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

[CaptainAlvious]

Neat seeing Julian continue to hoodwink the Persian government Lelouch style. Also happy to see not every Persian being sewpt up in anti Roman xenophobia.

Still tho considering how even democratic societies like the US cracked down on both real and perceived anti war dissent in the two World Wars, I expect the Persian government to go full Wilson (OTL not TTL) and crack down on dissent as they mentioned equating them with Jerusalem like Han does.

Also if/when Mozaffar becomes chancellor, I wonder if he would be able to resist influence of Parviz and the nationalists with his new power, or would he continue doing their bidding to avoid a vote of no confidence?

Also neat to Angelica convincing Juilus to go back to Earth. Neat conversation all around, especially with Angelica being informal and speaking her mind to Julius. As Julius now finds Earth alien tho, those Rapture survivors on Earth are in for a culture shock when they see the new society on Mars.

This thread on r/worldbuilding actually got me to wonder how Stellaris empires would be affected by their distance to the black hole in the Galactic Core? This could interesting implications on large scale war in Stellaris, as a power on the Galatic rim would have some challenges getting near the core.

 

[zenphoenix]

Neat seeing Julian continue to hoodwink the Persian government Lelouch style. Also happy to see not every Persian being sewpt up in anti Roman xenophobia.

My only regret is Julian not being even more hammy.

Still tho considering how even democratic societies like the US cracked down on both real and perceived anti war dissent in the two World Wars, I expect the Persian government to go full Wilson (OTL not TTL) and crack down on dissent as they mentioned equating them with Jerusalem like Han does.

Parviz does have no qualms with doing so, as you’ll see soon.

Also if/when Mozaffar becomes chancellor, I wonder if he would be able to resist influence of Parviz and the nationalists with his new power, or would he continue doing their bidding to avoid a vote of no confidence?

We’ll have to see.

Also neat to Angelica convincing Juilus to go back to Earth. Neat conversation all around, especially with Angelica being informal and speaking her mind to Julius. As Julius now finds Earth alien tho, those Rapture survivors on Earth are in for a culture shock when they see the new society on Mars.

As the closest equivalent to a mother he has (since Angelica was born in 1998-9 and Julian was born in 2018), she is the only person who can still speak to Julius as an equal.

The Rapture survivors being relocated to Mars are going to cause even more of a culture shock in the Martian exiles, since they had a romanticized view of how Earth was. I alluded to that when Julius referred to dead Terra as an Eden that Terrankind was cast out of. The Rapture survivors will only reinforce that mentality. Dragoon already mentioned how these survivors’ recollections of life on the destroyed Earth led to the decline of old Earth culture and encouraged its rewriting into what would form the new Terran culture. I see the narrative of Earth/Terra being a lost Eden destroyed by man’s folly and Terrankind being cast out onto Mars as a result becoming popular, even religious doctrine.

Sadly, stories from ruined earth had been the final nail in what was the old human culture, Mars was prospering through virtue of the Emperor (And Thousands of scientists which were not receiving much credit) and Earth was dying without it. By the time the 'Thirds' named for the Third Generation on mars had reached adulthood, Human culture from before the war had become but a bittersweet memory.

Also, about the five hundred million who were evacuated from Earth. Currently, I’ve written all of the Martian habitats as of 2039 with the assumption that the largest ones at most hold about 1-2 million people. I estimate the total population of Mars in 2039 to be about 10 million, and that’s already a big stretch. Five hundred million would require a large expansion of the habitats on a ridiculous scale that would probably be impossible by the industrial standards of the early colonies. Since Dragoon never specified how long the project took, I could assume that resettlement efforts occurred over a period of decades, with five hundred million total being resettled by the end, not all at once. Still, that would put significant strain on the Martian infrastructure, so I could see Julius building orbital habitats for many of them while the lucky ones get spots on the surface. The initial exiles would look down on the newcomers as not being part of the original colonization wave and being left behind on dead Terra, a sign that they were condemned by God or whoever—Julius might even raise all of the original settlers to nobility, though below the traditional nobility among them. The Rapture survivors who live on the surface might look down on those who were stuck in orbit, and vice versa because they think orbital/surface habitats are superior to the other or better remind them of Earth:

For these Second Generation Exiles adjusting to life on Mars was both hard and sort of familiar. Radiation levels had meant like on earth staying outside for too long was a death sentence, the air was also mostly unbreathable so breath masks were still required when venturing outside. The sheer cold for many of these exiles was also familiar as the Earth was just leaving its nuclear winter. Neo-Antiquity styled buildings and the advanced far more care free lifestyle on the red planet however had come as a massive shock.

