I have always wondered about the possibilities and consequences of some interesting AH scenarios when it comes to Scotland's history, and simply put, here are my questions:
1 - Margaret Sverre of Norway survives
The little girl-king that died before even putting her feet on Scotland survives, thus, a personal union between Scotland and Norway develops. Are the consequences of such a thing predictable? If so, what would happen?
2 - Scotland becomes Protestant and England remains Catholic
Again, I have no idea of how such thing would happen. Maybe if Catherine of Aragon manages to produce surviving male issue to Henry VIII, and in Scotland somehow the Stuarts break their ties with France earlier... How can this happen? What would happen next?
3 - Personal union between England-Ireland and Scotland never takes place
Once I proposed a scenario in which James VI of Scotland dies as a child and Mary of Scots dies before giving birth to any other children. Thus, the throne of England would likely pass to Arabella Stuart while the throne of Scotland would fall on the head of Hamilton family IIRC. From all the scenarios, this is the most likely to have happened, but again: what would've happened next?
4 - Scotland as a colonial power during the Age of Discovery
I have no vughing idea of how can we turn Scotland into a nation powerful enough to defy or at least be respected in terms of sea exploration by other powers as Portugal, Spain and England itself. Suggestions?
5 - A densely populated Scotland
Compared to its neighbour England, currently populated by some 53 million people, Scotland is almost a wasteland, with some 5 million people living in the country. The nation's entire population is even smaller than London's Metropolitan Region. How can we make it more populated (not as England but at least with some 15 or 20 million people living in Scotland) with PODs happening during the time mentioned in the thread's title?
For now, that's what I have in mind. Help, I wanna learn D: