I'm unfamiliar on the details but is Romania a Constitutional Monarchy in 2016 ITTL? Or something else entirely?
It is explicitly Basileia ton Romaion and not Politeia ton Romaion. In theory the Emperor has unlimited power but in practice that power is seldom used. The system could be more accurately described as Oligocratic where a small group of people (appointed by the Emperor) form a core executive committee that runs the country on behalf of the Emperor (kinda not unlike the British Privy Council). The Senate exists and is the major legislative organ of the Empire (closer to the British House of Commons/American House of Representatives than the American Senate) as it has been empowered by the Emperor (and not the other way around).I'm unfamiliar on the details but is Romania a Constitutional Monarchy in 2016 ITTL? Or something else entirely?
Paul Atreides wouldn't happen to be the son of one Leto, would it?
I liked that present day point of view. Would like to read more into it. Like how the city looks are there any colonies. How bout a map showing this future.
Tentative map of regions that elect Senators here:
So the empire is now a 40k style empire where the emperor's 'incapacitated' and a council is ruling on behalf of this 'emperor',who is also Jesus Christ?Also, how many of you got the significance of the bit about "Christ the Emperor" statue?
Thanks! No idea what happened with that post-but really appreciate that you caught and fixed it.That image isn't working. Here's a fixed link:
So the empire is now a 40k style empire where the emperor's 'incapacitated' and a council is ruling on behalf of this 'emperor',who is also Jesus Christ?
"And there is the great masterpiece!" cried William. "Christ as Emperor".
The statue itself was quite small, and not particularly remarkable as a work of art. Yet this was considered a main draw for the complex by most, and I drew closer to see what the fuss was about.
Proximity however did little to change my opinion on that. Jesus was sitting on a throne, garbed in the standard medieval Imperial apparel. The whole thing was barely six inches tall and was visibly composed of fragments stuck together. Extremely unremarkable for a political hot potato.
"Isn't it a beauty", crooned William.
"I suppose so, " I said, moving on to see the dome mosaic which was far more impressive. Basil definitely had better craftsmen than Constantine Palaiologos, and it showed.
So the thing in question is just a small statue of Christ, garbed in Imperial attire and sitting on the throne. Don't think I actually gave enough clues though: it was commissioned out of certain spoils of war to celebrate the ultimate triumph over Empire's worst foe.
Oh, right.
They carved a statue of Christ out of the black stone of the Kaaba. That's quite a beautiful symbolic statement
I see why some Muslims might be slightly annoyed by this, though.
I agree an 11th century Emperor would not even contemplate this in any form. However, a later Emperor may sing a different tune (certainly not domestically, but when it comes to trying to get concessions from a "sister" ) depending on circumstances at that point (plus someone might not be able to avoid family ties-let's say family X trades with west and uses this claim with Roman merchants, then circumstances make someone from family X who is now a farmer Emperor. Covering up can only go so far.). And yeah, the supposed claim is via the female line (else someone might just ask-well, why isn't your name Makedon then?)I highly doubt any Chinese emperor would ever claim that he was a descendant of a foreigner if they could help it--except through the female line maybe,but even then it's not saying they would try to boast about.The Li Imperial family of the Tang Dynasty spent much effort trying to cover up the fact their ancestors were not Hans--going as far as to claim that they descended from the Han Dynasty general Li Guang and Laozi.
Is Xi'an supposed to be capital of China in this timeline?If it is,I think the rulers of China would have reverted the city back to it's old name of Chang'an since renaming the city Xian to begin with was more or less an attempt to diminish the city's status after the capital was moved elsewhere.Not that I actually recommend Xian as capital--since over farming during the Tang Dynasty made the area around Xian dry and barren,making it difficult to supply as a capital city.
Unless the regime's a barbarian regime turned Constitutional monarchy--there are a number of ideal locations for a capital.I agree an 11th century Emperor would not even contemplate this in any form. However, a later Emperor may sing a different tune (certainly not domestically, but when it comes to trying to get concessions from a "sister" ) depending on circumstances at that point (plus someone might not be able to avoid family ties-let's say family X trades with west and uses this claim with Roman merchants, then circumstances make someone from family X who is now a farmer Emperor. Covering up can only go so far.). And yeah, the supposed claim is via the female line (else someone might just ask-well, why isn't your name Makedon then?)
