Industrial Progress: A Story Of Venetian Suffrage (Haitus)

[Lucius Verus]

105. The Servi War Part 1
1485-?


In the 1480s a new generation was taking their place in Venice; Patricians who spent more time in rural estates and travelling than in Venice, wealthy and numerous urban professionals who'd never set foot in the countryside, and the masses of labourers raised with the expectations of the "good ol' doge" who provided a fair price for grain from the "black ships". In Terrafirma there wasn't many among the living who remembered the destruction, hunger, and turmoil of the Vicsonti conquests and dissolution, rather entire generations raised with the pride of their tarnished and disgraced city-states. While Venice understood the need to include and co-opt the mainlanders, the process was a clash of cultures over how society should be organized. The irreconcilable difference was the Sons of Erasmus, as the bedrock of Venetian domination the Republic has taken great care to maintain their loyalty with servi citizenship which comes with much sought after and despised economic, legal, social privileges, and envy. [1]

In Terrafirma merchants were threatened and incensed by these new men with internal trade privileges while they were subject to the same ancient tariffs as everyone else. Guilds, nobles and the militarized Patricians of the mainland saw the nascent servi as a threat to their entire social hierarchy; with their rights and privileges guaranteed from Venice the servi calls into question the authority of the city-state as a whole and is seen as devaluing existing privileges. To the Venetians, sumptuary privileges were a symptom of success whereas the mainlanders saw image as an avenue towards political success in a zero-sum city-state and a way of life. Furthermore as the servi was seen as "Venetian and foreign" their recruits in Terrafirma were seen as traitors and treated viciously as traitors were in any society. Unlike a good deal of the urbanized colonial holdings the Venetian bureaucracy was held back in Terrafirma making servi citizenship predominately male and military, failing to entice half the population yet still angering the guilds and nobility over their very existence.

Always personal, petty, and violent politics in the city-states was given the distant spectre of Venice to rally against with many vengeful hopes of a grand coalition. But as the growing number of the servi in Terrafirma show there was plenty of dissention along lines of wealth, guild, nobility, religion, bloodline, and regionalism. Unlike the nascent guilds of the 12th and 13th century that forced their way into politics against the nobility's military power with wealth and numbers the servi were professional military men more than capable of holding their own. Despite the warnings of the few elders alive during the early 1400s blood once again flowed in the streets as the servi, guilds, nobles, and powerful houses clashed. The successful agitators were able to cast their resistance as a fight against tranny of Venice while downplaying their own privilege and tranny over their neighbours and the smaller cities. [2]

Adding to the tensions was the slow integration economic integration of Terrafirma. Modular and standardized manufacturing, formerly an expensive option to quickly mobilize rich city-state's navy was never considered a viable economic method as their simply wasn't a market for hundreds of thousands of identical products. With the expansion of the Republic, consistent improvements in transportation, and growing cohort of well-off professionals manufactories became not only viable but rather superior to traditional artisan production, in such an economic climate Terrafirma artisans found themselves working longer hours for less pay resulting in discontent. There were of course winners as many mainlanders took advantage of such a large market and thrived yet nothing was done for the losers, for whom the traditional local churches were struggling to relieve while fighting a political battle against the state church for their independence. [3]

Things came to a boiling point starting in 1485 where 3 years of sporadic poor harvests and harvest failures across the Mediterranean led to rising grain prices. The general shortage within the entire Republic depleted reserves and the grain subsidy wasn't able to stem rising prices and the labourers of the Terrafirma cities soon found themselves spending their entire budget on food. In 1486 the lack of general discretionary spending depressed the consumer market as the poor spent all their money on food, the artisans of Terrafirma were particularly hard hit as the economic depression forced in long-put off adjustments. Hysteric mobs formed in the cities and demanded that merchants sell their grain for a "fair price", many of which were ruined as a result and the depression hit the highest echelon of society. To the mob talks of "supply and demand" was simply excuses of greedy merchants, nobles, and bureaucrats speculating and trying to starve out the poor. The administrations of the cities of Terrafirma for the most part were quite genuine in their attempts to help once they realized that they were in the middle of a famine and despite generous measures money and effort couldn't conjure food from nothing in an Europe-wide event. It was during these distressing times that the Venetian senate allowed a consortium of Patricians to populate and develop the poorly populated Polish-Lithuanian Union's Black Seas regions to guard against famine in the future.

