A Different Dragon

I've been a great fan of the Draka ever since I first read the books on the recommendation of this site. However the basic problem is as has been pointed out ad nauseam the fundamental implausibility of the TL most especially the astonishing early growth of the Draka and the lack of butterflies elsewhere. This is my attempt to fix it while as remaining true to Stirlings vision as possible.


Basic Timeline.

Outbreak of American Revolution. Major Patrick Ferguson invents early breech-loading rifle.
1775 Benedict Arnold wins the Battle of Quebec, Quebec joins the Revolution.

This is my Point of the Divergence from the original Draka timeline.

1779 France, Spain, Netherlands declare war on Great Britain.

1779 British fleet under Admiral Lord Cochrane lands occupying force in Cape Town.

1780 Colonel Ferguson's loyalists victorious in battle of King's Mountain. Several Loyalist units, including Tarleton's Legion and the newly formed Ferguson's Legion, re-equipped with Ferguson breech-loaders. Savage partisan warfare throughout Southern colonies. With the rebels allied with Catholic Quebec, Loyalists are more numerous than OTL and inter-American conflict fiercer.

1781 General Cornwallis defeated at Baltimore, surrounded he surrenders to American rebels and their French allies.

1782 British naval victories in Caribbean, occupation of Haiti and Trinidad.

1783 Second Peace of Paris. American independence recognized; British Florida and most of her conquests in Caribbean are exchanged for possession of Dutch Cape Colony.

1783 Loyalty Acts passed by British Parliament: the Cape is renamed the Crown Colony of Drakia, and all colonials who fought or otherwise suffered for their loyalty to the Crown are offered transport and land grants; so are the Hessian and other German mercenaries in British service at the time. General Patrick Ferguson is first Governor-General. With no Canada to go to a more hostile environment at home 300,000 Tories will leave America of the next decade. Most return to England or head to what remains of Britain's American Empire, the West Indies and Newfoundland, however 100,000 decide to head for a new land of opportunity.

1783 First Loyalist refugees arrive in Cape Town. Conquest of Southern Africa begun.

1783-86 75,000 Loyalists and their families (not including some 2,000 slaves) arrive; 10,000 Hessians soon follow, with relatives and families arriving in a steady trickle from Germany. At this time the Dutch Afrikaner population is less than 10,000, some choose to stay living on the Cape however roughly 5,000 decide to trek inland to avoid uitlander rule. They head inland and while most settle down to a life of semi-nomadic farming as soon as they get beyond the reach of the British some keep heading on, eventually reaching the Witwatersrand mountains.

1784 Founding of York (Durban, South Africa), and New Charleston (East London, South Africa), these are small settlements established by pioneers, most of the Loyalists settle in Western Cape. They quickly come into conflict with the natives and while the general policy is one of expulsion some former Southerners wanting to recreate the plantations they had left begin enslaving people.

1783-84 Volcanic eruptions devastate Iceland. 5,000 Icelanders take asylum in Drakia, arriving 1783-86.

1785 Board of Roads established to begin constructing roads in the new colony, due to shortage and high cost of free labour, slave labour is used and the first government slaves acquired.

1786-90 Continued growth of economy and population and Loyalist immigration. Beginning of export trades in sugar, wool, salt, hides etc., established. However prime activity is the resupply of ships heading to and from India and the Far East.

1786 Drakan Legislative assembly established to advise the British appointed Governor.

1787 Constitution of the United States of America ratified, independent Kingdom of Quebec under a cadet branch of the French Royal Family established.

1787 With the closure of North America to British convict transportation a new solution was needed and Captain Phillips arrives at the new Colony with 1,362 new settlers (OTL First Fleet). A regular run of convict ships begins plying the Cape Town-Plymouth route.

1788 Colonel Freiherr Augustus von Shrakenberg retires, receives 5,000 acre land grant on the Breed River. Marries Alexandra Hugeson, of a New Jersey loyalist family.

1790 University of Cape Town founded. Anglican bishoprics established in Cape Town. Establishment of the Drakian Corps from demobilised British Soldiers to assist the resident British Regiment in fighting native resistance.

