"Bootsland has been cleansed of any tribes, the rebellious elements have been purged and Social Capitalism is now the law of the land. The workers in time will learn to love us and our goals and they will be happy, healthy and honest"
Bootsland? Is that filibustering I sense?
 
Contrafati Fiction

As the 19th century drew to a close, a growing cultural trend was the spread of the new genre of contrafati literature. While fiction imagining alternative twists in the path of events dated back to Classical Antiquity and the Pinnacle Man, and academic exercises were relatively common among military historians, it was only at this point that the concept emerged as it's own literary genre. The Council of Jehovah quickly declared the concept heretical, stating that "works which are Contra Fati (against destiny) are an insult to Jehovah, no matter how pleasant they may seem, for they presume that the human mind can know the "proper" course of world events better than the Almighty". Although the most loyal AFC members went along with this edict, the newly christened contrafatis enjoyed a brisk popularity. One of the earliest and most enduring contrafatis would only harden opposition to the genre in the Republican Union, eventually culminating in mass book burnings, because The Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation had been practically tailored as a slap in the face of the Union.

A virulently Normanist tract published in 1893, The Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation took as its "inflection point" the survival of President Lincoln on that fatefull day in 1861. Following the explosion, a grievously wounded Lincoln is visited by the Angel of Destiny, and told to extinguish the Southron menace forever. After making a full recover, Lincoln launches a conquest of the Confederation of the Carolinas, conquering the country and establishing massive reeducation camps for the booming population of new Inferiors. The story contains a variety of advanced technologies, along with a blatantly supernatural element, so called "Spirits" distilled by Colonel Goodyear Industries from "the rarefied ectoplasma, granting Holy Powers on behalf of Jehovah and Manifest Destiny", a scathing satire of Spiritual Marxism.

The main body of the story takes place in 1883 in an expanded Union still ruled by President Lincoln and concerns an unnamed narrator, a true Southron patriot who journeys to the City of Amalgamation, formerly Charleston, the center of Union power in the defeated Southron Territories. Seeing firsthand the squalor imposed on his beloved country, the narrator begins attempting to foment an Inferior revolt to topple the Negro Occupied Government controlling the Territories on behalf of the decrepit and tyrannical President. Attempting to steal Spirits as a weapon against mongrelized Union oppressors, the narrator makes the horrifying discovery that they are refined from ectoplasma forcibly extracted from Southron citizens, further steeling his resolve. Newly armed, the Inferior Insurrection topples the NOG in an event called "The Day of the Rope", and begins spreading throughout the rest of the Republican Union. Declaring that "the Columbian Revolution can only succeed if the tyrant Abraham Africanus is destroyed in the name of true Norman humanity and our noble Spartan ancestors", the narrator is smuggled into Philadelphia to assassinate the President. Finally confronting the architect of Southron humiliation, the narrator makes a second shocking discovery: Lincoln truly did die on that fateful day, and his corpse has been a puppet for the Angel of Destiny, revealed as a hideous demon. The narrator is able to destroy the monster, and the Southron Territories reconstitute themselves into the Confederation of the South, dividing the Union into a series of puppet governments and extinguishing the AFC.

It is not an overstatement that President Custer was not amused, and the Council of Jehovah seethed, organizing massive book burnings and attacks on publishers who dared distribute the work within Union territory. Custer quickly passed a directive banning contrafati fiction as "an immoral insult to the public good and god-fearing Christian decency". This only made The Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation more popular among the Union's enemies, who began smuggling illicit copies among the Inferiors inside the country.

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-An anti-Union propaganda poster using a stylized representation of the "Demon of Destiny" as described in "A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation". The Demon of Destiny would become a staple of propaganda efforts aimed at the Republican Union.

*OOC- This idea came to me today, and was inspired by the wave of utopian and dystopian fiction that characterized literature near the end of the 19th century in OTL. The concept of "Spirits" and the general setting were inspired by the real-life Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation with obvious nods to BioShock and the last couple of Wolfenstein games. The real life version of the book is really bizarre.
 
Bootsland? Is that filibustering I sense?
Bootsland is essentially Jakob Boot and his right hand man Syed Mahmood trying to create there own Social Capitalist "State" within NordReich Africa to show case the true "Utopian" potential of Social Capitalism, shame the locals have a habit of getting in the way of those plans so there taking 19th Century Colonial Logic to that problem (Think OTL something similar to Congo Free State but if it were smaller and was ruled by a Corporation that had strange ideas). Also I don't intend to make them baby eating evil just Corporate Colonialist Evil.
--//--
Anyway I like the OTL Boots, there a quite good pharmacy and they do good meal deals. Also the OTL John Boot and his son Jessie seem like pretty decent blokes all things considered, that's why it's fun to distort them into the weirdo Tea (and more they will start owning more) Company with a strange business idea.
 
I'm honored I helped inspire this story! I loved your take on alt-alt-history.
It just seemed too perfect to pass up! It occurred to me years ago that the OTL Sojourn book was weirdly BioShock esque, what with a dystopian ideologically-oriented city-state in the throes of weird supernatural drugs and all. It's crazy racist (you get tossed into gas chambers that overpower your body's natural rejection of other races and come out all gung-ho for interracial marriage, to give the earliest example in the book) and given the general tone of WMiT plus the "Spiritual Marxism" stuff in the new edition, combining the two just seemed to make sense.
 
