatolia, Graecia, Taurica, Caucasia, Britannia, Israel, most of Arabia, Mesopotamia, Normandy, southern Italia, parts of Carpathia, along with the Kiel Canal sided with Sigismund II. Were as the Kent part of Britannia, the German parts of Gallia, north Italia, all of Caledonia, Frisia, Germania, Carpathia, Dacia, Illyricum, Afrika, Neu Rhomania, Sudafrika, Ostafrika, Westafrika, Mittelafrika sided with the Maximist. Indochina, Mittagsland, and the Pacific Ocean territories declared their Neutrality. What followed was Six long years of Civil War that ended in a Victory for Sigismund who became known as Sigismund II "the Modernizer''. The next 50 years would see the Reich expand in technology and science called the Imperial Century. The end of the 1800’s also saw the Reich expand into Africa.
By the beginning of the 1900’s the situation in the world had once again begun to change. With the newly formed Chinese Empire challenging the Reich in Asia and new ideologies in the form of Equalism beginning to gain ground it seemed like the world would change once again. That came with the assassination of Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand in Lublin by a Lithuanian Nationalist in 1914. This assassination would set off a domino effect that would spiral into what would be known as the Weltkrieg. The war would end in a Roman defeat at the hand of the Chinese lead Tianxia Alliance. In the wake of this defeat pro-separatist movements led by Sinn Fein led a revolt against the provisional government only to be put down by government forces. However the Syndicast revolt that gave birth to the Union of Albion led to many government officials in Caledonia, Britannia and Wales fleeing to Hibernia. For now Hibernia is largely autonomous from the Loyalist Remnants in Berlin by a sea of Syndicalist land and is guarded by the provincial navy of both the Albion provinces and of Hibernia’s own. But with it remaining to be seen as to if the new Syndicalist order will survive or if the Reich will survive the fate of Hibernia and the refugees on the island remain to be seen.
Albion
The Island of Albion has for years been considered an enigma to the Ancient Roman’s. It was only until the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BCE that the island became known to the Romans as an actual physical place. Despite Caesar’s landing on the island the Romans did not truly invade it until the reign of Emperor Claudius in 43 CE. However the legions would only be able to take Southern Albion which would become the Province of Britannia. One of the most famous episodes during the First Empire’s rule of Britannia was the Boudican revolt. The Boudican revolt was an uprising by the Iceni led by their Queen Boudica along with the Trinovantes and other Celtic peoples against the Romans. Despite the revolt being one of the largest in Britannias history the Romans were able to swiftly crush the rebels. Soon the First Empire started entering a period of stagnation in which coupled with the migration of non-Romans into the First Empire many legions began evacuating from the frontier regions of the Empire with Britannia being one of them. In the power vacuum a new group came. Today this group is known as the Anglo-Saxons. They are a group from the region of Germania, a region never integrated into the First Empire but who would push out the Native Briton and Celtic inhabitants into areas like Wales, Caledonia and Hibernia. In their place new kingdoms would arise like Wessex and Mercia. Caledonia is one of the regions that were originally not part of the First Empire. The region like Britannia was inhabited by a group that is now known as the Celts but one group of Celts would eventually dominate the others. Those people were the Picts. The Picts were a group that fiercely resisted Roman domination and would launch raids on Roman towns. To protect their holdings in Britannia the Romans constructed Hadrian's Wall, a series of fortifications along the modern Britannian-Caledonian Border. When the Antonine Wall was constructed further to the north it is believed that a province called Valentia emerged between the walls but Ronman control of the region only lasted only for a short amount of time before the Romans were forced to retreat behind Hadrian's Wall. However by around 1000 CE the Picts would slowly be supplanted by a new group known as the Gaels who together with the remaining Picts would create the Kingdom of Alba.
793 CE would see this order upset yet again with the arrival of the Vikings, a group of Norse warriors from Scandinavia. Over the duration of the Norse Raids the Danelaw would be established along the east coast of Britannia with many Vikings settling the area. The Norse would be driven out by the Kingdom of Wessex led by King Alfred who would later become known as Alfred The Great. Alfred and his descendants would rule England until 1066 were a succession crisis after the death of Edward the Confessor would cause a war between three people. One of them being Edward’s brother-in-law Harold Godwinson the then current King of England, William of Normandy a cousin through his mother and Harald Hardrada the King of Norway. It is unknown what happened during the Battle of Stamford Bridge but according to legends King Hardrada was killed leading to the Normans taking all of England. However the Norwegians returned nine days later led by King Hardrada who claimed to have been resurrected by Odin. Harald Hardrada and his newly paganized army captured England and incorporated it and Normandy itself into the new Empire of Scandinavia or Norse Fylkirate. However by 1066 the Holy Roman Empire or HRE would soon become the mortal enemies of the new Norse state. The HRE was a state born in Central Europe out of East Frankia upon the coronation of Otto I in 962 they would under the direction of the Pope go on to launch Crusades against the Pagans of Europe with the islands of Albion and Hibernia being two of them. On April 3,1105 the Holy Roman Empire and the surviving Second Empire would unite and form the Roman Reich, a new Empire that would consist of the majority of continental Europe. During Operation Sunset Invasion which took place on December 9, 1236 by the Mexica, Britannia along with Caledonia and Hibernia would suffer the most out of all of the Reich's provinces in terms of citizens lost to the Mexica. After the Sunset Invasion a lot of its citizens along with Caledonians and Hibernians would join the legions for Operation Sunrise Invasion on February 21, 1769 which would see the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan sacked and the piling up of massive debt on the side of the Mexica.
Peace would once again come after Sunrise Invasion but during the Maximist Rebellion in which Albion like most of the Reich had defected to the rebels would once again side with the Siegfriedist side after it became known how corrupt the Maximist government was. This made it to where during the Roman Civil War from 1848-1854 saw Britannia supporting the Siegfriedist with Caledonia and the Kent region of Albion siding with the Maximist. Over the course of the war Britannian Militia Units would retake Kent and in coordination with the Hibernians would launch a coordinated attack against the pro-Maximist government in Caledonia. In the years that followed would mark something known as the Imperial Century, an era in which Roman influence was felt far and wide in fields like culture, technology, politics and military. It is said that Britannian ports would produce more ships for the Kaiserliche Marine both merchant and military than any other province.
When the Weltkrieg broke out many Romans thought it would be a short war however it turned out to be one of the greatest losses the Reich had ever faced until now. Despite losing the war and most of its Asian possessions the government decided to increase its military recruitment and to upgrade its navy. The thinking in Berlin was that the Reich could not lose Africa like it had Asia and South Eimerica. However across the Reich many started to view the Government as weak and unable of protecting them from Chinese demands. One of these regions was Wales. In the early 1900’s growing discontent between the largely German Britannian’s and the Celtic Welsh started to appear. Many Welsh citizens pressed for their region to become a new province or for Home Rule. Protest by pro-independence Welsh forces led to the Easter Rising of 1916 but that revolt was crushed and Martial Law being declared. Things came to a head in 1920 in which numerous parties unite to form the Syndicalist Party of Albion. To try and combat this growing unrest the Provisional Governments of Britannia and Caledonia allow more moderate labor movements seats in their respective parliaments. Despite this victory the labor movements in power were a minority and thus had to ally with the center-right pirates to reach a majority. This would prove disastrous for the labor governments because the conservatives refused to back any legislation put forward by the liberals. Due to not being able to pass meaningful legislation and after a minor legal scandal the labor governments would collapse. Soon it becomes difficult to keep updating the fleet leading to massive layoffs which inflate union numbers. In September of 1924 at Port Talbot in Wales a soldier panics and opens fire on striking workers. This leads to the workers storming the local barracks. When the Provincial Militias are called up many of the Cardiff regiments revolt and declare the Cardiff Commune. In Caledonia in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow local Syndicalist push back the militia and after forming alliances with pro-independence forces soon declare a Caledonian Republic. 1925 would see many Syndicalists leaders meet in Liverpool and declare the Union of Albion. As the civil war between pro-Reich and pro-Syndicalist forces continues in the city of London. The Provincial Capital of Britannia would fall soon after with local naval forces still loyal to the government trying to evacuate as many loyalists and nobles as they could with some being taken to the loyalist government in Hibernia. Now as black trains cross the island and the Syndicalist proclaim their victory it remains to be seen if the loyalists will be able to survive or be swept away by naïve Syndicalists revolts.