1790 Free population reaches 120,000; slave/serf 40,000 in 1790. Control of Western Cape province plus a number coastal settlements. Most settlement is either in the immediate environs of Cape Town (40,000) and along the Breed, Berg and Elephant Rivers.

More will follow

1790 and not 1970, right.

This is interesting. The Draka in TTL don't seem to be as slavery-happy as the canon-Draka and the Domination is, at present, majority free.

All these Africans being expelled from the conquered zones might be kind of PO'd and we might see some kind of alliance formed against the Draka.

Also, what's the demographic situation of the lands where the Boers are fleeing? I think the Great Trek in OTL was easier because the Mfecane (sp?) had depopulated much of the interior, but that was many years later than in TTL.

The Boers are being very useful and acting as scouts for the Drakians, however there is endemic conflict between White's and Natives in the region with multiple Battle of Blood River analogues going both ways. However the Boers are generally sticking together and trying not to PO the natives too much while more English are arriving every day.

Update.

1790-94 Continued growth of economy and population. A gradual shift in economic activity and policy from expelling the Natives from the land to enslaving them, while not formalised and with a distinctly dodgy legal basis slavery grows in importance in the colony. There is a considerable amount of resistance from the Free Soilers, primarily from England both New and old, who argue for a Free Soil colony. However the Governor Alexander Lindsay, Earl of Balcarres, based on his experience as Governor of Jamaica generally sided with the pro-slavery faction. Free population reaches 155,000; slave/serf 70,000 in 1794. Control of Western Cape province plus a number coastal settlements. Most settlement is either in the immediate environs of Cape Town (30,000) and along the Breed, Berg and Elephant Rivers. York (Durban, South Africa) is the most easterly outpost.

1791 Trekboer Julius van der Merwe discovers 1 ounce nugget of solid gold while pausing a t a stream to drink in the Witwatersrand, he tells no-one and continues on.

1792 Continued spread inland and along the coast with Squatters following the Trekboers path. First Englishman, George Johnson (of Rum Rebellion fame) reaches what he calls the Whiteridge mountains, he returns having made contact with several Boer communities, many of who are struggling in the face of native hostility.

1794 British travelling merchant John Anderson when trading supplies and tools with a small Boer community in the Whiteridge Mountains is offered a small nugget of gold. Quickly realising the potential he discovers that there have been several similar discoveries. Selling all his trading stock he acquires as much gold as he can before heading to York (Durban, South Africa). There he contacts his brother and a close friend and sells the gold he has acquired, he uses it to acquire 10 slaves and equip the party for mining. He returns to the area and strikes lucky after a few weeks of searching. While they make every effort to keep their discovery a secret word soon leaks out a nuggets of Gold begin to appear on the York market. After that word spreads like wildfire.

1795 Beginning of the Gold Boom, thousands flock to the Whiteridge mountains from all over the Colony to begin prospecting and are astonished by the richness of the deposits they find. For those who strike lucky their first purchase is often slaves with which to exploit their newly discovered bounty. Word reaches Britain and is treated as a God send by a Britain busy fighting an extremely expensive war.

1796 With the full knowledge and support of the British government a small percentage of Gold exports from Drakia are taxed and used to subsidise travel. The war and British policy mean it is restricted to Protestant Britons, but for them the cost of travel to Drakia is now lower than across the Atlantic to America. Drawn by the Gold Boom and cheap travel tens of thousands leave the high taxes and privations of war time Britain for the literally golden opportunities of Drakia.

1798 Drakian Legislative Assembly at instigation of British Governor passes Franchise and Militia Acts. This requires all enfranchised citizens to arm and equip themselves to "adequate" standards and perform two weeks of Militia duty a year, however Militia are not required to serve more than 50 miles from their home nor for longer than 3 months. Intended as a way to lessen the burden of defence against the Natives on British Regiments it enables to 3 of the 7 battalions to be dispatched to India, where General Wellesley needs them for his campaign against the Tippu Sultan. It also restricts the franchise to those deemed suitable. However for the first time it links the concept of Drakian Citizenship with military service.