By 1487 the crisis seemed to have been averted with normalized harvests, yet the year was hit by an unusually warm and dry winter. The Venetian mastery over water turned from a strength into a liability as the dry and warm winter left rivers and canals too low to ship grain while water mills were unable to ground grain into flour. Pushed to the edge the valley was lite a blaze by border skirmishes with Sigismund, Archduke of further Austria. A long standing dispute over the lucrative silver mines of the Sugana Valley the Patrician led Sons of Erasmus were called from the valley north to Trent to guard their private interests. Sensing that their window of opportunity was slipping by as the Venetian economy gradually integrated them cities in Terrafirma spontaneous rose up in revolt, with Milan inviting the famed Swiss mercenaries to the Po Valley. [4][5]




[1] Hull tarring was one of the early modern innovations that boosted hull durability significantly, this meant longer journeys, less time spent repairing, and more money saved in general. It helped make transport cheaper and trans-ocean economies more viable, IOTL it was mostly Swedish and Muscovite pine tar, ITTL Venice is using coal by-products from Kosovo.
[2] One of the early features of politics in this era was the need to be rich enough to care about non-immediate and regional concerns, this was limited to the nobility, clergy, and merchant classes. To the many of the powerful in Terrafirma gone were the days of non-stop growth in the 12th-13th centuries and the most important matter presently was to protect their wealth and privilege from the oncoming Venetian encroachment; they weren't wrong per say. The nobility that derived their status from land ownership wound find themselves relatively less important in a Republic that values manufacturing and transport just as much as land ownership.
[3] Just as IOTL the industrial revolution was part transport part mechanization. Modular manufacturing wasn't new or ground-breaking, just only useful if you had cheap transport to a mass market with disposable income. There wouldn't be an incentive to invent steam engines to pump water out of coal mines IOTL England if the mine owners couldn't transport the coal cheaply and make a profit just as there wouldn't be an incentive to build and maintain good canals if there wasn't the need to transport massive amounts of coal.
[4] Water power ultimately is limited by rainfall, location, and difference in elevation. IOTL one of the reasons steam engines were such a massive improvement was the portability of power.
[5] Just as IOTL, Sigismund starts a minor war over the contested border and silver mines in Trent. Unlike IOTL Sigismund has chosen a very bad time for the Republic IOTL.

 

[Lucius Verus]

106. The Servi War Part 2
1487-?

"Its easy to conquer, much harder to rule"
Leonardo "the Tower", Podesta of Milan

The revolt, despite its scope across most of Terrafirma had numerous weaknesses from the onset. The first problem was the timing, being a reaction to an agricultural crisis there was little preparation nor cooperation among the numerous rebels which meant a shortage of modern arms, training, and organization. Despite their willingness to adopt the firepower-centric warfare of the Venetians the cities of Terrafirma did not have the stockpiles nor the great gun foundries of Cyprus, Kosovo, nor Treviso, the only comparable region were the blacksmith guilds of Milan. [1]

The second problem was the lack of unity, while many blamed and loathed Venice they had little love for each other. In the countryside and smaller towns and cities the proclamations of "liberty and independence" by the largest cities had historically meant subjugation and taxes, the fact that the final year of the crisis was partially a problem of transportation meant that the countryside was relatively well fed and the revolt only gained support in villages that were on historical city-state borders that were traditionally well-treated for strategic purposes. For the cities the lack of unity meant little to no communication nor cooperation between themselves, the private nature of the Sons of Erasmus meant that they were frequently spread out and deployed in small groups to guard rural Patrician interest; making it easier for the rebels to seize control but also that much of the country-side stayed in Venetian hands. There was also a minority of houses in Terrafirma which were more concerned with their feuds and rivals than independence from Venice and refused to participate or secretly provided information to Venice, which combined with the loose collection of relationships between Venetians and Italians meant that the Inquisition always had sources on the mainland. [2]

