"What Madness Is This?" - A Timeline

[Napoleon53]

Damnit! I actually though we had a chance

"We?" I take it you're South American? Neat! I know people online from all over the world (Sri Lanka, Denmark, Italy...), but don't remember interacting with a South American before.

What's going on with Japan? I thought they'd have been involved in the Missionary War and the free-for-all on Dutch colonies.

Japan is backwater-y. It's just stayed to itself, and they wouldn't dare go to war with other Pacific powers, as those powers would undoubtedly invade and annex Japan. They'll probably modernize in the near future. I'm not actually that great with Japanese history pre-1900, so I've kinda gotten lazy. Maybe they'll overthrow the Emperor in the 1960s and I'll pick up with a Japanese republic, where I'm free to do whatever I want.

 

[doorcf]

Snip

Yep I'm form South America, Peru to be exact, thats why I asked about Peru, I'm sick worried that we will end being f***ed-up by the Union

And abouth Japan, keep the empy it could help to make a Meiji-style modernization (OTL Japan seems to still have their empy intact)

 

[Napoleon53]

If you guys are curious to know what Swank music sounds like, it's this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckxjw2hOoUg Yes, "Swank" is this TL's big band version of the OTL Hippies.
​

-THE SOUTHRON HOME FRONT-
"Today we party like kings. Tomorrow we die like dogs."
-Richie Rodriguez, Georgian musician

Life in the Southron nations during the war was grim and dark. Everyone (with the exception of the Georgians, who were still fairly unscathed thanks to the Virginian buffer zone) knew someone who had died in the war. The casualties were unimaginable and unbearable. As the draft took one man after another, every Johnny Columbia and his sweetheart knew and faced the fact that there was a chance he would go off to war and never return, shot or bombed to death at the Rockville Line or the Western Front. From this Spartan stoicism came a dark sort of golden age for entertainment. More than ever, people needed entertainment to keep their sanity and morale. The Cubabilly culture still thrived, but it was declining as more and more of the "greasers" went off to war. The greasers were the most eager to fight of all young people, and were also the most patriotic by far.

THE RISE AND FALL OF SWANK:
​

There was a new musical and style movement on the horizon, however. Rising from the ashed of the Roaring 'Teens, a strange new hybrid sound was born in the music halls of Savannah, Miami, and Richmond. New instruments, dubbed "synthesizers," were being mixed with the honky tonk, "big band" instruments of the 1910s. The fedora was revived among the youth. Hemlines rose for the women back to the way they were in the 1910s and 1920s (the old New Paris Modern Style), and even shorter. By 1956, the subculture had solidified under the name "Swank." This "Swank music" was considered mind-blowing at the time. Electronic instruments originally developed on accident by the military, gave way to a revolutionary sound. In January of 1956, Richie Rodriguez, the half-Mexican Georgian considered partially responsible for the movement, released his song, "Doop-Doop." It went skyrocketing up the music charts to number one for two months. Rodriguez and many other bands starting churning out Swank songs like a factory. The lyrics were nonsensical and mindless, the tunes bizarre and happy, and the clothes oddly retro-futuristic. "Swankmania" had begun.

Wartime "Swank Girls" circa 1956

"Swank Johnnies" circa 1956 (the style is believed to have originated from the sons of rich Southron plantation owners, though most Swanks themselves were very liberal or even socialists)

An upper-class young Virginian named Jake Johnson, a good example of "Aristocratic Swank" style. In October of 1956, Johnson was killed in combat near the Ohio River

