An Examination of Extra-Universal Systems of Government

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ok so, has there been a horde of pirates yet? not like the South African one, because it was just like 1 boat, I mean like some Native Tribe gets a lot of boats and continue to migrate.
 
ok so, has there been a horde of pirates yet? not like the South African one, because it was just like 1 boat, I mean like some Native Tribe gets a lot of boats and continue to migrate.
So kinda like the Polynesians becoming a nation of pirates?

And that reminds me of an idea I wanna do!
 
How about a vinocracy. A wine growing region like Bordeaux or Napa and Sonoma becomes independent and then taken over by a cartel of wine growers. There could be feuds between winery families and an exploited underclass of agricultural "guest workers" demanding more rights and trying to unionize or fight back.
 
Second Republic of Texas

In many universes, Texas prides itself on its size. I never considered this pride more than empty boasting, but I gained a new “appreciation” for it after experiencing a long drive from the southern city of Laredo to the national capital of Houston, just over five hundred kilometers away. Because of the sensitive politics of the whole North American continent, and several terrorist incidents, the Texian government forbade all gateway and air travel, and maintained few points of entry with the outside world. I was required to travel to a foreign country first, and my travel pass applications to Sequoyah, the United States, and the Negro Free State were all denied. That left the Mexican Empire, the most stable country in the region.

The Texian-Mexican border was a series of extensive “defensive ramparts”: concrete and steel walls, watchtowers, sandbag emplacements, minefields, machine gun nests and barbed wire. Nearly a century of defenses, constructed by both the Mexican and Texian governments to keep the other out. The border checkpoint was a bottleneck of traffic which could be easily exploited by terrorists. My driver, a chauffeur who regularly works past the checkpoint, had a few horror stories for me when I brought this security oversight to his attention. According to him, both the Mexican and Texian governments cover up and ignore these violent incidents. Crossing the checkpoint took over three hours, with both Mexican and Texian authorities extensively checking the vehicle and our person. The Texas Border Authority double-checked my travel pass with their multiverse affairs bureau, an ordeal which took up a third of my time.

During the long drive to Houston, I noticed many signs of the Texian political system I was here to study. Some of these signs were literal: highway exits were color coded to show whether the town at the end was white, black, or a mix of the two. I even saw the occasional political campaign ad, with the politician’s race prominently labeled. I would later learn that clear racial labeling on political advertising is required by law. I also noticed that many of the advertisements were exclusively in Spanish.

The Second Republic of Texas, as its name implies, was not the first Texian state. The First Republic gained its independence from Mexico in 1835, a victory gained with the assistance of its larger neighbor, the United States of America. The Texian rebels were predominantly Americans of European extraction, who had illegally moved into the Texian territory and later demanded independence. Texas later joined the United States as a slave state, meaning a state of that federation which allowed the practice of chattel slavery. This abhorrent practice moved the ancestors of Texas’ black population to the state.

I was exhausted by the time I made it to Houston, but the next morning, I was excited to meet my contact. Senator Amanda Guidry was one of Dallas’ fifteen black Senators. She met with me during her lunch break on the Texas capitol grounds. The grounds were filled with protesters, holding signs such as "no taxation without representation" and "we will not be silenced." She had little time to chat, as the legislature was debating the most important issues in Texian politics: redistricting and voter registration. I asked Ms. Guidry why the issue was so important to her.  

“A century ago, my ancestors fought and died so their voices fwon’t be silenced by the white man,” Ms. Guidry told me between bites of salad. “My grandfather was a tenant farmer, and he was in the first Senate of the Second Republic of Texas. He fought and bled for that right. I will be lying in the cold, damp earth before I let white men silence my people again."

Although it rebelled against Mexico to join the United States, it would later join a major rebellion against the United States, becoming a member of the Confederate States of America. The Second Republic’s genesis began during the Confederate Civil War, when the stresses of the Panic of 1911 and the unsuccessful war against Spain led to major revolts by both free and slave populations. The pro-Confederate state government of Texas was quickly overwhelmed by rebels and surrendered to them. The new government immediately declared independence from the Confederate States, which was in the midst of disintegrating. Texas became one of the few independent former Confederate States to maintain its Confederate-era borders.

