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Old 09-09-2018, 08:13 AM   #3631
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Interesting theory, but like I said, I couldn't find anything that gives the trade in Japanese slaves as much importance as you're giving it. Do you have some sources that go into that?.
I don't think it was a *major* issue - slavery in Asia never reached the importance it had in the Atlantic because anywhere a colonial power took over in Asia already had a large native peasant population accustomed enough to Eurasian diseases not to die on you too fast. But there certainly was some - a fair amount of effectively sex trafficking.

I think it gets brought up in this context mostly because Hideyoshi used it as a justification in his not overly successful 1587 ban on Christian proselytization. Though the fact that Sebastian of Portugal had already ordered it stopped in 1571 because he feared it was interfering with the promotion of Christianity does provide some supporting evidence that both central governments thought it was a real issue, even if neither could do a lot about it.
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Old 09-09-2018, 12:41 PM   #3632
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I think it gets brought up in this context mostly because Hideyoshi used it as a justification in his not overly successful 1587 ban on Christian proselytization. Though the fact that Sebastian of Portugal had already ordered it stopped in 1571 because he feared it was interfering with the promotion of Christianity does provide some supporting evidence that both central governments thought it was a real issue, even if neither could do a lot about it.
Indeed. It was one of the beefs that the Japanese had with foreign visitors, but the main one seemed to be their proselytising and subsequent destruction of Buddhist and Shinto temples in Christianised areas. And it actually seemed that the Jesuits had a problem too with selling Japanese nationals into slavery in that it made it harder for them to convert other Japanese to such a faith. (Slavery in Medieval Japan by Thomas Nelson is an interesting read about this.)
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Old 09-10-2018, 12:01 AM   #3633
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A gold-rich, gravely asteroid sweeps by Earth in 1486. The spectacular lightshow pelts much of Eurasia with gold flakes and gold-rich ores, along with a few more spectacular metals (such as osmium, iridium, and platinum).

This is seen as a sign of divine intervention. Homeline astrophysicists point out that little else makes sense, considering that the massive asteroid somehow managed to not only leave Earth unharmed but also scattered a heavy rainfall of low-speed debris.

Gold value drops precipitously. The star-metals are seen as the true wealth of kings, and common terrestrial gold is gauche and gaudy anyway.

The heaviest starfalls were over the snow-covered steppes to the east (some chunks were large enough to make small craters there, in fact).

The effect of all this is to delay westward exploration and weaken it when it comes.
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Old 09-10-2018, 06:23 AM   #3634
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Try this...

The major sorrow of Sancia of Majorca's life was that she was a queen instead of a nun. Her husband Robert the Wise of Naples was matched with Sancia for political reasons and wanted a child of the union as a key to regaining Neopolitan control of Sicily.

In this Q5 world, Robert gave up on having a child by Sancia and told the Pope that if Sancia wanted to leave him for a convent he would make no objection, Sancia got her divorce. Robert then married a well connected French princess, not a daughter of the King, but of a Prince of the Blood. Robert and his new Princess had three healthy sons each of whom had more sons.

Between the French alliance and the military talents of these sons, Naples regains control of Sicily, although Robert's Angevins are required to be respectful of their Sicilian subjects.

Now, as long as the Papacy needs the Angevins as a counterweight to the Kings of France and as the Papacy's cat"s paw in Italy, a strong Naples is no problem for the Avignon Popes. However, when the Popes return to Italy, the Angevins of Naples are a direct threat to Papal power and independence. This leads to conspiracy to bring the threat down.

This is basically a Swashers setting with a slightly altered Italy. This alteration simply keeps the game from bogging down in historical detail. There is a very defined setting, but since a big change happened, no one can be an expert on this Italy.

Alternately unify Italy while Machiavelli is alive. Machiavelli was a passionate champion of republican government. machiavelli assumed a Price would be needed to unify Italy, but after that Machiavelli would have no use for a principality of Italy. Thus in this world, Machiavelli is the great chief of the conspiracy to remake Italy as a republic.
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Old 09-12-2018, 05:50 PM   #3635
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Here's a rare twist, provide the people of Java with something to write on that lasts well and allows them to preserve books and writing in their climate. Let them have this in the third century AD. Java was always held back by a lack of books and records and limits on education that came from these problems.

