Of Poets and Supermen Volume I - The Drums of War

[andry2806]

Oh, I loved it. The detail, the crafting of the story, the research...this is awesome.
Oh, as an Italian native speaker I noted some error here and there, I'll signal them to you:

Partito Socialista Italiana

Italiano, not Italiana.

Associazione Nationalista Italiana

Nazionalista, not Nationalista

Lavatori

Lavoratori, not Lavatori.

Overall your Italian is really good, and much better than the AH.com average.

The Great War (in both OTL and this ATL) changed the world irrevocably, as charismatic men (and women, eventually) like Kamo and D'Annunzio come to power. This is a timeline where functioning democracies become increasingly rare, where republicanism spreads throughout Europe as monarchies are overturned and toppled, where China is united by an army of religious zealots who crush infidels and heretics, where movements like Carnarism, Petrosianism and the Volkssturmbewegung take root and spread throughout the world, and where warfare retains the same brutality of the Great War.

I swear, I absolutely wanted to do a TL with this same exact idea. Since reading about Boris Savinkov and remembering what I already knew about D'Annunzio I thought about a TL where all the "supermen" who cherished action more than thought had success and generally were at the center of history. Overall this TL is really going to use a lot of tropes and ideas I really always wanted to develop into something, I'm so hyped! Great work!

From everything I can find thus far about Badoglio, the historical picture paints him as more or less an incompetent glory hound who did whatever he could to benefit himself

Fuck Pietro Badoglio.

Yeah, 100% agree. Badoglio stand to Cadorna as underground rap stands to Worldstar. He's the underground, "for real fans", example of historically shitty Italian general who took really bad choices which had terrible consequences.

 

[Persephone]

Oh, I loved it. The detail, the crafting of the story, the research...this is awesome.
Oh, as an Italian native speaker I noted some error here and there, I'll signal them to you:

Italiano, not Italiana.

Nazionalista, not Nationalista

Lavoratori, not Lavatori.

Overall your Italian is really good, and much better than the AH.com average.

I swear, I absolutely wanted to do a TL with this same exact idea. Since reading about Boris Savinkov and remembering what I already knew about D'Annunzio I thought about a TL where all the "supermen" who cherished action more than thought had success and generally were at the center of history. Overall this TL is really going to use a lot of tropes and ideas I really always wanted to develop into something, I'm so hyped! Great work!


Yeah, 100% agree. Badoglio stand to Cadorna as underground rap stands to Worldstar. He's the underground, "for real fans", example of historically shitty Italian general who took really bad choices which had terrible consequences.

Oh man, thank you for the high praise! You're absolutely right about the Italian errors and I'll fix those (what makes it worse is that I knew the proper Italian from the research, but still managed to write it incorrectly while I was writing everything up lmao), though I can't take all the credit for the more accurate Italian, since that mostly goes to Wikipedia and Google Translate, though it's a goal of mine to learn the language someday! I've gotta say the biggest boon as far as research goes other than being able to access JSTOR through my college and the sizeable amount of knowledgeable folks on AH.com is that I can use Google Translate to dive into non-English Wikipedia pages (though the translations can be hit and miss at times) for a more in-depth look at obscure topics that aren't covered as much by English Wikipedia. I know a lot of people on AH.com frown on using Wikipedia, but I still think the site has some merit to it, if only to help lead to further sources (for example, I was able to use Kamo's wikipedia page to then find some more scholarly sources that mention him, such as Miklós Kun's Stalin: An Unknown Portrait, Adam Shub's Kamo - The Legendary Old Bolshevik of the Caucasus, and Boris Souvarine's Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism).

Now, as for the concept of the "supermen", I think it's a really interesting idea in and of itself, both in the Nietzschean sense and in transhumanism. While I'm not exactly a big philosophy person, it's something that I think is underutilized in alternate history (outside of The Draka, and that's...something else entirely). You bringing up Boris Savinkov is a good example of the kind of people that embody that kind of mentality, I think, and while he doesn't play a major role in this TL, he manages to avoid his OTL fate thanks to his good friend Sidney Reilly (who also survives his OTL fate as a butterfly of convincing Savinkov not to fall for The Trust operation), and in a nice ironic twist what happened to him in OTL actually happens to Trotsky. Kamo actually comes across (to me at least) as embodying the concept to an extent, given how daring he was in OTL. The whole heroic realism artistic trend fascinates me, as well as the whole idea of the New Man in general. You'll see a variety of different interpretations of that in OPAS, and I can't wait to dive into it more!

 

[Persephone]

Alright, as promised in Chapter III, here's the breakdown of the forces involved in the Italian Civil War. I realize that this is a bit unnecessary since the Carnarists are ultimately going to win, but I still think it's useful just to give a point of reference for why the civil war lasts as long as it does (though to be honest, the Carnarists get more details than the other two factions). As per usual, the numbers are rough estimates because the exact numbers are difficult to find online, though Gooch's Mussolini and His Generals is somewhat helpful in that regard, although it's a massive fucking text that I won't finish anytime soon. In any case, I came up with some of the numbers with RNG (for the number of ANI members siphoned off from the PSI-USI alliance, using two numbers on a range of 100K to 500K, then dividing the total by 2 ) and estimated OTL numbers of the time (for the number of Blueshirts and existing ANI members and recruits). You'll notice that I don't list specific naval estimates and that's because I have found zero concrete information about the size of the Regia Marina at the time the war starts (Gooch only notes a demobilization of Regia Marina sailors in November 1920 that reduced the sailor numbers from 120,000 to 34,000 and nothing about the number of ships). The only concrete numbers I have at the moment are the numbers of the Regia Marina ships that had sided with Fiume, which comes out to a grand total of 21 ships, with the Andrea Doria bumping it up to 22 (that's 2 battleships, 6 destroyers, 1 directed coastal torpedo boat, 2 regular coastal torpedo boats, 2 explorers, 1 coastal submarine, and 8 MAS motorboats). Because of this, they'll play a limited role in the Civil War, probably just as troop transports and possibly used to attempt to cut off the foreign volunteers to the RSIL from Spain and France. As an aside, I'm not sure whether the Washington Naval Conference will be butterflied away just yet.

As for airpower, Gooch notes that the total number of Italian planes at the end of WW1 2,725 aircraft, with no reference to exactly what types of aircraft they are, (and this is before the formation of the Regia Aeronautica in 1923) so I've decided to divide them between the Carnarists and the Royalists. In summary, this means that the Italian Civil War will effectively be a land-based war, with limited aerial support. You'll also notice that I'm not going to speculate on how much ammunition and armaments each side has other than tanks and armored cars because to be completely honest, I have no clue about the amount of numbers and math that would entail, and I have no desire to bog down the narrative with the minutiae involved. I'll be more than happy to attempt it for future conflicts, but doing it for this particular war is currently beyond my abilities. Call me a hack if you want, but my goal here is to create an entertaining narrative timeline that lands on the Type I/II scale of plausibility with a mix of hard and soft elements. In other words, I'm a narrative writer first and foremost with numbers (while trying to remain in the realm of plausibility) as a secondary concern with regards to the Italian Civil War. I've tried to limit the number of foreign volunteers to keep it within reason, with the main ones being on the Carnarist and Socialist side, with significantly more volunteers for the Carnarists, and I've more or less not included the Italian-Americans deported from the United States, as I'm still trying to determine how many will be deported by the Palmer Administration. You'll also notice that the 2 million plus members of the CGIL don't participate on the RSIL's side and that's for three reasons:

1. They didn't support the strikes and occupations in OTL or TTL and have no desire to take up arms with the RSIL as a result.
2. By not participating in the Civil War, said members avoid the possibility of getting dragged out of their homes and getting executed (and having to watch their families get executed) after the Carnarists win.
3. Having 2 million plus members on the RSIL's side would mean that the Carnarists would have to bump up their recruitment/conscription efforts into the millions, as would the Royalists, and the resulting conflict would be at least a decade and a half of warfare that would mean Italy would be ruined for decades to come and I have no desire to write such an apocalyptic scenario.

After the war (which will roughly end in 1924 or 1925, haven't decided yet), they'll spend the remaining 5-6 years of the 20s rebuilding the country and reasserting control over the Italian Colonies in Africa (meaning that they won't be as screwed by the Great Depression equivalent, if it happens), only starting to rebuild their military as they go into the 30s and possibly into the early 40s. As a result, the major regional conflict in Western Europe is likely to end up happening in the mid-to-late 40s and early 50s, I'm still planning the specifics of that one, though the basic outline is there. Spoiler alert: It's Germany, Italy, and French Africa (that last part will be explained later on) versus Spain, possibly Portugal, and Mainland France.

First up is the Carnarists:
Total Troop Numbers - 828,029 (Composed of 382,311 ANI members siphoned off from the PSI-USI, 320,000 existing members and Blueshirt paramilitaries of the ANI, the 2,033 crew of the Andrea Doria, 43,000 demobilized veterans of the Regia Marina, 30,170 foreign volunteers, and the 50,615 Fiuman Legionaries)

