Well, that narrows down the author of the manifesto by quite a bit. As for Angela... maybe she can use it for good?
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Empathy, Part 1
Otto and Edith Frank Hauptbahnhof, Frankfurt - June 23, 2009, 2:00 AM
Trina Peres pushed her 18-month-old daughter, Lara, in a stroller through the fairly empty station. They had just got back from the circus and were waiting for the subway. Three balloons had been attached to the stroller. An ill-kempt man approached them.
“Evening, little lady,” he said.
“Sorry,” Trina said, walking away with Lara.
A train entered the station and immediately sped away, not stopping.
“Damn it!” Trina cursed. “Mommy didn’t say that.”
Another train approached the station and slowed down as Lara played with the balloons.
“It's our lucky day, baby,” Trina said, “Here it comes.”
Lara untied the red balloon, and it floated away. Trina reached for the balloon, and as she did so, the train entered the station. Angela rushed up to her and pushed her into the path of the train. She died on impact.
Angela’s residence, Strasburg
Angela jolted awake in her bed, shaking herself out of the nightmare she was just in.
Anders’ and Diana’s house - 8:00 AM
“We have a low-pressure center here, backed up with a cold front coming across the north,” the weather reporter said, “And then, here in the south, we've got a high-pressure ridge coming in with a warm front that's descending across the southern part of Gallia and Germania…”
Diana sat in the kitchen, working on a crossword with the news playing on an old radio her mother had left her. She reached for the coffee pot, but it was empty. Anders, still in a bathrobe, walked into the kitchen and immediately walked over to the coffee pot.
“I always hated you could do that,” Anders said, pointing at the crossword puzzle.
“Mom always hated that she couldn’t,” Diana said.
Anders picked up the empty coffee pot. “Really, Di?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” Diana said.
“I was up the whole night,” Anders said, “You clearly got sleep.”
“What for?” Diana said. “Sentinel?”
Alex ran into the room, a little ball of unlimited energy.
“Dad, I’m getting vascinations today!” he said.
“Vaccinations!” Diana said. “Come on, go get dressed.”
“They put something dead inside you, dead!” Alex said. “Into your blood. Gruesome! I love it!”
“Alex, son, please go get dressed,” Anders said.
“Okay,” Alex said, running away.
“Gruesome,” Anders said.
“Never too early to start working on vocabulary,” Diana said, “My mom was reading me chapter books by the time I was in preschool.”
The front door opened, and Angela ran in, even more tired than both Anders and Diana. Her hair was messy and her eyes were red. She immediately made her way to the coffee pot and cursed when she saw it was empty.
“Hey Angie,” Anders said, “Didn’t know you were dropping by.”
“I just had the weirdest nightmare,” Angela said, “I was in Frankfurt, and I was pushing someone in front of a train. It felt so real…”
“Angie, it was just a nightmare,” Diana said.
“Did you really have to come all the way here to tell us that?” Anders said. “We were just going to take Alex to the doctor’s.”
Angela picked up the remote and changed the channel. A picture of Trina appeared.
“...and in other news, a suicide on the Frankfurt subway system last night got rush hour off to a slow start this morning,” the reporter said, “Trina Peres, a Frankfurt school teacher and mother of an 18-month-old daughter, flung herself in front of an oncoming train last night while returning home from the circus. Subway service between…”
Angela pointed at Trina’s face.
“That’s the woman I killed,” she said.
Anders and Diana looked at each other.
Erich’s office - 8:30 AM
Angela teetered into Erich’s office, barely missing the doorway. She fell down into a chair and let out a yawn. Erich stared at her.
“Angie, you okay?” he said.
“Dad, I want permission to go to Frankfurt to investigate a case,” Angela said.
“What is it?” Erich said.
“A suicide on the subway,” Angela said.
“I read about it in Die Zeiten this morning,” Erich said, “How exactly is this a case?”
Anders barged into the room.
“I believe the woman may have been murdered,” Anders said, “There may have been extraordinary circumstances.”
“Of course there are extraordinary circumstances,” Erich muttered, “Well?”
“Uh…we don’t know much more than that,” Angela said, “We literally just put this together half an hour ago on an empty cup of coffee.”
“Angie, are you alright?” Erich said. “Lately you've seemed...distracted. On edge.”
“I haven't been sleeping very well,” Angela said, “I wouldn't be asking if this wasn't important.”
“And Di drank all of my coffee today,” Anders said.
Erich sighed. “Guys, you’re the heart of the X-Division. It would be hard to explain to Norbert why I sent you two off to Frankfurt on very little. Take the rest of the day. Then I need you two back here and on the job.”
“Thank you,” Angela said.
“Also, get some sleep,” Erich said.
Walter’s lab - 9:00 AM
Anna paced around the lab, while Gene mooed.
“Angie, it was a nightmare,” she said.
“It felt like I was really there,” Angela said.
“No, you were asleep in your bed,” Anna said.
“And they ruled it a suicide,” Olga said, “The police said nobody even touched her.”
“I find it a little ironic you’re saying that,” Diana said.
“Just a minute,” Walter said, “Have you experienced any nausea, Angie? Rashes, hair loss, even a strand or two on the pillow?”
“No,” Angela said.
“Any pain urinating, or blood?” Walter said.
“Uncle Walter, I’m 43, not 14,” Angela said.
“I don't think you're helping,” Anna said, “And even at 43 it’s still possible to—”
“No, you’re not helping either,” Anders said.
“Hey, you’re not helping either of us!” Anna said.
“Calm down!” Diana said.
Angela turned around to see Walter waving a Geiger counter around her.
“Is that…” she aid.
“Yeah, a Geiger counter,” Anna said.
“Not a rad,” Walter said, “I thought you might have teleported to Frankfurt in your sleep and killed her. Wouldn't that have been wondrous? But even the most controlled matter to energy transmutation leaves behind some background radiation. So... ergo, you were not actually there.”
“Great,” Anna said, “Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up.”
“Maybe it’s astral projection,” Anders said, “A spirit walk, as it were. No, you wouldn't have had sufficient corporeal form to interact with anybody, let alone kill someone.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “Here we go. It's like listening to a broken record, but the lyrics keep on changing and it’s two broken records. She had a bad dream, everybody.”
“Yeah, that’s how things go around here, do they?” Olga said.
“No, I could smell the platform,” Angela said, “I saw her baby staring at me. I saw her face before I saw the news. I’ve only felt this one other time, and that was during the Cindy Rachel case about sixteen years ago. How is that possible?”
“Opium?” Walter said.
“It wasn't just a dream, was it?” Angela said.
“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t,” Anders said.
“Frankfurt it is,” Anna said.
“Yeah,” Walter said, “I love Frankfurt. Oh, we could catch a show! Pippin! Uh...no. ♪ cats fit on the windowsill... children fit in the snow…”
“Walter, you're staying here,” Anders said, “Anna, so are you.”
“No way I’m sitting this one out,” Anna said.
“I thought you said it was just a dream,” Angela said, “Olga, I’ll ask Dad to double your salary.”
“He better,” Olga grumbled.
“♪ Why do I feel like... I don't fit in anywhere I go? ♪” Walter sang.
“Joachim Five, right?” Olga said.
“Absolutely,” Walter said.
“You know the Joachim Five?” Diana said.
“When you take down the black market in music, you pick up some stuff,” Olga said.
Otto and Edith Frank Hauptbahnhof - 11:00 AM
Angela, Anders, and Diana sat in the lobby, watching the old analog timetable update, each row flipping over to reveal another destination or origin.
“Mom used to take me here all the time,” Diana said, “Though I always found it weird they were named after my grandparents. I never got to know them.”
“When were we last here, Angie?” Anders said, eating a big salty pretzel.
“The Preacher case, 1994,” Angela said.
“Surprised they still have that old timetable,” Anders said.
“Survived the war,” Diana said, “Though they’re decommissioning it next year and replacing it with a computer screen.”
“Nothing beats the old display,” Anders said, “You can’t hack it.”
Angela looked at the clock. “She said to meet her here around now.”
They spotted a police officer making their way toward her.
“You the three?” she said.
“Uh, Hansen, Humboldt, and Frank, Athanatoi,” Angela said, taking out her badge.
The officer pointed at Anders’ pretzel. “You know, you shouldn’t eat those.”
“I don’t like authority figures telling me what to do,” Anders said.
“And yet my husband decides to work for the Athanatoi,” Diana said, “I have yet to understand why exactly.”
“Can you show us where it happened?” Angela said.
The officer nodded. She then led them down to the platform.
“Are we safe?” she asked.
“Sorry?” Anders said.
“Athanatoi calls us up with little advance notice, first thing I need to ask is ‘are we safe’?” the officer said.
“I'm not sure we're ever really safe,” Diana said.
“We're as safe as houses,” Anders said, “What can you tell us about this suicide?”
“Just like it said in the papers, Trina Peres, 28, decided to take a header in front of Train 7,” the officer said.
“So what makes you think it was a suicide?” Angela said.
“Security cameras got it all,” the officer said.
“I'd like to take a look at that tape myself,” Anders said.
“Alright, we'll set you up,” the officer said, “What, exactly, are we looking for here?”
“Humor me,” Angela said.
The officer walked away.
“There's a balloon floating on the ceiling,” Angela said, “A red one.”
Diana looked at her phone. “The husband was away on business in Hamburg. He just flew back in. He's giving a statement down at the station.”
“Come on, this doesn't fit the profile,” Anders said, “Married, a baby. You don't take your kid to the circus and then give them a front-row seat to watch you kill yourself.”
He looked up. “And then there’s that.”
A red balloon was wedged in the pipes in the ceiling.
Frankfurt Police Department - 11:15 AM
Anders, Angela, and Diana sat in front of Theodor, listening to his statement.
“This doesn't make any sense,” Theodor said, “She'd been waiting to go to the circus. And she's from here. We met in Stuttgart. She kept saying that she wanted to take Lara to the circus. Okay? She used to sing this song about elephants. We were happy. She wouldn't kill herself. You've got to believe me. She would never kill herself.”
The officer walked into the room. “Agents, the surveillance you wanted is ready.”
“Thank you,” Anders said.
“Sh-she wouldn't do it,” Theodor said, “She just wouldn’t.”
Angela nodded. “I understand. Thank you.”
They got up and walked to a computer room, where video played on one computer.
“This is the digital backup,” the officer said, “The primary drive is in evidence.”
They looked at the footage.”
“Can I get a copy of this?” Angela said.
Walter’s lab, Strasburg - 2:00 PM
Angela, Anders, Diana, Olga, Anna, and Walter watched the footage on one of Walter’s ancient Apple computers.
“See, it doesn't make any sense,” Angela said, “I remember things from the crime scene. I remember pushing her.”
“You know dreams aren't always literal,” Walter said, “Perhaps you killed this young woman in some less direct way.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Anders said, “We just watched her kill herself.”
“Perhaps you compelled her to jump using your mind,” Walter said, “Do you have any reason to want her dead? Romantic rival, perhaps?”
“What the frak?!” Angela said. “I didn't even know her.”
“Then why did you kill her?” Walter said.
“I don't know,” Angela said.
“Stop it,” Anna said, “Please. Stop. Nobody killed anybody.”
“I'm surprised at you, Anna,” Walter said, “Anders is your brother, Angie is your cousin. You trust them. They say she killed that girl. Are you presumptuous to believe them only when they say what you want to hear? Your mother was a bit like that. Consider this question. What is mankind's oldest dream?”
“World peace?” Diana said.
“World domination?” Olga said.
“Flight?” Anders said.
“Immortality?” Angela said. "Or fame?"
“Oh, hardly,” Walter said, “Social constructs imposed by awareness of our own mortality.”
“Should have gone with 'great taste, less filling’,” Olga said.
“What is the greatest desire of the weak and the subjugated?” Walter said. “Of the man whose fire is stolen by an opponent whose only advantage is the luck of superior size?”
“What are we, Prometheus?” Diana said.
“Does that mean we get chained to a rock in Transcaucasia and have an eagle rip out our liver every day?” Anders said.
“No, I think we're cavemen in this story,” Anna said.
“Whose woman is wrenched away by brutality and force,” Walter said.
“Sexist cavemen at that,” Anna said.
“Simple, to kill with thought,” Walter said, “To wish someone dead. To murder with the mind.”
“Come on, that's ridiculous,” Anna said.
“I have to agree,” Angela said.
“Eh, seems reasonable,” Anders said, “I mean, I’d use it to destroy Sentinel with a thought.”
"Remember what happened with the genie?" Diana said.
“You're all right, I'm sure,” Walter said, “Unless, of course, it happens again.”
“Walter, please!” Anders said. “You’re just guaranteeing it will happen again!”
Turkish restaurant, Frankfurt - 5:00 PM
Couples of all ages sat throughout the restaurant, speaking in hushed voices. Angela sat alone at a table in the corner, focusing on one middle-aged couple in particular. The man was casually flirting with a waitress. His wife gave him a disapproving stare.
“Why would you do that?” she demanded.
“What?” the man said. “Come on.”
“Do you think it's okay to just flirt with her like that?” the woman said.
“Honey, honey, please,” the man said.
The woman stood up, enraged. “What is it, I'm not young enough?!”
Everybody stared at the couple.
“Is there something wrong?” the man said.
“I'm not sexy enough anymore?” the woman said. “Why are you doing this too me?”
“What is the matter?” the man said.
“You bastard!” the woman shouted, grabbing a knife.
“Just calm down,” the man said.
“You bastard!” the woman said. “You cheating bastard!”
“There's nothing wrong here,” the man said, nervous now.
“You cheating bastard!” the woman said, repeatedly stabbing the man in the chest.
Angela’s residence
Angela shot awake on the couch, breathing erratically. Then she collected herself and speed-dialed Anders.
“Humboldt,” Anders said.
“You idiot,” Angela said.
St. Vincent’s Hospital, Frankfurt - 7:00 PM
Angela, Anders, and Diana walked down the hall to the victim’s room.
“I tried to kill him,” Angela said.
“A half-dozen witnesses' statements say she stabbed her husband,” Diana said.
“Yeah, I was there,” Angela said.
“No… you were in Strasburg,” Diana said.
“And somehow, she’s killing these people in her dreams,” Anders said.
They walked up to a doctor.
“Hello,” she said.
“Agents Hansen, Humboldt, and Frank,” Angela said, “What can you tell us, doctor?”
“The damage was quite severe,” the doctor said, “Upper and lower intestines both shredded. She essentially gutted him. He's beyond saving, that's why they gave her permission to be here.”
She led them to a waiting room, where two police officers stood guard next to the woman. Angela sat down next to her, while Anders and Diana stayed back and watch.
“Agent Hansen,” she said, holding out her hand.
The woman shook her hand without making eye contact.
“So your name is Maus?” Angela asked, looking at a police report.
“Nickname from college, I'm quiet... I guess,” Maus said.
“Maybe just... tell us what you remember,” Angela said.
“We were at dinner,” Maus said, “We decided Arab. I don't know what happened. I just... it doesn't make any sense. Billy's devoted to me. Has been for the last thirty years. Then suddenly, I knew he was going to leave me. I was convinced of it, and I got so... scared. I got so angry. How could I do this?”
“Maybe you didn't mean to hurt him,” Anders said, “I mean, maybe somebody made you do it. Like, compelled you.”
“Anders?” Angela said.
“I mean, did it feel like there was someone else in your head making you stab him?” Anders said.
“I tried to kill my husband, right?” Maus said. “How is this happening to me?”
“Anders,” Angela said.
“Oh, god,” Maus said.
“Anders, I need to talk with you,” Angela said.
“It wasn’t you,” Anders said, walking away.
He joined Angela and Diana in the doorway.
“What exactly do you think you're doing?” Angela said.
“You made her do it, Angie,” Anders said, “I believe you.”
“Anders, even by your standards this is ridiculous,” Angela said, “I’m running on little sleep and even less coffee. I probably left the TV on last night and picked up something. I’m not thinking straight or making any sense. Anders, it’s probably nothing.”
“Yeah, but how would you know about the balloon?” Diana said.
“What’s happening to me?” Angela said.
Turkish restaurant - 7:30 PM
Angela, Anders, and Diana entered the empty restaurant.
“Hey... whoa, we're closed,” the manager said, waving them back to the door.
Angela held up her badge. “Athanatoi.”
“Great,” the manager said, “Fun times.”
“So what can you tell me about what happened here earlier today?” Anders said.
“I got nothing new for you, Athanatoi,” the manager said.
“Humor us,” Diana said.
“Sure,” the manager said, “Middle of dinner, bitch gets up and stabs her husband.”
“Bitch?” Angela said. “Really? We got a problem here?”
“Problem?” the manager said. “Yeah, We got a problem. People rush out in the middle of dinner. No one pays. Oh yeah. Also, I'm on the cover of Die Zeiten.”
Angela walked over to the table she saw in her nightmare. “Who was sitting here?”
“Lady, this isn't The Palm,” the manager said, “We don't keep a seating chart.”
Angela lunged at the manager and slammed him against a table. “WHO WAS IT?!”
“Angie!” Anders and Diana shouted, restraining her.
“Wait, wait, whoa, no need to do that!” the manager said.
“Was I there?” Angela said. “Was it me?!”
“Angie!” Anders shouted.
“It’s some random guy!” the manager said. “He comes in every now and then. Blond hair. He's got a scar on his face.”
“I know who that is,” Angela said, releasing him.