Nonetheless the condottieri tradition was still alive if muted by decades of peace, whether due to exile, lust for adventure, or other reasons men and nobles set out from Terrafirma to seek war from which they returned as charismatic and experienced military men providing natural centers of gravity for new power structures to form around. Much to the surprise of many, a fraction of the oldest, richest, and self-proclaimed pro-independence families were reluctant to join the rebellion; having successfully made the transition from city-state politics to finance and trade they found the Venetian system very much to their liking; the Venetian senate offered them avenues for social advance regardless of blood, the Venetian economy was designed to benefit the richest, and all without the downsides of city-state politics where political defeat often meant confiscation, exile, or death. As the revolt got underway and the choice became independence or death, the majority of the richest families reluctantly took the helm and contributed their wealth and influence. The wealth of Terrafirma's richest helped alleviate the pressing issue of supply, in contrast to traditional armies that required only food, forage, and smiths a gunpowder army required specialists, tools, and powder that couldn't be found on any farmstead or town. The end result was a mixed army, short of gunpowder and forced to rely on swords and pikes the causalities were horrendous as plate armor proved to be of minimal protection against the newer heavy Venetian muskets. In contrast to the Sons of Erasmus the rebellious cities did not have an existing system to train professional soldiers, as the historic city-state avoided arming its own populace due to the risk of domestic coups.

The third and most damning problem was the difficulty of administration, this was especially evident in Lombaridia; the region furthest from Venice which reigned independently the longest. After securing control the rebels found themselves incapable of securing the food supply. Milan was exceptional in its relatively large noble population, while noble numbers in Terrafirma dwindled and took on Patrician blood during the 12-13th centuries the lords of Milan maintained their numbers if not dominance. Unwilling to admit that the Venetian claims were correct in the lack of food nor willing to give up their privileged positions of the very city-state they fought for Lombaridia quickly fell into a miasma of paranoid denunciations. Food price ceilings were set and bands of armed men to loot the pantries and homes of those accused of hoarding. In reaction to confiscations and price ceilings that forced them to sell at a loss farmers hid their stock or plied the black market while merchants avoided the region and tried to get what they can out. Not since the days of the Social War in 88 BC were the Terrafirma natives united and this was no exception, left to their own devices amidst an agricultural, economic, and military crisis the rebels of Lombaridia turned against one an another eventually ordering the Swiss mercenaries meant to safe-guard their independence against one and another. While the Swiss Cantons were just as divided as the Terrafirma cities they weren't invested in the local divisions of the Italians and when they were called to arms against their own they cited contract clauses against fratricide and left, looting for back-pay along the way.[3]

Meanwhile in Venice the Patrician hubris was taking a severe beating. The last major conquest was nearly 60 years ago and the current generation are the sons and daughters of conquerors rather than conquerors themselves, the severe inability of the untrained and unbloodied Patrician generals revealed themselves in a series of failures. Despite inept and egotistical generals, the current generation of Venetians were gifted with one of the mightiest military and economic inheritances at the time. As military disasters purged the ranks of the old guard men of talent were able to rise through the blood and powder into positions of command, all of this was only possible with a steady stream of colonial recruits and money.