Nope, capital is not Xian. The city is still of historical interest (courtesy a certain someone who got buried nearby) and that's why the modern POV person is visiting. Im a tad torn between whether the capital is at Beijing and Nanjing (it'll be Beijing for the last part of the Imperial era, but then I am wondering if the new system will move it or not).
Giving a branch of the Imperial family full autonomy over such rich lands still seems like a recipe for Civil War. But then again, they're right in the path of a Turkish invasion, very small window for any shenanigans.Basil III was proclaimed as junior Emperor on the same standing with Basil II and Constantine VIII on April 24th of 1023 in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, with all the dignitaries of the Empire (and some from abroad) in attendance, including his uncle the Kaisar Michael. The Kaisar was compensated with virtually unchecked freedom in Mesopotamia (in the form of a hereditary Duchy) and a large annual cash subsidy to protect the eastern borders of the Empire. The writ of the younger Emperor however ran de-facto absolute in all other lands, and Basil II finally felt confident to formally retire in 1024-only the second Emperor to have done so willingly and the first since Diocletian.
Could go both ways.A hereditary Macedonian duchy would mean that any potential non-Macedonian pretender would have to think twice before they try to usurp the throne.In my opinion,one of the major reasons why none of the other Roman Dynasties lasted as long as the Palaiologian Dynasty was that the Palaiologians were quite into giving out fiefs to family members.Giving a branch of the Imperial family full autonomy over such rich lands still seems like a recipe for Civil War. But then again, they're right in the path of a Turkish invasion, very small window for any shenanigans.
Unless the regime's a barbarian regime turned Constitutional monarchy--there are a number of ideal locations for a capital.
If it's a maritime regime,the capital will most likely be in Nanjing,but Nanjing suffers from the fact that it has poor communication with North-West China since it's so much farther to the South-East.The other good locations for a capital would be Wuhan,Xiangyang,Luoyang or Kaifeng.Kaifeng was a major trade node since it's just next to the grand canal and it's the capital of the Song Dynasty--the problem with Kaifeng was that it's rather indefensible in a war since the whole city's just situated on a massive plain.Luoyang's a good capital in the sense that it's the capital of numerous dynasties(or at least served as a secondary capital),situated in the center of China and has eight passes that could defend the enemies against.Wuhan,like Nanjing's also situated along the Yangtze which made it relatively easily to supply and is in a far more center position than Nanjing.Xiangyang was proposed thrice as a capital in the history of China because it's highly defensible(given it's surrounded by a number of mountains and that it actually resisted the Mongols IOTL for a total of six years and only surrendered due to lack of starvation),it's at the crossroads between a number of important places like Sichuan,Luoyang and Southern China as well as being connected to the Yangtze River through the Han River,which made it easy to supply.The fact that Beijing became capital was due to a myriad of factors rather than it being a good capital.
Beijing was a 'good' capital in the sense that for the CCP,the receive legitimacy by using the capital of China for the past six hundred years as capital--not to mention Beijing being close to the USSR which was a major ally at the time of the PRC's formation.For the Ming Dynasty,it was a 'good' capital in the sense that the man who usurped the throne(Yongle) needed to be in a place where he is most secure not to mention where he has direct control over most over his armies--Beijing served this for Yongle as it was his fief before he usurped the throne and that from Beijing he could direct and control most of his armies more securely as the city's basically just at the frontier.Meanwhile,Beijing's a 'good' capital for barbarian regimes like the (Jin,Yuan and Qing Dynasties) because it's close to the steppe where they can get the fuck out easily if Chinese rebelled.
Otherwise,Beijing's not a good capital in the sense that it's ridiculously close to the enemy(a good number of barbarians were able to gain an upper hand in negotiations simply because they could easily threaten Beijing as opposed to a more southern capital like Nanjing),it's also quite hard to supply Beijing as it's so far up the north where agricultural produce are not optimum and that grain has to be imported from the south from shipments(which was an enormous burden upon the finances of the Ming Dynasty).Despite being situated just next to a river,Beijing suffers from water supply problems.It also suffers from things like sandstorms.It's actually so bad that there's increasingly frequent talks about moving to capital to Xiangyang in modern times.