The manager picked himself up and glared at them.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he said. “You think you can do whatever you want? What are you, crazy? I'll sue you guys.”
“I’m sorry,” Diana said, “I’ll pay for anything.”
Anders pushed Angela outside.
“Okay, Angie, what the frak is wrong with you?” Anders said. “Just half an hour ago you denied doing anything. Now you’re beating someone up to see if you did?”
“I got something, Anders,” Angela said, “That man that he described, I've seen him before.”
Walter’s lab, Strasburg - 10:00 PM
Walter read Angela’s email. He looked and turned to Olga.
“That's a curious word,” he said, “So it's got nothing to do with canceling something?”
“No,” Olga said, “Absagen stands for unidentified subject.”
“Actually, it should more logically mean to not speak up,” Walter said.
“And still no,” Anna said.
Angela, Anders, and Diana walked into the lab, a CD in Angela’s hand. Angela walked over to the TV and loaded in the CD, playing back the security footage from the subway station.
“Who are we looking for?” Walter asked.
Angela rewound the video to a few minutes before Trina’s death.
“I think it's around here,” Angela said.
“Remarkable,” Walter said, “This is entirely new.”
“What?” Diana said.
“You're talking about the coffee?” Anders said.
“Mmm, yes,” Walter said, sipping his coffee, “What is it?”
“Cinnamon?” Anna said.
“Tawantinsuyuan blend,” Olga said, “Abyssinian was sold out.”
“It's quite good, delightful, really,” Walter said.
“There,” Angela said, pointing at a suspicious-looking man standing near Trina.
“Blond hair, a scar,” Olga said.
“And he was at both crime scenes,” Diana said.
“So he's our link,” Anders said.
“Interesting,” Walter said, “No, not the coffee. Although I was wondering if we can…”
“Uncle Walter?” Angela said. “Please.”
“Well, you say he was at the table where you dreamt you were sitting?” Walter said.
“Yes,” Angela said.
“And he was on the platform where you dreamt you were standing?” Walter said.
“Yes,” Angela said.
“And in your dreams you got many of the actual details correct,” Walter said, “Is that right?”
“Yes,” Angela said.
“But you did not see him in your dreams,” Walter said.
“No, I didn’t,” Angela said.
“Well, perhaps that's because you were him,” Walter said, “Dreams are not always literal. What if you weren't dreaming about yourself, you were dreaming about him... Herr Absagen?”
“So he's the one that's been doing these things to these people, not Angie?” Anders said.
“That's a possible explanation,” Walter said.
“But why would she be dreaming of him?” Diana said. “I mean, none of us know who he is.”
“He looks familiar,” Angela said.
“Yeah, we saw him in this footage, you say he matches the manager’s description,” Anna said.
“No, from somewhere else, Angela said.
Strasburg field office - 10:30 PM
“Alright, Armed Forces Database online,” Louise said.
“United Nations Police and Public Health Systems online,” Diana said.
“Got into the Sostoyaniye mainframe,” Olga said, “As usual, Russians are easiest to hack.”
“We can match a partial from the restaurant to one off the guard rail at the subway station,” Louise said, “Hopefully that will get a hit. Running facial recognition software.”
Kurtz walked into the room and stopped.
“What precisely is going on here?” he asked.
“Sir…” Anders said.
Walter looked up from playing with a coffee machine. “An Absagen who may be killing people with his thoughts while Angie is watching in her dream. Uh, by the way, I don't think this machine works.”
"Walter, please don't use that word," Anders said.
“Agent Hansen, care to explain?” Kurtz said.
“Anders can give you a better rundown because he believes it more than myself,” Angela said.
“We got a hit,” Louise said, “Suspect’s name is Nick Larsen. Uh, former address is St. Jude’s Mental Hospital.”
“That name sounds familiar,” Angela said.
“Well I’m not going there,” Walter said.
“Neither am I,” Anders said.
Kurtz held up a stack of paper.
“I have a lawsuit from a restaurant manager in Frankfurt,” he said, “He claims he was assaulted by you and that this was a result of Islamophobic discrimination. Also, Agent Frank tried to pay him off. I have unauthorized allocation of agency time and resources. I have access of government databases for personal use. What’s going on?”
“Someone’s been coming into Angie’s dreams, and he's either been making her kill people, or he's been killing people and making her watch,” Anders said.
“You know how this sounds?” Kurtz said.
“Yes, it sounds weird even by his standards, but the stuff we’re investigating, the Pattern, they're happening to me,” Angela said.
“Do you understand what kind of scrutiny we're under?” Kurtz said. “You're under? If Norbert Julius weren't in Berlin…”
“I know,” Angela said.
“You can't unofficially investigate a case where you're the subject,” Kurtz said, “Why didn't you come to me?”
“I should have... but I didn't want to sound crazy,” Angela said, “Which is why I ran it by Anders and Di first. So maybe, maybe it's better if I just take some time off, a few days, to work this out. Maybe just take a short leave. We need to do this.”
Kurtz turned back to Louise.
“Agent Kazdan, we have a status change,” he said, “I’m opening a new case. Subject’s name is Nick Larsen. Agents Hansen and Humboldt are on point. Please give them whatever assistance they need.”
“Thank you,” Angela said.
“Take care of yourself, Agent Hansen,” Kurtz said.
St. Jude’s Mental Hospital, Frankfurt - June 24, 2009, 6:00 AM
Angela, Anna, and Diana waited in the lobby.
“You know, until this year, I’d never actually been to a mental hospital,” Anna said.
“Learn to like new things, Anna,” Angela said, “Unlike your brother.”
“Maybe I never gave it enough thought, what Walter went through,” Anna said, “I only every saw it from my own perspective. His being crazy was something he did to us. To my mother and me and Anders. It wasn't something that happened to him.”
“Well, you were young,” Diana said.
“Well, I’m not young anymore,” Anna said, “Must be a terrible thing to not be able to trust your own mind.”
A doctor walked up to them.
“Are you three the imperial agents?” he asked.
“Yeah, Agents Hansen, Humboldt, and Frank,” Angela said.
Diana looked weirdly at her.
“Dr. Muller,” the doctor said, “Come with me.”
They walked down the hallway and to Muller’s office.
“I remember Nick very well,” Muller said, “He was already a resident when I arrived here, which is about five years ago now. He had a very comprehensive insurance policy. Quite old. I’d never seen one like it.”
“What kind?” Anna said.
“Military,” Muller said, “About four months ago, an attorney arrived here with a paper saying Nick had inherited a large sum of money. They met twice more, and after that, Nick checked himself out. He was here voluntarily, by the way. Nick was an interesting person. He had a kind of brightness to him.”
“Intelligent,” Angela said.
“Yes, quite, but not what I mean,” Muller said, “He had an emotional brightness. If he was happy, he would light up a room. Sad, he was like a black hole that would suck you right down with him. Hyper-emotive is the clinical term. Put simply, his affect was highly infectious.”
“Was he dangerous?” Diana said.
“No, if anything, his ideation tended toward self-contempt, toward the suicidal,” Muller said, “Although he did suffer from some psychosis when his delusions were florid.”
“What sort of delusions?” Anna said.
“Typical paranoid fare,” Muller said, “Nick was convinced he'd been recruited as a child for a series of top-secret experiments. That he was being prepared to serve as a soldier in the coming war against people from a parallel universe.”
Walter’s lab - 8:00 AM
"There is a war coming,” Olga read from the ZFT manifesto, “Not a war of hatred and anger - a battle for survival. Many warriors of the inevitable confrontation are among us now. But before they can be considered soldiers, they must be regarded as recruits."
“It’s all here,” Anna said, “He might as well have the manifesto memorized.”
“You said Nick Larsen’s been in a nut farm for years, right?” Anders said.
“The records go back to the mid ‘90s,” Diana said, “So he's been quoting for at least that long.”
“So when did they recruit him?” Olga said.
“How old is he?” Angela said.
“What?” Anna said.
“Nick Larsen,” Angela said, “What year was he born?”
“1969,” Diana said, reading Nick’s file.
“Where?” Angela said.
“…Nantes,” Diana said, “Frak.”
“We need to talk to Uncle Walter,” Angela said.
Making an agent that specializes in bizarre cases watch you compel people to die via her dreams is basically asking to be caught.
Empathy, Part 2
Walter’s hotel room - 8:30 AM
Angela, Anders, and Anna stormed into Walter’s room. Walter looked up from playing with his coffee mug.
“What can you tell me about Cortexiphan?” Angela asked.
“Oh, that takes me back,” Walter said, “I remember Willy whipping up a peyote mash…”
“Walter!” Anders said.
“Cortexiphan was a highly experimental drug,” Walter said, “Wilhelm theorized it might enhance certain abilities in some children.”
“Let me guess, you experimented on people,” Anna said.
“Oh, no, no, not me, Wilhelm,” Walter said, “We had quite a disagreement about it.”
“What abilities?” Angela said.
“It worked on perception,” Walter said, “Carlos Castaneda, Aldus Huxley, Werner Heisenberg, all focused on one single elementary truth. Perception is the key to transformation.”
“Reality is both subjective and malleable,” Anders said, “If you can dream a better world, you can make a better world.”
“Or perhaps travel between them,” Walter said.
“What did you just say?” Anna said.
“So if Nick Larsen was treated with Cortexiphan, he could influence reality with his thoughts,” Anders said, “He could make somebody do something just by thinking it.”
“Not his thoughts,” Walter said, “It’s how you feel that determines your view of the world.”
“You’re saying Cortexiphan worked on feelings,” Angela said.
“That’s reductive, but essentially, yes,” Walter said.
“What if Nick Larsen wasn't affecting people with his thoughts?” Anders said. “What if he was affecting them with his emotions? The psychiatrist said he was suicidal. They said his moods were contagious. What if he was on the platform because he considered killing himself?”
“Oh, my,” Walter said.
“Look, at the restaurant, all happy couples, it triggers his own fear of abandonment,” Walter said, “And that woman caught his mood.”
“For the sake of argument, let's assume Nick’s emotions are contagious, like a virus,” Anna said, “Maybe he's even doing this unwittingly, but it still doesn't explain how you're seeing him in your dreams, Angie.”
“If Wilhelm had followed the usual procedures…” Walter said. “You see, often when we experimented on children…”
“Okay, can we just stop right there and analyze that sentence for a second?” Anna said.
“...we would put them in pairs,” Walter said, “Like the buddy system in summer camp.”
“Listen to him!” Anna said. “He’s comparing human experimentation to summer camp!”
“This pairing kept them from becoming frightened or feeling isolated,” Walter said, “Sometimes an intense bond could form...which could be greatly amplified by a drug like Cortexiphan.”
“Stop it,” Anna said, “You’re creeping me out. Angie was never treated with Cortexiphan.”
“Is that true, Agent Hansen?” Walter said.
“Possibly not,” Angela said.
“What?” Anna said.
“Well, that's good news,” Walter said, “This Nick Larsen of yours, it means I may know how to find him.”
Walter’s lab - 9:00 AM
Angela lay back on a doctor’s chair. Walter adjusted the electrodes attached to her head and then turned on an ancient-looking machine. Angela blinked several times, getting used to the electricity stimulating her brain.
“Okay, remind me again what we’re doing?” Anna said.
“I’m hypnotically stimulating R.E.M. state to enhance her connection to Nick Larsen,” Walter said, “We’re tuning her antenna, as it were.”
“Angie can feel what Nick Larsen is feeling,” Anders said, “She can see what he's seeing.”
“Why aren’t we going to a traditional hypnotherapist?” Diana said. “I mean, they worked out so well for you in the past.”
“None of them involved seeing through somebody’s eyes,” Anders said.
“Ow,” Angela said.
Her vision fluctuated. The lab fell away and was replaced by a small apartment room. She lay on the messy bed, watching a woman staring at a bathroom mirror.
“Uh, he was sleeping with someone last night,” Angela said, “He’s feeling guilt. Shame. He feels dirty. He hates himself. He wishes he was dead. The woman... He’s infecting her. She’s catching it. His emotions are jumping to her. How much he hates himself. The girl... he's infecting her.”
The woman smashed a glass cup. Angela walked over to her, took her arm, and then used it to slash the woman’s throat. She bled out and died on the floor in seconds.
“Oh God, she’s dead,” Angela said, “No, I killed her.”
“No, no, you didn’t,” Walter said, “You must stay under. Angie, you must try to stay under. She must try to stay under.”
“What is going on?” Olga said. “Did he just kill another person? Did he kill that woman?”
“These are dreams,” Walter said, “This man is essentially a reverse empath. His feelings are killing people. Put simply, Angie’s mind is recognizing the effects of his emotions on his victims, and translating them into images her dreaming mind can recognize.”
“Put simply,” Anna said.
“Anna, Anders, help her,” Walter said, “Help her calm down.”
Anders and Anna took Angela’s hands.
“Angie, where are you?” Walter asked. “What can you see? What can you see?”
Angela looked around. Nick had now left the apartment, walked several blocks, and entered another apartment, its address clearly visible to Angela. She opened her eyes.
“Stop it,” she said, “I know where he lives.”
Nick’s apartment, Frankfurt - 11:00 AM
Angela kicked down the door, and her team stormed into the apartment, searching each room for Nick Larsen.
“Clear!” Louise shouted.
“Clear,” Angela said.
“Clear,” Anders said.
“Clear,” Diana said.
“Clear,” Olga said.
“Uh, clear,” Anna said, standing by the door.
Louise walked back into the living room and looked at a half-played chessboard. Walter looked at the board.
“The Torre Attack,” he said, “Opening sequence, first five moves.”
“He was here recently,” Anders said.
Anna walked over to the wall. “Look at the dates on these papers. This guy's been collecting this stuff for years.”
“I’ve always wanted a two-headed goat,” Walter said, “What newspaper is this, Die Zeiten? Can I get a subscription?”
“Walter!” Anders said.
“Wait, everybody, but why now?” Diana said. “Assuming our information is correct, he was given Cortexiphan over twenty years ago, right? Why is this just happening now?”
“That lawyer shows up at the mental hospital with a magical inheritance, and all of a sudden Nick Larsen becomes an emotional atom bomb?” Anders said.
“Seems a little too coincidental to be coincidence in my book,” Olga said.
“So what are you saying?” Angela said. “You think he was activated?”
Walter pointed at the wall. "What was written will come to pass."
“What?” Angela said.
“He wrote it on the wall here,” Walter said.
Louise put down her phone and walked over to them.
“Got a call from a security guard downtown,” she said, “We’ve got a positive ID of Nick Larsen entering a building. He's not alone.”
“Nick Larsen may be turning into a walking epidemic,” Anders said.
“As his emotions become more intense, they become more contagious,” Walter said.
“Great,” Olga said, “Why can't ‘more angry’ ever translate into ‘less dangerous’?”
“I find it ironic you’re saying that,” Diana said.
“Worked with Valentin,” Olga said.
“And what are we supposed to do if we find him, anyway?” Anna said. “I mean, if we get too close to him, won’t we be infected with his emotions too?”
“Yes,” Walter said, “But perhaps Agent Hansen would not.”
“Why?” Angela said.
“You were also treated with Cortexiphan,” Walter said, “It might afford you some degree of immunity from Nick's abilities.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling us everything?” Anna said.
“Because I don't know everything,” Walter said.
A multi-story building - 11:30 AM
Angela and Anders stopped the Impala on the curb and got out, meeting an officer at the door.
“You don't want to go up there,” the officer said, “We already sent a guy up, now he's on the ledge too. We don't know what the hell's going on up there.”
“Its okay, officer,” Angela said.
“Angie…” Anders said.
“I’ll be okay,” Angela said.
She entered the building and took the elevator up to the roof. At the edge, at least twenty men and women stood with Nick, ready to jump off. She’d seen this once before, back when Rico Modell almost got everybody in a hospital to commit suicide. She didn’t want another repeat of that case.
“Nick?” Angela said. “Nick Larsen?”
Nick turned around and smiled.
“Angie,” he said, “It’s me, Nick. You heard me. You came. You were always the stronger one. Whenever I got scared, you made me feel better. Do you remember, Angie?”
“I’m sorry, no, I don’t,” Angela said.
“That’s okay,” Nick said, “I think they meant for us to forget. Suppressed memories, amnestics, something they did to make us forget. I just couldn't. I did what they told us. I waited, Angie. The soldier to come is both natural and unnatural. I waited to be called up. You stay fit, stay focused, and stay ready. I wore the blacks and grays. I blended in. But the call never came. It never came. Then, that man with the glasses, he showed up at the hospital. He spoke all the old words. He said they're coming. He needed warriors. He said... "what was written will come to pass." He said he knew how to wake me up. I shouldn't have listened to him. Sometimes what we wake up, it can't be put back to sleep.”
“Nick, you don't have to do this,” Angela said.
Nick took out a gun and handed it to Angela.
“I want to stop hurting people!” he cried. “Take it. Take it. Shoot me. Please, Angie? I can't fight this much longer.”
“Listen to me,” Angela said, “None of this has to happen.”
“Shoot me!” Nick shouted. “Or I will jump and they will all jump with me. Shoot me, Angie! I have to die or I will keep hurting people. Please. We weren't meant for this, don't make me take them all with me. Please?”
Angela raised the gun and cocked it, aiming at Nick’s head. Her hand wavered. She didn’t know what to do with him. Nick was unarmed, but he put these innocents at risk. He had to be taken out to save them. But what if there was another way?
