I dunno, I think the different 19th century would butterfly that. On the other hand if you had some sort of Illuminist Katorga-12 an ideological battle across timelines would be rad. It always struck me as a BioShock clone, so it works.
"What Madness Is This?" Volume II: Prophecies in the Dark
- Thread starter Napoleon53
- Start date
"The Wars of the America's!!!" Someone make it happen! I want ORRA troops fighting high castle nazi's, Communist American revolutionaries meeting their Syndicalist counterparts from Kaiserreich, Seperated at Birth and More perfect Union teaming up to restore order.
Admittedly I thought about a punk progression timeline that can best be described as a steampunk 19th century giving way to dieselpunk which in turn gets succeeded by atompunk which ends with the rise of cyberpunk/casette futurism.... or the Difference Engine turns into Bioshock/Crimson Skies then fallout/Stubbs the zombie only to crushed by the weight of bladerunner/ghost in the shell.
I have to admit they know how to take advantage of their opportunities.
I've had a long-standing belief that any version of BioShock set in the RU would be inspired by the novel A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, rather than a straight up setting transplant. For a book in the 1830s it's got a lot of BioShock elements:
- Rooted in American history
- Dystopian city with ideology run amok
- Strange supernatural powers rooted in "science"
- Main character is a stranger to the city trying to undermine the social order
- Plus there's a miniboss style monster created by "science" overdose
It could be retooled into an incredibly offensive Europan video game in-universe, just saying. If Jews are getting the side eye for fascist sympathies you can bet America-sympathetic Chosen Africans are too. They'd make a perfect fifth column in Europan Africa so it makes sense to imply that siding with the US is just opening the door to a new colonial master with a Fundamentalist (and foreign born) black elite.
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The floating city of Columbia is rather ASB lol, unless the Union learned of anti-gravity technology which honestly means quantum gravity has to be confirmed. OTOH, it could be featured in video games as a perfectly all-American and exceptional city that looks down the world as barbaric and backward. Father Comstock-equivalent could be an Inferior Reverend trying to uproot American order, while the main characters could be going out to destroy them using sci-fi genetic modifications.
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The Cokies are in some ways one of TTL's oldest memes. And in many ways, you're right. Lots of these places would be homogeneous and not subject to imperial overreach like so much of the world.
So like a Commonwealth style organization, but more blatantly imperial? The Confederation of Free Carolinian and Associated Confederations?
A Commonwealth analogue didn't even occur to me! The Coalition of Confederations? CoConfed would keep up the Carolinian (etc.) trend of abbreviations. Actually in that vein you should call a theoretical Cokie allied southern India the Confederation of Kumari to keep up the naming convention.
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Happy 4th my fellow PINNACLE BROTHERS AND SISTERS! My the great saints of mother Columbia watch over us as we cast death down upon the Infee heretics!
Some pics for Cokie 4th of July celebrations:
A reenactment of the Battle of King's Mountain
The Sons of Jackson march towards Nashville City Hall. (2020)
A reenactment of the Battle of Greensboro and the Martyrdom of Chancellor Jackson. The Battle and the Martyrdom are reenacted every year on Memorial Day, Jackson's Birthday, July 4th, and Christmas. The event draws no fewer than 40,000 reactors and roughly 90,000 spectators at each given reenactment
Immigrants from British Ulster celebrate their heritage in Charlotte and yell "Cry God for Jackson, Ulster, and St. George!" (2020)
Members of the Charleston branch of the Order of Carolinian Orangemen march in solidarity with Ulster Orangemen and commemorate the bond between Ulster and Carolina (2020)
A reenactment of the Battle of King's Mountain
The Sons of Jackson march towards Nashville City Hall. (2020)
A reenactment of the Battle of Greensboro and the Martyrdom of Chancellor Jackson. The Battle and the Martyrdom are reenacted every year on Memorial Day, Jackson's Birthday, July 4th, and Christmas. The event draws no fewer than 40,000 reactors and roughly 90,000 spectators at each given reenactment
Immigrants from British Ulster celebrate their heritage in Charlotte and yell "Cry God for Jackson, Ulster, and St. George!" (2020)
Members of the Charleston branch of the Order of Carolinian Orangemen march in solidarity with Ulster Orangemen and commemorate the bond between Ulster and Carolina (2020)
Sooo… Little kids taking drug-filled candies from the hats of Lincoln impersonators. And their parents are just there, smiling and cheering and taking pictures.
Ladies and gentlemen, another completely normal day in the Republican Union!