I asked Ms. Guidry to clarify what she meant.

"White Texians have always outnumbered black Texians, and that is changing. During the Revolution, black Texians fought to free themselves from Confederate tyranny and the shackles of slavery. They fought alongside the white Texians, but on the condition that their representation is guaranteed. Seeing as black people were liberating themselves and forming independent states just across the Sabine, the whites agreed to the terms to keep Texas together. From that point on, the Texian Senate has two subdivisions: one for blacks, the other for whites. Every Senate district has two senators: one white, one black. Our President is elected by both houses, and if he's black, the Chair of the Senate has to be white, and vice versa."

It sounded like a complex system, and I confessed that I had some concerns about it. Ms. Guidry gestured with her fork to a table on the far side of the cafe, where a Latino family was enjoying a meal.

"That's the problem, right there. Even with our best efforts, more and more new whites are moving in from the south, and that's got the old whites' hackles raised."

"New whites?" I asked Ms. Guidry what she meant by that. She rolled her eyes.

"The 'polite' term is new Texians, or Hispanophone Texians, or some other nonsense white people come up with. They're moving here, taking jobs from black families and diluting our culture with theirs-" she paused for a moment after I gave her a dirty look.

"Present company excluded, but you're not moving here. Anyway, that's not the point. Point is, the old whites don't like them much either, and since they're voting in white elections and running for white seats, the old whites think their power's being taken away."

They're white? I informed Ms. Guidry that people of Latin American extraction come in many colors, using myself as an example. While there were certainly Latin Americans with very light complexions, some would not be considered white by many Americans throughout the universe. Ms. Guidry shrugged.

"Well, they're not black, so they've got to be white. That's not just my opinion, it's state law. The old whites don't think they're white either, but I'll be damned if I let them reclassify these 'new Texians' as black, or make their own part of the Senate. The Texas Constitution was founded to protect the interests of Texians, black and white, not any of these newcomers. What the whites do with their seats is their own damn problem, but I'm not letting them destroy our republic to protect their own power."

Later research proved Ms. Guidry correct: Texas has complex ancestry and genealogical laws which determine voter registration. In order to be a black Texian, a certain number of someone's ancestors had to be slaves during the days of the Confederacy.

I bid Ms. Guidry farewell, and found my next interviewee. Antonio de Guzman, one of the "new whites" Ms. Guidry spoke of, is a social activist and leader of the Latino Suffrage Action Committee. I conducted my interview after he spoke to protesters outside the Texas capitol. He greeted me with a big smile on his face.

"The feeling out here is electric, Mr. Chana. Can you feel it? Change for the better is coming."

I nodded in agreement, but I asked Mr. de Guzman to clarify what positive change his group is seeking. He immediately switched to a public relations mode, answering with what must have been a habitual answer by now.

"The Latino Suffrage Action Committee wants fair representation for all Texians, but Latinos specifically. Despite what some narratives say, Latinos have been part of Texas' population since before the First Republic. We were here before the Anglophones from the East, and our ancestors fought and died for the Second Republic too."

I asked what specific change the Committee was seeking, as I understood there were many possible answers.

"The Committee wants complete reform of the Texian Senate and voting system so that Latinos get their own section of the Senate and their own voter registration. We want a full third of the Senate, with Latino seats added to every Senate district. We don't want to 'take over' the white half of the Senate, like some propaganda says."

Does anyone else outside of the Committee want this change?

"We have some allies in the Senate, particularly the more open-minded white senators who want a fairer system. Some of the very conservative whites also support us, but only so they can reliably win their Senate seats again. The other conservative whites want us to be counted as black.

And the black senators?

"The black senators, they're almost all opposed to any reform. I can understand that, given their history and that they've always been a minority, but I expected more sympathy from them because we are fighting the same struggle."

I asked if there were any alternative reform groups. Mr. de Guzman chuckled.

"Unfortunately, the Latino community isn't united on the issue. Some are content to 'take over' the white seats, as if this was feasible. Others, they want to eliminate racial voting altogether and let everyone vote! The whites and the blacks would never let that happen, and they'll form their own separatist republic before they accept it. What an absurd idea!"

