Reds fanfic

[BP Booker]

However, I can imagine the doomsday clock stayed at 11:59 throughout the 1980s, as the FBU was determined not to let another client state fall to the Reds.

In "The End of the Whole Mess", a short story by Stephen King, written in 1986, with the Indians and the Pakistanis, and the Chinese and the Afghans at the brink of war, with border skimirshes between Communist Mexico and America, the Scientists for Nuclear Responsability had set the clock at 15 seconds to midnight.

Is the aborted Montreal bombing a refernce to General Douglas McArthur wanting to use nuclear weapons against China during the Korean War?:

"I would have dropped between 30 and 50 atomic bombs on his air bases and other depots strung across the neck of Manchuria from just across the Yalu River from Antung to the neighborhood of Hunchun" I mean, maybe people just disnt undestand what a nuclear weapon really meant, until someone who did put the holy smackdown on that plan. At least thats how I see it

 

[The_Red_Star_Rising]

In "The End of the Whole Mess", a short story by Stephen King, written in 1986, with the Indians and the Pakistanis, and the Chinese and the Afghans at the brink of war, with border skimirshes between Communist Mexico and America, the Scientists for Nuclear Responsability had set the clock at 15 seconds to midnight.

Is the aborted Montreal bombing a refernce to General Douglas McArthur wanting to use nuclear weapons against China during the Korean War?:

"I would have dropped between 30 and 50 atomic bombs on his air bases and other depots strung across the neck of Manchuria from just across the Yalu River from Antung to the neighborhood of Hunchun" I mean, maybe people just disnt undestand what a nuclear weapon really meant, until someone who did put the holy smackdown on that plan. At least thats how I see it

It's also worth noting that this is something of an extremist lion position held by some politicians and some potential unreliables in the military who would rather see their countries and their people reduced to nuclear ash or placed under a pinochet style dictator than live a day under a leftist regime. It's also worth noting that there is no oversight for the OTL British nuclear weapon system. The nuclear warheads have no keys or codes; just a bike lock and an honour system that the commanders will promise to be responsible with them. Which means that some of the bloodthirstier commanders could very well bring about armageddon before someone above them can stop them from firing.

 

[teg]

Two points I feel are relevant to this debate:

i) I don't think people realize just how important Canada is the FBU. With Canada in the capitalist camp, there can be nuclear bombers and missiles literally minutes away from America's largest cities. I see no reason why the UASR would be any more tolerant of this than the OTL USA was at the prospect of nuclear missiles in Cuba, and probably even less so. As long as that threat remains, the UASR will dedicate a disproportionate share of its resources to missile and anti-air defense across its northern border, which means those resources aren't being spent dismantling the FBU's global empire. In fact I think that as long as Canada is capitalist, there is at least a slim chance that the FBU might be able to win the Cold War if something goes majorly wrong in the Comintern. Once Canada is gone? Well the FBU still holds Cuba and Newfoundland but those are not as close to the largest American cities and are smaller and easier for the UASR to isolate in the event of the unthinkable. I predict that from 1980 onward, the decomposition of imperial control will begin to accelerate (I think it was hinted at one point that there is a 'Southern Emergency' in India during the 1980s for instance and of course South Africa kicks out the National Party) and there are probably plenty of people who realize this, including potentially people with access to nuclear weapons. And it doesn't necessarily need to have been an 'ordered' strike. It could just have been someone who was told to 'resolve' the Quebecois situation by a superior and took that to its logical conclusion.

ii) While it has the same name as the OTL conflict, TTL's Cold War is actually very different. Once the ideological trappings had been stripped out, the OTL Cold War was really just an extension of the conflict between Russia and the west since the early 19th century, just with the United States standing in for Britain as Russia's main opponent. Despite the rhetoric, the Soviet Union had no intention of provoking world revolution and pretty much had the same objectives as the tsarist empire once Stalin had consolidated his power. Similarly, the American leadership had no desire to launch a general war against the Soviet Union because it simply wasn't the cost to remove a largely unequal rival. ITTL? There is a large faction in the world's most powerful state that seems to view permanent revolution as desirable and wants to actively expedite the process. On the other hand, the FBU's decomposition will mean that increasingly few of its leadership can deny that they are on the wrong side of history and are going to get pushed out of power at best and experiencing a similar fate to the Russian ruling class at worst. Its not hard to see that this world is going to be teetering on the edge of the abyss for however long it takes the world revolution to complete and I wouldn't be surprised if it falls over in the end.

teg

 

[Bookmark1995]

Two points I feel are relevant to this debate:

ii) While it has the same name as the OTL conflict, TTL's Cold War is actually very different. Once the ideological trappings had been stripped out, the OTL Cold War was really just an extension of the conflict between Russia and the west since the early 19th century, just with the United States standing in for Britain as Russia's main opponent. Despite the rhetoric, the Soviet Union had no intention of provoking world revolution and pretty much had the same objectives as the tsarist empire once Stalin had consolidated his power. Similarly, the American leadership had no desire to launch a general war against the Soviet Union because it simply wasn't the cost to remove a largely unequal rival. ITTL? There is a large faction in the world's most powerful state that seems to view permanent revolution as desirable and wants to actively expedite the process. On the other hand, the FBU's decomposition will mean that increasingly few of its leadership can deny that they are on the wrong side of history and are going to get pushed out of power at best and experiencing a similar fate to the Russian ruling class at worst. Its not hard to see that this world is going to be teetering on the edge of the abyss for however long it takes the world revolution to complete and I wouldn't be surprised if it falls over in the end.

teg

That's another very important point: while the OTL Soviet Union was terrible, they were probably a little more pragmatic and imperialistic.

The ITTL Red Bloc is run by a nation that more or less succeeded in throwing away capitalism, and so they earnestly seek to spread world revolution-regardless of the fact that the world is teetering on the edge more than OTL.

The ITTL America maybe an objectively nicer place to live, but the people there are a lot more scary BECAUSE of their success and equality.

