"What Madness Is This?" Volume I: The Union Forever

[Napoleon53]

Just had a buddy over and we talked about how well many of Woodrow Wilson's original writings reflect the Manifest Destiny Party. It was pretty shocking. "It can happen here."

I love the idea of a Chinese superpower in this. Expect to see it in good detail!

We're still going to get super Chicago? We Will have more private enterprises( market Freedom) or just Goodyear?

If Shicagwa doesn't return i'm gonna be angry. If my glorious home city is going to be in the hellhole that is the RU, it might as well be a powerhouse!

Definite Shicagwa return, strong as ever.

Also Goodyear out the wahzoo, but there will be more individual companies that get backstories, logos, ads, and other fun stuff. Stuff like 1984 homage Sweet Victory, which I always intended to be the Nuka-Cola of this universe:

And Fire-Breathers, which is hilarious, but also extremely dark when you remember all the cocaine references in WMiT Classic that kinda made you think most people did drugs ala "We Happy Few" just to make it through the day without wanting to kill themselves:

Really there was an uncovered storyline I never got around to that showed the Union was putting traces of drugs into the food supply like crazyyyyyy to keep the population docile. Honestly, like many other aspects of this TL, it's a commentary on real life now, with millions of people ravaging their bodies with energy drinks and literal chemical flavored sodas just to power through the day.

Nap, if you want to expand your TL and add characters, may I suggest Ranavalona I, the Mad Mother of Madagascar? With just a little exaggeration, she would fit nicely into this TL. This RL tyrant makes guys like Chuck Oswald and Joe Steele look like wannabes; if you want a ruler to be a serious pain in Napoleon's and France's backsides, she'd be perfect.

Checking it out!

 

[highwayhoss]

Also Goodyear out the wahzoo, but there will be more individual companies that get backstories, logos, ads, and other fun stuff. Stuff like 1984 homage Sweet Victory, which I always intended to be the Nuka-Cola of this universe:

And Fire-Breathers, which is hilarious, but also extremely dark when you remember all the cocaine references in WMiT Classic that kinda made you think most people did drugs ala "We Happy Few" just to make it through the day without wanting to kill themselves:

View attachment 408963

Really there was an uncovered storyline I never got around to that showed the Union was putting traces of drugs into the food supply like crazyyyyyy to keep the population docile. Honestly, like many other aspects of this TL, it's a commentary on real life now, with millions of people ravaging their bodies with energy drinks and literal chemical flavored sodas just to power through the day.

I can actually see this happening; the Union could create all kind of drugs to control the population (using Inferiors as test subjects). I would also think they would try to limit the import of foreign foodstuffs and make the Union self-sufficient in food. I would also assume that they would drug water supplies as well.

 

[Roberto El Rey]

Subbed so much. Can’t wait to catch up! WMIT was one of my favorites!

 

[TimTurner]

I can actually see this happening; the Union could create all kind of drugs to control the population (using Inferiors as test subjects). I would also think they would try to limit the import of foreign foodstuffs and make the Union self-sufficient in food. I would also assume that they would drug water supplies as well.

0/10 not enough dystopia

 

[Napoleon53]

Citizen: "Wow, this whole world is pretty depressing."

Government doctor steps in wearing spectacles and a smile and holds up green bottle: "Did I hear... DEPRESSION? Take over-the-counter GO-GO-PEP, by Shicagwa Pharm. MMMMM GO-GO-PEP. For a brighter, happier future!"

Uncanny Valley smiling woman turns and faces the camera: "And it TASTES GREAT too!"

Announcer: "GO-GO-PEP! GO MAN GO! Available wherever trusted pharmaceuticals are sold."

 

[xsampa]

Amphetamines could serve as "wakeup pills", as portrayed in the dystopian comic "Soft City" where they are given to stimulate residents. Also, since the Wehrmacht used them, it makes for good allohistorical irony.

 

[Napoleon53]

Amphetamines could serve as "wakeup pills", as portrayed in the dystopian comic "Soft City" where they are given to stimulate residents. Also, since the Wehrmacht used them, it makes for good allohistorical irony.

"MORE PRODUCTION. MORE PRODUCTION MEANS MORE BOMBS AGAINST THE AXIS."

WWII USA heavily relied on stimulant drugs from what I've heard as well.

 

[Napoleon53]

The first new WMiT poster in like 4 years. We got the ball rolling now! I introduce to you, MORTON'S FINEST CIGARETTES.

 

[Roger Redux]

The first new WMiT poster in like 4 years. We got the ball rolling now! I introduce to you, MORTON'S FINEST CIGARETTES.

Now that we have two competing cigarette brands, we need an artist (and a genre) for TTL's "I can't get no satisfaction"...
"When I'm watching my TV,
and a man comes on to tell me,
how white my shirts could be...
...but he can't be a man because he doesn't smoke
the same cigarettes as me!"

