"Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed
The night is here and the day is gone
And the world spins madly on"
~"World Spins Madly On" by the Weepies
Alright folks, time for the first official timeline to be done here by your pal Xanthoc. A good friend (who does not have an account on here) and I have decided to write out own timeline instead of just gawking at everyone else's. Now again, this is our first TL, so be lenient, but we're open to (constructive) criticism.
Now we would like to give a shout out to Napoleon53, whose amazing timelines (Namely What Madness Is This? and American King Take II) finally inspired us to get off our butts and try this ourselves.
With the pleasantries out of the way, time to give some basic information; the PODs for this are various minor ones mainly clustered in the 1600's and 1700's. We won't reveal the main one (or at least first main one) right away, but it is coming soon. We will be doing this timeline in a series of exerts from various 'historical' and 'scientific' books and databases, as well as travel guides and even adverts. Now there may be somethings that aren't in chronological order; rather important things will come out until the main starting events of the TL are presented, and then we'll move on from there as chronologically as possible.
To start us off here will be a nice little exert about one important area in this TL: Britain!
_______________________________
Annals of Alba, Modern Generation Ver. II
Vol. III: The Rise to Glory
Chapter 2: The Black Prince of Scotland
This Chapter will be dedicated to the Black Prince of Scotland, informing of his life and major events in history to which he contributed, as well as including notes on origins of common phrases deriving from this time period.
The Black Prince of Scotland, known at birth as William MacDeven, had humble origins. Born in Edinburgh in 1668, young William was a gentle boy. To most he was but a common boy from a common family. But they did hold a secret: his great great great grandmother had been a lover of the Black Prince of Wales. Her son had been born in secret, the Prince unaware of his birth; however, the family, while telling no one, had passed down from child to child their lineage. And so William knew that he had English blood -- Royal English blood -- in his veins, but it was Scotland that burned in his heart.
The English Civil War had ended in full, the Commonwealth and Protectorate done away with, but militant groups still roamed the countryside for over a decade later. In Scotland, Charles II had done little to fully quell these groups, and so when a small army of raiders came to Edinburgh, many blamed the King’s lack of action. William’s sister, youngest brother, and father were all massacred as they had been out in harvest when the raiders came. William himself had snuck off to the market, shirking his duties, to meet the young Madeleine Taylor, whom would become his wife, and so he was not ambushed like the rest of his family. His eldest brother had died in service to the Royal Navy, and his mother giving birth to his sister, and with the attack, William became the last of his immediate family. In his later years, he often expressed guilt of having survived by pure luck, laziness, and lust. At age 16, being amongst those to blame the inaction of the King for the violence, William gained a fire in his soul against England, noted by a soldier in a pub saying, “A Scott in the Crown, An Englishmen on the Throne.”
Along with Madeleine, whose family’s farm had been burned in the raid, William relocated to Glasgow to stay with his Aunt and cousin, James. James and William were only a few years apart, and soon developed a rivalry as James not only found himself smitten with Madeleine, but himself was a staunch supporter of the Crown. Madeleine would eventually marry William in 1689, ending some tension between the two as James respected their union. However, both before and after the marriage, thanks to politics, the two often brawled, but never shared true animosity. James is actually the originator of the common phrase “Like Fist to Nose” when discussing the closeness of a friendship, coming from the original quote, “Will and I were friends like a Fist to a Nose; always close and in contact, no matter how painful.”
Under James II & VII, William’s anger at the Crown lessened, though did not diminish by any large degree. An opponent of the Glorious Revolution, it would be under Protestants William III & II and Mary II that the future Black Prince began to thrash about as a rebel. The Clash of Two Williams occurred when William joined a local militia, eventually becoming its leader after the original died from a fever, and started a campaign against the crown to elevate Scotland to “true equal status to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom.”
When Queen Anne took the throne, William decided to “begin the greatest of ironies” by embracing his English heritage, publically speaking of his ancestor being the Black Prince of Wales, and started styling himself as the Black Prince of Scotland. Queen Anne would take little notice of him and his antics. That is until 1705 when the Black Prince began an assault on Carlisle, taking the city via innovative stealth tactics, a spy network within, and one of the best sharpshooters to grace the land; Cullen O’Neil, an Irishmen who could supposedly hit the eye of a swallow from 50 meters blindfolded. This tale is where the sports phrase “Hitting Birdies in the Dark” comes from, often used to describe a seemingly impossible play succeeding.
