TL-191: After the End
- Thread starter David bar Elias
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The title of The Serpent referred to the novel’s antagonist, a shadowy figure who commits horrific crimes for the purposes of world domination. The character was inspired by the character of Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories, but unlike Moriarty, is strongly hinted to possess malevolent supernatural powers. Although Hamilton originally planned for the novel’s antagonist to be killed off at the end of the story, he ultimately reused to character for the other novels in the Serpent series.
The post-apocalyptic novels Radioactive Ghost, The Empty Square, and The Green Coda were written by Hamilton in despair after the German superbomb attacks against London, Norwich, and Brighton in 1944, and the British defeat in the Second Great War.
The plot of Radioactive Ghost centers on the ghost of a man who dies in a future Third Great War that destroys civilization through nuclear war. The ghost watches how the world changes following the fall of civilization as he reflects on his own life. The plot of Radioactive Ghost is analogous to the plot of the novel Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut from our world.
The plot of The Empty Square concerns a bitter feud that destroys an unnamed village, as a deadly fog originating from a great disaster slowly approaches. The plot of The Empty Square is analogous to the novel On the Beach by Nevil Shute from our world, with elements of its plot analogous to the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding from our world.
The plot of The Green Coda concerns an alien plant that arrives in Australia, which turns every environment that it spreads to into a lush paradise, but at the cost of preying on humans. The plot of The Green Coda is analogous to The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham from our world.
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I don’t have information on the development of journalism in the United Kingdom after the end of the First Great War.
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The analogue in TTL to Lavr Kornilov, of the same name, was born on a slightly different date compared to our world. He served in the Imperial Russian Army in the First Great War, and was killed while fighting on the Eastern Front in 1916.
I take it William Golding and John Wyndham either don't exist or were killed in one of the Great Wars in your version of events?
My friend tells me her dog has now had her puppies; it sounds like the dog gave birth to 4 boy puppies and 5 girl puppies.
When you say born on a slightly different date compared to our world, do you mean a day before or a day behind? Assuming there is an equivalent to Adolf Hitler in this world, I'm guessing he wasn't born on 20th April 1889 since Turtledove made that Jake Featherston's birthday.
By 2024, Ohio is one of the industrial and manufacturing centers of the United States. Ohio, along with Michigan, plays an important role in manufacturing equipment and vehicles for the US military. Ohio did not experience significant levels of deindustrialization in TTL, though the state was subject to reconstruction during the first generation after the end of the Second Great War.
Although located in the Midwest, Ohio also tends to be grouped together by the US public with West Virginia and Pennsylvania as part of what’s known as “The Triangle,” because of some similarities in the postwar cultures, economies, and politics of these three states, as well as some similarities in their respective experiences during the Second Great War.
One legacy of the Second Great War is that the US military maintains a significant presence in Ohio. The culture and society of Ohio strongly encourages military service. Like other states in the Union, there are many monuments and memorials throughout Ohio to those who fought and died in the four North American Wars.
After the end of the Second Great War, the Democratic Party dominated the politics of Ohio at the state and federal levels. This was primarily because of the enduring anger by the public in Ohio at President Al Smith’s prewar appeasement of the CSA, which eventually resulted in Operation Blackbeard and the Confederate invasion and occupation of Ohio. The Socialist Party was all but frozen out of power in the state during the 20th Century, and with the exception of President Humphrey’s landslide reelection victory in 1964, usually supported the Democrats. The near monopoly by the Democrats on power in Ohio was not successfully challenged until the 1980s and 1990s, when the Republican Party once again became a serious national party.
The first post-Second Great War politician from Ohio to become President was Senator George Novak, of the Socialist Party, who was elected in 2020. However, by 2024, Novak is a deeply unpopular incumbent, in large part because of the failure of his administration to address the effects of the Great Housing Crash.
During the late 20th Century and early 21st Century, Ohio received some of the migrants who left the Midsouth for better economic opportunities.
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Mason, Ohio was occupied by Confederate forces after Operation Blackbeard, but was subsequently liberated by US forces later during the Second Great War. The population of Mason was lower compared to our world during the 20th Century, and it was not incorporated as a city until 1984. By 2024, Mason has a larger commercial and manufacturing center compared to previous decades.
Certain locations in Mason from our world, such as the Kings Island amusement park and the Lindner Family Tennis Center, don’t exist in TTL.
