"What Madness Is This?" Volume II: Prophecies in the Dark
- Thread starter Napoleon53
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From AMERICA ASCENDANT:
On June 20th, the invasion of West and North Carolina began. The Confederation of the Carolinas, already low on troops thanks to losing so many supporting its allies earlier in the war, had extremely low morale going into its defensive operations. Greensboro and Raleigh, or what was left of them following intense Union artillery fire and bombing runs, fell on July 4th, 1957. After that, it was a rout more than a war. ORRA troops, including the infamous Bad Luck Brigade, burned down and slaughtered whole cities. Women's Action Corps leader General Charlotte Baker led her fighting girls in one attack on Fayetteville that ended with over 30,000 military and civilian "Cokie" casualties. The factory long famous for manufacturing Cokie-Cola, a popular soft drink world-wide, fell to Baker's forces on July 29th. Baker turned it into her regional headquarters. Despite rumors of having an affair with Oswald's highly-secretive wife, Sandra Walther, Baker was given medal after medal by Oswald personally when he flew down by jet to Fayetteville, which, due to its "French-sounding name," was renamed Bakersburg in Charlotte Baker's honor.
In the end, in a shocking move, Oswald named Charlotte Baker Consul of the Carolinas, a title making her occupational governor of three states (South Carolina had not fallen as yet, but was expected to). This has sometimes been used as evidence for the theory that Sandra Oswald and Charlotte Baker were lovers and that Sandra pulled strings for her. Oswald seemed indifferent to the whole thing, probably because he was almost openly carrying on an affair with film star Mary-Jane Mundy. Politics, corruption, and sapphic affairs or not, the Oswalds' personal lives were wrecks, partly because of Chuckie's abuse of prescription medication, cocaine lozenges, and amphetamines, and one of the main reasons for Chuckie's persistent presence at the frontlines might have been the fact that his wife hated him. Another fact he did well to conceal was that every time he visited the WAC troops, the pregnancy rate skyrocketed.
Mary-Jane Mundy is not OTL Marilyn, but I believe I used her pictures to represent or parody, much like Hendrick isn't actually THE Heydrich from OTL. It just makes pictoral representation much easier for me. lol I might go with a different girl for Mundy this go-round. Perhaps Jayne Mansfield:
Yep! Someone suggested a write-up about the various units and divisions and legions and what they are like now. I will probably do that after Manifest Climax "ends." We're getting tons of whacky units, like the child soldiers of the Sunshine Legion, HOST, WAC, and plenty more.
TTL's INC's a front for some nutjob like Savitri Devi isn't it. It would be par for the course for this world.
ah yes, the classic Celtic tiger for Ireland
I know it's supposed to be india, I'm being an ass
ah yes, the classic Celtic tiger for Ireland
I know it's supposed to be india, I'm being an ass
I'm into it! I've been a staunch advocate of MonSoc India and Éireyan Traveler racialist weirdness for years 😂
Jewish are considered Betters no matter what other ancestry they might have, iirc.
Reminds me of a meme I once saw about the American Revolution: That time two countries united around their common principle - that England needed to get ****ed.
To paraphrase Return of the Jedi: "It's a newer symbol, sir, but it checks out."
Excellent news! I'm glad we'll hear something about India. Though I fear my pro-Indian sympathies may conflict with my pro-Napoleon V sympathies.
PEACE IN OUR TIME
A Europan nuclear test (circa 1940s, North Africa)
The events of December, 1941, unleashed a whirlwind of chaos across the globe. A proper understanding of the state of affairs as the world raced into 1942 can only be had with a full breakdown of the many moving parts. From disasters and revolutions in the far east, to the ongoing Balkan Crusade, to the opening of the Congo Dam and the testing of the first atomic bomb in the desert of Africa, to the death of Michael Custer-Steele and the engagement of Oswald to President Steele's daughter, there is much to be discussed.
-CHINA-
1941 saw Holy Nippon and its ally the Confederation of Corea step up its aggressive inroads into mainland China and the ongoing Chinese Civil War (1933-1955) ramp up as well. For years, young lawyer-turned-despot Mao Tse-Tung, the self-proclaimed revolutionary Hongxian Emperor, had been trying to impose his own brand of enlightened despotic rule over the Chinese people from Peking. In March of 1941, he appointed his loyal advisor Geng Yijun as Field Marshal of the Revolutionary Imperial Army. Geng, being the loyal advisor that he was, immediately tried to overthrow Mao in a disastrous coup. One of Mao's concubines, who was secretly also having an affair with Geng, was given a bomb and instructed to plant it in Mao's bedroom. If not for a surprise assault on the Revolutionary Imperial garrison in nearby Baoding--resulting in Mao leaving his quarters minutes early to manage the crisis just before the timer on the bomb went off--history might have been drastically different.
