"What Madness Is This?" Volume I: The Union Forever
- Thread starter Napoleon53
- Start date
SuperZtar64
Banned
Another segment of my Documents of the Madnessverse mini-writeups. This one's sort of a frame narrative. Enjoy.
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Of all the strange, curious, and often mind-twisting relics I have acquired from my travels in the Madnessverse, my favorite must be the Encyclopedia of the Republican Union by Chandler Beach. Published in Shicagwa in 1922 (the first edition at least, I know for a fact there are more from my brief glimpses into the future of the Madnessverse), it was given the blessing of President Steele and aspired to be a guide to all aspects of the Republican Union, from important wars, historical events, documents, people, and social concepts.
Of all the articles in the book, this one has always held me in special interest, and is one of my personal favorites despite its short length (with annotations by myself in [brackets]):
Alarum is a settlement located on the northernmost point of Constitution Island [Ellesmere Island]. It is the northernmost permanently inhabitated settlement in the Republican Union, as well as the entire world.
Alarum Quick Facts:
State/Territory: Far North Territory
Established: 1 December, 1914
Elevation: 100 ft
Population: 49 (1921)
Motto: De ore civilization (On the Edge of Civilization)
Etymology
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The worzd alarum is an archaic term for alarm. The name comes from the RUS Alarum, a steamer ship in service during the Great War [this is, interestingly, the only encyclopedia which uses the term "Great War" instead of "Second Great World War". apparently this terminology did not become popular in the RU until the 1930's, although despite that the term "First Great World War" is rarely, if ever used even after that date in lieu of "War of 1812" or "Napoleonic Wars", a term native to only the RU] that was given the task of securing the Canadian Arctic Islands (see: Arctic Campaign of the Great War) following the fall of Quebec. The ship wintered at Cape Greely during the winter of 1912-13, and the city is located very close to that same spot [this is nearly identical to the location of Alert, Nunavut, from my own timeline].
History
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Alarum was founded on December 1, 1914, by a group of RUN officers acting on the direct orders of President Custer to "establish a permanent base in the northernmost part of the Arctic Islands". The exact motives President Custer had for this are not entirely known, but it is likely it was to enhance the prestige of the country by adding to its claim of being a truly continental nation. The city has been developed since by a substantial amount, hosting a post office, military base, church, and a tourist center. A synagogue is scheduled to be built by 1924.
"The Stars and Stripes On Top of the World", taken 3 December 1914
Demographics
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The population was recorded as 49 in the 1921 Census. Of the inhabitants of the settlement, 92% were white, 6% were negroes, and the remaining 2% were Jewish [notably this does not include any of the soldiers stationed there]. Most of the population consists of scientists and adminstrators.
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Of all the strange, curious, and often mind-twisting relics I have acquired from my travels in the Madnessverse, my favorite must be the Encyclopedia of the Republican Union by Chandler Beach. Published in Shicagwa in 1922 (the first edition at least, I know for a fact there are more from my brief glimpses into the future of the Madnessverse), it was given the blessing of President Steele and aspired to be a guide to all aspects of the Republican Union, from important wars, historical events, documents, people, and social concepts.
Of all the articles in the book, this one has always held me in special interest, and is one of my personal favorites despite its short length (with annotations by myself in [brackets]):
Alarum is a settlement located on the northernmost point of Constitution Island [Ellesmere Island]. It is the northernmost permanently inhabitated settlement in the Republican Union, as well as the entire world.
Alarum Quick Facts:
State/Territory: Far North Territory
Established: 1 December, 1914
Elevation: 100 ft
Population: 49 (1921)
Motto: De ore civilization (On the Edge of Civilization)
Etymology
---
The worzd alarum is an archaic term for alarm. The name comes from the RUS Alarum, a steamer ship in service during the Great War [this is, interestingly, the only encyclopedia which uses the term "Great War" instead of "Second Great World War". apparently this terminology did not become popular in the RU until the 1930's, although despite that the term "First Great World War" is rarely, if ever used even after that date in lieu of "War of 1812" or "Napoleonic Wars", a term native to only the RU] that was given the task of securing the Canadian Arctic Islands (see: Arctic Campaign of the Great War) following the fall of Quebec. The ship wintered at Cape Greely during the winter of 1912-13, and the city is located very close to that same spot [this is nearly identical to the location of Alert, Nunavut, from my own timeline].