TexasEEUSG.png
 
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Wow, that's a lot of pink.

From the boundaries of Alt-Colorado, I'm guessing that Deseret seceded as well. (and then took advantage of the Confederate Civil War(CCW)) I've never seen a TL where all of Maine went to the UK in the civil war peace settlement (even in TL-191, that occured in the second mexican war/second civil war.) The other option is that the state of Deseret reach that border as part of a desperate effort to get Mormon troops)

Unclear whether Cuba was conquered by the Confederates and then the British, the TL says an unsuccessful war with Spain. I'm guessing it was conquered by the confederacy because it is pretty much the only other possible state to be covered by "one of the few independent former Confederate States to maintain its Confederate-era borders." (Though why the confederate state of texas got the Oklahoma territory (western OTL state of Oklahoma), I'm not sure)

So, I'm going with the general consensus that without Virginia, the US Civil War is over in *much* less time and the chances of the British jumping through the window of opportunity to lead to an independent CSA (and highly unlikely to be the complete victory that leads to taking Maine.) So I'm guessing that Virginia, like remnant Arkansas, were part of the CSA and then rejoined the USA at the time of the CCW.

OK, post CCW, we've got British Aligned North Carolina, another state from Southern North Carolina, Black majority South Carolina, British aligned Georgia, another British aligned West Georgia, a British aligned mega-Florida, an independent mega Tenneseee, a black Majority Mega-Mississippi(Negro Free State in the first paragraph, I guess), North and South Louisiana, Sequoyah, an a remnant Confederate (Arizona/New Mexico) which given that Santa Fe is in Deseret, is probably low enough in population to be a puppet of Texas. (And is "aligned" strong enough that they are now subjects of the British Crown similar to Canada)

So Texas borders 7 nations: the Mexican empire, its New Mexican puppet, the USA (twice), Seqouyah, the Negro Free State and North and South Louisiana... And the most stable of these is the Mexican Empire, *wow*.


As a note, this looks like the winner in the "With a POD after 1830 (Texan independence here is 1835, not 1836) give the British control of as much of North America as posslble which the requirement that the Mormons have a sea coast".
 
Wow, that's a lot of pink.

Should have sent a poet.

From the boundaries of Alt-Colorado, I'm guessing that Deseret seceded as well. (and then took advantage of the Confederate Civil War(CCW)) I've never seen a TL where all of Maine went to the UK in the civil war peace settlement (even in TL-191, that occured in the second mexican war/second civil war.) The other option is that the state of Deseret reach that border as part of a desperate effort to get Mormon troops)

The first United States disintegrated shortly after the American Civil War in a second civil war of its own. It's had a rough 19th century.

Unclear whether Cuba was conquered by the Confederates and then the British, the TL says an unsuccessful war with Spain. I'm guessing it was conquered by the confederacy because it is pretty much the only other possible state to be covered by "one of the few independent former Confederate States to maintain its Confederate-era borders." (Though why the confederate state of texas got the Oklahoma territory (western OTL state of Oklahoma), I'm not sure)

It was never conquered by the CSA. Chana was referring to states that are now part of the United States, such as Virginia and Kentucky.

So, I'm going with the general consensus that without Virginia, the US Civil War is over in *much* less time and the chances of the British jumping through the window of opportunity to lead to an independent CSA (and highly unlikely to be the complete victory that leads to taking Maine.) So I'm guessing that Virginia, like remnant Arkansas, were part of the CSA and then rejoined the USA at the time of the CCW.

Yes. As you can see, West Virginia is not a part of Virginia, indicating that Virginia joined the CSA.

, post CCW, we've got British Aligned North Carolina, another state from Southern North Carolina, Black majority South Carolina, British aligned Georgia, another British aligned West Georgia, a British aligned mega-Florida, an independent mega Tenneseee, a black Majority Mega-Mississippi(Negro Free State in the first paragraph, I guess), North and South Louisiana, Sequoyah, an a remnant Confederate (Arizona/New Mexico) which given that Santa Fe is in Deseret, is probably low enough in population to be a puppet of Texas. (And is "aligned" strong enough that they are now subjects of the British Crown similar to Canada)

South Carolina is part of the Negro Free Republic in a hilariously unstable "East Pakistan" situation.

