This is a bit I wrote a while ago. I could go on about its flaws and adjustments I'm considering for a while, but I'd like to hear your input first.
Near the end of the fifteenth century a young and ambitious Niccolo Machiavelli discovered the potential of Leonardo da Vinci's engineering brilliance to end the petty divisions of Italy and reunite it for the first time in a millennium--a goal which would drive Machiavelli's life. Machiavelli persuaded da Vinci to join him as an ally using eloquent speeches on his dream of unification, the promise of independence from the demanding patronage of the church, and the resources to realize his inventions (especially his flying machines.) Together in the 1480's they appealed to the Medici's of Florence to make a presentation of several of da Vinci's recent inventions including glider, wheel-lock musket, and early tank, and explained their possible application in his conquests. Lorenzo de' Medici was impressed and granted Machiavelli a position as foreign advisor and da Vinci a generous stipend to continue developing his machines. Machiavelli's relatively inexperienced, but shrewd and bold diplomacy proved rather effective and within a short time he had near total control of Florentine foreign policy, allowing him to slowly but surely accomplish his goals of Italian unification. The challenges of statecraft and warfare served as a perfect catalyst for da Vinci's creative genius and he was quickly devising practical solutions to nearly all the problems that arose for his new master, providing great public works and new tools of war for his armies such as the steam powered cannon and the flintlock musket (unaware that the flintlock was already in use elsewhere.) Under the advice of Machiavelli, the Florence's generals cultivated da Vinci's image as a wizard of sorts, granting their armies a great morale advantage in addition to their technical advantage.
Over a decade that was tumultuous even by the standards of Italy's history, Machiavelli subjugated all of Italy's competing states by the mid-1490's and greatly limited the political influence of the Catholic Church in Italy when it could no longer play the various factions off of one another to its advantage as it had for centuries. During this period da Vinci continued to develop many further inventions, the most notable of which was conceived in response to the logistics of ever lengthening supply lines--the steam engine. However, many of the collapsing Italian states had called upon the aid of other European powers (especially willing to help against the concerning power of da Vinci's devices) to forestall their downfalls, resulting in a long list of enemies for the newly crowned emperor of Italy. War was inevitable and over the next half century nearly every major power would be either actually engaged in war or preparing for it, leaving few resources for financing frivolous pursuits such as finding alternate routes for the spice trade.
Seeing no alternatives to the necessary conquests, Machiavelli rationalized them as an expansion of his original vision--the creation of an empire that would rival the glory and power of Rome. Though da Vinci would die in 1520, three decades before the end of the major wars of Italian expansion, his creations (and to a lesser extent those of the students who would continue in his works) provided a military and economic advantage that the other European powers could not parallel (largely due to Italy carefully keeping their workings a state secret,) except in the occasional copy of varying quality. Largely through this advantage and the careful political maneuvering of Machiavelli, Italy had seized control of most of continental Europe including France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire by the mid-sixteenth century, offering them a degree of autonomy and rather good terms. Its large-scale expansion was finally halted in a failed invasion of the British Isles in the 1540's. Its nature as an island nation largely negated Italy's advantage of railroads and land based weaponry, and the stubborn British resistance even countered the newly developed steam powered ships. The strength of their resistance is also attributed to the inspiring, young, English general Cedric Shrinemound who gave rousing speeches to his disheartened soldiers and populace: "Prepare ye for our finest hour. By the grace of God we shall defend our island and our king. We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender..."
After the failed invasion of England, the Italian Empire had to deal with various rebellions among the newly conquered subjects emboldened by the knowledge that its armies were not truly invincible. Though the network or railroads installed across Europe to aid in troop and supply management during the previous wars allowed soldiers to be efficiently deployed to hot spots of rebellion, the rebels were able to gain access to da Vincian technology and its principles far more easily as subjects of the empire than they were before their conquest, thus reducing the technical advantage Italy had enjoyed. Machiavelli's final years before his death in 1549 were spent advising the Emperor on retaining the state he had created and was largely successful due to a calculated mix of making concessions to the revolutionaries and crushing them with brute force, though the empire would not be fully stabilized until at least ten years after his death. To prevent the empire from expanding beyond what it could maintain as he felt it nearly had, Machiavelli ensured that his replacement would lead the Emperor on a course of non-expansionism, though continuing nearly all of his other policies.