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"God created man's many races with the intent that they be diverse in culture and tradition. The noble White man was raised in the cradle of Athenian politic, and is therefore inclinded towards the aristocratic democracy of Westminster. The Asiatic was raised by the likes of Attila, and is therefore inclined towards authority. It is therefore that I, a White man upholds the noble authoritarian tradition of the Asiatic; in the expectation that the Asiatic shall liberate the White man from Napoleanic-Goodyearian populist dictatorship. Such is the duty of Britain's sons."
-James Brooke, Marquis of Yiyong

THE INDIAN EXILE
James Brooke was born in 1803 in Calcutta. His father was a self-made colonial lawyer under the employ of the Honourable British East India Company; while his mother was the illegitimate child of a Scottish peer unimportant in the schemes of history. From birth, James seemed destined to live out his life as a conquistador pushing forth the Empire's frontiers in Asia. For the adventurous child, it was not a bad life.

But then, the world went mad. Napoleon's France emerged like a phoenix from the ashes of the Bourbon monarchy, and had subjugated continental Europe within the span of a decade. England was on the chopping block, and Napoleon had great plans to avenge France's humiliating loss so many years ago. Britain was destroyed, partitioned. Though remnants of the old English aristocracy remained, they had been left powerless. To many in the British aristocracy, the wholesale destruction of their way of life was disheartening. The honorable fled to Canada for the Empire's last stand; those less so knelt before the Caesar and surrendered Britain.

India faced a different dilemma. Unlike Canada, swarmed with refugees, information from Europe could only trickle into the ears of General Paul Horace Greer and the East India Company's men on the ground. The likes of Greer had been bred to follow orders--nothing more, nothing less. With London a French puppet and the Company's Board of Directors scattered to the winds, there were no orders to follow. For months, British India was paralyzed with indecision, until Greer and his lieutenants agreed to take decisive action. If Britain had truly fallen, Greer would take up the Empire's legacy by seceding from it. In Delhi, British troops deposed the ailing Mughal Emperor; and in Calcutta, Greer ascended to the Indian throne as Emperor Paul I, Padishah of Hindustan.

This act was met with great wariness amongst British colonists in the subcontinent. Some (rightfully) feared French invasion in this moment of confusion; others wanted to wish the madness away through inactivity. However, the Brooke family, alongside men in the "colonial middle class" like William Jardine enthusiastically welcomed the Emperor's ascension as the last, best chance to maintain the British way of life.

Soon, the French came. After the brutal pacification and partition of Britain, Napoleon was free to extend his will to lands like India or Canada. A series of backhanded deals with Britain's former "allies" in Russia and Austria allowed France a mandate to take the lion's share of the Indian cake. A 9-year war for survival began--a war that India was destined to lose.

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India battles for her survival

People like James Brooke had long since seen the writing on the wall. His parents had left for East Australia in 1823; while James and his friend William Jardine had fled to the most unlikely of places--China. James and William found a way to help finance Greer's war. Smuggling. India had long been home to the Papaver somniferum, better known as Opium. By illegally selling the plant to a quickly growing market in China, India would have access to a unique source of income. Jardine and Brooke Holdings was founded in a shady opium den in the streets of Canton, the first shareholders being members of the small European community that resided in the city.

The company's clippers: the ostentatiously named RIMS Brittania and RIMS Paullus Rex were renowned for their speed and agility, evading both French and Chinese attempts at boarding. The Clippers were sharp-lined, agile craft, designed to skirt the water, flying across the seas with astonishing speed. They were to carry opium and only opium, with no armor, and only a ram and bow-mounted 12-pounder for offense.

Company men were well paid and regularly risked their lives braving the French blockade, always arriving whole and intact to deliver chests of Chinese silver taels to Emperor Paul's officials. Whole armies were raised with revenue from Jardine and Brooke Holdings, with both men soon knighted by Emperor Paul for their service to Emperor and country--though neither Jardine nor Brooke were able to make for India to attend the occasion.

Despite the pair's best efforts, India's fate was never in question. From the day French flags first appeared off Ceylon, the Indian Empire had been hurtling towards her demise, with the end finally arriving in 1825 as Greer's Empire collapsed into feuding Diodachi with his death. The Indian Empire scattered, loyalists fled to Australia and Canada. Some even returned to England, but found themselves wholly unwelcome. James Brooke would personally sail one last time to Calcutta upon the RIMS Pallus Rex, this time filling the clipper not with opium, but with a few enterprising young Englishmen and their immediate families. 100 "Indian exiles" who would flee for the most unexpected of places--China. The exiles had bought with them one last treasure: the Kooh-i-noor diamond, offerred up by the governor of Calcutta for Brooke's safekeeping as French forces marched on the Indian capital.


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A Chinese Policeman
J&B Holdings continued to operate as usual for a few years. Their motley band of Englishmen in Canton formed His Majesty Paul I's Indian Government-in-exile, though the experiment amounted to nothing but a place for fellow English exiles to gather and have a beer or two. The Opium business dwindled when plantations in India were taken over by a new colonial elite loyal to Paris, forcing J&B to sell their two clippers just to continue operations. Jardine would find work under an Austrian plantation owner, and soon resigned his position as co-owner of the ailing company.

In mid-1827, a drunk Brooke stumbled into the Chinese quarter of Canton in the dead of night, humming to the tune of What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor. In his left hand, Brooke held a bicorne hat he had won in a gambling den; and in his right hand, Brooke clutched his trusty Collier Revolver. A Cantonese child by the name of Ah Mai happened to pass by, torch in hand, reported to be looking for his father at the local opium den.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor?

A drunken Brooke saw a light at the corner of his eye, and a large shape approaching him.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor?

