Hey folks! This isn't really an
"update" per se, because classes started up again last week, so my writing's kind of taken a hit while I readjust my schedule. The Italian update will hopefully be done this week in my free time, but don't quote me on that. In the meantime, I made this nifty little chart that shows some of the possible futures in PPM's timeline. I'm a big fan of the "future compass" meme format, so I decided to make my own for shits and giggles, as well as to give folks a glimpse at what I've got in store. None of this is "canon" yet and I obviously can't cover every single nation that plays a role in the timeline, so I'll probably be making more of these in the future. For now, feel free to speculate and guess at what each entry means and how blessed (or cursed) they are. I will note that "good" and "bad" in the chart are a bit misleading since PPM's timeline is firmly an example of the
Grey-and-Grey Morality and
Black-and-Grey Morality tropes (the former moreso than the latter) and no one's really that innocent in the long run. As always, please feel free to ask questions about anything you're wondering about my plans for the TL or let me know how things are so far! I love to hear constructive feedback!
So, let me give my two bits on these futures (We should have more of these future compasses on this site, they have potential), starting with the top left.
Evolian Futurism: Julius Evola is the sort of insane villian you would see in Indiana Jones. Search him up, he just
looks like a dime novel or pulp magazine villain. But enough about the poster boy for
Aristocrats Are Evil and his looks, whats up with his beliefs? This guy was so esoteric that it hurt. He has been called many things, fascist intellectual, radical traditionalist, etc. Personally, the only thing this occultist far right "superfascist" should be called is" A nutcase whose amount of influence and followers should be the same amount as his current number of heartbeats per minute". The thing is though that the second part of that future adds to the concern. An Evola-Marinetti team-up will be the worst sort of crossover since bleach and ammonia decided to hook up and make some chlorine gas.
Petrosianist Third Internationale: Since Kamo is the first noticeable character in this timeline, and he is educating himself on communist thinking, he will obviously play an important role in the story. What his political philosophy will be is yet to be seen, but I believe he will be certainly more then a rehash of Stalin. So not much to go on yet.
Jungers Young Radicals: Ernst Junger was, from what I've read so far, a budding young Bohemian poet before going off to fight in the Great War, where he found both glory, wounds, and a talent for soldiering. He even was awarded an honored medal for legitimate reasons (The Pour Le Merite no less!), unlike another Bohemian we all know and loathe. His Wikipedia page states that during the Weimar period he "hated democracy like the plague", held a mystical fondness for the war and believed that it revealed the nature of existence, and it seems believed that a militarized society run by warrior-worker-scholars would work best. Liberal values (liberty, security, ease and comfort) were to be discarded, and the values of resilience and sacrifice are to be embraced. Pretty radical Nationalist stuff, although given that OTL he wasn't so radical to support the Nazis, he may be considered a slightly darker shade of grey.
Longist Democracy: Huey Long is whoever you wanna be. (If you wannabe my lover, you've got to Share our Wealth!) Golden boy for Hoi4 mods and alternate history (man wrote his own self-insert fan fic on what he would do in his first days as president, which is now alternate history technically), this guy had enough personality and intellect to forge a governorship like no other, create public works and expanded social programs, was a populist on either side of the spectrum, won good boy points for the future by being nicer then almost every other politician on racial issues (And insulting the KKK to boot), create his own political dynasty, and had built the tallest capitol building in the US even today, because he could. However, the guy ran his own state like a kingdom, most definitely had some dealings in the dirtier side of politics, and was the inspiration for It Can't Happen Here (Which says a lot about how some felt about him). A definite grey area, although how light or dark it is depends on the actions and circumstances those actions were taken in.
Deat's Revolution From Above: Marcel Deat knew how to play politics. He was noted by Charles De Gaulle ,who said of him:“Deat undoubtedly has great talent and high value. That's what we blame him for. But be patient, I think we'll see him come back up and go very high." The man was a Socialist, and then a Neosocialist. Neosocialism is based on the idea of "Revolution from Above". This is where a political elite changes and orders change to be implemented/imposed on the populace they govern (Usually urban areas or the capitol city) They also admired fascism, specifically the Italian variant of it. That's not helping Deat's case, although it should be noted that he actively protested both antisemitism and racism. He was also compared to his fellow collaborators less radically against the French Jews during his time as a collaborator OTL. His previous sentiments may have been corrupted though by his flirtations with totalitarianism.
The Brown Revolution: The Nazis, for all their bluster and shouting about being revolutionary, settled into being counter-revolutionary very quickly. I do spy however the Sturmabteilung insignia in the corner. May perhaps our favorite gay, independent minded Nazi make a name independent of his own? Well, they're Nazis, and probably not the Strasser kind of Nazi. They'll be Revolutionary National Socialists (With much more emphasis on the Socialist part)! Better then Hitler is still a bit of a low bar in this case.