Gallia
The region of Gallia was one of the western provinces that was fully Romanized by the First Empire. It began when Roman General Julius Caesar invaded the area which led to the subsequent Gallic Wars which lasted from 58-50 BCE and saw the entire region fall under Roman rule. Despite the decades of Roman rule when the First Empire started to crumble Gaul would be overrun by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns. One of the tribes that would rise to prominence would be the Franks who under Charlemagne would go on to dominate Western Europe. Charlemagne would convert the Franks to Christianity and would even be responsible for spreading it to Germany itself. Due to these efforts the Pope would make Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans in 800 CE. Upon his death the Frankish Realm would be divided between his three sons into West Frankia, Lotharingia and East Frankia with West Frankia becoming France, East Frankia becoming Germany, northern Lotharingia being divided between West and East Frankia with southern Lotharingia becoming Italy. While East Frankia would become the Holy Roman Empire, West Frankia would become France and be ruled by the Capetians and develop its own culture. This new Kingdom of France would remain independent until the late eleventh and early twelfth century with the arrival of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich the Great. After the conquest of France Friedrich would place Friedrich von Sigmaringen on the throne with the Capetians being given estates around Paris. With the Restoration of the Reich France was renamed to Gallia and a program of Germanization began. This Germanization would see the French language suppressed to where even the lowliest peasant was not allowed to speak it (however some university students could study French in a similar way that Latin is studied) and French culture was assimilated into German culture. This was so successful that by the end of the thirteenth century and beginning of the fourteenth century all of France except for Normandy, Brittany, and Occitania were fully German.
During the Sunset Invasion in the 1200’s it was feared by many Roman leaders that if the Mexica were able to take Britannia then Gallia would be next due to Normandy being a part of Britannia at the time. However valiant effort from Gallic crossbowmen who made up part of the Roman army was able to prevent that from becoming a reality. After the war peace would reign in Gaul until the 1500’s in where the Iconoclast Reformation would take place. The Iconoclast considered themselves to be a more pure form of Christianity and did not have any Crucifixes or other religious icons in their churches that were prevalent in official Churches. This led to many Iconoclast protesting the Imperial Orthadox Church and demanding that the icons be removed. The Iconoclast were soon branded as heretics and then Kaiserin Frederica Augusta I cracked down on them. This led to the Iconoclast to change their message of being purely religious in nature to being one against Frederica Augusta’s rule with some in the Iconoclast movement declaring her a despot. The resulting tension would lead to widespread revolts in many Roman cities with many dying. In Gaul alone it is believed that about 3,000,000 people were killed. Despite this the Iconoclast were crushed and things went on as business as usual.
That was until the Maximist uprising and the Roman Civil War of the 1840’s and 50’s in which all of Gaul beside Normandy would be one of the provinces that would side with the Maximist. This led to Gallia being one of the provinces that was devastated the most and for the province to be temporarily placed under a military government. This would only last for a few years with the provincial government restored in the province fairly soon after. After the Civil War Gallia along with the rest of the Reich would experience a time of unprecedented growth and peace known as the Imperial Century. This period would see Gaul go from a largely rural population to having about 30% of its labor force being workers in industry by 1914. Gaul would also be a pioneer in automobile manufacturing and aviation with the first person to cross the Britannian Channel in 1909 being Gallia native Louis Bleriot and Rolan Garros who crossed the Mediterranean in 1912 both of whom used French names in defiance of the ban on French. However despite these achievements more than half of the province's population was still rural and there was little upward social mobility. It is believed that this inequality especially among the rural peasants in the outer periphery of the province was part of the spark that would lead to the events of the 1920’s and 30’s.
As tension rose around the world in the early 1900’s there were those that still championed for peace. One of these voices was Jean Jaurès, a member of the Reichstag from the town of Castres in Occitania. He was a prominent figure among leftest politics in Gallia and tried to work out a peaceful solution to the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand famously saying “Are we going to start a world war?”. However by July 31, 1914 Jaurès was assassinated by Roman nationalist Raoul Schurke who was arrested for the assination during the war but was acquitted after the war. This stopped any chance to avoid the war that would change the world forever. The resulting Great War or Weltkrieg would see fighting between the Rich and the Central Powers, China’s Tianxia Alliance and Foxes Eimerican Confederacy. It would also be a war in which millions upon millions of men were thrown into a meat grinder and in some cases entire generations were lost. The war would see Russia and India leave the war due to the machinations of the Jinyiwei. One of the terms for Russia leaving was to allow Chinese troops to link up with their Lithuanian allies. This would begin a series of pushes that would lead to massive unrest. Gallia would be the province that was hit the worst by these strikes. Funded by money from secret benefactors the various leftist factions in the outlying areas of Gallia such as Brittany, Normandy, and Occitania began to unite into a single movement. This movement would go on to take the provincial parliament and declare a new government. The Imperial Legions of the Roman Reich could only offer limited resistance since many of them were busy fighting in places like Albion, Africa and the Middle East. This would cause other cities in Gaul to rise up and cause many loyalists to flee to Germania. By 1926 the forces of the Union of Albion and the Commune of Gallia formed a military alliance called the Third International to stand against the loyalist forces of Sudafrika, New Carthage, Hibernia, Frisia and Germania. Now with most of Western Europe under the red banner it leaves one to wonder if the fire of syndicalism will ever go out?
Frisia
The region of what is today Frisia first came into contact with the Romans during Julias Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Despite the native people who lived there not keeping records the main sources available about them were from Caesar and his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, a book that tells his firsthand account about the people living there but in a third-person perspective. In the book he talks about how there were two main tribes, the Menapii, and the Eburones. Over time this area would see many tribes moving into and out of this region with some of them such as the Batavians and Cananefates and others who would become highly regarded as soldiers of Rome in the cavalry. To the south you had the Belgae, a group-of people whose ethnicity is still up for debate if they were either German, Celtic or something else. The Belgae are even believed to have fascinated Julias Caesar in their uniqueness. However by 69 CE the Batavian rebellion would take place over the Romans taking young Batavians as slaves but the rebellions were crushed in 70 CE. The Batavians would later merge with other tribes and form the Salian Franks who would unite with other tribes and form the Medieval Franks.
The First Empire would collapse in an event known to history as the "Migration Period". This was a period in which various Germanic peoples from the east migrated to not only escape the Huns but to also acquire new land. Three prominent groups were the Saxons, Angles and Jutes. However these groups would for the most part go on to migrate to Albion. But the ones that did stay became known as the Frisians. The Frisians would go on to have a kingdom in northern Frisia with its capital in Utrecht. Southern Frisia would become home to the Carolingian dynasty, whose most famous member Charlemagne would go on to bring all of western Europe under their rule. Eventually many Salian Franks would continue to speak Old Frankish, a language that by the 9th Century would evolve into Old Dutch. Were as in Southern Frisia the area would be divided between the Kingdom of France which emerged out of West Frankia the part of the empire given to Charles the Bald Charlemagne’s grandson after his death with Frisia then known as Middle Francia being originally given to another grandson Lothair I but would be divided after his death in 855 between his sons with Italy going to Louis II and Lortharingia going to Lothar II. Lortharingia would be partitioned again this time between then king Lothair also known as “Lothair of France” and Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor. This arrangement would continue until the restoration of the Reich in 1105. But to those that thought that the period in between was peaceful they are wrong. Raids from outsiders like the Vikings and the Magyars of Carpathia ravaged Europe with Vikings raiding cities like Ghent, Maastricht, Liège, Stavelot, Prüm, Cologne, and Koblenz with one Viking known as Godfrid becoming the Duke of Frisia from 882 to 885. Southern Frisia would also have its fair share of Viking raids with the most noticeable one being the Battle of Leuven in 891 CE.
In 1105 after conquering most of the old Roman borders the Hohonzolerens, a family from Brandenburg who after becoming Holy Roman Emperors united western Europe with the Second Empire and formed the Roman Reich. This caused mass celebrations throughout the Reich however the festivities would not last. For almost immediately the newly formed Scandinavian Fylkirate would invade the Reich in an attempt to try and get some of its former land back. But it was in the 1200’s that the hammer truly fell. For in that decade ships from an unknown people have arrived in Albion demanding land. When they did not immediately get what they wanted they invaded. This war would be known as the Sunset Invasion and the people who attacked the Reich would be known as the Mexica. Despite being like Gaul in where the province was never invaded it’s trade routes were still raided by the Mexica along with many citizens of that province either joining the Legion’s or building ships for the navy.