With a social and citizenship system that emphasized and rewarded militarized traders Venice was never short of eager recruits from the poor colonial possessions, while the Republic will eventual run out of residents to entice with citizenship it was for the time being an unlimited source of manpower. The fact that the majority of the Republic's new citizens gained their citizenship from either militarized trading or bureaucratic service will certainly have massive impacts on the Republic's culture, yet amidst the dangers of rebellion no one paid the issue any heed. As the banking center of the Mediterranean, Venice had access to financial resources several-fold of its immediate economic power while the Italian bankers that revived international trade with the best financial technology in the 12th century was by now pitifully inadequate. Still dealing in bullion, the rebellious cities had to borrow at higher rates, tax, and commandeer from their cities to consolidate their rule, fight a war all while their economies suffered the chaos of rebellion. In contrast Venice avoided ruinous tax hikes by taking on long-term loans while the exchange market of Venice helped merchants find alternative costumers and suppliers outside the Republic. The money markets of Venice, previously a benign source of financing and marketing for the Mediterranean made its displeasure clear as it threatened to censure entire communities for individuals conducting trade with the rebels while also rewarding defecting traders with favorable terms. This will of course have effects in the future as merchants and kings outside the republic realize the extent that the banks of Venice penetrated their domains through thousands of private business deals conducted over the decades, the potential liabilities of relying on Venice for cheap loans, but for now most acquiesced and an effective blockade was enforced. [4]

Given the resources and power of Venice the war was definitely tilted in its favor, yet the fates of war are fickle and the victorious often fail to apply lessons unlearned in peace.





[1] Whereas every minor town and village had a blacksmith iron, feed-stock, food, clothe, and the likes that a medieval army required guns, powder, artillery supply trains and such weren't readily available. Had the rebellion happened a century or two later IOTL then guns, flint, and bullets would've been cheaper and armies could once again live off the land. IOTL the centralization efforts of monarchs in the 15th-17th century was a direct response to the rising cost and demands of gunpowder warfare. ITTL Venice was centralized by Doge Foscari for his thwarted dynastic ambitions and the desire of Venetian bureaucrats for job creation.

[2] Taking inspiration from the numerous medieval/renaissance Italian coalitions against invaders that never included all the city-states or the coalitions against ascendant city-states that usually formed there was little unity among Italians. Even after the advent of nationalism and mass printing giving more access and material for unity the Italian wars of independence was plagued by divisions.

[3] IOTL Milan also had a relatively large noble population. IOTL it was hard to plot a correlation between the number of nobles and guild members and the form of government, luck and politics seemed to be the key determinators. Ferrara IOTL as an example crushed its guilds with the help of Venice which gleefully took out manufacturing competitors. ITTL this will have ramifications down the line.

[4] One of the common problems of rebellions everywhere was the lack of financial legitimacy, it is really hard to get people to loan you money when there isn't a system in place to guarantee repayment. In this regard the Terrafirma preference for bullion is a mixed blessing, on one hand gold was readily accepted in value, on the other hand it is dangerous and difficult to transport valuables out of Terrafirma; valuable guards, foodstuffs, and feed needed to be taken away from an ongoing rebellion for transport. Fractional banking worked well for Venice since it had deposits from all over the Mediterranean in contrast to the rebels which only had their own bullion in the bank and the risk of a bank run was real.

 

[Lucius Verus]

Depression's a bitch and why the TL's been on hold for so long, but unlike the younger me I know how to recognize it and deal with it now even if I'm not always successful.

Being an believer in institutional economics I've never been too keen on geographic determinism, learning from older and better writers on this forum I think the most important part of any serious divergence is the build up to it so that for the readers it seemed only natural that the "Americans gained the vote in the British Empire" in Look to the West or that "the Patricians of Venice rejected the Humanists" ITTL. There's so much I want to write about, an Euro-Middle Eastern Republic in the industrial era would be fascinating, the development and importance of so many institutions we take for granted in the West such as the rule of law (particularly relevant today since we can also lose them), Venetians in the Indian Ocean interacting with the true economic heart of the world at the time; India, and screw it Venetians on the moon in 1864-maybe sooner, but they'll have to wait. It kinda ties into another project of mine, where a character gained an appreciation for modernity that we take for granted by being sent to a pre-industrial era (that's also taking time from this TL).