I probably will retcon Earth’s air being unbreathable due to heavy radiation. On average it probably is breathable but still with concerning levels of radiation and other pollutants, but there would be actually unbreathable air near the nuked cities.

But basically, the influx of five hundred million new colonists and the infrastructure needed to house them would lead to the creation of new social classes and dynamics.

This thread on r/worldbuilding actually got me to wonder how Stellaris empires would be affected by their distance to the black hole in the Galactic Core? This could interesting implications on large scale war in Stellaris, as a power on the Galatic rim would have some challenges getting near the core.

As some people pointed out in that thread, the movements of stars and systems happens so slowly that it wouldn't be relevant to the story on the timeframe I’m covering.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

The Rapture survivors being relocated to Mars are going to cause even more of a culture shock in the Martian exiles, since they had a romanticized view of how Earth was. I alluded to that when Julius referred to dead Terra as an Eden that Terrankind was cast out of. The Rapture survivors will only reinforce that mentality. Dragoon already mentioned how these survivors’ recollections of life on the destroyed Earth led to the decline of old Earth culture and encouraged its rewriting into what would form the new Terran culture. I see the narrative of Earth/Terra being a lost Eden destroyed by man’s folly and Terrankind being cast out onto Mars as a result becoming popular, even religious doctrine.


Also, about the five hundred million who were evacuated from Earth. Currently, I’ve written all of the Martian habitats as of 2039 with the assumption that the largest ones at most hold about 1-2 million people. I estimate the total population of Mars in 2039 to be about 10 million, and that’s already a big stretch. Five hundred million would require a large expansion of the habitats on a ridiculous scale that would probably be impossible by the industrial standards of the early colonies. Since Dragoon never specified how long the project took, I could assume that resettlement efforts occurred over a period of decades, with five hundred million total being resettled by the end, not all at once. Still, that would put significant strain on the Martian infrastructure, so I could see Julius building orbital habitats for many of them while the lucky ones get spots on the surface. The initial exiles would look down on the newcomers as not being part of the original colonization wave and being left behind on dead Terra, a sign that they were condemned by God or whoever—Julius might even raise all of the original settlers to nobility, though below the traditional nobility among them. The Rapture survivors who live on the surface might look down on those who were stuck in orbit, and vice versa because they think orbital/surface habitats are superior to the other or better remind them of Earth:


I probably will retcon Earth’s air being unbreathable due to heavy radiation. On average it probably is breathable but still with concerning levels of radiation and other pollutants, but there would be actually unbreathable air near the nuked cities.

But basically, the influx of five hundred million new colonists and the infrastructure needed to house them would lead to the creation of new social classes and dynamics.

Interesting, makes sense it would be difficult to integrate those Earth refugees with Mars’ infrastructure and the inevitable social class conflict they would have with Mars’ original settlers, but at least the empire would have easy access to manpower for colonization programs around the solar system, in places like Venus, Ganymede, and Europa, and beyond. That could fix the problem of there not being enough room on Mars aside from orbital habitats.

Also I figure some of those refugees might be put off by the empire’s authoritarianism and rejection of democracy, but their experiences would probably encourage the empire go even harder on its neofeudalism and autocracy, even if the refugees could encourage the emperors to restore the senate, albeit in a ceremonial and powerless form.

 

[zenphoenix]

Interesting, makes sense it would be difficult to integrate those Earth refugees with Mars’ infrastructure and the inevitable social class conflict they would have with Mars’ original settlers, but at least the empire would have easy access to manpower for colonization programs around the solar system, in places like Venus, Ganymede, and Europa, and beyond. That could fix the problem of there not being enough room on Mars aside from orbital habitats.

Yeah, I could see Julius and his successors sending them to other off-world colonies. He could probably even move the habitats themselves into orbit around those other places, reducing the costs and time needed to train surface dwellers for living in habitats and building the ships to take them there (by instead upgrading the existing habitats for interplanetary travel).

Also I figure some of those refugees might be put off by the empire’s authoritarianism and rejection of democracy, but their experiences would probably encourage the empire go even harder on its neofeudalism and autocracy, even if the refugees could encourage the emperors to restore the senate, albeit in a ceremonial and powerless form.