1794-1800 Driven by the Gold Boom in the Whiteridge the focus of urban population growth shifts from the Cape Town to York, however most growth is concentrated in Whiteridge. Archona, a minor Trekboer (Pretoria, South Africa) booms as the service centre of Whiteridge. It also becomes the biggest slave market of the colony as tens of thousands of freshly caught Natives are sold off to work the mines.

1800 Free population 265,000, Slave population 220,000. Natural population growth is extremely rapid due to a combination of the youthful nature of the settlers with almost all being in their early twenties and and plentiful food leading to a lower infant morality rate than in crowded Britain. 65,000 of the 115,000 additions to the colony are births.

1801 Strong demand for already “tamed” slaves actually starts a reverse Slave trade from the America's back to Africa to work the mines of Drakia. While the numbers are small, in the low thousands it attracts attention on all sides. First large scale industry established in Drakia due Napoleonic Wars and transports costs. However it is primarily with free labour.

1802 Under considerable pressure from York and Archona interests the Crown Colony of Drakia is subdivided into Cape Province (OTL Western Cape Province), Charlotte Province (most of OTL Eastern Cape) named after King George III's wife, Natal (OTL Natal plus a bit of Eastern Cape) and Whiteridge (OTL Free State and Gauteng). Each has a British appointed Lieutenant-Governor and locally elected Assembly. The Assemblies appoint members of the Drakian Assembly who assist, but are subordinate to, the British appointed Governor-General.

1803 Establishment of Trevithick Steamworks in Newcastle, Natal (OTL Newcastle, Natal) and the first Drakian steam engine. Gradual improvements and adaptations are made to suit it to local conditions. It is also one of the first uses of Slave Labour in industry, though this is confined to 15 Slaves performing basic menial tasks compared to over 200 free employee's.

1804 While there had been small scale slave revolts from the earliest days of Colony this had been merely a adjunct of native African resistance. However a large scale purely slave revolt breaks out in the Whiteridge mines quickly spreading, over 1,000 whites are killed before it is put down. It is put down with great ferocity, including the rumours of Impalement though in an ironic twist there is a strong likely hood that this actually originated in an Abolitionist pamphlet printed in Britain detailing the horrors of the Drakian reaction and was only adopted by the Drakians afterwards. Passage with the approval of the British Governor of the Bondservent Act, providing increased legal justification not only for Chattel Slavery but also its suppression.

1805 “Slaves are only good for picking cotton, building roads and mining gold, but there is a lot of cotton to pick, roads to build and gold to mine” George Johnson, Drakian Assembly member for York. This neatly encapsulates that attitude of most Drakians to slavery, though he should have mentioned domestic service as well. Having white servants is now a sign of extreme wealth due both to the competition from slaves and the scarcity and cost of free labour.

1805 Continued strong growth on the back of the Gold Boom but increasing diversification with the beginning of basic Industry. Continued agricultural settlement with a mix large area ranching farms using free labour and intensive plantation's producing not just basic staples but also increasingly cotton using slave labour. Free population 405,000 Slave Population 380,000. The immigration rate is holding steady at about 18,000 a year with the remaindering of the growth coming from natural increase. Of that about 15,000 is from Britain with the remainder coming from the Continent despite Napoleon's best efforts.

Definitely not so slavey this time around, although we still have impalement.

I wonder if we'll end up with a largely free industrial sector and a largely slave agricultural and mining sector?

Will they still have ghouloons?

I'll be honest I do want to keep the essential "Draka-ness", part of which is extensive Chattel slavery. Its just that suddenly taking 100,000 Americans, many of whom must have come from free soil states, dumping them in Africa and then them going on a slaving campaign unmatched in history acquiring 2,000,000 slaves by 1790, i.e. 7 years is just dumb.

Aracnid said:

I'll be honest I do want to keep the essential "Draka-ness", part of which is extensive Chattel slavery. Its just that suddenly taking 100,000 Americans, many of whom must have come from free soil states, dumping them in Africa and then them going on a slaving campaign unmatched in history acquiring 2,000,000 slaves by 1790, i.e. 7 years is just dumb.

Click to expand...

