Deviation Actions
Description
The New Roman Empire:
A request by EmperorAlexander for a world that is, admittedly, an enormous Byzantine-wank. Based on this map link.
In this world the Black Death was far more virulent than OTL. However it only caused as much damage as much as it did in OTL. It was actually east and south that the worst aspects of the plague reached. Asia and Africa suffered horrendously from the plague, choking on the dead as they piled up. Societies collapsed as entire communities were destroyed and cultures were slowly exterminated as more and more people died. Finally the plague died out before it could move north and west when the mortality rate grew so high that the disease was no longer able to propagate. It died out and eventually the death toll slowed and then stopped, returning to what it normally would have been. However two entire continents had been nearly swept clean of their human populations.
The nations of Europe, though ravaged by the Black Death like OTL were still intact and bounced back with a vengeance. Though there was no Ottoman Empire the changing political situations of Europe prompted oceanic expeditions to Asia, still considered a land of riches by many. This led to the discovery of the Americas, an eventual age of colonisation and, over time, industrialisation, imperialism and eventual decolonisation.
At one point the Rhomaion Empire was essentially the essential ruler of the world, master of the Eastern Hemisphere and hyperpower of the 19th Century. Those days have long since ended.
Though it was not a wholly violent process the vast Rhomaion Empire splintered, losing their colonies to rebellion, a short bout of internal strife and, in the final days, decolonisation due to the costs of imperial overstretch.
The Basilaea Rhomaion is a very different nation from the empire that used to rule the Indian Ocean. During their return to power after the Black Death the Byzantines did conquer and assimilate many of the Slavic and Turkic people that survived in the lands around them. However it was during the Long War, after the order in their colonies first began to break down, that one of their military leaders overthrew the ruling dynasty of the time. A Serbian general took control and was able to restore order over everything west of Burma. They later oversaw the decolonisation of their peripheral colonies whilst supporting economic, governmental and social reforms throughout the empire.
Whilst still Greek speaking the Rhomaion is dominated demographically by a clear Slavic and Arabic majority. The Empire has since bounced back from the damage it suffered from the Long War and the Civil War that took place at the same time. They are a fully modernised state though their economy is still largely reliant on oil. The current Emperor is an avid environmentalist and has put his support and patronage behind a number of new renewable energy source projects. The senate, who now control the majority of the legislature and judiciary thanks to the reforms after the Civil War, are more interested in moving the economy away from their dwindling (but still very substantial) oil supply but the jobs these projects are generating do receive nominal support from them. Culturally the Empire is getting over another neo-Classical phase that has produced some rather ugly and pretentious artwork and fashions. Instead the public are now interested in a brand new revival of Arabic artwork and music that has been recovered recently.
Rhomaion's old settler colonies were some of the first parts of the Empire to break away when the Civil War took place. Both of them were taken over by descendants of the two great dynasties that brought the Byzantine Empire back to greatness. They are Greek speaking but have developed their own regional identities and the means by which they parted from the empire mean they share very little identity with the Rhomaion anymore.
Antipodia is about as populous as OTL Australia. The continent was never used as a penal colony but had a far more open immigration policy that was happy to allow Malay, Indian and Chinese immigrants in, at least after their populations had begun to recover. Descendants of the Komnenos Dynasty settled here and were the leaders of the secession movement during the final phase of the Long War. They rule now as constitutional monarchs, the current queen being a controversial party goer (she tends to get caught drunk and a picture was recently taken and circulated of her kissing and openly groping a visiting ambassador which caused a scandal).
Elysia also broke off from the Basilaea Rhomaion at the same time but for different reasons. They had been invaded during the Long War and seceded so that they could sue for peace once the Civil War began and ended any possibility of receiving reinforcements. A surviving branch of the Palaiologos Dynasty was enthroned in order to provide some legitimacy to the new government that took over. Elysia is an authoritarian state with a one-party parliament and a figurehead monarchy. They also have a poor history with the Japanese and the Swedish due to the invasions they orchestrated in the Long War.
