"What Madness Is This?" Volume I: The Union Forever
- Thread starter Napoleon53
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He'll probably just take over as writer for Zap Zephyr and maintain a lifelong friendship with Oswald/steady propaganda pipeline in the pulps.
Perhaps Xenu appears as an evil Martian Infee dictator, who wants to capture and enslave the souls of the Pinnacle Men so that his void-bound race can have real souls? He does something like that in the Scientologist texts, and it seems like the kind of thing Fundamentalist Americans would eat up.
Speaking about Hubbard, is it possible he will create this TL's version of Scientology as a consequence of his near-death experience during the war?
After all the chapter revealed he will be known as "Lazarus" in the future and a mixt of PTSD and brain damage could lead to some interesting ideas.
After all the chapter revealed he will be known as "Lazarus" in the future and a mixt of PTSD and brain damage could lead to some interesting ideas.
Well, that chapter just about sets the tone for this war, huh? This is gonna have all the grace and charm of two hyenas ripping each other apart.
Exquisite. Make that three hyenas. Also, Brazilian-made? The crazy anarchists are leading an industrial power, good for them! I guess the inability to buy arms from America and Europa forced them to establish that industry locally about 30-40 years before OTL (where shipbuilding rose for pretty much the same reasons: the Brazilian junta found it increasingly difficult to source military imports from America as the Cold War wound down).
I've been thinking about this-- this, plus the earlier reference by Jansen to Valhalla, seem to imply that a much more nihilistic, militaristic faith is trying to burst out of the AFC's Christian veneer, and that veneer is weakest in the military (whether it be Norse-LARPers like Jansen or the curiously atheistic Dewey). But what if, instead, the "War God" isn't some other deity but merely an aspect of Jehovah? The Quran refers to Allah with epithets reflecting his fundamental characteristics; it's possible that Americans' understanding of God has shifted so much that He is seen as fundamentally... warlike.
God made animals to populate the earth, and yet He made them to fight over food and eat each other for sustenance. He made the angels as powerful-but-subservient entities, instilling them with an unsolvable inner conflict that found expression in Lucifer's revolt. As it is with angels and animals, so it is with men: God slighted Cain, and drove him to murder his brother. God delights in creation, but conflict and violence can be creative too! It can be evolutionary. God doesn't desire a static kingdom, a calm sea in which he can view His own reflection; he wants a storming, churning, whirling world. He desires that the weak may test themselves against the strong, and vice versa. However, He is all-knowing: he knows who the truly strong really are, and he knows the weak will always dash themselves against the rocks in vain. The strong aren't just physically strong, it takes mental strength (intelligence, temperance, other "Better" qualities) to build a strong civilization-- so some morality is still demanded of even the strong, when they are at peace and dealing among each other. But in war against the weak, a war that would be inevitable even if it hadn't been specifically ordained by the Four Books, there is no shame in victory. Victory, at any cost and by any means, is a service to God, and an emulation of his creativity. After all, did God not create the World by driving away the Void?
Exquisite. Make that three hyenas. Also, Brazilian-made? The crazy anarchists are leading an industrial power, good for them! I guess the inability to buy arms from America and Europa forced them to establish that industry locally about 30-40 years before OTL (where shipbuilding rose for pretty much the same reasons: the Brazilian junta found it increasingly difficult to source military imports from America as the Cold War wound down).
I've been thinking about this-- this, plus the earlier reference by Jansen to Valhalla, seem to imply that a much more nihilistic, militaristic faith is trying to burst out of the AFC's Christian veneer, and that veneer is weakest in the military (whether it be Norse-LARPers like Jansen or the curiously atheistic Dewey). But what if, instead, the "War God" isn't some other deity but merely an aspect of Jehovah? The Quran refers to Allah with epithets reflecting his fundamental characteristics; it's possible that Americans' understanding of God has shifted so much that He is seen as fundamentally... warlike.
God made animals to populate the earth, and yet He made them to fight over food and eat each other for sustenance. He made the angels as powerful-but-subservient entities, instilling them with an unsolvable inner conflict that found expression in Lucifer's revolt. As it is with angels and animals, so it is with men: God slighted Cain, and drove him to murder his brother. God delights in creation, but conflict and violence can be creative too! It can be evolutionary. God doesn't desire a static kingdom, a calm sea in which he can view His own reflection; he wants a storming, churning, whirling world. He desires that the weak may test themselves against the strong, and vice versa. However, He is all-knowing: he knows who the truly strong really are, and he knows the weak will always dash themselves against the rocks in vain. The strong aren't just physically strong, it takes mental strength (intelligence, temperance, other "Better" qualities) to build a strong civilization-- so some morality is still demanded of even the strong, when they are at peace and dealing among each other. But in war against the weak, a war that would be inevitable even if it hadn't been specifically ordained by the Four Books, there is no shame in victory. Victory, at any cost and by any means, is a service to God, and an emulation of his creativity. After all, did God not create the World by driving away the Void?