 

[Libertad]

Much of the later developments of the TL just reflects the simple fact that there is immense gravity that America holds; given its industrial base and economic wealth that ultimate changed the fate of international communism ITTL. The earlier TL underestimated its impact and its something that was recognized by the authors as the years went by.

Another is the simple matter that it's true, the TL gets more left-wing "biased" as some is saying here, but it's undeniable that capitalism just needs a whole lot of geographical and geopolitical space to consider itself stable as defined by IOTL Grand Area project of the 1940s US State Department and that space is depleting over time ITTL in a planet with scarce economic resources. Of course, the left-wing bias comes in more when the Keynesianism's crisis IOTL is juxtaposed with the situation of a stronger Left ITTL and once the labor market gets more tight and the bargaining power on the shop floor shifts more to the working class, there's bound to be a clash, liberal democracy or not.

The Canadian Crisis is thus a turning point because it pushes capitalism more into the corner and makes the FBU more "junta-like". But this actually just exposes the FBU more as an illiberal democratic system that it is, rather than turning a once rosy liberal democratic experiment into a more authoritarian system. The FBU is never that liberal democracy some may have imagined it to be before. Jello started the TL striking a sense of balance that was never meant to be there since the world communist revolution is meant to create a certain absolute on a degree of imbalance between capitalism and the anti-capitalist force fighting it.

Honestly, it's really only the bomb that is keeping capitalism alive. Otherwise, it's been long dead before 1980 comes.

 

[Miss Teri]

The ITTL America maybe an objectively nicer place to live, but the people there are a lot more scary BECAUSE of their success and equality.

Also that American culture is very alien from our own, due to 80 years of communist thinking and lifestyle. I don't know if I want to live there, because it's very different than my own sensibilities, even as a socialist.

Bare in mind that we have yet to see the Cold War era in full. That hint about the bomber has no context, so we don't know how that arose. It could've been an agreed decision amongst the Entente high command, or one lone General Ripper figure, who wants to make the first move against Comintern.

 

[The_Red_Star_Rising]

I don't quite remember my final plans for the lullaby of the stars movie, but my own writing plans for my own projects involve a lot of high octane fight scenes. So I'll write out the final clash of the first war between Mendrogan the Conqueror and Columbia. Or at least, one rendition of it.

..............................................

The invasion was already a failure. Too many forces had been lost, a rebellion had been sparked in the homefront, and the invincible name of Mendrogan was already being questioned by their subordinates. The stick thin tripod arthropoid's mandibles clacked in intense displeasure. But pride refused to allow them to leave the Earth. Their warship; the Colossus, had been destroyed by the human and her spear. He had underestimated the power she could wield when she was given a chance to dip deep into the root of humanity's collective potential; past, present, and future and the incredible might of the mystic well. A power great enough to overwhelm even the star-system demolition ray they had hoped to use to wipe away the stain of defeat with the waters of pure, atom sundering annihilation. Under more normal circumstances, Mendrogan would have retreated to gather more warships, more soldiers, more lieutenants to try again later. But the outright destruction of their greatest engineering achievement had left the conqueror seeing nothing but the red mist of an uncontrollable rage.

They had survived after a crash landing upon the Earth, they were unsure of how many of their lieutenants had also survived the blast and the eradication of most of their conquest fleet but right now they could muster so very little energy to the task of pondering that question. As human and rebel soldiers surrounded the wreckage that their crash landing had created their middle fist punched straight through the rubble, the force of which sent the gathered soldiers scattering away in every direction from either impact or fright. The Arthropoid pulled themselves clear, the outer layers of their armour red hot from the impact; an external representation of their internal rage and fury as the six limbed being's saucer like head stared out at the world. Fire was widespread throughout the city of Damascus as a result of a rain of debris not shot down by revolutionary starships, and a cloud of ash hanging overhead obscured the night sky. The differences in temperature between the infernos and that which had yet to brun created a fierce gale that made their cape flutter as they stood themselves straight up.

But soon enough, there she was. She less than two thirds of their height and walked through the blazing hellscape as if it was nothing, staring up at them without fear.

"You're out of troops, ships, and places to run. It's time to give up Mendrogan, there's no reason that you have to die with your empire." She said, her voice utterly serious. No jokes, no snark, just a simple ultimatum. But the second half of her last sentence made them shake with fury.

"No! No!!! You...You will not make my creation slip back into the night of chaos! My beautiful empire of peace and harmony shall reign eternal! I will not let some insipid primitive such as you destroy my life's work! DIE!" They said, all composure, all dignity, all grace, all reserve and calmness vanished from their voice. Had they a face flexible enough to do it, their expression would be twisted into something of obscene rage. The beetle like shell covering their six transparent wings opened forth in a threat display as their strangely built arms split in half, six arms all grasping swords in the blink of an eye as they let loose a distorted scream of rage, leaping at her in a motion so swift as to seem like they had teleported; the crack of the sound barrier's protest causing the nearby flames to dim and gutter from the shockwaves produced.

In a quick motion, her expression went from one of shock to resignation as she slipped her helmet onto her head and brought up her shield to defend herself. The ground beneath her cracked and shattered from the force of their blows onto her shield, nearby buildings falling into crumbling ruin as she pushed back against them to force them to give her some breathing space. As they went flying hard enough to smash through the wreckage of one of their mountainous battleships hard enough to cause the superstructure to collapse on itself she took a moment to reflect as she flew towards the site of impact.

She quickly thought about her options; no longer could she do something such as wipe him away from existence with a twitch of her muscles; she had to step back from her brief merging to the root and well to avoid full subsumation by it, and most of her companions were away mopping up the remaining lieutenants of the Star Conqueror elsewhere in the world. Molotok as far as she was aware was all the way in Arkhangelsk. If she wanted help, she'd have to move the fight a few thousand kilometers in another direction.

No point in banter, thinking of quips would just distract her from the much more important task of killing Mendrogan. Something made more pertinent as they; through sheer brute strength, forced one of the damaged hypervelocity flak cannons of the ruined warship to aim in her direction and sent forth a wave of projectiles so fast that the air caught on fire in their wake, each sheathed in a deadly glove of vibrant blue energy. She threw herself towards the ground hard enough to form a crater and looked up into the air for their next attack.

