Having posted this a while ago in another discussion, I thought it rather deserved it's own thread... enjoy! (Bonus points for guessing the PoD btw)
(All quotes taken from “A Tourist’s Guide to The FSRB” 1974 edition
Toronto, USA. (c)1974 Henderson Publishing Company: Toronto. Used with permission.)
London
“…The great city of London is truly a revelation. The traveller arriving here from the rest of the Anglosphere is bound to be stuck by its atmosphere and architecture, so familiar and yet so different from anything that can be found in North America or the Antipodes. The traveller arriving from Lilburne is also bound to have a new experience, seeing something quite different and far more ancient then the county’s present capital… The great majority of foreign arrivals to Britain enter the Republic through the vast concrete expanse of ‘Sylvia Pankhurst International Airpark’. Pankhurst is one of the oldest Airparks in the world, beginning operation in 1923. The site was originally named after Ramsey MacDonald and was only named after the Civil War martyr after the General Secretary’s fall from grace during the purges of the early 1930s. From here it is only a thirty minute ride on the immaculately clean London Underground to the centre of the city…
…Revolution Square is probably one of the best starting points for exploring London. In many ways it symbolizes the city’s past, the transition years, and the present. Here was not only the country’s center of power (albeit often theoretically) when the area was still known as Parliament Square, but also the vast bulk of Westminster Abbey, painstakingly restored to its original appearance after the horrific bombing of 1887 and a great surviving symbol of Britain’s Imperial past….
...The Museum of Revolutionary Heroes, which dominates the square, was originally built by William Barry in 1837 as a replacement for the old Palace of Westminster, which had burnt down in a fire. The location had been used as the meeting place for Britain’s Parliament since 1512, and had seen exactly four centuries of increasingly vocal debate punctuated by Royal attempts to regain control when the 15-year old Richard IV sent Winston Churchill to dissolve Parliament in the midst of the Budget crisis, sparking off the chain of events that would eventually lead to Britain’s bloody civil war and the Socialist revolution. Despite the professed desire of both sides to safeguard Britain’s ancient institutions the Palace of Westminster came under shell-fire on two occasions in the course of the war, once by a misdirected salvo in the early days of the conflict as the Dockers were driven back into the East End, and again in the autumn of 1915 as the King’s troops were finally driven out of the city. The latter attack left the building badly damaged, and despite efforts at repair Parliament never again convened there, preferring the relatively undamaged surroundings of Buckingham Palace (now the Party headquarters for the State of London, see pg42). When the Federation’s capital was moved to the New City of Lilburne in 1921 Parliament was effectively abandoned, and the Palace of Westminster lay empty until 1927, when it was converted into its present usage to mark the tenth anniversary of the Socialist seizure of power. Several German bombs hit the building during the ‘Blitzsturm’, and the gutted rooms this attack produced are preserved to this day in their destroyed state by means of a memorial to the civilian deaths caused by the conflict. Visitors to the Museum enter through Westminster hall, where they can see the embalmed corpse of the great revolutionary hero Charles Maxton lying in state….
…and from the centre of Hyde Park three great memorials can be made out, dominating the pleasant and immaculately-kept natural greenery. The first is the Albert memorial, designed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s consort…. Directly opposite the Albert Memorial is Britain’s tribute to the slain Queen Victoria, erected with all the resources of a great Empire entering its declining years. Completed in 1894, the gigantic memorial is constructed from materials donated from everywhere in Britain’s Empire with the notable exception of Ireland, a symbolic punishment to add to the military reprisals carried out by British forces at that sorry time in the nation’s history. At the apex of the construction’s spire is a chamber containing the gigantic ‘Koh I Noor’ or ‘mountain of light’, the largest uncut diamond in the world and a relic placed to represent the outraged tears of the peoples Victoria ruled over. The diamond was removed during the Civil and European wars but was replaced in 1947 and is now often used by the authorities as a proud example of how crime-free Socialist London is; despite its immense value, nobody has ever tried to steal the gem. The final monument is the ‘Cenotaph’ or empty tomb, built immediately after the Civil War to commemorate those on both sides who died in the conflict. Each of the four sides of the Cenotaph was originally inscribed with a quotation made by prominent leaders of the Parliamentary cause- now only Maxton’s words are recorded, the voices of Lloyd George, Webb and Birdwood having been removed in the years after the revolution…
…From the Tower of London it is only a short Underground journey to Mosley Station, gateway to the North of Britain. Arrival on the Underground is a truly awe-inspiring experience, as the traveller emerges on the escalator from the cavernous depths of the Underground Station into the gargantuan interior of Dunn’s concrete masterpiece, built after the original station that stood on the site was destroyed by fire in the ‘Blitzsturm’ of 1938. From Mosley a travel permit can be arranged with the authorities, which should allow the traveller to embark on the journey northwards towards the historic university town of Cambridge and the infamous royal residence of Sandringham; both of which are covered in the next chapter.”