The 500 million refugees who went to Mars would probably already be onboard with the authoritarianism because they went to Mars to begin with. I don’t see Julius coercing or abducting people from Earth, but instead convincing them to go with him back to Mars. Many would probably see the authoritarianism as not so bad due to propaganda, a necessary evil to rebuild society, an improvement over the democracy that destroyed Earth, or the only alternative to post-apocalyptic survival. There’d probably be a minority who had second thoughts or were put off by the true nature of imperial society once they saw it first hand. I can see this minority as spurring on some reforms down the line, especially in Julius’ later years, but as a minority they wouldn’t be able to change much. Also note that another 500+ million were left behind on Earth. That’s just what official records estimate, so the number could possibly be higher because there’s no way Julius could have resettled over half the population. There’s a bunch of reasons why they stayed behind. Some communities might not have been reached by imperial forces due to being hidden somewhere or too far from landing zones and staging grounds. Or, more importantly, they refused to go. Maybe because they didn’t want to leave behind the societies they had rebuilt or the only world they ever knew. Or because they disagreed with the imperial regime. Regardless of who fired the first missile, the HRE did launch the majority of nukes and obliterate every single nation that went up against it. I imagine Indian survivors among others would be extremely hostile to the imperial forces for both ideological and political reasons. Other groups might not like Mars’ authoritarianism in general. They could see through the propaganda, reject the necessary evil, still believe in democracy, or have already rebuilt society on a local level. Or they would see the Mars survivors as an elite class that would rather flee Earth and leave everyone else to die than fix the mess they created.

 

[Orror SANESS]

Wait is Hellenic Mormons still canon in TTL?

Edit: I am only asking because I was lurking in this thread and saw someone mention the Mormons.

 

[zenphoenix]

By the way, I think I finally figured out the Annionaverse Mars map. It's still a work in progress, but I think I found a good compromise between the Dragoon's text and map here. UNAP didn't have a capital marked on the map, so I gave them the one used for Scandinavia and Russia since I did call it Beck in today's chapter.

Basically, red is Scandinavia and Russia (allied with UNAP), black is UNAP, green is the Americans' Democratic Federation, the middle purple is the HRE's Olympus Province (more on that later in this batch), and the purple on the right is India's Socialist Republic of Mangala.

I'm still looking for suggestions for habitat names that aren't just random scientists, religious/mythological references, or names of Martian natural features.

To help you out, here's a labeled map of Mars I used as reference, spoiler tagged for readability Edit: I can't seem to upload it, and I have to get going now, so I'll see if I can find something else later.

 

[zenphoenix]

Wait is Hellenic Mormons still canon in TTL?

I don't know, probably? I don't have plans for them and they all probably got killed by Jerusalem at this point.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Did Olga get a habitat named after her with Kirovagrad or is that for something else?

Also now I’m wondering how these settlements might evolve into proper cities when teraforming is complet, assuming they aren’t in the way of future rivers. Like we know how the HRE settlements would eventually have architecture inspired by Classical Greeco Roman architecture combined with East Asian styles, but whose to say the Americans, Indians, Russians, and Scandinavias might not try to replicate their old Earth architectural styles too with Maritan twist. This could be explained by Julius pulling a Fredrich and keeping around local administrators who swear fealty to him and raising them to mobilury, allowing them to maintain their culture and not get assimilated into the Austrian-Chinese-Japanese Imperial culture.

Also what are the odds that the neofeudal class system might revive some elements of the Indian caste system in opposition to the Indian socialists, in addition to the East Asian and European inspired feudalism?

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

I think you've done a great job of showing just how much Julian is enjoying himself here, despite all the chaos. He's rather in his element thanks to it.

 

[zenphoenix]

Did Olga get a habitat named after her with Kirovagrad or is that for something else?

Not her, but General Tatiana Kirova. I don’t have any lore for why it happened, and I don’t want to elaborate on Tatiana’s fate at the moment.

Also now I’m wondering how these settlements might evolve into proper cities when teraforming is complet, assuming they aren’t in the way of future rivers. Like we know how the HRE settlements would eventually have architecture inspired by Classical Greeco Roman architecture combined with East Asian styles, but whose to say the Americans, Indians, Russians, and Scandinavias might not try to replicate their old Earth architectural styles too with Maritan twist. This could be explained by Julius pulling a Fredrich and keeping around local administrators who swear fealty to him and raising them to mobilury, allowing them to maintain their culture and not get assimilated into the Austrian-Chinese-Japanese Imperial culture.

I’m not only going to be updating this map with better names and actual borders, but I’ll make another map for after Julius’ victory, because quite a lot of cities are going to be renamed. Also I might switch over to another base map at some point because Dragoon’s initial map is very low res. You see that big white region southeast of Olympus? That’s supposed to be three smaller mountains, not one giant mountain bigger than Olympus Mons itself. The post-victory map will retain this base map just for consistency with the first one.

Also what are the odds that the neofeudal class system might revive some elements of the Indian caste system in opposition to the Indian socialists, in addition to the East Asian and European inspired feudalism?

Probably not. The neo-technofeudalism is already plenty enough.

I think you've done a great job of showing just how much Julian is enjoying himself here, despite all the chaos. He's rather in his element thanks to it.

Oh yeah, this is all natural to him.

 

[zenphoenix]

It's done. That took me WAY longer than I expected. Here's an Annionaverse Mars map that's as accurate and canon compliant for between 2018 and the beginning of hostilities as I can get it:

Yes, Red Ruthenia and New Ireland are supposed to be outside of the claimed borders, and I made the two American settlements within HRE borders as having been taken over by the HRE before full hostilities began.

I should probably adjust the borders around Zhukov but whatever, I can fix that when I'm working on the post-victory map.

 

[GhostRider124]

“Riots?”

“Yes, if you’ll look at this map here…” The Minister of Intelligence laid out a map of the city on the table, with certain neighborhoods having been circled. “The Zayandeh River Patrol has gone on strike, claiming human trafficking will surge in the coming weeks.” He next pointed to Isfahan Tech. “Meanwhile the Isfahan Teachers’ Association, along with various university student organizations, simultaneously went on strike. Students have barricaded the entrances to the campus and dorms.” After that, he pointed at downtown. “Numerous malls and popular restaurants have suddenly announced they would be closing indefinitely.”

“Have you contacted the Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Owners Association?” Mozaffar asked.

“They refused to take my calls, only saying this was in solidarity with the strikes elsewhere.”

“Damn strikers,” Parviz said, “Let’s see how well they take it when we fire the lot of them and replace them with patriots who actually want to work.”

“That’s only going to make the situation worse,” Mozaffar said, “Especially with the river patrol. Where are we going to find replacements for them in a timely manner?”

“There will always be people ready to take their place,” Parviz said, “Such is the way of the free market.”

But how long will we need to properly train them?

“Spontaneous rioting has also broken out in downtown and other major districts,” the Minister of Intelligence continued, “They haven’t gotten close to Ali Qapu or any government buildings, but some businesses have been torched.”

“Roman ones?” Parviz didn’t miss a beat.

“…There is no indication any specific minorities or their businesses were targeted.”

Once they mentioned riots I thought someone was going to bust in and do to them what Xingke did to the High Eunuchs but then it evolved to the Black Knights reveal. Speaking of what is Julian's group called?

“Found you, Angelica.” Angelica turned around and found Julius casually leaning against the Balmung, arms crossed. The Sigurd was parked in the distance. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she had tuned out the Sigurd’s approach. “Stargazing as usual?”

After doing some research on the names of Julius and Angelica's mechs I thought it was fitting that Angelica's is called Balmung since in your version of Annionaverse she is to Julius what Kallen is to Lelouch.

The initial exiles would look down on the newcomers as not being part of the original colonization wave and being left behind on dead Terra, a sign that they were condemned by God or whoever—Julius might even raise all of the original settlers to nobility, though below the traditional nobility among them.

Mabey the original nobility could become the new Imperial Family. The original settlers being elevated to nobility and the new Terrans could be commoners?

in places like Venus,

What would colonies on Venus in the Annionaverse be like? Are their terraforming tech more advanced then the Hohenzollernverse?

UNAP

Also since Julius and the Holy Terran Empire is basically Britannia is the UNAP the Black Knights?

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Mabey the original nobility could become the new Imperial Family. The original settlers being elevated to nobility and the new Terrans could be commoners?

Well the old nobles being considered part of the Imperial family would be a way for the traditional nobility to get around the state mandated “pure blood” marriages if they want marriage alliances with the Annionas. Also allows the Annionas to get around the genetic side affects of incest for a while before the introduction of the Harem system, advancements in genetic engineering, and the Worm’s abilities. No such luck for newer nobles tho, if they want to tie their blood in with the royal family, they would have to try their luck with their harem system and hope the concubine they send amasses influence in the royal court to their benefit ala Wu Zeitan.

