mojojojo
Gone Fishin'
Can someone please describe the world of Poul Anderson's "Delenda Est" to me. I know the set up of the story, but how was the alternate earth different from our world.
"Delenda Est
- Thread starter mojojojo
- Start date
Uchronia.net to the rescue! It's a great resource, and the bibliography is quite extensive.
Spoilers ahead
To be brief: Rome falls, the Carthaginian Empire never gets as far as Rome did, and the Celts do much better than OTL. [1]
There's no science, but rule-of-thumb engineering good enough to make steam-powered cars, ships, etc, and gunpowder exists. Judaism may or may not have died out: Christianity certainly never got off the ground, and polytheism of a wooly sort seems the order of the day.
There's a number of ungodly large empires for no particular reason (steam+gunpowder makes for big empires? Who knows?): a China even bigger than OTL, an Incan (perhaps) empire encompassing the western half of S. America, a huge Indian empire extending into SE asia and Indonesia, a Lithuanian realm extending from Eastern Europe to Siberia, Parthia, and a north African federation which may be descended from the old Carthaginian empire or may be no more related to it than the Holy Roman Empire was to the one of the Ceasars.
Our Heroes start out in a loosely federal state emcompassing pretty much all of N. America: Celtic settler states, native american states, and (one assumes) mixes of various sorts. Europe west of Germany is Celtic, and Italy has been thoroughly Germanized.
Bruce
[1] Some would claim that they were doomed to be stomped by the better organized Germans, but Poul Anderson is entitled to his opinions.
To be brief: Rome falls, the Carthaginian Empire never gets as far as Rome did, and the Celts do much better than OTL. [1]
There's no science, but rule-of-thumb engineering good enough to make steam-powered cars, ships, etc, and gunpowder exists. Judaism may or may not have died out: Christianity certainly never got off the ground, and polytheism of a wooly sort seems the order of the day.
There's a number of ungodly large empires for no particular reason (steam+gunpowder makes for big empires? Who knows?): a China even bigger than OTL, an Incan (perhaps) empire encompassing the western half of S. America, a huge Indian empire extending into SE asia and Indonesia, a Lithuanian realm extending from Eastern Europe to Siberia, Parthia, and a north African federation which may be descended from the old Carthaginian empire or may be no more related to it than the Holy Roman Empire was to the one of the Ceasars.
Our Heroes start out in a loosely federal state emcompassing pretty much all of N. America: Celtic settler states, native american states, and (one assumes) mixes of various sorts. Europe west of Germany is Celtic, and Italy has been thoroughly Germanized.
Bruce
[1] Some would claim that they were doomed to be stomped by the better organized Germans, but Poul Anderson is entitled to his opinions.
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
-- the stated reason is that this is an old civilization, considerably older than our Western one. The big fish have eaten the little ones.
That's what _he_ says, but that assumes that all big fish stick around after eating the little ones. I call Enduring Empire Fallacy and want my fifty bucks.
Bruce
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
-- not necessarily. Littorn used to be bigger than it was -- it gobbled up western Europe until the 100 Years War with Afalon forced it to disgorge.
And the Asian countries were colonies of the Europeans (and Afalonians) for a while before they shook off their overlordship and modernized themselves.
Map
Map of the world from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delenda_Est
Full resolution (1,712 × 837 pixels, file size: 148 KB)
Map of the world from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delenda_Est
Full resolution (1,712 × 837 pixels, file size: 148 KB)
While the scneario sounds interesting, the map looks horrible. Why the heck are there OTL 2010 borders in Central Europe?! 
Probably just as Place-Holders ...While the scneario sounds interesting, the map looks horrible. Why the heck are there OTL 2010 borders in Central Europe?!
Central Europe has Remained a Back-Water, ITTL ...
Kinda Puts Things into Perspective, Doesn't it?
altamiro
Banned
While the scneario sounds interesting, the map looks horrible. Why the heck are there OTL 2010 borders in Central Europe?!
For the most part, natural borders or shortest defensible borderlines I would say.
However, a "Super-Switzerland" including Austria and nothing else seems a bit questionable.