Cambridge
“Situated a two-hour train journey from London, the ancient university town of Cambridge has much to offer the traveller with an interest in historical architecture…
…Walking from Cambridge station into the town the traveller will pass an intriguing monument; in the middle of the road there is an empty plinth with no statue or inscription to suggest what it is dedicated to. The history of this plinth is an excellent reflection of the great changes in British society over the last century, and the traveller should consider its current state with this in mind. The monument was originally erected in October 1914 on the orders of the King, and commemorated the Cambridgeshire members of the “Boy’s Battalion”, Baden Powell’s auxiliary teenagers who had fought so ferociously during the stalled Parliamentary offensive up the Thames the spring before. When Parliamentary troops entered Cambridge at the end of the war the statue was torn down, and was replaced during the interlude of parliamentary rule by a representation of General Birdwood, whose son had been a student at the university before his death at the battle of Scapa Flow. After the revolution Birdwood’s statue was politically unacceptable and was removed, a monument to Mary Allen and her WI being erected in its place. This monument remained a part of the Cambridge cityscape for many years, but after Allen’s arrest and the purge of her organisation in the Mosleyite purges of 1947 it abruptly disappeared. Since then the plinth has remained resolutely empty, although with the new post-Mosley relaxations in government control there have been suggestions that a monument to the controversial intellectual and Cambridge graduate Bertrand Russell may be erected…
…Although the collegiate system was abolished in the reforms of 1918, the buildings that house the colleges still exist and many are still accessible to the public…The compact court of what used to be Peterhouse College is also worth a visit. Famous for being the epicentre of the students’ rising of 1918, the traveller will notice that bullet holes can still be seen pockmarking the exterior of the 13th century ‘Great Hall’. The Hall is now home to an exhibition about the counter-revolutionary rising and its bloody suppression, emphasising particularly the traditionally reactionary nature of the students of Peterhouse. As with many such exhibits all over the country, it is not for the easily offended and it is deeply inadvisable to question its accuracy or taste in public…
After spending the morning in Cambridge, the traveller is recommended to continue northwards on the train through Peterborough towards the Norfolk coast. While there is little to detain the traveller on the journey to Sandringham, one spot is highly significant, if difficult to pinpoint with any accuracy; around ten minutes before arriving in King’s Lynn (the town’s name having recently been restored after over fifty years of being known simply as Lynn), the railway line passes directly over the spot where on the 17th September 1915, members of the Women’s Irregulars derailed the train carrying the King’s Mother and his two sisters to Great Yarmouth and exile. All three members of the royal party were killed in the resulting crash (although some royalists claim to this day that the princesses were murdered after being taken prisoner) and their bodies were buried in trench in a nearby field. The issue of the royal graves is still a highly emotive one in both the FSRB and in the Kingdom of New Zealand, and visitors from the Anglosphere are strongly recommended not to raise the issue, in case you are accused of being a ‘Tory’.