• As noted in the opening paragraph, I used RNG for the number of ANI members siphoned off from the PSI-USI, while I used OTL numbers for the National Fascist Party in around late 1921 for the number of existing ANI and Blueshirt paramilitaries. With the demobilized veterans of the Regia Marina, the November 1920 reduction of the Regia Marina from 120,000 to 34,000 would've left around 86,000 sailors out of work, and I can easily see them flocking to the Nationalist and Socialist sides since the Royalist government was ultimately responsible for making them civilians. Finally, the 30,170 foreign volunteers represent the 3,070 exiles of the Montenegrin Government-in-Exile after the failure of the Christmas Uprising, arbitrary numbers representing Egyptian and Croatian nationalists (2,500 from Egypt and 5,000 from Croatia) returning to aid the Carnarist cause in exchange for future support in the League of Fiume, a token force of 500 sent by the reactionary Hungarian regime in exchange for recognition (something Kochnitzky protests against but ultimately accedes to after some convincing from D'Annunzio, and then 19,100 from Portugal and a range of other countries (numbers taken from OTL's Spanish Civil War, 8,000 from the Viriatos and 11,000 from a multitude of foreign countries).
• Total Number of Tanks - 45 (Composed of 3 Renault FTs, 1 Schneider CA1, the FIAT 2000 "L'Arcangelo", and 40 FIAT 3000s)
  • As noted in the second part of Chapter III, this consists of 3 Renault FTs, 1 Schneider CA1, the FIAT 2000 "L'Arcangelo", and 40 FIAT 3000s.
• Total Number of Armored Cars - 60 (Composed of 10 Lancia 1Zs and 50 Lancia 1ZMs)
  • The Lancia 1Z and 1ZM in OTL were the primary armored cars of the Regio Esercito, with the former produced in 1914 and the latter produced in 1918, though they didn't really see much use in combat and after the war a good deal were sent to North and East Africa for use in policing duties. For narrative purposes (and also to ensure that the Carnarists don't just steamroll over the RSIL on their way to the Royalists), their transfer to Africa will be butterflied away and they'll instead be divided among the three warring sides, with the Carnarists receiving the bulk of them while the RSIL and Royalists split the difference on the remainder. Not gonna lie, they were pretty powerful for their time and only took a six man crew to run, so their use in the war will help influence future Carnarist military strategy.
• Total Number of Aircraft - 1,362 (Comprised of a multitude of types aircraft)
  • As noted above, I can't find any information about what types aircraft the Italians had at the end of the war, so you can safely assume that they'll play a limited role in the Civil War. As for after the war, you'll just have to wait and see. They might utilize actual semi-rigid/rigid airships, they might not, there's a lot of potential for more aviation development to take place, given the number of fighter aces and aviators on the Carnarist side, as well as a certain prominent airpower theorist.
• Carnarist Military Advantages
  • The most obvious military advantage that the Army of National Salvation has is that a good majority of their troops are elite, well-trained, and utterly fanatical to the cause. They also have a stronger discipline than the other two factions, albeit not one based around conventional military hierarchy but rather based on devotion to the Commandant. They aren't afraid of death and they're more than willing to fight dirty. While they won't begin outright slaughtering the civilian population as they advance into enemy territory (after all, they're ultimately trying to save Italy, not destroy it), they won't cry over collateral damage, though they'll limit their extrajudicial and civilian killings to those who're openly aligned with the RSIL (and eventually, the Royalists) and try to resist their grand endeavor. Additionally, they're somewhat more open-minded than the Royalists, with no real discrimination (outside of the Futurists) towards sex or gender among their troops, as they actively encourage women to join the fight against those who'd destroy Italy. Finally, the increasingly-urban nature of the civil war and the radical nature of the legionaries leads to some creative uses of what most contemporary armies wouldn't consider.
  • The second military advantage is that out of all three factions, they have the most armored fighting vehicles, including the aforementioned FIAT 2000, which was an absolute behemoth of a tank, just look up the specs and you'll see why it's going to be devastating in the bloody urban warfare that the Civil War turns into. While the Socialists and Royalists have their fair share of armored fighting vehicles, including tanks, the FIAT 3000s that they have (though the Carnarists also have them) had underpowered armaments (two 6.5 mm machine guns) that weren't replaced in OTL until 1929. I'm not the most well-versed in tank warfare, but compare the specs of the FIAT 2000, Renault FT, or Schneider CA1 to the FIAT 3000 and I get the impression that one of any of those tanks could be more than a match for two or three of the latter tanks.
  • Next up on their advantages is something based off of the legionaries' experimental society in Fiume. Namely, the experimentation with drugs and alcohol among the younger legionaries. Cocaine is a hell of a stimulant, and soldiers used it fairly heavily during the Great War for medical use and as a performance enhancer. Fighter pilots used it to stay alert during the prolonged dogfights in the Great War and it developed a reputation as a drug associated with valorous actions, something that the Nationalists will use to their advantage. As a result of the extensive use of drugs during the Italian Civil War on the Nationalist side, a new term/trend begins to spread throughout Europe: Psychopharmacological Warfare.
  • Their final advantage is their unorthodox method of fighting, as a result of the mixture of military theories among the Carnarist high command. Quadrumvir Fara and Minister of National Defense Caviglia advocate for a more traditional approach to warfare, Quadrumvir De Bono is pushing for a more cautious and calculating approach, Quadrumvir Mondelli and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimoi (who is willing to actually risk his own life in the fighting, unlike some of the other ministers) favor an approach involving shock and awe and direct assaults in the style of the Arditi, Quadrumvir Rodolfo Graziani advocates for the use of rapid advances with motorized and armored troops to overwhelm the enemy, and Minister of the Interior and of Justice Keller (who, like Minister Shimoi, is willing to risk his life in the fighting) favors a rather flamboyant and piratical approach to the war with raids on enemy supplies and military leaders. All this combines to create a rather unorthodox approach with more autonomy in comparison to the Socialists and Royalists, who won't be as prepared for the diverse tactics used. Throw into that the fact that the Carnarists are more than willing to fight a total war to save Italy, and you've got a serious threat to their enemies.
• Carnarist Military Disadvantages
  • While the unorthodox, rather hands-off, and autonomous approach to fighting helps the Carnarists, it also leaves them vulnerable to a slower advance as the high command doesn't always agree on how battles should be fought and when to push further into enemy territory. The fact that they're intent on waging a total war to destroy the enemy also doesn't help endear them to the civilian population of the territory they conquer, even if they do their best to only focus on hostile civilians. Looting is a problem among the legionaries as well, despite it being discouraged by the high command. Overall, Carnarist military doctrine won't be set in stone until after the civil war ends, when the Armed Forces can actually be re-established and use the experiences learned in the war to create a uniquely Carnarist military.
  • While the use of drugs and alcohol as part of the early developments in psychopharmacological warfare that occur during the civil war are terrifying to be up against also have a detrimental effect when the soldiers inevitably come down and begin to crave more and more. As anyone who's struggled with substance abuse will tell you, when you're craving and going through withdrawal, it's utter shit until you get that high again. There'll be solutions to this post-war, but in the meantime it'll be a back-and-forth swing between furious combat and a slow bloody slog.

Now that the Carnarists have been covered, let's move on to the RSIL forces:

• Total Troop Numbers - 919,651 (Composed of 367,689 PSI-USI members, paramilitary Red Guards, and Ceka agents, 500,000 workers, 8,962 French and Spanish foreign volunteers, and 43,000 demobilized veterans of the Regia Marina)
  • While the PSI-USI alliance did lose a good number of their members to the ANI's recruitment efforts, they still have an advantage due to the fact that 500,000 workers joined in on the industrial strikes (as in OTL's Red Biennium), even if they're untrained, and the 43,000 demobilized veterans of the Regia Marina flocking to their cause. Meanwhile, the numbers for the French and Spanish foreign volunteers are taken from the OTL numbers of French volunteers in the International Brigades. It might be a bit of a stretch, but the Socialists are stuck in the middle of Italy and have the numerical advantage, so it only seems fair to give them a bit of foreign support (plus it's also for narrative purposes for later on in the timeline), even if they're not going to win in the end.
• Total Number of Tanks - 30 (All FIAT 3000s)
  • As noted in the second part of Chapter III, the Socialists managed to seize 30 FIAT 3000s before being driven from north/northwest Italy.
• Total Number of Armored Cars - 30 (30 Lancia 1ZMs)
  • As noted in the Carnarist section, I've decided to split the difference of the remaining 60 Lancia 1ZMs between the Socialists and the Royalists, for narrative purposes.
• Total Number of Aircraft - 0
  • As noted in the beginning of this update, the total number of Italian aircraft has been split between the Carnarists and the Royalists, and this will primarily be a land-based war with some aerial support.
• RSIL Military Advantages
  • The obvious advantage that the RSIL has over the other factions in the civil war is that they have the largest number of troops to mobilize against the other two factions, even if a large bulk of those troops are merely revolting workers that aren't particularly trained in warfare.
  • Under the auspices of Benito Mussolini, the RSIL has formed a secret police, the Ceka (named and modeled after the Soviet Cheka) to root out traitors, saboteurs, reactionaries, and to serve as political commissars if necessary. Run by Roberto Farinacci and Cesare Rossi, the Ceka serve as the iron fist within the RSIL's velvet glove.
  • While they don't gain nearly as much foreign support as the Carnarists, the RSIL does receive a steady amount of volunteers from France and Spain. As a bit of foreshadowing, a future prominent political figure in France will take part in the civil war as a volunteer on the RSIL's side, though I'll leave it up to you guys to figure out who it is.
  • Compared to the Carnarists, who are waging a sort of semi-total war, and the Royalists, who are waging a more conventional war, the RSIL are waging a guerilla war/insurgency within the territory they control. Obviously, this gives them greater mobility and flexibility compared to their enemies and is especially useful when you consider that they're surrounded on both sides by hostile enemies that could otherwise hem them in from both sides.
• RSIL Military Disadvantages
  • There are really only three disadvantages that the RSIL have, and the first one is that despite the fact that they've got a larger number of troops than the other two factions, a large bulk of them (the 500,000 workers) aren't trained soldiers while their enemies are. Sure, you can teach them to shoot and fight back and wage a guerrilla campaign, but time spent trying to train and keep them alive is time that the enemy armies can use to attack your untrained workers that don't have proper military training and discipline.
  • The second disadvantage is something I mentioned in their advantages, and that's the fact that they're surrounded on both sides by hostile forces with no real way to get outside or foreign support other than the Spanish and French foreign volunteers that are coming in. The Soviets are still in the midst of their civil war and won't finish it until the later months of 1921/early months of 1922 and therefore can't provide material aid or support, and the German socialist uprisings have been crushed by the Freikorps and the Weimar government by this point.
  • Finally, the third disadvantage is that the Ceka, while useful as a secret police force, are also bloodthirsty thugs who kill anyone they perceive as reactionary or bourgeoise, and go out of their way to target Jewish citizens under the orders of Roberto Farinacci. That's not exactly the greatest recipe for endearing yourself to the civilian population, y'know?

Finally, let's cover the Royalists under General Badoglio:

• Total Troop Numbers - 552,000 (Composed of the total number of enlisted men in the Regio Esercito)
  • As noted in Chapter III, the total number of enlisted men in the Regio Esercito in 1919 was 552,000 and I'm operating off of the assumption that those numbers weren't reduced in 1920.
• Total Number of Tanks - 30 (All FIAT 3000s)
  • As noted in Chapter III, the Royalists managed to maintain control over 30 of the FIAT 3000s.
• Total Number of Armored Cars - 30 (Composed of 30 Lancia 1ZMs)
  • As noted in the Carnarist section, I've decided to split the difference of the remaining 60 Lancia 1ZMs between the Socialists and the Royalists, for narrative purposes.
• Total Number of Aircraft - 1,362 (Comprised of a multitude of types)
  • As noted in the beginning, I've decided to split the 2,725 aircraft remaining at the end of the Great War between the Carnarists and the Royalists.
• Royalist Military Advantages
  • I'll be honest, the Royalists don't have a lot going for them, outside of being firmly entrenched in Southern Italy and Sardinia, with the loyal troops of the Regio Esercito and competent military officers like Giovanni Messe, Ettore Bastico, and Armando Diaz as well as others among their ranks. Their troops certainly have more discipline than the RSIL's forces and they have more airpower than the RSIL, but other then that, they're outnumbered by both the RSIL and the Carnarists. The only reason the Carnarists and the RSIL don't put aside their differences and march into Royalist territory is the fact that they hate each other more than they might hate the Royalists, so the Royalists don't have to worry about that for a while.
• Royalist Military Disadvantages
  • Yeah, I kinda covered a lot of their disadvantages in the advantages section, but to recap, they have the smallest number of troops of all the factions in the civil war, with only 552,000 troops compared to the Carnarists' 828,089 and the RSIL's 919,651 troops. They're also being led by the incompetent Pietro Badoglio, so that's bound to lead to some disastrous mistakes. Additionally, they're trying to fight a conventional war against enemies who're fighting a guerrilla war (the RSIL) and a semi-total war (the Carnarists), respectively. While their troops are disciplined, this isn't a conventional war and conventional tactics won't work as well when your enemies are fighting without regarding the traditional rules of warfare.

Anyway, that wraps up the breakdown of the factions in the Italian Civil War, and I hope it's entertaining, even if it's a bit on the technical and statistic side of things rather than any advancement in the narrative. Next up is the POV chapter for Domenico Mondelli, which is almost ready to post, pending a brief rewrite of things given the changes in circumstance for how Mondelli and his men go to Fiume.