 

[zenphoenix]

Once they mentioned riots I thought someone was going to bust in and do to them what Xingke did to the High Eunuchs but then it evolved to the Black Knights reveal. Speaking of what is Julian's group called?

That would need a lot of buildup for the payoff to be worth it, though. I'm still ramping things up.

After doing some research on the names of Julius and Angelica's mechs I thought it was fitting that Angelica's is called Balmung since in your version of Annionaverse she is to Julius what Kallen is to Lelouch.

Just as she says, she is the Emperor's sword. A philosophy that would be passed down to the HTE's future Centurion soldiers:

Centurion II's were clone soldiers specifically designed for use in the program and either were inducted in the program since birth or quietly seeded into orphanages or given to selected families for upbringing. The main idea being to experiment with the possibility of switching completly over to a Born and Bred system later down the road if the Military raised soldiers outperformed the civilian 'models'.

Eventually, most of these soldiers would be drafted back into the army at various points in childhood and adolescence and put through training that would kill Normal Terrans, Given mental exercises and courses to turn them into living, breathing machines of the military and Upon success of the initial training regime they were augmented with state of the art Durasteel Skeletons and cognitive implants among other more minor enhancements to make them even more powerful. The survival rate for this process was very low and those that did survive were immediately put back into even more rigorous programs utterly breaking them mentally again and again over several years, which was of course all part of the plan, these soldiers were not the Emperor's arm, they were his sword, folded over 1000 times until it was sharper than any other.

I imagine future emperors would remember Angelica as the ideal warrior, the perfect blade of the Emperor that all future Terran soldiers should aspire to.

Mabey the original nobility could become the new Imperial Family. The original settlers being elevated to nobility and the new Terrans could be commoners?

Well the old nobles being considered part of the Imperial family would be a way for the traditional nobility to get around the state mandated “pure blood” marriages if they want marriage alliances with the Annionas. Also allows the Annionas to get around the genetic side affects of incest for a while before the introduction of the Harem system, advancements in genetic engineering, and the Worm’s abilities. No such luck for newer nobles tho, if they want to tie their blood in with the royal family, they would have to try their luck with their harem system and hope the concubine they send amasses influence in the royal court to their benefit ala Wu Zeitan.

That actually makes a lot of sense now that you put it that way. Especially since Julius had no other Annionas with him, and the number of Annionas remained low following his death. So by legally declaring the old nobility as "honorary Annionas" or part of the imperial family, that could get around Julius' pure blood mandate. The harem system adopted later on would on paper open up marriages to newer nobility, but they'd be looked down upon and sidelined by the older nobility. Their best bet would be to have a favored consort or concubine, which of course would lead to power struggles and possibly situations like Reinhard von Lohengramm's and Lelouch's.

What would colonies on Venus in the Annionaverse be like? Are their terraforming tech more advanced then the Hohenzollernverse?

From DEA:

Progress of course, continued as habitation zones expanded further through the use of genetically modified plant life, and shipments of gases from Earth and Venus. With the entire efforts of Humanity focused on mars, what was expected to be a Thousand Year project was shortened to only 200 years with the planet expected to be as habitable as old earth by 2180.

On Sol 1 2200 AD[...]The Surveying of Sol would come first of course, as Elyria as well as much as the Empire's leadership were eager to check on the progress of the Terraforming Efforts on Europa and Venus.

The Once Hot Toxic cesspool that was Venus had made staggering progress during the Terran Exile. UNAP personal had arrived on the Planet in the later 2010's and had built vast underground 'Greenhouses' to vent oxygen into the air through the use of very specific plants. UNAP scientists would continue work on the planet for about a Hundred years before an Imperial skeleton crew was sent to relief the scientists and stay on the planet to keep the nuclear reactors online.

(For that one, my notes from a few years ago suggested 2017 as a specific date for their arrival. That might be a bit late given what happens in 2018.)

Transmissions from Venus were already implying that the planet's atmosphere at changed dramatically, abundant levels of carbon dioxide allowed for oxygen to re-enter the atmosphere, and automated procedures with the farms had released large amounts of vaporized sugars into the atmosphere.