The rest of European sixteenth century history was typified by overall political stability, but rapid economic, social, and scientific change. The continental railroad system, and advanced printing presses spread the artistic styles and values of the Italian Renaissance to the rest of Europe with unprecedented speed, though eventually the cultural exchange became less one-way as other cultural movements arose in other regions and spread like wildfire across the continent. Perhaps the cultural movements that were to have the most far reaching affects were humanism and the idealization of technology. Italian became the standard language of the nobility, merchant, and artistic classes, further facilitating the exchange of ideas and commerce and cementing the cultural unification. Due to Machiavelli's constant marginalization of the Catholic Church it lost most of it's political power and as a result its tight hold on its static doctrines, forcing it to become more inclusive of the religous interpretations of many dissidents such as Martin Luther (eventually Archbishop Luther) and others who promoted their own interpretations of the Catholicism. It was also powerless to suppress the many heretical scientific theories proposed at the time including Heliocentrism and various geological theories.
The shift which most affected the majority of the population was the series of economic changes. Early Industrialization drew many to factories in cities and started the phenomenon of mass production, with all of its innumerable affects. The merchant class expanded and further challenged the authority of the nobility. Banking families such as the Medicis, used their economic weight to lobby the imperial government for the publication of blueprints of many machines which had previously been state secrets (such as the steam engine, though it had already become semi-public by this point,) to allow for for further economic unification and thus the possiblity of expanding their financial empires.
In 1600 the empire has stable, but somewhat cautious relations with the rest of the world. Tensions with England have largely cooled. England has largely acquired imperial technology, though still lags behind the continent technologically and economically and remains a minor power at best. Russia and the Ottoman Empire are very wary of European technological and military power and firmly refuse railroad expansion into their territories, fearing that the networks might be used to allow rapid invasions by Europe's large and powerful armies. Europe is still able to use the threat of its military superiority as leverage in diplomatic settlements, for example forcing the Ottomans to eliminate their tax on Christians and allowing the European creation of the Suez Canal, so that the overland and overseas spice trade might continue relatively uninhibited.
Note: The following is intentionally fantasy based as you will quickly discover and thus a certain degree of suspension of disbelief is expected.
In the Americas the Aztec Empire continued to thrive and expand until the 1540s when Emperor Montezuma II died under suspicious circumstances, leading to accusations of foul play and a period of widespread civil disorder and the rebellion of many of the Aztec subject nations. It was only through the military brilliance of Montezuma's heir that order was restored by the 1550s. To punish the many dissidents, sanctify his reign, and thank the gods for his victory the new Emperor ordered a series of sacrifices unprecedented by even Aztec standards. The tens of thousands ritually sacrificed in a single temple over the course of just a few days somehow drew the attention of...strange entities.
What exactly these entities are is unclear, but for somehow they seem to gain pleasure or nourishment from human sacrifice. Under the guise of the Aztec deities made manifest, these entities began to teach the Aztecs many things, including abilities which--to a European mind--are indistinguishable from magic, such as summoning fire at a distance and quickly traveling between two points without moving through the intervening space. The entities hinted however, that this was only a miniscule fraction of their true power. In exchange for greater power, the entities demanded more blood and demanded that the Aztecs to make further conquests to increase their pool of sacrifices. Over the next 40 years, the Aztecs used their dark gifts to subjugate more communities, including the Inca and the Iroquois Confederacy, until they held dominion over both American continents. It was at the end of the sixteenth century, that the mysterious masters of the Aztecs informed them of the potential for further conquests in the East...