Their next clash as the two charged at one another shattered most of the fallen battleship in a thunderous explosion, sending both combatants skidding backwards as she made forth a series of spear stabs and slashes so fast and swift that the air before her began to burn; using her advantage of reach to force Mendrogan onto the defensive. Six blades on Mendrogan's end spun, slashed and parried, making a noise that could best be described as a neverending series of whipcracks as their limbs moved at speeds only descripable as relativistic.

She tried to break their guard with an opening of her spear and a releasing of its crimson lance of energy, forcing Mendrogan to leap out of the way and spiral into the ground with a drill like series of movements of their swords, literally hacking away at the ground fast enough to burrow at supersonic speeds. Through her connection to Terra's energies, she wasn't kept blind for very long however, and she was able to backflip out of the way of his attempt to emerge beneath her and cut her open with a spinning tackle leap; punching through the ground like a rocket powered drill.

She mentally inscribed a series of blood red runes into the air, each one firing a ray with a different magical effect. One a spell of disintegration that was deflected by one of their swords, another a ray of slowing that bought her some time to set up the next rune which struck Mendrogan with a spell that designated them as prey for a flock of Stymphalian birds called forth from the phantasmal realm. A flock of millions of crow sized, flesh eating metal feathered mystic birds cawed as they sought to overwhelm Mendrogan through sheer numbers, forming a mighty cyclone of magic charged air as the birds tried to peck, claw, and slice away at Mendrogan with a fury that would let every individual bird carve apart tanks.

Mendrogan simply activated an anti-matter burst in their armour; strengthening their shielding while sending out a burst of positrons in every direction, forcing Amanda to cast forth a rune to contain the explosion in a red sphere as blue radiation annihilated the entire flock of birds with a force to exceed that of the mightiest of atomic bombs by orders of magnitude. She then tried to crush them with the barrier, only for them to simply cut their way through the magic to come directly for her. She leaped backwards onto an abandoned building, they simply charged into it with enough force to cause the building to implode upon itself as its entire foundation and base disintegrated from the force of the impact; the shockwave devastating the rest of the neighbourhood and forcing her to fly downwards at her foe, slamming atop them like a meteor shield first.

The impact; had it not been contained by a runic magical shield, would have likely obliterated much of Damascus, but Mendrogan refused to go down, grabbing at her with one of their clawed feet and tossing her through more than a kilometer of road at a slight upward angle through the crater. She finally stopped herself as she finally started to fly through the air and planted her spear down into the ground and looked in every direction for her enemy, her eyes widening when she saw them charging right at her screaming curses in a language she did not understand.

They came at her with a sprint; spinning the outermost two of their blades like a pair of circular saws, the reasoning for the sectioning of parts of their torso becoming clear as the lower pair of outer arms migrated to a lower section of their body and began to rotate at incredible speeds in just the right pattern to avoid colliding with their outer two blades spinning perpendicular to them. Meanwhile their two middle arms made a rapid fire, complicated to predict, and multi-angled series of slashes, stabs and parries. It was all she could do to maintain a defensive; catching their attacks on her shield, stronger parts of her armour and mystical barriers, and parrying them with her spear Crimson.

She couldn't keep this up. If she tried to play this sort of game with them she was going to be cut down. Crimson opened up its front blade and a spiral of crimson mystical force roared out. Mendrogan was forced into bringing their blades into a defensive series of spins to absorb the incoming lance of energy as its roar split the heavens; driving the conqueror back throughout the city and giving her the chance to get behind the conqueror. She made a stabbing motion, which was quickly blocked by an energy sheathed wing shield, but she kicked one of her bent stilt like legs out from under them and then slammed them with her shield upwards into the sky.

As they rocketed towards the heavens, she was there to intercept them before they could recover their sense of orientation, a kick from her crashing into her enemy's gut and knocking them far outside of city limits. As she prepared to take the fight into deep space with her lance, the sensation of a sudden shift in gravity from their helmet mounted gravitonic vise weapons alerted her to an incoming flow of debris sent her way; including some of their still functioning ships. She had to quickly mentally inscribe blood red runes into the air and take her out of her current location; avoiding what could have been a disastrous interruption of her momentum as a still functioning battleship was lobbed at her. When she emerged over the mediterranean sea, Mendrogan was there waiting for her.

The two tussled through the sky, their first impacts obliterating many of Mendrogan's fighters as they were swept away by the hypersonic shockwave that depressed the water below them, clouds retreating away from them as a modern goddess dueled with an Alien tyrant. Like differently coloured comets they raced across the skies over the sea, colliding and dancing around each other as they both probed each other for weaknesses. Avoiding a faded blue storm of neutron beams fired forth from each of Mendrogan's wings that raced out into space with enough force to take down a trio of capital ships caught by their fury, she once again teleported, this time beneath him; the crack of displaced air not giving them enough time to stop her from batting them into the exosphere where she pursued them once again, the two of them briefly landing upon the wreckage of one of Mendrogan's warships and caught in a furious dance of weaponry. However, as they ramped up their speed, they overwhelmed her guard.

A keening shriek came from her as a blade found purchase in a less armoured part of her; her right bicep. Even her supernaturally tough flesh and armour couldn't stop it from jabbing at least part of the way into her muscle, but a surge of arcane energies from her forced Mendrogan back before their other five arms could find their way into her; forcing out the blade to let the injury heal enough for her to regain control over her arm. She spun herself to quickly take advantage of Mendrogan's stunned state to stab her spear into Mendrogan's gut; focusing the energy usually used in her lance to pierce its head through their defenses; drawing out a flow of literally blue blood as she ran them through entirely; her spear emerging from their back. To her shock however, Mendrogan did little but snarl in hatred at her as they forced themselves down on the spear to get into her reach.