Thinking Mao was now dead, Geng's men assaulted the Forbidden City. With Mao peeling out via a backdoor route, the Palace Guard engaged the army forces in bloody hand-to-hand fighting. As smoke and ash rose over the Forbidden City, Mao secured his escape from the city at the Peking Railyard. With his empire crumbling and Geng's forces now spreading out to find him, he surrendered himself to his mortal enemies: the Exploratory Task Force. When Corean guards encountered the Hongxian Emperor, covered in mud and detritus and begging for deliverance, they thought it was an elaborate joke or test of some sort. When he convinced them he was really Emperor Mao, they placed him in cuffs and quickly drove him to Seoul. Dictator-General of Holy Nippon, Lincoln MacArthur, rushed to "accept the unconditional surrendered of the yellow sumbitch," flying in overnight on his personal armored aeroplane. At the Walton International Hotel in the Corean capital, Corean Chancellor Kim Hyong-jik and MacArthur famously posed for a newsreel with Mao as he officially renounced the Imperial Crown and called for an "Eternal Revolution of the Chinese People" against the "nefarious machinations of the traitorous Imperial Army under the pig-man Geng."
This backfired horrifically. Looking like the pathetic pawns of the Western powers, the Chinese people momentarily embraced Geng, who was declared Despot of All China in August. Mao would eventually be offered permanent residence in Holy Nippon, a life in a gilded cage. He would pass of cancer of the stomach in 1961. Geng was deposed in early 1942 by General Wang Heng and executed by firing squad in the Forbidden City. Wang Heng declared himself a "proponent of classical democracy, as taught to the world by the ancient Greeks." Wang took the title of Supreme Consul and wanted to operate the various ethnic and cultural entities within China like the Greek city-states of yore. He would garner much popular support among the lower and middle classes of the northern regions. It would be this short, mild-mannered officer who would hold off the Exploratory Task Force for years, finally dealing them a defeat in Manchuria that secured Peking from an all-out siege by the Christian powers.
In the south, Illuminist revolutionaries in Wuhan declared the Illuminist Chinese People's Republic and began to desecrate and tear down temples and churches. Their anti-religious sentiment could be understood somewhat if one looked to the west, in Cichuan Province, where a woman named Lu Jiao claimed to be Jesus Christ reborn as a woman, taking the moniker of "Daughter of God, Queen of Rainbows." Little is known of her origins or early life, aside from the fact she had fought as a Christian volunteer during the Corean Civil War (1932-1934). She was discharged from the Corean Christian Patriotic Army in 1933 for "heretical thinking and blasphemy." Her willingness to fight for a Christian Corea has led some scholars to question if she was at least partially Corean and was perhaps brought up in a Carolinian Presbyterian mission. After her expulsion back to China, she seems to have spread her own version of the Christian Gospel to the peasantry of the "Forgotten Western Provinces." By 1941, her loyalists numbered in the tens of millions and were a rising power within Asia, calling themselves "Rainbow Soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate."
Lu Jiao, "Daughter of God, Queen of Rainbows," in a military tunic (1940s)
Flag of the Daughter of God Heavenly Mandate Movement
The fighting between the Illuminist Chinese People's Republic and the Rainbow Soldiers was some of the worst in history, with genocides and massacres happening near-weekly. Russia attempted to provide the ICPR with weapons, while, ironically, Corea donated to Lu Jiao's cause, hoping that she would be considered crazy by so many Chinese citizens that she would never be able to achieve absolute power. They were wrong. By 1944, Lu Jiao's army had sacked Wuhan and put the Illuminist Chinese People's Council to the sword. With action in the north stagnating as the ETF tried to control Manchuria, this gave time for Lu to solidify her base and turn her attention to Peking. The last year of the Second Chinese Civil War in 1955 would see the Daughter of God storm Peking at last, following Supreme Consul Wang's assassination, which will be covered at another time.
"This little Chinese broad is something else. This firecracker heretic has taken to calling herself the "Daughter of God." Looking at her, she appears kindly enough, like she could be a nurse or a teacher or a mother. But she's a god to these people--literally Jesus incarnate, and she runs a tight ship. She had a general who betrayed her crucified, and that appears to be her calling card. Supposedly, the lost can be saved by making them die as Christ did, or as she did in her past life or whatever hokum she spouts. Her people love her, and they'll do whatever they have to do to see her sit in the Forbidden City. Strange eon we are living in, by damn, sir."
Holy Nipponese Dictator-General Lincoln MacArthur in a letter to President Steele, dated December 20, 1941.
-INDIA-
Holy Nipponese Dictator-General Lincoln MacArthur in a letter to President Steele, dated December 20, 1941.