After the Sunset Invasion some towns and cities in Frisia would go on to form the Hanseatic League an alliance of cities along the North and Baltic Sea’s that promise to help the other in trade and defence but by the 1500’s competition from Britannia and even Frisia itself began outcompeting the league in terms of trade. This century would also see the province come under the rule of the Habsburgs, an originally Helvetian family who were allied to the Hohenzollerns. The rise of the Iconoclast Reformation which would see the Reich nearly torn apart by religious differences but surprisingly Frisia itself remained largely unaffected save for a few areas along the Frisian and Germanian borders. Despite this Frisian merchants spread out far and wide and could be found in not only Europe but also in Mitteleimerica, Africa and Asia. This economic activity would turn the province into an economic powerhouse and would be a major source of revenue to the Reich’s treasury. One noticeable event in Frisia during the 1600’s would be Tulip mania. Tulip mania was an event in which Tulip’s became one of the most valuable luxury goods in the area with some flowers being worth as much as a skilled laborer or a house. With the rise of Futures Contracts (Contracts where you agree to sell something at a specific time in the future) and with more and more farmers growing them the price ended up being too high and the bubble burst in 1637. Despite this the overall economy of the province and the Imperial government did not suffer that much.
This would change during the Maximist uprising and the Roman Civil War in which the province of Frisia would ally with the Maximist. This would lead to Frisia suffering a similar fate to Gaul in which the province would be left devastated by the war and occupied by the Legions for a short time. The Imperial Century would see Frisian citizens go to places like Sudafrika and Indochina and try to compete with Britannia in being the province that produces the most ships for the Reich.
When the Weltkrieg looked like it would happen the Frisian government started vast infrastructure projects like modernizing the New Holland Waterline, and Fortress Amsterdam as a last line of defense. When the war broke out the Frisian’s raised an army of 200,000 men and railways came under military control. During the war the Lithuanian and Scandinavian navy’s raided Roman ships leading to many Frisian ships to remain in port for fear of being sunk. This almost caused a severe crisis in terms of things like food but this was subsidized by other provinces and with the Imperial Navy clearing the North and Baltic Sea’s. After the war, protests from liberal forces about the continuation of wartime measures caused scattered riots that included even some in the Legions from that province threatening revolution like that in Russia. To combat this the Governor stepped down along with the Provincial Legions being demobilized and food rations being increased. This caused some anger among the National Populist in the province and soon street riots between left and right forces started occurring all over the province with the left supported by the Commune of Gaul and the Union of Albion. This caused the Imperial Government in Berlin to send in the Legions who for now have been able to maintain order.
Tianxia-Legacy of the Great War:
Western Europe
Albion = Light Red
Hibernia = Dark Green
Gual = Light Blue
Frisia = Pink
Western Europe
Albion = Light Red
Hibernia = Dark Green
Gual = Light Blue
Frisia = Pink
Hibernia
In ancient times the land known as Hibernia was one of the few regions not conquered by the Roman Legions. In early Roman history it was not even viewed as a real place along with neighboring Albion. Hibernia along with Albion had a considerable population of Celtic inhabitants. The Celts are an Indo-European group who came from what is today southern Germania in the old Province of Noricum. The Celts would eventually expand into the rest of Germania, Gaul, Albion, Hibernia and even parts of Hispania and Anatolia/Asia Minor. However the Celts were not a unified people like the Romans and instead comprised of numerous tribes. As Rome continued to expand out of Italia it came into contact with these peoples but these interactions were for the most part always bloody. Roman expansion would push the Celts back until only the populations of Caledonia and Hibernia were spared. When the First Empire collapsed in 476 CE the Celts in Hibernia were faced with a new enemy in the form of the Vikings. The Vikings would raid Hibernia throughout the Middle Ages and some even settled in Dublin and established a kingdom on the island. The new Roman Reich under Friedrich the Great would do what the previous two Empires had failed to do and bring Hibernia into the Roman fold. When Saint Wilhelmina mended the Schism between Catholicism and Orthodoxy the Irish resisted conversion the most and it was not until the Inquisition came in that Catholicism was wiped out for good on the Island. Hibernia would suffer the most during the Sunset Invasion, along with Caledonia. The Mexica general Ocuil Acatl would even declare Dublin his headquarters. When the Reich freed the island many Hibernians desired revenge on the Mexica and would participate in Operation Sunrise Invasion years later.
By the 1800’s Hibernia was an important training ground for the Roman Legions. However by the 1800’s the Maximist began organizing. The Maximist were a movement advocating for more democracy in line with China. By May 16, 1845 the Maximist under Konrad von Habsburg staged a protest in Paris. Then Kaiser Sigismund sent in the Legions to try and maintain order but this caused Maximist rebellions across Europe. To make matters worse, by July 18, 1845 a potato blight struck the Reich driving more people to the Maximist side. During the rest of the 1840’s the Maximist Rebellion fought for control of Hibernia with most of the Island coming under Maximist control. June 3, 1847 would see all of the Reich and even Berlin fall under Maximist occupation save for a few overseas territories. However the incompetence of the Maximist Government along with Konrad von Habsburg himself lead to many people to go back to supporting the Siegfriedist to the point that on February 3, 1848 the Roman Civil War beguan between the Maximist in Berlin and the Siegfriedist who resurfaced in Constantinople. At the outbreak of the Civil War the provinces of Hispania, Hibernia, Anatolia, Graecia, Taurica, Caucasia, Britannia, Israel, most of Arabia, Mesopotamia, Normandy, southern Italia, parts of Carpathia, along with the Kiel Canal sided with Sigismund II. Were as the Kent part of Britannia, the German parts of Gallia, north Italia, all of Caledonia, Frisia, Germania, Carpathia, Dacia, Illyricum, Afrika, Neu Rhomania, Sudafrika, Ostafrika, Westafrika, Mittelafrika sided with the Maximist. Indochina, Mittagsland, and the Pacific Ocean territories declared their Neutrality. What followed was Six long years of Civil War that ended in a Victory for Sigismund who became known as Sigismund II "the Modernizer''. The next 50 years would see the Reich expand in technology and science called the Imperial Century. The end of the 1800’s also saw the Reich expand into Africa.
By the beginning of the 1900’s the situation in the world had once again begun to change. With the newly formed Chinese Empire challenging the Reich in Asia and new ideologies in the form of Equalism beginning to gain ground it seemed like the world would change once again. That came with the assassination of Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand in Lublin by a Lithuanian Nationalist in 1914. This assassination would set off a domino effect that would spiral into what would be known as the Weltkrieg. The war would end in a Roman defeat at the hand of the Chinese lead Tianxia Alliance. In the wake of this defeat pro-separatist movements led by Sinn Fein led a revolt against the provisional government only to be put down by government forces. However the Syndicast revolt that gave birth to the Union of Albion led to many government officials in Caledonia, Britannia and Wales fleeing to Hibernia. For now Hibernia is largely autonomous from the Loyalist Remnants in Berlin by a sea of Syndicalist land and is guarded by the provincial navy of both the Albion provinces and of Hibernia’s own. But with it remaining to be seen as to if the new Syndicalist order will survive or if the Reich will survive the fate of Hibernia and the refugees on the island remain to be seen.
Albion
The Island of Albion has for years been considered an enigma to the Ancient Roman’s. It was only until the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BCE that the island became known to the Romans as an actual physical place. Despite Caesar’s landing on the island the Romans did not truly invade it until the reign of Emperor Claudius in 43 CE. However the legions would only be able to take Southern Albion which would become the Province of Britannia. One of the most famous episodes during the First Empire’s rule of Britannia was the Boudican revolt. The Boudican revolt was an uprising by the Iceni led by their Queen Boudica along with the Trinovantes and other Celtic peoples against the Romans. Despite the revolt being one of the largest in Britannias history the Romans were able to swiftly crush the rebels. Soon the First Empire started entering a period of stagnation in which coupled with the migration of non-Romans into the First Empire many legions began evacuating from the frontier regions of the Empire with Britannia being one of them. In the power vacuum a new group came. Today this group is known as the Anglo-Saxons. They are a group from the region of Germania, a region never integrated into the First Empire but who would push out the Native Briton and Celtic inhabitants into areas like Wales, Caledonia and Hibernia. In their place new kingdoms would arise like Wessex and Mercia. Caledonia is one of the regions that were originally not part of the First Empire. The region like Britannia was inhabited by a group that is now known as the Celts but one group of Celts would eventually dominate the others. Those people were the Picts. The Picts were a group that fiercely resisted Roman domination and would launch raids on Roman towns. To protect their holdings in Britannia the Romans constructed Hadrian's Wall, a series of fortifications along the modern Britannian-Caledonian Border. When the Antonine Wall was constructed further to the north it is believed that a province called Valentia emerged between the walls but Ronman control of the region only lasted only for a short amount of time before the Romans were forced to retreat behind Hadrian's Wall. However by around 1000 CE the Picts would slowly be supplanted by a new group known as the Gaels who together with the remaining Picts would create the Kingdom of Alba.