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The AFC feels like it’s about to have a schism. With Lovecraft’s craziness, Norse mythology LARPers, whatever craziness Hubbard will cook up, and the conflict between Church and Party, I feel like some heresies going to form pretty soon. Obviously they won’t get too big, but it could cause some problems for America down the road.
I clicked it, and it looks like some Japanese gambling website. I have no idea what it has to do with Thomas Jefferson, but I don’t really care either.
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To say nothing of the libertinism set to spurt out everywhere in the Oswald era. Steele's holding it together through force of personality right now, but I can imagine the orthodox Church (no pun intended) losing out big in the funeral games after his death, especially if the traditionalists try to make a play for power to reverse their declining influence.
If this happens, i wonder how it will affect the rest of the Fascist Sphere.
Considering how much the AFC's doctrine is widespread around the world, i immagine that any heretical movement developing in the RU will inevitably cause a lot of troubles and violence in the other fascist states (if not directly a religious and political shism).
On the other hand i suspect that poor results in the war against the NP and the collapse of England (aka the birthplace of the Pinnacle Man) may be the key reasons for the creation of these new religious movements
Sorry, we couldn't find The collapse of England. Were you looking for Things that are impossible?
Behind the scenes photograph of Charles "Gene Lucas" Oswald during filming of 'Zap Zephyr: The Gorlax Strikes Back'
"Futhamoah, Snoodorf is key to all of this."
Can't remember if it has been in any official chapters but in my notes Zap's arch-nemesis is named Lord Zeenoo, Grand High Exalted Quasar of the Andromeda Galaxy.
This is brilliant!
Zeenoo is almost certainly an allusion to Xeno/Xenos (foreign)…
Speaking of which, what is the difference between the RU and NUSA, and when is the transition made? Oswald era? I thought most people in the era thought of the USA as a failure and distanced themselves from it?
I wonder how AFC doctrine could evolve over time? (Maybe it worships nuclear power at one point, especially due to reducing emissions if climate change becomes an issue?)
Speaking of which, what is the difference between the RU and NUSA, and when is the transition made? Oswald era? I thought most people in the era thought of the USA as a failure and distanced themselves from it?
I wonder how AFC doctrine could evolve over time? (Maybe it worships nuclear power at one point, especially due to reducing emissions if climate change becomes an issue?)
For anyone who's interested in further possibilities for war-cults-- the "creative violence" concept was formulated in a broader form by the Futurists, who I've been very interested in as of late. When they say they like violence, what they generally mean is rejection of convention, a hostile and uncompromising denial of established norms. The artist who wants to try a new style never seen before makes a violent break with predecessors. Violence can also be aimed at an "old" worldview-- if virtues like temperance and moderation evolved as a response to scarce resources and limited consumption, then they are unsuited for a society that can actually conceptualize post-scarcity. Industrial society must dare to produce more, and so it must not be satisfied with less. This leads to some fairly disgusting libertinism which I wrote a comment about last week on Look to the West. And of course, if peace keeps society stable and stability leads to stagnation, peace must be ended.