History
---
Alarum was founded on December 1, 1914, by a group of RUN officers acting on the direct orders of President Custer to "establish a permanent base in the northernmost part of the Arctic Islands". The exact motives President Custer had for this are not entirely known, but it is likely it was to enhance the prestige of the country by adding to its claim of being a truly continental nation. The city has been developed since by a substantial amount, hosting a post office, military base, church, and a tourist center. A synagogue is scheduled to be built by 1924.
"The Stars and Stripes On Top of the World", taken 3 December 1914
Demographics
---
The population was recorded as 49 in the 1921 Census. Of the inhabitants of the settlement, 92% were white, 6% were negroes, and the remaining 2% were Jewish [notably this does not include any of the soldiers stationed there]. Most of the population consists of scientists and adminstrators.
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
How the hell did I miss two updates? Either way, I loved them.
The most wholesome human to grace the earth since Meinrad Beutel. I love it.
Dear God... And it'll only get worse for India, I imagine...
Wasn't he behind a car company in Classic? "Honest Benny's", was it? On a similar note Ulyanov also being the head honcho of his own car company and treating his workers "like dirt" is some top-level ahistorical irony.
But Pope Mussolini... This'll be fun...!
The Irish Royal Army (IRA) will set them free! Tiocfaidh bhur la!
The most wholesome human to grace the earth since Meinrad Beutel. I love it.
Dear God... And it'll only get worse for India, I imagine...
Wasn't he behind a car company in Classic? "Honest Benny's", was it? On a similar note Ulyanov also being the head honcho of his own car company and treating his workers "like dirt" is some top-level ahistorical irony.
But Pope Mussolini... This'll be fun...!
The Irish Royal Army (IRA) will set them free! Tiocfaidh bhur la!
This would make the casualties for the war (if the pandemic is included) way beyond the 80 million maximum that Napoleon came up with. In 1907, India had a population of 289,606,000. Assuming population growth at a similar rate to OTL, India alone will have lost 86,881,800 from the pandemic.
Napo, do you have any plans for Portugal and Sardinia? I have half a mind to write something for the expanded universe thread where the two nations form an alliance.
Canonized. lol
He was but it wouldn't have the same element of fun in it, since he would make maybe Italian sportscars in redux while in 1.0 the South existed till the 50s so there were fun ads and pictures of Mussolini dealerships in Virginia and such. Vlad and Himmler & Hess (Do Everything for Less" will still appear.
My gosh. You're 100% right. Funny thing was I was gonna ask you guys for opinions on the death totals and completely forgot. That means total death for 1911-14 would be more like 170 million. Oh my lord.
Sardinia is part of the Continental Alliance and vital for securing Europan dominance in the Mediterranean, while Portugal is now a neutral power with a very angry Europa staring it down. Could be a cool story but any alliance by such insignificant powers wouldn't be tolerated by Europa, even by moderates like Perrault.
"This is what happens when you interfere with the election of the Pope. God punished us because we didn't stand up against the Bonaparte lackeys"~ Pope Mussolini soon probably
I'm just imagining what India is like now. I know what I was describing in the Great War chapters was catastrophic for mankind, but it's literally apocalyptic. If the population of the world in 1911 is around 1,700,000,000, it goes down to something like 1,524,000,000. I'm terrible at math, but that's a lot of dead people. Sure, there's plenty left, but that's a lot of damn people.
Maybe my math is off, but doesn't that come out to just over 10 percent of the world's population having died off?