So UNAP landed on Venus in the 2010s. Its crews got stranded there after the nukes flew, but they survived and continued terraforming efforts until imperial crews replaced them in the 2100s. Terraforming was not only complete by 2200 but had created a jungle ecosystem. Though similar terraforming efforts on Mars had also finished by 2200, so I guess the HTE simply applied its terraforming tech to Venus as well. Colonization happened later that century, and throughout DEA Dragoon regularly refers to the core HTE systems as "Mars, Venus, and Europa."

Also since Julius and the Holy Terran Empire is basically Britannia is the UNAP the Black Knights?

No, Julius right now is depicted as like the Black Knights, but we know the HTE will eventually take on the role of Britannia. Quite ironic.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Just as she says, she is the Emperor's sword. A philosophy that would be passed down to the HTE's future Centurion soldiers:
I imagine future emperors would remember Angelica as the ideal warrior, the perfect blade of the Emperor that all future Terran soldiers should aspire to.

Well they are clone soldiers so who’s to say they can’t be made using her DNA?

That actually makes a lot of sense now that you put it that way. Especially since Julius had no other Annionas with him, and the number of Annionas remained low following his death. So by legally declaring the old nobility as "honorary Annionas" or part of the imperial family, that could get around Julius' pure blood mandate. The harem system adopted later on would on paper open up marriages to newer nobility, but they'd be looked down upon and sidelined by the older nobility. Their best bet would be to have a favored consort or concubine, which of course would lead to power struggles and possibly situations like Reinhard von Lohengramm's and Lelouch's.

So the inner family hierarchy of the Annionas would go: pure blooded Annionas at the top, followed by the old Earth nobility now considered honorary Annionas and the children born to them, then the newer post Rapture nobles that have to go through the Harem system to interact with the royal family, and finally bastards and children born to commoners of good genetic stock (cause they wouldn’t be selected to be consorts/concubines otherwise) at the bottom.

Also funny to think that the Bonapartes and Hohenzollerns would be legally considered Annionas now.

throughout DEA Dragoon regularly refers to the core HTE systems as "Mars, Venus, and Europa."

And Europa’s terraforming process was pretty chaotic in comparison to Mars and Venus, especially with the presence of Spaceborn creatures around Jupiter.

I also noticed Ganymede was a colonizable world in a couple DEA screenshots after the Omega Alingment too, which gives me Expanse vibes. I think the asteriod belt was striped to create a ring world too IIRC.

 

[zenphoenix]

Well they are clone soldiers so who’s to say they can’t be made using her DNA?

I guess some of them could be, but the initial batch was supposed to be seeded into orphanages and selected families, and you'd think they'd figure something out if several thousand girls the same age looked and behaved exactly the same way. Not to mention Angelica's potential descendants might take offense to her DNA being used like that. Though I'm not sure if she even has descendants at this point. She'd have been about 20-21 when the nukes flew, and any child of hers would have grown up on Mars. It's possible, but unlikely, so I've ignored that question for the moment. Regardless, Dragoon's implication is that the clone soldiers were not all made from the same DNA template, but tailored to specific functions. I think he was referencing the Spartans from Halo, which were not clones, but given the heavy 40k influences it could easily be the Space Marines as well, who were all male but still not clones. My old notes made references to DS9's Jem'Hadar, but I don't think that applies now that I looked at it again.

So a handful of the Centurions could use her DNA, but the HTE also got samples from other promising soldiers and generals since her time, and perhaps even older military figures from Earth if they got access to their bodies during Julius' resettlement project. Having them all be Angelica clones would raise too many eyebrows.

I know Dragoon mentioned there was a fierce rivalry between the Centurions and the Templars, but I could also see a rivalry between the Centurions and mech pilots, who already have another rivalry with the Templars.

So the inner family hierarchy of the Annionas would go: pure blooded Annionas at the top, followed by the old Earth nobility now considered honorary Annionas and the children born to them, then the newer post Rapture nobles that have to go through the Harem system to interact with the royal family, and finally bastards and children born to commoners of good genetic stock (cause they wouldn’t be selected to be consorts/concubines otherwise) at the bottom.