It was a darned copper wasn't it--a French copper, here to get him at last.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor?

Brooke whipped out his pistol and pointed it in the vague direction of the figure. He cocked the safety, and with that-

Early in the Mornin'!

Brooke unloaded six rounds into Ah Mai. The shots rang through the neighborhood, jolting awake a local militiaman on patrol. Rifle in hand, the miltiaman rushed to the scene and saw a dead boy lying in a pool of blood. Nearby stood a drunken gweilo pissing on the pavement. He contemplated killing Brooke on site, but feared a diplomatic incident. "Good for nothing piece of shit", cursed the militiaman, and with a swing of a musket, Brooke was knocked unconscious, falling to the floor.

Brooke woke up the next morning with half his head bandaged. A Chinaman dressed in tanned servant's clothes noticed that Brooke was awake and ran off. Soon, a considerably better dressed man strode in and introduced himself as Ruan Yuan, Viceroy of Canton, the most powerful man in the city. Even a dazed Brooke could recognize the man's stature and fell to his knees immediately. As it turned out, the Viceroy was a worldly man, and had had his eyes on Brooke for a long time, believing his keen entrepreneurial skills to be rather admirable. Ruan had personally intervened and saved Brooke from the city magistrate--who would surely have laid out a death sentence. Now, he had a business proposal: Brooke would gather the employees at J&B and bring to the table all the knowledge he had on running an Opium plantation. J&B employees would be granted a tidy sum of cash, and Brooke could have a multitude of benefits, be it Chinese maidens, immunity from the law, or even a modest country villa.

Seeing little alternative, Brooke agreed. The next morning, he gathered his belongings and announced to his employees that they would be moving their operations North. Those who signed up would see increases in pay; those who didn't would be granted a lump sum of money for their resignation. 23 joined Brooke's Northward mission, and soon found themselves masters of several hundred farmers in the idyllic Cantonese countryside.

The operation continued for three years, with Brooke and his fellow Englishmen amassing a small fortune. William Jardine on the other hand, had been caught by Portugese police smuggling opium through Macau. In a show of friendship, Jardine was sent off to English authorities and summarily executed in 1829. Jardine's young nephew, Joseph had come to seek Brooke's help--Brooke, kind at heart and offered Joseph a job at the plantation as a serf-driver. Unfortunately, news of the operation was discovered by a eunuch in the Neiwufu, with Brooke and co. captured and tried by a magistrate. Brooke however, had one last gambit: unveiling the Kooh-i-noor, Brooke declared that the Indian exiles were heirs to a royal dynasty in the land of India. The dazzling beauty of the diamond shocked the magistrate, who deemed such matters far above his pay grade. The Indian exiles were carted Northwards and would face the Emperor's justice.


STRANGE MEN IN A STRANGE LAND
Luck would have that Brooke found work in the hands of his captors. Emperor Tao'kwang had hoped for all his life to recreate the prosperity of the early Qing, and sought to emulate his great-great grandfather Kang'hsi's welcoming of the Jesuits by welcoming the Indian exiles. There were terms and conditions, namely that the Indian exiles were not allowed to postlyerize, and were required to teach the Emperor's 6 sons on matters of practical and not spiritual use, be it musketry (this the Emperor placed an especial emphasis on), language or history. 5 men were soon caught preaching to the court eunuchs, with their stated reason being to "rebuild the Anglican church free from Bonaparist corruption". Brooke himself was assigned to the Emperor's youngest, the newborn Aisin Gioro Yixin, later Prince Kung and Emperor Ming'zhi.

Realizing that Tao'kwang had somewhat overestimated his academic prowess, Brooke attempted to talk his way out of the deal but was swiftly rebutted. Brooke had never received a University education, and could only teach the future Emperor Ming'zhi French and English. He later proceeded to talk about commercial practices, which Confucianism looked down upon. Brooke was harshly reprimanded by Ming'zhi's chief Confucian tutor, and almost got executed in the process. In response, Brooke grew quieter and made a point of staying out of the way of Confucian bureaucrats. Soon, he faded from Emperor Tao'kwang's memory and would spend his lessons with Emperor Ming'zhi talking about the strangeness of life in Europe.

Nevertheless, Brooke had made his mark. An education in English and French had made Ming'zhi a rarely open-minded fellow. The two grew close, though accusations of homosexuality are vehemently denied by the Qing's official histories as a "coordinated Euro-American plot to defame the holy virtues of James Brooke."

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Brooke in scholarly attire

Tao'kwang's death in 1861 was a period of mourning for all of China. Brooke, as an imperial official was obligated to spend three years in national mourning. But mourning didn't mean that the gears of state had stopped spinning. In 1863, Brooke persuaded the new Emperor Ming'zhi to issue an "Edict of Self-Stengthening", outlining the path that China would take in the next half-century. There is much to say about this topic: from the purchasing of new weapons to the establishment of a diplomatic network. It was a movement that aimed to transform China from the top down.

Brooke as an individual was wholly unremarkable. The one marketable skill he had to teach was commercial practices, and that was in no shortage amongst China's wealth of conniving businessmen. Brooke's most valuable asset was his connections. Since the establishment of Jardine and Brooke Holdings in 1823, Brooke had built up ties with British exiles and royalists alike all across the world. He had donated a sizable portion of his plantation fortune to Ernest Augustus' attempted invasion of the Australian Commonwealth in 1845, but the money had been stolen by the few fillibusters King Ernest I could summon. Nevertheless, the act won Brooke much respect from the restorationist community, and was a diplomatic victory if anything.

