"What Madness Is This?" Volume I: The Union Forever
- Thread starter Napoleon53
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Based on my idea in the EU thread that a defictionalized version of Arthur Gordon Pym could be the discoverer of Antarctica (and given talk about a hollow Earth chapter) TTL the Union could rename Tierra del Fuego the state of Pymzonia, and use it as a base to patrol Antarctica, just because they can and claiming an entire continent for themselves is exactly their thing.
Kinda fascinating that all the nations which could make a partial claim on Antartica are members of fascist sphere (South Africa, Australia, Britian, Norway RU, Carolina) apart from maybe Peru and Argentina. Would be kinda hilarious if the Great White South became a flashpoint of conflict between the fascists.
Other possible claimants could be MittelAfrika, the Dutch, Russians, French, Ireland (I want Irish colonies, dangit!)
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Wedge shaped territories for all the nations of the (Free) World!
Using this map as a base, for example, the RU could lay claim to the regions of Ognia and Bellingauzenia, with the rest sliced up between various other fascist powers. The magnetic pole could have a very unsettling fundie church built on it, designed by Lovecraft himself.
Also shout out to Murica1776 for the excellent CoCorea chapters in the expanded universe. I know a joint Cokie-Corean Antarctic outpost would be pushing it but only in this TL could such a thing be possible. Kimchi barbecue penguin burgers anyone?
If you're a small island right next to a country whose population outnumbers yours by more than ten to one which is currently ruled by genocidal fascists who want you dead, why on Earth would you want to be dedicating your soldiers and spending your resources in a faraway land? Only if you're completely devoid of any sense of self-preservation.
It would be a bit like August 1939 Poland going "I know! This is the perfect time to spend our money sending our soldiers to make the North Pole Polish! What could possibly go wrong?"
More like North Pole amirite?
It's also good to have a redoubt or two to launch retaliatory attacks from, but that would only be practical TTL between the creation of the Peacemaker Bomb and the birth of the Space Force.A nation can afford that sort of luxury when it isn't right next to a fascist regime which wants it annihilated from the face of the earth, ruling over a neighbouring nation with a population many, many times larger than its own. Under that circumstance, any military deployment or sizeable expenditure of resources outside the homeland—any—is Darwin Awards levels of "too dumb to live".
Die young and leave a booby trapped corpse I say! A redoubt doesn't need to be large, just a small crew in a bunker or shoal of submarines with a missile delivery system.
Antarctica, March 1976
British explorer: I do say chum, this piece of frozen soil with oil under it is the rightful property of the Brittanic Union! Rule Brittania!
Cokie Soldier: You listen to me you tea-swilling sumbitch, and you listen good! This land is rightful territory of the Confederation of the Carolina, and I'll fight ya for it! Hark the Sound!
Meanwhile the Zealots of the Order of Patriot-Saint Lovecraft pass by as dead silence reigns for a moment and the local Union military governor looks on the argument with a look that's somehow both bored to death and ever vigilant.
I was only joking....mostly. I like to lobby for Ireland getting colonies as someplace to retreat to should things go tits up and the fascists overrun the mainland. I'm also the same person arguing for Ireland to go full North Korea style self-sufficiency and militarization to try and bleed the fascists white and make conquering the island an insanely costly an endeavour.
I was thinking that an Irish antarctic colony would start off as some sort of scientific outpost or coaling station set up before the war, quitely forgotten about by everyone until the apocalypse and it's like 50 residents becomes the last bastion of Irish culture, like a twisted Vault-tec experiment
Don't know if it's been brought up, but if this timeline ends up like the original and the world ends in total nuclear war, seeing the aftermath of it would be a hell of a ride. If the Madnessverse is insane now, imagine what it would be like in a post-apocalyptic setting. It doesn't necessarily have to be a TL itself, it would be cool if it only focused on the immediate aftermath. Each post could detail what happened to every region, similar to the format @Ephraim Ben Raphael used in Stars and Stripes Forever. Could work as a collaborative project.
Potential title: "What Madness Was This?"
Potential title: "What Madness Was This?"
Heh. Mad Max meets Waterworld as a new Atheling rises to restart Manifest Destiny.
Let’s not forget Not!Panem and the AFC successor-run state that totally isn’t ripping off Divergent’s faction system. And maybe some of Midas Goldstein’s acolytes who still do human experimentation for fruitless ends
But in classic Madnessverse fashion, everyone and their grandmother claims the title to the point where calling yourself Atheling is just a common fact of life.
I think the original apocalyptic epilogue in 1.0 was about a new ruler conquering the entire New World so clearly you'll end up with a Grand Atheling ruling a scheming court of lesser Athelings with an iron fist.
Now obsessed with a Madnessverse version of a Medieval America thread!