793 CE would see this order upset yet again with the arrival of the Vikings, a group of Norse warriors from Scandinavia. Over the duration of the Norse Raids the Danelaw would be established along the east coast of Britannia with many Vikings settling the area. The Norse would be driven out by the Kingdom of Wessex led by King Alfred who would later become known as Alfred The Great. Alfred and his descendants would rule England until 1066 were a succession crisis after the death of Edward the Confessor would cause a war between three people. One of them being Edward’s brother-in-law Harold Godwinson the then current King of England, William of Normandy a cousin through his mother and Harald Hardrada the King of Norway. It is unknown what happened during the Battle of Stamford Bridge but according to legends King Hardrada was killed leading to the Normans taking all of England. However the Norwegians returned nine days later led by King Hardrada who claimed to have been resurrected by Odin. Harald Hardrada and his newly paganized army captured England and incorporated it and Normandy itself into the new Empire of Scandinavia or Norse Fylkirate. However by 1066 the Holy Roman Empire or HRE would soon become the mortal enemies of the new Norse state. The HRE was a state born in Central Europe out of East Frankia upon the coronation of Otto I in 962 they would under the direction of the Pope go on to launch Crusades against the Pagans of Europe with the islands of Albion and Hibernia being two of them. On April 3,1105 the Holy Roman Empire and the surviving Second Empire would unite and form the Roman Reich, a new Empire that would consist of the majority of continental Europe. During Operation Sunset Invasion which took place on December 9, 1236 by the Mexica, Britannia along with Caledonia and Hibernia would suffer the most out of all of the Reich's provinces in terms of citizens lost to the Mexica. After the Sunset Invasion a lot of its citizens along with Caledonians and Hibernians would join the legions for Operation Sunrise Invasion on February 21, 1769 which would see the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan sacked and the piling up of massive debt on the side of the Mexica.
Peace would once again come after Sunrise Invasion but during the Maximist Rebellion in which Albion like most of the Reich had defected to the rebels would once again side with the Siegfriedist side after it became known how corrupt the Maximist government was. This made it to where during the Roman Civil War from 1848-1854 saw Britannia supporting the Siegfriedist with Caledonia and the Kent region of Albion siding with the Maximist. Over the course of the war Britannian Militia Units would retake Kent and in coordination with the Hibernians would launch a coordinated attack against the pro-Maximist government in Caledonia. In the years that followed would mark something known as the Imperial Century, an era in which Roman influence was felt far and wide in fields like culture, technology, politics and military. It is said that Britannian ports would produce more ships for the Kaiserliche Marine both merchant and military than any other province.
When the Weltkrieg broke out many Romans thought it would be a short war however it turned out to be one of the greatest losses the Reich had ever faced until now. Despite losing the war and most of its Asian possessions the government decided to increase its military recruitment and to upgrade its navy. The thinking in Berlin was that the Reich could not lose Africa like it had Asia and South Eimerica. However across the Reich many started to view the Government as weak and unable of protecting them from Chinese demands. One of these regions was Wales. In the early 1900’s growing discontent between the largely German Britannian’s and the Celtic Welsh started to appear. Many Welsh citizens pressed for their region to become a new province or for Home Rule. Protest by pro-independence Welsh forces led to the Easter Rising of 1916 but that revolt was crushed and Martial Law being declared. Things came to a head in 1920 in which numerous parties unite to form the Syndicalist Party of Albion. To try and combat this growing unrest the Provisional Governments of Britannia and Caledonia allow more moderate labor movements seats in their respective parliaments. Despite this victory the labor movements in power were a minority and thus had to ally with the center-right pirates to reach a majority. This would prove disastrous for the labor governments because the conservatives refused to back any legislation put forward by the liberals. Due to not being able to pass meaningful legislation and after a minor legal scandal the labor governments would collapse. Soon it becomes difficult to keep updating the fleet leading to massive layoffs which inflate union numbers. In September of 1924 at Port Talbot in Wales a soldier panics and opens fire on striking workers. This leads to the workers storming the local barracks. When the Provincial Militias are called up many of the Cardiff regiments revolt and declare the Cardiff Commune. In Caledonia in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow local Syndicalist push back the militia and after forming alliances with pro-independence forces soon declare a Caledonian Republic. 1925 would see many Syndicalists leaders meet in Liverpool and declare the Union of Albion. As the civil war between pro-Reich and pro-Syndicalist forces continues in the city of London. The Provincial Capital of Britannia would fall soon after with local naval forces still loyal to the government trying to evacuate as many loyalists and nobles as they could with some being taken to the loyalist government in Hibernia. Now as black trains cross the island and the Syndicalist proclaim their victory it remains to be seen if the loyalists will be able to survive or be swept away by naïve Syndicalists revolts.
Gallia
The region of Gallia was one of the western provinces that was fully Romanized by the First Empire. It began when Roman General Julius Caesar invaded the area which led to the subsequent Gallic Wars which lasted from 58-50 BCE and saw the entire region fall under Roman rule. Despite the decades of Roman rule when the First Empire started to crumble Gaul would be overrun by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns. One of the tribes that would rise to prominence would be the Franks who under Charlemagne would go on to dominate Western Europe. Charlemagne would convert the Franks to Christianity and would even be responsible for spreading it to Germany itself. Due to these efforts the Pope would make Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans in 800 CE. Upon his death the Frankish Realm would be divided between his three sons into West Frankia, Lotharingia and East Frankia with West Frankia becoming France, East Frankia becoming Germany, northern Lotharingia being divided between West and East Frankia with southern Lotharingia becoming Italy. While East Frankia would become the Holy Roman Empire, West Frankia would become France and be ruled by the Capetians and develop its own culture. This new Kingdom of France would remain independent until the late eleventh and early twelfth century with the arrival of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich the Great. After the conquest of France Friedrich would place Friedrich von Sigmaringen on the throne with the Capetians being given estates around Paris. With the Restoration of the Reich France was renamed to Gallia and a program of Germanization began. This Germanization would see the French language suppressed to where even the lowliest peasant was not allowed to speak it (however some university students could study French in a similar way that Latin is studied) and French culture was assimilated into German culture. This was so successful that by the end of the thirteenth century and beginning of the fourteenth century all of France except for Normandy, Brittany, and Occitania were fully German.
During the Sunset Invasion in the 1200’s it was feared by many Roman leaders that if the Mexica were able to take Britannia then Gallia would be next due to Normandy being a part of Britannia at the time. However valiant effort from Gallic crossbowmen who made up part of the Roman army was able to prevent that from becoming a reality. After the war peace would reign in Gaul until the 1500’s in where the Iconoclast Reformation would take place. The Iconoclast considered themselves to be a more pure form of Christianity and did not have any Crucifixes or other religious icons in their churches that were prevalent in official Churches. This led to many Iconoclast protesting the Imperial Orthadox Church and demanding that the icons be removed. The Iconoclast were soon branded as heretics and then Kaiserin Frederica Augusta I cracked down on them. This led to the Iconoclast to change their message of being purely religious in nature to being one against Frederica Augusta’s rule with some in the Iconoclast movement declaring her a despot. The resulting tension would lead to widespread revolts in many Roman cities with many dying. In Gaul alone it is believed that about 3,000,000 people were killed. Despite this the Iconoclast were crushed and things went on as business as usual.
That was until the Maximist uprising and the Roman Civil War of the 1840’s and 50’s in which all of Gaul beside Normandy would be one of the provinces that would side with the Maximist. This led to Gallia being one of the provinces that was devastated the most and for the province to be temporarily placed under a military government. This would only last for a few years with the provincial government restored in the province fairly soon after. After the Civil War Gallia along with the rest of the Reich would experience a time of unprecedented growth and peace known as the Imperial Century. This period would see Gaul go from a largely rural population to having about 30% of its labor force being workers in industry by 1914. Gaul would also be a pioneer in automobile manufacturing and aviation with the first person to cross the Britannian Channel in 1909 being Gallia native Louis Bleriot and Rolan Garros who crossed the Mediterranean in 1912 both of whom used French names in defiance of the ban on French. However despite these achievements more than half of the province's population was still rural and there was little upward social mobility. It is believed that this inequality especially among the rural peasants in the outer periphery of the province was part of the spark that would lead to the events of the 1920’s and 30’s.