All this brings me to... Red Flood. Even if you haven't played or don't like Hearts of Iron, I guarantee everyone reading this TL is gonna love the story to this HOI4 mod. The lore is that Russia is stronger going into WW1 for a number of reasons (but not that strong, Nicholas II is assassinated by extremists), which causes Germany to focus France and successfully conclude the Schlieffen Plan... but then it gets defeated by Russia and undergoes socialist revolution. Russia and Britain dither but neither is willing to put Western Europe back together; Russia assigns West Prussia and Posen to a new Polish state, organizes a German monarchist government in Prussia, peaces out... and falls into civil war after Tsar Alexei dies with no heirs and the Bolsheviks make their move. So we got a lot of interesting elements: Spartacist Germany, Russia as a coalition of warlords under Kolchak's loose authority with communists regrouping in various wildernesses, Britain as a royalist military junta, but the nation that really sets the mod's tone and influences pretty much all future updates... is France (or as the dev report calls it, F R A N C E). Since WW1 it's seen democratic and authoritarian, left and right, but a new big tent ideology has consolidated power: Accelerationism. Its subfactions have three unique ways of turning France into a dystopian hell:
All this brings me to... Red Flood. Even if you haven't played or don't like Hearts of Iron, I guarantee everyone reading this TL is gonna love the story to this HOI4 mod. The lore is that Russia is stronger going into WW1 for a number of reasons (but not that strong, Nicholas II is assassinated by extremists), which causes Germany to focus France and successfully conclude the Schlieffen Plan... but then it gets defeated by Russia and undergoes socialist revolution. Russia and Britain dither but neither is willing to put Western Europe back together; Russia assigns West Prussia and Posen to a new Polish state, organizes a German monarchist government in Prussia, peaces out... and falls into civil war after Tsar Alexei dies with no heirs and the Bolsheviks make their move. So we got a lot of interesting elements: Spartacist Germany, Russia as a coalition of warlords under Kolchak's loose authority with communists regrouping in various wildernesses, Britain as a royalist military junta, but the nation that really sets the mod's tone and influences pretty much all future updates... is France (or as the dev report calls it, F R A N C E). Since WW1 it's seen democratic and authoritarian, left and right, but a new big tent ideology has consolidated power: Accelerationism. Its subfactions have three unique ways of turning France into a dystopian hell:
- The Escadron, a WW1-era special forces unit turned Revolutionary Guard Corps, leans into the militaristic, technophile side of Futurism. Centralization of the government, integration of new tech into nearly every economic/political function, expansion of cities to their feasible limits. France should run with the efficiency of a machine or a military unit, and be upgraded to the greatest extent possible. Now all this raises questions about liberty, to which the Escadron reply: Well, you do have liberty. What you don't have... is a self. Selfhood is an obstacle to French progress, so we must evolve past it. We are all Kabbalistic emanations of the Leader, we are literally him-- his mind/essence/will in another body, and you are entitled to all his own liberties so long as you follow all his-- or, your-- plans.
- The Acephale, a secret cabal of businessmen and socialites, fancy themselves a new aristocracy. They justify it with their big-brain theory about how all economies are driven by consumption, and that it's better economically for a few people to make outrageous amounts and blow it all than for a larger amount to earn small and spend small. So-- decentralization, gradual scaling-back of the law to the point where almost nothing is actually illegal. The Futurist angle comes in with how they approach spending-- for them, being a libertine is an imperative. You gotta find new ways to spend, ways that people haven't done (because they're patently immoral) or even thought of (because they're so whacked-out), not just because of the econ-flavored nonsense but because pleasure will guide you to enlightenment... and hey, even if you don't attain that you still got more pleasure. And you gotta find new ways to earn. Cinema is a product. Art is a product. So are drugs, sex workers, guns...
- The Druidists... are the enemy within. They carved out a niche by arguing that physical/spiritual health are avenues for progress too, and so aim to bring Frenchmen closer to nature and to their own long-suppressed Gaulish spirituality. This rapidly escalates into an immense skepticism toward the city and machines as things that enslave man, that demand he apply his labor to abstract and meaningless tasks as his vital essence ebbs away... and then escalates even more into anarcho-primitivism with Celtic characteristics, with Paris burned and the population sent into the country to carve totems and hunt.
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You just led me down the most insane and amazing rabbithole I've been down in a while. Thank you good sir. Also, I'd find it hilarious if the Union adopted ideals somewhat similar to the Acephale if Carolina is still its puritanical Southron self.
I'm only just climbing out of the rabbit hole myself, but the Eastern Europe/Asia updates are threatening to pull me back in.
Steele and the Escadron have very different ideas about culture/philosophy, but in governance and economic management they're very similar. Oswald and the Acephale... I'm sure Oswaldism will have to at least pay lip service to the AFC. The Acephale genuinely acknowledge no social, cultural, or legal boundaries. When they become the dominant faction they defuse a protest against them by sending prostitutes out and turning it into an orgy. They don't even move the orgy. It just unfolds right on the streets of Paris. There is a reason why Red Flood got big off memes and why the memes are usually about France.
I hope those slaves on Cuba manage to escape to South America and then Europe before the union can capture them again. If not then I hope they have a heroic last stand of some kind before getting brutally gunned down.
I don't think the Pact will be investing too much in cuba to evacuate the Infee slave there beyond shipping them guns to keep the RU and Carolina bogged down and their forces divided. That said, cuba would make an excellent forward base for Pact forces launch mission to the RU mainland from, either bombing runs or dropping special forces and saboteurs throughout Yucatan, Florida, and the southern states
Yeah the last stand thing is vastly more likely. Unless they just get gassed.