The reaction from the elder members of Southron society was mixed. On one hand, they themselves had worn similar clothing in the Roaring 'Teens and 'Twenties, but on the other hand they had since "matured," and they tried to crack down on the culture. When the women started wearing short pants and skirts cut up as far on the legs as possible, however, then the parents and grandparents started a culture war. Ironically, they found themselves allied with the Cubabillies (the same subculture they had protested just a few years in the past), who resented the usually-wealthy, aristocratic Swanks. It escalated further when European aristocratic ways of living seeped into the Swank culture. Declaring it her right, on August 4th, 1956, a well-known Georgian woman and open socialist-anarchist named Susan Lawrence wore an "immodest" European-style two-piece swimsuit. She was arrested by a police officer for indecency and "trying to create a riot." Seeing themselves as the defenders of "Traditional Southron Manhood and Decency," a group of Greasers later found out where the girl lived. On August 3rd, 1956, she was dragged out of her house by the hair and severely beaten, almost to death. It was a strange series of events, since some Southron women (and most European women) even went to beaches topless. Many socialists and Swanks said it was simply the fact that she was a Socialist.

The "Swank War" had just begun. On August 10th, 1956, Richie Rodriguez was shot twenty-six times in a drive-by assassination in front of his Savannah home. The Cubabilly motorcycle gang known as the "Miami Motor Association" was pinned to the murder, but nothing was done outside of a token investigation. In truth, the authorities were glad Rodriguez was dead. Soon, seeing that authorities would do nothing, Swanks began carrying weapons of their own. In Miami, it escalated into gang warfare. In October of 1956, over twenty Swanks and greasers died in gang violence incidents. Swank leaders began telling their fellow Swanks to prepare for "the great upheavals."

The worst was yet to come. On December 2nd, 1956, at the University of Miami, a mob of Swanks started protesting the poor treatment of Negro citizens, and also demanded the University of Miami accept Negro students. The Georgian government had had enough. 800 National Guardsmen were sent to break up the crowd. At around 3 in the afternoon in front of the university and the surrounding town, armed soldiers formed battle lines and began to hurl tear gas at the protestors. The protestors met their attack with rocks, pelting the National Guardsmen. Over the next two hours, the crowds and the ranks of soldiers grew more and more restless. Finally, at approximately 4 in the afternoon, someone (no one ever knew who it was) fired a shot from a handgun. The Guardsmen opened fire with rifles and began to give chase to the fleeing mob.

​

A street near the University of Miami shortly before the shootings

Anarcho-socialist flags wave in Miami

College students drop like flies as they are raked with small arms fire from the Georgian National Guard

Hundreds of arrests were made, and dozens more later in nations-wide protests against "army brutality." Landships were brought in and martial law was instituted in Miami as the Georgian government declared a state of emergency. Swanks everywhere found unmarked black cars pulling up to their houses and arresting them in the middle of the night. In truth, the Georgian government feared a anarcho-socialist revolution. The black and red banner, the symbol of anarcho-socialism, was made illegal to fly or own in the entirety of the CEMA. Though "Swankers" weren't treated horribly upon arrest, they were forced into internment camps in southern Florida. This would later prove to backfire, as the radicals of the subculture made radicals out of the moderates they shared cells and lived with.

The Swank culture was pretty much dead by late 1956, having only been on the scene for about a year. But it would prove to be the foundation of more radical sects and subcultures to follow.

LIFE FOR ORDINARY JOHNNIES AND BELLES:

Despite how it looked, many, indeed most, of Southron civilians were not a part of any subculture or movement. Most men far from the frontlines who hadn't been conscripted yet worked a 9-to-5 job while their wives lived as ordinary housewives or sometimes as welders or non-combat military officers. Out of all the terrible thoughts that kept Southron parents up at night, one of the foremost was the thought of having their house blown up. Underground bunkers, with enough space for the ordinary family and enough food for several months, became hot sellers. In the event of Union bombing runs (beginning in mid-1956, Union bombers began crossing the Mississippi into Georgia for pin-prick attacks), families could get into their bunker and ride the violence out.

This doomsday mentality began taking a firm hold on the Southron way of life. Many were scared to death that Joe Steele really was the Antichrist, there to kill all of God's chosen elect and bring about a one-world tyrannical police state. Little did they realize that the once proud, liberal Southron nations were increasingly becoming police states themselves. The Swanks, for instance, were thrown in camps, not unlike (but still no where as disgusting) the Union's Ohio Country Reeducation Camps. Paperwork tracking every move citizens made was becoming commonplace. Armed guards stood outside local government buildings and food ration stamp offices.

