New Reality Seeds

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The local year is 476AD. Britainnia is stable, peaceful and run by the local elites through a sub-senate (the only one of its kind).

Is this the correct date? 476 is the date the last Western Roman Emperor was deposed, in our history, but the empire had been visibly crumbling for a century. If Britainnia is still stable and Roman, I would have expected it to be hosting New Rome well before 476.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Is this the correct date? 476 is the date the last Western Roman Emperor was deposed, in our history, but the empire had been visibly crumbling for a century. If Britainnia is still stable and Roman, I would have expected it to be hosting New Rome well before 476.

Either have it do so at "New Troy Town," or add that to the list of mysteries.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

[B][FONT="Arial Black"]For reasons not understood Gaul simply didn't adopt the British plow. Thus Britannia became an isolated island of prosperity in the Roman West. Scriptoriums kept both Greek and Latin literature alive. Roman technology got more widely used in Britainnia-7 than in other parts of Rome. All of which is deeply mysterious.

The local year is 476AD. Britainnia is stable peaceful and run by the local elites through a sub-senate (the only one of its kind). The local Tech Level is a mixture of 3 in the countryside and 4 in the towns.

It's seen as massively anomalous that Britainnia is so radically changed but most of the rest of the world closely parallels Homeline. Path/Book Magic is unusually commonplace in this world and Britainnia seems to be a stronghold of paganism while also having strong Christian communities.

"Oh good grief, it's just another Arthurian myth-parallel, early in the development phase. They'll adopt feudalism and plate armour any minute now. Pass this one over to the metaphysics geeks and tell the observers on the ground to watch out for any young leaders with names beginning "Ar".

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

"Oh good grief, it's just another Arthurian myth-parallel, early in the development phase. They'll adopt feudalism and plate armour any minute now. Pass this one over to the metaphysics geeks and tell the observers on the ground to watch out for any young leaders with names beginning "Ar".

Wrong thread Phil. Bop on over to the fantasy thread. I've got something there for you.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Wrong thread Phil. Bop on over to the fantasy thread.

Actually I think it's about the right response. Magical (OK only slightly but still) Britain, just post Roman, showing technologies 4 to 10 centuries more advanced that it should. Seems like the sort of place the Arthurian specialists are best equipped to deal with really.

I'd note that 476 is 25 years into the full on Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, and almost 100 into both the serious raids on it, and the inverse settlement of Britons in Brittany (which may or may not have been at the request of the nominally Roman governor thereof), both of which are likely to be going very differently if Britain is substantially richer.

I'm less convinced it shifts Roman power centers all that much, at least not unless the changes go back further than a century or two. The western part of the Empire was an unstable backwater since the 3d century, and the extent the "Emperor" actually ruled anything outside of Italia was always doubtful. A stronger Britain ca 400 may mean you are going to need to do something to prevent Constantine III from being more successful, but that's not all that hard to imagine, little subempires had been forming and collapsing in the West for a century and continued to do so for another century. The real political change risk is probably somebody (maybe even Constantine III) in Britain giving up on being Emperor of Rome and actually forming a strong successor state in Britain (and parts of Gaul), which again sounds like hand the problem to the Arthurian specialists, that's their kind of thing, and may in fact have already happened here if there is an actual functional "sub" Senate that matter for anything.

[Astromancer]

I still have something Phill might like on the fantasy thread.

[Astromancer]

Romanov-5

Against all odds in this Q6 Low Mana parallel the Romanovs escaped the Bolsheviks and made it to Great Britain. This was less than lovely.

First, the Czar and his family weren't popular in Britain. Their very presence risks sparking a revolution. Similarly, no neutral country wants them either. The Czar understands he's a burden but the few countries that would take him in are either British colonies or republics. Which as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, don't really work for him.

Second, the Czar's presence in London puts brutal pressure on the Allies as an alliance. Both France and the USA are republics, something the Czar officially opposed at the time. Also leftists and Unions hated the Czar at the time.

Third, Alexandria and Mary of Teck cordially despised each other. Queen Mary knew how to act in public, but Alexandria (to be blunt) was a pretty airhead with little tact.

As bad as having the Czar in Britain is the PR nightmare of sending the Romanovs anywhere else could easily be worse.

Centrum wants rid of the Romanovs. The British Empire has troubles enough. But where to send the Romanovs. Homeline loves how crazy the whole thing makes Centrum agents, terrified of a socialist revolution in Britain. The Cabal is likewise buying popcorn and watching the fun. Neither Homeline nor the Cabal will risk Centrum doing something stupid and violent.

Basically, a somewhat twisted espionage setting. And one where witty retorts are as deadly as bullets.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Against all odds in this Q6 Low Mana parallel the Romanovs escaped the Bolsheviks and made it to Great Britain. This was less than lovely.

The easiest way for that to happen is for them to have a near-miss assassination or other attack that gets the point over, at the start of the February Revolution or earlier.

First, the Czar and his family weren't popular in Britain. Their very presence risks sparking a revolution. Similarly, no neutral country wants them either. The Czar understands he's a burden but the few countries that would take him in are either British colonies or republics. Which as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, don't really work for him.

However, Russia has a long-standing relationship with Serbia. The Serbian king, government and army are in exile in Salonika, because Austria-Hungary has occupied Serbia. I'm pretty sure the Serbs would accept the Romanovs as "guests" if the deal was sweetened with some arms shipments from the British. This will make the situation in the Balkans even more complicated.

[Dave_67]

Hmmm...I'm still working on elements of my Dixie-7 world - that I talked about when I asked others how they dealt with DC in their Dixie-1 games - but am wondering if this would be as good a place as any in posting it?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

First, the Czar and his family weren't popular in Britain. Their very presence risks sparking a revolution.

That sounds like a stretch. The Czar was after all an ally in the still ongoing war. The British public might even warm to him as a victim of those obviously far worse treacherous bastards who deposed him and then betrayed the alliance. And having him does provide advantages to the allied intervention in the Russian civil war, which is still necessary as long as World War I is ongoing. He might complicate it thereafter, but that's later.