Near the end of the fifteenth century a young and ambitious Niccolo Machiavelli discovered the potential of Leonardo da Vinci's engineering brilliance to end the petty divisions of Italy and reunite it for the first time in a millennium--a goal which would drive Machiavelli's life. Machiavelli persuaded da Vinci to join him as an ally using eloquent speeches on his dream of unification, the promise of independence from the demanding patronage of the church, and the resources to realize his inventions (especially his flying machines.) Together in the 1480's they appealed to the Medici's of Florence to make a presentation of several of da Vinci's recent inventions including glider, wheel-lock musket, and early tank, and explained their possible application in his conquests. Lorenzo de' Medici was impressed and granted Machiavelli a position as foreign advisor and da Vinci a generous stipend to continue developing his machines. Machiavelli's relatively inexperienced, but shrewd and bold diplomacy proved rather effective and within a short time he had near total control of Florentine foreign policy, allowing him to slowly but surely accomplish his goals of Italian unification. The challenges of statecraft and warfare served as a perfect catalyst for da Vinci's creative genius and he was quickly devising practical solutions to nearly all the problems that arose for his new master, providing great public works and new tools of war for his armies such as the steam powered cannon and the flintlock musket (unaware that the flintlock was already in use elsewhere.) Under the advice of Machiavelli, the Florence's generals cultivated da Vinci's image as a wizard of sorts, granting their armies a great morale advantage in addition to their technical advantage.
Over a decade that was tumultuous even by the standards of Italy's history, Machiavelli subjugated all of Italy's competing states by the mid-1490's and greatly limited the political influence of the Catholic Church in Italy when it could no longer play the various factions off of one another to its advantage as it had for centuries. During this period da Vinci continued to develop many further inventions, the most notable of which was conceived in response to the logistics of ever lengthening supply lines--the steam engine. However, many of the collapsing Italian states had called upon the aid of other European powers (especially willing to help against the concerning power of da Vinci's devices) to forestall their downfalls, resulting in a long list of enemies for the newly crowned emperor of Italy. War was inevitable and over the next half century nearly every major power would be either actually engaged in war or preparing for it, leaving few resources for financing frivolous pursuits such as finding alternate routes for the spice trade.
Seeing no alternatives to the necessary conquests, Machiavelli rationalized them as an expansion of his original vision--the creation of an empire that would rival the glory and power of Rome. Though da Vinci would die in 1520, three decades before the end of the major wars of Italian expansion, his creations (and to a lesser extent those of the students who would continue in his works) provided a military and economic advantage that the other European powers could not parallel (largely due to Italy carefully keeping their workings a state secret,) except in the occasional copy of varying quality. Largely through this advantage and the careful political maneuvering of Machiavelli, Italy had seized control of most of continental Europe including France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire by the mid-sixteenth century, offering them a degree of autonomy and rather good terms. Its large-scale expansion was finally halted in a failed invasion of the British Isles in the 1540's. Its nature as an island nation largely negated Italy's advantage of railroads and land based weaponry, and the stubborn British resistance even countered the newly developed steam powered ships. The strength of their resistance is also attributed to the inspiring, young, English general Cedric Shrinemound who gave rousing speeches to his disheartened soldiers and populace: "Prepare ye for our finest hour. By the grace of God we shall defend our island and our king. We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender..."
After the failed invasion of England, the Italian Empire had to deal with various rebellions among the newly conquered subjects emboldened by the knowledge that its armies were not truly invincible. Though the network or railroads installed across Europe to aid in troop and supply management during the previous wars allowed soldiers to be efficiently deployed to hot spots of rebellion, the rebels were able to gain access to da Vincian technology and its principles far more easily as subjects of the empire than they were before their conquest, thus reducing the technical advantage Italy had enjoyed. Machiavelli's final years before his death in 1549 were spent advising the Emperor on retaining the state he had created and was largely successful due to a calculated mix of making concessions to the revolutionaries and crushing them with brute force, though the empire would not be fully stabilized until at least ten years after his death. To prevent the empire from expanding beyond what it could maintain as he felt it nearly had, Machiavelli ensured that his replacement would lead the Emperor on a course of non-expansionism, though continuing nearly all of his other policies.