Suicide rates doubled, especially among young people. Those who knew they would be drafted and most likely killed sometimes decided to just get it over with by hanging themselves in their attics or closing their garage door with their car running. 50 members of an anti-war cult in Kaintuck, Virginia gassed themselves to death, rather than face the oncoming Union invasion.

But there were still happy, productive citizens who lived day to day and took it all in stride. There were still Picture Boxes, Talkieboxes, and music to keep their morale up. And not all soldiers came home in a wooden box; there were hundreds of heroes who went on tours of their nations, bringing hope of survival and increasing voluntary military service.

In all, the early years of the World War in the CEMA were rough, depressing, and violent. But despite all of their differences, they still were united in their cause to defeat the Union and the Grand Alliance. Maryland would be avenged, they swore, and they promised that some day Johnnie Columbia would stick his bayonet in Joe Steele's guts.
​

 

[Zoidberg12]

Interesting update, especially with the subcultures and stuff. Though unfortunately it seems as if the Columbian nations are becoming increasingly authoritarian, and that could carry over after the war I'm afraid.

 

[Napoleon53]

Thanks, Zoid!

Here's a poster I made that I haven't been able to work into the story yet, but I like it so much I'll post it here.

I made this a few months ago before I knew that I was going to create the Kingdom of the Two Italies, so this poster says "Two Sicilies" still.

 

[Napoleon53]

HIGH TREASON

If there was one man who in the Union government who was almost universally hated, it was Lyndon Johnson, the "Bloody Texan." The only reason he was Sky Marshal of ORRA was because Steele personally liked him. Everyone else, however, found him to be an arrogant, drunken, drug-abusing, gigantic monstrosity. He was constantly living the good life off government money at his vast mansion in North Dakota, far away from the fronts. In Texas, he would occasionally come down to personally oversee huge ethnic cleansing operations in his home-state of Texas. Over 500,000 Hispanics were murdered in cold-blood on Johnson's orders in just 1955 alone.

But deep down, he longed for more, no, for total, power. He wanted to rule the Republican Union as an absolute totalitarian god-president. In late 1955, following lapses in morale caused by the bloodbath at Baltimore, he began plotting with various members of the Army, ORRA, and Navy in what became known as "Operation Zealot." Their plan was quite simple: plant a bomb in Joe Steele's office during a meeting with his loyal-to-the-death general staff. With Steele dead, Oswald and Nixon, Johnson's mortal enemies, would be killed openly. Johnson planned to then declare himself the reincarnation of Aaron Burr and usher in the "New Jerusalem." It was madness, but it could have very well succeeded if not for the fact that the obsessively psychotic and paranoid Oswald had managed to bug Johnson's bunker in North Dakota where Operation Zealot was being planned. In short time, Oswald, Nixon, and Leslie King, Jr., met in Philadelphia to decide what to do with Johnson and his traitors.