 

[Persephone]

Hey there folks! Tonight we have a special treat for you, the first truly POV chapter of the timeline, this time from the perspective of Lieutenant Colonel Domenico Mondelli! Your musical accompaniment for this chapter La Leggenda del Piave, or The Legend of Piave. It's a fitting song for this chapter that presents a brief history of the Italian Front in WWI, in that it embodies the spirit of Mondelli's actions in this chapter, as well as being a battle that he fought in during OTL's Great War. As always, feedback and comments are appreciated. Now that that's out of the way, enjoy Chapter IV - The Miracle of Vlora!

Chapter IV - The Miracle of Vlora

The Italian garrison in Vlora, during the Italian occupation in the Great War.

August 4th, 1920. Vlora, Albania.
​

Domenico Mondelli considered himself a good soldier, and a loyal one at that. After all, he’d served the House of Savoy with distinction for years, first in the Libyan War, and more recently in the Great War. Even now, stationed in damnable Albania, he wore his medals earned during the Great War with pride. In spite of that, he felt a certain sense of unease. He was proud to be Italian, proud to serve his country, yet the fatherland was engulfed in chaos. The PSI were occupying factories and advocating for revolution, civilians were flocking en masse to Red Turin and Black Fiume, while the king’s government was paralyzed in the face of all this unrest.

And here I am, stuck in this godforsaken country, fighting a pointless war with no orders from the mainland as the politicians squabble amongst themselves, Mondelli thought with indignation. The Albanians had fought like devils for months now, killing his superior officers and leaving him in charge, and no orders were coming in from the government idiots on the mainland. Mondelli kept up a calm facade for his men, but here in private he fumed. What use is this so-called “war” if all it does is lead to more unnecessary deaths? How many brave Italian men must die for a mere parcel of Albania? He would not dare to utter such sentiments where his men could hear him, lest he further endanger the troops’ already weak morale.

Something had to be done, and soon, before more men succumbed to malaria or the attacks of those damned Albanian irregulars. Surrendering to the Albanians was out of the question, as that would besmirch the honor of his beloved army, and staying in the city would only lead to more of his men dying. What we need is a miracle, not more silence from the bastards on the mainland, Mondelli mused. We need something daring, something unexpected, something brave and worthy of the spirit of our elite corps, something...Fiuman. At that last thought, Mondelli paused. He’d refused to join in on the poet’s venture when it began out of principle, in order to stay loyal to his oath to the King and the House of Savoy. But now, with Italian troops stranded in Albania and dying in droves by the day, what good was that oath? If the government won’t act, then it falls upon me to ensure our survival, and if that means abandoning the King for D’Annunzio, then so be it. No more brave Italian men will die for this malarial swamp.

But he couldn’t act alone in this daring endeavor, far from it. Even if the majority of the men looked up to him and agreed to the plan, he would still need officers to keep them in line as they marched to Fiume, and for that he would need Majors Guadalupi and Bronzini. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long to find the two men, since they’d become fast friends after their superior officers were slaughtered. It was a strange friendship, since Bonaventura Guadalupi was a hot-headed and brash officer of the Arditi while Giuseppe Bronzini was a calm and collected major in the Carabinieri. Regardless, Mondelli found them deep in discussion, this time arguing about the merits of Italian women.

“I’m telling you, Giuseppe, my brother, a good Sicilian wife will change your life! They cook, they clean, they take care of the children, what more could you want?” Guadalupi gestured with emphasis as he spoke, extolling the virtues of Sicilian women as wives and mothers.

“And what exactly would you know about wives, hmm?” Bronzini fired back with a probing question. “I don’t see a wedding ring around your finger, for all your talk of wives.”

At this, the brash Arditi man laughed heartily. “Ha, you’ve got me there, brother! I’m not the type for marriage and settling down, but I’ve met my fair share of lonely wives, if you know what I mean.” Guadalupi punctuated his reply with a conspiratorial wink.

Before Bronzini could respond, he noticed Mondelli approaching, nudged Guadalupi in the side, and snapped off a quick salute. “Lieutenant Colonel. What can we do for you?” Guadalupi quickly followed suit, though he was somewhat slower on the uptake than his comrade.

Mondelli smiled at the younger officers’ dedication to discipline before responding. “At ease, gentlemen. If you’ll follow me, there’s an important matter we need to discuss, and seeing as how you’re effectively my joint seconds-in-command, your presence is vital.” After giving a brief overview of his plan to break out of Vlora and lead the remaining 23,000 men trapped in the city to D’Annunzio and his Fiuman rebels, Mondelli waited patiently for a response from the officers he was placing his trust in.

It was Bronzini that spoke first, a look of clear bewilderment on his face. “Lieutenant Colonel sir, with all due respect, this plan is...well, it’s desertion from the army, an abandonment of our sworn duty as soldiers, and even worst of all, it’s treason against the King!” The normally composed Carabinieri officer was clearly disturbed by the plan put forth by Mondelli and it showed.

Guadalupi chimed in next, a grimace on his face. “I have to agree with Giuseppe here, sir. While I’d normally be all for giving the Albanians a black eye, this would be something else entirely, and for all the success the Fiumans have had, how do we know the army won’t move in to crush them?”

Mondelli frowned at the two junior officers’ response. While he’d anticipated Bronzini to be against it, he’d hoped that the brash Guadalupi would at least be more amenable to the idea. Nevertheless, he would still try to convince them. “Gentlemen, we are in a hopeless situation, as I’m sure that you know. You’ve both been here since the beginning of this damned war, and you’ve both seen how many men we’ve lost. Good men, brave men, men that didn’t deserve to die in this malarial backwater.” Mondelli was resolute in his tone as he fixed both men with a steely gaze.

Bronzini stood firm while Guadalupi remained silent, shifting back and forth with his hands in his pockets. “That may be true, Lieutenant Colonel, but this plan of yours, this idea to lead our men hundreds of kilometers through hostile territory, it’s...it’s madness born out of desperation! The Albanians will harass us all the way to the border, and the Yugoslavs won’t treat us any better if we’re caught. We should just maintain our position here and wait for orders from the mainl-”

At the mention of waiting for orders, Mondelli snapped. Everyone knew that no orders were coming, yet here was Bronzini suggesting that they wait for them. “Damn it man, there are no orders from the mainland! The generals, that fool Giolitti, even the King, they’re all willing to leave us here to die, can’t you see that? Would you rather surrender to the Albanians and lose your honor as a soldier or would you like to show the world that Italian soldiers never give up? Or do I need to remind you of the men we’ve lost in this so-called ‘war’!”

As Bronzini tried to stutter out a response to Mondelli’s outburst, taken aback by the fury behind his words, Guadalupi spoke up. “Giuseppe…” He trailed off for a moment, as if to try and find the right words to say, before continuing. “Giuseppe, whether you like it or not, the Lieutenant Colonel’s got a point. We haven’t received any orders in well over a month, our men are dying by the day, morale is plummeting, and if we stay here any longer we’re liable to meet the same fate as the generals.”

Now it was Bronzini’s turn to have an outburst, turning to his friend and comrade with a glare. “How can you even think that this is a good idea, Guadalupi? Not only would we be abandoning our post, but we’d be abandoning our oath to the king!” Pivoting to face Mondelli, he directed his vitriol towards his superior officer next. “And you! You’re suggesting that we abandon our oath to the king, and for what? Some madman’s Renaissance fever dream on the Adriatic? You may be my superior officer, sir, but I will have no part in this madness!”

Mondelli’s response to this outburst from his subordinate was short and to the point. “Very well, Major Bronzini. If you aren’t honorable enough to take the necessary action to save the lives of your men, then I will do it for you.” At that, he turned and left the room. He didn’t go far, however, merely lingering outside the room and waiting. After a few minutes, the two majors exited the room and turned to face him.

“Lieutenant Colonel, we’ve discussed the situation and…” Bronzini began, speaking in a sheepish tone, before Guadalupi finished his sentence for him. “We’re with you, Lieutenant Colonel. Fiume or death.” Mondelli smiled, knowing that Bronzini was an honorable man, and would assent to the plan if he’d cast aspersions on his honor as a soldier. Just as planned.

“Excellent. Now that this is out of the way, Major Guadalupi, Major Bronzini, gather the men. We have an announcement to make.” With that, the smiling Lieutenant Colonel left his subordinates to gather the men for what would no doubt be a surprising announcement. After waiting for the men to assemble for roughly an hour or two, he now stood in front of a mass of weary soldiers, with both Guadalupi and Bronzini at his side, gazing out across their ranks.

Taking a moment to clear his throat, Mondelli began to address his troops. “Men, as I’m sure many of you are aware, we’ve been stuck in this Albanian swamp for the better part of two months. Not that there’s anywhere else that we could go, of course.” At that comment, several of the men audibly chuckled, but Mondelli wasn’t finished just yet. “As brave soldiers of Italy, we have held out in the face of adversity, even as our comrades have died from disease or at the hands of the Albanian devils. Yet despite our sacrifice, despite the hardships we’ve endured, the King and his Prime Minister Giolitti have abandoned us to our fate, to waste away and die as our fatherland suffers. So now we must look elsewhere for salvation, and we must strike out and seize it for ourselves. It is clear that the government would like to see us perish, but there are those who would prefer to see us live, who would welcome us with open arms: the valiant legionaries of Fiume.”

Now, murmurs swept through the crowd of assembled men, as they looked at each other in confusion and shock. Finally, a voice from the crowd spoke up. “What of the sick and injured? What of the Albanians and the Yugoslavs? And what of our oath to the King?” The murmurs grew in number as Guadalupi and Bronzini shifted nervously, and Mondelli knew he would have to convince them if he wanted to avoid a revolt.

Stepping forward so that the men could see the medals he kept pinned to his chest, Mondelli spoke. “You ask about the sick and injured among us. They will march with us, for we will not abandon them like the government has abandoned us! You ask about the Albanians and the Yugoslavs. We will overcome them, though they are bound to attack and harass us! Finally, you ask about our oath to the King. And to this, I say: What good is an oath to a King who will not protect his loyal soldiers? We have fought and bled and died for him, yet we remain trapped in this Albanian swamp while the politicians in the fatherland squabble among themselves, even as brave Italian men die in their stead!” Tearing the medals from his uniform and tossing them to one side dramatically, he continued. “If any among you doubt me or my devotion to Italy, know this: I have fought the Turk in Libia and the Crucco at the Piave, and have devoted my life to the fatherland! Now, I have but one question for you men: Will you march with me to the true Italy, to Fiume?”

Now, all was quiet as the crowd contemplated his words and talked amongst themselves. Then another voice rang out from the crowd, this time with a shout. “Fiume or death!” Then another voice echoed the call, and then another, and before long every soldier that could muster the strength to do so was shouting it. Mondelli couldn’t help but smile at the sight. The men would follow him to hell, if need be, and he knew it. Now let us pray to God that we don’t end up there, he silently thought to himself.

August 12th, 1920. The Outskirts of Fiume.
​

They had marched for eight days and nights through hostile territory, dodging Albanian irregulars and the Yugoslav authorities the entire time. They’d lost good men to disease and depredation, 2,385 in total according to Major Bronzini, but they’d survived nonetheless. It’s a miracle that we didn’t lose more, I suppose, Mondelli mused as he marched alongside his men. Before long, the first buildings of Fiume appeared in the distance, and Mondelli grinned while his men began to cheer and shout. Yet as they drew closer to Fiume, Mondelli’s heart sank as he saw an unknown flag fluttering in the wind: a crimson flag, emblazoned with an ouroboros and the stars of the Grande Carro. Were we too late? Have D’Annunzio and his legionaries been driven from the city?