Mason, like other towns and cities in Ohio, has memorials to those from the community who died in the two Great Wars.
By 2024, Sacramento is the capital of the state of California.
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Mendocino was founded before the POD for the TL-191 series. By 2024, it’s a small community with several popular hotels. However, unlike in our world, Mendocino never became the location for an artists’ colony. There are no analogues to the Mendocino Music Festival or the Mendocino Film Festival from our world.
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I’m not sure if Orange County was founded in a similar manner and in the same year compared to our world, since it would be not terribly long after the Second Mexican War and the beginning of the political, social, and economic changes that led to a more militaristic and conformist US society to OTL. I’m assuming, because of the conservative butterfly effect in the series, that Orange County also exists in TTL.
By 2024, the population of Orange County is lower compared to our world, at just over two million people. There has been less suburban development in Orange County compared to OTL, though there was steady exurban growth in the county between the end of the Tech Recession in the mid-1990s and beginning of the Great Housing Crash in 2019. The county is more rural and has a more agriculturally-based economy compared to our world, with somewhat lower levels of commercial development. The commercial and military aerospace industries are major sources of employment in Orange County.
Orange County, as elsewhere in Southern California after the end of the Second Great War, saw the construction and improvement of its roads and highways. However, automobiles would not enjoy a monopoly in the county. By 2024, the public transportation system is more developed and extensive in Orange County compared to our world, with all of the large incorporated cities in the county having their own downtown trolley systems. The Southern California Transportation Authority (SCTA), which is analogous to the Pacific Electric Railway Company from our world, manages a network of trolleys and electric buses that connect the cities of Orange County with each other, as well as with Los Angeles and San Diego, where the SCTA also maintains citywide electric trolley and bus lines.
The Democratic Party held a monopoly on power in Orange County during most of the 20th Century, and as in our world, gained a reputation in the state for its political conservatism. However, without anything analogous to the political career of Richard Nixon from OTL, Orange County did not gain sny national notoriety for its conservative politics. It wasn’t until the 1980s, with the return of the Republican Party as a successful national political party, that the long Democratic Party monopoly in Orange County began to face real challenges. During the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, the Republican Party began to gain a greater share of the vote in Orange County as it successfully appealed to groups such as white collar workers and university students.
Unfortunately, as in our world, there was discrimination in Orange County that was directed against Mexican Americans. Although the legal firms of discrimination were repealed in Orange County after the end of the Second Great War, this did not lead to immediate social equality.
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By 2024, Laguna Beach has a lower population compared to our world, though not significantly so. As in our world, Laguna Beach became a popular place in the 20th Century for artists working in different mediums. There are art festivals in Laguna Beach, though there are differences in details. There isn’t anything analogous to the Pageant of the Masters or the Sawdust Art Festival from OTL. Laguna Beach does host a popular annual film festival in July, which is known as the Laguna Film Experience.
Laguna Beach is a popular tourist destination, as well as a popular surfing location.
In 1967, during the lead-up to the Fourth Pacific War, large numbers of people left Laguna Beach for the US interior for fear of a Japanese attack on the West Coast with biological or chemical weapons. This mass flight is commemorated each year in Laguna Beach with a run across the city known as the Stampede. There are memorials in Laguna Beach for the two Great Wars, as well as the Fourth Pacific War.
Laguna Beach, as a place that was hospitable to artists, was a center for the American Nihilist cultural and artistic movement in the 1970s, and later for the different Staccato subcultures of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. During the 2010s, Laguna Beach was also one of the cities in California that became the site of parties and impromptu festivals by adherents of Ios culture, a subculture that involved its adherents wandering between different cities around the world in search of parties that played Ios Sound music. These kinds of parties quickly wore out their welcome in Laguna Beach, as elsewhere in the world, because of how destructive they could be, and the subculture around Ios Sound all but disappeared after the beginning of the Great Housing Crash.
Laguna Beach, as elsewhere in Orange County, generally supported the Democratic Party, though it was one city in the county where the Socialist Party could find some support. By 2024, the Republican Party runs the city government of Laguna Beach.
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William Golding doesn’t exist in TTL, and the equivalent to John Wyndham is an analogue to his counterpart from our world, though not a writer.
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When I write that someone was born on a slightly different date compared to our world, it means that the person in question was born months or years before or after their counterpart from OTL.