Nixon: (irate) "I want this crazy man killed, darn it! I don't want to see his smug face again!"
Oswald: "Yeah, I agree Dick. I've always hated this Johnson creep. I knew we couldn't trust him. But 'His Excellency' likes him, don't ask me why."
King: "Steele probably likes him because they both would murder their own ninety year-old grandmother for a buck."
Nixon: "We'll deal with Steele some other time. Right now, we've got to purge this Texan freakshow. Johnson's one sick cookie, and that says something coming from me. We've all killed people for the good of the nation or for the sake of the New World Order, but Johnson's just a back-alley prostitute-stabber. I've never seen a bloodbath like the one he's got going in Texas with those wetbacks. I almost feel sorry for those monkeys!" (laughter all around)
Oswald: (frustrated) "Talk about it. I'm up here running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to defeat these Marylander mother-f******, and he's down there eating up supplies, fuel, ammo, and men that I could use to whip these Papists once and for all, d*** it! And now this ungrateful bastard son-of-a-whore is out plotting to murder us all."
King: "Johnson needs to be dealt with quickly. We must act before that slimeball can assassinate us all. Should we just up and bomb his house, or should we send in some of my RUMP boys to take his head off."
Oswald: "I want him to suffer. No one back-stabs our Order."
Nixon: "I could have some MDP Foot Guards storm that palace of his and wipe that assface off the face of the planet. But that could cause public suspicion. No, gentlemen, we must set this jerk up. We could use Operation Coconut agents."
King: "Operation Coconut hasn't ever fielded an a sleeper assassin before, has it?"
Nixon: "Correct. But we have the ability to. Coconut falls under my control. All I have to do is say the word, and some poor schmuck will put Johnson six-feet under."
Oswald: "What about Johnson's imbecile cohorts?"
King: "My jurisdiction. I'll send in my RUMP boys to arrest them all. I'd drop a few hints to the press, and ta-da, no one even says a word about twenty high-ranking officers disappearing."
Oswald: "Good. Sounds fine. I just looked at my calendar, and it says Johnson will be in Dallas with Hoss Wesley, the black Aeroforce commander. You know what? Kill them both."
Nixon: (confused) "Why kill Hoss? He's not for Johnson. Not that I like darkies, mind, I just don't see the point."
Oswald: "His death will be good propaganda for us. Make it seem more like some mother-f****** Southron did it outta racism and hatred for our glorious Union's military heroes."
King: (laughing) "I like the way you think, Oswald! That's genius!"
Nixon: "Okay, I'll have that nigger pasted. I swear, if it wasn't for us needing those niggers around for propaganda purposes, I'd have them all gassed. Just seeing someone with non-white skin makes me want to vomit."
Oswald: "Same here, Dick. Same here. So I guess we're all in agreement, then. Johnson and Wesley die in Dallas. King will take care of the other plotters. We'll talk more when we are about to carry out our operation. I gotta go, now. I got two secretaries and their tits calling my name in my office. Blonde and a brunette."
Nixon: "Say hello to the wife for me, Chuckie."
Oswald: "Go to hell, Dick!" (group laughter)
End of recording...

Their counter-plot went into action. "Operation Coconut" was a secret operation withing the MDP Spy Agency (Nixon's private secret police) to create hypnotized super-assassins that would know nothing until they were given a code-word, such as "Rosebud," at which time they would pull out a weapon and kill whoever they were brainwashed to attack.

On January 5th, 1956, in Dallas, Sky Marshal Lyndon Johnson was traveling in an open-air staff car with some of his officers, including black Aeroforce officer Hoss Wesley. At about 3:45 pm, a brainwashed assassin in the cheering crowd named John Harvey Lee received his code-word from an MDP spy in the crowd. Immediately, Lee pulled out a revolver from his jacket and in a trance-like state fire once, twice, thrice, four times into the car. Johnson died instantly from a bullet to the head, Hoss Wesley was killed from one to the neck, and one other officer was wounded in the arm. Johnson's bodyguards (who secretly knew of the assassination plot) tackled Lee and dragged him off. He was executed for murder two weeks later. The Union was furious, blaming Johnson and Wesley's deaths on the South, making them martyrs. King's RUMP officers moved in and arrested Johnson's cohorts and trucked them to the Ohio Country Camps, never to be seen again.

The men who had conspired to murder Johnson and Wesley had gotten what they wanted and even more. Blacks rallied to the Union cause, and they even ended up writing a song in dedication to Hoss Wesley's patriotism. It proved a popular song with white and black alike in the Union, becoming one of the hymns of the Manifest Destiny Party. Wesley was far more useful dead, as Oswald had said before he "had that nigger killed."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn_ADYdapY4
​

 

[doorcf]

Snip

Damn even if they are Nazi's by other name, in social advancements they are one step up (in very few areas)

that's kind of creepy

 

[Clandango]

That poster for freeing the Slavs might be mistaken for supporting Blacks. I suggest the flogging of the artist to teach him a lesson about his word choice.