“I’m sorry,” Angela said, lowering the gun and shooting him in the leg.
Nick fell, as did the rest of the civilians. All fell back to the ground, away from the precipice. They then got to their feet and ran back to the stairwell, having broken free. Clutching his leg, Nick looked up to her, horrified.
“Angie…” he said. “You should’ve killed me.”
Tesla Dynamic medical facility, Strasburg - 3:00 PM
Angela and Kurtz walked down a long white corridor. Kurtz handed Angela a file.
“Nick Larsen’s parents died several years ago,” he said, “Car accident. His lawyer's identity appears to have been falsified. We've repeated our request to Tesla Dynamic for information regarding the Cortexiphan experiments. But according to Mina Schaefer, the names of the participants were deleted from the records. And you still have no memory of the trials…"
“No, I don’t,” Angela said, “Neither do my parents. Dad was sent West Berlin with the Athanatoi and Mom was called away on a family emergency with her mom soon after they enrolled me. They left me with my grandpa.”
“...or being treated with the drug?” Kurtz said.
“No,” Angela said.
“But he does?” Kurtz said. “Why do you think that is?”
“I don't know,” Angela said.
They stopped at Nick’s room and watched him sleeping on his bed.
“You saved his life,” Kurtz said, “He's being kept in a drug-induced coma.”
“For how long?” Angela said.
“Until they can figure out how he’s doing what he’s doing and stopping it,” Kurtz said.
“He said sometimes what we wake up can't be put back to sleep,” Angela said, “I wonder if he was right.”
Anders’ and Diana’s house - 8:00 PM
Diana walked into the living to find Alex sleeping on the couch.
“Hey,” she said.
“Mom, the stuff that they put in me isn't dead anymore,” Diana said, “It came back alive. Can that really happen?”
“It's just bad dreams, Alex,” Diana said, picking him up, “It’s just bad dreams. Come on. Ooh, you're getting so big. I'm going to put you back to bed.”
She walked to Alex’s room and lay him down on his bed. As she walked back to the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee, she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and found Louise standing outside. Louise handed her a stack of files.
“I'm breaking about a thousand regulations by doing this,” she said, “But thank God for the Freedom of Information Act. Here’s everything we have on Nick Larsen.”
“I know,” Diana said, “I appreciate it, Louise. Thank you.”
Louise smiled. “Sure.”
She walked off as Diana closed the door. Diana opened the file to find the newspaper clippings from Nick’s apartment as well as financial statements. Reading through the statements, Diana noticed something. She immediately picked up her phone.
Walter’s lab - 8:30 PM
Rummaging through a storage box, Walter dug out several old cassette tapes and loaded one into his old VCR. The screen flickered to life, showing a small red-haired girl sitting huddled on a carpeted floor. Most of the room around her had been scorched as if by an intense fire, but the girl was okay.
“Is the incident contained?” Wilhelm Tesla said.
“Yes, Dr. Tesla,” a woman said.
“How bad?” Tesla said.
“Bad,” the woman said.
“Casualties?” Tesla said.
“No fatalities,” the woman said, “That’s all we know.”
“Is she okay?” Tesla said.
“She is fine,” the woman said.
“Hell, do we know what triggered it?” Tesla said.
“Obviously she was upset, Wilhelm,” Walter said, “It's okay. It's alright now. Nobody is angry with you. You didn't do anything bad. It's alright, Angie… everything’s going to be okay.”
Walter sat silently, alone in the dark lab. He stared at the screen in shock.
Alsatian Bar, Krutenau - 9:00 PM
Anders sat at the bar, drinking another shot of beer.
“Another,” he asked Jessica.
Jessica handed him another cup.
“You drink too much,” she said, “Trying to forget?”
“No, to remember,” Anders said, “To remember the better parts of my career.”
“Yeah, we’d all like that,” Jessica said.
“I’ve been doing this for so long,” Anders said, “About twenty years now, and I’m still just a special agent. Only I now have a wife and son to take care of.”
“Do you know what’s causing this?” Jessica said.
“I have an idea,” Anders said, “Well, the cases I investigate…they’re not what you’d call mainstream or conventional. And because of that, I’ve made a lot of enemies. The first few years I got along because I had a lot of friends to help me, but most of them are dead now. I don’t want to risk contacting the rest.”
“I’m sorry,” Jessica said.
“I don’t need your sympathy,” Anders said, “All I wanted to do was find the truth. First, the truth behind what happened to my older sister decades ago. Next, the truth behind what the government’s keeping from us. Finally, the truth behind what they’re trying to do to us. I already found out what happened to my sister. I found out what they’re keeping from us, something called Sentinel. I found out what they’re going to do to us, and it’s Sentinel.”
“If anything, I’d say you’re a little drunk,” Jessica said, “But you don’t look drunk.”
“Am I?” Anders said. “Maybe I’m just worried.”
“Worried about what?” Jessica said. “What they’re going to do?”
“No,” Anders said, “I found out the truth. And it feels…empty. It’s not what I expected. There was no triumphant fanfare, no glory, no patting on the back. It’s just there. And once I got over that shock, I was hit by another one…what do I do next? Who will believe me?”
“Okay, let’s say I believe you for a second,” Jessica said, “Why don’t you just go stop them?”
“I’m just one man,” Anders said, “And they’re the most powerful people on this planet. They’re in the government. I don’t know how where they are, or who they are, but I know they have influence and power. And I’m just one Athanatoi agent. Me, my wife, my cousin…we can’t possibly win against them. They caused 11/9 because of me.”
“You’re clearly drunk,” Jessica said.
“Yeah, maybe I am,” Anders said, “Or maybe I’ve arrived at a fourth truth.”
“Which is what?” Jessica said.
“That I’m obsolete,” Anders said, “That I’m growing old. That nobody will listen to me. Nobody wants the truth.”
Jessica stared at him for a moment.
“You know what?” she said, “That’s your last shot of the night. Any more and I don’t want to be arrested for accessory to domestic violence. Oh, wait. Olga would probably kick your butt. Just get yourself home.”
Anders handed her a one hundred mark bill. “Keep the change.”
He got up and left the bar. Diana waited for him outside.
“You’re late, Di,” Anders said, “I just finished a minute-long existential crisis. And she still thinks I’m married to Olga.”
“Yeah, traffic’s annoying,” Diana said.
“What did you want to talk about?” Anders said.
“Agent Verberden,” Diana said, “That kid who died in the warehouse back in May? Ex-wife at the IAF, Bureau of Finance?”
“Yeah,” Anders said.
“His ex-wife did some more digging into the shell companies represented by Salman Kahler,” Diana said, “The pseudonym the lawyer used to check out Nick Larsen…one of many used by a lawyer with ties to Salman Kahler.”
“David Jansen wants to use him,” Anders said.
“And that’s not the end of it,” Diana said, “She figured if they were funneling money to Jansen and the ZFT and paying off people like Nick Larsen like that, they had to have gotten their money from somewhere.”
“And where’s the money coming from?” Anders said.
“Not a where, but a who,” Diana said, “Wilhelm Tesla.”
Out of curiosty, what is steampunk like in TTL since it is technically a genre of alternate history? I suppose since it would be modeled slightly after this timeline’s Imperial Century aesthetic instead of OTL’s Victorian England aesthetic, I personally see a lot of Steampunk in TTL to have a mix of OTL’s Prussian, Ancient Roman and Greek sort of look to them in addition to possible influences from this TTL like possible Steampunk style Middle Eastern settings. I would ask for Cyberpunk, but I don’t think that would change much, so the basics of bloated, over populated megacites full of crime would be the same in cyberpunk fiction like Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell in TTL like our own.
So Zen, what are your thoughts on doing pop culture summaries for (teen-young adult oriented) cartoons or animated shows like both Avatar shows? I think the Last Airbender would be pretty much the same as OTL (except I’d probably adapt the several Last Airbender comics taking series into feature length movies but I’ll come back to that later), but I did find this Legend of Korra from Photos of Kaiserreich. Well, I do remember we suggested the idea of Avatar being a Indian cartoon with Dounghua influences so I think that would mean the Fire Nation would be more Rasa and Chinnese militism inspirerd than Angeloi, sort of like how IOTL the fire nation is like Imperial/Showa Japan (imperialistic, holds Asian values like honor in high regard, cult of personality around monarch etc) so I’m wondering what cultural influences would the other three nations of Avatar (Air Nomads, Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom) have? I guess we could keep the Earth Kingdom as the China analogue (with the Dai Li as a stand-in for the Jingwei under the Gumingdoung party) and maybe Air Nomads as like minorities persecuted in the Holocausts (Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists etc) but what would the Water Tribe because the Reich would be a bit of a stretch (especially with their inuit aesthetic)? Like I said earlier, I could also imagining some feature length animated Avatar movies (because we know how well the live action Last Airbender film went.
) existing based on the graphic could be made, in particular the Search and the Promise, and I imgaine a major theme of these movies taking place in between both Avatar series would be Avatar Aang and his friends helping the rebuling of the Four Nations after 100 years of war and bring remanding Ozai loyalists to justice while Zuko would reconcile with the mistakes his country made in 100 years and seek to restore accountability and trust (and honor!) to the Fire Nation and its monarchy to the other nations of the world, mirroring the De Rasa and Angelfication after the war and the collective guilt India had after the Holocaust. What ideas do you have in mind. Maybe some sort spinoff shows involving past Avatars before Aang and Korra? I’m thinking of Avatar Kyoshi during the wars of Chin the Conquer, an Avatar after Korra (with movie specials for it like with the Last Airbender) or even a show not focused on the Avatar but still exploring unique Bending forms and cultural philosophies and spiritualities (chi bending like the one Ty Lee used comes to mind).
I'm also wondering how brutal would China had been during WW2 since the Goumingdong did believe in Pan-Asian nationalism like Japan did in OTL? We have seen mentions of Lagois or Chinese Labor Camps in Siberia so I imagine that China would´ve treated POWs as badly as Japan did, espically with Unit 731 being Chinese. Would China ever have its own verison of Staism in TTL and would they commit as brutal war crimes as Japan did? I imagine that considering that even before the Angeloi invaison Wang Jingwei had alot of control over Chinese society, I imagine that the Chinese military would´ve been able to get away with brutalities in the Pacific against the Roman and Indian colonies even with Chinnese democracy and would have esclated once the Junta came to power after Operation Dragonslayer.
I'm also wondering what was the Rasa reaction to Operation Theodrich? Considering that the whole war against the Soviets was caused by the Resistance's assination of Trotsky, I imagine it would've been seen by Gandhi as a massive debacle and caused him to be furios with Angelos for not efficiently dealing with the Resistance before they got the Axis tied down on a multi front war. I'm also wondering what was Angelos' original plans with Operation Therodrich? I'm pretty sure modern historians would realize that Angelos ordering the death of Trotksy would'nt make any sense since it be extremely disadvantageous to him since the Angeloi were tied up with the Loyalists and the Angeloi invasion was scrapply put together in what can be seen as a definitive punitive attack since their is plenty of evidence that the Soviets would have attcked the Angeloi after Trotsky's death if the Angeloi didn't do it first, since Operation Therodrich wasn't as premeditated as Barbarossa was in OTL. I imagine historians would see it as either that both the Soviets and Angelos did indeed had plans to attack each other, but Angelos was forced to use his invaison plans much earlier than he intented (I belive that it would be a general conscenes that Angelos planed to attack Russia when the Loyalists were beatend or at least no longer a threat while Gandhi wouldn't be able to backstab the Angeloi) due to Trotsky´s death and Trotsky death would probally be seen as the Assasin acting out of Angelos´ orders, Trotsky´s death being seen as staged by the NKVD it self to give the Soviets a caus beli to invade the Angeloi, or even a Resistance or Anarcho-Capitalist attacking Trotsky while having leaked Angeloi invasion plans to provoke war between the Soviets. At least, those are the thories I imagine that Historians could come up with for why Trotsky died, theres probally alot of of conspiracy theroies for the Angeloi-Soviet War I imagine. Also what were the Angeloi and Rasas original plans to invade the Soviets in Operation Theodrich before Trotsky was killed?
What would motivate otherwise moral and good Roman citizens to have turned against their Kaiser during WW2 and either have been civilian supporters of the Angeloi regime or Soilders fighting in the Imperium’s military? I mean we know that the Imperuim was a evil regime due to their racism and Totalitriansim, but considering there were three big defections of loyalists soldiers to the Angeloi side in 1940-41, I imagine that there would´ve been soilders that had legitimate grievances with the Loyalist government and were complied to sympathize with the Angeloi for reasons besides Angeloi propaganda and Islamophobia, so what justifications would Angeloi Soilders have and how did they see the war? And how does the Reich treat those that fought for the Angeloi or are descended from people that supported them?
I´m also wondering what sort of cultural factors would´ve have lead to certain provinces like what would´ve become the Occupied Territoties and the Western Provinces to join the Angeloi when the war broke out? I imagine it would have to do with how Conservative those provinces were compared to the more Liberal Provinces like the Middle East that stayed with the Kaiser, so those would´ve seen plenty of Angeloi support before the war.
Also would some Facist dictatorships like India, Iran and the Inca Empire technically would´ve been technically theocracies since they did favor relgious ideals being blended in with Natinailistic ideas and had religious institutions like the Zorastian and Brahim priesthood having alot of power in Facist states?
I´m also wondering how would the Cartels differ from each other across Russia? Like I said before, I imagine Cartels of several ethincites like Mongolian or Lithianthian ones popping up around there, inspiring ethnic conflicts in Russia. While people in some parts of Russia would actually become dependent on local cartels to protect them from more aggressive ones, creating a Cartel hierarchy in Russia.
What regions would you consider making a cultural summary for in the future when you get around to it? I think you mentioned you could make one for India in the next batch like you did with China and you might´ve said something about plans to describe the culture the Polynesian Islands, also there are still some minor powers you could potentially cover in the next batch of regional descriptions like the Livionian order or East Africa.
So Zen, what are your thoughts on doing pop culture summaries for (teen-young adult oriented) cartoons or animated shows like both Avatar shows? I think the Last Airbender would be pretty much the same as OTL (except I’d probably adapt the several Last Airbender comics taking series into feature length movies but I’ll come back to that later), but I did find this Legend of Korra from Photos of Kaiserreich. Well, I do remember we suggested the idea of Avatar being a Indian cartoon with Dounghua influences so I think that would mean the Fire Nation would be more Rasa and Chinnese militism inspirerd than Angeloi, sort of like how IOTL the fire nation is like Imperial/Showa Japan (imperialistic, holds Asian values like honor in high regard, cult of personality around monarch etc) so I’m wondering what cultural influences would the other three nations of Avatar (Air Nomads, Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom) have? I guess we could keep the Earth Kingdom as the China analogue (with the Dai Li as a stand-in for the Jingwei under the Gumingdoung party) and maybe Air Nomads as like minorities persecuted in the Holocausts (Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists etc) but what would the Water Tribe because the Reich would be a bit of a stretch (especially with their inuit aesthetic)? Like I said earlier, I could also imagining some feature length animated Avatar movies (because we know how well the live action Last Airbender film went.
) existing based on the graphic could be made, in particular the Search and the Promise, and I imgaine a major theme of these movies taking place in between both Avatar series would be Avatar Aang and his friends helping the rebuling of the Four Nations after 100 years of war and bring remanding Ozai loyalists to justice while Zuko would reconcile with the mistakes his country made in 100 years and seek to restore accountability and trust (and honor!) to the Fire Nation and its monarchy to the other nations of the world, mirroring the De Rasa and Angelfication after the war and the collective guilt India had after the Holocaust. What ideas do you have in mind. Maybe some sort spinoff shows involving past Avatars before Aang and Korra? I’m thinking of Avatar Kyoshi during the wars of Chin the Conquer, an Avatar after Korra (with movie specials for it like with the Last Airbender) or even a show not focused on the Avatar but still exploring unique Bending forms and cultural philosophies and spiritualities (chi bending like the one Ty Lee used comes to mind).That makes me wonder, how do Chinese feel about their past under the military dictatorship and the nationalist rule of Wang Jingwei during WW2? I mean one hand during the seventies china was economically prosperous while the rest of the world was reeling from the aftermath of the 1973 Oil Strike (through Chinese historians would probally attribute that to factors the Junta weren´t involved in. I imagine that the Junta probally would´ve become more repressive in its last years in the 80s and WW3, but most Chinese would probaly look at Chaing Kai Shek in a mixed light with some Chinese even looking fondly on him much like the Russian oligarchs Soviet nostalgia or at least how Japan in OTL treats its WW2 history.
I'm also wondering how brutal would China had been during WW2 since the Goumingdong did believe in Pan-Asian nationalism like Japan did in OTL? We have seen mentions of Lagois or Chinese Labor Camps in Siberia so I imagine that China would´ve treated POWs as badly as Japan did, espically with Unit 731 being Chinese. Would China ever have its own verison of Staism in TTL and would they commit as brutal war crimes as Japan did? I imagine that considering that even before the Angeloi invaison Wang Jingwei had alot of control over Chinese society, I imagine that the Chinese military would´ve been able to get away with brutalities in the Pacific against the Roman and Indian colonies even with Chinnese democracy and would have esclated once the Junta came to power after Operation Dragonslayer.