-INDIA-
To say the situation on the Indian subcontinent was tense would be a gross understatement and an insult to the very idea of stability. Since the Great World War and the Beckie Flu, when thirty percent of the population died, the Europan Imperial Army and the French India Company had been desperately trying to retain control of the Jewel in Caesar's Crown. A huge portion of the Imperial Army was stationed in India while the New Holy Roman Empire menaced the homeland. When Caesar Napoleon V tested the first-ever atomic bomb in North Africa in 1941, he began to make hard choices. In early 1942, Napoleon himself flew to Calcutta to meet with French India Company head Damien Gagnon, Governor-General Louis Longchambon, and the various ethnic and religious leaders and princes of the assorted provinces. Hosting an elaborate feast, Napoleon won over the men with his charm and wit before, quite literally, offering them a deal they couldn't refuse. In exchange for continued allegiance to Europa and exclusive trade rights, Caesar was willing to let them set up a new government as an independent Indian nation, one still guaranteed protection by Europa. If they said no, Napoleon would use his small stockpile of nuclear devices to literally eradicate revolutionary forces and cities.
"I beg of this council to please head my warnings, and accept my generosity. For never before has a Bonaparte parted with soil without a tooth-and-nail battle to the end. Make no mistake, this is genuine generosity and the people of my empire wish no harm to a single Indian. But the current situation between us is no longer viable nor tenable. In the name of God, in the name of Peace, I beg you to accept my terms."
- Caesar Napoleon V, 1942
The Treaty of Calcutta was signed later that summer. The capital of the new Indian Federation was moved to Delhi, and a parliament was established later that same year in the first democratic vote ever held in the subcontinent. Harsh Bhatta was elected the first-ever Prime Minister of the Federation. A shoe-maker by trade, Bhatta had risen to prominence in the 1920s as a leading voice for self-rule for India. Guaranteeing equal rights under the law to both Hindu and Muslim Indians and with a natural charisma, Bhatta would become a universally-loved figure in his country, and many historians eventually would call him the Founding Father of Modern India. Self-rule was not immediate, as Imperial troops would remain in large numbers until 1944. The heavily-Catholic Province of Goa would remain an Imperial Protectorate, separate from the rest of India and functioning as the home base for the Imperial Indian Ocean Fleet. The key to Napoleon V's plan was not let anyone view the Empire as weaker, but rather acknowledging India as a loyal servant, no longer needing to be horsewhipped by soldiers in kepis and khakis for decades at a time. Thus, Goa would ensure an easy way to invade once more should the need ever arise. Napoleon still clung to the title of Indian Emperor, officially still Head of State of the Federation, as well as now becoming Protector of Goa. The first years of India were surprisingly stable, as most citizens seemed to take real pride in their new nation. No one but the upper levels of government knew of Napoleon's nuclear threat, and he was thus hailed as a graceful liberator.
Flag of Europan India, and later Flag of the Protectorate of Goa and personal standard of the Head of State of the Indian Federation
Flag of the Indian Federation
-THE BALKAN CRUSADE CONTINUES-
One has to keep in mind that Caesar would not surrender India to its own devices if he did not have a grave threat to face in mainland Europe. Holy Roman Emperor Adolf and Pope Peter II continued their bloody crusade in Eastern Europe, dealing out revenge to the ragged, overwhelmed, and exhausted League of Tsars. With the power of God and the Grail on their side, they seemed invincible. Ruthenia had collapsed in the Lightning War of 1933. 1939 saw the surrender of Grand Serbia and the execution of hundreds "war criminals" from the days of the Great World War. Nobles were exiled, museums looted, and Eastern Orthodox churches and Muslim mosques burned. By 1940, the Balkans was a steaming trash heap of civil unrest and undeclared wars. In August of 1940, Adolf ordered an invasion of Greece, which was concluded in time for Christmas. The Emperor himself stood at the Parthenon in Athens and held Mass with his officer corps. In early 1941, the Crusaders turned their attention to Bulgaria. The destitute Bulgaria put up a brave defense, but it was still very short-lived. Supercatholic Revolutionaries in Romania overthrew their government and joined the Crusade. After a year of combat in Bulgaria and Romania, the New Holy Roman Empire stood at the cusp of their (currently) ultimate goal: the sack of Constantinople.
In November, 1941, the NHRE airforce commenced with the largest bombing campaign seen thus far outside of South America. Even though many had fled to nearby Turkey and the Europan Holy Land, thousands of civilians were killed during the Siege of Constantinople, with the city-state's meager defenders desperately trying to fend off the near-unstoppable aerial assault. On the night of November 28, the guns fell silent and the 200 year-old institution was no more. Declaring the Viceroyalty dissolved, Adolf ordered the arrest and exile of its leadership. NHRE troops marches triumphantly through the nearly-destroyed ancient city and ale and beer was served to all the troops in what the Roman newspapers dubbed, "An early Christmas gift to Pope Peter II."
