Search results

For anyone who’s played the random world setting: are you restricted if you don’t have the Old Gods DLC? Will it prevent you from playing the custom religions there?

Theoretically, Sunnis only need to be elected Caliph by the faithful to claim that position. So an independent Egypt controlling the Hedjaz could quite easily claim the title by virtue of being the protector of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. I really doubt other areas of the Empire would...

I'm doubting the likelihood of the British switching sides. Muhammad Ali Pasha was a major figure in fighting the Greek Rebellion in the 1820s, which put him at odds with the British, and any way you slice it, a divided Ottoman Empire is far less likely to be an effective bulwark against Russia...

Muhammad Ali Pasha actually did come remarkably close to controlling the Ottoman Empire IOTL - in 1812 his forces captured the Hedjaz, and in the 1830s he had an army that was literally at Constantinople's doorstep, without any meaningful military obstacles. The whole situation was defused by...

St. Louis screwed itself over dividing the city and the county in 1876 (largely a white flight thing) and never really recovered from the demographic collapse that triggered. Avoiding that is a great way to avoid St. Louis dropping off the big lists.

Shooting much further into the future, why not have John Tzimskes avoid assassination and thus prevent Basil II from having to become a military man? The Macedonian Dynasty, at that point, had a history of non-dynasts taking effective power (Romanos I, Nikephoros II, John I) without holding the...

That's an excellent point regarding Santiago de Compostella. You could also draw from the various pseudo-apostles to get some more Patriarchs - after all, Constantinople was a stretch. There's Epenetus, the supposed first Bishop of Carthage (or Cartagena) who was listed as one of the "seventy...

Carthage is the clear choice for a sixth Patriarch, but the issue is where a seventh would be. Anywhere in the Italian Peninsula would challenge Rome's position, while outside would be too vulnerable to external threat. The other big issue is that each of the Pentarchs are tied to one of the...

There's a random footnote of history known as the Sabine Free State where, between 1803 and 1821, neither Spanish nor American settlers were allowed in western Louisiana. This could be the perfect place for Lafayette to try out his emancipation.

This is admittedly post-1900, but it's a period of time you can draw inspiration from. I've always found the period of "Taisho Democracy" to be a particularly fascinating one. Long story short, between an oligarchic Meiji period and militaristic Showa period, we have a brief interlude in the 20s...

If I remember correctly, Adams did have a strong aristocratic/monarchic streak to him, refusing to call Washington anything but "Your Highness" during the Washington Administration and writing to Jefferson that a "natural aristocracy" existed among men.

I enjoyed this! I know a lot of this board tends to be skeptical of Chinese New World TLs, but I've always been under the impression that the Chinese, as far back as the 15th century, possessed the material, technological, and navigational ability to reach the new world, but lacked any...

I appreciate the tip of the hat, sir. I'm unfortunately rubbish at map-making, but this map is pretty accurate, with the exceptions of the Ghassanids (who have absorbed the Lakhmids and Hejaz region), the Visigoths (who now control the entirety of the Iberian peninsula), northern Italy...

Chapter Nine: Orbiting a Broken Star (The Roman Cultural Sphere to 630) The fallout from the Second Council of Nicaea in 626 resounded throughout the Roman world. While previously the Latin and Greek rites of Christianity had been both nominally Chalcedonian, the assertion at the council that...

Thank you! Milan as Melian was meant as a sort of transition between Mediolanum and Milan. And the difference between the Gallo-Roman culture, which is doing quite well, and the Frankish culture, will be quite important. The Western Roman Empire is tricky. I've gone back and forth on it - a...

Chapter Eight: In Search of Unity (623-630) The ascension of the Heraclian Dynasty in Constantinople had brought with it a number of issues, primarily regarding Italia. For much of the Imperial population, the former heart of the Empire had devolved into a backwater, twice ravaged by...

So, I wrote up another chapter looking at the Roman world following the end of the Tiberian Dynasty. If people seem to like it, and are alright with my comparative lack of knowledge of Merovingian France and the Ghassanids, I'll give this TL a shot at continuing.

Biden&Ceaser'12, darthfanta That's interesting on Emperors between Adrianople and Heraclius's reign not leading armies in the field - I'll admit that I'm not a full-fledged expert on the area BG-style. The Tiberians are taxing the population less than they did OTL, but to say that taxes...

C'est fini. Unless there's lots of interest in a continuation of this, since, to be quite honest, it would require a lot of knowledge about the early Franks and Ghassanids that I don't quite have.

Chapter Seven: Emperors, Usurpers, and Prophets (622-623) With one notable exception we will touch upon later, most histories of the latter half of Theodosius III’s reign tend to focus on his war with Heraclius in the west [1]. As 622 began, Heraclius, Theodore, and Phocas made the bold...