New Reality Seeds

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by TGLS

So what happened to the Orthodox Christians, the Muslims and the Chinese? I could buy that Africa got colonized largely on schedule (along with South East Asia), but Russia, Ottoman Empire and China would seem to be a tougher nut to crack.

I don't see any strong reason they can't continue on more or less as they were in the 18th and early 19th centuries - independent actors somewhat (or considerably) lagging behind Europe. But if you want something different, it's not like there's a shortage of 19th century charismatic religious movements in them you could declare more successful too, and use to blow them apart. Islamic ones include the Faraizi, Darqawiyya, Babist, Barelvi and Ahmadiyya. For China the obvious one is the Taiping Rebellion, but there is lots of stuff related to the White Lotus cults around (historically the Tiandihui becomes the Triads, but it's not really criminal until well into the 19th century), Xiantiandao might work too, and there are a fair number Chinese Salvational sects reviving Mohist ideas that are close enough to monotheistic. In India, in addition to Sikhism and some of the Sant movement(s) adjacent it, monotheistic movements with charismatic elements include the Vedanta school (Swaminarayan is probably the most successful proponent of that for the period, founding his branch in 1801), Arya Samaj (1875) and a variety of saguna bhakti sects, focused mostly on Krishna, though you could probably find one to elevate any other god(ess) you prefer if you'd like a different one.