In 1864, posters went up across Canada's cities. A particularly stout John Bull pointed at the reader, with the words, "YOUNG BRITISHERS NEEDED IN THE ORIENT. ADVENTURE. GOLD. GLORY". The posters had directions to an office for the Canadian Asiatic Society, a name that didn't give away much on the job's nature. The mystery attracted many young men--in particular former noblemen who felt disenfranchised and underused. These disenfranchised noblemen were descendants of the British redcoats that had come to Canada en masse in the War of 1812. After the war, these young men spiraled into desperation as their world crumbled around them. These members of the officer class were "discharged seamen, deserters and other drifters that made Canada their home, and could gleefully be tempted away by the promise of adventure, pay, and loot."

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General Charles George "Manchu" Gordon, the Ever-Victorious Army

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Commodore Fredrick Townsend Ward, "Hua the Flying Dragon", Eastern Seas Fleet

The young Britishers boarded a clipper, and after months of travel, arrived in the port of Tianjin. They were given a simple task: to construct a Chinese officer corps based off the old British model. Decades later as the Qing officer corps took shape, one could find that it resembled the British one in many ways. These were members of the scholarly gentry who had come to learn the ways of war. They were stubbornly elitist; had been trained to lead, not to fight; and valued discipline over all else. Gone were the rag-tag peasant militias of olden times: the military was under the calm leadership of the officer class which made the Chinese army what it was. For this contribution, James Brooke was named Marquis of Yiyong.

Newcomers to China were termed the "Red Canadians", named so for many of them being descendants of redcoats. In truth, many members of the Conservative New England upper class, almost exclusively aligned against the AFC would join the Red Canadians in their oriental exodus. Many had been disillusioned with the changing times in America, stating that powerful figures like that of Lincoln were twisting the "natural order of things". Many said that mankind had stumbled upon a Pandora's Box the moment the Bastille was stormed, and that it was the duty of young Amero-Britishers to close the box once more. The obvious medium was that of China, whose new strength let the most optimistic dare dream of the restoration of the old order.

Upon his deathbed in 1871, Brooke could say that he had lived an exciting life even by the standards of the time. He was surrounded by a strange community of exiles he had helped create, and had helped kickstart a dying empire. The last years of his life had been spent peacefully as his many students took flight and bore on their shoulders the responsibilities of empire. Brooke could perhaps die fulfilled and content.

So ended the life of James Brooke, exile, smuggler, murderer and teacher.

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General Charles George "Manchu" Gordon, the Ever-Victorious Army
"Gordon's Alive" well in this universe he is at least...This was rather good chapter, I like how James Brooke essentially just bumbled his way into becoming an important figure in Qing China and always seemed seconds away from having his head cut off for his stupidity. It worked out in the end though. I can't wait to see what Qing China does next.
 
Sounds like Fordism but more brutal.
Not intentionally (Your comment is the first time I've heard about Fordism), it's inspired by what would happen if you tried to mix Classic Socialist ideas with Capitalist ideas as viewed through the eyes of a sick (slightly paranoid) man. Instead of making one class the main driving force is by making all your workers "Middle Class", mainly in the hope that if there happy and content they won't kill you, of course the fear of being killed by your rebellious workers means you also crush anything that could spark that rebellion. Of course John Boot believes he was doing it for the greater good and that he's better than folks like Goodyear (follow the Company line and your set for life) and his son will believe the same, and that "Worker Schools" are a necessary evil. Of course Social Capitalism hasn't gone up against a Rebellious Force yet (guess what will be happening the next chapter).
 
Part 2 of Madnessverse Boots:

The Tea Kaisers: The Boots Corporation and Family 1870-1900

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Jakob Boot at his Father's Funeral, 1870

In the aftermath of John Boot’s death it quickly became obvious who would take over.

Despite only being 20 years old Jakob Boot had been prepared by his father for his eventual takeover, Jakob from an early age was shown the Boots Corporation from the ground up, he would tour the Indian tea plantations with his father, meet the workers in the shops and he would serve the customers who brought the products during a brief period in his teens where he worked as a waiter at the Alexanderplatz Boots Tea Room.

His father and Engels would constantly teach him the ideas and ideals of Social Capitalism as well fuelling hatred towards Nationalism, Fascism, Religion and Beutelism. So when he finally became the head of the Boots Corporation, Jakob took his father and Engels work and pushed it further than they ever had.

In 1872 Jakob would write a list of Social Capitalist rules which all Boots owned places of work would have to follow:

1) All Workers will be treated equally and fairly, all will receive a fair wage which should allow them to feed, clothe and house there family and all will receive health insurance and pensions

2) An Independent Branch of the Company will be made to deal with complaints, concerns, discussions and queries. It will be made free of Company Politics to ensure maximum efficiency.

3) Boots offers universal suffrage; a woman should be a worker as much as a man, failure to comply with this request will result in the non complier being retrained or fired.

4) Politics and Work do not mix, those found voicing or discussing politics will be retrained or fired depending on the severity of one’s actions

5) Religion is not to be practiced or conducted in the work place, those found practicing or conducting religious ceremonies will be retrained or fired

6) All Workers should know comforts and should be able to spend time with family; all workers will be able to take 3 weeks time off with additional days being added via lottery system.


