DBWI:The Wounded Knight

krieger

Banned
Hey there.

You don't really need to know my name, we're chatting anonymously on the Internetwork, but I am from the Republic of Lithuania. Not a Lithuanian, though! I can proudly call myself a White Russian. My family has lived here, in the Minsk region, for centuries, and we have never abandoned our traditions.

I may not tell you my name, but I can tell you something you can identify me with regardless. Ever since my history teacher in secondary school sparked an interest in this subject in me, I've been a fan of the concept of alternate history. I've read all kinds of books and stories set in alternate worlds! Žygimantas Gediminaitis's "Hole in the Wall" series, the entire bibliography of Francois Darlan, considered to be the father of modern alternate history, so on and so forth... That's what drew me to this site, called "althistoria", which presents itself as the ultimate congregation of alternate history writers from across the world. Of course, it's all in German language, and thus dominated by Germans, who fill up the majority of the server time with German election wikiboxes and German AH scenarios, but it's a very interesting site regardless! If you want to find me and talk to me, I took the name of my favorite ruler in my country's history as my nickname! Albertas I Jogaila may have been quite a tyrant, but he was so pretty, and competent...

I've been a part of althistoria for over a year now, and after reading through some of the site's hall of fame (and hall of infamy, too, you can learn from the worst as well!), I have finally gathered enough courage to make a timeline of my own. What is it about?

Well, I've decided to start with a field very close to my heart - medieval Eastern Europe. It's odd that Westerners seem to accept this as fact, but Lithuania's rise to become an empire and conquer all of Eastern Europe was not something predetermined! There were plenty of times when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as they called themselves back then, could have faltered in the face of the Teutonic Knights, or the Mongols, or even the Slavs themselves! Unfortunately, very few people are interested in hearing about alternate medieval Eastern Europe. It's like to them, Russia and Krajina only popped into existence after the Great European War...

I decided to call my timeline "the Wounded Knight", as a symbolic hint at what's going to happen to Lithuania in my work, and I picked the Battle of Blue Waters in 1363 as my point of divergence. What if Algirdas and his armies were routed and defeated, and he himself killed, sending Lithuania to a civil war and starting its disintegration? Well, there's a lot to explain... and I'm learning new things as I write. For example, did you know that in this period, the most likely unifier of the Russian people was not Tver', but Moscow? Yes, that small town to the south of the Russian capital! In the 14th century, it was a rising power and even held the Metropolitan of Rus', but a Lithuanian invasion in 1368 stopped those ambitions. Well, all of that is completely different in my TL! Russia is unified by the 15th century, while Lithuania is smaller, weakened, it even accepted Catholicism instead of Orthodoxy, further worsening their stability! Doesn't that all sound super interesting to you? A world where Lithuania is not the supreme force in Eastern Europe!

But... then why am I talking to you?

Well, you see... not everyone is as excited for this prospect as I am.

I've been getting a lot of negative messages in my TL for the last month, usually from the Lithuanian members of the board. They are telling me that my story is unrealistic and that I still need a lot to learn before tackling this implausible and ambitious. I'm trying to refute these claims - after all, a lot more unlikely things have happened in OTL! - but they just won't budge, and I'm starting to believe that some of their criticism might be right. After all, this is my first timeline and I took quite a few leaps of logic to get the outcome I wanted.

So, what I am asking you is - could you help me out! My TL is usually on the first page of althistoria's AH subforum, could you dedicate some time to read my TL, give me some constructive criticism and help me become a better TL writer! Alternatively, could you give me some ideas on the direction the rest of the world should take? I've got an idea on how Russia will develop, and I've got some ideas on other countries, like having England lose the Ninety Years' War or to have the Ottomans succeed in conquering Hungary, but... maybe you have something else to propose?

Oh!
 
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