Look to the West Volume VII: The Eye Against the Prism

[xsampa]

It allied with France to get more Spanish territory.

Implied to do so During the black twenties probably because France annexed spain

 

[xsampa]

Also the Mauré could declare themselves pro-Russian (never mind the last war) and attack Perousie

 

[1SaBy]

What happened to the Russian puppeted Basque country? Wouldn't that be as big a thorn in France's side as Russian puppeted Belgium?

During the Popular Wars, Navarre traded French-speaking territory for French assistance in conquering the remainder of Basque-speaking territory from Spain during the chaos of the Second Spanish Reconquista, and drifted into French orbit.

 

[xsampa]

Maybe interior Africa, or Russian expansion into it, could serve as a distraction for Bouclier colonies. I wonder which side the Matetwa will prefer.

 

[HistLover]

During the Popular Wars, Navarre traded French-speaking territory for French assistance in conquering the remainder of Basque-speaking territory from Spain during the chaos of the Second Spanish Reconquista, and drifted into French orbit.

Does it go societist?

 

[1SaBy]

Does it go societist?

It exists in the present day. So... who knows.

 

[Kriegdämmerung]

Does it go societist?

There's a throwaway line about the Pyrenees being the "edge of civilization" again in the 20th century, suggesting all of Iberia is in the Combine for at least part of that time. Given the decline of Spanish culture hinted at in the Grey Era, and that only old men are trying to save it, would make sense that Societism might be embraced, especially following any War of Russian Aggression.

I'm wondering now about the Plague side of the Black Twenties. My understanding is that Siam is annexed at some point by the Combine; the French may have managed to bribe some elements of that government, but the wrong person dies, and suddenly their world system against Russia starts looking a lot less stable...

And finally, given how these updates on Monday (my time) have kept me relatively sane during endless quarantines, will be sad when this Volume closes (next week?). A brilliant final update, and can't wait for Volume VIII!

 

[xsampa]

There's a throwaway line about the Pyrenees being the "edge of civilization" again in the 20th century, suggesting all of Iberia is in the Combine for at least part of that time. Given the decline of Spanish culture hinted at in the Grey Era, and that only old men are trying to save it, would make sense that Societism might be embraced, especially following any War of Russian Aggression.

I'm wondering now about the Plague side of the Black Twenties. My understanding is that Siam is annexed at some point by the Combine; the French may have managed to bribe some elements of that government, but the wrong person dies, and suddenly their world system against Russia starts looking a lot less stable...

And finally, given how these updates on Monday (my time) have kept me relatively sane during endless quarantines, will be sad when this Volume closes (next week?). A brilliant final update, and can't wait for Volume VIII!

I also expect the Maure to side with Russia to screw over France, and the Matetwa do to likewise

 

[xsampa]

There's a throwaway line about the Pyrenees being the "edge of civilization" again in the 20th century, suggesting all of Iberia is in the Combine for at least part of that time. Given the decline of Spanish culture hinted at in the Grey Era, and that only old men are trying to save it, would make sense that Societism might be embraced, especially following any War of Russian Aggression.

I'm wondering now about the Plague side of the Black Twenties. My understanding is that Siam is annexed at some point by the Combine; the French may have managed to bribe some elements of that government, but the wrong person dies, and suddenly their world system against Russia starts looking a lot less stable...

And finally, given how these updates on Monday (my time) have kept me relatively sane during endless quarantines, will be sad when this Volume closes (next week?). A brilliant final update, and can't wait for Volume VIII!

Isn’t there the reference to Siamese containing Malay culture in “The Spice of Death” and Sumatra occupied by Siam?

 

[xsampa]

There's a throwaway line about the Pyrenees being the "edge of civilization" again in the 20th century, suggesting all of Iberia is in the Combine for at least part of that time. Given the decline of Spanish culture hinted at in the Grey Era, and that only old men are trying to save it, would make sense that Societism might be embraced, especially following any War of Russian Aggression.

I'm wondering now about the Plague side of the Black Twenties. My understanding is that Siam is annexed at some point by the Combine; the French may have managed to bribe some elements of that government, but the wrong person dies, and suddenly their world system against Russia starts looking a lot less stable...

And finally, given how these updates on Monday (my time) have kept me relatively sane during endless quarantines, will be sad when this Volume closes (next week?). A brilliant final update, and can't wait for Volume VIII!

It also helps that Societist culture is initially similar to Spanish culture and “big brother over the ocean”

 

[HistLover]

There's a throwaway line about the Pyrenees being the "edge of civilization" again in the 20th century, suggesting all of Iberia is in the Combine for at least part of that time. Given the decline of Spanish culture hinted at in the Grey Era, and that only old men are trying to save it, would make sense that Societism might be embraced, especially following any War of Russian Aggression.

I'm wondering now about the Plague side of the Black Twenties. My understanding is that Siam is annexed at some point by the Combine; the French may have managed to bribe some elements of that government, but the wrong person dies, and suddenly their world system against Russia starts looking a lot less stable...