She let go of the spear and forced herself back, another set of runes being inscribed by her to invert their momentum and send them flying backwards and an extra set still disintegrating the remains of the earthbound cruiser before its impact could start a mass extinction, an outstretched hand from her temporarily binding Mendrogan's essence to that of the sea floor below as her spear heeded its master's call and tore itself free of Mendrogan's armoured body while they collided with the ocean hard enough to send gouts of steam into the air, a shield of magic preventing the impact from doing any further damage to the earth. However, someone like Mendrogan would almost certainly quickly breach the spell's effects and she had to use the seconds bought to prepare; stepping through another rune made gate to bring herself to Arkhangelsk.

Stepping out of the gate in front of Molotok, Amanda gave only the briefest of moments to wave hello to him as Vladimir spun around and sputtered in confusion to meet her. "Amanda what!? What's going on!?" He asked as he just about fell off of the pile of destroyed machines he was sitting atop of while eating his sandwich.

"No time, just get the hammer ready." She said as she began to accumulate energy for her spear once again, red light and particles surrounding Crimson's head as she leveled it at the direction she was expecting them to come from by what her runes could tell her.

"Ready for what!?" He sputtered before she saw a faint speck flying at her at extreme speeds. She then opened fire with a crimson ray far wider than she was tall. The waters behind her peeled back to reveal the seabed beneath and night briefly turned to day as Mendrogan was caught in a blazing ray of pure power. She put more energy into it than she had into destroying any of Mendrogan's ships save for the Colossus itself, and she just about buried her feet and the butt of her spear into the ground to avoid any of her beam being diverted from its target by recoil induced aiming mishaps.

Mendrogan was enveloped by the energy, an incredible burst of power easily as intense as what Amanda had put into obliterating Idaina Kage's first body more than two decades ago in the twilight days of the interwar era. Even had they wanted to not meet the beam head on, its currents forced them into the dead center of its energies, but Mendrogan was so consumed by killer rage as to try and force themselves through the beam despite its efforts to push them further and further away. Shielding splintered, armour burnt, carapace disintegrated, muscle incinerated and liqueified, but they still pushed on until they were just an arm away from Columbia as nothing more than a horrific mass of goop around some cybernetics when she finally relented, taking in a gasp as her knees buckled. Mendrogan's body collapsed onto the ground while Amanda sank to her knees, Vladimir almost immediately rushing to help her up as she pulled off her helmet. She gave him a small smile before Mendrogan's vocoder gurgled.

"I am....eternal! The conqueror...shall...ne-never die! My plans...a-are foolproof!" They said, their voice distorted from heavy damage as their remaining limbs grabbed at the ground to crawl at the two. Amanda was about to raise her shield in defense as they tried to bring their sword towards her, but Vladimir grimaced and brought his sledgehammer down atop Mendrogan's head to smash it into a thousand pieces with a single heavy, electrified swing, Mendrogan's outreached arm flopping to the ground with the rest of their skeleton like cybernetics and the tar like mess their remaining flesh had become.

A shudder came from Molotok as he made a brief "blech". "Slimy and doesn't die when they're supposed to. Gross." He said, still more than a bit freaked out about the whole experience, a small chortle coming from Amanda.

"Good grief that stinks." He said, wrinkling his nose and then turning to her, eyes widening when he saw a healed over gash in her arm. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah yeah...say...know where we can find some ice cream here? I could definitely do with some ice cream in my belly." She said with a wide grin.

.......

Also have a finished commission of Commander Columbia.

Anyway, on this note. One possible rendition of Siegfried and Columbia's second and final fight in the first film (though obviously the actual film wouldn't be so focused on the two's duel to the exclusion of all else).


.......................

Tibet, 1939

A thrown tank plowed through formations of gathered Japanese soldiers, flipping end over end as it smashed into pieces and crushed the unfortunate souls caught by it into paste beneath the ground.

"Siegfried, call more soldiers!" Romulus shouted in a panic at the impassive German Goliath. However the teutonic titan simply remained unflinchingly still and silent, their black and grey armoured body wrapped in a cloak bearing the swastika on it. Thunder and lightning crashed in the distance and Romulus prepared to get closer so as to shout more clearly into Siegfried's ear. However, Romulus froze as Siegfried slowly turned his head towards him, the Italian standing as still as any statue.

"You think more chaff will make a difference, Romulus?" He asked in a deep and cold voice, like the howl of a blizzard's winds.

"I...No, of course not Siegfried." He said, his voice growing small as Siegfried looked at the sky.

"Good, it would be quite unfortunate for someone named for Rome's founder to be a coward." Siegfried said as he noticed a tiny red line in the sky; the mystically guided spear of Columbia; homing in on and then stabbing a plane out of the sky and sending it in his direction before returning to its original owner. He simply stood there and stared as the aircraft's burning frame tumbling like a poorly thrown toy before it slammed into the ground with a powerful explosion right on top of him. Several tons of explosives detonated all at once, smothering him in the burning orange light of the detonation and obscuring him in smoke that rose continually as the deafening cacophony of the explosion slowly receded into the distance.

However when Amanda landed in front of the crater Siegfried was standing there, having not even flinched. His cloak fluttered without having so much as torn in the slightest and his black armour remained utterly untouched by the detonation. A simple dusting off of his right shoulder of some shrapnel that had come to rest on it was all he needed to make himself match his own standards of presentability and a deep exhalation was vented forth from the grille of his helmet.

"Now, I'm not very sure on what it is you're doing here, but it's not going any further Fritz." She said with a scowl beneath her helmet as she lay her spear atop her shield like the hoplites of old; her friends landing upon the ground one after the other following her. Siegfried remained unmoved as Romulus, Explorador, and finally the great black masked mass of Idaina Kage came into view, Romulus' armoured frame sprouting the golden wings of the Roman aquila and his pilums turning to lightning in his hands to confront Molotok, Explorador leveling a gun at Valiente who responded in kind, and the shapeless horror of Idaina Kage's black tendrils already leaping out towards Hua.

This left the two of them to themselves. While her friends had already exchanged their words with Siegfried's compatriots some time earlier elsewhere in China, this was only the second time that Amanda and Siegfried had met.