After taking Carlisle, the Black prince had large solid black flags flown over the castle and town road entrances. Referring to a situation as a “Prince and Banner” when a person performs an action that seemingly reiterates something infamous about said person, derives from this (as the Black Prince put a Black Banner over the town). Queen Anne deployed a series of troops in various waves to retake Carlisle, but the kind and fair treatment of the Prince’s forces to villagers had made getting local support more difficult than intended. Having a solid defensible position, the English soldiers would be unable to reconquer the area. Soon other cities were taken, going from Carlisle to Leicester and in 1708 the Black Prince took the largest force yet mustered in the conflict on English soil (no solid number is known; estimates range from 50,000 to over 700,000) and marched to the capital. He demanded equal rights for Scotland, and the recreation of the Kingdom of Wales, a cause for which he had received numerous volunteers throughout the conflict. Queen Anne, having already had plans to unify the Kingdoms, and forced to surrender after a Welsh servant revealed themselves to be a spy and held her at knifepoint, ceded to his demands.
In 1709, the Incorporated Kingdoms of Greater Britain was founded. Scotland and England were made equivalent powers toward each other, both having their own Parliament but being united under one monarch. Ireland and Wales were made into Unincorporated Kingdoms, eventually made generations later into Incorporated Duchies, with the Duchy of Wales under English rule and the Duchy of Ireland under Scottish rule. The Black Prince of Scotland became the first Prince of Scotland in Greater Britain; the original title of the Prince of Wales was regressed into the Prince of England, with both Princes having equal claim to the throne, with the elder male of either side of the Royal Family or the first with an heir being the first in line. Ironically, there would not be a Scottish born monarch of the IKGB until 1831, as over the years the Prince of England would be born first, would be the first to have an heir, or the Prince of Scotland would die before ascending. “Early to War, Late to Rule” is a common jibe at any hotheaded Scot.
William the Equalist, as the Black Prince was lastly known, would die of accidental food poisoning in 1710 with no heirs, and his wife Madeleine would eventually marry his appointed successor, his cousin James. James, still a loyalist after so many years of close friendship to William, interfered little with the affairs of Queen Anne, and the Scottish Parliament followed suit, not wishing to lose what had just been gained. And so ends the tale of the Black Prince, William MacDeven, William the Equalist, Hero of Scotland. Glory to the Mane of the Lion.
Flag of the Incoporated Kingdoms of Greater Britain:
Map of the IKGB at inception (New World lands not shown):
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed
The night is here and the day is gone
And the world spins madly on"
~"World Spins Madly On" by the Weepies
Alright folks, time for the first official timeline to be done here by your pal Xanthoc. A good friend (who does not have an account on here) and I have decided to write out own timeline instead of just gawking at everyone else's. Now again, this is our first TL, so be lenient, but we're open to (constructive) criticism.
Now we would like to give a shout out to Napoleon53, whose amazing timelines (Namely What Madness Is This? and American King Take II) finally inspired us to get off our butts and try this ourselves.
With the pleasantries out of the way, time to give some basic information; the PODs for this are various minor ones mainly clustered in the 1600's and 1700's. We won't reveal the main one (or at least first main one) right away, but it is coming soon. We will be doing this timeline in a series of exerts from various 'historical' and 'scientific' books and databases, as well as travel guides and even adverts. Now there may be somethings that aren't in chronological order; rather important things will come out until the main starting events of the TL are presented, and then we'll move on from there as chronologically as possible.
To start us off here will be a nice little exert about one important area in this TL: Britain!
_______________________________
Annals of Alba, Modern Generation Ver. II
Vol. III: The Rise to Glory
Chapter 2: The Black Prince of Scotland
This Chapter will be dedicated to the Black Prince of Scotland, informing of his life and major events in history to which he contributed, as well as including notes on origins of common phrases deriving from this time period.
The Black Prince of Scotland, known at birth as William MacDeven, had humble origins. Born in Edinburgh in 1668, young William was a gentle boy. To most he was but a common boy from a common family. But they did hold a secret: his great great great grandmother had been a lover of the Black Prince of Wales. Her son had been born in secret, the Prince unaware of his birth; however, the family, while telling no one, had passed down from child to child their lineage. And so William knew that he had English blood -- Royal English blood -- in his veins, but it was Scotland that burned in his heart.
