Look to the West Volume IX: The Electric Circus

[Thande]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I like the Ondine! New stock races that arise in AH are one of my favorite aspects to the genre. Inspired by War With the Newts, I presume?

I'm not familiar with that, so no - it began (I introduced the original story in an earlier chapter) as a fusion of "The War of the Worlds" with "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". There was also an element borrowed from an idea @GBW had about doing Turtledove's Worldwar during the American Civil War but with a rising Atlantis with WW1 technology instead of aliens with 90s technology in WW2..

 

[Born in the USSA]

Thanks for the comments everyone.


I'm not familiar with that, so no - it began (I introduced the original story in an earlier chapter) as a fusion of "The War of the Worlds" with "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". There was also an element borrowed from an idea @GBW had about doing Turtledove's Worldwar during the American Civil War but with a rising Atlantis with WW1 technology instead of aliens with 90s technology in WW2..

It's from the author that wrote R.U.R. and coined the word "robot", I assumed the focus on automata and war with a sea race in mass media TTL was a deliberate reference 😂

War with the Newts

War with the Newts is a 1936 satirical science-fiction novel by Czech author Karel Čapek. The plot does not have a single protagonist, but begins with Czech Captain Van Toch, who discovers a species of remarkably intelligent giant newts …

tvtropes.org

 

[Thande]

As we're on the home stretch for Volume IX now, I'll ask a question: is there any remaining area of the world in this era of circa 1926-1956, either geographically or thematically, which you want to see an update on before we close?

 

[PerhapsItsChondoLal]

As we're on the home stretch for Volume IX now, I'll ask a question: is there any remaining area of the world in this era of circa 1926-1956, either geographically or thematically, which you want to see an update on before we close?

... back to India

 

[Rickdukulous Rex]

As we're on the home stretch for Volume IX now, I'll ask a question: is there any remaining area of the world in this era of circa 1926-1956, either geographically or thematically, which you want to see an update on before we close?

We haven't seen the Crimean Jews in a while.

And whatever happened to Drufesnie?

 

[username5243]

As we're on the home stretch for Volume IX now, I'll ask a question: is there any remaining area of the world in this era of circa 1926-1956, either geographically or thematically, which you want to see an update on before we close?

I was gonna ask about Germany and the former Belgium but this last update covered that. How about the divided Poland, though?

I assume we'll be looking at Yapon soon, if the oncoming war starts how we all think it will. (Or maybe not, given even TTL people don't seem to know much about the place.) And how's Corea doing nowadays?
I suppose you can always go back and fill in gaps in the next bit if you need to, depending on how exactly you plan on writing the next volume...

 

[Born in the USSA]

Wouldn't mind a bit on anarchosocietism honestly 🤔 they got mentioned in an older thread and have always had me curious

 

[Fratsup]

Hope we can have a map soon. Also hope this timeline continues on to the future.

 

[HistLover]

Antarctica

 

[Born in the USSA]

Antarctica

Ah, a fellow person of culture I see!

 

[Falecius]

What about New Spain and Guatemala? I think I've lost track of both.

 

[Thande]

Hope we can have a map soon.

Funny you should say that...

I've been promising this way too long, so here is a map of 1927...i.e. the start of this volume, so a lot of this has now changed

Thanks to Beatriz (no longer with us now I believe) for tracking some changes on a map I was able to use as a source. (Incidentally, this timeline is also posted on the Sea Lion Press forum here: https://forum.sealionpress.co.uk/in...est-volume-ix-the-electric-circus.5347/page-9 for anyone not able to read it here).

As always, also thanks to Bruce Munroe for pioneering this style of maps (I will plug his Deviantart here: https://www.deviantart.com/quantumbranching )

edit: Unfortunately, the map file size is too large for this forum's rules, so I have to post a somewhat degraded version. To see it in full quality, again it's available on SLP here: http://forum.sealionpress.co.uk/ind...lume-ix-the-electric-circus.5347/post-1330295

 

[PerhapsItsChondoLal]

Huh. I feel one thing is odd = why did Bengal not own the entirety of the Assam valley and have half of it arbitrarily owned by Burma?

 

[Thande]

Huh. I feel one thing is odd = why did Bengal not own the entirety of the Assam valley and have half of it arbitrarily owned by Burma?