I´m actually wondering what would be the core tenants of the Angeloí´ś Imperuim Sine Fine ambition and the Rasa equivlent of Lebensaurm (I´m also wondering what would the Rasa call it) be and how would they clash with each other? I mean, we know what Hitlier and, I imagine ITTL, Gandhi wanted to do to the Slavs because of what they planed to do with the Generalplan Ost and the Hunger Plan, but since the Angeloi don´t believe in a master race concept as much as the Rasa do, would they be interested in the extermination of Slavs or would they just simply treat them as second class citizens when they conquered Russia and segregating the occupied peoples in ghettos from Greek and German settlers. I imagine that Angelos´ plans also had more general territorial goals than the Rasa (who probably pused for Middle Eastern and Central Asian expansion up to Yavadi) and less specific (through still slighty favoring expansion into Russia and maybe Scandinavia) and would be more concerned with securing the Imperiums borders than securing ¨living space¨ for a certain race like the Rasa wanted, or have the same philosophy towards expansion as the clasical Roman Empire (as a means to expand the economy with slave labor from the native population).
I'm also wondering what was the Rasa reaction to Operation Theodrich? Considering that the whole war against the Soviets was caused by the Resistance's assination of Trotsky, I imagine it would've been seen by Gandhi as a massive debacle and caused him to be furios with Angelos for not efficiently dealing with the Resistance before they got the Axis tied down on a multi front war. I'm also wondering what was Angelos' original plans with Operation Therodrich? I'm pretty sure modern historians would realize that Angelos ordering the death of Trotksy would'nt make any sense since it be extremely disadvantageous to him since the Angeloi were tied up with the Loyalists and the Angeloi invasion was scrapply put together in what can be seen as a definitive punitive attack since their is plenty of evidence that the Soviets would have attcked the Angeloi after Trotsky's death if the Angeloi didn't do it first, since Operation Therodrich wasn't as premeditated as Barbarossa was in OTL. I imagine historians would see it as either that both the Soviets and Angelos did indeed had plans to attack each other, but Angelos was forced to use his invaison plans much earlier than he intented (I belive that it would be a general conscenes that Angelos planed to attack Russia when the Loyalists were beatend or at least no longer a threat while Gandhi wouldn't be able to backstab the Angeloi) due to Trotsky´s death and Trotsky death would probally be seen as the Assasin acting out of Angelos´ orders, Trotsky´s death being seen as staged by the NKVD it self to give the Soviets a caus beli to invade the Angeloi, or even a Resistance or Anarcho-Capitalist attacking Trotsky while having leaked Angeloi invasion plans to provoke war between the Soviets. At least, those are the thories I imagine that Historians could come up with for why Trotsky died, theres probally alot of of conspiracy theroies for the Angeloi-Soviet War I imagine. Also what were the Angeloi and Rasas original plans to invade the Soviets in Operation Theodrich before Trotsky was killed?
What would motivate otherwise moral and good Roman citizens to have turned against their Kaiser during WW2 and either have been civilian supporters of the Angeloi regime or Soilders fighting in the Imperium’s military? I mean we know that the Imperuim was a evil regime due to their racism and Totalitriansim, but considering there were three big defections of loyalists soldiers to the Angeloi side in 1940-41, I imagine that there would´ve been soilders that had legitimate grievances with the Loyalist government and were complied to sympathize with the Angeloi for reasons besides Angeloi propaganda and Islamophobia, so what justifications would Angeloi Soilders have and how did they see the war? And how does the Reich treat those that fought for the Angeloi or are descended from people that supported them?
I´m also wondering what sort of cultural factors would´ve have lead to certain provinces like what would´ve become the Occupied Territoties and the Western Provinces to join the Angeloi when the war broke out? I imagine it would have to do with how Conservative those provinces were compared to the more Liberal Provinces like the Middle East that stayed with the Kaiser, so those would´ve seen plenty of Angeloi support before the war.
Also would some Facist dictatorships like India, Iran and the Inca Empire technically would´ve been technically theocracies since they did favor relgious ideals being blended in with Natinailistic ideas and had religious institutions like the Zorastian and Brahim priesthood having alot of power in Facist states?
That´s a little bit different from what you said before, and I will quote a previous statement you made about Lithuanians in Russia here, but it does lead to an interesting thought I just came up with.
Perhaps the former lands of the Lithuanian-Ruthanian Commonwealth (so roughly Belarus in OTL) would see racial motivated gang wars between Major Russian Cartels discriminating against the Lithuanian population and Lithuanian Gangs fighting back against the powerful Russian Cartels. This would make that part of Russia one of the most violent areas in Russia as Lithuanian and Russian Cartels fight each other for control over towns and territories while the Government is pretty much powerless to prevent what is pretty much a small scale race war between the Cartels.
I´m also wondering how would the Cartels differ from each other across Russia? Like I said before, I imagine Cartels of several ethincites like Mongolian or Lithianthian ones popping up around there, inspiring ethnic conflicts in Russia. While people in some parts of Russia would actually become dependent on local cartels to protect them from more aggressive ones, creating a Cartel hierarchy in Russia.
What regions would you consider making a cultural summary for in the future when you get around to it? I think you mentioned you could make one for India in the next batch like you did with China and you might´ve said something about plans to describe the culture the Polynesian Islands, also there are still some minor powers you could potentially cover in the next batch of regional descriptions like the Livionian order or East Africa.
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Steampunk could still exist. It would be based on the Imperial Century aesthetic with influences from classical Roman and Byzantine culture. I guess it would be like a mix of the Clanker nations/Central Powers in Scott Westerfield's Leviathan trilogy (particularly Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire) due to Middle Eastern influences. I might do a summary of the Leviathan trilogy in the future.
I could do summaries for The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra (I scattered references to them throughout the story arcs) in the future. As for ideas...So Zen, what are your thoughts on doing pop culture summaries for (teen-young adult oriented) cartoons or animated shows like both Avatar shows? I think the Last Airbender would be pretty much the same as OTL (except I’d probably adapt the several Last Airbender comics taking series into feature length movies but I’ll come back to that later), but I did find this Legend of Korra from Photos of Kaiserreich. Well, I do remember we suggested the idea of Avatar being a Indian cartoon with Dounghua influences so I think that would mean the Fire Nation would be more Rasa and Chinnese militism inspirerd than Angeloi, sort of like how IOTL the fire nation is like Imperial/Showa Japan (imperialistic, holds Asian values like honor in high regard, cult of personality around monarch etc) so I’m wondering what cultural influences would the other three nations of Avatar (Air Nomads, Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom) have? I guess we could keep the Earth Kingdom as the China analogue (with the Dai Li as a stand-in for the Jingwei under the Gumingdoung party) and maybe Air Nomads as like minorities persecuted in the Holocausts (Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists etc) but what would the Water Tribe because the Reich would be a bit of a stretch (especially with their inuit aesthetic)? Like I said earlier, I could also imagining some feature length animated Avatar movies (because we know how well the live action Last Airbender film went.
The Air Nomads would be a mix of Tibetans/Buddhists with Islamic influences (notably in their art, architecture, and names). The Earth Kingdom remains the China parallel, but it is now more militaristic and isolationist than OTL Earth Kingdom. The Earth King is still a puppet, but this time the military calls the shots, with the Dai Li acting as their secret police and overseas special forces (there will be Dai Li agents popping up before the formal introduction of the Dai Li and Earth Kingdom). The Water Tribe remains inspired by Inuits, as Avatar focuses on Eastern and Arctic cultures and not Western ones. The movies would be sequels to The Last Airbender (and be obviously animated), focusing on Zuko's search for his mother, his reforms in the Fire Nation, and the founding of Republic City (I don't know what to rename it to). There would also be a movie about Aang finally embracing his role as Avatar and traveling the four regions to help rebuild after the fall of the Fire Nation. Previous Avatars like Kyoshi could get their own movies or a miniseries. There might also be spinoffs for characters like Ty Lee and Bumi, among others, or on world building for certain parts of the series (the cultures of the four nations, the Great Divide thing, Omashu, etc.).
Most Chinese look at Wang Jingwei as a disgrace. They see him as the man who dismantled democracy and brought in decades of military dictatorship. Older Chinese look at Chiang Kai-Shek in a slightly more positive light, as they credit him with holding back equalism and defeating the Rasas. Younger Chinese see him as an extension of Wang's tyranny. Recent administrations have opened truth and reconciliation commissions to receive statements from victims of the junta and bring junta leaders to justice where applicable.
Since it ran the country at the time, the Chinese military operated with few restraints on its conduct. So it employed ruthless tactics to achieve victory, including committing war crimes against their enemies and atrocities against civilians. Their aggression was not racially fueled like Japanese aggression was (I'm simplifying it way too much), so there wouldn't be any war crimes as bad as the Japanese (on the scale of Nanjing). Most of this happened after the junta came to power, but there were some war crimes of varying severity committed under the democratic government which was already being subverted by the military. They did get away with the brutalities in the Pacific campaign, as the world's attention was focused on the Old World.
The goal of Rasa expansionism/Lebensraum was to expand India to its natural borders (including the Timurid lands) and then give the Indian people "living space" in Central Asia (Yavdi and western China) and the Middle East. The Angeloi's Imperium Sine Fine went much farther than that, as its goal was to bring the entire world under Angeloi rule. It is true the Angeloi didn't care about a master race as much as the Rasas and OTL Nazis, but they didn't hesitate to exterminate entire communities if parts of them resisted the Angeloi. Angelos would've preferred to keep the Slavs second-class citizens who would slowly be pushed off their land by Germans and Greeks, but as Soviet resistance intensifies he increasingly ordered the extermination of Russian communities. He was also not above forming alliances with so-called "inferior peoples" like the Scandinavians and Malians if it advanced his cause (and then backstabbed them later). He truly wanted world domination, not the extermination of lesser peoples (which would be more useful as taxpaying slave labor). He used a twisted view of Roman history (expansion of the Republic in the Mediterranean/Italy and the early Empire in Europe) to justify his plans as naturally Roman.
The Rasas were initially pissed at the Angeloi for launching the invasion before the rest of the Axis was ready. Trotsky's assassination literally came out of nowhere and completely changed the game, shifting the war from campaigns in Africa and the Middle East to a massive invasion of Russia and Yavdi. It also delayed his plans for the Indianization of the Middle East and the Holocaust, as he now had to shift resources to the Russia campaign. Gandhi was predictably furious with Angelos, but by now the Angeloi Imperium was far more powerful and influential than Rasa India (in terms of economic influence and military strength), leaving Gandhi and India leaders of the Axis in name only.
Historians are very certain Angelos did not order the assassination. Daily dispatches from his desk, as well as some entries from Memoirs of an Angeloi, both show Angelos was completely surprised by the assassination and demanded to know who did it. The assassination forced him to launch the invasion before he was ready, as he knew the Soviets would blame him and retaliate (historians are very certain this was the plan, as files from Soviet archives show the politburo deliberating on an invasion of the Imperium while it was distracted by the Loyalists in the Middle East). His original plan was to finish off the Loyalists by taking Constantinople and Athens and then crushing the Resistance cells across Europe. Then he would build up his forces, coordinate with Indian and Persian leaders, and launch a united assault against Russia, with the Indians and Persians both contributing effectively. As for the identity of the assassin, historians consider him to be either an overeager Angeloi agent acting on his own or a secret NKVD spy. There remain a lot of conspiracy theories, among them that Trotsky faked his death and fled somewhere else. I was originally going to rename the Lone Gunmen to Lone Axemen in a nod to these conspiracy theories.
From what I remember, the Nazis only had 30% public support when they came to power in 1933. But the anti-Nazi opposition (communists, monarchists, and actual reformers) was significantly divided and unable to stop them, despite the majority of the population supporting them in one way or another. There were deep undercurrents of anti-Semitism (entrenched for centuries in German society) and more recent anti-communist hysteria in the 1920s and 1930s. The stab-in-the-back conspiracy theory was incredibly popular due to the circumstances of the German surrender in WWI. Others saw the Weimar government as corrupt and incompetent and wanted change. The Treaty of Versailles was extremely humiliating, and combined with the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and parts of Prussia to Poland there was a huge blow to national pride. The Nazis promised to restore it. Other Germans were also complacent in a way. They didn't care about politics unless their livelihood was affected in some way. So they just sat back and let the Nazis take control, because nothing changed for them (at least initially).
Now, most of these circumstances in this AAR happened for the Rasas, but a lot of them also apply to the Angeloi and how they took power. They initially didn't have a majority, but the opposition was more focused on fighting each other than dealing with the Angeloi threat until it was too late. Angelos and the Angeloi also had 20 years from the end of World War I to build up public support. They played on social fears and anxieties of the time, as well as older conspiracy theories and fears. Although the Reich was officially a tolerant and open nation, remember so was Weimar Germany. Underneath that curtain of tolerance and acceptance there were still undercurrents of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant xenophobia, and a distrust of the foreigner dating back to the 13th Century Crisis. Centuries of tolerance and laws to enforce them did not eradicate these issues. They just pushed them to the backs of everybody's minds. The Angeloi brought it back to public consciousness. They made it acceptable to again be scared of the other. They embraced such xenophobia. They normalized it and considered it Roman. Fear is a powerful motivator, and it got many to join the Angeloi, who promised a return to greatness and Roman honor which was allegedly lost when the Gentleman's Peace didn't ensure a Roman victory (a stalemate was considered a loss). Bear in mind this was still only a third of all Romans. The rest were either part of the divided and weakened opposition or the complacent majority, which supported whoever was in charge as long as their livelihoods weren't affected. Angeloi propaganda took care of everybody else, calling them either loyal supporters (other Angeloi) or national traitors (the press, the Diet, liberal organizations, Muslims, and others who opposed the Angeloi).
As for the defections, once the Loyalists started losing several major battles (despite winning other major battles and retaking entire provinces), entire divisions began defecting. At the start of the war, many Romans still considered the Angeloi the legal government of the Reich, as it legally came to power in the 1930s (not to mention the Angeloi propaganda). They remained loyal to the Kaiser, but they believed he was being controlled by rogue generals (probably a conspiracy theory spread by Angeloi propaganda). Some thought the Angeloi better represented their views. Others thought they gave a better salary, provided better equipment, and offered more respect (Angeloi lip service to pro-military patriotism). Still others believed the Loyalists couldn't win the war and defected to save themselves (again, propaganda helped a lot). The first two years of the war saw a massive public relations campaign being waged by both sides trying to assert themselves as the rightful government. The Angeloi initially had the upper hand due to their experience in propaganda, which led to the massive defections, but the Loyalists increasingly turned the Angeloi's brutalities and totalitarian actions against them, showing they weren't the strong and masculine leaders they made themselves out to be but rather war criminals who murdered innocents and terrorized everybody. By 1941, with the attack on Constantinople, it was quite clear to everybody the Angeloi were totalitarian dictators bent on world domination, and for all their talk about Roman values and greatness that was just propaganda.
The Reich had different approaches toward former Angeloi soldiers or collaborators. Initially, there was deangelification to remove all Angeloi presence in Roman government. When that failed due to the scale of Angeloi subversion, the government issued blanket pardons and amnesties for low-level Angeloi or collaborators who didn't commit any serious crimes other than fight for the wrong side. The Roman public would end up doing deangelification themselves. There were groups like the RAF who considered the postwar Roman government to be a continuation of the Angeloi regime and thus fought against it. But the majority of the public did deangelification in a peaceful manner. The most notorious Angeloi who weren't senior leaders (those were already sent to prison) were stigmatized in society and shunned by all, which reduced support for neo-Angeloi causes. Minor Angeloi would try to atone for their sins by devoting their lives to public service or religious worship (many went into the priesthood, but when their histories were revealed controversies always erupted). Romans who grew up in the postwar era constantly questioned their parents and older relatives about their role in the Angeloi regime, not being afraid to talk about such issues. They would also dedicate their lives to social reform and participating in the political process to ensure the Angeloi never returned to prominence. Descendants of the Angeloi or their collaborators were treated like any other Roman citizen as they were not to be judged by the sins of their parents. Many such descendants eventually founded Holocaust remembrance organizations or worked with anti-Angeloi causes.
It partly has to do with how conservative they were. There was also the fact that such conservative provinces had pro-Angeloi governments and pro-Angeloi military divisions who quickly declared their allegiance to Angelos when the war began.
Technically they weren't theocracies. Although the local priesthoods did have influence in the fascist dictatorships, they weren't in charge. Ultimately it was the dictators and their parties who called the shots and basically controlled the priesthoods, using them to reach the more religious people in their countries.
Thanks for remind me about that.
Some parts of the Lithuanian south (particularly the major cities) were assimilated, but the countryside remained Lithuanian. The area is the most violent region in Russia due to constant fighting between Russian cartels (drug dealers and human traffickers) and Lithuanian gangs (traditional mafia types). Russian and Lithuanian civilians are forced to choose between the two factions, who retaliate against the other ethnic group with terrifying results. Both factions also have footholds across the border in the former Occupied Territories, where they bring in money from drug sales and illegal immigrants to spend on weapons which they send back over the border to Russia. Lithuanian gangs aren't much better than the Russians. They extort protection money from the locals, which they use to buy more guns, and threaten violence against fellow Lithuanians to keep them in line. Both sides secretly use drugs to addict entire communities and keep the money flowing. Occasionally they spend money on local roads, hospitals, schools, and charities when the national government can't to improve their public image and give them the community's support when the national government eventually does try to crack down. Local police departments are corrupt and controlled by the cartels. The national government is powerless to enforce order in the region, as the military has been hobbled since the coup attempt in the early 90s. There are rumors the military is also corrupt. The UN is debating whether or not the brutalities in southern Russia count as war crimes or even genocide and if peacekeepers should be deployed.
