Alright, here’s this thing I’ve been working on on my own, but I’ve hit a few snags. I’ll explain them as I go, and help with them would be appreciated.
The PoD is that the Vikings kept trying to colonize North America until they eventually made it stick. In retrospect this seems more unlikely than I initially assumed, but still could be done if there’s a spin doctor or two with a vested interest in making it happen or if they bring a nasty Eurasian disease or two with them in their first attempt (which would make their second one go easier, I presume). These ideas have their own problems, though. (Now, I’m new here, but something tells me that hitting a snag with your POD itself is never a good thing.)
The way I see it, the established Vikings do manage to spread out, but not as well as Europeans do IOTL. They’re using more primitive technology, are relative novices in the ways of imperialism, and aren’t going to get many immigrants coming in from Europe. And the advantages won’t last forever; domesticated animals will be traded or stolen, blacksmiths will be kidnapped or tempted away with promises of glory and women, etc. Hell, Vinland would probably fragment into several successor states before too long even under the best of conditions (“large-scale organization” are not words I associate with “Viking”). As for immunity to diseases, Viking blood (and hence some measure of immunity to Eurasian diseases) would have been seeping into the native population from the very beginning, I’d think. And so it goes.
Every native culture that we know of in North America would be butterflied away before too long, but still, I’d like to at least know what it is I’m screwing with, and so have attempted some research into this area. The key word there being “attempted.” I have concentrated on the native cultures of California’s Central Valley on account of it seemed like it would take things like horses, iron, and an alphabet longer to reach there than anywhere else on the continent I’m planning on locating a story (more on that later), but my local library doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of information on the Pomo Indians (probably has something to do with the fact that I live in Wisconsin), and so I’ve been reduced to using Wikipedia. And to be perfectly frank, all comments about Wikipeidia’s problems with accuracy aside, Wikipedia could make sex boring.
Chinggis Kahn (Ghengis Kahn, if you prefer) has been butterflied away and hence the Mongol Empire as well, this being one of the few cases in which I believe Great Man Syndrome to be plausible. Without Timujin, the transmission of technology from east to west has been slowed, but not halted. As of the seventeenth century (which is when I intend Vinland Sagas to take place) Europe still has no printing press (and hence no protestants), European ships have no compasses (and so must travel the Viking rout if they wish to go to America), Europe is still a feudal society, and gunpowder is just beginning to make its way into Europe. And the Iberian Peninsula is unified in the Caliphate of Al Andulus. This is all subject to change, however, as I haven’t done all that much research on Europe as of yet (just enough to tell me that having the pope rule a united Europe (you know, secularly as well as religiously) simply wasn’t going to fly). Really, my knowledge of Eurasian history is pretty much limited to the Mongols, the ancient Mediterranean, and ancient China.
(As stated, I started my research on this timeline in North America, and now that that’s hit something of a dead-end, I’ve come here. So yeah.)
Once I’ve got the kinks worked out, I want to be able to write at least three stories in this universe—one in Vinland, one in a Japanese colony in California (a Chinese colony doesn’t seem likely—those people believe they already own the world, after all), and one in Tenochtitlan. (Ironically, the story set in Vinland is the most likely to be cut from the Vinland Sagas.) If it’s important at this juncture, I intend the Tenochtitlan story to involve a totally cynical conversion to Christianity by some local prince intending on creating/holding together an empire (which would hardly be the first cynical manipulation of religion in that area) (also known as pulling a Constantine) and the California story will involve the Japanese colony deciding whether or not it wants to cut ties with the motherland. (The Vinland story is a bit eh, hence why I’m thinking of cutting it.) Mostly though I’m trying not to get too committed to any one idea, in case this timeline ends up needing to be reworked violently.
The PoD is that the Vikings kept trying to colonize North America until they eventually made it stick. In retrospect this seems more unlikely than I initially assumed, but still could be done if there’s a spin doctor or two with a vested interest in making it happen or if they bring a nasty Eurasian disease or two with them in their first attempt (which would make their second one go easier, I presume). These ideas have their own problems, though. (Now, I’m new here, but something tells me that hitting a snag with your POD itself is never a good thing.)
The way I see it, the established Vikings do manage to spread out, but not as well as Europeans do IOTL. They’re using more primitive technology, are relative novices in the ways of imperialism, and aren’t going to get many immigrants coming in from Europe. And the advantages won’t last forever; domesticated animals will be traded or stolen, blacksmiths will be kidnapped or tempted away with promises of glory and women, etc. Hell, Vinland would probably fragment into several successor states before too long even under the best of conditions (“large-scale organization” are not words I associate with “Viking”). As for immunity to diseases, Viking blood (and hence some measure of immunity to Eurasian diseases) would have been seeping into the native population from the very beginning, I’d think. And so it goes.
Every native culture that we know of in North America would be butterflied away before too long, but still, I’d like to at least know what it is I’m screwing with, and so have attempted some research into this area. The key word there being “attempted.” I have concentrated on the native cultures of California’s Central Valley on account of it seemed like it would take things like horses, iron, and an alphabet longer to reach there than anywhere else on the continent I’m planning on locating a story (more on that later), but my local library doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of information on the Pomo Indians (probably has something to do with the fact that I live in Wisconsin), and so I’ve been reduced to using Wikipedia. And to be perfectly frank, all comments about Wikipeidia’s problems with accuracy aside, Wikipedia could make sex boring.
Chinggis Kahn (Ghengis Kahn, if you prefer) has been butterflied away and hence the Mongol Empire as well, this being one of the few cases in which I believe Great Man Syndrome to be plausible. Without Timujin, the transmission of technology from east to west has been slowed, but not halted. As of the seventeenth century (which is when I intend Vinland Sagas to take place) Europe still has no printing press (and hence no protestants), European ships have no compasses (and so must travel the Viking rout if they wish to go to America), Europe is still a feudal society, and gunpowder is just beginning to make its way into Europe. And the Iberian Peninsula is unified in the Caliphate of Al Andulus. This is all subject to change, however, as I haven’t done all that much research on Europe as of yet (just enough to tell me that having the pope rule a united Europe (you know, secularly as well as religiously) simply wasn’t going to fly). Really, my knowledge of Eurasian history is pretty much limited to the Mongols, the ancient Mediterranean, and ancient China.
(As stated, I started my research on this timeline in North America, and now that that’s hit something of a dead-end, I’ve come here. So yeah.)
Once I’ve got the kinks worked out, I want to be able to write at least three stories in this universe—one in Vinland, one in a Japanese colony in California (a Chinese colony doesn’t seem likely—those people believe they already own the world, after all), and one in Tenochtitlan. (Ironically, the story set in Vinland is the most likely to be cut from the Vinland Sagas.) If it’s important at this juncture, I intend the Tenochtitlan story to involve a totally cynical conversion to Christianity by some local prince intending on creating/holding together an empire (which would hardly be the first cynical manipulation of religion in that area) (also known as pulling a Constantine) and the California story will involve the Japanese colony deciding whether or not it wants to cut ties with the motherland. (The Vinland story is a bit eh, hence why I’m thinking of cutting it.) Mostly though I’m trying not to get too committed to any one idea, in case this timeline ends up needing to be reworked violently.