As tension rose around the world in the early 1900’s there were those that still championed for peace. One of these voices was Jean Jaurès, a member of the Reichstag from the town of Castres in Occitania. He was a prominent figure among leftest politics in Gallia and tried to work out a peaceful solution to the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand famously saying “Are we going to start a world war?”. However by July 31, 1914 Jaurès was assassinated by Roman nationalist Raoul Schurke who was arrested for the assination during the war but was acquitted after the war. This stopped any chance to avoid the war that would change the world forever. The resulting Great War or Weltkrieg would see fighting between the Rich and the Central Powers, China’s Tianxia Alliance and Foxes Eimerican Confederacy. It would also be a war in which millions upon millions of men were thrown into a meat grinder and in some cases entire generations were lost. The war would see Russia and India leave the war due to the machinations of the Jinyiwei. One of the terms for Russia leaving was to allow Chinese troops to link up with their Lithuanian allies. This would begin a series of pushes that would lead to massive unrest. Gallia would be the province that was hit the worst by these strikes. Funded by money from secret benefactors the various leftist factions in the outlying areas of Gallia such as Brittany, Normandy, and Occitania began to unite into a single movement. This movement would go on to take the provincial parliament and declare a new government. The Imperial Legions of the Roman Reich could only offer limited resistance since many of them were busy fighting in places like Albion, Africa and the Middle East. This would cause other cities in Gaul to rise up and cause many loyalists to flee to Germania. By 1926 the forces of the Union of Albion and the Commune of Gallia formed a military alliance called the Third International to stand against the loyalist forces of Sudafrika, New Carthage, Hibernia, Frisia and Germania. Now with most of Western Europe under the red banner it leaves one to wonder if the fire of syndicalism will ever go out?
Frisia
The region of what is today Frisia first came into contact with the Romans during Julias Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Despite the native people who lived there not keeping records the main sources available about them were from Caesar and his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, a book that tells his firsthand account about the people living there but in a third-person perspective. In the book he talks about how there were two main tribes, the Menapii, and the Eburones. Over time this area would see many tribes moving into and out of this region with some of them such as the Batavians and Cananefates and others who would become highly regarded as soldiers of Rome in the cavalry. To the south you had the Belgae, a group-of people whose ethnicity is still up for debate if they were either German, Celtic or something else. The Belgae are even believed to have fascinated Julias Caesar in their uniqueness. However by 69 CE the Batavian rebellion would take place over the Romans taking young Batavians as slaves but the rebellions were crushed in 70 CE. The Batavians would later merge with other tribes and form the Salian Franks who would unite with other tribes and form the Medieval Franks.
The First Empire would collapse in an event known to history as the "Migration Period". This was a period in which various Germanic peoples from the east migrated to not only escape the Huns but to also acquire new land. Three prominent groups were the Saxons, Angles and Jutes. However these groups would for the most part go on to migrate to Albion. But the ones that did stay became known as the Frisians. The Frisians would go on to have a kingdom in northern Frisia with its capital in Utrecht. Southern Frisia would become home to the Carolingian dynasty, whose most famous member Charlemagne would go on to bring all of western Europe under their rule. Eventually many Salian Franks would continue to speak Old Frankish, a language that by the 9th Century would evolve into Old Dutch. Were as in Southern Frisia the area would be divided between the Kingdom of France which emerged out of West Frankia the part of the empire given to Charles the Bald Charlemagne’s grandson after his death with Frisia then known as Middle Francia being originally given to another grandson Lothair I but would be divided after his death in 855 between his sons with Italy going to Louis II and Lortharingia going to Lothar II. Lortharingia would be partitioned again this time between then king Lothair also known as “Lothair of France” and Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor. This arrangement would continue until the restoration of the Reich in 1105. But to those that thought that the period in between was peaceful they are wrong. Raids from outsiders like the Vikings and the Magyars of Carpathia ravaged Europe with Vikings raiding cities like Ghent, Maastricht, Liège, Stavelot, Prüm, Cologne, and Koblenz with one Viking known as Godfrid becoming the Duke of Frisia from 882 to 885. Southern Frisia would also have its fair share of Viking raids with the most noticeable one being the Battle of Leuven in 891 CE.
In 1105 after conquering most of the old Roman borders the Hohonzolerens, a family from Brandenburg who after becoming Holy Roman Emperors united western Europe with the Second Empire and formed the Roman Reich. This caused mass celebrations throughout the Reich however the festivities would not last. For almost immediately the newly formed Scandinavian Fylkirate would invade the Reich in an attempt to try and get some of its former land back. But it was in the 1200’s that the hammer truly fell. For in that decade ships from an unknown people have arrived in Albion demanding land. When they did not immediately get what they wanted they invaded. This war would be known as the Sunset Invasion and the people who attacked the Reich would be known as the Mexica. Despite being like Gaul in where the province was never invaded it’s trade routes were still raided by the Mexica along with many citizens of that province either joining the Legion’s or building ships for the navy.
After the Sunset Invasion some towns and cities in Frisia would go on to form the Hanseatic League an alliance of cities along the North and Baltic Sea’s that promise to help the other in trade and defence but by the 1500’s competition from Britannia and even Frisia itself began outcompeting the league in terms of trade. This century would also see the province come under the rule of the Habsburgs, an originally Helvetian family who were allied to the Hohenzollerns. The rise of the Iconoclast Reformation which would see the Reich nearly torn apart by religious differences but surprisingly Frisia itself remained largely unaffected save for a few areas along the Frisian and Germanian borders. Despite this Frisian merchants spread out far and wide and could be found in not only Europe but also in Mitteleimerica, Africa and Asia. This economic activity would turn the province into an economic powerhouse and would be a major source of revenue to the Reich’s treasury. One noticeable event in Frisia during the 1600’s would be Tulip mania. Tulip mania was an event in which Tulip’s became one of the most valuable luxury goods in the area with some flowers being worth as much as a skilled laborer or a house. With the rise of Futures Contracts (Contracts where you agree to sell something at a specific time in the future) and with more and more farmers growing them the price ended up being too high and the bubble burst in 1637. Despite this the overall economy of the province and the Imperial government did not suffer that much.
This would change during the Maximist uprising and the Roman Civil War in which the province of Frisia would ally with the Maximist. This would lead to Frisia suffering a similar fate to Gaul in which the province would be left devastated by the war and occupied by the Legions for a short time. The Imperial Century would see Frisian citizens go to places like Sudafrika and Indochina and try to compete with Britannia in being the province that produces the most ships for the Reich.
When the Weltkrieg looked like it would happen the Frisian government started vast infrastructure projects like modernizing the New Holland Waterline, and Fortress Amsterdam as a last line of defense. When the war broke out the Frisian’s raised an army of 200,000 men and railways came under military control. During the war the Lithuanian and Scandinavian navy’s raided Roman ships leading to many Frisian ships to remain in port for fear of being sunk. This almost caused a severe crisis in terms of things like food but this was subsidized by other provinces and with the Imperial Navy clearing the North and Baltic Sea’s. After the war, protests from liberal forces about the continuation of wartime measures caused scattered riots that included even some in the Legions from that province threatening revolution like that in Russia. To combat this the Governor stepped down along with the Provincial Legions being demobilized and food rations being increased. This caused some anger among the National Populist in the province and soon street riots between left and right forces started occurring all over the province with the left supported by the Commune of Gaul and the Union of Albion. This caused the Imperial Government in Berlin to send in the Legions who for now have been able to maintain order.
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Ah, I'd been wondering when we'd get another update on this; good work @GhostRider124 , big fan of the Gaul segment.
Thanks. Yea it was hectic during the holidays and I was not feeling well the week before Christmas and at the beginning of January which really hampered my writing. But I am much better now and back at it.
No worries. We all need breaks every now and then (I'm pretty much on break from Chapter 465 since I burned myself out writing one of the segments). Take your time, as your updates will only get better in quality.
I'm pretty sure he was only a Crown Prince here, not an Archduke (the title seemed to have still went to the Habsburgs but I haven't mentioned it since possibly EU4).
I think you mean Syndicalist.
His name was Harald Hardrada and I'm sure "Hardrada" is a nickname.
I think it would be better if you rewrote this since the HRE would be over 200 years old at this point and saying "a new power was forming" implies it was formed recently in 1066.