True, but much more equitable free-slave numbers remove some of the incentive for the Draka to militarize as they did.

They might end up being as heavily armed as the militias and slave patrols of the Old South were, but they might not go as far as sending their kids to military boarding school nine months of the year from age 6, for example.

Of course, Nat Turner's rebellion in Virginia hardened attitudes toward slaves significantly and he only killed 32 people in a state with a relatively small slave population (as compared to, say, Mississippi).

A slave revolt that kills 1,000 whites could do the same for Drakia, even if slaves are only half the population and not 90% of it.

If you want to have the Draka have their anti-Christian attitude as they did in canon, perhaps a Britain heavily influenced by the evangelical and abolition movements attempts to enforce abolition--or at least reforms--on the Draka.

The Draka can resist these and trigger a war of independence that the US, seeing the Draka as fellow rebels against British rule, might actually support.

I'm imagining the war beginning with the slave-control militia killing the Anglican clergy en masse for teaching slaves to read, for example. This could begin the alienation of the Draka from Christianity.

However, in the OTL South, the local Anglican clergy weren't imposed by the hierarchy in Britain the way Catholic clergy were in the Spanish colonies (where, IIRC, the slave system was not as severe) and were locals, so the Draka clergy might side with the slavers for the most part.

The Whiteridge rebellion has had a very similar affect on Drakian opinion as the Nat Turner one, its just that without self-government they can't pass the sort of legislation Stirling had them do. They want to, but can't.

Second update in one day!

1807 Slavery is now a major issue politically in Britain with William Wilberforce and other abolitionists mounting a sustained campaign against “the horrific extension of this cruel institution” however his campaign to end the Slave Trade narrowly fails as Drakian Gold and Jamaican sugar buy enough votes in the House of Commons, for now. However public opinion in Britain is slowly but inexorably moving against the Drakians, who by now are almost entirely in favour of its preservation. While they are not too worried about ending the Slave Trade itself due to its small economic importance to them they are rightly worried that it is the thin end of the wedge with total Abolition being the goal.

1808 Drakian settlement has now reached the areas claimed by Portugal in Mozambique, this leads to several clashes with Portuguese settlers. However as Portugal is vital ally in the war against Napoleon the British Governor strictly prevents further clashes, dispatching two of his four Regiments to patrol the area while requesting a join British-Portuguese Commission to define a border. With continued conflict with the Natives plus another slave uprising the Governor is also forced to authorise the formation of three more standing battalions of the Drakian Corps and its split into Regiments representing each of the five province's (Cape, Charlotte, Natal, Whiteridge and Ferguson(most of Transvaal). In addition mounted regiments are raised in each Province. British Army in Africa is now 4 British Infantry Regiments, 2 Cavalry Regiment plus 7 regular Drakian Infantry Regiments and 5 Cavalry Regiments, the Cape Artillery Regiment is also formed.

1808 Richard Trevithick forced to sell Trevithick Steamworks to a consortium of York businessmen due to being a better engineer than manager. He returns to Britain. He leaves behind him 8 primitive steam rail locomotives on 6 separate tracks, all in the Whiteridge Range apart from the longest one, at 4 miles, connecting his Newcastle factory to a nearby coal mine. There have been other experiments in the USA and Britain on a similar small scale. He also leave behind him a prototype Steam Drag (very basic, very rubbish steam lorry).

1809 Continued Drakian settlement in Mozambique, while discouraged by Portugal, poor governance and the focus on Europe means that almost 10% of the European population is now Anglo and rapidly growing. While the British government does everything it can, it can't physically remove Anglo's without violating Portuguese sovereignty.

1809 The belated end of Transportation to Drakia and the first settlement of Australia. Portland (Sydney, Australia) founded. Passage by Cape Province Assembly of Education Act. Up until now there had been no formal education system apart from that provided by the Church and a number of prestigious private schools for the elite. This Act establishes money for the funding of primary eduction up to 11 through the existing Anglican Church schools in more settled areas and the establishment of 6 boarding schools for those from sparsely populated rural area. Other Provinces pass similar Acts over the next decade.