And finally, given how these updates on Monday (my time) have kept me relatively sane during endless quarantines, will be sad when this Volume closes (next week?). A brilliant final update, and can't wait for Volume VIII!

I guess I thought navarrave being an exception
And what Grey Era?

 

[Kriegdämmerung]

Isn’t there the reference to Siamese containing Malay culture in “The Spice of Death” and Sumatra occupied by Siam?

Yes, both of these are there. I seemed to remember a very early reference, in Volume I or II about how Siam has had to reconstruct their founding history, which I took to mean a very Diversitarian attempt to revive it after being a Liberated Zone. I may be wrong in this though.

EDIT: Also, the damage inflicted after the *Boxing Day Tsunami on the Global Reconstruction Zone seems to suggest it would be about where the Siamese Empire is now.

 

[xsampa]

Yes, both of these are there. I seemed to remember a very early reference, in Volume I or II about how Siam has had to reconstruct their founding history, which I took to mean a very Diversitarian attempt to revive it after being a Liberated Zone. I may be wrong in this though.

EDIT: Also, the damage inflicted after the *Boxing Day Tsunami on the Global Reconstruction Zone seems to suggest it would be about where the Siamese Empire is now.

There isn’t a single Reconstruction Zone though so it may be regions attacked by the Combind in the LWOS

 

[PNWKing]

Is Yunnan province another name for Wuhan province...…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….like a 19th century OTL name for it.

 

[xsampa]

Is Yunnan province another name for Wuhan province...…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….like a 19th century OTL name for it.

No.

 

[Alex Richards]

Is Yunnan province another name for Wuhan province...…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….like a 19th century OTL name for it.

No, Wuhan is a city in Hubei province comprised of the merger of the three old cities of Wuhang, Hankou and Hanyang, Yunnan is a large, diverse province on the southern border of OTL China.

 

[Googolbyte]

It's too bad that Japan goes Societist. I just read about Japanese tradition called Omiyage that seems very Diversitarian. It's a system of gift/souvenir giving which emphasizes each prefectures local specialties as to promote regional diversity in an otherwise fairly homogenous country.

 

[LostInNewDelhi]

Pandemic central is probably going to be India, not China. Hospitals can't be too easy to run in the Aryan Void.

It's too bad that Japan goes Societist. I just read about Japanese tradition called Omiyage that seems very Diversitarian. It's a system of gift/souvenir giving which emphasizes each prefectures local specialties as to promote regional diversity in an otherwise fairly homogenous country.

Japanese diversity probably wouldn't be celebrated anyways. Tokugawa Japan was its own little world, filled with domains that maintained their own dialects, coinage, weights and measures, and so on-- and that's what let Russia conquer it. "Diversity is weakness" isn't really a hard sell.

 

[Thande]

Interlude #23: White Noise

Transcript of Thande Institute progress meeting of TimeLine L Analysis Team Gamma with Director Stephen Rogers
Time: 10:00 hours
Date: 30/11/2019
Location: Thande Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom, TimeLine A (a.k.a. Our TimeLine or OTL)


CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER G. NUTTALL (CGN): Phew, that was a long week.

CAPTAIN BEN MACCAULEY (BM): Feels like a lot longer. And you and me weren’t even the ones doing the work.

CGN: Too right. How are you holding up, Charlie?

ENSIGN CHARLTON CUSSANS (CC): I think I can’t feel my eyes anymore.

BM (not listening): Good, good.

(Sound of door opening and closing)

CGN: Director Rogers. Glad you could join us, sir.

DIRECTOR STEPHEN ROGERS (SR): Ugh...yes, my apologies for moving the meeting back. You know how it is when you’re called up before a Parliamentary select committee at short notice to explain where all the money is going...well you don’t.

LIEUTENANT THOMAS BLACK (TB): Oddly enough, sir, we do—because we intercepted a number of transmissions suggested the ESB in TimeLine L were having similar problems with some of their own people appearing before select committees.

SR: Really? Hah, maybe we’re not so different after all.

DR DAVID WOSTYN (DW) (mutters): He should go there and see if he still says that.

SR: Pardon, Doctor?

DW (hastily): Nothing, sir.

SR: Well, anyway. On the train I read the summary Dr Lombardi put together summarising your findings so far from the, uh, Motext intercepts?

DR BRUNO LOMBARDI (BL): Uh, yes sir?

SR (reluctantly): That was good work, Doctor. That’s brought everyone up to speed on events in TimeLine L between the uh...Pandora War and the Red Twenties.

BL (audibly straining not to correct him): Uh, thank you sir.

SR: And I think I’ve managed to stop us being thrown to the wolves at the Treasury for another month or so. That should tide us over, assuming no other country pulls out of its budgetary pledges (pointedly) again.

DW: Sir, if that is a reference to the President of France’s recent actions—

SR: I’m sorry, Doctor, my emotions were running high—

DW: —I entirely agree. Il est un—

CGN (coughs): So, anyway, sir, Dr Lombardi’s summary shows that we now have less than a century of TimeLine L’s history to work through.