I think you mean Gaul.
Still working out the name issue but I'm leaning towards them being known as Sigmaringens from the beginning.
It was specifically renamed Gallia, not Gaul. Don't think anyone's used Gaul in centuries.
Sounds like an interesting character. I might actually expand on who he was in the main timeline.
I think the Hanseatic League was only founded after the Reich was restored.
No worries. This update was great and you really tried your best. Looking forward to the next one, as always.Thanks. Yea it was hectic during the holidays and I was not feeling well the week before Christmas and at the beginning of January which really hampered my writing. But I am much better now and back at it.
Okay I believe I have done all of the corrections if you or anyone else notices anymore let me know.
In fact his killer's actual name was Raoul Villain and I believe I used the German Name Generator from the fantasynamegenerators website to get the German sounding last name of Schurke since French in TTL has largely died out.
I added that into that part that you commented on and said that Gallia could be the official name with Gaul being the common name.
Very much so. I did not know about him until I saw the video that the Great War YouTube channel did on what France was doing before the war.
In fact his killer's actual name was Raoul Villain and I believe I used the German Name Generator from the fantasynamegenerators website to get the German sounding last name of Schurke since French in TTL has largely died out.
Excellent interpretation of western Europe. Take your time on the next update, it will be worth it.
You might be able to do something with him in the Eugene Debs biography if you're still considering that idea. Having Debs interact with him as a fellow French left-wing activist along with other anti war activists could be great could be very interesting, especially if you have them opposed to Angelos' policies as regent later on in WW1.
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I was trying to say the name “Gaul” hasn’t been used in centuries and wouldn’t be resurrected after 600+ years of disuse. Early on people might still call the area “France,” but over time they’d start saying “Gallia” until the name France almost completely disappears outside of remote villages and academic circles.
Interesting. So he was a pretty obscure guy. I like that.
Well that’s a pretty fitting last name.
Good idea. I should write that down for my Debs notes.
It is fixed.
Well he was obscure to me since I only knew the major flash points of French History such as the 7 Years War, French Revolution, Napoleon, Franco-Prussian War, the World Wars, and Frances defeat at Dien Bien Phu and not the finer details.
I second that idea.
If you want some more information on him there is a Wikipedia page on him.
Jean Jaurès - Wikipedia
You can watch the Great War channels video on France in were he is talked about from 7:33 to 8:26 but the entire episode along with the entire Great War series itself is really good.
Thanks for pointing out the resources. I’ll save them for future reading/watching.It is fixed.
Well he was obscure to me since I only knew the major flash points of French History such as the 7 Years War, French Revolution, Napoleon, Franco-Prussian War, the World Wars, and Frances defeat at Dien Bien Phu and not the finer details.
I second that idea.
If you want some more information on him there is a Wikipedia page on him.
Jean Jaurès - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
You can watch the Great War channels video on France in were he is talked about from 7:33 to 8:26 but the entire episode along with the entire Great War series itself is really good.
Isn't Gallia just a Latinization of Gaul through. Regardless, through its ultimately @GhostRider124 's choice, I personally would prefer Syndicalist Gallia being called "Francia" with the Syndicalist regime's reasoning behind the name change being similar to the propaganda the Soviets in the main timeline used for Deromanization, so basically rejecting the the old provincial name while also undoing the wrongs of French persecution under German capitalist, or something to that affect.
I'd also recommend this Wikipedia article as well when it comes to research for the Anti War of WW1 as a whole for further context.
Opposition to World War I - Wikipedia
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Love that new Tianxia update, especially the potential re-emergence of a French identity. Also I do recommend watching the Great War vids, they're really good.
Thanks. Also I have been watching their "All Videos from THE GREAT WAR - chronological" playlist which has 643 episodes in total. I have been watching since I think October of 2020 and am at episode 628 "Austria During World War 1 I THE GREAT WAR Special" I plan on finishing the series by this Saturday and then follow Indie on to his Between 2 Wars and World War II series on his own channels TimeGhost History and World War Two. I also plan to watch the Great Wars series of the Franco-Prussian War on their second channel Real Time History. Also my other favorite history channel Kings and Generals are now doing WWII in the Pacific Week By Week. So I have a lot of content to catch up on.
Oh yeah speaking of Kings and Generals, I do believe they have a playlist covering the First Crusade plus Alexios Komnenos' rise to power, could be useful for material for your revamped 1066 plotline Zen.
They also have series on Robert Guiscard and an overview of Europe in 1066 that they did as promotion for CK3 when it came out. CK2 also provides a wiki links for historical characters in game as well. As for primary sources, the only one I know about from this timeperiod would be the Alexiad which obviously glorifies Alexious' rule, but it should still be a good source at providing insight into Alexious' reign to further flesh out his character in the rework.
Yes, but people would know Gallia better than Gaul. Agree Francia would work as a name.
Definitely will look at that for both Debs’ bio and ROTCE2 backstory.
Yes, it does feel like stuff Angelos would do. I could even mention how some of these laws survived until at least the 2010s (from what I know, today’s Insurrection Act is a Wilson-era law). Could also expand on who Wilson was.
Oh God that’s a lot of episodes, but I could pick and choose specific episodes based on what information I need. I might actually use it for general research on the Weltkrieg in ROTCE2, since I have to really rework the point of divergence.
Will check that one out.
Yes, definitely. I have to do both Guiscard and Alexios justice as they’re major players.
Night Watch
Somewhere in the southern Ural foothills
Sunset blanketed the southern Urals in shades of orange and purple, throwing up long shadows. The sun remained choked with fallout dust, giving off a hazy appearance that was hard to look at. The Romans had just left the foothills of the Urals and were now following the Yayiq River to the southwest, hoping to reach the Caspian Sea. It was full of debris and dead bodies. The bodies were probably those of the population of Orenburg, a town on the river. Before the war, it proudly advertised itself as the crossroads of Europe and Asia, as the Yayiq and the Urals were generally considered the border between the two. There was even a pair of monuments on either side of its main bridge across the river, one for Europe and another for Asia. Was, Wilhelmina reminded herself.
That’s all gone now. The city’s been gutted and looted. And not by the Crusaders; they haven’t gotten this far. A local warlord’s army descended on the place. From what the survivors tell me, they came one day and demanded the town’s food and men for the war effort. When they refused, they attacked and took what they wanted by force. Most of the townspeople fled west, to Astrakhan. They say the government’s massing forces to build a safe haven there. Unfortunately, Astrakhan’s close to the old Roman border, so I wouldn’t consider that an improvement.
“Grandma, I’m tired,” Friedrich said.
“I’m tired too,” Ilyana said.
Heidi neighed.
“Bet you’re tired too?” Wilhelmina said. “Hey everyone, I think we should set up camp.”
“Aye, I think we could use the rest,” Izinchi said.
“Sure,” Gebhard said.
“Alright, then,” Samir said, “Gulichi, help me set up camp!”
“On it,” Gulichi said.
They set up camp. Gulichi put down some firewood inside a stone circle Samir made. Gebhard and Izinchi got started on preparing a meal, taking out another set of packed food from Takomaan.
“How much food do we have left?” Izinchi said.
“Doesn’t matter, we have only two more days before the rest go bad,” Gebhard said, “And if we can’t find any towns with supplies to spare, we’ll have to start hunting.”
“Ach, hunting?!”
“You’re from Caledonia, don’t you guys have a rich hunting tradition?”
“Aye, right! You said it already, ‘rich hunting’. I didn’t have the time or money. And even if I did, where the blazes would I even hunt in the middle of Edinburgh!”
“Fair point.”
Wilhelmina walked over to the to-be fireplace. Samir had taken out a lighter and was trying to light it. He clicked the button several times, but it didn’t work.
Samir shook his head. “Perkele…That’s the third lighter.”
“Must be the wind,” Gulichi said, “You feel it?”
“Of course I feel it, it’s cold! I just didn’t think it would make things so difficult!”
“Oh, so the city boy and soldier complains about survival skills being difficult.”
“Let’s see if you can do better.” Samir handed him the lighter.
“Let me show you how to do it without technology,” Gulichi said.
He picked up two sticks and began rubbing them together very quickly.
Samir put his hands on his hips. “Technically that’s still technology.”
“Chimeegüi! I’m focusing!” Gulichi waved his hand, like shooing away a fly.
They stood there for a minute, waiting for a spark. But nothing happened. Samir crossed his arms.
“Looks like the way of Genghis Khan works just as well as the way of the city boy.” He looked a little smug.