"I am curious about only one thing, Columbia." Siegfried said as he slowly drew the sword Balmung from the ether and let it be wreathed in sinister flames, throwing back his cloak to cease its obscuring of his arms and widening his legs into a duelist's stance. The emblem of the German Eagle clutching the Swastika was clearly and obviously diplayed on the white tunic that covered his breastplate and for the briefest moment, Amanda flinched at the sight of it. Hatred was not so much radiated from the man as it was being generated by him, a deep loathing of the idea that a girl who did not even come up to his navel would raise an arm against him, a vehement disgust at her and everything the hammer, compass, and grain on her shield stood for. It was enough to make her gulp briefly in worry.

"Why does a girl like you fight for the people of Shangri-la? They are not your allies, and have given you nothing." He said as she warily approached him.

"Because they deserve to live! All you have given them is death and pain! Why come all the way here if all you're going to do is hurt them?!" She shouted back as the two began to circle one another.

"If they deserved peace, they would have defeated us by now. If they had earned the power they hide, they would have driven us out of their country." Siegfried said as he disappeared in a blur.

Amanda realised what had happened immediately and twisted to bring the downward stroke of Balmung onto her shield at a glancing angle to let her redirect his momentum and jab Crimson into his chest, but just as before despite her thrusting forward with enough force to split the very air before the head in twain, Siegfried was unaffected. "He might be invulnerable, but he can't be unbeatable. The small of his back is his weakness...but he's never going to let me get behind him if he can help it." She thought to herself as her senses warned her of an incoming fist. Dust billowed forth from the impact that she jumped over and a shockwave tore open the earth itself, fissures running so deep that she could not see the bottom tearing open; a roar filling her ears as lava went gushing from the earth like blood from a wound.

Now at an optimal distance, she exploded into motion; Crimson and Noir; her spear and shield; meeting Balmung again and again in a clash imperceptible to mortal eyes. A noise not like the clash of sword, spear, and shield but like a continual barrage by a whole armada's worth of cannons trailed behind the concussive force of the detonations their every clash made. But with his invincibility, Siegfried had no need to make any sort of defensive play; simply taking every blow directly onto his unyielding black plate and advancing relentlessly through every blow she was making. She broke from the clash and rocketed herself backwards to gain distance in their duel as he sent the dust that had caked his form away with a single spell; the snow around them melting and vapourising from the heat that they had unleashed.

"Very impressive child. What a shame that you had to be born to the nation of my enemy...I would have been proud to call you a daughter." He said in a

"I'd really rather not imagine you as my papa." She spat, clanging her spear against the face of her shield again.

"Again someone of such atypical nobility for peasant stock spurns my compliments. It is a pity. You could be the valkyrie for rulers, instead of the flower girl of peons." He said, walking slowly towards her.

"You still think I'm a servant then?" She said as she looked at the solidity of the newly formed cliff he was walking upon and the integrity of the mountain behind him.

"Some serve, some rule. It's the law of nature, girl, and you don't seem willing to take the reins as a goddess of a godless people. So you must be a servant, a slave to those you could crush like ants." He said as he was close enough to raise Balmung overhead and smash it towards her, with only her quick thinking letting her skid it off of her shield and harmlessly into the ground. He pulled the blade upwards and moved to stab her in the gut, but trusting in her armour she took the blow in her golden cuiraiss and swept her leg downward to kick his leg out from under him. Seeing his sword burning once again with evil flames, she rolled out of the way as he caught himself with a hand and stabbed the sword into the ground to incinerate her with a ring of fire; heating and weakening the rock further as more of it crumbled into the lava channels below.

A smack of her spear's haft to his helmeted head briefly broke his focus and let her smash the rim of her shield into the side of his head; the thunderclap of the impact hopefully giving him a serious cause of ringing in the ear before her boot was applied to his visor hidden face; kicking him backwards and onto his back. By then following up with a kick to his supine body to roll him into a prone position, she made him think that she planned to impale his one weak point. This let her get back into the position she desired without arousing too much suspicion from him, jumping over a circular sweep of Balmung from him as he pushed himself back up onto his feet.

A heavy horizontal swing from left to right that could carve through mountains was caught between her shield and her pauldron; trapping the blade briefly and letting her force it upwards to the sky as she bull rushed him, spear in hand, driving him right back into the weakest point of the cliff. The punch to her chest wasn't something she counted on and she felt the air leap out of her lungs followed by a flash of light conjured by her mind as he elbowed her in the head and then kicked her in the stomach. His next sword blow smashed into her pauldron and cut into the metal, a yelp of pain coming from her as she felt an injury.

"And now we end this, Amanda." He said as he turned his sword to plant it through her skull after freeing it from her pauldron.

"I agree, Siegfried." She said as she pointed her spear behind him and let it open up with a discharge of energy to shatter the mountain top behind him violently enough for its shards to explode outwards with greater speed than artillery shells. As she had predicted, some of the shards struck Siegfried in the back, getting a snarl of pain from him as she sidestepped him and stabbed him in the back with Crimson, the Teuton's sword smashing into the cliff below as he staggered. The energies of Balmung shattered much of the cliff he was on and sent him falling into the abyss; an avalance of rock from the crumbling cliff sealing the opened magma bottomed chasm and burying him with it.

She didn't think he was dead, but her friends needed her help now, and he should at least be down for the count for more than enough time for her to stop Kage from her schemes.

 

[Aelita]

Absolutely this. As a fan of the TL, the FBU being a relatively stable and well meaning if ultimately backwards liberal democracy vs a radsoc democratic America is far more interesting than the FBU turning into a junta (and lets be honest you guys, your writing is good but some of your future reveals are incredibly blatant that the FBU is a heavy handed shit-fest, with the Montreal bomb being the worst offender) which will make the story far less interesting.

I remember the early years of the TL had the UASR and friends as ultimately the right side of history, but they were still a heavily flawed state, and the FBU, while ultimately wrong in its goals, was still a functioning state that ultimately meant well for their homes, families, and their homelands.