All Boots companies quickly complied with the requests because alongside officially making his father’s ideas company policy, Jakob had also expanded the reach and scope of the “Worker Schools” where rule breakers would be sent to be “retrained”, it mainly consisted of being forced to conduct long and hard menial tasks for no pay whilst in solitary confinement with a habit of being dragged to loyalty “tests” where the worker would tortured in unusual ways (a common torture method used was hanging workers from the ceiling via their fingertips until there started to bleed). Any attempts to take action against the Rules and the Worker Schools were often quashed thanks to company enforcers and police who were effectively bought out by Jakob.

Now that Jakob had secured his place in the corporation and managed to enforce his Social Capitalist values within it, he turned his eyes to Africa. It was quickly becoming obvious that new possibilities lay within Africa. Whilst the NordReich had colonies in Africa since the 1830s it was now in the 1870s that there was a push to continue further and with it came land opportunities. Jakob knew that the corporations Indian plantations would likely be seized if the NordReich and Europa were to ever go to war, so a more secure place had to be sought out.

In 1875 as the NordReich started to push into the Congo the Boots Corporation would follow, establishing several tea plantations in its wake. Sadly for the Boots Corporation, the Congo wasn’t as secure as they thought and most of Plantations would be destroyed in 1878 when local labour would rebel after attempts to impose Social Capitalism caused the more religious workers to rally the others against the Plantation owners. Although the rebellion would be crushed by 1880 thanks to NordReich troops and most of the Plantations back up and running by 1882 it was an embarrassment for Jakob Boot. Thankfully for him two events would occur which would change his luck.

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Newspaper Drawing depicting a Boots plantation being attacked, 1878
Firstly in 1876 Jakob would meet Anya Jerome at a party, the bastard daughter of former Republican Union Stock Speculator Leonard Jerome and a Bavarian American Maid who fled to the NordReich in 1851 after the affair was found out, despite her American roots Anya had been born and raised in NordReich. Anya was similar to Jakob, both were second generation immigrants to the NordReich and both had similar outlooks on life due to their upbringing. Anya was also very fierce and was an avid believer in Women’s Suffrage (something Jakob respected due to his mother being a working woman with his dad). The pair would get along well and before long started a romance, which would culminate in the pair getting married in 1878 and in 1881 they would have a child Herman followed by two more Sofia in 1885 & Frieda in 1890 securing the Boot family lineage.

The second came from Jakob’s sister Ada. Ada had spent most of her life confused, with Jakob being established as the future head of the company she decided to learn about being an Herbalist with help from her Mother. It was whilst studying various herbs that she would become interested in Asia learning from an “Orient” Expert whilst researching exotic herbs and flowers. Despite various attempts by Western powers much of Asia beside from India and China was unexplored and tales of the Mystical Shangri-La deep within the Himalayan Mountains intrigued Ada who wanted to visit. In 1878 she would get her chance.

NordReich explorer and keen mountaineer Baron Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was organising an expedition to the Himalayas to record and study the culture there and hearing about this opportunity Ada joined as an herbalist (she was mainly allowed in because Baron Nordenskiöld knew it would help publicity towards the expedition) and in 1879 she would leave for Qing China (attempts to reach the Himalayas through French India were declined by the Colonial Goverment). The people of the NordReich would continue to hear about the Expedition until early 1880 when the expedition would vanish without a trace in Tibetan region of China. Ada was declared missing presumed dead and the heartbroken Jakob busied himself with sorting out the Congo situation and establishing new connections within Europa. So it was a shock to Jakob when on the 3rd of August 1881 he would receive a telegram from one of his Indian Plantations.

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Baron Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
“Brother STOP It is Ada STOP I have found our Shrangi-La STOP It is Nepal STOP And they want to trade with us”

Jakob supposedly fainted in response; as soon as possible he travelled over to the Indian Plantation that his sister was at, Ada had some explaining to do.

It turned out that the Expedition had reached Tibet and were exploring the mountains when half of them would be killed by an avalanche, which depressed Baron Nordenskiöld who decided to kill himself by jumping off a cliff. Now without a leader the remaining members split up, Ada with Chinese translator Zhi Ruo, Botanist Adolf Engler and Photographer Wilhelm Dreesen designed to continue to explore Tibet and beyond whilst the rest decided to go back to the NordReich, which wouldn’t work out as they would be murdered by bandits whilst travelling back through China. Ada’s group continued through Tibet and would eventually reach Nepal in the summer of that year. Whilst crossing into Nepal, Ada would become Snow Blind and start to come down with fever with only Zhi Ruo’s help stopping her from dying. The two would steadily become closer by the time they reached the capital Kathmandu where they would meet Prime Minister Ranoddip Singh Kunwar, who wasn’t exactly pleased at foreigners in his country.

Nepal had kept itself isolated from the rest of the world as its neighbours had been conquered and there had been numerous attempts by others to invade Nepal, in the midst of its death throes the East India Company attempted an invasion in 1816, only thirty men would return with the rest having their heads cut off and placed on pikes as warning to other Westerners. The French ignoring the warnings attempted their own invasion in 1842 which would go just as well for them with most of the men being killed by an avalanche whilst the rest would suffer the same fate as the men sent by the East India Company. After that the Western Powers decided to leave Nepal alone and deal with other countries instead. In the mean time Jung Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji would turn the monarch into a figurehead, massacre the members of the Royal Family that opposed him and would establish himself as “Prime Minister” of Nepal (essentially he turned himself into a dictator). In 1877 he would die and Ranoddip Singh Kunwar would replace him but he had problems.

