AHC: Pharaonic Russia

Pesigalam

Banned
(Inspired by a dream I once had)

OTL, the Russian tzars portrayed themselves as successors to the Byzantine and Roman empires and styled Moscow as the 'Third Rome'.

Your challenge, should you choose to except it, is to have the Rus rulers to be griped by pharaonism, resulting in them portraying themselves as successors of Ancient Egyptian pharaohs while proclaiming Russia to 'Egypt Reborn' instead of it being the 'Third Rome'.
 
That would require a shit ton of butterflies it might be ASB. The Russians were heavily influenced by Christianity, you would need for some weird syncretic Slavic and Egyptian paganism to somehow spread to the Rus people, regardless it would be a completely unrecognizable Rus.
 
Rus converts to Catholicism instead of Orthodoxy, reunites earlier without the Mongol invasions, then in the Protestant Reformation, creates its own Anglican-like church. Later, Lutheran/Protestant Germans immigrate to the Volga spreading their influence, and British fur traders get involved in the north. By the end of the 1700s, Russia has several Protestant religions and is also part of the northern European-British-French sphere that led to the Age of Reason. Then, a backlash against the Age of Reason leads to an exploration of theology and the creation of new religious denominations.

In the early 1800s, Russia takes over Egypt somehow (probably an alliance with a Napoleon-like figure in the west). As Egyptology becomes a popular field and fascination with the pyramids and obelisks spreads throughout Russia, a Russian version of Joseph Smith creates a new religion based on artifacts that are claimed to be Ancient Egyptian or Ancient Israelite. This religion itself branches off into several new religions, which earn great popularity throughout Russia, as well as Siberia, which has been settled longer due to no Mongol invasions.

Soon afterward, the Russian Tsar does something to become immensely unpopular, leading to the decline of the Russian Empire. A civil war between various ideologies (theocrats, alt-communists, monarchists, republicans, alt-anarchists) leads to a decade of chaos. During that decade of chaos, bizarre apocalyptic theories gained adherents. The followers of these movements are absorbed into the neo-Egyptian "Russian Mormon" movement. Then the alt-communists win the civil war.

The alt-communists in Russia suppress the Slavic Church (the Russian analogue to Anglicanism) which is the largest religion in Russia and most threatening to their rule. After 90-100 years of this suppression, most of the population is secular, and the largest remaining religion is the neo-Egyptian "Russian Mormons", which the ruling party didn't consider to be a religion at all. In the late 20th or early 21st century, the "Soviet" "Union" falls, with a constitutional monarchy restored. The Tsar, who is a figurehead, claims the title "Pharaoh" among dozens of other, totally ceremonial titles.
 

Pesigalam

Banned
I'm not sure why people think this needs some outlandish or near-ASB POD. I was think that it could be as simple as Alexandria becoming the seat of the Byzantine Empire (or its ATL equivalent) instead of Constantinople. At some point the "Alexandrian Empire" experiences an Egyptian renaissance or revival, where the rulers become fascinated with the Ancient Egyptian culture and try to bring aspects of it back (much like in OTL Renaissance tried to bring back aspects of Classical Antiquity without adopting Roman paganism or something). Therefore, much like OTL Kivan Rus and later Moscovite rullers tried to play up their connection with Byzantine and (by extension) Ancient Rome, in this ATL they can instead see themselves as inheritors of Egypt.

I was hoping someone with more knowledge on the subject could develop this idea into something more.
 
Because Alexandria was such a good choice for the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire:rolleyes:? You would need a POD so far back as to make "Russia" let alone the world unrecognizable.
 
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