Thoughts of despair ran amok in his mind for a moment, before he caught sight of a pair of men standing guard at the entrance to the city. One of them, a bare-chested youth in black jodhpurs and jackboots who couldn’t have been older than 18 held a Carcano in his hands, a Moschetto 91 TS from the looks of it, with the practiced ease of a soldier. His companion, on the other hand, appeared somewhat older, and far more grizzled in appearance. The right side of his face was covered in what looked like shrapnel scars and a matching pair of scars on either side of his lips gave him a permanent grin, though his somewhat gruesome visage was offset by a pitch-black beard and mustache. Like his young comrade in arms he wore black jodhpurs and jackboots, but unlike his companion, he was bedecked from head to toe in black attire. He wore a black bicyclist’s coat with a lapel patch depicting black flames on it, and a black fez adorned his shaven head. As if to further emphasize the difference between the two, the older one carried a veritable arsenal of weapons on his person: he cradled a Beretta M1918 in his arms, a Glisenti M1918 was holstered on one side while what looked like an Austrian Steyr-Hahn was secured on the other, a pair of Thevenot hand grenades hung from his belt, and a long trench dagger was strapped to his side.

As he stared at the two men in slight awe, something suddenly clicked in Mondelli’s mind. Their uniforms, their arms, their appearance, it all began to make sense. They’re Arditi, or are dressed like them at the very least. Which means they’re Italian, and that means that D’Annunzio still rules over Fiume. With newfound vigor, he rushed towards the pair, with his men trailing behind him. Now alerted to his presence, the two Arditi stopped their conversation, levelling their weapons at the newcomer.

The younger one spoke first, a lit cigarette jutting out from his lips as he promptly barked out an order. “Fermati! Identify yourself in the name of the Commandant and the Regency of Carnaro, or we will open fire, abissino!” Faced with a pair of guns pointed directly at him, Mondelli could do naught else but acquiesce to the command, as he slowly stepped towards the two men. As he did so, a single thought raced through his mind: Who in God’s name is the Commandant, and what the hell is the Regency of Carnaro?

As the two men sized him up, the older one suddenly had a look of realization flash across his face. “Lieutenant Colonel Mondelli, is that you? What are you doing here?” At this, Mondelli breathed a sigh of relief. The man had recognized him from somewhere, though he had no idea where that could possibly be. Visibly relaxing, he took another step forward before responding.

“That would be correct, and you would be…” Mondelli trailed off, waiting for the man’s response.

“Lieutenant Lorenzo Secondari, former Ardito of the Third Army, at your service. I fought at the Battle of the Solstice, not under your command of course, but I thought I recognized you.” The black-clad veteran lowered his M1918 as his younger compatriot looked on in incredulity. Turning to the younger man, Secondari gave him a terse order. “Gim, lower your rifle, they’re friendly.” Returning his attention back to Mondelli, he continued speaking. “Don’t mind him, he’s seen his share of fights, and with how things have been lately, we can’t be too careful. Now then, Lieutenant Colonel, what are you doing here, so far from home?”

Taking a moment to relax after the tense situation, Mondelli answered the Ardito succinctly. “Well, Lieutenant Secondari, I have with me 20,615 Italian soldiers, fresh from the fighting in Albania and more than willing to join in your endeavor, myself included.” Secondari’s jaw dropped as Mondelli’s men came into view, many of them grinning and cheering. Even Major Bronzini looked pleased, despite his initial opposition to the plan.

Turning to the young man he’d called Gim, who was as astonished as he was, Secondari barked out a quick order. “Gim, go and inform the Commandant and the high command! They’ll want to know about this immediately.” As his comrade raced off, presumably to inform whoever this Commandant was of their arrival, Secondari clapped Mondelli on the shoulder as a grin spread across his face. “Welcome to the Regency of Carnaro, Lieutenant Colonel. If you’ll follow me, I’ll give you and your men the grand tour before you go to see the Commandant.”

In short order, Secondari proceeded to show Mondelli and his sufficiently awestruck men around what he cheerfully called “The City of the Holocaust, a place unlike any other in existence”. As he did so, he informed Mondelli of the newfound circumstances that the Fiumans had found themselves in and the situation within the city itself. The Commandant that Secondari and his younger comrade (who he identified as Ettore Muti) had referred to was the new title of D’Annunzio, and the Regency of Carnaro was the name that the poet had chosen for his newly-proclaimed independent city state. Now we really are traitors and deserters, for better or for worse, he pondered grimly as Secondari talked. Once he got over the initial shock of the new situation he’d found himself in, he’d been whisked away to a meeting with the Commandant, trusting in Majors Guadalupi and Bronzini to maintain order among the men.

Thankfully, the meeting with D’Annunzio was mercifully short, with the Commandant mainly lavishing praise upon Mondelli and bestowing a grandiose title upon him, The Tigrayan Eagle, owing to his ethnic origins. Once the meeting was over, he’d been left to his own devices, free to wander the streets and do as he pleased. Checking in with Bronzini and Guadalupi to make sure the men had stayed out of trouble and had adequate lodgings, he learned that word had spread among Fiume’s legionaries of their escape from Vlora, an escape which was becoming known as “The Miracle of Vlora”. Afterwards, he spent the remainder of the day exploring the strange city of poets and supermen that he’d found himself in. As he lay down that night in the comfortable accommodations that Secondari had acquired for him, he couldn’t help but ponder the situation he’d found himself in. What madness is this that I’ve gotten myself into, to be in this strange city of soldiers and scoundrels? Perhaps he was more like D’Annunzio and his legionaries than he’d care to admit. Or perhaps he was just another stranger in a strange land, looking to find his way again.

Endnotes
Alright folks, that concludes Chapter IV, I hope you've enjoyed it! You all got an introduction to Domenico Mondelli in TTL, as well as a brief glimpse at the young Ettore Muti and his older comrade (and POV character), Lorenzo Secondari. While I won't be doing footnotes for narrative POV chapters like this one, as I feel like that would bog down the narrative, I will provide some helpful endnotes to give a bit more context to the events within them. First up, the Red Turin that's mentioned in the narration is an obvious reference to the fact that the center of the Socialist occupations is in Turin, while Black Fiume is a reference to the fact that the legionaries of D'Annuzio that have taken over Fiume are mainly black-clad former Arditi. Next, Majors Guadalupi and Bronzini were real individuals listed in the Italian order of battle for the Vlora War, though I've obviously given them fictional first names, backgrounds, and personalities since I can't find anything about them online. You'll notice that the Red Oni, Blue Oni character trope is in play here, with Guadalupi representing the passionate Red Oni, while Bronzini is the calm and collected Blue Oni.

As for the various Italian phrases and terms that I've sprinkled in throughout the chapter, as well as the term "The Battle of the Solstice". First off, Turk is clearly referring to the Ottomans that fought the Italians in the Italo-Turkish War (known in Italy as the Libyan War), while Crucco is an Italian term for Germans that was coined during the Great War in both OTL and in TTL. It's derived from the Slovenian kruh, or "bread", and was invented by Italian soldiers after they captured some hungry Austrian-Slovenian soldiers who asked for "kruh". In this context, Mondelli is using it to refer to the Austro-Hungarians that were fought at the Second Battle of the Piave River as Germans, regardless of actual ethnicity. Similarly, the term that Muti uses to refer to Mondelli when he first encounters him, tizzone, is an Italian word (at least, as far as I can tell) referring to dark-skinned individuals, particularly those of black African descent. Meanwhile the word that Muti shouts at Mondelli before he calls him a tizzone, Fermati, is the Italian for "halt!", though I could be wrong on this one as I'm relying on Google Translate. @andry2806, feel free to correct me if I get any of the Italian words or phrases wrong! Next, the term "The Battle of the Solstice" that Secondari uses is another name for the Second Battle of the Piave River, one that was coined by D'Annunzio himself. Finally, Grande Carro ("Great Wagon") is the Italian term for the stars of the Big Dipper, which feature prominently on the emblem and flag of the Regency of Carnaro.

Now then, one final note regarding the descriptions of both Muti and Secondari in this chapter. The rifle that Muti wields, the Carcano Moschetto 91 TS, was one of the weapons that the Arditi were armed with during the Great War, with the Moschetto being a short-barreled carbine form used by Italian troops in the Great War. With regards to his clothing (or lack thereof), one of the more striking photos I've found of Muti, albeit one taken much later in life, was a shirtless picture of him in Addis Ababa. The name that Secondari uses for him, Gim, is a shortened version of the nickname that D'Annuzio gave him in Fiume, "Green-Eyed Jim", as mentioned in Chapter III. As for Secondari himself, he's decked out in full Arditi uniform, specifically the uniform of the Arditi Infantry (also known as the Black Flames). A black Bersagliere cyclist coat, black jodhpur trousers, black jackboots, black shirt, and a black fez. Lots of black, those Arditi. As for the various weapons he's armed with, they're all weapons that would've been used by Italian troops in the Great War, save for the Austrian Steyr-Hahn, which he stole (or as he'd say, "requisitioned") off of a dead Austrian during the war. The iconic weapons of the Arditi were the trench dagger and the hand grenade, among other, deadlier weapons. The Thevenot hand grenades were frequently used by the Arditi during the war, and were well-suited for assaults. While they weren't too powerful, they were extremely noisy, which proved useful to the Arditi as they used them to create panic and fear among the enemy troops. The Beretta M1918, meanwhile, was the first submachine gun issued to and used by the Italian armed forces (and arguably the first submachine gun used as a general-issue combat weapon), while the Glisenti M1910 was a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol issued to the Regio Esercito during the Great War, and both weapons seemed fitting for someone such as Secondari. Finally, the beard that I describe him sporting is the Balbo style beard, named after Italo Balbo himself.

 

[Laserfish]

Well, wasn't expecting psychopharmacological warfare to become a thing to be honest. I mean, I know that drugs were quite the thing in Nazi Germany. From the fighting soldier to the Fuhrer himself, they were higher than the Luftwaffe. Course, with great drugs come not-so-great effects of withdrawl and the sort. Plus, I have the feeling that some of the other countries may be hesitant about introducing these sort of drugs into their armies. I mean, your literally doping up your soldiers, that's gonna be controversial with the old and new guards. One thing I've got to note. As better understanding of drugs and their effects are learned due to a focus on "Psychopharms", will this mean that the society of OPAS is better at the treatment of withdrawl and addction, or at least develop the treatment more thoroughly and earlier than OTL? The armies that use PsychoPharms will have large amounts of personnel hooked, and unless then want a addiction rates to shoot up (pun intended), they'll have to have the state capabilities to weed (pun not intended) the soldiers of the drugs or the like.
Another thing I have to note is the Carnarist's allowing of women to fight. From the wording, it sounds like they're allowed to fight in combat roles alongside their male and female comrades. Could you provide a bit more detail on this? Is it like "I don't care what gender you are, men and women can both kill, so do just that." or a more begrudging "Fine, go to the auxiliaries, you get caught up in fighting, go kill like a man."? Was D'Annunzio that progressive on gender issues? Right-wingers, moderate and radical, have been more akin to the Stay in the Kitchen sort than what the Carnarists are doing.

And lastly, I saw the title drop and the WMIT refrence in Chapter IV.

