President Willy Gates's surging Pinnacle Fluidation lets him sail effortlessly over an office chair! Beneath the mild-mannered demeanor and nerdy profession is a true STRONG MAN!
 
Supreme Chief Jeb!'s favorite advanced-interrogation method is putting people in a completely yellow room.

Alternately, he has maps of the RU daubed in yellow paint all over his private study.
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For post-Oswald leaders, a black leader would be interesting but so would a gaggle of old dudes who die really fast like the 80s USSR. The RU's been quite good at avoiding gerontocracy due to ORRA influence and there always being a handy hero around who made his name in a predecessor's big war. But you don't get medals by being on the front lines of a Peacemaker war, all ground forces get are radiation poisoning. There's the mop-up/occupation forces who come in later on, but the commanders of those would prefer a local governorship/satrapy in the mold of MacArthur. The heroes of Peacemaker wars are the scientists and engineers. But then, if we follow that line of thinking... a mathematician, born at a reasonable time to succeed Oswald, raised to high station by the increasing importance of modeling/probability/algorithms in matters of national security, who understands the workings of old tech and the potential of the new...

... Bill Gates is an option.
Bill Gates IMMOLATES
 
CoCaro itself has gotten plenty of attention, but we haven't seen very much of their colonies. I'm curious about the culture of Jacksonland, and in particular the language. I can only imagine what bizarre accent they've developed. I can also see them being even more racist than the homeland. Maybe they eventually gain independence and become an analogue for apartheid South Africa?
 
CoCaro itself has gotten plenty of attention, but we haven't seen very much of their colonies. I'm curious about the culture of Jacksonland, and in particular the language. I can only imagine what bizarre accent they've developed. I can also see them being even more racist than the homeland. Maybe they eventually gain independence and become an analogue for apartheid South Africa?

If you want to check out the EU, I've made some speculative posts about Jacksonland and the other colonies. Among their content is:
  • Accents that can involve mixing Carolinian Southern, Afrikaner, German, and (don't tell the Yankees) Portuguese accents
  • An exaggerated sense of Cokieness to compensate for being in the colonies
  • A Segregation system which blends apartheid and the Spanish caste system
 
If you want to check out the EU, I've made some speculative posts about Jacksonland and the other colonies. Among their content is:
  • Accents that can involve mixing Carolinian Southern, Afrikaner, German, and (don't tell the Yankees) Portuguese accents
  • An exaggerated sense of Cokieness to compensate for being in the colonies
  • A Segregation system which blends apartheid and the Spanish caste system
Maaaan, when DNA tests are invented it's gonna be a shitshow. Brits? All decended from proto-Irish. Anyone decended from the Steele-Custer-Oswalds? Part Georgian and Irish. Carolinans? Portugese and Spanish blood abound. And scots are Celts.

So.... they cannot implement a One Drop Rule. Do they have that?
 
Maaaan, when DNA tests are invented it's gonna be a shitshow. Brits? All decended from proto-Irish. Anyone decended from the Steele-Custer-Oswalds? Part Georgian and Irish. Carolinans? Portugese and Spanish blood abound. And scots are Celts.

So.... they cannot implement a One Drop Rule. Do they have that?
Counter arguement: Union scientists will either create a machine or devise a ritual to genetically purge the inferior ethnicity out of themselves.
 
Bill Gates
Maaaan, when DNA tests are invented it's gonna be a shitshow. Brits? All decended from proto-Irish. Anyone decended from the Steele-Custer-Oswalds? Part Georgian and Irish. Carolinans? Portugese and Spanish blood abound. And scots are Celts.

So.... they cannot implement a One Drop Rule. Do they have that?
Most likely they’ll declare it Papist corrupted science and instead draw up some bizzare pseudo-science procedure that makes Scientology auditing look credible. As for Steele and Oswald, they’ll probably come up with some BS about how those Irish/Georgian genetic markers are actually Pinnacle Race genetic markers that the Infees stole through an evil bargain with Satan
 
Maaaan, when DNA tests are invented it's gonna be a shitshow. Brits? All decended from proto-Irish. Anyone decended from the Steele-Custer-Oswalds? Part Georgian and Irish. Carolinans? Portugese and Spanish blood abound. And scots are Celts.

So.... they cannot implement a One Drop Rule. Do they have that?

In my opinion, the answer is that they will either not develop genetic testing as we know it, or if they do they will be doing some fidgeting with DNA results and/or creating an explanation for why certain markers appear to be Infee. The other thing is that for such testing to out Infees, you have to assume that they will assemble the entire human genome. However, since the RU doesn't view peoples like the Irish, the Georgians, and others as being fundamentally human, they might not even bother harvesting their DNA. Thus, any Infee anomalies appear as "new genetic revelations from Jehovah."
 
In my opinion, the answer is that they will either not develop genetic testing as we know it, or if they do they will be doing some fidgeting with DNA results and/or creating an explanation for why certain markers appear to be Infee. The other thing is that for such testing to out Infees, you have to assume that they will assemble the entire human genome. However, since the RU doesn't view peoples like the Irish, the Georgians, and others as being fundamentally human, they might not even bother harvesting their DNA. Thus, any Infee anomalies appear as "new genetic revelations from Jehovah."
But if Europa gets DNA testing and they test a few custer-steele descendants, the RU will collapse...
 
Yeah, but only if RU's inhabitants end up believing them and i doubt this is going to happen.
Even if the citizens of the RU believe it, ORRA and RUMP will probably be so chokingly tight that there’s not much they can do about it. Think of it like North Korea and their propaganda about the Kims. A defector once said that only like 35% believe it, 25% know it’s total bullshit and the remainder don’t know what to think or care about it enough to question it and risk getting purged.

