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  1. Years of Rice and Salt...

    I just started reading this book. I am not a fan of the random poetry or the odd throwback 4th-wall breaking parts. While the glimpses it offers of the altered world so far are really interesting, the narrative parts feel generic. I am about 60 pages in (Kyu and Bold have just left Hangzhou)...
  2. In any given TL how often will gunpowder be invented?

    In our timeline, gunpowder was invented by the Chinese. Mythbusters demonstrates that even with precision equipment it takes practice to make your own gunpowder and have it work and it took decades if not a few centuries to go from invention of gunpowder to producing a high-quality product. In...
  3. Medieval Spy Agencies?

    Discounting the historical Assassins, in medieval Western Eurasia (Europe+Sunni Islamic world) how were spies and assassins trained? Was it just "hire somebody to poison X" or "pay off chancellor Y to pass us stuff" or were there systematic attempts to create/train groups of espionage-capable...
  4. The Russians find a Chinese translator

    Recently I came across this. So, if this is true what happens if the Russians can translate the letter that Petlin brings back? The comments to the article by commentor slawkenbergius suggest the impact would have been minor. Also anyone read the book reference in the link? It sounds rather...
  5. Improved infant mortality?

    So in reading many of the TL's here and looking at actual historical events, children of even nobles who presumably had access to better nutrition and care than the majority, still often die. That got me thinking. Are there practical things that could be done during the middle ages to reduce...
  6. AHC: Liberal Russian Superpower

    With a PoD no earlier than 1547 create a Russia that has all the current European territory of OTL's Russia (Kaliningrad optional) but is also a major economic power and a bastion of human rights and liberal democracy. It can be a constitutional monarchy or a republic. Note: This Russia can...
  7. Raptor of Spain 3.0 (The First 100 Years)

    Introductory Post Let's be clear: I'm NOT abandoning the TL. In fact I just completed a draft map of the east coast of North America. I will continue to do those updates. However I have done so much more research than in the beginning and when I look back I kind of shudder at the early parts...
  8. Boosting the Mediterranean world

    Inventions such as the heavy plow, geology (heavier soil, coal deposits), and climate all in the end proved advantageous for northern Europe. For most of history however, the Mediterranean had been the more prosperous region. What means are there to improve the position of the Mediterranean...
  9. Is a Christian Shogunate Possible?

    Christianity initially grew rather fast in Japan, but eventually became seen as a threat because leaders thought it would prove a vehicle for foreign domination. The Protestant European states liked to hint at this because of inter-European rivalries, there was infighting among the Christian...
  10. What would a Francoized England look like?

    Inspired by this quote by kasumigenx about France's troubles in Pro-Byzantium timelines. I've heard this often here, if England won the 100 Years War then France would dominate by virtue of economic and demographic strength. Well what would an England with more influences from France starting in...
  11. Roman Stlye Adoption continues?

    In classical Roman times, adoption were pretty regular among the elites for various reasons. Wiki suggests the cost of children was a major factor. Later on for the Germanic tribes blood kin proved to be more important as they constituted a loyal group to increase security. Is there a way to...
  12. WI: Manuel Comnenos marries Constance of Antioch?

    He was offered her hand but her mother Alice was tricked and then Constance was married off to Raymond of Poitiers. What if Alice see through the Patriach's trick and marries off Constance to Manuel? Now, in this TL there's no guarantee that Manuel will become emperor but it's still possible...
  13. AHC: Japan Adopts the Latin Alphabet (Romaji)

    During the Meiji period, Wikipedia says there were advocates of ending the traditional system and switching to a Romaji. The idea never caught on.... but is there a way it could have? The challenge: Anytime after Commodore Perry shows up (1854), is there any non-ASB way the Japanese would use...
  14. Spanish Industrialization

    Inspired by Russian Sailor's thread about France. This is probably the harder task. Is there a way with a PoD after 1492 that Spain can become an early industrial power? Probably not to the same level as Britain or eventually Germany, but a significant power none the less?
  15. Cinco de Mayo

    In 2008 member Kieth Robertsson asked "What if Cinco de Mayo was a French victory?" and his post was ignored. So I'm asking it again. Wiki says: Consequences to the United States So was Cinco de Mayo significant in preventing help to the South in the ACW?
  16. Ottoman Line Goes Extinct

    My favorite general narrative on the Ottoman Empire is Caroline Finkel's Osman's Dream. In it she talks about when Ibrahim the Crazy was dethroned in favor of Mehmed IV his son. She says at the time that despite Mehmed being a child he had to take the throne because there were no other male...
  17. Effect of the Polish May Constituation of 1791?

    Okay so this constitution was adopted just a few years after the US constitution. Historically this caused Poland to be partitioned. I'm not asking for ways that this doesn't happen. What I am wondering is what effect the May Constitution would have had on Poland if its neighbors did not react...
  18. Better Byzantine Outcome in the First Crusade

    Byzantine PoD, people like those! Short and sweet: Can Alexius Comnenus regain all of Anatolia with a PoD AFTER the Council of Clermont? Alexius obviously wanted to retake Anatolia which had only recently been lost. He succeeded in taking the west and the coasts to an extent but the interior...
  19. Once More With Feeling: West African Slavery

    Okay, I've been struggling with this issue for a year now for The Raptor of Spain. How to get European ships to the new world and the east without also launching into the horrendous slave trade? The main problem seems to be that if European states have colonies in the west and use them for...
  20. No Henry the Impotent of Castile?

    Henry IV was known as the Impotent as was not a great king. He was followed upon his death by Isabella the Catholic and who was his half-sister. Henry's mother was Mary of Aragon who died after bearing Henry. Isabella's mother was another Isabella, from Portugal. What if Mary dies without...
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