The English Civil War had ended in full, the Commonwealth and Protectorate done away with, but militant groups still roamed the countryside for over a decade later. In Scotland, Charles II had done little to fully quell these groups, and so when a small army of raiders came to Edinburgh, many blamed the King’s lack of action. William’s sister, youngest brother, and father were all massacred as they had been out in harvest when the raiders came. William himself had snuck off to the market, shirking his duties, to meet the young Madeleine Taylor, whom would become his wife, and so he was not ambushed like the rest of his family. His eldest brother had died in service to the Royal Navy, and his mother giving birth to his sister, and with the attack, William became the last of his immediate family. In his later years, he often expressed guilt of having survived by pure luck, laziness, and lust. At age 16, being amongst those to blame the inaction of the King for the violence, William gained a fire in his soul against England, noted by a soldier in a pub saying, “A Scott in the Crown, An Englishmen on the Throne.”
Along with Madeleine, whose family’s farm had been burned in the raid, William relocated to Glasgow to stay with his Aunt and cousin, James. James and William were only a few years apart, and soon developed a rivalry as James not only found himself smitten with Madeleine, but himself was a staunch supporter of the Crown. Madeleine would eventually marry William in 1689, ending some tension between the two as James respected their union. However, both before and after the marriage, thanks to politics, the two often brawled, but never shared true animosity. James is actually the originator of the common phrase “Like Fist to Nose” when discussing the closeness of a friendship, coming from the original quote, “Will and I were friends like a Fist to a Nose; always close and in contact, no matter how painful.”
Under James II & VII, William’s anger at the Crown lessened, though did not diminish by any large degree. An opponent of the Glorious Revolution, it would be under Protestants William III & II and Mary II that the future Black Prince began to thrash about as a rebel. The Clash of Two Williams occurred when William joined a local militia, eventually becoming its leader after the original died from a fever, and started a campaign against the crown to elevate Scotland to “true equal status to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom.”
When Queen Anne took the throne, William decided to “begin the greatest of ironies” by embracing his English heritage, publically speaking of his ancestor being the Black Prince of Wales, and started styling himself as the Black Prince of Scotland. Queen Anne would take little notice of him and his antics. That is until 1705 when the Black Prince began an assault on Carlisle, taking the city via innovative stealth tactics, a spy network within, and one of the best sharpshooters to grace the land; Cullen O’Neil, an Irishmen who could supposedly hit the eye of a swallow from 50 meters blindfolded. This tale is where the sports phrase “Hitting Birdies in the Dark” comes from, often used to describe a seemingly impossible play succeeding.
After taking Carlisle, the Black prince had large solid black flags flown over the castle and town road entrances. Referring to a situation as a “Prince and Banner” when a person performs an action that seemingly reiterates something infamous about said person, derives from this (as the Black Prince put a Black Banner over the town). Queen Anne deployed a series of troops in various waves to retake Carlisle, but the kind and fair treatment of the Prince’s forces to villagers had made getting local support more difficult than intended. Having a solid defensible position, the English soldiers would be unable to reconquer the area. Soon other cities were taken, going from Carlisle to Leicester and in 1708 the Black Prince took the largest force yet mustered in the conflict on English soil (no solid number is known; estimates range from 50,000 to over 700,000) and marched to the capital. He demanded equal rights for Scotland, and the recreation of the Kingdom of Wales, a cause for which he had received numerous volunteers throughout the conflict. Queen Anne, having already had plans to unify the Kingdoms, and forced to surrender after a Welsh servant revealed themselves to be a spy and held her at knifepoint, ceded to his demands.
In 1709, the Incorporated Kingdoms of Greater Britain was founded. Scotland and England were made equivalent powers toward each other, both having their own Parliament but being united under one monarch. Ireland and Wales were made into Unincorporated Kingdoms, eventually made generations later into Incorporated Duchies, with the Duchy of Wales under English rule and the Duchy of Ireland under Scottish rule. The Black Prince of Scotland became the first Prince of Scotland in Greater Britain; the original title of the Prince of Wales was regressed into the Prince of England, with both Princes having equal claim to the throne, with the elder male of either side of the Royal Family or the first with an heir being the first in line. Ironically, there would not be a Scottish born monarch of the IKGB until 1831, as over the years the Prince of England would be born first, would be the first to have an heir, or the Prince of Scotland would die before ascending. “Early to War, Late to Rule” is a common jibe at any hotheaded Scot.
William the Equalist, as the Black Prince was lastly known, would die of accidental food poisoning in 1710 with no heirs, and his wife Madeleine would eventually marry his appointed successor, his cousin James. James, still a loyalist after so many years of close friendship to William, interfered little with the affairs of Queen Anne, and the Scottish Parliament followed suit, not wishing to lose what had just been gained. And so ends the tale of the Black Prince, William MacDeven, William the Equalist, Hero of Scotland. Glory to the Mane of the Lion.
Flag of the Incoporated Kingdoms of Greater Britain:
Map of the IKGB at inception (New World lands not shown):
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