Java, a fertile island near the liveliest trade routes on the planet, is well placed to be a major empire. But until the Dutch conquered the island and brought paper, they lacked a vital ingredient in building up Java's strength.

In this Q6 world, Java had a type of paper centuries before the Chinese invented it on Homeline. The Local Year is 1520 AD, the Javan Imperium, which rules most of what we'd call Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philipines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The Javan Imperium is as technologically advanced as China or Japan in this period. Contact has been made with the Imperium by the Portuguese.

On the whole, the Javanese aren't too impressed with these Western Barbarians. Then they find out they're hostile to Islam, and they live to the WEST of the Islamic powers.

In most parallels, Java converts to Islam, but not this imperial Java. This Java is proudly Hindu/Buddhist and determined to stay that way. They are at war with Islam over India. The Javanese Imperium thinks these Europeans might be useful Cat's paws to launch flanking attacks against Islam's homelands.

Warfare and politics mixed with many types of Sea Dogs.
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Old 09-12-2018, 09:15 PM   #3636
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Java, a fertile island near the liveliest trade routes on the planet, is well placed to be a major empire. ...The Local Year is 1520 AD, the Javan Imperium, which rules most of what we'd call Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philipines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The Javan Imperium is as technologically advanced as China or Japan in this period.
You write this as though you're not aware of the Majahapit Empire, which was exactly all of these things, although it was on the way out by 1520.
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Old 09-13-2018, 03:14 AM   #3637
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You write this as though you're not aware of the Majahapit Empire, which was exactly all of these things, although it was on the way out by 1520.
I know of the Majahapit Empire. I was simply making it much older and larger. Indonesia is such a wonderous place ( we so need a GURPS: Indonesia) so I unified it and gave it a reason to go to war with the Persians and the Mughuls.
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Old 09-13-2018, 03:48 AM   #3638
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I know of the Majahapit Empire. I was simply making it much older and larger. Indonesia is such a wonderous place ( we so need a GURPS: Indonesia) so I unified it and gave it a reason to go to war with the Persians and the Mughuls.
Sorry, and fair enough. It did seem odd that you'd mention other facts about Indonesian history without mentioning it, was all.

Sourcebook-wise, covering the kingdoms of the rest of SE Asia as well would be my suggestion. They all share similar background and cultural influences, so it wouldn't take too much effort to expand- though it'd be a bit of an undertaking.
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Old 09-13-2018, 10:41 AM   #3639
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To offer more detail on what I did with Java, I remember technological history. China was technologically behind the West for a long period. Then they came up with one of the greatest inventions in human history, paper. Then China jumped forward and stayed there for centuries. Only the printing press got the West back ahead, and without paper, that wouldn't have been enough.

I simply gave the people of Java a paper equivalent that worked in the climate of Indonesia. Once the information storage and training benefits of paper got out there, Java had an edge.
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Old 09-16-2018, 11:17 PM   #3640
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Emperor Nortion of the United States and Protector of Mexico loses his wealth (and mind) in a slightly different scenario, purchasing a gold mining claim that turned out completely unproductive.

Other than that, his life is identical, up until near his end, when he penned an Imperial Succession passing his properties to an Imperial Trust instructed to see to the care of the City, State, and Empire in that order. This council or trust consists of an excentric group of people and their funds initially consist of three dollars, twenty-five Imperial dollars, and an apparently useless plot of land in the mountains.

A few years after his death, however, a prospector discovers that a landslide has revealed a generous and previously hidden gold seam on the Imperial estate.

The council's twenty-five members from all walks of life (including a number of minorities, religious men, and several women,) decide to keep a close management of the mine and to operate it as the council was instructed.

They do surprisingly well at skillfully managing and justly distributing the capital of the Imperial Trust, resulting in a growing and wealthy philanthropist organization with an eccentric yet practical bent.

I leave it an exercise to the reader to figure out where that goes.

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