Sneaky, Sneaky

 

[Neoteros]

Another thing I have to note is the Carnarist's allowing of women to fight. From the wording, it sounds like they're allowed to fight in combat roles alongside their male and female comrades. Could you provide a bit more detail on this? Is it like "I don't care what gender you are, men and women can both kill, so do just that." or a more begrudging "Fine, go to the auxiliaries, you get caught up in fighting, go kill like a man."? Was D'Annunzio that progressive on gender issues? Right-wingers, moderate and radical, have been more akin to the Stay in the Kitchen sort than what the Carnarists are doing.

Well, since OP stated the Vate is collaborating with the woman who penned these words...

It is absurd to divide humanity into men and women. It is composed only of femininity and masculinity. Every superman, every hero, no matter how epic, how much of a genius, or how powerful, is the prodigious expression of a race and an epoch only because he is composed at once of feminine and masculine elements, of femininity and masculinity: that is, a complete being...

It is the same way with any collectivity and any moment in humanity, just as it is with individuals. The fecund periods, when the most heroes and geniuses come forth from the terrain of culture in all its ebullience, are rich in masculinity and femininity.

Those periods that had only wars, with few representative heroes because the epic breath flattened them out, were exclusively virile periods; those that denied the heroic instinct and, turning toward the past, annihilated themselves in dreams of peace, were periods in which femininity was dominant. We are living at the end of one of these periods. What is most lacking in women as in men is virility.

That is why Futurism, even with all its exaggerations, is right.

...he might be aiming to create a country where every man is Hercules, and every woman is Hippolyta. And AFAIK, he was quite progressive for his time, in matters of gender equality, even if he didn't reach the Amazonian wish fulfillment heights of Saint-Point herself. I feel like a hypothetical ATL equivalent of Starship Troopers would take a lot of cues from Carnarist Italy, since the novel's all about men and women of several ethnic and religious backgrounds engaging in glorious deeds for the glory of their homeland. It's still a very right wing vision, of course, but if I had to choose between Carnarism and Fascism, the former would be the lesser evil by far.

 

[andry2806]

tizzone, is an Italian word (at least, as far as I can tell) referring to dark-skinned individuals, particularly those of black African descent

I couldn't find anything about that, unfortunately. Today is not used, but I can't exclude that in the Early '900 could have been in use. If you've found in some source I suppose it's good. If you want some possible alternative, there could be faccia di carbone ("coal-face"), faccia nera ("blackface"), abissino ("Abyssinian", I mean, it's a term that comes out a bit in colonial literature, and Ethiopia is a zone where Italy has mendled with since the beginning of its imperialism, so I could see it being used in a generalistic meaning) or the evergreen n-word, which is valid too in Italian language. It didn't even have a particularly negative meaning until relatively recent times, so it would be good even if Secondari isn't trying to be too abrasive.

Fermati, is the Italian for "halt!", though I could be wrong on this one as I'm relying on Google Translate.

Fermati is valid, but, today, Italian soldiers use "alt" in this situation too. The problem is that, even here, I don't know when the use of alt has diffused and was adopted by the Italian military, so I don't know if it would be the term used by a 1920 Italian soldier, or if he would use "fermati", or even something else.

Finally, Grande Carro ("Great Wagon") is the Italian term for the stars of the Big Dipper

Huh, just discovered that. I guessed everyone called more or less that. So "Big Wagon" is just an Italian thing?

 

[Neoteros]

Fermati is valid, but, today, Italian soldiers use "alt" in this situation too. The problem is that, even here, I don't know when the use of alt has diffused and was adopted by the Italian military, so I don't know if it would be the term used by a 1920 Italian soldier, or if he would use "fermati", or even something else.

I think this usage of "alt" might date back to World War II, since it's a direct borrowing from German.

Speaking of linguistic borrowings, D'Annunzio in OTL was "recruited" by Mussolini to come up with Italian substitutes for words of foreign origin, some of whom were unintentionally hilarious and didn't catch on, but some of whom (like "velivolo" for "aircraft") were actually well conceived, and survived until today. Since Carnarism seems to be more accepting of foreign influences than Fascism, I wonder what will happen.

Hell, given the popularity jazz enjoyed in Italy back then (not even Mussolini was able to do much against it), I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few African-American artists were to reside in Italy at some point or another, since pre-war France and Weimar Germany had a similar reputation as places where, and here I quote one of those artists, the nigger was "someone else".

You can guess who the "someone else" was.

 

[Persephone]

I couldn't find anything about that, unfortunately. Today is not used, but I can't exclude that in the Early '900 could have been in use. If you've found in some source I suppose it's good. If you want some possible alternative, there could be faccia di carbone ("coal-face"), faccia nera ("blackface"), abissino ("Abyssinian", I mean, it's a term that comes out a bit in colonial literature, and Ethiopia is a zone where Italy has mendled with since the beginning of its imperialism, so I could see it being used in a generalistic meaning) or the evergreen n-word, which is valid too in Italian language. It didn't even have a particularly negative meaning until relatively recent times, so it would be good even if Secondari isn't trying to be too abrasive.

Thanks a bunch, you're really a godsend for the Italian language stuff, I appreciate it a lot. I'll admit that tizzone is something I found off of Wiktionary (and even then it needed verification haha ), so I wasn't sure about it being accurate. I'll go back and change it to abissino, since that's appropriate given Mondelli's Eritrean origins.

Fermati is valid, but, today, Italian soldiers use "alt" in this situation too. The problem is that, even here, I don't know when the use of alt has diffused and was adopted by the Italian military, so I don't know if it would be the term used by a 1920 Italian soldier, or if he would use "fermati", or even something else.

Yeah, this was another instance where I just used Google Translate and wasn't sure about the accuracy. As for alt, it might be a WWII-era adoption, as Neotoros pointed out, so I think it's good enough to keep.

Huh, just discovered that. I guessed everyone called more or less that. So "Big Wagon" is just an Italian thing?

So, as it turns out, "Great/Big Wagon" isn't just an Italian thing! In German, it's the Großer Wagen ("Great Wagon"), and the same goes for Romanian (another Latin language) and apparently most Slavic languages. The more you know, right?

Speaking of linguistic borrowings, D'Annunzio in OTL was "recruited" by Mussolini to come up with Italian substitutes for words of foreign origin, some of whom were unintentionally hilarious and didn't catch on, but some of whom (like "velivolo" for "aircraft") were actually well conceived, and survived until today. Since Carnarism seems to be more accepting of foreign influences than Fascism, I wonder what will happen.

Hell, given the popularity jazz enjoyed in Italy back then (not even Mussolini was able to do much against it), I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few African-American artists were to reside in Italy at some point or another, since pre-war France and Weimar Germany had a similar reputation as places where, and here I quote one of those artists, the nigger was "someone else".

I didn't know about this, thanks for bringing it up! I actually really like velivolo as an alternate term for aircraft, since it's apparently derived from the Latin velivolus ("which goes and seems to fly with sails") and the Carnarists (similarly to OTL fascism, but not as idiotic/incompetent/ridiculous; I'm looking at you, Starace) try to evoke Ancient Rome in their imagery and symbolism, albeit the Roman Republic rather than the Empire. I'm a big fan of alternate terminology in general, and OPAS is rife with opportunities for alternate terminology as a result of the 1907 POD and the long length of the timeline. You're right in that some foreign influences will pop up in Carnarist Italy, though it'll take a backseat to Italian culture. As for African-American artists residing in Italy, that'll definitely be a thing that we'll see as the timeline progresses, given the fact that the situation back in the United States after 1919-1920 will be...not great, to say the least. I've actually got one particular historical figure already planned to show up at some point as a result of things going tits-up in the European country he resides in.

Well, wasn't expecting psychopharmacological warfare to become a thing to be honest. I mean, I know that drugs were quite the thing in Nazi Germany. From the fighting soldier to the Fuhrer himself, they were higher than the Luftwaffe. Course, with great drugs come not-so-great effects of withdrawl and the sort. Plus, I have the feeling that some of the other countries may be hesitant about introducing these sort of drugs into their armies. I mean, your literally doping up your soldiers, that's gonna be controversial with the old and new guards. One thing I've got to note. As better understanding of drugs and their effects are learned due to a focus on "Psychopharms", will this mean that the society of OPAS is better at the treatment of withdrawl and addction, or at least develop the treatment more thoroughly and earlier than OTL? The armies that use PsychoPharms will have large amounts of personnel hooked, and unless then want a addiction rates to shoot up (pun intended), they'll have to have the state capabilities to weed (pun not intended) the soldiers of the drugs or the like.
Another thing I have to note is the Carnarist's allowing of women to fight. From the wording, it sounds like they're allowed to fight in combat roles alongside their male and female comrades. Could you provide a bit more detail on this? Is it like "I don't care what gender you are, men and women can both kill, so do just that." or a more begrudging "Fine, go to the auxiliaries, you get caught up in fighting, go kill like a man."? Was D'Annunzio that progressive on gender issues? Right-wingers, moderate and radical, have been more akin to the Stay in the Kitchen sort than what the Carnarists are doing.

I'll be honest, my decision to have psychopharmacological warfare (or "Italian methods") is a result of a couple of things. First, I find the actual history of drug use in warfare incredibly fascinating (at some point, I want to read Shooting Up: A Short History of Drugs and War) and underutilized in alternate history, especially with how the early drugs actually began to become more available in the early 20th century, not to mention the experiments into the medical uses of said drugs. The second reason is a result of two timelines on this site, namely Napoleon53's What Madness is This? and Linkwerk's The Fountainhead Filibuster: Tales from Objectivist Katanga (the latter of which features the concept of Crystal Lites, amphetamine-laced cigarettes, a concept I'll be borrowing for OPAS). As I've mentioned before, WMIT is an inspiration for me to some extent, though obviously OPAS isn't as dystopic as that work. You're dead on the money about other countries being more hesitant about introducing drugs into their armies, since it's a controversial decision with both the old guard and the new guard. At the start, you'll only really see it in Italy and Germany (the former because of the experiences during the civil war, the latter because the movement that comes to power embraces and accepts any modern phenomena that could help them overcome modernity in order to create a new political order, similar to Carnarism in that respect), though it has the potential to spread across the world, haven't really decided yet how I want that to happen. As for the better treatment of withdrawal and addiction, you're absolutely right that they'll take a better stance on it than OTL and have earlier developments for proper treatment of addiction and drug abuse.

With regards to the Carnarists allowing women to fight in full combat roles, while Neotoros is right in that Valentine de Saint-Point involvement in the Carnarist movement plays a role in some of the progressive elements of Carnarism, the truth is that decision is more directly rooted in the history of the Fiume Expedition and the Charter of Carnaro itself. You see, the world of the Fiuman legionaries is incredibly hard to capture in the language of historical analysis or political science, which is something that Ledeen mentions in The First Duce. But he also notes that the English writer Osbert Sitwell nevertheless did that very thing well in the fall of 1920: "The general animation and noisy vitality seemed to herald a new land, a new system. We gazed and listened in amazement. Every man here seemed to wear a uniform designed by himself: some had beards, and had shaved their heads completely so as to resemble the Commander himself... others had cultivated huge tufts of hair, half a foot long, waving out from their foreheads, and wore, balanced on the very back of the skull, a black fez. Cloaks, feathers and flowing black ties were universal, and every man--and few women were to be seen-- carried the 'Roman dagger'." Now, you can interpret that bolded portion in a number of ways, but I see it as evidence of women being involved in the radical society that the legionaries tried to create in Fiume.