IMO, I think I've nearly built up enough condition's for an industrial r̶e̶v̶o̶l̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ evolution; the Nile, an agricultural hinterland the size of Italy, borders defined by the alps and Balkans, relatively defensible, dominance of the Mediterranean, Po, and Nile as natural transport arteries, the Po Valley a rich market, and Kosovo and the Black Seas (to be elaborated on later) as resource regions. In many ways the parts of the Republic complement each other, Venice's attention will be pulled both east and west, the city itself will lose relevance as a manufacturing center since it has been exporting know-how for decades alongside the costly rent and living costs within the lagoon slowly transitioning towards a parasitical political capital, it might not even stay a financial capital; especially as Ferrara is the natural transit port for East-West trade and the tendency of financial capitals to follow industrial/transport capitals.

 

[Missingnoleader]

Venice really can't catch a break can it.

 

[Lucius Verus]

Venice really can't catch a break can it.

Pure wanks aren't interesting to me

 

[BootOnFace]

The wealth of Terrafirma's richest helped alleviate the pressing issue of supply, in contrast to traditional armies that required only food, forage, and smiths a gunpowder army required specialists, tools, and powder that couldn't be found on any farmstead or town. The end result was a mixed army, short of gunpowder and forced to rely on swords and pikes the causalities were horrendous as plate armor proved to be of minimal protection against the newer heavy Venetian muskets.

Powder was actually the main expense of supplying a firearm army, but it was actually cheaper than supplying arrows or crossbow bolts, thanks to economy of scale. Guns were as cheap as crossbows or munitions bows. It makes sense that they would end up just having to use a small amount of musketeers to complement a primarily pike-based army. Too bad for them the side with the most powder tends to win in this period.

IMO, I think I've nearly built up enough condition's for an industrial r̶e̶v̶o̶l̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ evolution; the Nile, an agricultural hinterland the size of Italy, borders defined by the alps and Balkans, relatively defensible, dominance of the Mediterranean, Po, and Nile as natural transport arteries, the Po Valley a rich market, and Kosovo and the Black Seas (to be elaborated on later) as resource regions.

There is a serious problem of coking coal. Serbia and Macedonia have huge amounts of lignite, but no hard coal. Bosnia does have what looks like a good amount of iron, though. I think that Venice needing to import these vital materials is a major hindrance towards becoming a first-mover in industry.

 

[Lucius Verus]

There is a serious problem of coking coal. Serbia and Macedonia have huge amounts of lignite, but no hard coal. Bosnia does have what looks like a good amount of iron, though. I think that Venice needing to import these vital materials is a major hindrance towards becoming a first-mover in industry.

They won't be a first, the current plan is to have an economic colony do it first then have the heartlands play catch-up while hamstrung by resource limitations.

 

[Lucius Verus]

107. The Book of Pandora

1413-?
Christendom



Literature, previously the domain of the clergy and the nobles which provided recruits for the clergy due to the cost of writing, cost and time for copying by scribes, and the years required to learn Latin. With an effective monopoly on information, social peace was maintained, heretics were snuffed out, and the church reached outside the spiritual realm into political struggles with princes and church councilors. It was in this stagnant pond that Enrica d'Venzone, the patron saint of knowledge and the blind for the Venetian flock invented the imprint type in 1413 to provide the blind with free Venzone (Brail) bibles. [1]

For the first time in hundreds of years, information was available by purchase or rental to anyone of modest means and the illiterate in their social circles. Given economic guarantees by patents and the copyrights by a Venetian republic eager to profit the imprint type was soon refined and exported outside the republic. In retrospect it seemed obvious that the easy to setup, move, and produce printing press would break the church's monopoly on discourse but by the 1410s the catholic church had become complacent, sinful, and corrupt - so corrupt that the word nepos (nephew, Tuscan dialect) aka nepotism became the most used corruption adage due to all the popes that violated their oaths, sinned, and abused their powers to appoint their illegitimate children in power. Even the Venetian State Inquisition, one of the more accountable censors found it difficult to monitor let alone direct the flow of discourse. [2]