So Texas borders 7 nations: the Mexican empire, its New Mexican puppet, the USA (twice), Seqouyah, the Negro Free State and North and South Louisiana... And the most stable of these is the Mexican Empire, *wow*.

Yeah, the USA is not in a good spot, and neither are its former territories.

As a note, this looks like the winner in the "With a POD after 1830 (Texan independence here is 1835, not 1836) give the British control of as much of North America as posslble which the requirement that the Mormons have a sea coast".

Yeah, the British are the big winners here.

Was this based on the system in Lebanon?
Reads like an American Bosnia-Herzegovina honestly.

Lebanon.

I've been on a bit of a Lazarus kick recently, and I wondered if we could do a post-capitalist corporate feudalism thing like that?

I pictured one with heavy automation, but I personally want to keep the number of non-modern entries I submit to a minimum.
 
Should have sent a poet.



The first United States disintegrated shortly after the American Civil War in a second civil war of its own. It's had a rough 19th century.



It was never conquered by the CSA. Chana was referring to states that are now part of the United States, such as Virginia and Kentucky.



Yes. As you can see, West Virginia is not a part of Virginia, indicating that Virginia joined the CSA.



South Carolina is part of the Negro Free Republic in a hilariously unstable "East Pakistan" situation.



Yeah, the USA is not in a good spot, and neither are its former territories.



Yeah, the British are the big winners here.

OK So TL goes
Texas independence in 1835, not 1836
No Gadsen Purchase
US Civil War 1 (USA/CSA), Kentucky is on the Confederate side as well. (Unclear whether British Help and whether they got Maine at that point.
US Civil War 2 (USA/?) Deseret manages to leave. California and "Cascadia" leave at this point? Does Deseret get its seacoast at this point?
1911-ish CSA Civil War. CSA *shatters*. Virginia, Kentucky and non NFR Arkansas rejoin the USA. Does Deseret get some of the CSA western Territories?
At some point in this the UK and Spain are on the opposite sides in a war(?) and Cuba ends up English.
And event a century after the CSA Civil War, and more than that after the second US Civil War the USA is still less stable than the Mexican Empire. (*wow*)
 
Reads like an American Bosnia-Herzegovina honestly.

You also have the often bizarre racial qualifications that existed in South Africa.

The ones that made life hell for Dimitri Tsafendas, the man who killed Hendrik Verwoerd.

The ones that also made Taiwanese businessmen white but not native born Chinese.
 
OK So TL goes
Texas independence in 1835, not 1836
No Gadsen Purchase
US Civil War 1 (USA/CSA), Kentucky is on the Confederate side as well. (Unclear whether British Help and whether they got Maine at that point.
US Civil War 2 (USA/?) Deseret manages to leave. California and "Cascadia" leave at this point? Does Deseret get its seacoast at this point?
1911-ish CSA Civil War. CSA *shatters*. Virginia, Kentucky and non NFR Arkansas rejoin the USA. Does Deseret get some of the CSA western Territories?
At some point in this the UK and Spain are on the opposite sides in a war(?) and Cuba ends up English.
And event a century after the CSA Civil War, and more than that after the second US Civil War the USA is still less stable than the Mexican Empire. (*wow*)

Cuba isn't British, it's an independent British ally.

You also have the often bizarre racial qualifications that existed in South Africa.

The ones that made life hell for Dimitri Tsafendas, the man who killed Hendrik Verwoerd.

The ones that also made Taiwanese businessmen white but not native born Chinese.

It wasn't clarified in the entry, but the very strict definition of black was actually pushed for by Texian black politicians , to keep their voting bloc secure and to force immigrant populations to be classified as white.
 
It wasn't clarified in the entry, but the very strict definition of black was actually pushed for by Texian black politicians , to keep their voting bloc secure and to force immigrant populations to be classified as white.

And you illustrate why putting in such classifications is foolhardy.
 
Cuba isn't British, it's an independent British ally.
Hmm. Same color as Canada in the image, I think. So the question is out of all of the pink (ranging from Canada to California to Florida to Cuba, which ones are Subjects of the King/Queen and which are allies? (And then of course the question is allies against *whom*. )
 
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