So I’ve been reading Turtledoves In the Presence of Mine Enemies again (cause I’ve got nothing to better to do on my night shifts) and in it, they have people campaigning for reform in the Reich under the banner for the First Edition of Mein Kampf because it supported the use of democracy. What if something similar crops up in the RU in responce to Steele? Maybe some early editions of the books of Manifest Destiny or the writing of Custer have something similar that reformist could latch onto. Even if he doesn’t believe it, it makes a great platform for Oswald to rise to power on, enact some showy but largely meaningless reforms (like reintroducing a powerless National Assembly/senate)
 
So I’ve been reading Turtledoves In the Presence of Mine Enemies again (cause I’ve got nothing to better to do on my night shifts) and in it, they have people campaigning for reform in the Reich under the banner for the First Edition of Mein Kampf because it supported the use of democracy. What if something similar crops up in the RU in responce to Steele? Maybe some early editions of the books of Manifest Destiny or the writing of Custer have something similar that reformist could latch onto. Even if he doesn’t believe it, it makes a great platform for Oswald to rise to power on, enact some showy but largely meaningless reforms (like reintroducing a powerless National Assembly/senate)

I like this idea. The RU was at least semi-democratic for a very long time and there should be plenty of stuff from say, the era of Lincoln, that would be pro-democracy.
 
'Reform' does not necessarily mean democracy it should be noted.
I'm imagining a system similar to the soviets. Only MDP Candidates can run, with some "independents" who agree 100% with the MDP. But like the soviets if the candidates dont get a certain number of votes then they hold a new election with a new candidate so the party members are forced to promise something in order to keep their cushy government jobs.
 
'Reform' does not necessarily mean democracy it should be noted.
That's true, but democracy does still exist at the local level (or at least did under Custer), and it would be a good vehicle for the factionalization of the MDP after Steele's death. The old guard could be Optimates to Oswald's Populares, and it would make it even more interesting if his rise to power was genuinely welcomed as a hopeful and optimistic change by his supporters. Sure in the end it's all for his own personal power but what better than bread and circuses to keep the people on side?
 
I gotta say, for anyone who has said the TL is depressing: We're at a pretty depressing point in the story. Steele has his memes, like pocket bacon, but this part of the story isn't intended to be as funny as usual. The Pinnacle Future, however, as I have said before, is really going to be where the TL hits its real stride and setting. I remember the TVTropes page for 1.0 described 1.0 as "laughing at self-satisfied totalitarian society." Pinnacle Future is gonna be that. Oswald is the "funny" dictator. The "Cyberfunk" materialist consumerist society will also lend itself to far more black humor and edgy comedy. Think Tales from the Gas Station meets Dr. Strangelove in Twin Peaks. lol TPF will also feature an honest-to-goodness protagonist, however misguided. That's a first for the TL. lmao There's not really a place for a protagonist that would actually make sense for the huge swathe of time that Union Forever covers. Pinnacle Future is the length of a normal human lifetime.

Also, I realized today that wheelchairs are this TL's version of Star Wars' chopped hands. Goodyear ended up in a wheelchair. Patton ended up in a wheelchair. If he's anything like 1.0 or OTL, Oswald will probably end up in a wheelchair. I thought it was amusing.
 
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I've been away for a while, so I had some catching up to do. I came back to several new updates, which is a wonderful thing to return to. I find myself fond of General Fleetwood, and he reminds me of someone from 1.0: Major Stevens. Both men are militarymen for the RU/NUSA (depending on which was in power during their era, as Fleetwood is, temporally, form a much earlier period.) who come across as relatively sympathetic, Stevens for caring a great deal more about the average soldier than general Hayes and even standing up to/killing him over it, Fleetwood for his speech about how boys are the main portion of the army, his dedication to rescuing his men even if they've been captured and doing so would be dangerous, and his family-man status. Both are still Yankees through and through, though, with Stevens having been a member of the Bad Luck Brigade. I remember someone calling him a one of the few good men left in the timeline by that point, to which Napoleon53 responded that he wasn't a good man, just a touch better than his commander. In my mind, both were also associated with facial hair, Fleetwood with his pre-Steele but still Steele-esque mustache. I had thought that Stevens had a toothbrush mustache, but I checked and I had ascribed Hayes's portrait to Stevens unintentionally.
I don't assume that this parallel was intentional, but it stuck out at me as I read the update in which Fleetwood is most prominent.
Speaking about Hubbard, is it possible he will create this TL's version of Scientology as a consequence of his near-death experience during the war?
After all the chapter revealed he will be known as "Lazarus" in the future and a mixt of PTSD and brain damage could lead to some interesting ideas.
I could see him becoming another prophet of the AFC. Long-term unconciousness usually does have significant effects on the brain. It isn't too far-fetched to think that that could affect memory or render hallucinations. If so, his circumstances would be very similar to Burr's, whose 'revalations', to my recollection, were also a direct result of his wartime experience, injuries, and traumas.
With Lovecraft’s craziness
Was Lovecraft particularly crazy? The only thing I remember about him was that he was far less lecherous than his predecessor.
AFAIK, Britain is still a liberal democracy at the start and unless conquered, would stay that way.
In this timeline? No, it's essentially a puppet state of the Union, with Uncle Winston "Winnie" Churchill serving as its dictator. His rule seems less stable, though, than Steele's.
 
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