1810 Continued strong growth on the back of the British Governments limitless demand for Gold to use as subsidies to its Continental Allies in the War against France, which is now, slowly, being won. Abolitionists try and fail again to outlaw the Slave Trade however this time it only failed by 6 votes in the House of Commons. Free Population 575,000, Slave 680,000. For the first time the Slave population of the Colony now outnumbers the free population.

1811 The end of War against France with the Treaty of Brussels. With Napoleon dead from a cannonball at the Battle of Verdun and Louis XVIII restored to the throne Europe can return to peace. A new wave of demobilised British soldiers head to Drakia, thousands of Europeans wish the could join them, eager to leave a place that has been a battleground for too long. However Drakian subsidies are only available to travellers from English ports meaning the majority who cannot afford a trip to America or Drakia are forced to stay at home.

1812 Drakian settlement now stretches along the coast from Walvis Bay to Mozambique, though it is extremely thin in some area. While the entire inland area south of the Limpopo is claimed, in reality actually Drakian control outside coastal areas is limited to Eastern and Western Cape, parts of Natal and the Whiteridge Mountains, though there is increasing agricultural settlement north of the mountains on the High Veld. What military force couldn't do, slave traders looking for fresh stock for the incredibly deadly mines have done, in clearing much of this area of Natives. Expeditions are now increasingly having to go north of the Limpopo and into Mozambique in order to acquire fresh “stock”.

1813 Gradual and slow increase in powers of local assemblies. While the British Governors are still the legal authority in the colony most are sensible enough to listen to local advice on things like road construction and urban planning which take up the majority of their time.

1813 William Wilberforce resubmits his Abolishment Exportation of Slaves from Africa Act. It was nearly scuppered at the last moment when another abolitionist amended it to include forbidding further enslavement in Africa, however Wilberforce managed to persuade him to withdraw his amendment for fear of the best being the enemy of the good. Despite vast amounts of money spent on bribery by West Indian and Drakian slave interests it manages to pass. This ends the previously lucrative export of slaves from the Colony to the West Indies and America, apart from that it does not directly affect Drakia. It is still extremely unpopular and 34,000 of the Colonies leading members including every member of the Whiteridge Assembly sign a petition requesting that it not get Royal Assent. However George the III signs it into law.

1814 First public steam railway in the world begins construction in Britain. The Stockton-Darlington railway will be 26 miles long when completed. There are now over a hundred small, mostly unmanned locomotives in the Colony, all running on private tracks and mostly part of the mining industry. Trevithick Steamworks is now producing 20 steam locomotives a year as well as several hundred steam engines. The various manufactures have agreed to to standardise on two gauges, narrow (3 ft) and broad (5ft). However most locomotives in current use are of various unique gauges.

1815 Free population 800,000, Slave 1,200,000 For the first time natural increase contributes more to population growth than immigration. A distinctive Drakian identity is increasingly evident which though still very closely linked to that of the Tory America and England. Drakia is now increasingly elided to Draka in conversation. Another first is that the majority of 20 year olds were born in Drakia.

Update the fourth.

1815-20 Continued Anti-Slavery agitation in Britain however the economic costs of its abolition not just in Drakia but much more importantly the West Indies preserve it for now. Net Importation from the West Indies of nearly 50,000 slaves over five years in a reverse triangle trade as overproduction due to Drakian sugar plantations begins to affect the West Indies. First Drakian settlers cross the Limpopo and begin an unregulated push north. The British Governor is following a policy of concentration of settlement and does not wish to add yet more sparsely settled and expensive to protect territory, however Drakian adventures lured by the prospect of further mineral finds, first pick of farmland and fresh slaves ignore him.

1816 World economy pulls out of post-war recession partly due to Drakian gold, however there are continued issues with inflation especially in Drakia where the abundance of Gold and shortage of manufactured products is seriously distorting the economy. As steam technology improves and the industrial Revolution accelerates in Britain. Despite infant industrial industries both the USA and Drakia are lagging behind England, however Europe is even further behind the Anglo-sphere economically and technologically. However there are the beginnings of industrialisation, especially Wallonia.

