Dumb idea, but would either partnerships to split loans or more investment in small-scale and retail banking help so they're not as dependent on a relative handful of large borrowers?
With monks you could have a situation where people commonly spend some part of there lives as novices/monks with the expectation that they return to the world eventually, a bit like with some SE Asian Buddhist monastics.
Interesting-that affects colonization(s) and also who's doing what. I now picture some very, very rich merchant kingdoms on both coasts and probably more literary langauges getting transcribed and/or adopting or retaining writing systems. Plus more opportunities for different courts to play off...
Other point-distances may make it harder to do some forms of HSR but it also provides some advantages since you can do said long distances with few to no stops. I also want to make the point that we should also be investing in good public transit, as that makes a lot of teh use-cases for rail in...
My brain just produced the phrase "huacas of the Nine Saints" for some reason...
And yes, the discussion of the southwest seems fascinating, with state formation happening there. A stimulus-diffusion syllabary seems interesting here. And kudos for making a crop shift a major AH plot point-that's...
I kinda feel like...is it imposing too much OTL religion to say taht for Manicheanism to spread in Russia it has to be established at some point prior to the conversion of Russia in a location that is going to be spreading missionaries and influence in Russia before that point?
Oh BOOOOY. Also, what else exciting is happening? Is there anything interesting in the Southwest? Or Northwards? And how are things in the Siki and Andes?
Just have them be like (insert wacky thing that was actually a going concern; someone tries to revive Sabbateanism) or Hasidim or something if the Hasid-Misganed fight gets worse.
Jeez what is it with this site's fetish for keeping the capital in Philly? They weren't there consistently and left for a reason.
Anyhow, I wonder if our HK/Macau analog could be in the South if there were costal loyalists and a port or two that teh US could part with?
If we want a Random Enclave, are there any places that are A) strongly loyalist and B) sufficiently non-important that the patriots are going to be ok writing them off or conceding them?