Cartels/gangs and their "specialties" differ based on the ethnic group they are built around. Russian cartels, which can be found all over Russia, are focused on drug dealing and human trafficking, particularly smuggling illegal immigrants over the border to the Reich. They have a substantial presence in the Reich as well, which they use to escape prosecution in Russia and earn money for their Russian accomplices at home. On the side, they produce counterfeit goods on an industrial scale using corrupt factories. The most powerful cartels use their massive wealth to buy influence in the economy and national government or produce blackmail material. It is believed the leaders of these cartels are among the wealthiest Russians, if not the wealthiest. Some even believe they are the true rulers of the country, not the Tsar or the Duma. Even members of the royal family have been arrested under suspicion of ties with the cartels.
Lithuanian gangs are based around local towns in southern Russia with Lithuanian populations and aren't as organized or widespread as the Russian ones. But they have significant public support (whether through drugs, community investment, or protection rackets) and are just as brutal if not more so than the Russians. Their main operations focus on traditional mafia activities like money laundering, arbitrating disputes between local criminals and gangs, gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, and fraud. They also do some drug trafficking. They are more skilled at bribing and controlling local law enforcement agencies and government than the Russian cartels. Many Lithuanian gangs have their own lawyers (who they pay to go to school and get a law degree) to get their leaders out of sticky situations. They rely more on blackmail than the Russian cartels. They have a substantial presence on the internet, which they use to disguise their transactions, run profitable scams, and defraud organizations and individuals.
Mongol cartels are based in the ethnic Mongol east near the Yavdian border and are more mobile than the Lithuanians and Russians. They are far more violent, but they are not indiscriminately violent. Mongol gangsters use violence or the threat of violence to make their targets do their bidding or to teach the public a lesson. Mongol cartels place significant importance on murder and how it is carried out. Honor killings and revenge murders are so common the Russians and Lithuanians do not have a presence in the east and fear killing any Mongol gangster, as even killing one low-level gangster could provoke all-out war. Mongol hit men are widely feared and respected, commanding high prices in the criminal underworld. Even national governments secretly employ their services to assassinate certain individuals. In contrast to the drug dealing Russians and money laundering Lithuanians, Mongol cartels are primarily arms dealers who get their weapons from abandoned Soviet stockpiles and sell them to the highest bidder. It is believed the Mongol cartels are secretly arming separatist and nationalist groups in North Eimerica and even the Russian and Lithuanian cartels. Lately, the Mongol cartels have also expanded their internet presence, but they focus mostly on spreading malware and waging cyberwarfare. Mongol cyberwarfare consists of sabotage and espionage conducted against rival cartels and the Russian government to both steal information and to impede their operations. Such attacks have become more common and bolder in recent years, with some cartel hackers launching attacks against the Russian electricity grid and internet providers to deny their services to rival cartels and frustrate law enforcement. There have also been numerous attempts to sabotage the stock market. Mongol viruses can be found on computers around the world. There are rumors some national governments secretly pay certain Mongol cartels to hack rival governments' databases or to spread disruptive viruses/malware to their rivals.
I prefer to focus on minor countries, with some exceptions. Right now I have the Japans, Ainu Mosir, the UPM, Persia, and East Africa on my list. I could add Livonia and Scandinavia. For certain regions, Polynesia sounds great. I might also do Nepal if I can find enough material to work with. I should mention all of these will come in the far future, probably after I finish this story arc and the next one and post the next chapter.
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Angela was connected to this Nick, Walter is discovering his own sins, and the need to speak with Tesla grows... Not sure who is more desperate to speak to him at this point.
Finally! I managed to reach this epic part of this mega campaign after somehow getting uninteristed when reading this glorious AAR. I still have yet to read all of the chapters so am just dropping in till I get caught up with the current plotline (Had to reread the previous parts too just to brush up on the story so far )
Now since there's gonna be a lot ofworld building going on here Is it okay if I ask a couple in regards to how several OTL works would look here?
Starting off, is Godzilla still considered a cultural icon here? What of the Gojiverse? (Specifically the Showa, Hesei, Millennium & the Monsterverse) Would they still enjoy the same awesome status as ours? And would Goji-San's creator here be Polish given Warsaw was one of the cities that were nuked?
Would The Big G still enjoy his dual status as both the analogy of the Atomic Bomb and as King of the Monsters? (Or is that second title reserved for ITTL's Gamera or Kong?)
Second, I know you probably have not seen the anime or read the manga, but how would Jojo's Bizarre Adventure develop here? Given the supernatural shenanigans that spanned from CK2 all the way to HOI, there's little reason not to see the Joestar bloodline battle the supernatural (Plus I just want to see if Cyborg Nazi badass extraordinaire Rudolf Von Stroheim scream ROMAN SCIENCE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!) Not only that but the multiverse theory could be thrown in too
Third, I noticed grand strategy games discussion here and so decided to have my own question, would the XCOM series still develop here alongside its remakes? If so would they still retain the hard difficulty that made the OG one so memorable but with political intrigue thrown in to make it more hard?
Fourth, would you consider An Age of Miracles to be part of this AAR's multiverse? (Really love how you incorporated some of em back in CK2 btw, I almost thought you were the creator of that timeline Basileus himself)
Aight rant over, I have to read this entire thread now given that two years of stuff here is a lot to read.
)Now since there's gonna be a lot ofworld building going on here Is it okay if I ask a couple in regards to how several OTL works would look here?
Starting off, is Godzilla still considered a cultural icon here? What of the Gojiverse? (Specifically the Showa, Hesei, Millennium & the Monsterverse) Would they still enjoy the same awesome status as ours? And would Goji-San's creator here be Polish given Warsaw was one of the cities that were nuked?
Would The Big G still enjoy his dual status as both the analogy of the Atomic Bomb and as King of the Monsters? (Or is that second title reserved for ITTL's Gamera or Kong?)
Second, I know you probably have not seen the anime or read the manga, but how would Jojo's Bizarre Adventure develop here? Given the supernatural shenanigans that spanned from CK2 all the way to HOI, there's little reason not to see the Joestar bloodline battle the supernatural (Plus I just want to see if Cyborg Nazi badass extraordinaire Rudolf Von Stroheim scream ROMAN SCIENCE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!) Not only that but the multiverse theory could be thrown in too
Third, I noticed grand strategy games discussion here and so decided to have my own question, would the XCOM series still develop here alongside its remakes? If so would they still retain the hard difficulty that made the OG one so memorable but with political intrigue thrown in to make it more hard?
Fourth, would you consider An Age of Miracles to be part of this AAR's multiverse? (Really love how you incorporated some of em back in CK2 btw, I almost thought you were the creator of that timeline Basileus himself
)Aight rant over, I have to read this entire thread now given that two years of stuff here is a lot to read.
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Godzilla is still a cultural icon. In some of the decade cultural updates, I mentioned the Godzilla films (Showa/Heisei/Millennium) as being part of a kaiju shared universe, with monsters introduced in their own films and then teaming up with or fighting Godzilla in Godzilla films. This would be one of the precursors to the cinematic universes of the 2000s. And Godzilla is Chinese now, explained as the Chinese being afraid of the nuclear bombs and the equalist threat after the end of the war.
Godzilla remains the nuclear bomb analogue, but also stands in for the World War III/IV, nuclear war, and nuclear power concern analogues, with later films also expanding into commentaries on climate change and the slow-moving bureaucracy of the Chinese government. The title of King of the Monsters is usually held by Godzilla, but after certain movies other monsters temporarily hold the title, among them Gamera and Kong. In one movie even Jet Jaguar temporarily gets the title (though that remains semi-canon).
The only things I know from that anime/manga is how it begins and the ORAORAORAMUDAMUDAMUDA/WORK OF AN ENEMY STAND! memes. Of course I'd love Jojo's Bizarre Adventure to still exist as an anime/manga. The Joestar bloodline would (still?) fight the supernatural. Also Rudolf von Stroheim is an Angeloi who screams ROMAN SCIENCE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD! in between shouting Angeloi propaganda.Second, I know you probably have not seen the anime or read the manga, but how would Jojo's Bizarre Adventure develop here? Given the supernatural shenanigans that spanned from CK2 all the way to HOI, there's little reason not to see the Joestar bloodline battle the supernatural (Plus I just want to see if Cyborg Nazi badass extraordinaire Rudolf Von Stroheim scream ROMAN SCIENCE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!) Not only that but the multiverse theory could be thrown in too
I should mention i have not played XCOM. But it would still exist. All games would ideally retain the same difficulty as the original and include some degree of political intrigue (about alien infiltration of monarchies and civilian governments) to make it more than an action strategy game.
Did it really take this long for someone to figure out my inspirations for those epic Aztec, Mongol, and Timurid fight scenes?Fourth, would you consider An Age of Miracles to be part of this AAR's multiverse? (Really love how you incorporated some of em back in CK2 btw, I almost thought you were the creator of that timeline Basileus himself
Age of Miracles is awesome, and I'm honored you thought I was Basileus himself, but I'm nowhere as dedicated to lore and worldbuilding as he is (but for the 2020s-40s I will certainly try, as those years will contain an extremely important story arc which will affect the gameplay itself). He's got over five hundred pages last I checked. I clocked out somewhere around the later years of Emperor Andreas and Ethiopian Joan of Arc and haven't been able to get back into it since. That being said, Age of Miracles is definitely part of the multiverse.
Immolation, Part 1
Strasburg field office - June 25, 2009, 9:00 AM
Kurtz paced around the situation room, Erich sitting at the head of the table. Louise passed out case reports to each agent.
“For those of you joining just us, what you're reading is the work of ZFT, a bio-terrorist organization responsible for at least a half a dozen bioweapon attacks in the last several months,” Kurtz said.
“Everything we know thus far can be found in the packets in front of you, including a copy of their manifesto, which elucidates their ideology and their methods: 'destruction by the advancement of technology'," Erich said, “Which in short, boils down to the following: provoking or preparing for a war.”
“War?” an agent said. “With whom?”
“That's the question, isn't it?” Kurtz said.” What we do know is that these bizarre acts are increasing in frequency and their targets are unpredictable and therefore hard to protect.”
“We've recently found evidence suggesting ZFT is funded by an unlikely source, a name I'm sure you've all heard of,” Anders said, “Wilhelm Tesla, CEO and Chairman of Tesla Dynamic.”
“Those of you assembled in this room now have a single, clear-cut goal, to provide evidence establishing a link between Wilhelm Tesla and the ZFT,” Erich said, “Special Agents Hansen, Humboldt, Frank, and Kirova will be assigning you to teams and coordinating the investigation. All efforts and information go through them. Now let's go to work.”
Frankfurt
Panicking, Susan ran out of an apartment building and onto the street, waving her arms around.
“Taxi!” she shouted at a cab.
She was nearly struck by a car as the taxi sped off. She noticed a bus stopping nearby and immediately ran over to it.
“Wait, hold the bus!” she shouted, getting on. “You go up Lange, right? Past General Hospital?”
“Yeah, six stops away,” the bus driver said, “Are you feeling okay?”
Susan handed him two marks. “Fine. Let's just go, please.”
The bus set off, and Susan sat down. She felt her forehead, finding her fever had only intensified since she left the building. She looked at the window next to her, which steamed up. She felt a searing pain in her stomach.
“Stop the bus,” she said, running to the front, “Stop the bus, please. I have to get off now.”
“Ma'am, will you please sit down?” the driver said. “I'm not allowed…"
“...please stop the bus,” Susan said, “I have to get off now. I don’t feel well.”
“Okay, okay,” the driver said, “Want me to call an ambulance?”
“Just open the door!” Susan said.
The driver opened the door, and she ran out onto the sidewalk.
“Please, please help,” she said to everybody around her, “Somebody! Oh, my god. I can't breathe. Oh, my god!”
Before she could say anything more, she noticed flames emerging from her arms and upper body before exploding. The ensuing fireball engulfed everything five feet around her.
Walter’s lab - 9:15 AM
Anna walked into the lab and found Walter reading the ZFT manifesto next to Gene.
“Find anything new and exciting in there, Walter?” Anna said.
Walter looked up. “Huh?”
“Well, you've read the manifesto a dozen times cover to cover,” Anna said, “Just wondering.”
“I need to show you something, Anna,” Walter said, taking out the old typewriter.
Olga walked in. “Morning.”
“Morning,” Anna said.
Olga noticed the typewriter. “What’s going on?”
“I don't know,” Anna said, watching Walter type, “Show and tell, apparently. What is this? I don't know what I'm looking at.”
Walter pointed at the offset t’s in the manifesto and the offset t’s on the page he just typed.
“This typewriter's Willy’s,” Walter said, “I remember the day he purchased it. It was raining.”
“You understand what you're saying, Walter?” Anna said. “Wilhelm Tesla doesn't just fund ZFT, he wrote their manifesto, and is actual responsible for everything that's been happening? He’s this mastermind Glocke?”
“Absolutely not,” Walter said, “Wilhelm Tesla was many things. Like the rest of his family, he was ambitious. He was egotistical. He was temperamental. But he wasn't a madman. Although the ideas in his manifesto are radical, he wouldn't do this, this, these horrendous things. He would never do it. There are references all throughout to the chapter of ethics. But there is no such chapter. It is missing. And I believe someone removed it to suit evil purposes. And I can prove it.”
“How?” Anna said.
“Get another copy of the book,” Walter said, “One with all pages.”
“There is no other copy,” Anna said, “This is the only one.”
Olga’s phone rang, and she answered it.
“Glocke wrote it here... in, in this lab,” Walter said, “The, the, it could still be here somewhere, the original manifesto.”
“And what if you're wrong?” Anna said.
“I'm not wrong,” Walter said, “And when I find it, you will see. It will absolve him, Anna.”
Olga put aside her phone. “Angela needs us on site in Frankfurt, Anna.”
Frankfurt - 11:30 AM
Angela, Anders, Diana, Olga, Anna, Walter, and Louise walked through the “crime scene,” stopping in front of Susan’s charred body.
“So this is what I've got so far,” Louise said, “Bus driver called 119, reported an agitated woman got off his bus. Moments later, she caught fire and exploded. Police combed the area. They couldn't find any evidence of an accelerant or an incendiary device.”
“If there's something strange in your neighborhood…” Anders said.
“...who you gotta call?” Diana said.
“Oh, please,” Olga said.
“So what do you make of this, Uncle Walter?” Angela said.
“Well, from what Agent Kazdan described, it's possible we're dealing with a case of spontaneous human combustion,” Walter said.
“Thought that was just a myth,” Anders said.
Everybody stared at Anders.
“That’s where you draw the line, Anders?” Angela said. “Aliens, ghosts, vampires, evil government conspiracies bent on world domination, ancient advanced human civilizations, but spontaneous human combustion doesn’t exist?”
“For the record, the vampires were psychological,” Anders said.
“My God, it’s like the Kernoff case,” Angela said.
“Myth is just an unverified fact,” Walter said.
“Maybe she was hit by a tiny meteor,” Diana said.
“Wouldn’t that obliterate the body?” Olga said.
“It's also possible,” Walter said, prodding Susan’s body, “Until I get this body back to the lab, I won't be able to say anything with absolute certainty.”
Angela looked down at the two bodies. “I’ll get the coroner to prep the bodies for transport.”
“Bodies?” Walter said. “Is there another somewhere?”
Angela blinked, now seeing only one body.
“Wait, what?” she said.
Strasburg field office - 11:45 AM
Erich picked up his desk phone.
“Hansen,” he said. “Yeah? … Send her in.”
Mina walked into the office and sat in front of Erich.
“Erich,” Mina said.
“Mina,” Erich said.
“Just because you’re my cousin-in-law’s uncle doesn’t mean I’m going to play coy,” Mina said, “I understand the Athanatoi opened an investigation into Tesla Dynamic. As you can imagine, we spend a lot of money on counter-intelligence. And any probe into our finances raises red flags. So... What are you fishing for? Industrial espionage? Treaty violations? Stuff you can send the UN Police after?”
“We have evidence indicating Wilhelm Tesla may be involved with several bioweapon attacks perpetrated this past year,” Erich said.
“But that's ridiculous,” Mina said, “And even if not, I wouldn’t know anything about them.”
“Perhaps,” Erich said, “But as long as you're here, if you have something to offer, now would be the time. I don’t want to get a subpoena.”
“Erich, I’m not my cousin,” Mina said, “Or her husband. And Wilhelm Tesla is not a terrorist.”
“I'd like to hear him tell me that himself,” Erich said.
“I'm afraid that's not possible,” Mina said, “He’s on a business trip. You're wasting your time. Wilhelm Tesla is not the enemy, and if you make him one, you’ll wish he wasn’t.”
"Is that a threat?" Erich said.
"A friendly warning," Mina said.
She got up and left.
Walter’s lab - 3:00 PM
Walter paced around Susan’s body.
“Matter is just energy waiting to happen,” he said, “The average adult at rest contains enough potential energy to explode with the force of five very large hydrogen bombs.”
“You know, theoretically, you're actually right?” Anna said.
“Ho ho ho ho!” Walter said. “My daughter finally agrees with me! Uh, Agent Kirova, take a note of that.”