 

[Clandango]

Damn even if they are Nazi's by other name, in social advancements they are one step up (in very few areas)

that's kind of creepy

Wouldn't you also do it to protect Stalin?

 

[Zachanassian]

So is there anyone in the RU leadership who is even remotely sane?

Also, how racist are the Southron nations? About the same as OTL?

I'm really liking these cultural updates, also. I really want to see how all these societies react to their equivalent of the internet, providing they make it that far. Also, the idea of Nixon and JFK plotting to kill LBJ with the alt version of Lee Harvey Oswald makes me all giddy inside.

 

[Napoleon53]

So is there anyone in the RU leadership who is even remotely sane?

Also, how racist are the Southron nations? About the same as OTL?

I'm really liking these cultural updates, also. I really want to see how all these societies react to their equivalent of the internet, providing they make it that far. Also, the idea of Nixon and JFK plotting to kill LBJ with the alt version of Lee Harvey Oswald makes me all giddy inside.

Not really. They weeded out the sane ones in the Great Purge before the World War.

The South is not quite as racist as OTL, though it still is to a degree for now. The fact that abolition wasn't forced on them by an army like OTL makes the whites less bitter over freeing the blacks. There are probably tons of blacks, though, who hate whites for not freeing them sooner. Might be more on that later.

And thanks! They're really fun to write. And I like how you said, "If they make it that far."

 

[doorcf]

OMGOMFGWTFBBQ

So all the sane ones in the Union are dead

Hitler would be proud, now we only need the Union to invade russia and a battle of the Atlantic

 

[Warpath]

AAARRRG! Goddammit! I don't know which side to root for, on one hand, I want to see the Napoleanic Tripartite Empire burn down in flames, but at the same time, the Grand Alliance nations are insane (the Republican Union at least) fascists bastards!

Ahem! Well, now with that out of my system, I must say, you did a wonderful job in creating a grey and grey (or is it black and grey?) morality, despotic timeline Nap!

 

[Zoidberg12]

AAARRRG! Goddammit! I don't know which side to root for, on one hand, I want to see the Napoleanic Tripartite Empire burn down in flames, but at the same time, the Grand Alliance nations are insane (the Republican Union at least) fascists bastards!

Why do you hate the Tripartite Empire?

 

[Warpath]

Why do you hate the Tripartite Empire?

I don't actually hate the Tripartite, per say, It's more that I don't like imperialism, I did say I'm conflicted on which side I should support. Well, that and they destroyed the United Kingdom.

Hmm, maybe I should just side with Russia.

 

[Clandango]

I don't actually hate the Tripartite, per say, It's more that I don't like imperialism, I did say I'm conflicted on which side I should support. Well, that and they destroyed the United Kingdom.

Hmm, maybe I should just side with Russia.

We can't be having that. I say we make all sides equal. Russian cuisine should include more babies to balance the scales.

 

[Warpath]

We can't be having that. I say we make all sides equal. Russian cuisine should include more babies to balance the scales.

How about just having Russia's government send "undesirables" to work in labor/death gulags in Siberia?

 

[doorcf]

How about just having Russia's government send "undesirables" to work in labor/death gulags in Siberia?

Isn't Russian a death country, apart from that Russians are iron woobies, nothing goes well for them, it only get worse after it starts to go right for them

 

[Clandango]

How about just having Russia's government send "undesirables" to work in labor/death gulags in Siberia?

Nope, eating babies is the only way to get the three main camps to a proper rvbomally level of horror.

 

[Warpath]

Nope, eating babies is the only way to get the three main camps to a proper rvbomally level of horror.

Umm, I don't think that Nap is going for "Warhammer 40K levels of grimdark" level on which rvbomally's timelines sit.

EDIT: And besides, this isn't ASB.