Visits to Sandringham require the arrangement of a BFT Guide, as the estate is relatively isolated and independent travel in the area is still prohibited…. The infamous residence of Edward VII and Richard IV has been preserved exactly as it allegedly was on the morning of the 21st October 1915, when GTUC militia arrived and secured the area for the Parliamentary Army. The result is a snapshot in time, capturing the decadence that the unfortunate King and his associates enjoyed even as the Civil war raged on in the rest of the country…
…of particular note to the traveller is the infamous ‘Satan Room’, a large drawing room on the second floor where King Richard’s infamous confidante Edward Crowley allegedly performed occult rituals and orgies that the young monarch was popularly held to have attended. While there is little to distinguish the room from any other in the house, the authorities have displayed several antique occult instruments such as an Ouija board and a copy of the Necronomicon that they claim were found in a store-room, as well as copies of several letters from Crowley containing advice on curses and possession rituals. It is perhaps best left to the traveller to decide whether these items are genuine or are being used for propaganda purposes… Travellers with an interest in Crowley will also be fascinated by his suite of rooms, adorned with candles, strange symbols and artwork of questionable taste and decency. On the way to view his quarters, the corridor in which the infamous figure was last seen before his complete disappearance can also be viewed, although there is nothing of note to see there.
…Finally, the traveller comes to the ‘map room’, where the King and his general staff planned first their coup d’etat against Lloyd George and then their war against the Parliamentary forces. The counters on the gigantic relief map of Britain still indicate the position of the two sides’ troops on September 10th 1915, when Richard IV decided to leave Sandringham to supervise the final defence of London in person. Intriguingly even at this early stage Royalist planners used separate colours to denote Parliamentary and Liberal troops on one hand and the forces of the Unions and the Party on the other...
Lilburne
“While it is relatively easy for the time-conscious traveller to return to London from Norfolk and fly to Lilburne from there, it is worth the extra effort and organisation to obtain a travel pass from the BFT and continue north by motorcoach along the M1, the ‘great north road’ of old and a powerful symbol of Britain’s great public works scheme of the 1930’s… As the traveller proceeds towards Lilburne, a day trip through the Dales and Humberside is well worth the diversion… Even from a long distance away, the traveller will be able to see the imposing bulk of the great Humber Bridge, twin to its counterpart on the Severn. Both bridges were built in the 1930’s to be symbols of Socialist engineering, although the Humber bridge’s construction was delayed by the onset of the European war and subsequent German air-raids. Finally completed in 1948 amid great ceremony, the vast concrete bulk of the bridge is in many ways is a fitting symbol of the gritty determination of the Mosley era…
The traveller arriving in Lilburne from London is bound to be struck by both the capital’s compact size and the long boulevards that are a world apart from the Federation’s largest metropolis.... Formally founded the year after the revolution on the previously empty expanse of Marston Moor between York and Leeds, Lilburne (named after the great 17th century radical) was designed as a truly modern socialist city, away from the bourgeois temptations of London and closer to Britain’s industrial heartland. While Lilburne is Britain’s administrative and political centre its proximity to the far more populous city Leeds and the cultural centre of York lends it a curiously provincial feel, despite the grandiose ministries and expansive parks that characterise the vision of the town planners of the 1920’s…
…Lilburne’s architectural influence on modern town planning is immense, and the traveller will recognise the stylistic predecessors of many famous examples of modern architecture while walking through the city. Bantustan’s capital Mphephu is famously intended as an exact replica of Lilburne, but even on a less dramatic level the city’s widespread use of concrete and steel for monumental construction has influenced cities as far removed as Washington, Berlin and Lunacharskigrad… perhaps the best-known example of revolutionary architecture can be dominating one end of Victory Boulevard; the famous ‘People’s Palace’.