However, that's not the only reason why the Carnarists are so progressive about the role of women in society in comparison to OTL rightist movements. The other main reason, as I mentioned above, is a result of the Charter of Carnaro itself, which D'Annunzio coauthored with De Ambris (truth be told, it's probably more a result of De Ambris' influence than D'Annunzio's, though I'm inclined to believe that they both played an equal role in its creation). If you read the document, you'll notice a lot of things that differ drastically from the later Manifesto of Fascism, especially with regards to civil rights. Notable highlights from the first two sections of the Charter include:

• Sovereignty regardless of sex, race, language, class, or religion ("4. The province recognizes and confirms the sovereignty of all citizens without distinction of sex, race, language, class, or religion.
  But above and beyond every other right she maintains the right of the producer; abolishes or reduces excessive centralization and constitutional powers, and subdivides offices and powers: so that by their harmonic, interplay communal life may grow more vigorous and abundant.").
• Full equality regardless of gender or sex ("6. All citizens of the State, of both sexes are equal, and feel themselves equal in the eye of the law.
  The exercise of their constitutional rights can be neither diminished nor suppressed except by public trial and solemn condemnation.").
• Guarantees of proper education, athletic training, fair minimum living wage (which is revolutionary for the time, imo), welfare and old age pensions, property rights, the inviolability of the home, the right to habeas corpus, and compensation for injuries as a result of judicial error or abuse of power (8. The Constitution guarantees to all citizens of both sexes: primary instruction in well-lighted and healthy schools; physical training in open-air gymnasiums, well-equipped; paid work with a fair minimum living wage; assistance in sickness, infirmity, and involuntary unemployment; old age pensions; the enjoyment of property legitimately obtained; inviolability of the home; ‘habeas corpus’; compensation for injuries in case of judicial errors or abuse of power.).
• The full right to choose any profession or trade of their choice("12. All the citizens of both sexes have the full right to choose and carry on any industry, profession, art, or craft.
  Industries started or supported by foreign capital and all concessions to foreigners will be regulated by liberal legislation.").
• And finally, full civil and political rights for citizens once they reach the age of 20 ("16. Citizens are invested with all civil and political rights as soon as they reach the age of twenty. Without distinction of sex they become electors and eligible for all careers").

No matter how you slice it, the Charter of Carnaro was revolutionary in every sense of the word. "But Perse," you ask, "what does any of that have to do with the participation of women in the armed forces?" Well, let me tell you why, and it's directly a result of the section on national defense. Namely, the following section:

• 47. In the province of Carnaro, all the citizens of both sexes, from seventeen to fifty-five years of age, are liable for military service for the defence of the country.
  After selection has been made, men in sound health will serve in the forces of land and sea, men who are not so strong and women will serve in ambulances, hospitals, in administration, in ammunition factories, and in any other auxiliary work according to the capacity and skill of each.

Now, it does say that women will serve in auxiliary roles, but it's a hell of a lot more than other countries at the time, where women were able to work as auxiliaries (especially in munitions factories), only to lose their jobs and independence when the war ended. But the end result is that the Charter of Carnaro allows for universal military service and actual equality compared to the vast majority of contemporary society. I'm merely taking the original concepts laid out within the document to their logical conclusion, especially with the addition of Valentine de Saint-Point. If a woman can build munitions and retain civil and political rights, then she can surely pick up a rifle and fight alongside the men, provided she has the physical capabilities to do so, no? Carnarism is far from a xerox copy of Fascism, and I plan on showing that in all its glory. Hopefully that answers your questions.

 

[Born in the USSA]

Thanks a bunch, you're really a godsend for the Italian language stuff, I appreciate it a lot. I'll admit that tizzone is something I found off of Wiktionary (and even then it needed verification haha ), so I wasn't sure about it being accurate. I'll go back and change it to abissino, since that's appropriate given Mondelli's Eritrean origins.

Yeah, this was another instance where I just used Google Translate and wasn't sure about the accuracy. As for alt, it might be a WWII-era adoption, as Neotoros pointed out, so I think it's good enough to keep.

So, as it turns out, "Great/Big Wagon" isn't just an Italian thing! In German, it's the Großer Wagen ("Great Wagon"), and the same goes for Romanian (another Latin language) and apparently most Slavic languages. The more you know, right?

I didn't know about this, thanks for bringing it up! I actually really like velivolo as an alternate term for aircraft, since it's apparently derived from the Latin velivolus ("which goes and seems to fly with sails") and the Carnarists (similarly to OTL fascism, but not as idiotic/incompetent/ridiculous; I'm looking at you, Starace) try to evoke Ancient Rome in their imagery and symbolism, albeit the Roman Republic rather than the Empire. I'm a big fan of alternate terminology in general, and OPAS is rife with opportunities for alternate terminology as a result of the 1907 POD and the long length of the timeline. You're right in that some foreign influences will pop up in Carnarist Italy, though it'll take a backseat to Italian culture. As for African-American artists residing in Italy, that'll definitely be a thing that we'll see as the timeline progresses, given the fact that the situation back in the United States after 1919-1920 will be...not great, to say the least. I've actually got one particular historical figure already planned to show up at some point as a result of things going tits-up in the European country he resides in.

I'll be honest, my decision to have psychopharmacological warfare (or "Italian methods") is a result of a couple of things. First, I find the actual history of drug use in warfare incredibly fascinating (at some point, I want to read Shooting Up: A Short History of Drugs and War) and underutilized in alternate history, especially with how the early drugs actually began to become more available in the early 20th century, not to mention the experiments into the medical uses of said drugs. The second reason is a result of two timelines on this site, namely Napoleon53's What Madness is This? and Linkwerk's The Fountainhead Filibuster: Tales from Objectivist Katanga (the latter of which features the concept of Crystal Lites, amphetamine-laced cigarettes, a concept I'll be borrowing for OPAS). As I've mentioned before, WMIT is an inspiration for me to some extent, though obviously OPAS isn't as dystopic as that work. You're dead on the money about other countries being more hesitant about introducing drugs into their armies, since it's a controversial decision with both the old guard and the new guard. At the start, you'll only really see it in Italy and Germany (the former because of the experiences during the civil war, the latter because the movement that comes to power embraces and accepts any modern phenomena that could help them overcome modernity in order to create a new political order, similar to Carnarism in that respect), though it has the potential to spread across the world, haven't really decided yet how I want that to happen. As for the better treatment of withdrawal and addiction, you're absolutely right that they'll take a better stance on it than OTL and have earlier developments for proper treatment of addiction and drug abuse.

With regards to the Carnarists allowing women to fight in full combat roles, while Neotoros is right in that Valentine de Saint-Point involvement in the Carnarist movement plays a role in some of the progressive elements of Carnarism, the truth is that decision is more directly rooted in the history of the Fiume Expedition and the Charter of Carnaro itself. You see, the world of the Fiuman legionaries is incredibly hard to capture in the language of historical analysis or political science, which is something that Ledeen mentions in The First Duce. But he also notes that the English writer Osbert Sitwell nevertheless did that very thing well in the fall of 1920: "The general animation and noisy vitality seemed to herald a new land, a new system. We gazed and listened in amazement. Every man here seemed to wear a uniform designed by himself: some had beards, and had shaved their heads completely so as to resemble the Commander himself... others had cultivated huge tufts of hair, half a foot long, waving out from their foreheads, and wore, balanced on the very back of the skull, a black fez. Cloaks, feathers and flowing black ties were universal, and every man--and few women were to be seen-- carried the 'Roman dagger'." Now, you can interpret that bolded portion in a number of ways, but I see it as evidence of women being involved in the radical society that the legionaries tried to create in Fiume.

However, that's not the only reason why the Carnarists are so progressive about the role of women in society in comparison to OTL rightist movements. The other main reason, as I mentioned above, is a result of the Charter of Carnaro itself, which D'Annunzio coauthored with De Ambris (truth be told, it's probably more a result of De Ambris' influence than D'Annunzio's, though I'm inclined to believe that they both played an equal role in its creation). If you read the document, you'll notice a lot of things that differ drastically from the later Manifesto of Fascism, especially with regards to civil rights. Notable highlights from the first two sections of the Charter include:

• Sovereignty regardless of sex, race, language, class, or religion ("4. The province recognizes and confirms the sovereignty of all citizens without distinction of sex, race, language, class, or religion.
  But above and beyond every other right she maintains the right of the producer; abolishes or reduces excessive centralization and constitutional powers, and subdivides offices and powers: so that by their harmonic, interplay communal life may grow more vigorous and abundant.").
• Full equality regardless of gender or sex ("6. All citizens of the State, of both sexes are equal, and feel themselves equal in the eye of the law.
  The exercise of their constitutional rights can be neither diminished nor suppressed except by public trial and solemn condemnation.").
• Guarantees of proper education, athletic training, fair minimum living wage (which is revolutionary for the time, imo), welfare and old age pensions, property rights, the inviolability of the home, the right to habeas corpus, and compensation for injuries as a result of judicial error or abuse of power (8. The Constitution guarantees to all citizens of both sexes: primary instruction in well-lighted and healthy schools; physical training in open-air gymnasiums, well-equipped; paid work with a fair minimum living wage; assistance in sickness, infirmity, and involuntary unemployment; old age pensions; the enjoyment of property legitimately obtained; inviolability of the home; ‘habeas corpus’; compensation for injuries in case of judicial errors or abuse of power.).
• The full right to choose any profession or trade of their choice("12. All the citizens of both sexes have the full right to choose and carry on any industry, profession, art, or craft.
  Industries started or supported by foreign capital and all concessions to foreigners will be regulated by liberal legislation.").
• And finally, full civil and political rights for citizens once they reach the age of 20 ("16. Citizens are invested with all civil and political rights as soon as they reach the age of twenty. Without distinction of sex they become electors and eligible for all careers").

No matter how you slice it, the Charter of Carnaro was revolutionary in every sense of the word. "But Perse," you ask, "what does any of that have to do with the participation of women in the armed forces?" Well, let me tell you why, and it's directly a result of the section on national defense. Namely, the following section:

• 47. In the province of Carnaro, all the citizens of both sexes, from seventeen to fifty-five years of age, are liable for military service for the defence of the country.
  After selection has been made, men in sound health will serve in the forces of land and sea, men who are not so strong and women will serve in ambulances, hospitals, in administration, in ammunition factories, and in any other auxiliary work according to the capacity and skill of each.

Now, it does say that women will serve in auxiliary roles, but it's a hell of a lot more than other countries at the time, where women were able to work as auxiliaries (especially in munitions factories), only to lose their jobs and independence when the war ended. But the end result is that the Charter of Carnaro allows for universal military service and actual equality compared to the vast majority of contemporary society. I'm merely taking the original concepts laid out within the document to their logical conclusion, especially with the addition of Valentine de Saint-Point. If a woman can build munitions and retain civil and political rights, then she can surely pick up a rifle and fight alongside the men, provided she has the physical capabilities to do so, no? Carnarism is far from a xerox copy of Fascism, and I plan on showing that in all its glory. Hopefully that answers your questions.

The charter is just wild isn't it? It's super interesting

 

[Laserfish]

Thanks a bunch, you're really a godsend for the Italian language stuff, I appreciate it a lot. I'll admit that tizzone is something I found off of Wiktionary (and even then it needed verification haha ), so I wasn't sure about it being accurate. I'll go back and change it to abissino, since that's appropriate given Mondelli's Eritrean origins.

Yeah, this was another instance where I just used Google Translate and wasn't sure about the accuracy. As for alt, it might be a WWII-era adoption, as Neotoros pointed out, so I think it's good enough to keep.