1817 Drakian settlement of Carlton (Salisbury, Rhodesia) attacked and overrun with several hundred killed. A reminder of the consequences of pushing further north than the reach of the British government controlled British Army in Africa made up of the resident British regiments and the various local units. Despite this setback settlement continues.

1817 First public steam railway in the world opens in Britain, the Stockton-Darlington railway is only 26 miles long but it sets is generally marked as the beginning of Railway Mania.

1818 Due to increased cost of transportation compared to American cotton and sugar Drakian produce now sets the reserve price. In an effort to break into new markets Drakian producers attempt to move up the supply chain, Worthington Textiles founded. It sets an example which similar businesses follow with a mixed slave/free labour force with the slaves confined to the simplest and most dangerous tasks providing around 60% of the work force. While this meets with hostility from poor Whites fearing competition the fact that the basic wage is twice that in Britain and 50% more than in the US due to the endemic labour shortage limits complaints.

1819 Slavery is now the basis of large sections of the Drakan economy. Mining is the main export earner and centrepiece of the economy and is almost entirely dependent on Slave labour. Agriculture is the other main component of the economy and slave plantations make up only 35% of farms. However they produce 55% of produce and 80% of agricultural exports, primarily cotton and sugar. Due to basic security concerns the grazing and wool sector is almost entirely free. Permanent ranches are mostly in the drier areas where arable cultivation is unsuitable. But Squatters also manage large Runs in more outlying areas that have yet to be subdivided.

1820 The cost of travel to Drakia comes down due to the route being more travelled and improvements in ships in addition to the continued subsidies, that and economic problems in Europe means immigration picks up to almost 25,000 a year. Around 15,000 come from the British Isles with most of the remainder from Protestant Northern Europe. Anti-Catholic prejudice means that Catholics only make up around 5% of the population of Drakia and a similar percentage of immigrants. Free Population 1,100,000, Slave 1,900,000.

1820 The America's are going in the opposite direction to the slave based Drakia. With the slave population of the Caribbean gradually declining as a percentage and slavery gradually moving south in the US. The USA and Kingdom of Quebec are lands of yeomen farmers with the beginnings of industrialisation in the North-East of the US. The Kingdom of Quebec is attracting increasing numbers of migrants from Catholic Europe, especially France. The US is growing very rapidly but primarily due to an astonishing birth rate only equally by the Drakans, most immigrants are still British, or German, however their numbers are sharply reduced by the lures of subsidised travel to Drakia. Australian colonisation is going slowly, not least due to the fact that any ship bound there has to stop off in Drakia and normally loses many of the potential colonists. Nonetheless Tasmania and Fredricksland (New South Wales, Australia) are growing steadily, this is given a fillip by numbers of free soilers feeling increasingly uncomfortable and excluded in Drakia, in 1820 40% of arrivals in Portland originate not from Portsmouth but York or Cape Town.

Uh oh. The slaves now outnumber the free folk and the free folk uncomfortable with slavery are starting to bolt.

Still, much more realistic than the canon timeline. The Draka have suffered a major setback (the destruction of the settlement) and still aren't entirely slaveocratic.

Aracnid said:

1791 Trekboer Julius van der Merwe discovers 1 ounce nugget of solid gold while pausing a t a stream to drink in the Witwatersrand, he tells no-one and continues on.

Click to expand...

This guy kind dropped the ball, didn't he? I don't know that I would have kept going. I'd have stopped and staked a claim, myself.

These Draka sound like they might be less inclined to paranoia, which might mean that they're less inclined to listen to Nietzsche and co. which will probably have profound effects vs. Stirling's Draka.

Quatermain said:

This guy kind dropped the ball, didn't he? I don't know that I would have kept going. I'd have stopped and staked a claim, myself.

These Draka sound like they might be less inclined to paranoia, which might mean that they're less inclined to listen to Nietzsche and co. which will probably have profound effects vs. Stirling's Draka.

Click to expand...

OTL Boer children played with diamonds because they didn't recognize what they were. Of course, gold is a lot more recognizable than a diamond is.

Besides, Julius might have realized he could not have defended his claim by himself. The first person to take a Witwatersrand claim may have been coerced into selling it for $20 and then been murdered.