Wild celebrations erupted across the New Holy Roman Empire. A seemingly unstoppable force, the NHRE had plowed through the League of Tsars and the entirety of the Balkans. Supreme Inquisitor Erhard Raus, head of the Office of Inquiry, was lauded as a "Hero of the Cross" by Pope Peter II, who publicly celebrated the man's destruction of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Eastern Europeans of Orthodox or Muslim persuasion, or those otherwise deemed heretical or unfit. Prime Minister Julius Evola placed him in charge of new "Detention Facilities" that dotted their newly conquered lands. There, around the clock, the "unfit" labored day after day, night after night, until most died a horrid and painful death or were shot trying to escape. The history of the occupied Balkans deserves its own chapter entirely, but to understand how all the moving parts of geopolitics were working, one only needs this quick summary.
The news of Europa's testing of the first atomic bomb in North Africa put quite the damper on the Supercatholic celebrations. It was as if a malaise crept in all over the NHRE, and there was fear that Caesar would attempt to nuke Rome or, more likely, Vienna. Luckily for them, Napoleon V was no mad man hellbent on blood. Instead, he took to the airwaves of Europe and said:
"An era where Europa has this weapon is an era in which I can guarantee peace in our time. Europa seeks no conflict with her neighbors, but should it be required to use this device to protect life and property, it shall not hesitate! This weapon is a defensive measure, and not meant as an attack on the national interests of America, the Illuminsts, or the New Holy Roman Empire. This weapon is a tool with which Europa will safeguard her borders and interests. I shall not become some atom-slinging barbarian, slayer of cities, although I am sure those who deem themselves my enemies would no doubt use the atomic bomb to act in such a manner. God our Father has blessed the Europan Empire with the means to defend ourselves from the clutches of the devil and those who would rape and slaughter and pillage our nation. Vive L'Empire! Vive Europa!"
The announcement in the months after the test that India would become self-governed thus did not send the enemies of Paris and Avignon into a feeding frenzy. As troops began to draw down in India, they were sent to Jerusalem and Damascus and Cairo, and to the Europan-NHRE border. Angry scuffles frequently broke out along the border with the Second Rheinbund, where Goering's forces fresh back from raping Constantinople were eager to get back into action. But all in all, peace remained the order of the day, an uneasy, sweaty, shaky peace. Some thought that Caesar was merely bluffing about his stockpile of nukes, but Europan intelligence deliberately leaked the memo that there were, at least, two other small nuclear bombs in Paris's possession. Frantic scientists in Vienna tried to wrap up their own nuclear program, but the very nature of their Supercatholic state had seen hundreds of top scientific minds migrate to greener pastures over the years. Frustrated, the NHRE made itself content--for now--with operating its modern Inquisition in Eastern Europe.
-AFRICA-
To be continued because I'm wiped out tonight, lol.
To be continued because I'm wiped out tonight, lol.
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There's sooooo much going on it's nuts. It feels like everything is having an effect on everything else and it makes these insane situations all the more believable. While I would love to give you a rundown on every element of the NHRE campaigns or a breakdown on the entire new Indian government, I am trying to keep the focus on America and move the narrative forward, as I said I wanted to the other day. I can always cover all that later.
Also, there was a nice reference to 1.0. "Atom-slinging barbarian" is what the Kaiser called Chuck Oswald on the phone about eight years ago IRL.
Also, there was a nice reference to 1.0. "Atom-slinging barbarian" is what the Kaiser called Chuck Oswald on the phone about eight years ago IRL.
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There's plenty of time for him to appear again, and I envisioned him recording propaganda reels in exchange for continued life. "It is hopeless, my friends. Do no not resist the tidal wave of the ETF."
My favorite part of this chapter was how it seemed Wang Heng was going to win in China and create a true democracy....just to be killed by a religious lunatic who considers herself the daughter of God
I also wonder how the RU and its allies will deal with her, considering she is both an heretic and infee
I also wonder how the RU and its allies will deal with her, considering she is both an heretic and infee
I mean he kinda is a good person considering the other heads of state of this TL
Shame Illuminism has been crushed in China, though I expect that was probably to avoid too much parallelism. I can't imagine Jiao's brand of christanity being particularly appealing to anyone in the LoN. Would be nicely hilarious if she turned on Corea and Nippon (maybe even the dutch territories to) to "bring the true christian word to them"
The Caeser is a bastard but he's a relatively sensible bastard