As the hears have progressed the writing, both in the fanfic and the main threads, seem to suggest that the UASR is the utopian, "do-no-wrong", golden boy of the story, while Britain and France are slowly turning into a Rosbif and Brie version of it can't happen here.

The AH.threads especially seem to indicate this, where it is almost always badass intelligent communists BTFOing ignorant liberal democrats or educating naive European Fellow travelers.

The whole thing is starting to stink of a take-that against right wing culture, which is understandable, but often gets in the way of the writing.

I will still be an avid reader of the story, but I knew something stank when the British Labour Party's political history was seemingly thrown to the wind shamelessly to help build a broad Left-Wing opposition front to the Tory Party.

I'm sorry if you are getting that vibe from the story. And while we're currently in canon in WW2, I have made it clear on multiple occasions that from its inception, the UASR is a hyperaggressive state that will spread the world revolution at the barrel of the gun. In revisions, it or its proxies conquered half of south America, setting up a process of industrialization that was disastrous to the peasantry of these countries (something the author, a lefty-pinko apologist, was forced to acknowledge). They engaged in gunboat imperialism against Liberia, it strongarmed the Republic of China into the Comintern orbit. And in WW2, it overthrew two neutral governments for military exigency (Iceland, Iran).

If the UASR didn't happen to have powerful allies and a coalition of friendly nations under its umbrella, the UASR would be considered a dangerous rogue state. In the second incarnation of the TL, they are not nice. They are capable of rationalizing away just about any cruelty on the grounds of historic necessity, such as the invasion of Japan. Not to spoil too much, but ITTL there is actually good reason to argue that the atomic bombings and invasion were not necessary. A constitutional monarchy and liberal capitalist regime a la Brazil was something that would be possible to negotiate. The insistence on unconditional surrender and regime change on revolutionary grounds is pretty cruel.

In the oft foreshadowed War for the Horn, the Comintern and the UASR choose escalation at every instance, and would have begun their Final War at that moment had the USSR not balked.

 

[Bookmark1995]

I'm sorry if you are getting that vibe from the story. And while we're currently in canon in WW2, I have made it clear on multiple occasions that from its inception, the UASR is a hyperaggressive state that will spread the world revolution at the barrel of the gun. In revisions, it or its proxies conquered half of south America, setting up a process of industrialization that was disastrous to the peasantry of these countries (something the author, a lefty-pinko apologist, was forced to acknowledge). They engaged in gunboat imperialism against Liberia, it strongarmed the Republic of China into the Comintern orbit. And in WW2, it overthrew two neutral governments for military exigency (Iceland, Iran).

If the UASR didn't happen to have powerful allies and a coalition of friendly nations under its umbrella, the UASR would be considered a dangerous rogue state. In the second incarnation of the TL, they are not nice. They are capable of rationalizing away just about any cruelty on the grounds of historic necessity, such as the invasion of Japan. Not to spoil too much, but ITTL there is actually good reason to argue that the atomic bombings and invasion were not necessary. A constitutional monarchy and liberal capitalist regime a la Brazil was something that would be possible to negotiate. The insistence on unconditional surrender and regime change on revolutionary grounds is pretty cruel.

In the oft foreshadowed War for the Horn, the Comintern and the UASR choose escalation at every instance, and would have begun their Final War at that moment had the USSR not balked.

Yes, they are clearly uber-Wilsonian in their geopolitical attitude.

What we call the Greatest Generation has seen a smorgasbord of horrors brought by capitalism and reaction.

Their capitalist predecessors sacrificing democracy on the pyre of profit, and allowing a megalomaniac general to seize power.

The death camps and mass graves created by their opponents, funded by capitalist businessmen that traded morality for profit, and by Western democracies willing to shake hands with obvious devils.

Their opponents eager to maintain colonial rule (only a step above Nazism in many cases) at the expense of post-war peace.

The horrors of 1929-1946 have lend credence to the idea of capitalism being a horrible sin. And they would not want to see those horrors being recreated ever again.

Unlike the Stalinists, the American Reds have actual good intentions, but this makes them feel more justified in their own dirty laundry. It is not exactly a rogue state, because it would imply that its domestic policies have created hell for a lot of people, which they haven't, by all accounts.

The FBU is thus often backed into a corner, and must do a lot to ensure its own survival.

Also that American culture is very alien from our own, due to 80 years of communist thinking and lifestyle. I don't know if I want to live there, because it's very different than my own sensibilities, even as a socialist.

Well, they provide free healthcare, good housing, and a better standard for culture. I think that would be enough to overlook their sins.

If I did end up there (pretending to be an Ameriacuban) I would probably hide out in the Midwest, and slowly assimilate into their culture.

Bare in mind that we have yet to see the Cold War era in full. That hint about the bomber has no context, so we don't know how that arose. It could've been an agreed decision amongst the Entente high command, or one lone General Ripper figure, who wants to make the first move against Comintern.

Fair point, but that fact that strategy exists makes this world far more chilling then our own.

 

[The_Red_Star_Rising]

Yes, they are clearly uber-Wilsonian in their geopolitical attitude.

What we call the Greatest Generation has seen a smorgasbord of horrors brought by capitalism and reaction.

Their capitalist predecessors sacrificing democracy on the pyre of profit, and allowing a megalomaniac general to seize power.

The death camps and mass graves created by their opponents, funded by capitalist businessmen that traded morality for profit, and by Western democracies willing to shake hands with obvious devils.

Their opponents eager to maintain colonial rule (only a step above Nazism in many cases) at the expense of post-war peace.

The horrors of 1929-1946 have lend credence to the idea of capitalism being a horrible sin. And they would not want to see those horrors being recreated ever again.

Unlike the Stalinists, the American Reds have actual good intentions, but this makes them feel more justified in their own dirty laundry. It is not exactly a rogue state, because it would imply that its domestic policies have created hell for a lot of people, which they haven't, by all accounts.

The FBU is thus often backed into a corner, and must do a lot to ensure its own survival.