Random ramble:
Was gonna write tonight but got pulled into this documentary. Jones was one of the big inspirations in 1.0 for Chuck Oswald, and man does the actor playing Jones in this show act how I always envision Chuck. I thought what the one victim says at the end (paraphrase) was very appropriate for this TL:
"They didn't commit suicide, he murdered them. He knew he wasn't long for this world because of his drug addiction, and he didn't believe in anything and knew he was a bad guy, and so he thought it better to wipe the slate and go out taking everybody else with him. He died a coward's death. Don't judge the people too hard. Those people weren't in their right minds. Instead of judging them for falling for it all, ask yourself what do you think could tip you over the edge into doing something horrible you'd never consider."
As someone who grew up in my own dad's cult and had numerous "white night alarms" where we casually discussed Ruby Ridging ourselves, like when a truckload of guys with rifles came to get my brother out, I feel that. I also have cursed video footage of it. Lol That's pretty much the whole idea of WMIT and how I keep it somewhat plausible. I know what it's like to be a "Custer Youth" and to want to prove my loyalty to the leader by doing increasingly bonkers shit, all while ignoring giant alarms that he doesn't actually believe in anything he tells me. "President Oswald is the most American of us all. He would never lead us into anything Contra Fati. And if I thought otherwise I wouldn't express my opinion for fear of being ratted. All is well in Yankeeland!"
5 am philosophy musings with Napo. Lol Sorry if that's real-life depressing, I just find human nature and groupthink one of the most fascinating things.
Was gonna write tonight but got pulled into this documentary. Jones was one of the big inspirations in 1.0 for Chuck Oswald, and man does the actor playing Jones in this show act how I always envision Chuck. I thought what the one victim says at the end (paraphrase) was very appropriate for this TL:
"They didn't commit suicide, he murdered them. He knew he wasn't long for this world because of his drug addiction, and he didn't believe in anything and knew he was a bad guy, and so he thought it better to wipe the slate and go out taking everybody else with him. He died a coward's death. Don't judge the people too hard. Those people weren't in their right minds. Instead of judging them for falling for it all, ask yourself what do you think could tip you over the edge into doing something horrible you'd never consider."
As someone who grew up in my own dad's cult and had numerous "white night alarms" where we casually discussed Ruby Ridging ourselves, like when a truckload of guys with rifles came to get my brother out, I feel that. I also have cursed video footage of it. Lol That's pretty much the whole idea of WMIT and how I keep it somewhat plausible. I know what it's like to be a "Custer Youth" and to want to prove my loyalty to the leader by doing increasingly bonkers shit, all while ignoring giant alarms that he doesn't actually believe in anything he tells me. "President Oswald is the most American of us all. He would never lead us into anything Contra Fati. And if I thought otherwise I wouldn't express my opinion for fear of being ratted. All is well in Yankeeland!"
5 am philosophy musings with Napo. Lol Sorry if that's real-life depressing, I just find human nature and groupthink one of the most fascinating things.
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Ah it's fine Napo, the stories are moving and give me some kind of things to muse about. I also like the bit of philosophical expression, since they usually make me think deeply about how many layers of realities there are really. I suppose your life is the reason why the Madness in WMIT is so vividly real, intensely dark, and twisted, all while accurately reflecting lots of OTL characteristics like human nature if left unbridled.
Thank you. I by no means think most people are inherently bad, but I think a LOT of very good people can easily be manipulated by the super-evil to the point they are no longer themselves and become, essentially, completely insane and barely able to think of a different way. Just like myself being born into my cult or ITTL Yankees being born and bred into tyranny rubberstamped by religion and delusions of grandeur. That was always my headcanon for why there aren't mass uprisings throughtout this TL so far. "Get em young, get em early, get them totally invested if for no other reason everyone they love is, and never let go. And if they think otherwise, they are hellbound traitors." Lol
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Oh yeah, that is absolutely true. Also reminds me about the Milgram's Shock Experiment, Stanford's Prison Experiment, and others on the power of groupthinking, or basically how the environment will simply give really subtle cues that could easily overwrite people's thinking and conscience. Like, 65 - 70% of the people are willingly giving up their morals under a trusted authority, hence why from the average Joe to the most educated college graduate could become sadistic killers without reflecting on the consequences.
If WMIT ever reaches the modern day I totally see Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue being the intro song of that part.