So, as it turns out, "Great/Big Wagon" isn't just an Italian thing! In German, it's the Großer Wagen ("Great Wagon"), and the same goes for Romanian (another Latin language) and apparently most Slavic languages. The more you know, right?

I didn't know about this, thanks for bringing it up! I actually really like velivolo as an alternate term for aircraft, since it's apparently derived from the Latin velivolus ("which goes and seems to fly with sails") and the Carnarists (similarly to OTL fascism, but not as idiotic/incompetent/ridiculous; I'm looking at you, Starace) try to evoke Ancient Rome in their imagery and symbolism, albeit the Roman Republic rather than the Empire. I'm a big fan of alternate terminology in general, and OPAS is rife with opportunities for alternate terminology as a result of the 1907 POD and the long length of the timeline. You're right in that some foreign influences will pop up in Carnarist Italy, though it'll take a backseat to Italian culture. As for African-American artists residing in Italy, that'll definitely be a thing that we'll see as the timeline progresses, given the fact that the situation back in the United States after 1919-1920 will be...not great, to say the least. I've actually got one particular historical figure already planned to show up at some point as a result of things going tits-up in the European country he resides in.

I'll be honest, my decision to have psychopharmacological warfare (or "Italian methods") is a result of a couple of things. First, I find the actual history of drug use in warfare incredibly fascinating (at some point, I want to read Shooting Up: A Short History of Drugs and War) and underutilized in alternate history, especially with how the early drugs actually began to become more available in the early 20th century, not to mention the experiments into the medical uses of said drugs. The second reason is a result of two timelines on this site, namely Napoleon53's What Madness is This? and Linkwerk's The Fountainhead Filibuster: Tales from Objectivist Katanga (the latter of which features the concept of Crystal Lites, amphetamine-laced cigarettes, a concept I'll be borrowing for OPAS). As I've mentioned before, WMIT is an inspiration for me to some extent, though obviously OPAS isn't as dystopic as that work. You're dead on the money about other countries being more hesitant about introducing drugs into their armies, since it's a controversial decision with both the old guard and the new guard. At the start, you'll only really see it in Italy and Germany (the former because of the experiences during the civil war, the latter because the movement that comes to power embraces and accepts any modern phenomena that could help them overcome modernity in order to create a new political order, similar to Carnarism in that respect), though it has the potential to spread across the world, haven't really decided yet how I want that to happen. As for the better treatment of withdrawal and addiction, you're absolutely right that they'll take a better stance on it than OTL and have earlier developments for proper treatment of addiction and drug abuse.

With regards to the Carnarists allowing women to fight in full combat roles, while Neotoros is right in that Valentine de Saint-Point involvement in the Carnarist movement plays a role in some of the progressive elements of Carnarism, the truth is that decision is more directly rooted in the history of the Fiume Expedition and the Charter of Carnaro itself. You see, the world of the Fiuman legionaries is incredibly hard to capture in the language of historical analysis or political science, which is something that Ledeen mentions in The First Duce. But he also notes that the English writer Osbert Sitwell nevertheless did that very thing well in the fall of 1920: "The general animation and noisy vitality seemed to herald a new land, a new system. We gazed and listened in amazement. Every man here seemed to wear a uniform designed by himself: some had beards, and had shaved their heads completely so as to resemble the Commander himself... others had cultivated huge tufts of hair, half a foot long, waving out from their foreheads, and wore, balanced on the very back of the skull, a black fez. Cloaks, feathers and flowing black ties were universal, and every man--and few women were to be seen-- carried the 'Roman dagger'." Now, you can interpret that bolded portion in a number of ways, but I see it as evidence of women being involved in the radical society that the legionaries tried to create in Fiume.

However, that's not the only reason why the Carnarists are so progressive about the role of women in society in comparison to OTL rightist movements. The other main reason, as I mentioned above, is a result of the Charter of Carnaro itself, which D'Annunzio coauthored with De Ambris (truth be told, it's probably more a result of De Ambris' influence than D'Annunzio's, though I'm inclined to believe that they both played an equal role in its creation). If you read the document, you'll notice a lot of things that differ drastically from the later Manifesto of Fascism, especially with regards to civil rights. Notable highlights from the first two sections of the Charter include:

• Sovereignty regardless of sex, race, language, class, or religion ("4. The province recognizes and confirms the sovereignty of all citizens without distinction of sex, race, language, class, or religion.
  But above and beyond every other right she maintains the right of the producer; abolishes or reduces excessive centralization and constitutional powers, and subdivides offices and powers: so that by their harmonic, interplay communal life may grow more vigorous and abundant.").
• Full equality regardless of gender or sex ("6. All citizens of the State, of both sexes are equal, and feel themselves equal in the eye of the law.
  The exercise of their constitutional rights can be neither diminished nor suppressed except by public trial and solemn condemnation.").
• Guarantees of proper education, athletic training, fair minimum living wage (which is revolutionary for the time, imo), welfare and old age pensions, property rights, the inviolability of the home, the right to habeas corpus, and compensation for injuries as a result of judicial error or abuse of power (8. The Constitution guarantees to all citizens of both sexes: primary instruction in well-lighted and healthy schools; physical training in open-air gymnasiums, well-equipped; paid work with a fair minimum living wage; assistance in sickness, infirmity, and involuntary unemployment; old age pensions; the enjoyment of property legitimately obtained; inviolability of the home; ‘habeas corpus’; compensation for injuries in case of judicial errors or abuse of power.).
• The full right to choose any profession or trade of their choice("12. All the citizens of both sexes have the full right to choose and carry on any industry, profession, art, or craft.
  Industries started or supported by foreign capital and all concessions to foreigners will be regulated by liberal legislation.").
• And finally, full civil and political rights for citizens once they reach the age of 20 ("16. Citizens are invested with all civil and political rights as soon as they reach the age of twenty. Without distinction of sex they become electors and eligible for all careers").

No matter how you slice it, the Charter of Carnaro was revolutionary in every sense of the word. "But Perse," you ask, "what does any of that have to do with the participation of women in the armed forces?" Well, let me tell you why, and it's directly a result of the section on national defense. Namely, the following section:

• 47. In the province of Carnaro, all the citizens of both sexes, from seventeen to fifty-five years of age, are liable for military service for the defence of the country.
  After selection has been made, men in sound health will serve in the forces of land and sea, men who are not so strong and women will serve in ambulances, hospitals, in administration, in ammunition factories, and in any other auxiliary work according to the capacity and skill of each.

Now, it does say that women will serve in auxiliary roles, but it's a hell of a lot more than other countries at the time, where women were able to work as auxiliaries (especially in munitions factories), only to lose their jobs and independence when the war ended. But the end result is that the Charter of Carnaro allows for universal military service and actual equality compared to the vast majority of contemporary society. I'm merely taking the original concepts laid out within the document to their logical conclusion, especially with the addition of Valentine de Saint-Point. If a woman can build munitions and retain civil and political rights, then she can surely pick up a rifle and fight alongside the men, provided she has the physical capabilities to do so, no? Carnarism is far from a xerox copy of Fascism, and I plan on showing that in all its glory. Hopefully that answers your questions.

Oh, that definitely answers them. I can see more clearly now why you choose to replace the Auth-left, Lib-left, Auth-right, and Lib-right on the political compass with Internationalist, Nationalist, Isolationist/Protectionist, security vs freedom and the like. An ideology like Carnarism is a truly syncretic ideology. It is not a political mish-mash created by a political Victor Frankenstein, as that would imply it was created by a godawful excuse of a human being. Instead, as is said, it is a blend of anarchism, syndicalism, corporatism, and republicanism into a truly unique ideology. You would have a hard time trying to place something like it on a regular political compass on the internet. This obviously doesn't mean that this a wholesome 100 big chungus ideology. It's supporters are fanatical, and thrive on the chaotic adrenaline rush of battle. It's like every soldier is a Colonel Kilgore. They loathe their enemies. Commies, reactionaries, decadent democratic do-nothings, there will be shortages of mercy. Just because they aren't fascists and have a very progressive streak on certain things does not mean the entire ideology is like that. You've created a fascinating ideology, can't wait until the chapter that properly explains it drops!

 

[Proudly individualist]

I´m surprised D'Anunnzio and his boys are portrayed in this ambiguous light. I was expecting something of the style "haha funni weird ideologi, little-known politiks are alwais psicho and bad bekause they arent popular" (to be fair, is not like the first examples to come to my mind sound good: posadism, anarcho-primitivism, etc... but you know what I mean).

It seems carnarists are among the somewhat morally grey but acceptable factions ITTL. I'm right?

 

[Persephone]

Oh, that definitely answers them. I can see more clearly now why you choose to replace the Auth-left, Lib-left, Auth-right, and Lib-right on the political compass with Internationalist, Nationalist, Isolationist/Protectionist, security vs freedom and the like. An ideology like Carnarism is a truly syncretic ideology. It is not a political mish-mash created by a political Victor Frankenstein, as that would imply it was created by a godawful excuse of a human being. Instead, as is said, it is a blend of anarchism, syndicalism, corporatism, and republicanism into a truly unique ideology. You would have a hard time trying to place something like it on a regular political compass on the internet. This obviously doesn't mean that this a wholesome 100 big chungus ideology. It's supporters are fanatical, and thrive on the chaotic adrenaline rush of battle. It's like every soldier is a Colonel Kilgore. They loathe their enemies. Commies, reactionaries, decadent democratic do-nothings, there will be shortages of mercy. Just because they aren't fascists and have a very progressive streak on certain things does not mean the entire ideology is like that. You've created a fascinating ideology, can't wait until the chapter that properly explains it drops!

I'm glad you like Carnarism! My intention was to create something very syncretic and "D'Annunzian" in nature, something radically different from OTL's Fascism, something that's "good" (as much as you can call certain aspects of left/right authoritarian ideologies "good", but that's a whole other debate on the morality of political ideologies and I'm certainly not apologizing for Fascism/Stalinism/etc) compared to the Frankenstein's Monster of an ideology that Mussolini's Fascism was. D'Annunzio and his beliefs have always fascinated me ever since I first learned about him a few years back when I was more politically active/invested in political ideologies. Without getting too into my own personal politics, I've been all over the political spectrum throughout my life, from far-left in my tween/early teen years to far-right in my late teen years and until I was 20 when I began to get disillusioned with politics in general after some personal losses and mental health breakdowns (now I'm just ambivalent/apathetic towards it all lol). I feel like that gives me a fair bit of insight into political ideologies and beliefs on both sides of the aisle, especially when it comes to thinking up alternate ideologies and interpreting fringe historical ideologies.

As for the political compass, I'm still not sure how I want to set that up. While I still want there to be contrasting Nationalist/Internationalist and Isolationist/Globalist axes, I want to include a third pair of axes that represent the "Superhuman" values of Carnarism and the Volkssturmbewegung with the opposing "Conventional" values of Democratic, Communist, and Monarchist ideologies. When it comes to ideological power differences, I vastly prefer the socio-political differences compared to the socio-economic or geo-cultural ones. I haven't really read Nietzsche (though I'd like to), but the concept of superhumans is one that I find extremely interesting, as I've stated before. I think you'll like the chapter explaining Carnarism and the ones on Petrosianism and the Volkssturmbewegung a lot, though they're a ways off along with the next chapter because I have to get back into the swing of things with my schoolwork.