The Palace was intended as a showcase of British revolutionary prowess, and its vast concrete expanse makes it one of the largest buildings in the world. As originally envisioned by Dunn the palace was intended to be topped by a huge parabolic arch, making it the third tallest building in the world- the onset of the European war however soon diverted the required resources and the crowning glory of the building was never completed. On approaching the Palace, the traveller should particularly note the placement of the Revolutionary spire halfway down the boulevard- at 6PM on Martyrs day (September 3rd) the spire’s shadow ends exactly a metre in from of the statue of James Maxton that stands on the Palace’s steps…
…and at the end of Maxton Avenue, the traveller will come to the majestic ‘Liberation Monument’, first erected in the mid 1920’s to commemorate the Republic’s victorious campaigns against the remnants of the Parliamentary government that still existed on the African continent. After the trauma of the European war and the subsequent extension of Socialism to practically the entire continent the monument acquired new significance, especially once the collapse of the Verwoerd regime and its clients in the south completed African ‘Liberation’. The monument is manned by an honour guard drawn from the militaries of the various African republics that comprise the Commonwealth, an arrangement reciprocated in many African states’ capitals by troops from the Federation…
While the FSRB is for obvious reasons not a destination for enthusiastic shoppers, the traveller will almost certainly in their time in Lilburne be taken to visit British Home Stores, the Federation’s answer to the branches of Macy’s and Sears’ that can be found in the Anglosphere. While the establishment at first seems relatively well stocked with the best produce of the Federation and the Commonwealth and guides will often take the chance to claim that all such shops in Britain are as luxurious, it must be borne in mind that almost all the goods on sale are intended for export, and few Britons who are not inner party members could afford such luxuries….
…Finally, the traveller might be tempted to arrange permission to visit the Hero’s Cemetery on the outskirts of the city. Here can be found the graves of almost all of the Federation’s heroes- from James Maxton (pg.91) to Oswald Mosley. Most controversially, in section G-7 the monument marking the infamous German Revolutionary and terrorist Karl Liebknecht can be found. Liebknecht’s retreat to exile in Britain after the assassination of Crown Prince Wilhelm in 1927 marked a turning point in the relationship between the Reich and the Federation, and many see his continuing presence in Lilburne until his death in 1934 as one of the principal causes of the European War. Even today the Federation’s treatment of Liebknecht is a bone of contention between the Commonwealth and the Reich, and because of this citizens of the European Bund are extremely unlikely to get permission to enter the cemetery for security reasons…
…From Lilburne the traveller has a huge choice of potential destinations within the Federation. For the purposes of this guide the next suggested destination is Dublin, capital of the Irish State; however, the BFT guide attached to your group may desire to take you elsewhere, either north or south…”
(All quotes taken from “A Tourist’s Guide to The FSRB” 1974 edition
Toronto, USA. (c)1974 Henderson Publishing Company: Toronto. Used with permission.)
London
“…The great city of London is truly a revelation. The traveller arriving here from the rest of the Anglosphere is bound to be stuck by its atmosphere and architecture, so familiar and yet so different from anything that can be found in North America or the Antipodes. The traveller arriving from Lilburne is also bound to have a new experience, seeing something quite different and far more ancient then the county’s present capital… The great majority of foreign arrivals to Britain enter the Republic through the vast concrete expanse of ‘Sylvia Pankhurst International Airpark’. Pankhurst is one of the oldest Airparks in the world, beginning operation in 1923. The site was originally named after Ramsey MacDonald and was only named after the Civil War martyr after the General Secretary’s fall from grace during the purges of the early 1930s. From here it is only a thirty minute ride on the immaculately clean London Underground to the centre of the city…
…Revolution Square is probably one of the best starting points for exploring London. In many ways it symbolizes the city’s past, the transition years, and the present. Here was not only the country’s center of power (albeit often theoretically) when the area was still known as Parliament Square, but also the vast bulk of Westminster Abbey, painstakingly restored to its original appearance after the horrific bombing of 1887 and a great surviving symbol of Britain’s Imperial past….