The Cromwell Of The East: Now, I'll be honest,I don't know who the Japanese man in the nice uniform is. Olly Cromwell was a military man turned dictator. Sounds quite like a shogun to me. Now, the military cliques will likely still be around, and IJA and IJN didn't get their reputation as rivals for nothing. The Kodoha and Toseiha might still be around, and maybe probably some new ones. Ikki Kita sounds like an interesting enough fellow who may get popular and influential during his life rather then after it. That's just a suggestion though. My bet is a shogun in practice if not in name.
The D'Annunzian Dream: Now, I admit it, I don't actually know much about how the man thought a state should be run. I've seen the Wikipedia page on the Italian Regency of Carnaro, and it seems to take influence from proto-fascism, corporatism, and syndicalism. I can wait until the next updates come so you can elaborate on what Chartism is, since you said it will an expansion and reworking of the OTL Charter of Carnaro.
Rockwellian Christian Commonwealth: I see in the bottom left corner the blurred yet distinctive name of William Dudley Pelley and I know this is gonna suck. Pelley is most popularly known as the Evil American in any HOI4 alt-history mod. And for good reason. Guy believed in a "Perfected" form of Christianity (That was influenced by four "isms"), claimed he had a out-of-body experience and met God and Jesus who basically told him to evangelize America (like they needed any more of them), and through that claimed experience gained the ability to levitate, see through walls, and have out-of-body experiences at will. And this was before he founded the Silver Legion! Insane racist religious extremism is the macaroni to Far-right politics cheese. The only influential Far-right American with the last name of Rockwell I can think off is George Lincoln Rockwell (When I first saw the compass, I was confused and though that Norman Rockwell would go crazy). So we have the insane mystical fascist zealot joining forces with and possibly influencing the founder of the American Nazi party. Forget the Evola-Marinetti crossover, this is
so much more cursed.
Integralist Patrianovism: The Brazilian Integralists are significantly more religious then most other fascist counterparts. They are fanatically Catholic and perceive Nationalism as a "shared spiritual identity". They, like many other fascists despise Jews, and they have their own color coded shirts (Green, in this instance). They dislike socialism and liberalism, seeing those two as examples of atheism, which is to be expected from angry zealots. I don't know what else to say about them, other then that they might be influenced by Chartism.
La Disperata Preserves Order: When I Google Translated it La Disperata means "The Desperate". The poster behind it shows what is most likely a Blackshirt. I don't know what this would be, other then the possibility of the status quo staying the status quo (As in the establishment somehow manage to hold on to power). That however is going to become very unlikely. Not much to go on for this one.
Hakko Ichiu: Hakko Ichiu means according to Wikipedia: "eight crown cords, one roof" i.e. "all the world under one roof. This means that Japan must unify the eight corners of the world. I take this to mean Japanese dominance. Military, political, or economic dominance in the Pacific would be most likely. The Co-Prosperity Sphere realized eh? It's not going to be easy, to achieve such a thing, if the suggestion I bring up is even remotely accurate for what will occur in the story.
The Red Scare Continued: McCarthyism is going to look like a game of Among Us. Anything leftist is going to beaten to death by either a police baton or a lynch mob. Italians and Russians are likely to get it worse then they had it OTL, with raids all over the nation. Strikes are going to become popular, as are other, more extralegal tactics if the situation escalates enough. In that case, who's ready to play some Counter-Strike! It's going to be one wild ride. Coney Island ain't got nothing on the roller-coaster the whole
nation's going to get on.
The Conservative Revolution: The words "conservative" and "revolution" don't look like they should go together, yet some how the Germans did it. Instead of "traditional" conservatism, revolutionary conservatives tried to inject new life into right-wing German politics. A mixture of conservative and nationalist politics make this not quite mainstream conservatism and not quite fascist. They are most likely authoritarian and militaristic by nature, and disdain traditional conservatism and it's ethics, anything democratic, anything left-wing (That is to be expected), and the like. So, they aren't evil like the Nazis, but they also are unashamedly dictatorial and nationalist. They are just like their uniform colors, shades of grey.
A Bavarian Kaiser: The next most known region of Germany other then Prussia is Bavaria. We all know that Prussians are stoic pickelhaube wearing militarists who are all officers and members of the gentry, while the Bavarian past times are Oktoberfest and being independent from the other German regions. So, the idea of a Catholic, Bavarian Monarch reestablishing the German empire as its Kaiser sounds both odd and awesome. Course, who would've expected the nice beer-drinkers to be such capable political players? Won't be easy, considering that German politics are going to be put through the wringer (They're luckier then Italian politics, it's being thrown into the wood-chipper).
Nungesser's New France: Nungesser in alt-history is like Charles Lindbergh in a way. Both were accomplished pilots, and both go into politics. Controversial politics, what with Alt!Nungesser becoming involved with far-right wingers while Lindbergh was more moderate but still just as right-wing. I don't really know why they use Nungesser like that. Maybe the writers see him as a French Lindbergh? I mean, celebrity turned politician has happened before. Schwarzenegger, Reagan,
He who must not be named. As for his politics, what will he align himself with? The Action Francaise seems to be an obvious choice, but they were monarchist. One of the many far-right leagues seems obvious, or maybe he just starts his own. We'll have to wait and see.