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Ranoddip Singh Kunwar

Despite the fact that country was isolated and the Western Powers declining to invade there was still a problem of Christian Missionaries who travelled to Nepal to convert the people there. Whilst most of the Missionaries were quickly killed some managed to slip through the cracks and started establishing little Christian communities who would often rebel against the Government and these rebellions were getting more difficult to deal with (not helped by Missionaries bring small numbers of muskets and rifles from French India). In that problem Ada saw a business opportunity, because Nepal had its own style of Tea which was very similar to ones grown in the Plantations in places like Assam and Darjeeling and it was likely to be a more secure supply unlike their Indian counterparts.

Ada with the help of Zhi Ruo would spend the rest of 1880 and early 1881 convincing Ranoddip Singh Kunwar of the benefits of trading with Boots, in return for her providing him help in defeating the Christian Rebels within in his land she would be given exclusive rights to the Nepalese Tea grown as well as the opportunity to employ Nepalese soldiers as mercenaries for the company. After getting these agreement formerly approved she went to India with most of her team and some Nepalese porters (apart from Adolf Engler who stayed in Nepal to continue his studies of Nepalese plants). After a long and tiring trip they eventually reached a Boots owned Plantation from which Ada would send the telegram.

Upon hearing Ada’s story Jakob also saw opportunity and publicity, after the Congo embarrassment having Boots is the first company to trade and have an establishment in Nepal would look amazing as he bet nearly every newspaper across Europe would want to know how this Corporation did it. Jakob decided to fund Ada’s Nepal project as well as establishing The Boots Freikorps lead by Hans Delbrück (a former Prussian Army Officer) who was sent to train up the Nepalese Military so they could defeat the Christian Rebels. In 1882 the Boots Nepal Expedition would begin with the Boots Freikorps and large quantity of weaponry to equip the Nepalese Army coming along as well. Over the course of the next two years the Christian Rebels would be crushed in brutal fashion, villages would be destroyed; children would be ripped away from their parents and be taught in newly established Boots Schools, Captured Christian Rebels would often be tortured or shot whilst the Christian Missionaries that inspired the Rebellions would suffer a slow death before having their head cut off and placed on pikes as warning to others. Whilst this was happening Ada Boot was setting up Tea Plantations, Schools (which often taught Social Capitalist ideals), Western style housing and Communication Outputs with money from her brother. For her service in defeating the Christian Rebels and modernising Nepal Ada and Zhi Ruo would be begrudgingly knighted by Ranoddip Singh Kunwar in 1884 becoming (as the Newspapers called it) “The Ladies of Nepal”.

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Hans Delbrück

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Nepalese Troops Battle Christian Rebels, 1883
Whilst this was happening she would “marry” Zhi Ruo with help from a Buddhist Monk which would annoy Jakob who would quickly quash any reports from Nepal that mention Ada and Zhi’s relationship. Despite it all the plan would work as European Papers would report on Boots having opened Nepal to the Western World, the Corporations stock would raise especially after Nepalese tea would be released to the European market in 1885 and as money would flood the Boots Corporation Jakob would use the opportunity to buy out several companies within the NordReich which ranged from a Chemists to a Rubber trading company. Boots was now the richest business within the NordReich and Jakob was now the 8th richest man in Europe and once again Jakob would set his eyes back on Africa. Still bitter at the embarrassment of the Congo rebellions he decided that he would establish his own business state there, a small area of land in which he would prove the effectiveness of Social Capitalism as an idea and to prove it would have a place in the 20th Century.

So in 1886 he would start drawing up plans for Bootsland, as well as restructuring the corporation to accommodate its new international status. Jakob would be the President of the entire Corporation with his wife Anya becoming the President of the European Sector, Ada would become the President of the Asian Sector (with Zhi becoming the Vice-President after much convincing) and the new African sector would after much deliberation would go to Syed Mahmood a rising star in the Boots Corporation having gone from a lowly shift manager at one of the Indian Plantations in 1870 to effectively running the entire Asian sector by 1884. Jakob decided that someone with the skill of Mahmood would be effective in the coming creation of Bootsland and made him the head of the African Sector. In 1889 after much planning the creation of Bootsland would begin.

Firstly came the pacification of any tribes that would cause trouble, throughout 1889 to 1890 tribes across the Western Congo were given a choice, either voluntarily join the Boots Plantations or be pacified. One third of tribes in the area would voluntarily join knowing that in doing so they would effectively be giving up there cultural identity as Boots banned the any religion or nationalistic practices (those who continued the practices would quickly find themselves in Worker Schools). The Two Thirds would decline the offer and in return Boots would use the Boots Freikorps (which had been greatly expanded thanks to Nepalese Mercenaries) with some support from the NordReich forces in the area to eradicate the tribes using similar methods that had been used against the Christian Rebels in Nepal but on a grander scale. Tribes would be rounded up and be placed in concentration camps, children would ripped away from the parents and be sent to schools further afield to be educated, anyone who fought back would often be mowed down with the heads of tribal leaders who resisted being placed across on pikes across Western Congo and villages would be destroyed replaced by plantations and villages built in European fashion.

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Gurkha Mercenaries in the Congo, 1893

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Skulls of killed Tribes Leaders being taken to be put away in a mass grave, 1896
By 1894 all the tribes in the area were pacified, their culture destroyed as Western Values and Social Capitalist ideas were forced upon them as Jakob Boot and Syed Mahmood turned their eyes towards the Arab and African slavers that were established in the area. Unlike the Tribes who were given the opportunity to live the Slavers who Jakob and Syed despised were wiped out. By 1896 any potential threat to Bootsland had been destroyed and Jakob would proclaim himself Governor (which was mainly a ceremonially role as Syed managed Bootsland itself). As the 20th Century approached Jakob felt confident in his Corporations safety and success, in 1898 he would be made a Baron by the Kaiser and he would proudly proclaim:

“The 20th Century will be the Century of Social Capitalism”

Of course things couldn’t be that easy for the Boots Corporation and the early years of the 20th Century would be more testing than Jakob could have ever imagined.