MerryPrankster said:

OTL Boer children played with diamonds because they didn't recognize what they were. Of course, gold is a lot more recognizable than a diamond is.

Click to expand...

Yeah, diamonds in their raw state can easily be mistaken for less valuable objects, but gold is kind of hard to miss, even 'raw.'

MerryPrankster said:

Besides, Julius might have realized he could not have defended his claim by himself. The first person to take a Witwatersrand claim may have been coerced into selling it for $20 and then been murdered.

Click to expand...

There is that, yeah. That sort of thing happened all the time during the various American gold rushes(and given the consistency of human nature probably during the Australian ones as well) and the Domination's frontier would probably be even wilder and more lawless.

Van der Merwe reasoning was actually that he couldn't stop and stay as he was heading for the High Veld to avoid uitlanders and reporting it would lead to even more uitlanders following his trail. Instead he chucks it in his pack and continues on.

MerryPrankster said:

Uh oh. The slaves now outnumber the free folk and the free folk uncomfortable with slavery are starting to bolt.
Still, much more realistic than the canon timeline. The Draka have suffered a major setback (the destruction of the settlement) and still aren't entirely slaveocratic.

Click to expand...

As I said my aim is to combine as much realism as possible with the development of something in the same general ball-park as the cannon Draka. However do not expect E. v. S to be leading Cohort of Draka para's with 1970's era gear into the Caucasus to attack the Waffen-SS in 1942. I'm a firm believer in butterflies and while the winds are quite small at the moment they difference will only grow stronger. Nappy is pretty much the last OTL figure who will appear apart from maybe one or two Royal's and Aristo's and they will be ATL analogues with different birth dates and characters who thanks to naming conventions have the same name as OTL figures.

Interlude

Interlude.​

Richard Arkwright walked along the rows of immature olive tree's under the warm African sun, checking their growth, pausing, he looked up the valley towards the House, outlined perfectly by the setting sun. Behind it he could see a warm red glow from the cook fire in front the neat whitewashed block of the Slave Quarters. He felt a warm glow of contentment to think how far this place had come in the past decades. He remember the first time he had seen the Cape from the deck of the HMS Diomede as the sailed into Cape Town in August 1783. After the horror of the journey it had seemed a promised land. The HMS Diomede was the third ship to arrive from New York, carrying those who had sacrificed their homes and lives for King and Country and he had been the twelfth man ashore. The brutal fighting against the natives as they claimed this savage land and then his discharge at the end of Khoi campaign in 1786 seemed so long ago now. As a Colour Sergeant with ten years under the colours he was entitled to a good plot of 3,000 acres on the Breed River and with his demob pay and he had bought 10 freshly captured Khoi, men who he had probably fought at any ones of the numerous skirmishes that had seen them defeated and this land claimed for those who deserved it. He had then headed off, cautiously escorting the new slaves along with two of his old privates from the 60th Royal American's who had agreed to help him settle and act as overseers, Andrews and Monckton. When he had arrived he had found nothing but a bright red post denoting where his property began, another where it ended and otherwise it had been bush and trees.
Now it was a model plantation, generally regarded as one of the finest in the Valley, and he was its Master. Quite a change for a boy who had gone hungry on the streets of Richmond, now he was one of the local quality. He had always felt nervous when attending society functions and making polite chit-chat with the other neighbourhood worthies, afraid that someone would spot him and pull him out, pronounce that he didn't belong. He knew his son James had no such worries. But then he supposed the Aristocracy of the Old Country had started out like him, Men-at-Arms who had come across with the William the Conquer and earned their land and titles by force of arms. That was the way of the world.
He jerked from the daydream, the sun was almost down and supper would be served soon, he had to change, it wouldn't be done to eat with soil still on his shoes.

It would be interesting to see funded reverse-colonisation to Britain from Draka. They would be funded by the wealthy Drakian aristocrats who wanted to attempt to influence the British public to become anti-abolitionist. Or the Drakian wealthy upper class could arrange trips to visit their cousin aristocracy in Britain, bringing their slaves along, in an attempt to reintroduce popular slavery in their home country.

It would certainly be more different.