POST-WAR EUROPE: GERMANIA
POST-WAR EUROPE:
GERMANIA
Members of a Lutheran Veterans Militia await the arrival of Illuminist mobs in East Prussia
Kaiserin Regent Erika had brokered the peace of 1913 with Europa after the death of her husband, Kaiser Eitel Wilhelm, from the plague. The only heir to the Germanian throne was Prince Helmut Wilhelm, barely a year old, who had been sick from birth. Erika valiantly led her nation during this time of crisis, despite a poor reception by the general staff and the protest resignation of Reich Prime Minister Wolfgang Kapp, the man who had wanted to fight all the way to Paris. Despite losing her husband and having to deal with potentially losing her only child, she personally oversaw many of the aspects of the Versailles Concordat and sought to turn the Nordreich into a strong, united Germania. Despite her best attempt and what amounted to victory in the war, with the seizure of the Rhineland and Swedish occupation of Denmark, the economy was on the edge, unemployment was up, and millions were dead. The death of the Kaiser, as well as Europa reasserting its dominance over Eastern Europe despite the losses in the west, had triggered a sense of great unease among the biggest banks in the Reich, in particular the Reich Imperial Bank itself.
At the Berlin Stock Exchange on August 12, 1914, a sell-off began when rumors hit that Crown Prince Helmut Wilhelm had died, leaving the throne without a direct heir. Also, according to the same rumors, Wolfgang Kapp was supposedly rallying his supporters for a march on the capital to create an emergency government. While the Prince was still alive at this point, he was only just barely. Panic gripped the nation, and victory began to turn into defeat. Kapp was not actually preparing for a march on Berlin, but when he heard the news about the prince he began to strongly consider asking Generalfeldmarschal Ernst Schloss, hero of the Battle of Hamburg and the most popular man in the country, to come to Berlin to lead a provisional military government and demand that Erika step down.
Wolfgang Kapp
Not only was the economy collapsing as the Reichsmark devalued by the second, the situation was about to become even more horrendous. Ernst Schloss was extremely loyal to Kaiser Eitel Wilhelm and the Imperial family and considered the Kaiserin to be the only legitimate leader during the time of crisis at hand. He reportedly said, "Now is not the time for vengeful power moves. Now is the time to concentrate on the task at hand: saving the economy and stabilizing the nation. I will not take up arms against the Kaiserin. I will defend her until death. Gott mit uns." Now, with Kapp's plot known, Kaiserin Erika declared him an enemy of the state and a traitor. Ironically enough, Erika had secretly considered stepping down from the regency for one of her husband's only surviving relatives, his uncle Georg Friedrich, but now she was determined to not leave her job unfinished. As the Crown Prince lay gasping for air in his mother's arms, she ordered Schloss to arrest Kapp. The economy stabilized a little bit from its insane free-fall when news came that Helmut Wilhelm was still alive, but when troops began to march to Leipzig, Kapp's home and also the locale from where he was currently plotting his rebellion, the stock market collapsed like a glass house. Social order was next. Catholics that remained in the occupied former Rhinebund, such as those in Munster, Westphalia, once more took to the streets a desire to force the Germanians out of their homes. The poor and homeless all across the Reich began a wave of crime and looting. The Reich was collapsing.
On August 20, 1914, the news finally was public. Crown Prince Helmut Wilhelm had passed away in his mother's arms. The Hohenzollern-Wettin family was on its last legs, devastated by the New Black Death and with few members worthy of ruling. Georg Friedrich announced he did not desire the throne and thought it would be a mistake to remove the regent at a time of such turmoil. On August 21, Kapp's "Free Army," or "Freikorps," hardened veterans of the frontlines, were still locked in and surrounded in Leipzig by the Army under Schloss. Kapp declared the "Free City of Leipzig" and declared that "Leipzig, Free Germania, will never accept the current situation in Berlin. The country is falling apart. The Reich is in mortal danger. We are infested with Beutelists, Illuminists, and anarchists, and we have a little girl on the throne. If attempting to save the Reich makes me a traitor, then so be it. I stand proudly with fifteen thousand traitors who served the Reich nobly in battle against our enemies. And, if God is with us, then we shall march on Berlin and restore order." The day after Kapp's speech was printed in the papers, at six in the morning, the crack of dawn, on August 22, 1914, the Army fired on the Freikorps following a brief scuffle on the outside of Leipzig. Men who had just fought together against the most powerful empire in world history were now mowing each other down in the streets. It was a bloody debacle and a massive embarrassment. Schloss fumed at the outbreak of violence, screaming, "Reichswehr does not shoot Reichswehr!" The generalfeldmarschal had never intended to use lethal force. He was content to let Kapp shoot his mouth off and simply starve him out of the city. Now Germania was plunged into civil war.