The HTE class hierarchy as of the end of Julius' reign would have been:
- The Anniona imperial house, and then any cadet branches (like descendants of Julius' illegitimate son Octavian, whom I haven't covered yet). Officially prioritized as imperial consorts, but generally not selected for genetic reasons. Considered "above" the harem.
- Old Roman nobility from the big houses like the Bonapartes, considered "honorary Annionas." Children of marriages into the imperial house are considered in the imperial succession and as future marriage candidates outside the harem. The big houses can participate in the harem, but they can also directly negotiate with the imperial house.
- Old Roman noble families that aren't as powerful or influential as the big houses, corporate dynasties (Krupp and Beretta, but Dragoon specifically mentioned Ferrari in Imperial Hearts), the former civilian government (more on that later on), the former Church, and the officer corps (which increasingly becomes spread throughout the various tiers of nobility, with a handful of exceptionally talented commoners among them). They go through the harem but get priority.
- Non-Roman nobility who pledged loyalty to the empire. They are not considered "honorary Annionas," nor are anybody from lower tiers. They go through the harem and make up the majority of participants.
- An emerging class of researchers and engineers who gain influence due to maintaining the life support systems, which is frequently at odds with the emerging military aristocracy. While they can participate in the harem system, they generally don't.
- The original 1-2 million settlers granted nobility. Again, harem system, and due to their lower status they fight extremely fiercely for any minor advantage they can get in the harem.
- The 500 million refugees resettled from Earth, as well as any of the 1-2 million from the previous tier who were barred from nobility for continuing to resist the empire. These form the new commoner class. No harem, and illegitimate children from this class are completely ignored.
- Everyone else.

Also funny to think that the Bonapartes and Hohenzollerns would be legally considered Annionas now.

Bonapartes yes, but the Hohenzollerns were a minor noble house and only came to prominence in the 20th-21st centuries due to Otto being a chancellor and Elisabeth Alexandra being a senator, so they'd fit into tier 3 above. Unfortunately not honorary Annionas, but who knows if that will change in the next 400 years?

And Europa’s terraforming process was pretty chaotic in comparison to Mars and Venus, especially with the presence of Spaceborn creatures around Jupiter.

UNAP also had bases on Europa, though Dragoon never said when they were set up:

Europa was the other major world UNAP terraforming efforts were based on. While efforts on Venus were mostly to cool the planet and reintroduce water and Oxygen, Europa needed defrosting and ended up being a effective dumping ground for shipments of Carbon Dioxide as Freighters dipped into Jupiter for Hydrogen to return to Mars.

Things on Europa had also spiraled out of Hand, thanks to a Runaway Greenhouse effect combined with the Moon's vast plains of Ice thicker atmosphere had risen temperatures dramatically until finally the Ice began to melt eventually swallowing the whole of the planet in water. Tidal Pull from Jupiter meant that the water level rose or fell dramatically depending on the orientation of the surface in respect to Jupiter. The Scientific Log was as follows.

"Europa seems to have become a Moon of Storms, Nearly forty percent of the planet is covered in Hurricanes and merely finding the original UNAP outposts took a month. UNAP base Trident, unfortunately had it's foundations eroded away due to the heavy tides and was carried down into one of the Trenches where we expect the pressure crushed and killed everyone who did not escape. UNAP base Atlantic survived but the inhabitants had begun to worship the fauna they had brought with them to seed the ocean world with life. They had also genetically modified some of the creatures to grow to gargantuan sizes which was a nasty surprise. A far as the team themselves they were so far gone by the time my men had arrived, The Leadership had begun forcibly gene splicing the Children with DNA from the fish for well over a generation. Senior Scientist Milo Thatch had become stricken with one of the surviving women and 'went native' later attempting to convert the crew which was about the last straw. I authorized Captain Nemo and his marines to conduct a full purge of the station and preserve the scientific data for future use".

I found lots of "haha funny reference" moments, but I give it a pass for DEA. Dragoon had a lot of sci-fi reference mods that added stuff like the Covenant, and the base game has the "legally distinct Pikmin" event that appeared in DEA. Besides, I can figure something out on the story side to make it more realistic or just ignore it.

I also noticed Ganymede was a colonizable world in a couple DEA screenshots after the Omega Alingment too, which gives me Expanse vibes. I think the asteriod belt was striped to create a ring world too IIRC.

Yeah, but those ringworlds probably don't go around the sun, since that would require an entire planet's resources, and Dragoon made no mention of dismantling Mercury. So I think they're just giant ring-shaped stations in the asteroid belt. Ganymede isn't referenced in the text so I've ignored it for now.

 

[zenphoenix]

Okay, so I finished the post-unification map of Mars, along with administrative divisions. I'm not sharing it yet because it's going to have spoilers.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

No, Julius right now is depicted as like the Black Knights, but we know the HTE will eventually take on the role of Britannia. Quite ironic.