Books that formerly took years for a scribe to transcribe was now available with hours of manual labour and the accessibility of books exploded from just the clergy, absurdly wealthy, and the nobles to the professional classes and business owners. Perhaps the most important was the spread of printing in the vernacular, which made literacy much easier to acquire and more applicable to everyday life at the cost of international unity. Labour mobility and investment choices blossomed for the professional class as trade secrets and technical know-how, previously only available to the children/spouses of exclusive guild members made their way into manuals. At the time the process was expedited within Venice by pay per use libraries and company libraries trying to fulfill a massive demand for skilled labour in the colonial conquests. Even with the benefits of mass production a book was often equal in cost to the entire annual wage of a colonial day labourer or 1/2 their Venetian counterpart in Venice and libraries helped reduce the cost of literacy. The side-effect of the increased literacy was the retention of a strong Venetian identity, as Patricians either imported Venetian pastors or the colonists took it upon themselves to buy a now much cheaper bible. The spread of service in Venetian combined with more mobile and connected Venetians stood out in contrast to previous waves of colonists such as the Cretan-Venetians which were more sedentary, local in outlook, and tended to "go native". [3]

Yet this was far from benign, without official censorship all that was left was unofficial censorship; men and the occasional women of letters constructed worldviews far removed from reality, sought out information which reinforced their biases, and absurdness was just as good as truths. This informal communication network was also a conduit for panic and increasing tribalism paving the way for division, antagonism, and hysteria. When Saint Enrica gave out imprinted bibles to the blind she probably didn't think that she might be creating the conditions for centuries of religious division and war. The future remains to be seen, for the immediate present it was through both official traditional and the new unofficial and disorganized communication networks that the Servi War was perceived through and discussed through and it here that the peace would be won or lost. [4]




[1] See 80. Saint Enrica
[2] Sadly 100% just as IOTL with nepotism.
[3] Just as IOTL qualitatively, ITTL the spread of Patrician-run manufactures during the 1380s-1450s created a need for Venice to train lots of skilled workers who were both mobile.
[4] Amazing how the more things change the less things change, we're seeing it today with the internet where people seek out echo chambers for the most non-challenging and self-reinforcing news and info. Unlike the internet today however, which is simply a compliment to TV, books, newspapers, radios and more already existing the printing press came into a literary vacuum; men and women were given access to a wide pool of knowledge never available before and the impact was revolution as opposed to the internet's evolutionary impact.

 

[Al-numbers]

So the revolt in Terrafirma is more of a Syrian civil war-esque conflict than a united front, and I find it a bit amusing that Venice might not the money-centre of the future as it develops onward.

 

[Nyvis]

So the revolt in Terrafirma is more of a Syrian civil war-esque conflict than a united front, and I find it a bit amusing that Venice might not the money-centre of the future as it develops onward.

Like in most states with a long established central government history, the capitals tend to see a lot of benefit from being the home of the bureaucracy. Industry will plonk there because it will have the hear of the government or be funded by it. And of course anything based more on paper than materials will stay there. The rest of the Venetian empire is going to be more developed in terms of industry, but Venice will probably remain the extremely dominant finance center and that's hard to beat as far as influence goes. It's possible Venetian suburbs and offices start popping up on the mainland around the lagoon though, for ease of building, especially once the core land around it starts feeling more secure.

 

[The Undead Martyr]

The Lagoon itself will also probably be expanded, even OTL the Venetians did a lot of land reclamation.
Also I'd be interested to see the eventual Venetian take on skyscrapers/office buildings. Some sort of neo-classical design, or perhaps something highly Indian in influence? Or lots of glass...

 

[Nyvis]

The Lagoon itself will also probably be expanded, even OTL the Venetians did a lot of land reclamation.
Also I'd be interested to see the eventual Venetian take on skyscrapers/office buildings. Some sort of neo-classical design, or perhaps something highly Indian in influence? Or lots of glass...