“No,” Olga said.
“Unfortunately, we're just not very good at releasing it,” Anna said.
“No,” Walter said, “It needs a spark, of course, a trigger.”
“So what do you think would've released it in her?” Diana said.
“Some say a particle is to blame, the appropriately named ‘pyroton’,” Walter said, “Maybe we could finally prove it exists. We’ll win a Nobel! Anna! Fire up the electron microscope!”
“Uh, about that, I might've taken that apart,” Anna said.
“What on Earth for?” Walter said.
“I needed the parts for a project I'm working on,” Anna said.
“As I said, potential for destruction in each of us is infinite!” Walter angrily snapped.
Strasburg field office
Angela walked into Kurtz’s office. She noticed it had been redecorated recently. The desk had been moved off to the side, and some of the plants had been moved or replaced. The portrait of Merkel hanging on the wall was gone, replaced by a clock. Kurtz sat at his desk, wearing military fatigues.
“Yes, Agent, I understand,” Kurtz said, “Get it done.”
He hung up and turned to Angela.
“I had you pegged as a creature of habit,” Angela said, “You changed your office.”
“What?” Kurtz said.
“Your desk,” Angela said, “You moved it. Also, nice uniform. Uh, we know from the driver what stop she got on. He's worked up an artist sketch rendering. So we'll canvass the area, see if we can ID her.”
“What about the other victim?” Kurtz said. “Did the bus driver see her get on too?”
“What other victim?” Angela said.
Kurtz showed her a photo with a second victim. “You were at the crime scene, right?”
“Uh, I’ll be right back,” Angela said, “I need to check something again.”
She backed out of the room and immediately bumped into Kurtz, who wore a suit. Angela stared at him.
“Weren’t you just inside?” she said.
“I was getting coffee,” Kurtz said.
Angela looked behind her. The office was back to normal. It had never been redecorated.
“Anyways, where are we on this?” Kurtz said.
“Uh, the bus driver remembered what stop she, uh... what stop she got on,” Angela said, “He gave us an artist sketch rendering. We're going to show it around and see if we can ID her.”
Norbert barged into the hallway and crossed his arms, trying to look intimidating.
“What the hell is going on here?” he demanded.
“Norbert,” Kurtz spat, rolling his eyes.
“Why is the entire thirteenth floor trying to link Wilhelm Tesla to bioterrorism?” Norbert said.
“We have evidence Tesla might be implicated,” Kurtz said.
“Yeah, I know what you have,” Norbert said, “You have testimony from the ex-wife of a rookie agent who is dead, and you made a flimsy connection with evidence obtained from an attempted mass-murderer, and by the way the way you obtained that evidence—”
“The testimony and evidence confirm what we've been suspecting,” Angela said, “Tesla Dynamic may be involved in the events we've been witnessing.”
“Wilhelm Tesla and Tesla Dynamic are the Bureau of Defense’s largest contractors,” Norbert said, “These waters are much too deep for a fishing expedition.”
“Are you seriously suggesting we just ignore—” Angela said.
“I’m telling you to drop this, considering that you have nothing more than an unsubstantiated report from a non-authoritative source and a connection from a hostile one, clear?” Norbert said, storming out.
“Are we really going to…” Angela said.
“…no,” Kurtz said, “Get more evidence.”
Walter’s lab - 3:30 PM
Walter cut off Susan’s jaw.
“Just four centimeters, ugh,” he said, handing it to a tray Olga was carrying.
“You know, Walter, working with you, it's amazing the sort of things you get used to,” Olga said, “Even by my standards.”
“You're not the first person to tell me that,” Walter said.
“Wow,” Olga said, handing the jaw to Diana, “Looks like somebody could've flossed more.”
“Okay,” Diana said, scanning it through a modified printer, “Let's just hope she has her dental records on file.”
“File,” Walter said, “Of course. My filing system. Perhaps that's where I hid the manifesto!”
“You mean like how you squirrel things away in random deposit boxes around the country?” Diana said. “I would hardly call that a 'filing system’."
“I was prone to hide things because I was afraid that someone would unlock all my secrets,” Walter said, “I didn't realize that the someone would be me. Where's my Geiger counter? I left it right here.”
“What, you think a radiation detector's gonna help you find the manifesto?” Olga said.
“No,” Walter said, “But I find the rhythmic ticking it emits helps me think.”
“Walter, Anna actually cannibalized that for her project too,” Diana said.
“Oh, no, this has got to stop,” Walter said, “Lab rule number one, do not borrow Walter's equipment without asking!”
The computer beeped.
“Walter, we found a match,” Olga said, “A Susan Patzer.”
Susan’s apartment, Frankfurt - 5:30 PM
Angela, Anders, and Louise walked into the apartment and looked around.
“Susan Patzer,” Louise said, “She's 29 years old. Single. Worked for the Frankfurt Highway Department as a tollbooth operator.”
“That's a lonely line of work,” Anders said.
“Doesn't look like she had much of a social life either,” Louise said, pointing at the table, “She's definitely a table for one. You think there's something wrong with her?”
Angela looked at books on the shelf. “What do you mean?”
“You know, good-looking woman in the prime of her life,” Louise said, “No evidence of a boyfriend or any friends for that matter. Just doesn't exactly strike me as being normal.”
“Says the woman who built her entire life around the Athanatoi,” Anders said.
“I’m married, you know,” Louise said.
“I guess that depends on what your definition of normal is,” Angela said.
Anders opened a drawer.
“Hey, I found something,” he said, “She has a 30,000 mark check from an Isaac Winter.”
Louise stepped into the bathroom. “I found something too.”
They walked into the bathroom, which had been completely scorched black.
“What the hell happened to her?” Angela said.
Walter’s lab - June 26, 2009, 9:00 AM
Anna walked into the lab and put down her bag of groceries.
“Walter, I'm back,” she said.
“Did you get it?” Walter said.
“No, I told you they don't have it,” Anna said.
“Has to be Frankenberry, that's what I ate back then, if I'm to remember where I hid the manuscript, it's simple sense memory, Anna,” Walter said.
“But they don't have it,” Anna said, handing him a box of cereal, “For all we know, they don't even make it anymore. I did, however, get you this. All the artificial sugary sweetness a growing scientist needs.”
Angela and Anders entered the lab.
“Hello, Angie!” Walter said. “And my son.”
“Uh, hi, Walter,” Anders said.
“So we went to the victim's apartment and there appears to be evidence of other fires,” Angela said.
“So the bus stop wasn't her first incident,” Anna said.
“No,” Angela said, “Walter, does that mean something to you?”
“It changes everything,” Walter said, “We can rule out spontaneous human combustion. For one, I mean, that's strictly a one-off event as you can imagine.”
“Thank you,” Anders said.
“So what does it rule in?” Anna said.
“Pyrokinesis,” Walter said.
“Stop,” Anna said, “There's no time for jokes, Walter.”
“Pyrokinesis?” Angela said.
“It's not even a real word,” Anders said, “It was made up by Steven Koenig. You ever see Firestarter with Drew Barrymore? Little girl who can start fires with her mind?”
“He coined the term, but the phenomenon existed long before that,” Walter said, “It's not that complicated, really. It's merely a form of telekinesis. The ability to move objects with the mind.”
“Merely?” Anna said.
“Like Annie,” Anders said.
“Come again?” Anna said. “What’s my sister doing?”
“It’s a long story,” Anders said.
“However, with pyrokinetics, they can excite objects at a molecular level,” Walter said, shaking the cereal box, “Well, well, look, think—think of—of—of each of these grains as a molecule. Uh, as the molecules start to vibrate more quickly, they generate heat. Energy. Until that energy must be released!”
He dramatically tossed the cereal on the floor.
“Agh,” Angela said, “It's a fascinating demonstration, Uncle Walter. But it still doesn't explain why Susan Patzer blew up.”
“I suspect this was a newfound ability,” Walter said, “Well, it—it—it takes training to generate a heat source outside of the body. Without proper control, the energy is turned inward. You see? She had no other options.”
“So you think that she had a choice to either blow somebody else up or herself,” Anders said.
“Yes,” Walter said, “But this poor woman had yet to master her ability. Which made her a powder keg. Emotional stress, agitation, any high anxiety would set her off.”
“So where does this ability come from?” Angela said. “Was she just born different or did someone do something to her?”
“That is the real question now, isn't it?” Walter said.
Anna pointed at the mess of cereal on the floor and walked away. “I'm not cleaning that up, by the way.”
Angela answered her phone. “Hansen.”
“We got a hit from that check,” Louise said, “Uh, it was cut from a law firm. Signed by Isaac Winter. He has an office in Sundheim.”
Sundheim, Strasburg - 11:00 AM
Louise, Anders, and Angela crept up to the front door. It was locked. Angela looked through the window and saw nobody inside. Anders took out a lock pick and forced the door open.
“Why am I not surprised you brought one of those?” Louise said.
“Because you know me too well,” Anders said.
“If we get caught, I don't know you at all,” Louise said.
They looked around the abandoned office.
“Looks like somebody left in a hurry,” Louise said.
Angela pressed a button on the desk phone.
“You have four new messages,” the answering machine said.
“Herr Winter, this is Susan,” Susan said, “You told me to call you if anything odd happened. Well, it did, after I took the tests. Please call me back.”
“I'm gonna call NET, have them dust for prints,” Anders said.
“Herr Winter, it's Susan again,” Susan said, “You told me, you told me not to talk to anybody, but I'm scared. What's happening to me?”
Angela walked onto a balcony to get some fresh air. Instead, she only got smoke. She looked around and saw the entire city was on fire. Ambulances raced down the streets below.
“Attention all citizens,” a loudspeaker blared, “Evacuate the area now. Proceed to the nearest evacuation route. Emergency shelters are not safe, repeat, not safe. This is not a drill.”
Angela blinked, and the ambulances and flames vanished. Anders tapped her on the shoulder, and she yelped.
“Angie, you okay?” he said.
Hmm... maybe Angela is seeing into an alternate reality? Best guess I've got for now at least. Also, I kind of like how Walter is so determined to prove Tesla's innocence. A shade of their old friendship lives on.
Immolation, Part 2
Walter’s lab - 11:30 AM
Walter examined Angela’s eye with a flashlight.
“You sure you haven't had any LSD?” Walter said. “Mescaline? Magic mushrooms?”
“It wasn't a drug trip, Walter,” Angela said.
“Well, visual hallucinations could be caused by a number of things,” Walter said, “Could you look straight ahead, please? Sleep deprivation, a concussion, brain tumor.”
“I had a brain tumor twenty years ago,” Angela said, “I’m pretty sure it can’t come back.”
“You must have had everything twenty years ago,” Anna said.
“I feel like I'm losing my mind,” Angela said, “Again.”
“Oh, I don't think so,” Walter said, “If you were actually going insane, you'd likely have no idea what's happening. Take it from me. When did these episodes start? How did they feel?”
“First with Susan Patzer’s body,” Angela said, “Then it was in Kurtz's office. The other at Isaac Winter’s office. The same people, the same places, but bleak. The, uh, the city was on fire.”
“Fascinating,” Walter said, “There's another possibility, but it's a bit complicated. Déjà vu.”
“This isn’t déjà vu, Walter,” Anders said, “Not even close.”
“Typical protracted déjà vu,” Walter said, “Prolonged. You're familiar with the, the pliability of space-time, yes?”
“Of course,” Anna said, “Who isn’t?”
Walter rolled out a chalkboard. “One minute will explain. Most of us experience life as a, a linear progression just like this.”
He drew a horizontal line.
“But this is an illusion because every day, life presents us with an array of choices,” Walter said, “As a result, life should look more like this.”
He drew diagonal branches off the first line.
“And each choice... leads to a new path,” Walter said, “To go to work. To stay home. And each choice we take creates a new reality. Do, do you understand?”
“Yeah, but what does it have to do with déjà vu?” Angela said.
“Déjà vu is, is, is simply a, a momentary glimpse of the other side,” Walter said, “Almost everyone experiences it. We feel that we've been somewhere before because actually we have in another reality. It's another path. The road not taken.”
“Uncle Walter, why me?” Angela said. “Why am I seeing these visions?”
“I don't know,” Walter said.
“Walter, what about the Cortexiphan trials?” Anders said. “You said it worked on perception.”
“Yes,” Walter said.
“If it's true, and I was part of the trials when I was a kid, is it possible it's causing these visions?” Angela said.
“I don't know,” Walter said, “But what I do know is that you are a committed investigator. You're a perceptive agent. If you are having these visions, whatever they are, there must be a reason. Trust me.”
Olga walked over to them.
“Hey, I think I found something,” she said, handing Angela a photo of a charred body, “It's another victim who died the same way Susan Patzer did. I checked it out and the guy who runs the web site lives in downtown.”
Downtown Strasburg - 1:00 PM
Manuel answered the door buzzer but didn’t open the door. “Yes?”
“We’re agents Hansen and Humboldt with the Athanatoi,” Angela said, “We need to speak to Manuel Grautone.”
“Your credentials?” Manuel said.
Angela held her badge up to the peep hole. Manuel opened the door and let them inside.
“Herr Grautone, you operate a web site called ‘Galaxy Truths’ where you claim to uncover conspiracies perpetrated by foreign governments,” Anders said.
“I don't claim,” Manuel said, “I accomplish. Unlike you two. You're just pawns being used by the government to spread their propaganda.”
“Excuse me?” Anders said, insulted. “Do you know who I am? I’m Anders Humboldt!”
“I don’t know who you are, Angeloi stooge,” Manuel said.
Anders looked at Angela, enraged.
“Look, I can appreciate your opinion, sir, I just wanted to ask you a few…” Angela said.
“No, no, look,” Anders said, “You’re right. My cousin here does things by the book, but I don’t. I might be Athanatoi, but I’m first and foremost a citizen in search of the truth. And if you’re a true conspiracy theorist, like my friends at the Lone Gunmen, you’d know who I am!”
“No, I really don’t,” Manuel said, "Who are the Lone Gunmen?"
Anders handed him the photo. “We downloaded this off of your web site. It claims this person was a victim of spontaneous human combustion. Now tell us, where did this happen?”
“Yangon, three weeks ago,” Manuel said, “The victim was a Roman graduate student on holiday. The Burmese police say he was attacked and set on fire. That's not the truth.”
“Why do you say that?” Angela said.
“Are you familiar with Wilhelm Tesla?” Manuel said.
“Of course,” Angela said.
“Well, he killed that guy,” Manuel said.
“What do you mean?” Angela said.
“Since its establishment almost a hundred years ago, Tesla Dynamic has been a cover for all manner of unethical behavior,” Manuel said, “Multinational, outside the purview of the control of any single government. He inherited it from his father and used it to continue his experiments with impunity. Among them, secret drug trials. This was one of his test subjects.”
“Then why would Wilhelm Tesla have him killed?” Angela said.
“Well, he didn’t,” Manuel said, “At least not intentionally. You see, Tesla is trying to activate his subjects to see which ones were successful. Some can handle the process. Others can’t."
“What process?” Angela said.
“To create super soldiers,” Manuel said.
“Sentinel?” Anders said.
“What’s Sentinel?” Manuel said. “No, they’re to defend us in a coming war.”
“What war?” Angela said.
Tesla Dynamic headquarters, Frankfurt
Mina sat at her desk, talking on her phone.
“Okay, yes, you were right,” she said, “But do you see that? I'm a big enough girl to admit when I'm wrong. … Oh, but I think we can prepare for that possibility. It shouldn't be a problem.”
Her call-waiting alerted her to another call.
“Uh, Chancellor Ma, I’m very sorry, would you mind holding for a moment?” she said. “Thanks.”
She switched to her other call. “Hello. … When? … Well, no. Don't do that. Don't do anything until I get there.”
She switched back to the chancellor’s call. “Ma’am, I'm so sorry. Something has just come up. If you'll excuse me. … Yes. You too.”
She hung up and dialed another number. “Get the helicopter ready, now.”
X-Division office, Strasburg field office - 2:00 PM
Angela paced around her desk, staring at the files in her hand. Anders, Diana, and Anna sat in front of the desk, also as stumped as she was. Finally, Angela tossed down her files and sighed.
“What if we're overlooking something?” she said. “What if Manuel was right?”
“He’s not even a real conspiracy theorist, Angie,” Anders said, “He knows nothing about me or my efforts to expose Sentinel, let alone what Sentinel is.”
“No, forget that,” Angela said, “But what he said made sense, right?”
“Wilhelm Tesla did conduct trials with experimental drugs, including Cortexiphan,” Diana said.
“Do you have anything stronger for my coffee?” Anna said.
“Yeah, bottom drawer, cabinet behind you,” Diana said.
“And here I was halfway kidding,” Anna said, “Angie, what do you mean?”
“What your dad said about me having these visions for a reason,” Angela said, “Maybe there's a clue I'm meant to find.”
“Meaning what?” Anna said.
“We have one victim,” Angela said, “Susan Patzer. But in my visions, in addition to Susan Patzer there’s another body.”
“Who are they?” Anna said.
“We don’t know,” Angela said, “Unidentified for now. But if I could get back there…”
“You could ID the other body,” Anders said.
“Maybe what's happening there could help us understand what's happening here,” Angela said.
“Happening where?” Norbert said.
Everybody turned to the door, seeing Norbert standing there.
“Nowhere,” Angela said.
Norbert handed Angela and Diana two slips of paper. “Your new assignments, ladies.”
