Cross-posting from the not-technically-over MOtF 79:
The Empire of the Achaemenids triumphed over the troublesome western Yauna, and later joined forces with the commercial empire of Quart-Hadast to crush the expansionist Latins. No empire can of course triumph for ever, for the forces of the Lie will from time to time prevail over those of Truth, and territories in the west broke off under weak rulers and there were troubled days. But the Empire never fell utterly, and although there were some hard times (We Do Not Talk about the Turkish Interregnum) rose again and went on to new strengths under later dynasties, like the peoples of Tianzhia would do in other timelines. And the scholars and philosophers of the Empire, which absorbed and integrated the rich intellectual traditions of the many lands bordering and sometimes incorporated in the empire - the Yauna/Hellenes, the Mudraya (sometimes know as Egyptians), the Indians, and more intermittently the Tianzhia - would be the first in the world to develop the intellectual discipline of experimental science.
Some twenty-six centuries since Darayava (among some backwards nations known as Darius) pushed west, Persia is the center and wellspring of civilization, surrounded in outwards circles (as they picture it) by almost as civilized Zoroastrian nations, half-civilized east Asian, Hindu, and Mediterranean/North African peoples (and their colonies) and barbarian nations in northern Europe, the icky bits of the *Americas, and the more inaccessible parts of Africa. Although not quite so populous as the Tianzhia (even counting its closely tied vassals/client states) it has clearly been the largest state on earth in terms of territory since modern gunpowder and flamethrower [1] armies pacified the long-threatening steppe (the Tundra wasn't much use, but hey, might as well take it while you're there), a status confirmed by their conquest of the Great Red Land, the desert continent. (Their empire centered in arid territory, the Persians boast that no other nation could have made the Red Land flourish the way they have. North Africans and Egyptians roll their eyes).
But all is not well in the lands of the King of Kings. Industrialization, first with oil in Persian territory, and coal in other lands, took off more slowly than OTL, but it has spread wide. The climate grows more unstable, the world warmer. In an already water-poor land (in the vast cities, people tend to slap on more perfume rather than run up their water bills with frequent baths), Persian scientists look at projections of rainfall and worry. Huge new projects to divert the rivers of *Siberia south are in the offing, but that will have other costs than monetary. Will the Persians, with all their ancient authority, be able to corral a rising Tian Zhia rival, their often fractious Zoroastrian neighbors, the corrupt Neo-Carthaginian empire in north *America, and the ridiculously touchy Aethiopians into a joint effort to stabilize the planetary climate? Or is the world doomed to burn? (Sometimes, it's like people think they're arrogant or something...)
Bruce
[1] An equivalent of OTL Greek fire, using those interesting liquids seeping from the ground, was developed a while back.