Major Boots Corporation Personal, 1900:

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Baron Jakob Boot, President of Boots International & Governor of Bootsland

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Baroness Anya Jerome-Boot, President of European Branch

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Lady Ada Boot President of East Asian Branch (right) with Lady Zhi Ruo-(Boot) Vice President of East Asian Branch (left)

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Syed Mahmood, Head of African Branch & Deputy Governor of Bootsland
 
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So who will be the mother of TTL's Churchill? You may want to change Anya's picture in tradition of OTL parallelism.

At last we had the "noble demon" figure here. Will the Boots corporation influence Prussia into secularism and science? I see them being the non-insane advocate for evolution ITTL.
 
Here, I'm going to make my beloved CoCaro a bunch of opium addicted, weed abusing, caffeine guzzling lunatics. Also, the man who invented Pepsi invents *Coca-Cola.

Caffeine, Cannabis, and Opium: The Rise of Pemberton's Pharmacy and CoCaro Cola

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The Confederation of the Carolinas was a perpetually stressed nation, from the Great American War onwards. Surrounded by increasingly expansionist Yankees, suffering from economic collapse, and enduring brutal political and racial turmoil throughout the 1870's and 80's, it's fair to say that many in the nation were on edge. One such person was Elise Pemberton, wife of upstart pharmacist John Pemberton. The violence ripping through their home of Charlotte, North Carolina, the tolls of motherhood, and John's lackluster business had all contributed to her having a nervous breakdown in March of 1885. This distressed her husband greatly, as he was concerned for her health, and blamed his own "inability to provide" for her mental struggles. Hoping to find a way to cure his wife, Pemberton worked furiously for weeks on end, only eating two meals a day. Finally, in July he had formulated his so-called "Nerve Syrup." Made from a combination of various herbs, sweeteners, alcohol, and opium, the formula promised cures for everything from epileptic fits to anxiety and depression. John went up to his wife and offered her a spoonful. She begrudgingly obliged, figuring it would be another one of her husband's flops.

Five minutes later, Mrs. Elise Pemberton was walking around in a happy, albeit somewhat stupefied, state of mind. Although not energetic enough to play with the children as she used to, she possessed enough energy and happiness to actually care for them somewhat properly. John was thrilled. As long as his wife took the correct dosage of this new "Nerve Syrup," she would be relaxed enough to maintain bliss, but energized enough to do her chores. Pemberton quickly began bottling and selling the Syrup, seeing an opportunity to finally do right by his family. Marketed as a cure for the "plague of nervousness and delicacy afflicting our people," the syrup became a massive overnight success in Charlotte, with people waiting hours for a bottle. In order to keep up with demand, Pemberton bought a small bottling plant and signed a contract with Dawson Import and Export to keep himself supplied with opium from French India. As the Red Revolution broke out, Pemberton, long a prominent LOS member and deviser of the League's 14 Points, employed guards armed with Coffee Grinders at his properties, and funneled the money from his expanding business into the LOS. After the Revolution, demand exploded again, and Pemberton opened pharmacies in Raleigh, Durham, Wilmington, and Charleston, while also building two new and improved bottling plants in Charlotte. Pemberton also created new formulas for different "medicinal and recreational purposes," including a new cough syrup, "Marihuana Tonic," and the famous "Elixir of Opium." All of these medicines/syrups also contained alcohol, chloroform, and other ingredients. They were wildly popular, and Pemberton's Pharmacy opened up 30 new stores by 1896. This explosive growth was mainly because people had unsurprisingly started using these potent "medicines" recreationally, mainly to destress after grueling work hours, and quickly developed dependencies on them. However, Pemberton wasn't alone in developing new drinks and syrups to entice the population.

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Advertisement clipping for Pemberton's Elixir of Opium

Shortly after the Red Revolution, in New Bern, North Carolina, Caleb Bradham, another Carolinian chemist and pharmacist, developed a non-cocaine based alternative to Yankee sodas like Sweet Victory. Using caffeine, cola syrup, and copious amounts of sugar, Bradham created "Brad's Drink," which he began selling in his small pharmacy. The drink was extremely popular with his customers, but Bradham wanted to make more money off of the beverage. He changed the beverage's name to "CoCaro Cola" both to show his pride in Carolina's speedy recovery, and to capitalize on the surge of patriotic fervor sweeping the nation. To this effect, he also bought two gramophones that he placed in front of his store, and blared "Hark the Sound" so loud it could be heard several streets over. The nationalistic rebranding had the desired effect, and by 1890 Bradham was opening pharmarcies in Wilmington and beyond. This put him in direct competition with John Pemberton, and the two budding tycoons engaged in a no-holds barred campaign of corporate sabotage against one another, dubbed the Pharmacy War. However, Bradham was in a bad position to win. He had a late start, and his product was nowhere near as addictive as Pemberton's syrups and tonics. In the end, an unexpected truce was engineered by a much more powerful man.