He left.
“Always a pleasure seeing you, sir,” Anders said, sarcastically.
“Yeah, it’s a real pleasure,” Anna added, raising her coffee mug.
Angela read her paper and then looked at Diana.
“Did you get the same thing?” she said.
“Uh, yeah,” Diana said.
They stormed down the hallway after Norbert.
“Director Julius!” Angela shouted. “Stop right there!”
Norbert turned around, annoyed. “Damnit, what is it?”
“You want us to submit for psych exams?” Diana said.
“That's right, I'm concerned for you,” Norbert said.
“Why?” Angela said.
“I've read your briefs,” Norbert said, “And I'd say both your analyses borders on the paranoid. Besides which, your behaviors are noted as erratic and driven by emotion and not just by me.”
“Oh that is not what this is about!” Diana said. “My colleagues need to trust me. They need to depend on me. Not wonder in the back of their minds whether or not I'm losing mine. The same goes for Angie here!”
“Look, this job is intense,” Norbert said, “I can arrange for a transfer somewhere less stressful.”
“This has got nothing to do with my ability to do my job, or Di’s ability to do hers,” Angela said, “This is about something else. This is about us and you.”
“This is exactly what I'm talking about because right now, you are acting emotionally,” Norbert said, “Both of you.”
“What, because I’m a woman I’m hysterical when I speak out?!” Angela said.
“Yes, you're right, I am,” Diana said, lowering her voice, “Does that remind you of my mom? You know, I've tried to move past our history. So what if you were a bully as a kid? That war ended decades ago. I've tried to reason with you in the interest of a working relationship, to let bygones be bygones. But you seem to get off on this, on getting revenge against me and everybody my mother supported because you took her job. So fine. I don't give a frak anymore. Angie doesn’t either. But I am not going to let you undermine my ability to do our jobs.”
“You can color this any way you like,” Norbert said, “But like it or not, your mother is dead, and I am the Director. That evaluation is a direct order.”
While Diana continued arguing with Norbert, Angela stormed off down the hallway, crumpling up her letter as she reached the situation room. The phone rang, and she looked down at it. It was now red instead of blue. Instead of the agents sitting at their computer, they were now running around handing files to each other. Louise stood in the middle of the chaos, burn scars on her right cheek.
“We need to get their statements,” she said on a phone, “Calm the public down. You put a shoot to kill order out on the perps. Yes, I know they’re dead. You understand me? Don't get close to the affected areas. Several hours in burn recovery therapy sucks.”
Angela walked over to her. “Louise?”
“Hey, Hansen,” Louise said, “You changed your hair color. What’s up?”
“Uh, I was wondering where we were on the Susan Patzer case,” Angela said.
“Nowhere,” Louise said, “Same place we were yesterday.”
“I'd like to look again,” Angela said.
“Frak, most of Strasburg is uninhabitable, and the rest is in quarantined lockdown and beginning evacuation procedures, and you're worried about a pair of charred twins?” Louise said.
“Uh, sort of,” Angela said.
Louise handed her a photo of Susan Patzer’s body with the other corpse.
“Knock yourself out,” Louise said, “Annie and I have the situation under control. If you could call it that.”
Angela walked back down the hallway just as the phone rang. She looked at the phone, which was now blue again. Her hands were empty. She bumped into Louise, whose cheek was now unscarred.
“Sorry, Angela,” she said, “Didn’t see you.”
“Louise, I got an idea,” Angela said.
“What?” Louise said.
“Run through Susan’s bio again,” Angela said, “Search for a twin sister.”
“We already ran Susan's bio, and we didn't find a sister,” Louise said.
She nevertheless motioned to one of the technicians, who began typing.
“She’s not Leza, but I’m pretty sure you don’t need her to tell you what we already know,” Louise said, “We ran through the bios, found no siblings. Parents died years ago.”
“I know,” Angela said.
“Hey, I found something,” the technician said, “You’re right. Her name’s Sarah Wolff, Susan Patzer’s twin sister. Ran away as a teenager, changed her identity.”
“She must've been running pretty hard,” Angela said, “Where does she live?”
“Conveniently, right here,” the technician said, “934 Weirstrasse.”
934 Weirstrasse
Sarah answered a knock at her apartment door. Opening it, she saw a tall man in a black suit standing outside.
“Hi,” she said, “Can I help you?”
“My name is Isaac Winter,” the man said.
3:00 PM
Angela, Anders, and Diana arrived at the apartment and knocked.
“Sarah Wolff?” Angela said. “Athanatoi, we just want to ask a few questions.”
Anders tried the door, and it opened.
“Unlocked,” he said.
They drew their guns and stepped inside, finding the room in disarray, as if there had been a struggle recently.
“Sarah?” Angela said.
Diana walked over to the kitchen. “Coffee’s still hot.”
Angela took out his phone. “Uh, this is Hansen. I need immediate forensic dispatch to 934 Weirstrasse. Apartment 210.”
“Hey, take a look at this,” Diana said, pointing at the window, “The glass has been melted.”
“She’s starting fires like her sister,” Anders said.
“So what do we do?” Angela said.
“Call Olga,” Anders said, taking out his phone, “I’m calling Anna.”
3:30 PM
Anna walked into the apartment, carrying a glass cutter.
“Got it,” she said.
“Good,” Anders said.
“Please don’t touch that window,” one of the agents said, “We haven't pulled prints yet.”
“You won’t have to,” Anna said.
“I think the protocols and the processing of evidence are pretty clear,” the agent said.
“Let me guess, you're new around here,” Anders said.
Diana walked over. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything's fine,” Anna said, “Just tell Herr Protocol to let me do my job, please.”
Diana turned to the agent. “She’s with me, it’s fine.”
Angela walked over to them. “Are you, uh, ever gonna tell me what it is you’re actually doing?”
Anna cut a foot-wide circle of glass from the window.
“You’ll see,” she said.
Walter and Olga arrived at the crime scene, lugging equipment behind them.
“I sure hope this is important,” Walter said, “I was just about to take my bath.”
“Hey,” Anna said, pointing to the equipment, “You have any problem taking it apart?”
“Walter tried to take back the electron microscope,” Olga said, “But I barely convinced him you needed it. So what's going on?”
“Sarah Wolff was kidnapped,” Angela said.
“And we're figuring out who did it,” Anders said.
Anna took the equipment and assembled it, while Walter looked at a photo on the wall.
“I've seen this woman before,” he said, “But why does she look so familiar?”
“Maybe because you dissected her sister yesterday, remember?” Anna said. “Blond girl, 5'- 7". Really well done. Melted fillings.”
“Oh, right,” Walter said.
“Olga, can you plug that in to the DVI input?” Anna said.
Olga plugged in an electrical lead.
“Okay,” Anna said, “Here's the deal. Walter, the project that I've been working on was for you.”
“For me?” Walter said.
“Anders had been pestering me for the last few weeks about archaeoacoustics,” Anna said, “Specifically the idea that sounds could be inscribed into clay pots or something.”
“I successfully inscribed the entirety of ‘I am the Walrus’ onto a clay pot I made after a really strange case a while back about another pot reanimating the dead,” Anders said, “They claimed it had a recording of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Well, it wasn't. So I was going to do Bee Movie next, but I couldn’t find any DVDs.”
Angela and Diana stared at him.
“What?” Anders said. “I had a lot of free time in the last eight years.”
“Anyways, I wanted to help you digitize your old water-damaged vinyl records, so I developed this device to reconstruct audio,” Anna said, “I know how much they mean to you, and Anders gave me an idea.”
“Thank you, daughter,” Walter said, “You know, when she was five, she, she built me a popsicle napkin holder. Dreadful design. Utterly useless.”
“Thank you,” Anna said, rolling her eyes.
“But this, this is…” Walter said.
“You're welcome,” Anna said, “Anyway, the basic principles at work here are very simple. You all know how a record player works, right?”
“Yeah,” Diana said, “A needle goes over the grooves of the vinyl and the vibrations it picks up are amplified into sound.”
“Exactly,” Anders said, “So the principle is the same. Except for instead of a needle, Anna uses the electron microscope to take a high resolution, digital image of the grooves on the surface of the record. That image is then transferred into the computer, which translates it back into audio we can hear.”
“Both of you sound just like him,” Olga said.
“I get that a lot,” Anders said.
“I'm guessing we can do the same thing with this,” Anna said.
“So you're saying that you can play back the glass,” Angela said.
“Yeah,” Anna said.
“Walter says that these pyrotechnic abilities only occur during times of emotional stress,” Anders said, “I think when our twin was kidnapped, the heat that she generated caused that window to liquefy slightly. Which means that any sound in this room at that time would've left microscopic impressions in the molten glass.”
“Like the grooves on a record,” Olga said.
“Exactly right,” Anna said, “Now if you'll please scan the glass.”
Olga put the glass under the microscope.
“Alright,” Anna said, “So it's transferring into the sound processor now. Let's see what we got.”
A loud and sharp screech pierced the room, and the glass shattered.
“That could've been one of my records,” Walter said.
“It's okay,” Anna said, “It's okay. I already have a digital scan of the glass in here. Let's try that again, shall we? Just slow it down.”
She typed on the computer to adjust the settings.
“I don't understand,” she said, “It should be working.”
Angela reached down and switched two wires.
“Your inputs were in the wrong place,” she said.
The sounds became easier to understand.
“Now attenuate for ambient noise,” Walter said.
Anna turned a knob, and they heard Sarah’s voice, accompanied by crashes and thumps.
“Get out of here,” Sarah said, “Stay away. What do you want?! Please!”
“Poor dear,” Walter said.
“Anna, can you play it back from when he starts to talk?” Diana said.
“Yeah, one sec,” Anna said, rewinding.
“Okay, just there,” Diana said, taking out her phone, “Where he's dialing. Okay, can you make that clearer?”
“Sure,” Anna said, adjusting a dial, “Let me just isolate the sound.”
“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Anders said.
“Mina gave me a prototype Tesla Dynamic phone,” Diana said, “It can dial a number just from the tones.”
“You’re kidding me,” Angela said, “That makes no sense.”
“I didn’t believe it myself, but Mina showed me, and it seems to work,” Diana said, “Now replay those tones and let's see who he’s talking to.”
Anna replayed the tones, and Diana’s phone blind-dialed. There was a beep.
“You’ve reached the office of the Director of the Athanatoi,” Norbert’s answering machine said.
“Goddamnit!” everybody cursed.
Strasburg field office - 4:00 PM
Norbert walked out of the situation room and past Louise’s desk.
“Hey Kazdan,” he said, “I'm headed out for a few hours. If anybody needs me, call my cell.”
“Sure,” Louise said, forcing a smile.
Norbert exited, and Louise dropped the smile. She picked up her phone.
“He’s leaving,” she said, “Whatever you’re doing, do it now.”
Outside, Angela and Anders sat in one of Olga’s cars.
“We got him,” Angela said, “He’s headed west.”
“Happy hunting,” Louise said, hanging up.
Angela’s walkie-talkie buzzed.
“I’m right behind you,” Diana said, revving her motorcycle engines.
Angela started the engine and followed Norbert down the street and briefly on an autobahn to a suspicious-looking warehouse in the industrial district. Angela parked a block away, with Diana parking down the street on the other side of the warehouse. They approached the warehouse and watched as Norbert opened a door with a remote control. After the door closed, they walked up to it.
“He’s got a remote,” Diana said.
“That never stopped us,” Anders said, picking the lock with his tools.
Angela forced the unlocked door open, and they entered the warehouse, guns drawn.
“Where are we?” Norbert’s voice echoed.
“No thermal activity yet,” Isaac replied, “Body temperature's normal. We'll know more soon.”
“Well, Jansen’s losing patience,” Norbert said, “We need her active. Get it done.”
Angela, Anders, and Diana split up down separate hallways. Angela found a room with pictures of victims on the wall. She noticed her own picture was among them. Two guards burst into the room and drew their weapons, but she shot them first.
“Frak, shots fired!” Angela radioed.
“Don’t worry, I’m coming over!” Diana said. “Find her!”
She ran further into the warehouse. Rounding a corner, she heard a gun clicking behind her, followed by a gunshot. Diana appeared in front of her, her gun smoking. Angela turned around and saw Isaac falling over, shot in the chest.
“Anders, we need backup here, and we need it now!” Angela radioed.
She heard gunshots firing on Anders’ side.
“A little busy right now!” Anders replied.
They looked at a door to an isolation room and saw Sarah sitting inside, visibly scared. Angela ran inside and unlocked her handcuffs.
“Got her,” Diana radioed, “Back northwest corner.”
“I’m Angela,” Angela said to Sarah, “I’m with the Athanatoi.”
“Help me,” Sarah said, “Please.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Angela said.
Diana turned around just to see Norbert hit her with a fire extinguisher, knocking her out. Norbert then pushed her into the room and slammed the door.
“No, frak, no!” Angela shouted, firing into the window.
The window, though, was bulletproof.
“Norbert Julius, open the frakking door!” Angela shouted. “She needs help!”
“I can’t breath,” Sarah said, hyperventilating.
Norbert grinned evilly and turned on the intercom.
“Well, look at that,” he said, “Good work, Agents. You activated her before we could.”
“Damn it, Norbert, open the door!” Angela shouted. “You frakking monster, she needs help!”
“Not if she can control it,” Norbert said, “And if not, she'll explode and kill the three of you. So one problem solves another. Anne Frank might be dead, but at least I can get payback through the deaths of her daughter and protege.”
“I’m burning up!” Sarah shouted.
“You're going to be okay,” Angela said, “Just calm down. Just calm down.”
Norbert picked up his phone. “Yeah, it's me. I need to speak to Jansen. … It worked. She's hot. We have an active. But she's a loss. She's highly unstable.”
“Why is this happening to me?” Sarah said. “I don't understand.”
“They did something to you, maybe to both of us a long time ago when we were just kids,” Angela said, “And right now you're feeling the effects from that. But you can control this, okay? You can control this and I'm going to help you. I just need you to focus the heat away from us.”
Diana started stirring.
“I can’t,” Sarah said.
“Yes, you can,” Angela said, “Just focus. Focus on anything. Just focus. You can do this, Sarah.”
“I can’t,” Sarah said.
“You can,” Angela said.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it,” Norbert said, “There won’t even be a trace.”
Sarah stared at Norbert, who shuddered uncontrollably.
“What the…” he said.
He dropped his phone when he realized his arm was on fire. Then his entire body burst into flames and exploded. Angela got up from the ground and looked outside, seeing Norbert had been reduced to ashes. Anders burst into the room, his gun still drawn.
“Scheiße, what did I miss?” he said.
Alsatian Bar - 9:00 PM
Angela sat at a table with Anna and Walter. Anders and Diana had gone home early, and Olga was busy chatting with Jessica at the counter, both chugging down as many shots as they could. Walter ate a cheesecake, while Anna had barely touched her beer bottle. Anna suddenly got up and walked away.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she said, “I’ll be back.”
As soon as she was out of earshot, Angela leaned closer to Walter.
“What the frak did you do to me?” Angela said. “And the rest of us?”
“Who?” Walter said, completely oblivious.
Angela opened a portfolio containing the pictures from the warehouse.
“You and Wilhelm Tesla, Uncle Walter,” Angela said, “What did you do to me? Susan Patzer and Sarah Wolff are from Nantes. Just like Nick Larsen, the guy that you conducted drug trials on when he was a kid. The drug trials you conducted on me, your own niece.”
“They were Willy’s,” Walter said, “They were his trials.”
“You knew,” Angela said, “Uncle Walter, you were there and you knew.”
“We were trying to help,” Walter said, “We meant no harm.”
“No harm?” Angela said. “You were drugging children. Young children, Uncle Walter. Your own family even. Why did you do it?”
“We were preparing you,” Walter said, “To make you capable. Something terrible is coming.”
“What?” Angela said.
“I don't know,” Walter said.
“Uncle Walter, what did you do to us?” Angela said.
“I don't know,” Walter said.
Angela pounded the table. “Damnit, Uncle Walter, you do!”
“No, I don’t,” Walter said, “I don't. I, I can't remember. I'm sorry.”
Frustrated, Angela got up and stormed out of the bar. Anna returned to the table seconds later to find Walter almost in tears.
“Hey,” she said, “Hey. Walter. What just happened?”
Erich’s apartment - 9:30 PM
Erich opened the door and found Mina waiting outside.
“What is it?” he asked.
Mina handed him photos of Wilhelm.
“These were all taken in the last twenty-four hours,” she said.
“The only other time they appeared this frequently…” Erich said. “The Joey Weinstein case eleven years ago.”
“We need to talk,” Mina said.
Walter’s lab - 10:00 PM
While one of his old phonograph recordings played, Walter rummaged through his storage cabinets again, finally locating a document in an old file box. He smiled as he took out the original copy of the ZFT manifesto. He heard the door opening and closing.
“Olga, I found it,” he said without looking, “The original manifesto with the extra pages. Listen to this. '...Our children are our greatest resource. We must nurture them and protect them. We must prepare them so they can one day protect us.' You see, I was…”
He looked up and saw Wilhelm standing in front of him.
“Evening, Walter Humboldt,” Wilhelm said.
“Oh, hello,” Walter said, casually.
“We need to go now,” Wilhelm said.
Walter’s expression became humble. “Is it time? I’ll get my coat.”
Mina’s condominium, Frankfurt - 11:00 PM
Mina approached the locked doors to an elegant condominium building. The doorman opened the door for her.