Well, they provide free healthcare, good housing, and a better standard for culture. I think that would be enough to overlook their sins.

If I did end up there (pretending to be an Ameriacuban) I would probably hide out in the Midwest, and slowly assimilate into their culture.




Fair point, but that fact that strategy exists makes this world far more chilling then our own.

OTL British nuclear weapons are entirely up to the discretion of their immediate commanders to use. If a submarine captain tomorrow decided to burn down the planet, all he'd have to do is turn some bike locks and the missiles would be good to go to launch. No command codes needed, no authorization from high command or the prime minister. The only restriction is a British gentleman's honour.

 

[teg]

OTL British nuclear weapons are entirely up to the discretion of their immediate commanders to use. If a submarine captain tomorrow decided to burn down the planet, all he'd have to do is turn some bike locks and the missiles would be good to go to launch. No command codes needed, no authorization from high command or the prime minister. The only restriction is a British gentleman's honour.

This isn't actually completely true. While British commanders can launch independent of central command in theory, they would need the co-operation of two other people on board - the executive officer and the weapons operation engineering officer before a nuclear strike could actually occur. I also suspect ITTL the Franco-British will establish a more tight command and control structure because the FBU nuclear deterrent will be much bigger than the OTL British or French programs.

teg

 

[BP Booker]

Once Canada is gone? Well the FBU still holds Cuba and Newfoundland

Would Newfoundland and Labrador not go the way of Canada? Even if it wasent annexed to the country in 1948?

 

[MernStahl]

I'm sorry if you are getting that vibe from the story. And while we're currently in canon in WW2, I have made it clear on multiple occasions that from its inception, the UASR is a hyperaggressive state that will spread the world revolution at the barrel of the gun. In revisions, it or its proxies conquered half of south America, setting up a process of industrialization that was disastrous to the peasantry of these countries (something the author, a lefty-pinko apologist, was forced to acknowledge). They engaged in gunboat imperialism against Liberia, it strongarmed the Republic of China into the Comintern orbit. And in WW2, it overthrew two neutral governments for military exigency (Iceland, Iran).

If the UASR didn't happen to have powerful allies and a coalition of friendly nations under its umbrella, the UASR would be considered a dangerous rogue state. In the second incarnation of the TL, they are not nice. They are capable of rationalizing away just about any cruelty on the grounds of historic necessity, such as the invasion of Japan. Not to spoil too much, but ITTL there is actually good reason to argue that the atomic bombings and invasion were not necessary. A constitutional monarchy and liberal capitalist regime a la Brazil was something that would be possible to negotiate. The insistence on unconditional surrender and regime change on revolutionary grounds is pretty cruel.

In the oft foreshadowed War for the Horn, the Comintern and the UASR choose escalation at every instance, and would have begun their Final War at that moment had the USSR not balked.

Ah, very interesting. Just wondering (I appreciate if you can't say due to spoilers) - why does the UASR conduct a violent, radical regime change in Japan but not in Brazil when both are possible? Japan requiring a firmer hand? The UASR just being tired of the Axis following an ugly war (since Brazil was the first major Axis power to fall but Japan is the last holdout) and deciding they've had quite enough of the Axis by this point?

 

[Nyvis]

Ah, very interesting. Just wondering (I appreciate if you can't say due to spoilers) - why does the UASR conduct a violent, radical regime change in Japan but not in Brazil when both are possible? Japan requiring a firmer hand? The UASR just being tired of the Axis following an ugly war (since Brazil was the first major Axis power to fall but Japan is the last holdout) and deciding they've had quite enough of the Axis by this point?

Because they don't have a free hand in Brazil, with the FBU supporting the new government? Because they still have a war to finish and can't have their assets tied down keeping Brazil still while they remake it?

 

[MernStahl]

Because they don't have a free hand in Brazil, with the FBU supporting the new government? Because they still have a war to finish and can't have their assets tied down keeping Brazil still while they remake it?

True but they could probably just go in if they wanted to. I would also have thought that it's not unthinkable sufficiently dedicated revolutionary government would damn the difficulties and just go in - I mean Jello noted that the UASR was preparing to escalate to a nuclear conflict over the war in the Horn of Africa.

 

[Nyvis]

True but they could probably just go in if they wanted to. I would also have thought that it's not unthinkable sufficiently dedicated revolutionary government would damn the difficulties and just go in - I mean Jello noted that the UASR was preparing to escalate to a nuclear conflict over the war in the Horn of Africa.

They have to save the USSR before they get into anything else. Brazil is just a sideshow at this point. Japan is a different case because they had a free hand, with the war finished.

 

[Knightmare]

They have to save the USSR before they get into anything else. Brazil is just a sideshow at this point. Japan is a different case because they had a free hand, with the war finished.

Plus, different scale.

IIRC, Brazil was toppled by a FBU backed monarchy coup, meaning the UASR would have to topple THEM, somehow find a leader figure with literally any public support (Given there was like 3 Communists in Brazil, that might be hard), install them, and keep them in the top spot.

Japan doesn't have any such luck on that end.

 

[Bookmark1995]

The debate over the invasion of Japan is so contentious, it inspired this contribution.

Please note, there is obvious bias in the person's work.


HistoryFacts.UASR

Why didn't Japan surrender the same way Brazil did? And Could the Invasion of Japan Been Avoided?

April James

March 10, 2009

The Invasion of Japan has become the quintessential example of historical revisionism in the modern era. The postwar generation learned about the heroic Reds vanquishing the tyrannical Japanese military government, and saving Asia from destruction.

The students of today learn about an invasion that potentially rivals Operation Teutonic in the number of horrors. Some histories present Reds as barbarians mercilessly slaughtering Japanese civilians. (Of course, no small number of these figures have fascist-imperialist leanings).

Even still, the horrific death toll has left many wondering if Japan could have been offered the way out Brazil was: having a monarch, but under bourgeois social democracy.

The fact was, Japan's invasion was more or less inevitable, as several factors made a Pedro-style surrender impossible.

The factors combine, geography, geopolitics, internal politics, and ideology.