...The Museum of Revolutionary Heroes, which dominates the square, was originally built by William Barry in 1837 as a replacement for the old Palace of Westminster, which had burnt down in a fire. The location had been used as the meeting place for Britain’s Parliament since 1512, and had seen exactly four centuries of increasingly vocal debate punctuated by Royal attempts to regain control when the 15-year old Richard IV sent Winston Churchill to dissolve Parliament in the midst of the Budget crisis, sparking off the chain of events that would eventually lead to Britain’s bloody civil war and the Socialist revolution. Despite the professed desire of both sides to safeguard Britain’s ancient institutions the Palace of Westminster came under shell-fire on two occasions in the course of the war, once by a misdirected salvo in the early days of the conflict as the Dockers were driven back into the East End, and again in the autumn of 1915 as the King’s troops were finally driven out of the city. The latter attack left the building badly damaged, and despite efforts at repair Parliament never again convened there, preferring the relatively undamaged surroundings of Buckingham Palace (now the Party headquarters for the State of London, see pg42). When the Federation’s capital was moved to the New City of Lilburne in 1921 Parliament was effectively abandoned, and the Palace of Westminster lay empty until 1927, when it was converted into its present usage to mark the tenth anniversary of the Socialist seizure of power. Several German bombs hit the building during the ‘Blitzsturm’, and the gutted rooms this attack produced are preserved to this day in their destroyed state by means of a memorial to the civilian deaths caused by the conflict. Visitors to the Museum enter through Westminster hall, where they can see the embalmed corpse of the great revolutionary hero Charles Maxton lying in state….
…and from the centre of Hyde Park three great memorials can be made out, dominating the pleasant and immaculately-kept natural greenery. The first is the Albert memorial, designed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s consort…. Directly opposite the Albert Memorial is Britain’s tribute to the slain Queen Victoria, erected with all the resources of a great Empire entering its declining years. Completed in 1894, the gigantic memorial is constructed from materials donated from everywhere in Britain’s Empire with the notable exception of Ireland, a symbolic punishment to add to the military reprisals carried out by British forces at that sorry time in the nation’s history. At the apex of the construction’s spire is a chamber containing the gigantic ‘Koh I Noor’ or ‘mountain of light’, the largest uncut diamond in the world and a relic placed to represent the outraged tears of the peoples Victoria ruled over. The diamond was removed during the Civil and European wars but was replaced in 1947 and is now often used by the authorities as a proud example of how crime-free Socialist London is; despite its immense value, nobody has ever tried to steal the gem. The final monument is the ‘Cenotaph’ or empty tomb, built immediately after the Civil War to commemorate those on both sides who died in the conflict. Each of the four sides of the Cenotaph was originally inscribed with a quotation made by prominent leaders of the Parliamentary cause- now only Maxton’s words are recorded, the voices of Lloyd George, Webb and Birdwood having been removed in the years after the revolution…
…From the Tower of London it is only a short Underground journey to Mosley Station, gateway to the North of Britain. Arrival on the Underground is a truly awe-inspiring experience, as the traveller emerges on the escalator from the cavernous depths of the Underground Station into the gargantuan interior of Dunn’s concrete masterpiece, built after the original station that stood on the site was destroyed by fire in the ‘Blitzsturm’ of 1938. From Mosley a travel permit can be arranged with the authorities, which should allow the traveller to embark on the journey northwards towards the historic university town of Cambridge and the infamous royal residence of Sandringham; both of which are covered in the next chapter.”
Cambridge
“Situated a two-hour train journey from London, the ancient university town of Cambridge has much to offer the traveller with an interest in historical architecture…