This and your recent discussions of the Roman identity both here and in ESB got to me wonder how Julius would treat conquered settlements on Mars. Would he go the route of Fredrich of treating conquered peoples fairly, with the exception of those who continue to resist, or would the Terran identity remain heavily Austrian and East Asian?

- The 500 million refugees resettled from Earth, as well as any of the 1-2 million from the previous tier who were barred from nobility for continuing to resist the empire. These form the new commoner class. No harem, and illegitimate children from this class are completely ignored.
- Everyone else.

I take it psionics from the commoner class would be ignored then, because that’s what I was thinking of cases of commoners with “good genetic stock“ being allowed in, tho I should say forced in for the purposes of eugenics.

Okay, so I finished the post-unification map of Mars, along with administrative divisions. I'm not sharing it yet because it's going to have spoilers.

That’s nice. Dragoon did say that Julius renamed a lot of settlements after himself In the vein of Alexander the Great, so I hope it’s not to difficult to come up with variants of Julius for placenames.

Also I see the Templars trying to spread the Ouroboros virus to pre FTL aliens inside Terran borders and I’m now wondering if they would be treated better than other kinds of aliens.

Elsewhere Alien savages that had reached sufficient levels of advancement were judged by the Empress to be ready to receive the gifts of the loop. This of course meant the mostly subtle but sometimes loud replacement or indoctrinated of the Entire ruling class. Modern technology not permitted to be given out by the Templar was offered as a carrot, with fire from the heavens as the alternative. For those who welcomed the Empire and thier new God with open arms, a special reward was given out freely.



Like it had with Humanity, the Loop continued, endless, eternal. The Terran scientists had mastered the Messenger Genome and had since created a mastered Uroboros Virus. While no longer Airborne, the new Messenger Virus, Codenamed the Mobius Strain continued the cycle yet again, as slowly other Alien races joined the fold under the Empire, making them less foreign, and more human at the cost of their former selves though each race varied wildly. Eventually the Empire stopped asking permission to administer it and allowed the Templar to distribute the Virus liberally in the name of advancing research.



Each new case meant improvements however and Scientists were now becoming fairly certain eventually it the virus would reach a universal singularity, able to make the genetic structures of the entire galaxy compatible, a veritable all inclusive template built from the Messenger's original blueprints. Most of these 'gifted' races remained within Templar Jurisdiction until they reached cultural and technological parity with the Empire. Experiences with Aliens for the Average Terran would mainly be through members of the Templar Order.

 

[zenphoenix]

This and your recent discussions of the Roman identity both here and in ESB got to me wonder how Julius would treat conquered settlements on Mars. Would he go the route of Fredrich of treating conquered peoples fairly, with the exception of those who continue to resist, or would the Terran identity remain heavily Austrian and East Asian?

I’m actually going to go over that in a chapter I’m about to write. Or somewhere around there.

I take it psionics from the commoner class would be ignored then, because that’s what I was thinking of cases of commoners with “good genetic stock“ being allowed in, tho I should say forced in for the purposes of eugenics.

No, they’d probably be noticed, since the government wouldn’t allow such abilities to circulate in the commoner class out of their control. Dragoon said this was one method of social advancement for the lower classes.

That’s nice. Dragoon did say that Julius renamed a lot of settlements after himself In the vein of Alexander the Great, so I hope it’s not to difficult to come up with variants of Julius for placenames.

Haha…sighs

Also I see the Templars trying to spread the Ouroboros virus to pre FTL aliens inside Terran borders and I’m now wondering if they would be treated better than other kinds of aliens.

For convenience, let’s call them “Terranized” aliens. These aliens probably get more rights than non-Terranized ones on account of being “enlightened by the Worm,” but they’d still be considered below “regular” Terrans.

 

[TWR97]

That Mars map for the Annoniaverse is some good stuff Zen, definitely prime material for a video game campaign tbh, anyway seems Julius got the Persian government on a wild goose chase, hopefully they can keep that up for a while.

Btw, after consuming several history memes, I gotta ask, would there still be a lot of Mosin Nagants in this timeline if Russia never got that large before they turned into the Commune, also just for hilarity, does the Toyota Hilux still exist? I reckon if the armed resistance within Jerusalem before they were all defeated, surely some of em, maybe around the African regions managed to convert those trucks into makeshift humvees for a while. Just imagine a couple of em still running around though after the nukes dropped. Would make a hell of a Mad Max vibes.