“Evening,” she said.
She entered the elevator and took it up to her floor. As she exited the elevator, she saw two men in masks standing outside. One drew a gun and shot her in the chest.
First things first, it must be said: Anders' anger over Manuel having no idea who he is was perfect.
As for the meat of the update, I won't miss Norbert. Quite excited to see Walter and Wilhelm interacting.
As for the meat of the update, I won't miss Norbert. Quite excited to see Walter and Wilhelm interacting.
Anders is pissed he had to spend eight years in the wilderness just for this. He's been broken by the suffering the Syndicate/Sentinel caused because of his actions. Now not even conspiracy theorists know who he is or what he's done. It drives home the point they've lost their way and the public is no closer to getting the truth, if they even want it. He knows it's either that or he's growing old and getting out of touch. He's not only been forgotten. The new X-Division is actively covering up all of their new unexplained cases. He's perpetrating a conspiracy of his own, and he's willingly going along with it. That's too much for him. Basically, the Syndicate/Sentinel has won. Anders is no better than them.
Norbert got what he deserved. Figured it was appropriate for Anne's bully and an ex-Angeloi to be burned alive.
There might also be a subgenre of Steampunk that is perhaps directly based on Classical Roman/Greek aesthetic perhaps considering that the library of Alexandria did host designs from the inventor Heron of Alexandria for early steam powered devices, as well as Steampunk sub genres for both Roman Renaissances (12th century and the one following the proclamation of the Augustinian Code from 1444-1600s.) and the Byzantines building on the Classical Roman/Byzantine influences mainstream Steampunk would already have. Maybe there would be a "Mesopunk" for Mesoeimerican civilizations somewhere too. I do wonder about other "Punk" genres like the ones shown in this picture could go here?
I'm curios as to how Epic Poetry would be studied here and how it have developed in the Reich's history? Considering that the Eastern Pronvinces like Greece and the Middle East remained well versed and educated in classical epic poetry like Hommer's works longer than the Western Pronvinces, that might result in several Epic Poems like Dante's Inferno (or really the whole Divine Comedy since Catholicism was swept away by the Orthodox Church) and Paradise Lost being quite different from OTL. I guess Beowolf would still be studied by Anglo-Saxons in Britannia, but I don't think it would catch on too well in the rest of the Reich safe for some subtle influences in Roman fantasy fiction like Lord of the Rings. In place of Beowolf, I think the Epic of Gilgamesh and other Ancient literature would become more well known in the rest of the Reich instead, due to the Reich roots to antiquity because of its connections to the previous Roman Empire (this might actually result in more Classical Middle Eastern and Greek Inspired Fantasy worlds in contemporary times to balance out the High Middleval Fantasy we have in OTL). Maybe the Pagan Resurgence and the 12th century would also have an effect of Epic Poetry, with Scandinavians, Slavs, Persians, Lithuanians, Ethiopians and Malians writing Epic Stories from old oral traditions and mythology like how the Iliad was written from a collection of oral stories being put to print by Hommer. Maybe India and the Reich during the 12th century Wilhelmina renaissance would each have written an Epic Poetry work glorifying Roman and Indian culture during Saint Wilhelmina and Jayasimha I “Rama's” reign respectively. Chinese Epics like the Five Great Classical Novels might also be considered Epic Poetry as well.
Considering you made mentions of the Colonials genre several times through the AAR here, I'm wondering what sort of characteristics would the Roman Colonial Frontier In Africa have that could be romanticized in Colonials (both traditional Colonials like the usually John Wayne movie, and Spaghetti Colonials like Clint Eastwood/Ostholz or Sergio Leone' movies) compared to OTL's Wild West? I know that you actually coverd some of this in the 1940s cultural update, but I was wondering how we could expand on that since I'm pretty sure that things we consider Wild Western in OTL (Coybows/Gunslingers, "Indians", Mexican standoffs etc.) would go pretty differently in Africa.
As cultural icons, what are Pirates like in this timeline? I know Pop culture when it thinks of pirates in OTL usually just thinks of the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the Caribbean and ignores other periods of priracy like Arab Piracy during the Middle Ages, but I was thinking that perhaps the Roman cultural preception of piracy wouldn't be as uniform as OTL. Maybe we could see various sub genres of pirate fiction like I earlier suggested for Steampunk, with mainstream Pirate stories based on piracy in the Indies and Oceania during the Early Moden Period (1500s-1700s) and several other stories ranging from priates on the colonial frontiers in Indian Africa and Abyssinian Somalia, to stories about the Pirate King Krilos (who could be both the Blackbeard equivlent and, since Wilhelmina pardoned him and made him an adrmial after being captured, the Hayrreddin Barbarossa anlouge) during the reign of Saint Wilhelmina for his expliots like stealing the Greek Fire formula and battling the Imperial Navy in the Black Sea. Maybe there could’ve been Mexica piracy during the Thriteenth Century near Britain and Norway to that Pop culture could see, or even, piracy... in the Caribbean.
How is democracy seen in the Reich at this point since I imagine the stigma it had with the Maximists is probably forgotten at this point with the more recent Angeloi and Equalists? I guess they would be some Romans that believe Meritocracy is a lot better, stronger, and more representative than democracy, which they see as very open to power hungry demagogues, as seen with Wang Jingwei. Others would probally be okay with democracy as an important part of open societies just like Meritocracy. While there would probably be some people that belive that the Reich could use democracy like the NDP platform (I know it is a rightwing party, but I remember it being founded on advocations for democratic elections unlike other parties that abided by Mertiocratic principles) says considering Roman meritocracy already uses some democratic elements like separation of powers and popular sovereignty. I guess some Resistance movements deep inside Angeloi influnce and Rasa territories like the White Rose could still exist, but like with the OTL German Resistance, they probably would have trouble being small with the very complacent population in Angeloi aligned territories.
How would the Resistance vary during WW2 aside from Octavia's Resistance in Vienna? I imagine it would varry quite a bit depending on the battlefield or front of the war. We obviously have the Vienna Resistance under Osterhild/Octavia as the most notable one, but there would probally be also other resistance cells in places Occupied by the Angeloi like in Hispaina (from the Basques specifically), the Middle East, and several anti Axis paritisans In Turkestan and East Africa.
I know you've said before that you haven't read Lord of the Rings or any thing from Tolkien, but I was wondering if we could theoretically have a bio post for Toliken based off his experinces in TTL through WW1 and WW2? Especially since its been awhile since we had a biography post and a few writers like Sussus and Orwell/Blair have had Bios here already.
@spendabuck actually in the previous Victory 2 that his Aunt, Grace, actually claimed descent to the IRL Hohenzollerns and you said in response that Tolkein and his Aunt were probably cadet members of the Hohenzollern-Sigmarien branch as shown here.
I actually have a couple topics in mind for a later post about Tolkien and Roman fantasy later, but these questions are what I will post here for now. There’s a little more thing I will add through.
Maybe you could add The Philippines/Qiandao and Korea to the roster as well, through Korea probably is similar to OTL’s South Korea today come to think of it. Also does that mean you won’t do that Indian Cultural post since you did saw awhile ago that you could do an Indian Government and culture post like you did with China and the Reich in the previous lineup? Just trying to clear things up and avoid confusion.
I haven’t read Age I’d Reason, but since it’s been mentioned lately, what would it be like in TTL?
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Steampunk: Imperial Century-era aesthetic. Usually written in the style of late 19th-century "lost world" and pulp adventure novels, with such additions as mechas, functioning Charles Babbage-style steam powered computers, and powered armor. Later works such as the Leviathan trilogy focus on World War I, with a few (like the sequel trilogy) set in World War II. A subgenre uses a classical Hellenistic aesthetic, reinterpreting Homeric epics, Greek myths, and the history of classical antiquity with modern technology.
Raypunk: Pulp sci-fi aesthetic. Inspired by newsreel serials like Flash Gordon. Partially popular out of a reaction to the bleakness and massive chaos of World War I. Designs are sleek and simplistic, and heroes are usually perfect. Antagonists like Ming the Merciless frequently carry racial undertones reflective of post-WWI tensions.
Dieselpunk: An evolution of World War II steampunk into its own genre. Inspirations from film noir and war epics. Focus on interwar era and wartime, with big cities as main settings. Characters are generally flawed and haunted by their pasts. The Resistance features heavily in wartime works. Antagonists are usually Angeloi or Rasas. A subgenre focuses on the occult and related Rasa organizations.
Atompunk: An extension of raypunk to Cold War dynamics. A greater focus on the Soviet-Roman relationship and on space exploration. Some works focus on the far future and focus on sentient robots and nuclear power.
Casette futurism: A branch of atompunk but with 1980s technology. Emphasis on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and social consequences of rapid technological innovations. Later ones feature dystopias brought on by technology causing greater social inequality.
Cyberpunk: The evolution of cassette futurism, with a greater focus on the dystopian aspects. Exemplified in films like Blade Runner. The protagonist-antagonist dynamics are now represented by the lone hacker against the megacorporation controlling all of society, representing individuality versus conformity.
Biopunk: Cyberpunk, but with biotechnology instead of traditional STEM fields. Usually focuses on genetic engineering creating greater social inequality. Sometimes it cross over with steampunk/dieselpunk to create a unique period piece, like the Leviathan trilogy.
Mesopunk: A relatively recent genre which focuses on Mayan, Nahuatl, and Tawantinsuyuan aesthetics. Takes elements from steampunk and dieselpunk as well as high fantasy. Protagonists tend to live in a chaotic world dominated by violent human factions (gangs and religious radicals) or bloodthirsty gods (the Mexica pantheon). Their journey consists of repudiating this order (or lack of one) and leading the people to a new life, reminiscent of the Mexica origin legend.
A lot of Renaissance literature could be written in the epic poetry style, though there would be many changes from the Homeric epics because they're no longer just transcriptions of actual oral tales. The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost might be written as epic poetry, with Shakespeare reforming (and parodying) the genre in his plays. Beowulf would remain a niche epic poem (because it already is one in real life) until the Imperial Century, when Scandinavians and Romans both claim it as their national heritage. The Epic of Gilgamesh and other ancient literature would gain popularity during this time as archaeologists rediscover more of the ancient world, but the focus of most epic poetry would remain on Islamic sources and Greco-Roman ones the Islamic rulers preserved. There would be a rich Islamic tradition of using Arabic to write epic poetry. In modern times, many of these epics would inspire fantasy worlds with Middle Eastern and Hellenistic aesthetics. The other Indo-European pagan traditions would make use of Greek style epic poetry to write down their religious texts, like the Norse and the Finns did. And some nobility would write their own epics glorifying themselves during the 12th century renaissance. The Five Great Classical Novels will remain novels, because they're not really written in the Greek epic style, though there could be a greater focus on their calligraphy and the use of classical Chinese.
Most of the Colonial genre would be set on the African frontier in the late 19th and early 20th century. Protagonists are usually war veterans (Eimerican/Commonwealth wars in earlier settings and WWI in later ones) who either lost their family or couldn't make the adjustment back to civilian life (as veterans were treated poorly at the time). Some protagonists are Maximist War veterans, with a few as Maximists themselves who left Europe to avoid prosecution. Many went to Africa to start over and build a new home. Native African tribes aren't presented as the savages plains Native Americans were traditionally depicted as but more like the "noble savages" eastern Native Americans (Iroquois, Cherokee, etc.) were depicted as in early American literature. These natives aren't always antagonists but may help the protagonist, both spiritually and militarily, when their interests align. They are almost always depicted as the equals of Europeans, with their own flaws and strengths. The main antagonists are generally other colonials who either have a grievance with the protagonist or are criminal outlaws. Many colonial works are really different kinds of works (heist, revenge, romance) which happen to be set in the colonial era. Colonial works set in the late 1900s (usually produced in the late 20th century and early 21st) talk more about the advances of technology (more railroads, machine guns, phones, cars) and the increasing irrelevance of the cowboy.
Pirate fiction would be incredibly diverse, with multiple categories focusing on each kind of piracy. The most popular categories would be South Seas, Arab, and Viking piracy. The South Seas pirates are mostly in the vein of traditional swashbuckling pirates who raid coastal Southeast Asian settlements for loot. Characters are drawn from many different places, with many of them Chinese or women (or both, in the case of The Pirate Queen), making them appealing to many different markets (especially China). Pirates are usually sympathetic, depicted as being forced to the high seas due to persecution, bad economic times, or abusive parents. They are also seen as a rebellion against the unequal and unfair social order on land, represented by corrupt colonial garrisons and haughty noble governors. Arab pirates, drawing on accounts of Muslims forced to the high seas after the conquest of the Middle East, are usually represented as handsome and dashing rogues who fight a lost cause to retake the Middle East from the Romans or, failing that, to plunder their settlements. Both the pirates and the Romans are given equal sympathy, but both are ultimately represented as wrong and misguided, with the pirates not having to resort to violence and the Romans not supposed to be in their homes to begin with. Viking piracy is basically the same as in real life, only with a greater focus on the lives of the Vikings outside of raiding and plundering. They are depicted as the antagonists, despite the focus being on them, with audiences torn between rooting for them and hoping they don't attack another monastery. Some Viking pirate movies incorporate historical figures like William the Conqueror and Harald Hardrada and mythological individuals like Ragnar Lodbrok. A few are almost entirely peaceful and show the Vikings colonizing Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Some pirate movies revolve around Greek pirates like Kyrilos, a pirate who fought against Saint Wilhelmina before working for her as a privateer. Kyrilos is among the most popular pirate figures for his daring resistance to Saint Wilhelmina and his stealing of the Greek fire formula.As cultural icons, what are Pirates like in this timeline? I know Pop culture when it thinks of pirates in OTL usually just thinks of the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the Caribbean and ignores other periods of priracy like Arab Piracy during the Middle Ages, but I was thinking that perhaps the Roman cultural preception of piracy wouldn't be as uniform as OTL. Maybe we could see various sub genres of pirate fiction like I earlier suggested for Steampunk, with mainstream Pirate stories based on piracy in the Indies and Oceania during the Early Moden Period (1500s-1700s) and several other stories ranging from priates on the colonial frontiers in Indian Africa and Abyssinian Somalia, to stories about the Pirate King Krilos (who could be both the Blackbeard equivlent and, since Wilhelmina pardoned him and made him an adrmial after being captured, the Hayrreddin Barbarossa anlouge) during the reign of Saint Wilhelmina for his expliots like stealing the Greek Fire formula and battling the Imperial Navy in the Black Sea. Maybe there could’ve been Mexica piracy during the Thriteenth Century near Britain and Norway to that Pop culture could see, or even, piracy... in the Caribbean.
Romans have long since moved past lumping democracy in with Maximism and see Maximist leaders as having abused democracy for their personal gains. They recognize democracy as a legitimate political system equally important to an open and free society as meritocracy is. Both systems have their strengths and weaknesses but work best in certain cultural contexts (meritocracy for the Reich and democracy for China). Romans also consider democracy susceptible to being subverted by demagogues and outside interests, although they know a healthy democracy can develop countermeasures against them. Meanwhile, they believe meritocracy is inherently immune to demagogues and outside interests due to the nature of the system and multiple countermeasures in the Augustinian Code. Both Romans and Chinese acknowledge and accept their systems incorporate elements of the other and see it as a good thing. Separation of powers and popular sovereignty are both already part of the Roman system, actually, to a certain degree. The judiciary, legislature, executive, and bureaucracy all operate independently with checks and balances placed on each other. The Kaiser places the ultimate check and balance on all of them (but there is not yet a way to legally keep the power of the Kaiser in check except through established customs and tradition). The modern meritocratic system essentially ensures popular sovereignty, as examiners are randomly and secretly selected from the Roman population to give their best opinion on who is most qualified to lead.
The Resistance wasn't a single unified organization. It was made up of its cells, which differed greatly in organization and activities depending on their location. Octavia's Vienna Resistance and Anne's Frankfurt Resistance were both militant cells which aimed to sabotage Angeloi production. Other cells focused on espionage, assassination, riling up the locals, or smuggling Muslims and other minorities to the Loyalist-controlled territories. Anti-Axis partisans can also be found in East Africa, Central Asia, and North Eimerica. In East Africa, they are mostly made up of former Imperial Indian Army divisions which refused to demobilize and went rogue after Purandaradasa's death. They are extremely organized and launched conventional military campaigns against the Ethiopian occupation, with the Loyalists in Africa providing supplies and intelligence. In Central Asia, they formed small bands on horseback which attacked Indian military bases to sabotage the occupation and concentration camps to free prisoners. Afghan raiders were especially revered as being dedicated to their missions and never cracking under Indian torture. In North Eimerica, partisans were funded by the Soviets and allied equalists to sabotage the CSA's government and military and spread terror and confusion among the public. Their tactics were incredibly violent, leading to even more violent reprisals from the CSA government. The UN would eventually charge both sides with crimes against humanity, but the partisans escaped justice when they were purged by Witko's regime.
I might do a bio for Tolkien. As with the other bios on the list, they likely won't be posted for a while, as I really want to focus on finishing the next story arc, which should wrap up Anders and Angela's stories. But I'll try to remember having his Hohenzollern connection explored.
I'll see what I can do. I might still do an Indian government post but probably not a cultural one, because India is too culturally diverse and I probably won't do it justice.
I have no idea, because there's way too much lore for me to get a general idea of what happened.
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