The rest of European sixteenth century history was typified by overall political stability, but rapid economic, social, and scientific change. The continental railroad system, and advanced printing presses spread the artistic styles and values of the Italian Renaissance to the rest of Europe with unprecedented speed, though eventually the cultural exchange became less one-way as other cultural movements arose in other regions and spread like wildfire across the continent. Perhaps the cultural movements that were to have the most far reaching affects were humanism and the idealization of technology. Italian became the standard language of the nobility, merchant, and artistic classes, further facilitating the exchange of ideas and commerce and cementing the cultural unification. Due to Machiavelli's constant marginalization of the Catholic Church it lost most of it's political power and as a result its tight hold on its static doctrines, forcing it to become more inclusive of the religous interpretations of many dissidents such as Martin Luther (eventually Archbishop Luther) and others who promoted their own interpretations of the Catholicism. It was also powerless to suppress the many heretical scientific theories proposed at the time including Heliocentrism and various geological theories.
The shift which most affected the majority of the population was the series of economic changes. Early Industrialization drew many to factories in cities and started the phenomenon of mass production, with all of its innumerable affects. The merchant class expanded and further challenged the authority of the nobility. Banking families such as the Medicis, used their economic weight to lobby the imperial government for the publication of blueprints of many machines which had previously been state secrets (such as the steam engine, though it had already become semi-public by this point,) to allow for for further economic unification and thus the possiblity of expanding their financial empires.
In 1600 the empire has stable, but somewhat cautious relations with the rest of the world. Tensions with England have largely cooled. England has largely acquired imperial technology, though still lags behind the continent technologically and economically and remains a minor power at best. Russia and the Ottoman Empire are very wary of European technological and military power and firmly refuse railroad expansion into their territories, fearing that the networks might be used to allow rapid invasions by Europe's large and powerful armies. Europe is still able to use the threat of its military superiority as leverage in diplomatic settlements, for example forcing the Ottomans to eliminate their tax on Christians and allowing the European creation of the Suez Canal, so that the overland and overseas spice trade might continue relatively uninhibited.
Note: The following is intentionally fantasy based as you will quickly discover and thus a certain degree of suspension of disbelief is expected.
In the Americas the Aztec Empire continued to thrive and expand until the 1540s when Emperor Montezuma II died under suspicious circumstances, leading to accusations of foul play and a period of widespread civil disorder and the rebellion of many of the Aztec subject nations. It was only through the military brilliance of Montezuma's heir that order was restored by the 1550s. To punish the many dissidents, sanctify his reign, and thank the gods for his victory the new Emperor ordered a series of sacrifices unprecedented by even Aztec standards. The tens of thousands ritually sacrificed in a single temple over the course of just a few days somehow drew the attention of...strange entities.
What exactly these entities are is unclear, but for somehow they seem to gain pleasure or nourishment from human sacrifice. Under the guise of the Aztec deities made manifest, these entities began to teach the Aztecs many things, including abilities which--to a European mind--are indistinguishable from magic, such as summoning fire at a distance and quickly traveling between two points without moving through the intervening space. The entities hinted however, that this was only a miniscule fraction of their true power. In exchange for greater power, the entities demanded more blood and demanded that the Aztecs to make further conquests to increase their pool of sacrifices. Over the next 40 years, the Aztecs used their dark gifts to subjugate more communities, including the Inca and the Iroquois Confederacy, until they held dominion over both American continents. It was at the end of the sixteenth century, that the mysterious masters of the Aztecs informed them of the potential for further conquests in the East...