SR (sarcastically): Only a century. I’m sure you’ll be finished in no time. (Sighs) Funding or no, I’m going to have to go to the Security Council to inform them of the potential threat, as I previously discussed with you. But I need to be able to describe the current situation in TimeLine L! Can’t we just skip to—

DW: Sir, we’ve gone through this before. Imagine trying to explain the modern state of Europe to someone without going through the World Wars and the Cold War first.

DR THEODOROS PYLOS (TP): He’s right. You could make someone grasp the fundamentals, but then they’d make wrong assumptions about who’s willing to work with whom and the likelihood of war between X and Y. Things that would be unthinkable to someone who knows the background.

SR (pause): All right, dammit, you’re right. But let’s try to speed this up, at least. When can you have the next Motext summary ready? Covering the Red—no, Black Twenties?

CGN (slightly caught offguard): Uh—of course, sir. Ensign Cussans?

CC: Yes?

(Pause)

CGN: ...When can we have the next Motext dump ready? Covering the Black Twenties period so Dr Lombardi can have a crack at it?

CC (slowly): What? You want another Motext dump? You want me to get pages covering a later period?

CGN: ...Yeeees, Ensign.

CC: Oh! I see now!

CGN (with barely suppressed impatience): So, when can you have that ready?

CC: Uh...well...there’s a problem there.

(Pause)

SR: A problem?

CC (gulps): Uh, yes, sir. All the transmissions we’re getting through the micro-Portal have turned to white noise.

BM: Wait, what? When?

CC: Last night, sir, I don’t think I told you yet.

TB: Wait, all of them? The television as well as the ESB radio, you mean?

CC: Yes, both. All white noise. Just static.

SR (concerned): You don’t think they had another nuclear war and wiped out London, do you?

DW (sighs): Look, sir, I’ve tried to explain, it wasn’t quite like that—

SR: Well, what is it then?

CC: I’m not sure...

SERGEANT ROBERT MUMBY (RM): I think I might know, sir. Some of the ESB transmissions we intercepted talked about message security. There was a lot of codes...they might just be jamming radio transmissions at their base at Snowdrop House, temporarily. Switching to wired ones, perhaps.

CGN: That does make sense. Might be to do with the Global Games being on this year.

SR: All right. How long are they going to do that for? When can you tap into their, uh, Motext data again?

CGN: We have no way of knowing, sir. Or whether it’s just jamming at that one base or all of them. Not without—

SR (sighs): Without going there again. Well, all right. But not back to England. That’s too risky, you’ll be in their databases by now.

BM: Agreed, sir. Assuming you want personnel from our teams...

SR: Yes, yes, you’ve got the experience. (Thinks) We need to set up a Portal somewhere else. Somewhere you can go through to a different country on the other side. Start afresh.

CGN: That makes sense, sir—but you’d need the other country’s permission.

SR: I’m already working on that. Dr Lombardi’s report said something about censorship in England making it hard to get information on some areas and time periods.

BL (surprised): Uh, yes, sir. Principally Ensign Cussans found it hard to get any information on inter-war Carolina, which is very important—

SR: So be it. I already had an idea along these lines before you mentioned the jamming. I was already putting out feelers to some members of the Security Council.

CGN: Sir?

SR: I’ve spoken to both the President and to Governor McMichael, and they’ve agreed to support this. DARPA will be lending us some equipment.

BM: Governor Steve McMichael? You mean—

SR: Pack your bags, gentlemen. You’re going to Charleston.

THE END OF

LOOK TO THE WEST VOLUME VII:

THE EYE AGAINST THE PRISM



TO BE CONTINUED

IN

LOOK TO THE WEST VOLUME VIII:
THE BEAR AND THE BASILISK​

 

[Thande]

Well, that is it for Volume VII of LTTW. This one went quicker than I had expected, and I was also able to come up with more ideas than I thought, considering I started this one on the spur of the moment because I didn't want to miss the tradition of updating LTTW on my birthday. As always, the intelligent comments and discussion helped spur me to new ideas.

Thirteen years after starting this timeline, I am finally less than 100 years away from bringing it up to the present day. What does the future hold? Find out in Volume VIII when it arrives...which won't be for a while. I'm going to focus on other writing projects and preparing Volume V for publication. Incidentally, for the few people who haven't heard, Volumes I-IV are available for purchase through Sea Lion Press here, as eBooks for all four and as paperbacks for the first two (the other two are coming, but understandably it's a low priority right now due to the coronavirus outbreak). In addition, the maps can be viewed at a better scale on my mapmaker Alex Richards' Deviantart here: https://www.deviantart.com/imperatordeelysium/gallery/72429574/look-to-the-west

Speaking of maps, I leave you with a map of the situation in 1922 here to tide you over for the next volume. Thanks to everyone who read and commented here, and to everyone who's bought the published volumes or read them through Kindle Unlimited.

Thande