“Damn, the sticks must be damp, or this breeze is colder than I expected…”. Gulichi looked up at Wilhelmina. “Hey, so…”
“What’s up?” Wilhelmina said.
“Well…not this fire, for one. Now I know your situation is a little touchy, but perhaps you could…”
“What? Light a fire with my mind?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m getting at. Though I’m not sure how Private ‘I don’t like people with inherent advantages over others’ here would take it.”
“I’m fine with it,” Samir said.
“Gie it laldy, Willie!” Izinchi cheered on. “We’s chittering over here!”
“Izinchi, not now!” Gebhard said.
“What, you want to stay in the cold all night?”
“No, but—”
“Then zip it.”
“But—”
“ZIP!” Izinchi made a zipping motion across her lips.
Gebhard facepalmed. “Of all of the senators I had to be stuck with, it had to be you.”
“Why, I’m honored!”
“Why couldn’t it have been old Mihailo?”
“Auld Mihailo? Ye mean the geezer who sunk the Sentinel investigation bill?”
Wilhelmina concentrated on the pile of kindling, tuning out Izinchi and Gebhard’s squabbling in the background.
How do they do it in the movies? Like…concentrate and imagine what you want. Let’s see, I want heat. So I’ll imagine a roaring fire that warms us all up…okay, I see it in my mind, and I feel my body warming up in anticipation of it…but it’s still not there.
She concentrated for another few minutes, but nothing happened.
“It’s okay,” Samir said, “We have like four other lighters we can—”
On a whim, Wilhelmina snapped her fingers, and the kindling burst into flames.
“…or you can just snap your fingers. Okay then.”
“Ha!” Gulichi chuckled. “The look on your face!”
Samir sighed. “Can we just get on to dinner?”
December 20, early morning
Each of them stood watch in shifts. At this hour, it was Wilhelmina’s turn. She sat next to the fire, occasionally turning over a log or adding a new stick.
Half an hour into the watch. Nothing out of the ordinary. No bandits or warlords. Thank goodness. I should ask for an earlier shift to fit my sleep schedule. Can’t stay up as late as if I’m still cramming for exams. Funny that, me of all people asking for a better shift. Wish I still had Persona Emblem with me. Getting kind of bored just sitting here. I’m not cut out for this kind of work. I’m a princess, not a security guard.
At that moment, she heard a twig snap and bushes rustling in the distance.
Curse my luck. Of course something has to happen right as I say that.
She reached down and picked up a hunting rifle Gulichi had left for sentry duty. Raising it to her shoulder, she checked it was ready to go.
Locked…and loaded. Barrel seems fine—wait, remember, don’t stare down the barrel, even if it’s unloaded. Scope’s useless at this time of night, so we’ll have to fly by eye. Follow what Samir and Gulichi taught you. Keep your finger off the trigger and the barrel on the ground when—AAH! What was that?! Was that the wind?!
Another twig snapped. To the left of the original noise. She pivoted to focus on the new sound, but she saw nothing through the darkness of the night. She heard nothing too, other than the crackling of the fire. She heard nothing but darkness. She saw nothing but silence. All was still. All was quiet. And yet the darkness now felt smothering. Deafening, even.
I can’t hear anything. I’m focusing everything I have, but I can’t hear anything. I only see the camp. Not anything in the darkness beyond. Did I hear that snapping correctly? Or was it just my mind making something up? Like when we played games in the 90s, the graphics were just a bunch of pixels, but the TVs weren’t any better off, and we were kids, so our minds filled in the blanks with our imaginations.
A thud now. Heavy. Like something big crunching over grass and leaves.
Definitely not imagining that one.
She raised her rifle and aimed at the direction. “W-Who’s t-there?! I-Identify yo-your-s-s-s-self!”
I’m not scared, I’m not scared!
Another thud. Closer. And another. Even closer. A low growling. Like wind, but localized.
“Izinchi, this is your idea of a Caledonian practical joke, I think I get the point!”
I’mnotscaredI’mnotscaredI’mnotscared—
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Notscarednotscarednotscared
Thud, Thud, Thud.
“Whoever it is, identify yourself or I will shoot! I know how to fire this thing!”
Thudthudthud—
NOTHING IS GOING RIGHT!
“EVERYBODY WAKE UP!”
A giant brown blur zoomed out of the darkness, claws and fangs gleaming in the dim firelight, and a guttural roar broke through the smothering silent darkness, chilling her down to the bone just as much as the nighttime cold. Her rifle’s muzzle flashed once, then twice, before it was swatted out of her hands. A split second later, she was on the ground. The bear’s open mouth snapped at her head just inches away, assaulting her nose with rank breath, her ears with a point blank roar, and her face with copious amounts of saliva.
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHWHATTHEFRAKISGOINGON
A shot rang out, and a bullet struck the bear in the shoulder. Some blood and flesh was sent flying by the impact, but the bear barely noticed. It did, though. It got up on its hind legs and turned to face Samir and Gulichi, who had their guns ready.
“Oh, a bear,” Gulichi said, “There were a few of them in the forest near Takomaan—”
“Later!” Samir said.
The bear charged at them. Samir and Gulichi opened fire, but their bullets barely slowed the beast down. It made contact and swiped at them with its paws, slamming them to the ground and knocking their guns away. The bear roared angrily again.
“Perkele!” Samir cursed.
Gulichi managed to get to his feet and grabbed Samir’s shoulders, trying to pull him away.
“Ow—ow!” Samir said. “Something in my leg hurts!”
“It broken?”
“Don’t think so! Just focus on getting us away from the Ukkodamned bear!”
The bear prepared to charge again. Gulichi and Samir had only gotten a few feet away. Not far enough away. The bear would catch up in seconds.
Come on, do something! Anything!
“HEY YOU BIG BROWN FURBALL!” Wilhelmina snapped her fingers.
Flames leapt out of the fire and surged toward the bear like a harpoon hitting its target, burning its back. The bear grunted and turned around, glaring at Wilhelmina.
I’m surprised that worked. Next step: DON’T GET MAULED IN THEIR PLACE!
Izinchi sleepily opened the entry flap on her tent. “Why’d ye have t’wake me up so early, not even Nanahuatzin gets up so—IN TH’ NAME OF TH’ WEE MEN WHAT IS THAT?!”
Wilhelmina reached out her hand.
Enonon, don’t fail me now!
Several feet away, her tent flashed with white light, and then Enonon flew out, coming to rest in her hand. She concentrated. The seven letters on the blade flashed in order, and then the entire blade began glowing, the light illuminating the entire impromptu campsite. The bear briefly hesitated, but it soon returned to its aggressive state. It bared its fangs and growled.
“Not so tough now, are you? Do you know who I am?”
The bear charged. Wilhelmina adopted a defensive stance and calmed herself.
Hold your ground. Don’t run. You can’t run. Not after the bunker. Not after Takomaan. Plant your feet, face your problems head on, and deal with them. As Alwine Glienke—and Steven Rudolf—once said, if the entire world is telling you to move, you look them in the eye and say…
“No. You move.” She slashed outward. A pulse of energy emanated from Enonon’s wake and slammed into the bear, tossing it back. It sprawled on the ground, briefly stunned. But it soon recovered and charged at her again, lunging out with a paw. Wilhelmina ducked under it and slashed across the bear’s side and down a leg. Blood spurted on the ground, and the bear roared again. It now limped at a slower pace than before.
“You will know who I am by the end of this.”
Okay, okay. We’re doing fine. We’re still alive. It’s wounded. A good start.
The bear turned around to face her. It clearly meant to charge yet again.
Really? You’re pretty stubborn, you know? Reminds me of myself, sometimes. Well, I’m not about to do close quarters combat again, so…
Just as the bear charged, she stabbed Enonon into the ground, creating a shockwave that rippled out and hit the bear, stopping it in its tracks. It shook its head, confused, before trying to charge again. Wilhelmina pulled Enonon out and swung upward, hitting the bear with another shockwave.
“Please just leave, won’t you?!”
Make my job easier.
“I don’t want to kill you! I know you’re a big scary bear who probably wants to eat us all, but surely you can find other sources of food these nights! Especially dead food! Sure that river has some tasty fish!”
The bear grunted and stood still for a moment. As if it was considering her offer.
“Uh…so is that a yes?” Wilhelmina said.
Wait a minute…did Yekaterinburg’s fallout get into the Yayiq? Although the Yayiq goes nowhere near it.
The bear turned to its right, focusing on two people who had just left their tents: Friedrich and Ilyana.