One problem is foundations, though, once you start considering heavier buildings. You don't want them to sink, do you?

Maybe floating government and corporation offices down the line?

 

[Lucius Verus]

One problem is foundations, though, once you start considering heavier buildings. You don't want them to sink, do you?

Maybe floating government and corporation offices down the line?

Well there are solid foundations in the lagoon, though most of them are occupied by churches (namely Giudecca island). I don't see skyscrapers in Venice since most of the churches will become historical sites by then. It really depends on how it comes about, will we get a Napoleon III? Will there just be gradually creeping towards the Lido and Mestre becoming a de-facto urban sprawl?

 

[Nyvis]

Well there are solid foundations in the lagoon, though most of them are occupied by churches (namely Giudecca island). I don't see skyscrapers in Venice since most of the churches will become historical sites by then. It really depends on how it comes about, will we get a Napoleon III? Will there just be gradually creeping towards the Lido and Mestre becoming a de-facto urban sprawl?

Maybe the business center shift to a "new Venice" on more solid foundations near the lagoon later?

 

[minifidel]

Well there are solid foundations in the lagoon, though most of them are occupied by churches (namely Giudecca island). I don't see skyscrapers in Venice since most of the churches will become historical sites by then. It really depends on how it comes about, will we get a Napoleon III? Will there just be gradually creeping towards the Lido and Mestre becoming a de-facto urban sprawl?

Venice could also go the Paris/La Defense route, and put its skyscrapers on Terrafirma where they can build on better foundations.

 

[Lucius Verus]

Venice could also go the Paris/La Defense route, and put its skyscrapers on Terrafirma where they can build on better foundations.

Maybe the business center shift to a "new Venice" on more solid foundations near the lagoon later?

Venice like a good deal of old cities didn't exactly engage in urban planning and rather just let thousands of individuals engaging in urban sprawl, yet as Murano and the Ministry of the Waterway IOTL showed there was at least long-term ecological and public-safety planning. I honestly wouldn't know since its so far into the future.

Rashid on the other hand, would be an immediate and curious case of Venetian Gothic architecture, shaped by circumstances of lagoon construction you'd get a creative and unique style,
the fading legacy of the Byzantines combined with the influx of Islamic influences, and the oncoming economic rise of the Nile fueling a construction boom in the Nile's port of call.

 

[Lucius Verus]

On a separate note, I wanna do a poll of what brings people back to this TL. Thing is I don't know what I don't know:

Interest in early modern economics
Interest in early modern military
Interest in early modern institutions
Interest in early modern technology
Interest in the Venetian Republic
Interest in early modern Italy
Interest in early modern society

let me know if I missed anything

 

[Adelkman]

Interest in early economic and social matters. Also, I like italian unification TLs. Those slow enough, because people always understimate how frammented and dimwitted was the italian mindset at the time. Like, people were so isolationalist that hardly accepted the idea of "common good", but sticked solidly to the "good costums", unwritten laws that benefit only them. A quick unification sound incomplete, like OTL Spain who doesn't have a single culture, but it's permeated by indipendentist movements. Simply put, Italy at the time lacked a cultural common ground and they needed centuries to get one. So this TL, with a yet to unify Italy and a lousy colonial empire (another undestimated point, burocracy was maddening slow, accidents happened often and mechanized TLs do not keep in consideration obvious material limitations of their respective times), this timeline feel just credible, with a lot of development still to go along Venice future to keep it interesting.

 

[BootOnFace]

Early Modern Economics and Institutions is super my interest in this TL. Society is secondary and the rest tertiary.

Also regarding the Lagoon: Perhaps during industrialization, they dike up and polder their way to the mainland? Pull a Boston and just infill until it's basically part of the mainland?

Red areas filled in or drained? By the time the skyscrapers arrive the mainland should be just as Venice as the original lagoon.

 

[BootOnFace]

Perhaps they start by dredging the lagoon on one side for shipping and fill in the inner parts of the lagoon for more land?