Some of Schloss's Army troops strike a pose during the Leipzig Putsch
Freikorps volunteers advance under fire against government forces
Grand Duke Leopold
In the east, all the way in Konigsberg, East Prussia, one of the last surviving Hohenzollern-Wettins took notice. His name was Grand Duke Leopold Lothar von Hohenzollern-Wettin, younger brother and only surviving sibling of Eitel Wilhelm. Despite many in the government loathing him, the 28 year old Grand Duke was the true legitimate heir to the throne, and he announced on August 30 that he was the true Kaiser of Germania by law and only his coronation could repair the country. This had the precise effect of making an already complicated civil war into an absolutely nightmarish war of succession as well. Overnight, Leopold's loyalists took control of East Prussia and forced out his sister-in-laws supporters at gunpoint. Outraged at this attack with not even an attempt by the Grand Duke to negotiate or work things out in a civilized manner, Kaiserin Regent Erika announced she would not step down when she took to the airwaves and addressed the nation by radio:
"Citizens of the Reich. My people. The volk my husband, our beloved Kaiser Eitel Wilhelm, loved with all his heart and soul. I come to you on bended knee to ask for your help. Despite our victory against the Bonapartist aggressors, we have been plunged into economic turmoil and civil unrest by the death of... the death of my son, Crown Prince Helmut Wilhelm. Now, instead of respecting the rule of law or acting as a gentleman, my former Reichsminister, Wolfgang Kapp, has taken up arms against the government in Leipzig, in what can only be called a clear-cut and undeniable act of treason. This old goat has said so himself, declaring himself a traitor with pride in his voice and arrogance in his heart. In the east of our Reich, my brother-in-law, Grand Duke Leopold Lothar, has also taken up arms against the rule of law and declared my regency void. While he may legally be the true heir to the throne, he is an incompetent and despised man across the Reich, from Finland to the Rhine, and his unprovoked assault on Reichswehr and government officials in East Prussia will not be tolerated. What ruler takes up arms against his own people? I do not intend to die a regent. I will become a dowager. But not today. I will not leave my husband's victory to turn into defeat because of traitors from within. I will not stand idly by as the highest ranking members of the government defy the law and spit upon the Reich. My fellow citizens, the Reich is in danger! The Reich is on the cusp of tearing itself apart, something which the mightiest empire in human history was unable to do, though for three years it tried. Citizens of the Reich! The time of peace is over! The fight to save Germania, our beloved fatherland, rages on once more from the streets of Danzig to the Thuringian forest! From Bremen to Silesia! Men and women of Germania! Do not tolerate treason! Fight on! For the security and future of our children, and for a Reich that will stand one thousand years!"
As conflict erupted and trucks rolled into Berlin with weapons and supplies, yet another movement was afoot. Otto Werner and the New Illuminati saw the breakdown of social order as the perfect cocktail of suffering and conflict that could usher in the start of the "Second Enlightenment," a People's Revolution. With so many conflicting forces inside the Reich and the everyday citizen starving on the street, the Illuminist People's Party began to march, torches in hand, through Warsaw, in what had been, once upon a time so many years before, the nation of Poland. So long suppressed culturally, religiously, and linguistically, their rage at the failure of the government to provide for the common man boiled over into rebellion. On September 28, 1914, Werner addressed a crowd of sixty-five thousand people and declared that the old system was at an end.