Geography

As long as you weren't asleep in social studies, or you've bothered to glance at a map, you'll know that Brazil is a big ASS country. It makes up half of South America. And more importantly, it is covered by the Amazon, a vast dense jungle. Why do criminal enterprises and neo-Integralists (who are usually interconnected) find the Amazon so great: because decades later, there are parts that are still unexplored, even with all the development and satellite technology.

More importantly, the Amazon is rich in a shit ton of resources and farmland. Another reason why it is possible to build self-sufficient communities there.

The biggest fear of the Allies was Salgado and his cronies retreating into the Brazilian Amazon, like the Soviets retreated into the Urals, and having to fight a prolonged guerrilla war against Salgado, when the Amazon was even less developed. With more important things going on in the world, the Allies wanted to get out of Brazil as quickly as possible, hence resurrecting Brazil's monarchy.

By contrast, Japan was a relatively small island nation whose only real natural barrier against invasion was sea, and by the end of the war, even that could not keep out invaders.

The main reason for Japan's violent imperialism, like all imperialists, was a desire for resources. Japan is a very resource poor nation, and its grotesque expansionism was a desire by the ruling elites to get the resources of East Asia cheaply.

Most of the allies didn't think that Japan, if invaded and occupied, could withstand invasion for very long, unlike Salgado, who would have endless land and resources to live off of. Of course, they would soon learn how fanatical Japan's people truly were.

Geopolitics

Like Europe, the Americas are a place that has been divided by the Cold War. The imperialist Western Europeans, since the Age of Exploration, continued to have economic interests in the region, despite their colonial empires being great reduced since the early 19th century. The Guianas, Cuba, and the Caribbean islands were but a few examples.

The War in South America was a collaboration between the Reds and the Blues. The former sought to defend its South American allies from the Brazilian horde, while the latter sought to defend its interests, especially as Salgado sought to add the Guianas to his ever growing empire.

The Reds felt the need to collaborate with the Blues, even the fascist MacArthur, to bring Salgado to his knees.

While Japan had permanently crippled the European empires of Southeast Asia, and had menaced Australia and India, the home islands themselves were much closer to American and Soviets forces then they were to British forces.

Despite the Europeans and their imperialist ways, they had no ability to gain a toehold on Japan, as they struggled, in vain to rebuild their colonial empires.

Internal Politics

Salgado is often considered to be a totalitarian ruler, but in reality, he was far less successful than Hitler, or even Mussolini in creating a cult of personality, and more importantly, was less successful in maintaining a completely loyal regime.

The Brazilian economic, military, and political elite, fearing that they would undergo the fate of their fellow oppressors in Central America, backed Salgado because he seemed to be the only person to take Communism seriously. They were cruel, but they were also sane.

Salgado, the madman he was, quickly alienated them. Even at the peak of his power, Salgado already frightened his backers with his acts of cruelty. Hitler is famously known for his frequent outbursts, and blatant (and ill-fated) interference in military affairs.

Salgado, if anything, was ten times more capricious and petty than Hitler was. One infamous example was strangling one of his officers in the middle of a staff meeting. By the end of the war, the Brazilian elite, sooner than the German elite, realized how they had nursed a wolf cub, and he was know feasting on him, and were looking for an escape.

Also, Pedro Henrique, a descendant of Brazil's imperial past, was an easy figure for the Brazilian elite and public to rally around, and thus Salgado could be easily deposed. And to the delight of the European left, Henrique was also a believer in social democratic policies.

Japan, more so than even Nazi Germany, was a nation slavishly devoted to its leadership. For generations, Japanese people had been taught to revere their emperor as a God. Even Japanese elite who saw their empire falling down around them, could not be compelled to surrender, for that would dishonor their God. Many Japanese soldiers continued to fight in the jungles of Southeast Asia well into the 1970s.

One author called Imperial Japan "the largest cult in history, as many Japanese people had drunk the sake of fanaticism, to the point where they willingly used themselves as cannon fodder".

To get Japan to surrender, there needed to be a member of the Imperial family who could compel Japan to call it quits. But unlike with Brazil, there was no relative of the emperor who could be compelled to seize power, and certainly no relative who would support social democracy, let alone Communist ideals.

The Japanese Communists not only lacked legitimacy, but they we're (aside from a few spies and rebels) far too small and inconsequential to gain any ready acceptance among the brainwashed Japanese populace.

Ideology

The Reds, simply put, were not going to let Japan remain an imperialist monarchy. The Reds understood that society cannot change through a few kind words, and based on their own histories, knew creating an equal society required the shedding of imperialist and capitalist blood.

The economic isolation and ruin of Japan could not shake the will of the Japanese to serve their corrupt regime, and this only added to the belief that Japan needed war to accept the concept of the worker's state.

And potentially, that may be true.

West Germany under the Hohenzollerns and Brazil under Pedro are still societies, that sadly, remain slavishly devoted to imperialism and capitalism. The former whitewashes both its Nazi past, while the latter remains a base for Integralists, who may one day take advantage of the weak-willed Brazilian elite to return to power.

Japan today is a proud red state that does not whitewash its own history. And it has traded imperialism for cultural soft power. I grew up reading manga, so I look at Japan fondly.

Japan demonstrates that violence maybe bad, but it can be the only way to change society. As shown, it may take the final war to end the capitalist reign over Europe.

 

[Marisa Kiridifferent]

Great piece as always.

The tone is a bit informal,was it intended?Also doubt "drink a kool-aid" would be an euphemism ITTL.

 

[generalurist]

People complain about the FBU turning into a Junta, but I really don't see how they can continue to exist without becoming at least partly junta-like. Their faction controls a minority of the world's wealth and industrial resources with all the issues that entails, and the other faction has vastly superior civil rights in most cases.

In OTL Gorbachev's Glasnost policy actually helped spell the death knell of the USSR as the citizens realized how shitty their lot actually was and decided they wanted out. If the FBU went full Liberal Democracy any time after Canada falls, they'll probably end up in the same situation.