This is what I previously wrote about Ios Sound and Ios culture.
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One musical genre that exploded in popularity around the world in the 2010s came to be known as Ios Sound. Ios Sound originated in the party music that was popular in the locales of the Mediterranean party circuit in the 1990s and 2000s, such as the Greek island of Ios, the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Majorca, and ports such as Barcelona, Marseille, Nice, Trieste, Taranto, Alexandria and Tunis. Ios Sound became the soundtrack to a subculture that came to be known as Ios Sound, after the Greek island of the same name. Adherents of Ios culture were dedicated to endless global traveling, partying, and, as one famous adherent would put it in 2011, the “endless pursuit of happiness.” For an idea of what the music of Ios Sound would sound like, imagine the music from our world by groups like Vengaboys or S Club Seven, but performed at a faster pace, with an angrier and more martial tone, and as a rave. The Ios culture, and its accompanying Ios Sound, became a central feature of port cities and resorts in what came to be known by the mid-2010s as the Fire Circuit: In various ports, resorts and islands around the Mediterranean Sea; Kingston, Nassau, Port of Spain, Havana, Miami, New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Mobile, Pascagoula, Honolulu, San Francisco, San Diego, Tijuana, and Cabo San Lucas in the USA; Veracruz and Cancun in Mexico; Caracas in Venezuela; Cartagena in Colombia; Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil; Berlin, Antwerp, Hamburg, Freetown, and Abidjan in the German Empire; Amsterdam in the Netherlands; Dakar in Senegambia; London in the United Kingdom; Paris and Marseille in France; Sevastopol in Ukraine; Lisbon and Luanda in the Portuguese Federation; Kinshasa-Ncuna in the Congolese Federation; Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika; Mumbai and Goa in Bharat; Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand; Saigon in Vietnam; Manila in the Philippines; Shanghai, Hong Kong, Haikou, and Guangzhou in China; Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. The music of Ios Sound was intended to encourage listeners to dance and party for as long as possible.
Ios Sound, and Ios culture as a whole, quickly generated a backlash in many countries because of the destruction that came with numerous Ios-inspired parties. Ios Sound and the wider Ios culture of endless traveling and partying faded away after 2019, with the Great Housing Crash, which also led to a contraction of international travel and tourism.
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How are relations between the United States and the United Kingdom as of 2024?
By 2024, diplomatic relations between the United States and the United Kingdom have been normalized, and the two nations no longer view each other as enemies. However, there is nothing equivalent to the military and diplomatic alliance between the two countries from our world. The United Kingdom is a member of the German and Austro-Hungarian-led European Community, and in the decades following the Second Great War, US leaders viewed the United Kingdom as existing with the German Empire’s sphere of influence.
The British remain wary of the continued US military presence in Ireland, but have no interest in challenging the United States over the membership of Ireland in the CDS. The United Kingdom does maintain cordial diplomatic ties with Australia and New Zealand, even though those two nations were forced to end their ties to the British monarchy after the end of the Second Great War.
Beginning in the first generation after the end of the Second Great War, most British political leaders and intellectuals came to view the historical British alliance and support for the CSA as a terrible mistake. This shift in views in the postwar British government and wider society was in reaction to the Destruction, as well in acceptance to the argument, advanced in a significant public manner in the postwar years by people such as Lord Halifax, that it had been a blunder to antagonize the United States in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century to the point of allying with the German Empire during the two Great Wars.
By 2024, some British politicians and intellectuals, as well as some of their counterparts in France, are pondering if it might be possible to establish a new set of diplomatic and economic ties with the United States to the point of eventually challenging German hegemony within the European community, though this is not a majority view in the governments of either Great Britain or France. British diplomatic efforts in 2024 remain focused on strengthening bilateral relations with France and expanding the influence of the Franco-British alliance within the European Community.
What did Russia republic with her allies do during the Ottoman collapse? Like Georgia and Chechnya would have a lot of refugees and fear of spill over into a greater war as it is
The group that became known as the Golden Wolves was founded as the Bu Kaynak Soldiers’ Circle in February 1986 by Nuray Karga, an officer in the Ottoman Army and a veteran of the Russo-Kazakh War. The Bu Kaynak Soldiers’ Circle was founded after the defeat by the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Russian Republic in the Russo-Kazakh War, as well as during a time of pogroms in the empire against non-Muslim and non-Sunni minorities.