"The era of corrupt aristocratic regimes, fascist police states, religious zealotry, and failed Beutelist states is at a close, a close which should have come with the American and French revolutions of the 18th century. The Enlightenment brought back the ideals and dreams of the ancient Greek and Roman republics. Ideals of equality, justice, and freedom. The freedom to live your life as you saw fit, pursuing happiness. But, due to corruption and aristocratic ticks, those revolutions ended with failed states and a reascendance of the plutocratic bourgeoisie feudal lords. Men and women who thought themselves superior and you inferior. Oligarchs who thought you were stupid animals, fit only to serve their wicked, decadent ways! We have witnessed centuries of religious governments infested with zealots and demagogues rip the world apart at the expense of the common man. Centuries of oppression in the name of faith and leader. That is over, effective today. Today we begin a march to restore the ancient ideals of the Enlightenment. Today we seek not war nor the spoils of conquering our neighbors, but the ascendance of light and justice across Europe. We want freedom, and we will have it or death. We will no longer accept the status quo of a backward world, which so long ago had potential to enter a new golden age. The Illuminst movement shall sweep the land and bring liberty to a land too long oppressed. We take up arms not to kill or devastate, but to cleanse Europe of the religious ticks which have burrowed under our skin and become fat and bloated on the blood and toil of the working class. Today we remove the zealous fools who led us to the slaughter of the Great World War! Today we begin our fight, a fight against religion and oppression! Join the march or get out of OUR way, because the Illuminist People's Party is going to Berlin! Every man a god! Death to the status quo!"
-Otto Werner
-Otto Werner
With chants of "Every man a god!" echoing through Warsaw, the Army fled north as angry mobs pillaged and ransacked homes of the rich, the nobility, and the clergy. The police and some members of the army attempted to restore order but found themselves drastically outnumbered and were ripped to pieces. Waving red banners depicting the Owl of Minerva, the ancient god of wisdom, the revolutionaries stormed the Warsaw Palace, home of the old Polish monarchs, and ripped down the Germanian flags and massacred the guards. Next they assaulted the prisons, freeing thousands of political and even military prisoners of war, such as over 500 Frenchmen still awaiting a return home. With cheers they set fire to the churches and the banks, with worthless Reichsmarks littering the cobblestone street. Werner and his leadership set themselves up in the Warsaw Palace and the next day proclaimed the People's Illuminist Republic of Poland. In his radio address that same day, Werner warned the European monarchies, "Today, Poland. Tomorrow, the world! Every man a god!" The world stood on edge as Germania shattered. In one year's time the mighty European empire had gone from victory to dissolution and economic catastrophe. The Germanian Civil War was underway....
"Every man a god!"
Illuminist revolutionaries celebrate the fall of the Warsaw Palace, 1914
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This is a really wild scenario with so much story potential. One of the most amusing ideas I had writing that chapter was imagine the CoCaro embassy under siege by Illuminists. In retaliation, CoCaro lands freaking troops in Germania to get revenge and fend off the "godless sonsabitches." I'm picturing them screaming about "For Ol' Caroline! Every man a corpse!" as they use a vickers to mow down a flood of Illuminist radicals while a fife and drum play "Dixie." Maybe some black African Jacksonland "volunteers" are sent in as well, OTL Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain style. Do not lie. This entire TL would be worth it just for that singular moment of peak insanity as hillbilly fascists fight a bunch of pseudo-bolshevik radical atheist Jacobins in the middle of Germany. 
Also I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the RU and CoCaro back Kapp as the "True friend" of the fascists who wanted to keep fighting and march on Paris.
Also I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the RU and CoCaro back Kapp as the "True friend" of the fascists who wanted to keep fighting and march on Paris.This is the last thing Europe needed. Now I really want to see how they'll come out of this mess.