It's a holdover border from the early days of the TL (when Ava's displaced Konbaung dynasty overran Arakan) and later, in practice it didn't make much difference because Burma/Ava was heavily under Bengali influence regardless. However, that does give me an idea for a flashpoint going forward!

 

[PerhapsItsChondoLal]

It's a holdover border from the early days of the TL (when Ava's displaced Konbaung dynasty overran Arakan) and later, in practice it didn't make much difference because Burma/Ava was heavily under Bengali influence regardless. However, that does give me an idea for a flashpoint going forward!

Ah. Another thing, forgot if this was a Great Jihad thing or not, but why does Bengal seem to own parts of south-eastern UP?

 

[PerhapsItsChondoLal]

It's a holdover border from the early days of the TL (when Ava's displaced Konbaung dynasty overran Arakan) and later, in practice it didn't make much difference because Burma/Ava was heavily under Bengali influence regardless. However, that does give me an idea for a flashpoint going forward!

Also, general questions about Bengal:
What's the status of Assamese language and Culture in Bengal? What about Odiya and Persian? And Bengali itself?

 

[Snaut]

I want to hear about big Lithuania, we haven't heard much from there in ages, and about the way Societism and Diversitarianism interact in such a diverse country.

 

[SteppeHerder47]

One thing I’m wondering since I live there currently, who owns the Marianas? OTL Guam passed to American control after the Spanish American War and Germany bought Saipan and the northern Islands.

That’s all obviously butterflied away. I could see the islands going the way of the Phillipines and falling under Meridian influence in the 19th Century. I know from anecdotal evidence Saipan has major Filipino influence and population today.

I could also see the Marianas having been discussed a few volumes ago and me forgetting about it.

Either way love the way the 20th century is going. Another favorite has always been the Mauré, a powerful native state makes for a very interesting Pacific ITTL

 

[Thande]

Ah. Another thing, forgot if this was a Great Jihad thing or not, but why does Bengal seem to own parts of south-eastern UP?

Also, general questions about Bengal:
What's the status of Assamese language and Culture in Bengal? What about Odiya and Persian? And Bengali itself?

Yes Bengal expanded into parts of what was formerly Oudh (Awadh, Orissa/Odisha etc as a result of the Great Jihad.

Language in Bengal changed as a result of the new sense of national identity that arose when the people (including the English-derived minority) pulled together to resist the Great Jihad, defining itself in more native and local terms and rejecting some practices now associated with the Mughals. By the 1930s, English and Bengali are considered the primary languages of discourse in Bengal and are what are primarily taught in schools - though there is also an 'Anglo-Bangla' business pidgin that has grown increasingly respectable (with its own dictionaries etc) and not just a traders' tongue. Persian and Arabic are no longer used as state documentation languages; Persian is still known and taught to some extent, but is now thought of as primarily a scholars' tongue like Sanskrit rather than associated with the living Persian of modern Persia. Arabic became somewhat stigmatised due to association with Arab mujahideen who joined the Great Jihad and are (rightly or wrongly) associated in the Bengali popular imagination with war crimes. Other local languages like Odiya are considered less prestigious and whether they are taught in schools is variable.

I want to hear about big Lithuania, we haven't heard much from there in ages, and about the way Societism and Diversitarianism interact in such a diverse country.

Thanks for the suggestion.

One thing I’m wondering since I live there currently, who owns the Marianas? OTL Guam passed to American control after the Spanish American War and Germany bought Saipan and the northern Islands.

That’s all obviously butterflied away. I could see the islands going the way of the Phillipines and falling under Meridian influence in the 19th Century. I know from anecdotal evidence Saipan has major Filipino influence and population today.

I could also see the Marianas having been discussed a few volumes ago and me forgetting about it.

Either way love the way the 20th century is going. Another favorite has always been the Mauré, a powerful native state makes for a very interesting Pacific ITTL

Good question, no I haven't discussed that before. I think they would have been transferred to the UPSA at the same time as the Philippines, but held onto when the Philippine Republic was created, and are now part of the Combine. That is actually quite relevant to some plans I need to do so thank you for raising it.

 

[245]

As we're on the home stretch for Volume IX now, I'll ask a question: is there any remaining area of the world in this era of circa 1926-1956, either geographically or thematically, which you want to see an update on before we close?

I think the Philippines would be a good one to see.