 

[Napoleon53]

Here we go! Felt artistic today. Thought I'd do a poster in the style more of the 20s or 30s.

 

[Worffan101]

Nap, if you want to expand your TL and add characters, may I suggest Ranavalona I, the Mad Mother of Madagascar? With just a little exaggeration, she would fit nicely into this TL. This RL tyrant makes guys like Chuck Oswald and Joe Steele look like wannabes; if you want a ruler to be a serious pain in Napoleon's and France's backsides, she'd be perfect.

(The link is to her entry on the Rejected Princesses website; if you are looking for ideas for lesser known people of history, this is an excellent site.
WARNING: the article I linked is Very Dark; it gets so bad the author had to invoke cute bunnies to ease the trauma, screaming "OMG THIS IS THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN!!!")

That's kind of an exaggeration. Ranavalona was a fairly typical, albeit more prescient than usual, pre-colonial leader. Unlike Meiji, though, she was just a bit too close to Europe, a bit too harsh, and had to deal with too much European influence.

Basically, she just wanted the Europeans to stop gutting her society (and wanted everybody to listen to her). Chuckie is a genocidal nuke-happy madman who makes Stalin look like a good guy by comparison.

 

[Flashman]

That's kind of an exaggeration. Ranavalona was a fairly typical, albeit more prescient than usual, pre-colonial leader. Unlike Meiji, though, she was just a bit too close to Europe, a bit too harsh, and had to deal with too much European influence.

What sources attest to this?

 

[Worffan101]

What sources attest to this?

Dude, the stuff she's accused of doing is de rigeur for preindustrial societies. It's just overheated and exaggerated by the Brits and French to justify colonialism.

I mean, she didn't even establish state-sponsored ethnic cleansing like the Tawantinsuyu had, or have her soldiers kill and rape so many people in a single city that the blood was an inch deep in the streets like Tilly did at Magdeburg. You want evil, look at guys like that. (and even then, Tilly's generally attested to have tried to restrain his forces, that mess is more on his men)

 

[Napoleon53]

Finally getting a name for the oft-referenced cocaine lozenges from WMiT Classic that will be making a big return in Union Forever. I would imagine this company started back in the 1800s named something like "Colonel Johnson's Cocaine Lozenges" before modernizing into mass-production corporate entity "Go-Go Pep." I would imagine the heavy usage of "pep" in the different companies ads literally means "buzzed." FASTER. MORE PRODUCTION. lol

 

[Flashman]

Dude, the stuff she's accused of doing is de rigeur for preindustrial societies. It's just overheated and exaggerated by the Brits and French to justify colonialism.

I mean, she didn't even establish state-sponsored ethnic cleansing like the Tawantinsuyu had, or have her soldiers kill and rape so many people in a single city that the blood was an inch deep in the streets like Tilly did at Magdeburg. You want evil, look at guys like that. (and even then, Tilly's generally attested to have tried to restrain his forces, that mess is more on his men)

Outside of Mesoamerica what colonial era regimes have been accused of comparable horror? At a minimum, she certainly oppressed Christians and reenstated slavery. Not exactly a hero of peripheral peoples in that regard.

Modern analyses say she reduced the population of Madagascar by half, and of Imerina by over three quarters.

 

[Napoleon53]

Don't let these posts distract you from the fact that OVER 95% of the BETTERS OF SOCIETY prefer the MAD DASH AND CLASS of HIMMLER AND HESS. HIMMLER AND HESS... DO EVERYTHING FOR LESS.

 

[Worffan101]

Outside of Mesoamerica what colonial era regimes have been accused of comparable horror? At a minimum, she certainly oppressed Christians and reenstated slavery. Not exactly a hero of peripheral peoples in that regard.

Modern analyses say she reduced the population of Madagascar by half, and of Imerina by over three quarters.

Zulu Mfecane. Qing slaughter of the Dzungars. East African slave trade. That's just off the top of my head.

Pretty much every regime's been evil. What makes colonialists worse is that they pretend they're better.

 

[SargentHawk]

The title cover on the TV-Tropes page was the first cover art for a timeline I ever did. That brought back memories. I'm so excited to see this back!

Reach out to me Nap if you need any photoshop work done

 

[Napoleon53]

The title cover on the TV-Tropes page was the first cover art for a timeline I ever did. That brought back memories. I'm so excited to see this back!

Reach out to me Nap if you need any photoshop work done

YES! Thank you, Sarge!!

Doing one more poster than working on some chapters!

 

[L1ght5aber]

Read the original, it was the epitome of "trainwreck I couldn't look away from."

Welp, here we go again... Hail Custer!