I´m surprised D'Anunnzio and his boys are portrayed in this ambiguous light. I was expecting something of the style "haha funni weird ideologi, little-known politiks are alwais psicho and bad bekause they arent popular" (to be fair, is not like the first examples to come to my mind sound good: posadism, anarcho-primitivism, etc... but you know what I mean).

It seems carnarists are among the somewhat morally grey but acceptable factions ITTL. I'm right?

If you read the footnotes (not assuming that you haven't, but they help a lot), I debunk a great deal of the popular misconceptions about D'Annunzio's actual beliefs and how they're flanderized in alternate history as a result of poor research or "haha funny italian drug man" crap. I really truly hate when that happens to lesser-known political figures and ideologies for the sake of going "look how wacky and crazy this person and ideology was " (looking at you, Kaiserreich and TNO). It's disrespectful, disingenuous, and detracts from the genre of alternate history as a whole. Take for example, the depiction of William Dudley Pelley in Kaiserreich as an uber-racist Christian Nazi supervillain, which is as much of a Flanderization of the man as the old Roman von Ungern-Sternberg/Genghis Khan II depiction was. I still haven't decided whether I plan on actually using Pelley in OPAS, but he was more of a semi-crazy Christian conservative than KR's base depiction of him. To that extent, I've talked a little bit with the Home of the Brave submod's resident Pelley guy, Dreadgrunt over Reddit pms to get advice from him, and gone ahead and purchased a reprint of Pelley's original manifesto No More Hunger as well as his follow-up manifesto Something Better, the latter of which is an incredibly hard to find book. To put it in perspective, I got a first edition hardcover copy in relatively good condition for 30 bucks while a single used paperback copy on Amazon goes for 400 dollars. If that's not the find of a lifetime, I don't know what is.

As for Carnarism being a morally grey but acceptable faction for OPAS, you're correct for the most part. A lot of the ideologies in OPAS fall into a clear grey or black position when it comes to morality. However, rather than calling OPAS a timeline with an explicit moral spectrum of white/black, grey/gray, or even blue/orange shades, I like to think of it as falling on a moral spectrum of blue/black/grey/white/orange shades depending on the reader's interpretation. Italy and Germany in OPAS are blue and orange in that they're ultimately alien to the reader/average person. In other words, they're countries governed along Superhuman principles. In contrast, the US is white-grey, the Soviet Union is grey, Japan, French Africa, Spain, and Liberia are grey-black, while Hungary, Croatia, Mainland France, and Romania are black. It all depends on your perception of what is good and evil, because I intend to try and depict all the narrative characters as human rather than as ideological caricatures and strawmen. Is the Italian veteran the Well-Intentioned Extremist or the Knight Templar? Is the Hungarian patriot the Tragic Villain or the Complete Monster? Is the Japanese conscript a Broken Ace or a Byronic Hero? Is the French doctor the Punch Clock Villain or the Sociopath? It's up to you. At the end of the day, I'm an impartial author who just wants to tell a compelling story.

 

[Born in the USSA]

I'm glad you like Carnarism! My intention was to create something very syncretic and "D'Annunzian" in nature, something radically different from OTL's Fascism, something that's "good" (as much as you can call certain aspects of left/right authoritarian ideologies "good", but that's a whole other debate on the morality of political ideologies and I'm certainly not apologizing for Fascism/Stalinism/etc) compared to the Frankenstein's Monster of an ideology that Mussolini's Fascism was. D'Annunzio and his beliefs have always fascinated me ever since I first learned about him a few years back when I was more politically active/invested in political ideologies. Without getting too into my own personal politics, I've been all over the political spectrum throughout my life, from far-left in my tween/early teen years to far-right in my late teen years and until I was 20 when I began to get disillusioned with politics in general after some personal losses and mental health breakdowns (now I'm just ambivalent/apathetic towards it all lol). I feel like that gives me a fair bit of insight into political ideologies and beliefs on both sides of the aisle, especially when it comes to thinking up alternate ideologies and interpreting fringe historical ideologies.

As for the political compass, I'm still not sure how I want to set that up. While I still want there to be contrasting Nationalist/Internationalist and Isolationist/Globalist axes, I want to include a third pair of axes that represent the "Superhuman" values of Carnarism and the Volkssturmbewegung with the opposing "Conventional" values of Democratic, Communist, and Monarchist ideologies. When it comes to ideological power differences, I vastly prefer the socio-political differences compared to the socio-economic or geo-cultural ones. I haven't really read Nietzsche (though I'd like to), but the concept of superhumans is one that I find extremely interesting, as I've stated before. I think you'll like the chapter explaining Carnarism and the ones on Petrosianism and the Volkssturmbewegung a lot, though they're a ways off along with the next chapter because I have to get back into the swing of things with my schoolwork.


If you read the footnotes (not assuming that you haven't, but they help a lot), I debunk a great deal of the popular misconceptions about D'Annunzio's actual beliefs and how they're flanderized in alternate history as a result of poor research or "haha funny italian drug man" crap. I really truly hate when that happens to lesser-known political figures and ideologies for the sake of going "look how wacky and crazy this person and ideology was " (looking at you, Kaiserreich, Fuhrerreich, and Red Flood). It's disrespectful, disingenuous, and detracts from the genre of alternate history as a whole. Take for example, the depiction of William Dudley Pelley in Kaiserreich as an uber-racist Christian Nazi supervillain, which is as much of a Flanderization of the man as the old Roman von Ungern-Sternberg/Genghis Khan II depiction was. I still haven't decided whether I plan on actually using Pelley in OPAS, but he was more of a semi-crazy Christian conservative than KR's base depiction of him. To that extent, I've talked a little bit with the Home of the Brave submod's resident Pelley guy, Dreadgrunt over Reddit pms to get advice from him, and gone ahead and purchased a reprint of Pelley's original manifesto No More Hunger as well as his follow-up manifesto Something Better, the latter of which is an incredibly hard to find book. To put it in perspective, I got a first edition hardcover copy in relatively good condition for 30 bucks while a single used paperback copy on Amazon goes for 400 dollars. If that's not the find of a lifetime, I don't know what is.

As for Carnarism being a morally grey but acceptable faction for OPAS, you're correct for the most part. A lot of the ideologies in OPAS fall into a clear grey or black position when it comes to morality. However, rather than calling OPAS a timeline with an explicit moral spectrum of white/black, grey/gray, or even blue/orange shades, I like to think of it as falling on a moral spectrum of blue/black/grey/white/orange shades depending on the reader's interpretation. Italy and Germany in OPAS are blue and orange in that they're ultimately alien to the reader/average person. In other words, they're countries governed along Superhuman principles. In contrast, the US is white-grey, the Soviet Union is grey, Japan, French Africa, Spain, and Liberia are grey-black, while Hungary, Croatia, Mainland France, and Romania are black. It all depends on your perception of what is good and evil, because I intend to try and depict all the narrative characters as human rather than as ideological caricatures and strawmen. Is the Italian veteran the Well-Intentioned Extremist or the Knight Templar? Is the Hungarian patriot the Tragic Villain or the Complete Monster? Is the Japanese conscript a Broken Ace or a Byronic Hero? Is the French doctor the Punch Clock Villain or the Sociopath? It's up to you. At the end of the day, I'm an impartial author who just wants to tell a compelling story.

As for a political map I'd argue that Nationalist/Internationalist could be better utilized as two midpoint positions on an Isolationist/Globalist axis. If you made your other axis Master/Slave (Morality)* you'd have a "relations between states" axis and a "relations between people" axis without it getting too busy to diagram.

*The foundation of Nietzchean analysis. Renaming it "Homeric/Platonic" would probably make it less insulting to people TTL but the subtext is there

 

[Persephone]

As for a political map I'd argue that Nationalist/Internationalist could be better utilized as two midpoint positions on an Isolationist/Globalist axis. If you made your other axis Master/Slave (Morality)* you'd have a "relations between states" axis and a "relations between people" axis without it getting too busy to diagram.

*The foundation of Nietzchean analysis. Renaming it "Homeric/Platonic" would probably make it less insulting to people TTL but the subtext is there

Yeah, I think that works a lot better than having Nationalist/Internationalist as its own axis, which would be difficult to diagram (though I do find the concept of political spectrums with more than two axes intriguing). As for Master-Slave Morality, that's what I was trying to reflect when I referred to a hypothetical Superhuman/Conventional axis, I just wasn't sure what to properly label it as. I think "Homeric/Platonic" or "Creation/Stagnation" would be a good label for said axis. Plus, by keeping it in the form of a double axis spectrum, it remains familiar yet different to the reader, which is always fun.

 

[Proudly individualist]

Is the Japanese conscript a Broken Ace or a Byronic Hero?

Yukio Mishima, maybe? He was a tortured and unconventional enough individual to match with this description. A peculiar man that would be fascinating to explore.

 

[Persephone]

Yukio Mishima, maybe? He was a tortured and unconventional enough individual to match with this description. A peculiar man that would be fascinating to explore.

To quote the great Francis Urquhart:

 

[Von Huntzer]

When will we see the next chapter ? I just can't wait to see the evolution of this timeline

 

[Persephone]

When will we see the next chapter ? I just can't wait to see the evolution of this timeline

Honestly, I'm not sure. I had to take a break for a bit after writing Chapter IV (and even then, I'd had most of it written already), given the sheer amount of words in Chapter III. Plus, I spent most of last week/the week before it catching up on classwork and getting back into the swing of things. I'm also at a crossroads about what the next chapter will cover, though I'm inclined to switch back to Russia and Kamo because three consecutive chapters of Carnarist POVs would be a bit monotonous. I'll try to get another textbook-style chapter done in the next day or two, or at least sometime during this week, and then do a WMIT-inspired POV Halloween special if I can figure it out.

 

[Laserfish]

Ok, so I know that you may have your own plans for the late Halloween special, and that's okay! I just had a crazy idea or two about how it might spin out. Since WMIT and its Halloween specials are Lovecraftian in nature, why not do the same for OPAS? I've got a funny idea and a serious idea. First idea is the Carnarists against Cthulhu and co. It would be crazy I tell ya. Carnarists driving around on modified torpedo boats gunning down and hitting fish people (I guarantee that one of them would try to spear one of the fish-men with a trident, likely Guido Keller). Cultists finding out that they probably aren't the craziest in town at the moment, having to put up with fanatical killers that could rival them. Cthulhu and his pals finding out that they don't have the advantage of driving people mad when they look at them, since you can't drive crazy someone who's already crazy. A pilot deciding to fly his plane straight into the Eldritch tentacle-faced abomination's face as a very blunt and fiery "F You!"( D'Annunzio himself wants to fly the plane because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, but ultimately concedes to the fact that governing a state is more important than making an epic and possibly fatal physical statement to an eldritch abomination). With the cherry on top being a recreation of the Ramming of Cthulhu in The Call of Cthulhu, except with more explosions and a bigger ship.
The second idea will be more spoopy instead of action-comedy-horror. During a seemingly typical raid for the Fiuman cause, Lorenzo Secondari and the crew of modern-day pirates get their boats badly crippled. They resolve to commandeer their captive vessel to tow their damaged ships and get themselves back to Fiume. While onboard, they discover a very strange and valuable looking artifact. They decide to pawn it off for money once they get back to shore, to the dismay of some of the captive crew. Strange and unnatural powers from under the waves desire what was once theirs though, and they will not take kindly to discovering that it is still in other's grasp. Soon the pirate crew and their captives will have to band together to make sure they can survive to set foot on land once more...