The group never officially called itself by the name “Golden Wolves.” That name was given to the group within and outside of the empire because of a symbol that was used on its banners and uniforms. Following the assassination of Nuray Karga in 1987, his successor, Rifat Macar, changed the official name of the group to the Ottoman Soldiers’ Circle.
While the group lost influence and suffered some fragmentation after the death of Karga, Macar managed to gradually rebuild the Golden Wolves as a political force within the empire in the 1990s, especially after the catastrophic Ottoman defeat at the hands of Bharat and Persia in the Kashmir War. By the late 2000s, the paramilitary force of the Golden Wolves, known as the Ghazis, had come to rival the disintegrating regular armed forces of the Ottoman Empire in terms of its size and equipment. The Golden Wolves also enjoyed the favor of Sultan Abdul Hamid III, who shared with the leadership of the group a hatred for non-Muslims and non-Sunnis in the empire.
The ideology of the Golden Wolves, as articulated by Karga, Macar, and their leadership, was one that called for the imposition of Sunni Islam on everyone in the Ottoman Empire, as well as the removal of all non-Muslims from the empire, either through expulsion or more horrific methods. Karga and Macar both had intense hatred’s for Jews, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims. The Golden Wolves also called for the end of democracy in the empire with the abolition of the Ottoman Majilis and its replacement with a political and religious autocracy led by the reigning sultan in his role of caliph.
The Golden Wolves in the Ottoman Empire during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, like the Freedom Party in the Interwar and SGW-era former CSA, the Silver Shirts in Interwar and SGW-era Great Britain, Action Française in Interwar and SGW-era France, and the militarist groups that supported General Ishii Yamada in the Japanese Empire, could be considered a fascist organization. There were also some convergent similarities between the Golden Wolves and the Union of the Russian People, which in TTL was an organization that supported the Romanov Dynasty in the Russian Empire, led violent attacks against Jews, and eventually developed a paramilitary force that operated alongside Russian forces during the Second Great War and acted as a repressive domestic force in Russia itself.
The leadership of the Golden Wolves in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, also called for the complete militarization of Ottoman society as a prelude to the conquest and annexation of all historically Muslim lands. While the Golden Wolves ostensibly welcomed all Sunni Muslim groups into its ranks, the group also believed that the Turkish people were the natural leaders of the empire and the wider Muslim world.
In the 2000s, the Golden Wolves and allied Sunni militia groups, under the direction of Rifat Macar and with the support of Sultan Abdul Hamid III, launched a campaign to destroy the Jewish, Christian, Druze, and Shi’a Muslim communities in the Sanjak of Jerusalem and the Vilayet of Beirut. The failure of this campaign, along with the continued military, social, and economic disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, led to Macar to turn against Abdul Hamid III, as Macar now came to believe that only he could lead the empire. In 2010, Macar led a coup against the government in Istanbul, which resulted in the execution of the sultan and Macar proclaiming himself as the new ruler of the empire and leader of the Muslim world. This became the catalyst for the Ottoman Dissolution, as different groups formally broke away from the empire and a coalition of foreign powers, spearheaded by the European Community, intervened against Macar and the Golden Wolves. The high command of the regular Ottoman Army also turned against Macar, and would later establish the Kingdom of Turkey under the leadership of General Hakan Durmaz, in partial response to Macar’s claimed rule as sultan.
The Golden Wolves as a group did not survive the Ottoman Dissolution. However, some former members of the group were able to escape to the Emirate of Ramadi, an Ottoman successor state that absorbed many Sunni Muslim refugees and continue to claim all of the territories of the former Ottoman Empire.
The Russian Republic, along with Bharat, supported some breakaway regions of the former Ottoman Empire. For instance, the Russians directly supported the establishment of an independent Kurdistan, as well as the establishment of independent Maronite Christian and Alawite states. The Russians also played a key role in the establishment of an independent Armenia, which became a Russian protectorate and member of the Council of Astrakhan.
Russian and Georgian forces did engage in some military operations in Anatolia during the Ottoman Dissolution against the Golden Wolves, but never attempted to permanently hold territory. The Russians remained neutral during the war in the late 2020s and early 2030s that resulted in Persia losing territory to Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Balochistan.