F. W. Dawson had been paying attention to the so-called "Pharmacy War" with interest. Both sides were employing everything from arson to slander to try and one up their opponent. This chaos would sometimes interfere with Dawson's businesses, which he found increasingly irritating. That's why on July 12th, 1898, Dawson invited the two men to his plantation outside of Charleston to discuss an "exciting business opportunity." Both men arrived in the overwhelming home, and were greeted by Dawson personally. He sat them down at his grand dining table and made them "an offer they couldn't refuse," as his butler would record in his diary, along with his recollection of the encounter:

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The logo of CoCaro Cola

Dawson began speaking, "Gentlemen, I assume you are curious as to why you have been summoned here. The answer is simply this; to end your little corporate spat. While I applaud your competitive spirit, the chaos being caused by some of your more... ruthless tactics is starting to interfere with my businesses. This is unacceptable. To that end, I have formulated a proposal that I'm sure will satisfy all parties. Mr. Pemberton, you shall buy Mr. Bradham's pharmacy chain. Furthermore, you shall exclusively receive the ingredients needed for your products through Dawson Shipping, and end those feeble attempts to acquire them independently. You will also only sell carbonated beverages sold by one Mr. Bradham. Mr. Bradham, you shall sell your pharmacies for below market value to Pemberton, and compensate him for the damages you inflicted on his properties when you started this feud. You shall go exclusively into the beverage business, and I shall give you a contract to begin putting in iceboxes filled with your delicious beverage in my factories. Finally, both of you shall pay compensation to me for lost business. If you fail to comply, I shall have to talk to my good friend the Protector-General about getting the CSB to investigate your businesses."

Faced with the prospect of the Confederation's most powerful man using his influence to destroy their businesses and imprison them, the two quickly complied, ending the Pharmacy War. Pemberton quickly developed what was essentially a monopoly over the pharmacy and pharmaceutical markets, thanks to his addictive tonics (and some genuine medicines). Bradham became the master of CoCaro's fledgling drink market, and the concentration of his bottling facilities in New Bern made the town a thriving urban center. His cola had become even more popular thanks to his contract with F. W. Dawson, as the Goliath of Charleston figured that he could absorb the cost of the drinks in return for boosting worker productivity. The plan worked brilliantly, and soon his legions of workers were consuming the highly stimulating beverage outside of work as well.

These twin developments were extremely detrimental to many in Carolina, particularly the working poor. Factory workers would over energize themselves by guzzling massive amounts of CoCaro Cola during the day, using it to get through ever more grueling work shifts. Then, to numb themselves to their misery and exhaustion, they would abuse Pemberton's opium and cannabis based tonics, which would put them in a trance like state of bliss for awhile. The cycle would then start over again. Needless to say, this wasn't terribly healthy for the workers, but given how many were either blacks or former Yankees, the Confederation didn't give a damn so long as they were compliant and productive. When mental and physical health problems arose from this cycle of abuse, the government and corporations would use it as "proof" of "Anglo-Saxon and Negro inferiority." Thus, the wheels of industry kept turning in Ol'Caroline...

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Caleb Bradham

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The inside of one of Pemberton's Pharmacies

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A crowd is incited to attack Bradham's Pharmacy in Wilmington by smears spread by Pemberton
 
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So who will be the mother of TTL's Churchill? You may want to change Anya's picture in tradition of OTL parallelism.

At last we had the "noble demon" figure here. Will the Boots corporation influence Prussia into secularism and science? I see them being the non-insane advocate for evolution ITTL.
I was wondering about using Churchill's Mother but then I realised Winston Churchill looks a lot like his Dad,Randolph Churchill so I doubt Winston having a different Mother would change much.

I can see the Boots Corporation getting more into Science and Secularism especially since it can fit quite neatly into the Social Capitalist ideals of the Corporation. Of course I'm waiting to see where Napo goes next before I make anymore updates.

Expect the next story to be about Friedrich Engels and what he did after the Boots Corporation. After that maybe a story about Scottish mecernary groups in the Colonial period.
 
So I've started the next story for this following the Friedrich Engels after his time with Boots, Social Capitalism gets developed more and are put in effect outside of the Boots Corporations in:
The Social Capitalist, The Urning, The Firebrand and The Governor: The Life and Times of Friedrich Engels After Boots

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Friedrich Engels
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Karl Heinrich Ulrich
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Vera Figner
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Governor Otto Van Rees

Coming Soon
 
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dear god, you made one of the authors of the Communist Manifesto into a...a...

A CAPITALIST!

I can't look away.
(Evil Laughter) Truly it's a mad world.

But given that Karl Marx in this universe is conducting seances whilst his father is famous for creating pseudo scientific reasons for why the Irish and Catholics are inferior, having Friedrich Engels be a Practical Capitalist who advocates for all workers to become middle class and whose worse crime is setting up reeducation camps for rebellious workers, well I think he comes out on top. (If you want to learn more about Social Capitalism read my previous sections on the Boots Corporation which is where the early ideas are set up and put into practice).
 
(Evil Laughter) Truly it's a mad world.

But given that Karl Marx in this universe is conducting seances whilst his father is famous for creating pseudo scientific reasons for why the Irish and Catholics are inferior, having Friedrich Engels be a Practical Capitalist who advocates for all workers to become middle class and whose worse crime is setting up reeducation camps for rebellious workers, well I think he comes out on top. (If you want to learn more about Social Capitalism read my previous sections on the Boots Corporation which is where the early ideas are set up and put into practice).
But hey, he introduced ethnocide and reprisals not unlike LTTW's... Societists.
 
But hey, he introduced ethnocide and reprisals not unlike LTTW's... Societists.
Yeah that is true, he does let up a little bit on the whole instant ethnocide thing in the next chapter instead replacing it with a slower and more coordinated effort to rid a place of it's culture and traditions.
 
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