…Walking from Cambridge station into the town the traveller will pass an intriguing monument; in the middle of the road there is an empty plinth with no statue or inscription to suggest what it is dedicated to. The history of this plinth is an excellent reflection of the great changes in British society over the last century, and the traveller should consider its current state with this in mind. The monument was originally erected in October 1914 on the orders of the King, and commemorated the Cambridgeshire members of the “Boy’s Battalion”, Baden Powell’s auxiliary teenagers who had fought so ferociously during the stalled Parliamentary offensive up the Thames the spring before. When Parliamentary troops entered Cambridge at the end of the war the statue was torn down, and was replaced during the interlude of parliamentary rule by a representation of General Birdwood, whose son had been a student at the university before his death at the battle of Scapa Flow. After the revolution Birdwood’s statue was politically unacceptable and was removed, a monument to Mary Allen and her WI being erected in its place. This monument remained a part of the Cambridge cityscape for many years, but after Allen’s arrest and the purge of her organisation in the Mosleyite purges of 1947 it abruptly disappeared. Since then the plinth has remained resolutely empty, although with the new post-Mosley relaxations in government control there have been suggestions that a monument to the controversial intellectual and Cambridge graduate Bertrand Russell may be erected…
…Although the collegiate system was abolished in the reforms of 1918, the buildings that house the colleges still exist and many are still accessible to the public…The compact court of what used to be Peterhouse College is also worth a visit. Famous for being the epicentre of the students’ rising of 1918, the traveller will notice that bullet holes can still be seen pockmarking the exterior of the 13th century ‘Great Hall’. The Hall is now home to an exhibition about the counter-revolutionary rising and its bloody suppression, emphasising particularly the traditionally reactionary nature of the students of Peterhouse. As with many such exhibits all over the country, it is not for the easily offended and it is deeply inadvisable to question its accuracy or taste in public…
After spending the morning in Cambridge, the traveller is recommended to continue northwards on the train through Peterborough towards the Norfolk coast. While there is little to detain the traveller on the journey to Sandringham, one spot is highly significant, if difficult to pinpoint with any accuracy; around ten minutes before arriving in King’s Lynn (the town’s name having recently been restored after over fifty years of being known simply as Lynn), the railway line passes directly over the spot where on the 17th September 1915, members of the Women’s Irregulars derailed the train carrying the King’s Mother and his two sisters to Great Yarmouth and exile. All three members of the royal party were killed in the resulting crash (although some royalists claim to this day that the princesses were murdered after being taken prisoner) and their bodies were buried in trench in a nearby field. The issue of the royal graves is still a highly emotive one in both the FSRB and in the Kingdom of New Zealand, and visitors from the Anglosphere are strongly recommended not to raise the issue, in case you are accused of being a ‘Tory’.
Visits to Sandringham require the arrangement of a BFT Guide, as the estate is relatively isolated and independent travel in the area is still prohibited…. The infamous residence of Edward VII and Richard IV has been preserved exactly as it allegedly was on the morning of the 21st October 1915, when GTUC militia arrived and secured the area for the Parliamentary Army. The result is a snapshot in time, capturing the decadence that the unfortunate King and his associates enjoyed even as the Civil war raged on in the rest of the country…
…of particular note to the traveller is the infamous ‘Satan Room’, a large drawing room on the second floor where King Richard’s infamous confidante Edward Crowley allegedly performed occult rituals and orgies that the young monarch was popularly held to have attended. While there is little to distinguish the room from any other in the house, the authorities have displayed several antique occult instruments such as an Ouija board and a copy of the Necronomicon that they claim were found in a store-room, as well as copies of several letters from Crowley containing advice on curses and possession rituals. It is perhaps best left to the traveller to decide whether these items are genuine or are being used for propaganda purposes… Travellers with an interest in Crowley will also be fascinated by his suite of rooms, adorned with candles, strange symbols and artwork of questionable taste and decency. On the way to view his quarters, the corridor in which the infamous figure was last seen before his complete disappearance can also be viewed, although there is nothing of note to see there.
…Finally, the traveller comes to the ‘map room’, where the King and his general staff planned first their coup d’etat against Lloyd George and then their war against the Parliamentary forces. The counters on the gigantic relief map of Britain still indicate the position of the two sides’ troops on September 10th 1915, when Richard IV decided to leave Sandringham to supervise the final defence of London in person. Intriguingly even at this early stage Royalist planners used separate colours to denote Parliamentary and Liberal troops on one hand and the forces of the Unions and the Party on the other...