“Oh, frak you. No, you aren’t going to go there…”
The bear growled and bared its teeth.
“You’re going to leave right now, and we’ll put all this behind us…”
The bear tensed up and planted its feet.
“Please don’t make me do this.”
The bear charged at the kids. Ilyana pushed Friedrich behind her and defiantly stretched out her arms. Without hesitation, Wilhelmina surged forward, again boosted by that superhuman speed that helped her in Ilmarisen Takomo. In less than a second, she had put herself between Ilyana and the bear, and a split second later, she plunged Enonon into the bear’s heart. The bear’s eyes widened with shock. It roared and screamed, its pain clearly audible. Wilhelmina pulled the blade out and let the dying bear fall on the ground next to her. It twitched and flailed for a few seconds before going still.
It was dead.
Sunrise
She stayed up the rest of the night, sitting next to the fire even as it dwindled to embers and the sky lightened with hues of gray and orange. Eventually, the sun rose over the Urals in the east, banishing the shadows hanging over the campsite. Slowly, the sounds of the babbling Yayiq returned to her ears, now accompanied by the sounds of waterbirds splashing in the shallows, searching for fish. No birds sang in the trees. She saw vultures circling in the distance. But the most important thing she saw was the two bear cubs wandering around near the river. It didn’t take a park ranger to know where those cubs came from, or why they were now circling each other, as if they meant to fight.
The bear’s carcass was still sprawled in the center of the campsite, hastily covered with a tarp. Gulichi was attending to the horses, who all thankfully hadn’t been harmed that night. Samir stood around awkwardly at the border of the camp. Why the two soldiers who knew this area better than anyone else in their group weren’t on duty all of last night to begin with, she had no idea. The trained soldiers should be the ones looking after a 56-year-old heir to the throne, not the other way around.
Again, I’m a princess, not a security guard.
Samir sat next to her. “Hey, you okay?”
“I’m fine, Samir,” Wilhelmina said.
“You don’t look fine.”
Wilhelmina looked at him. “I just told you, I’m fine.”
“And I’m telling you, you don’t look fine.” Samir pointed to her hand, which still gripped Enonon. “You’ve been up all night. Don’t you think it’s a little excessive?”
“No,” Wilhelmina said, “I wasn’t vigilant enough. Everything went sideways as soon as it charged into camp.”
“You did the best you could with what you had.”
“I killed that bear.”
“Before it could kill Friedrich or Ilyana.”
Wilhelmina looked at the cubs. “I saved the kids…at the expense of some other ones.”
“You couldn’t have known, Wilhelmina.”
“I tried to send it away. I really tried to save it. I know it’s just a bear, but I didn’t want to kill it. It didn’t deserve to die. It was just doing bear things.”
“That’s nature for you,” Samir said, “Some animals prey on others.”
“Like vultures on roadkill? I thought you didn’t like that metaphor.”
Samir thought for a while. Then he sighed and shook his head.
“I could explain why that metaphor doesn’t apply when we’re talking about people killing animals, but I don’t think you’re in the mood for that discussion right now, so I’ll switch to a better explanation. That’s war for you. A soldier’s goal is to follow orders and kill their enemy. People die in wars. That’s what a war is. And most of the time, we don’t know why our enemies are fighting us. Who their families are. Where they came from. Sometimes, I hate that. I hate that we still need to fight over stupid things like bruised egos. I hate that ordinary people get caught up and killed, then dehumanized as mindless minions of the enemy.”
“I don’t think you’re in the mood for that discussion right now.” Proceeds to switch to another discussion of pretty much the same thing. Classic Samir.
“Okay so how does that apply to me killing this bear?” Wilhelmina said. “Good, or bad?”
“I can’t tell you that,” Samir said, “Only you can decide that. You said you would do anything to protect the children. Well, this is part of that ‘anything’. That’s what war is. As much as we hate it, we have to kill people in wars.”
“How do you do it, Samir?”
“Do what?”
“Kill. Kill so many people. All those Crusaders in the bunker. Probably more people before then.”
Samir searched his mind for an answer. It took him almost half a minute. At times, he started to speak, only to cut himself off.
“I’m not sure if I even do it, honestly. It’s hard every time I kill someone. I hear their screams as they’re cut down. Watch their bodies flop to the ground without life. Their dying screams for their parents or their loved ones. The look in their eyes as the light leaves them. Every life I take, I still feel all that. Nothing changes that. I doubt anything will. Wilhelmina, you have to ask yourself…are you going to follow me? Follow the path of a soldier? Is that who you want to be?”
Wilhelmina looked at the smoldering embers.
“I…I don’t know. I vowed to protect Friedrich and Ilyana. I vowed to stop Jerusalem. But I never stopped to think what that would cost me. But I have this sword, and this power. Does that mean I have to kill? Have to be a soldier? Is that who I’m supposed to be?”
“That’s something you’ll have to answer yourself,” Samir said, “But personally, I think just because you have a sword and all those abilities doesn’t mean you have to twist them into only combat applications. You can do a whole lot with those powers that doesn’t involve fighting. As for the sword? Well, wasn’t it always a symbol of legitimacy and Romanitas? How you use that sword will determine how those values are reborn if we take down Jerusalem. Still, this is just my opinion. The humble opinion of a Yavdian soldier.”
“Hey, if you two are done talking philosophy, then get breakfast ready!” Gulichi said.
I’m a princess, not a breakfast cook! Well, actually, me and Franz did make breakfast for each other and then for Joseph when he was growing up. So technically I am both? No, I was both. Sadly enough.
“I thought that was your job!” Samir said.
“It’s yours!” Gulichi said.
“My wrist is sprained!”
“I thought you said your ankle was sprained!”
“That too!” Samir clutched his wrist and groaned.
At that moment, Gebhard stepped out of his tent and yawned. Izinchi immediately stormed over. “Where the blazes were ye last night?!”
Gebhard stared at her, confused. “Wh-what? What happened last night?”
“Ye missed yersel last night with yer sweet dreams!” Izinchi shook her fist. “We were attacked by a bear!”
Gebhard’s face paled. “A BEAR?!”
“Ye daft, laddie?! Course I said it was a bear, what else could I have said?!”
“Oh God, did anyone get hurt?”
“Samir and Gulichi got roughed up a little, but our good lassie Willie here slew the foul beast wi her sword!” Izinchi jabbed a finger at Wilhelmina.
“Uh, good morning?” Wilhelmina said.
“Which brings me back to my original question. Where the Mictlan were ye?!”
“I was sleeping! As usual!”
Izinchi put her hands on her hips. “I thought ye were a light sleeper. Wake up at 5 on the hour, because of yer boot camp. At least that’s what ye said. And oh, look at the time, it’s…a wee bit past 7.”
“Okay, I may have overstated that, and I’m getting a bit older—”
“FACE IT, GEBBERS, IF OL’ WILLIE HERE CAN STAY UP AT 2 IN THE MORNING AT 56, YOU CAN RELIABLY WAKE UP AT 5 LIKE YOU USED TO!”
“…Gebbers?”
“Ye got a problem wi that? A problem I can relay to the Reichsrat Committee on Armed Services once we restore the Diet?”
“Gebbers?” Wilhelmina said.
Izinchi and Gebhard looked at her.
“Snrk…hehehe…ahahahahahahaha…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She burst into uncontrollable laughter, unable to reconcile the moment with everything that had just happened five hours earlier.
I’m ending up even more like Yukiko, am I?
Gebhard facepalmed. “I hope this isn’t going to be a trend this whole trip…”
“Then don’t oversleep, Gebbers!” Izinchi said.
“And will you please stop calling me that?!”
“Not a chance!”
- 3
Definitely not the last as AnguishedOne said, gotta love the banter between Izinchi and Gebhard, a bit of light comedy to ease the danger they are all in. Also I'm still amused at the imagery of an Eimerican descended Scotswoman yelling her ass off, definitely not something you'd see in our own timeline, closest thing would be the TF2 Demoman.
Given Wilhelmina’s hesitation to kill anyone, even animals, things are about to get a lot more difficult than they already are, probably including moral quandaries that are even more challenging than wether or not she ends up killing people. Hopefully she manages to maintain her humanity and not become like those she fights against.
Is that a real thing or something you made up, cause that just reminds me of these statues that flank the entrance to Gondor from Lord of the Rings?
Just of curiosity, how much of the Kaisereich lore do you plan on changing up for your scenario, considering how different the early chapters of ROTCE1 were from established lore in other versions of Kaiserreich?