(Ooc: Assume this is written in Chinese)
You were probably thinking this was another ATL thread about a Hui (1) dominated world or an Xuanzang (2) dominated world. But it isn’t. I’m thinking in the very distant far West: Fulang (3).
Many people don’t know that this region once harbored a huge empire, which was probably more technically advanced than the very Tianxia (4). 50 years ago, the ruins of af a town of the period (buried under volcanic ashes) have come to light, and its discoverys still amaze modern scholars.
Certainly, this empire later dissolved, and the region entered in a Dark Age. But, contrary to what was thought at first, the region had been slowly recovering before the Mongol invasions (and the subsequent plague). The following wars between the Horde successor-states and the Moroccan invasions severely damaged all possibility of progress in the region. And, when the Mongol dynasty was finally expelled and things seemed to be going back to track, the Celestial ships arrived.
But what if somehow the Mongols hadn’t get to Fulang, or if the Plague doesn’t happen? Though many scholars view them as backwards religious zealots, in fact they had once very bright thinkers, such as Rogel Bacon, a monk who wanted to reconcile Faith and Reason, and was killed during the sack of Paris.
Could his preach have been fruitful? Could the people of Fulang have discovered modern science, without abandoning their faith? Would this lead to a more "Humane" use of technology? Or would their Religion limit the uses they could have given to technology, as it has happened in some Hui countries?
Could they have discovered the Eastern Continent before us, and settled there? After all, they are reasonably close!
How would our world look like? Would it be more peaceful? Or less?
(OOC: Notes:
(1) Hui: Muslim
(2) Xuanzang: India
(3) Fulang: "Land of the Franks", Europe
(4) Tianxia: "What's under heaven", China