Something I've been pondering a bit today is the Steele family's dynamics, which I hope we get a genuine close look at. I'm going to ballpark some things and see what y'all think:
Steele-Milli: Actually, surprisingly, one of the healthier relationships in the entirety of the Madnessverse. They're loyal to one another, but are also willing to criticize. Steele isn't afraid to make Milli fall in line when the whole spoiled heiress is getting out of control. At the same time, Milli helps guide Joey politically and will tell him when he's making mistakes or being stupid. If they weren't a couple genocidal tyrants who probably get their jollies off by murdering their enemies they might actually be a semi-admirable Pinnacle Power Couple.
Steele-Marcus: I'm gonna take a gander and say that even before Joe was convinced he had to murder him that Marky boy wasn't the smartest guy ever. He probably didn't respect or like his son, but he loved him in his way and probably tried to set up some out of the way RUMP post for him to take on so he's out of the way for the Presidency.
Steele-Wyetta: I personally think this is going to be the most important family relationship to focus on in terms of seeing how it affects the future. I've been doing some reading on enmeshed family relationships and I think this will fit these two to a tee. Wyetta seems to have gotten both the beauty and the brains out of the Steele children, and since Steele has some pretty strong sociopathic tendencies, he probably loves parading her around as some kind of trophy. By this same token, he probably dotes on her and spoils her to an insane level, at least as long as she's doing what he wants. Needless to say, this isn't healthy for someone's development. The way I'm thinking, most of the time she's Joey's perfect daughter/extension of himself. However, as she gets older and starts wanting more things and freedom, I could totally see her actually manipulating/throwing massive tantrums to get things, which might incite Joe to get back at her later. For some reason the idea of Joe Steele, the indomitable warlord who flattened South America, purged huge swathes of society, bent the AFC to his will, and murdered Teddy damn Roosevelt being stuck in a psychological stalemate with his own daughter where they're basically punctuating periods of domestic tranquility with vicious bullying is kinda comedic to me. Joe Steele might be able to get half the world to grovel at his feet, but heaven forbid his daughter stamp her foot and scream at him.
Steele-Milli: Actually, surprisingly, one of the healthier relationships in the entirety of the Madnessverse. They're loyal to one another, but are also willing to criticize. Steele isn't afraid to make Milli fall in line when the whole spoiled heiress is getting out of control. At the same time, Milli helps guide Joey politically and will tell him when he's making mistakes or being stupid. If they weren't a couple genocidal tyrants who probably get their jollies off by murdering their enemies they might actually be a semi-admirable Pinnacle Power Couple.
Steele-Marcus: I'm gonna take a gander and say that even before Joe was convinced he had to murder him that Marky boy wasn't the smartest guy ever. He probably didn't respect or like his son, but he loved him in his way and probably tried to set up some out of the way RUMP post for him to take on so he's out of the way for the Presidency.
Steele-Wyetta: I personally think this is going to be the most important family relationship to focus on in terms of seeing how it affects the future. I've been doing some reading on enmeshed family relationships and I think this will fit these two to a tee. Wyetta seems to have gotten both the beauty and the brains out of the Steele children, and since Steele has some pretty strong sociopathic tendencies, he probably loves parading her around as some kind of trophy. By this same token, he probably dotes on her and spoils her to an insane level, at least as long as she's doing what he wants. Needless to say, this isn't healthy for someone's development. The way I'm thinking, most of the time she's Joey's perfect daughter/extension of himself. However, as she gets older and starts wanting more things and freedom, I could totally see her actually manipulating/throwing massive tantrums to get things, which might incite Joe to get back at her later. For some reason the idea of Joe Steele, the indomitable warlord who flattened South America, purged huge swathes of society, bent the AFC to his will, and murdered Teddy damn Roosevelt being stuck in a psychological stalemate with his own daughter where they're basically punctuating periods of domestic tranquility with vicious bullying is kinda comedic to me. Joe Steele might be able to get half the world to grovel at his feet, but heaven forbid his daughter stamp her foot and scream at him.
It's always been amusing to me that the Steele-Wyetta relationship in some ways is a darker mirror to the TR-Alice relationship OTL. Also the Steele-Milli analysis seems right on the money.
I feel like if Marcus had survived he would of ended up the Goering to Oswald's Hitler.
Actually I'm honestly surprised that the Germans didn't turn out full Wolfenstein here with crazily advanced tech and conquering most of the world.
Huh, that's actually a pretty good comparison. Except instead of it just being a strong-willed father against a strong-willed daughter, it's dictatorial dad against a bullying daughter, and also their relationship has weird, obsessive undertones coming from both parties that no one knows how to deal with because either A) they have no idea how to bring it up (Milli and Oswald) or B) they don't want to get shot (everyone else).