Lilburne
“While it is relatively easy for the time-conscious traveller to return to London from Norfolk and fly to Lilburne from there, it is worth the extra effort and organisation to obtain a travel pass from the BFT and continue north by motorcoach along the M1, the ‘great north road’ of old and a powerful symbol of Britain’s great public works scheme of the 1930’s… As the traveller proceeds towards Lilburne, a day trip through the Dales and Humberside is well worth the diversion… Even from a long distance away, the traveller will be able to see the imposing bulk of the great Humber Bridge, twin to its counterpart on the Severn. Both bridges were built in the 1930’s to be symbols of Socialist engineering, although the Humber bridge’s construction was delayed by the onset of the European war and subsequent German air-raids. Finally completed in 1948 amid great ceremony, the vast concrete bulk of the bridge is in many ways is a fitting symbol of the gritty determination of the Mosley era…
The traveller arriving in Lilburne from London is bound to be struck by both the capital’s compact size and the long boulevards that are a world apart from the Federation’s largest metropolis.... Formally founded the year after the revolution on the previously empty expanse of Marston Moor between York and Leeds, Lilburne (named after the great 17th century radical) was designed as a truly modern socialist city, away from the bourgeois temptations of London and closer to Britain’s industrial heartland. While Lilburne is Britain’s administrative and political centre its proximity to the far more populous city Leeds and the cultural centre of York lends it a curiously provincial feel, despite the grandiose ministries and expansive parks that characterise the vision of the town planners of the 1920’s…
…Lilburne’s architectural influence on modern town planning is immense, and the traveller will recognise the stylistic predecessors of many famous examples of modern architecture while walking through the city. Bantustan’s capital Mphephu is famously intended as an exact replica of Lilburne, but even on a less dramatic level the city’s widespread use of concrete and steel for monumental construction has influenced cities as far removed as Washington, Berlin and Lunacharskigrad… perhaps the best-known example of revolutionary architecture can be dominating one end of Victory Boulevard; the famous ‘People’s Palace’.
The Palace was intended as a showcase of British revolutionary prowess, and its vast concrete expanse makes it one of the largest buildings in the world. As originally envisioned by Dunn the palace was intended to be topped by a huge parabolic arch, making it the third tallest building in the world- the onset of the European war however soon diverted the required resources and the crowning glory of the building was never completed. On approaching the Palace, the traveller should particularly note the placement of the Revolutionary spire halfway down the boulevard- at 6PM on Martyrs day (September 3rd) the spire’s shadow ends exactly a metre in from of the statue of James Maxton that stands on the Palace’s steps…
…and at the end of Maxton Avenue, the traveller will come to the majestic ‘Liberation Monument’, first erected in the mid 1920’s to commemorate the Republic’s victorious campaigns against the remnants of the Parliamentary government that still existed on the African continent. After the trauma of the European war and the subsequent extension of Socialism to practically the entire continent the monument acquired new significance, especially once the collapse of the Verwoerd regime and its clients in the south completed African ‘Liberation’. The monument is manned by an honour guard drawn from the militaries of the various African republics that comprise the Commonwealth, an arrangement reciprocated in many African states’ capitals by troops from the Federation…
While the FSRB is for obvious reasons not a destination for enthusiastic shoppers, the traveller will almost certainly in their time in Lilburne be taken to visit British Home Stores, the Federation’s answer to the branches of Macy’s and Sears’ that can be found in the Anglosphere. While the establishment at first seems relatively well stocked with the best produce of the Federation and the Commonwealth and guides will often take the chance to claim that all such shops in Britain are as luxurious, it must be borne in mind that almost all the goods on sale are intended for export, and few Britons who are not inner party members could afford such luxuries….
…Finally, the traveller might be tempted to arrange permission to visit the Hero’s Cemetery on the outskirts of the city. Here can be found the graves of almost all of the Federation’s heroes- from James Maxton (pg.91) to Oswald Mosley. Most controversially, in section G-7 the monument marking the infamous German Revolutionary and terrorist Karl Liebknecht can be found. Liebknecht’s retreat to exile in Britain after the assassination of Crown Prince Wilhelm in 1927 marked a turning point in the relationship between the Reich and the Federation, and many see his continuing presence in Lilburne until his death in 1934 as one of the principal causes of the European War. Even today the Federation’s treatment of Liebknecht is a bone of contention between the Commonwealth and the Reich, and because of this citizens of the European Bund are extremely unlikely to get permission to enter the cemetery for security reasons…
…From Lilburne the traveller has a huge choice of potential destinations within the Federation. For the purposes of this guide the next suggested destination is Dublin, capital of the Irish State; however, the BFT guide attached to your group may desire to take you elsewhere, either north or south…”