China was one of Rhomaion's wealthiest but also most troublesome colonies. China collapsed during the Black Death but their culture did a much better job of surviving than most other former Asian states. However they were still too disunited to hold off colonisation and the various Chinese states fell to the Basilaea Rhomaion. Like so many other colonial states the Rhomaion found themselves with land that, whilst far from empty, required extensive colonisation on their part. However China would be a nation where the indigenous population recovered quickly enough to form a clear majority over the settler populations. Christianity was introduced to the Chinese and was excepted easily enough. It soon ended up being incorporated into Chinese philosophy and was eventually changed almost beyond recognition. In the wake of the Japanese invasion during the Long War the Chinese, having recovered their identity and formed a cohesive independence movement, rose up and finally deposed the overstretched Rhomaion forces.
China is under the rule of a ethnically Han dynasty. The man who claimed the title of Emperor combined traditional ideals surrounding the previous Chinese Emperors such as the Mandate of Heaven with the Christian ideals he had been raised with. This has produced a hybridized theology around the position of the new Chinese monarchy. As the jewel in the crown of Rhomaion's colonial empire China received a fair amount of investment that the new Chinese Empire capitalised on. China is an industrialised state and, whilst still modernising, has become a power to be reckoned with. They are on close terms with Rhomaion's former settler colonies and together they work to prevent the Pacific Ocean from being dominated by the Oceanic Axis.
During the Long War the Rhomaion had allied with the French and Portuguese Empires as well as the British Democratic Union. Whilst the Rhomaion came out of the Long War with most of their empire intact their allies were not so lucky.
New Britain was Britain's greatest colony, the product of dumb luck, strategic colonisation and a papal treaty granting them everything south of their original colony of New Shropshire (no-one knew there was an entire continent south of it at the time). During the British Civil War that saw the expulsion of the monarchy they also became the refuge for the British royal family. During the Long War they sided with the Germans, Swedish and Japanese, mostly as a means to reclaim the British Isles from the republic that ruled over them.
New Britain is now the current world power, of sorts. Modernised and confident from their victories in the Long War, usurpation of Rhomaion' economic dominance overseas and their position of prominence on the global stage, the New British are considered one of the leading global superpowers. Whilst English speaking the majority of the population is creole with a significant minority of European colonists. African colonists, many of them descendants of slaves brought over from West Africa and the native Amerindians make up the other major minorities. The Empire is a form of enlightened despotism with a meritocratic bureaucracy that dominates government. The monarchy still holds the absolute power it has always traditionally been granted but is now restricted by traditions and strict regulations that keep them from exercising it excessively, if at all sometimes. Despite being very authoritarian and conservative when compared to more liberal nations the New British support universal education, practice limited democracy in the civil service and do allow a fair degree of social mobility that has increased in the decades since the Long War.
New Britain forged an alliance system with Japan after the dissolution of the Rhomaion influence in the Pacific and rushed to fill the vacuum. This is the Oceanic Axis, an, admittedly small, collection of various neo-absolutist states and empires united economically in order to protect and support their investments and increase their power projection capabilities. Most members are Catholic thanks to the examples set by new Britain and Japan and some missions of evangelism have taken place, mostly by religious aid organisations and charities.
Russia is new Britain's rival on the world stage for superpower status. They were largely neutral during the Long War but did join in the final phase of the war, largely to gain territory from the Rhomaion in Central Asia. Russia was formed by Muscovy and was an absolute monarchy much like OTL but the Tsars that ruled were very different. The Tsar just prior to the Long War was a philosopher king and supported several economic and political reforms that he supported, leading to the eventual establishment of an enlightened despotism of sorts. Another ideal was the centralisation of the economy and the removal of personal property, leading to a form of imperialistic socialism.
By 2014 Russia is a very strange nation. They hold many of the ideals and features of OTL socialism but still maintain the monarchy. The monarch is now a symbolic representative of the state and still has absolute power in theory but is constrained by a Rhomaion style senate. The economy is socialised as are all of the civil services. A significant welfare state has also been built since the current ideology came to power which has supposedly helped the integration of the other races that are subjects of the Tsar. Like the Tsar, the aristocracy still exists but have lost most of their property, with the exception of those who attempted to rebel against the Tsar and were stripped of their titles as a result, the old aristocracy still have their titles and are generally involved in the government in some form and practice nepotism. The current Tsar is rather conservative and a devout orthodox Christian, often promoting Christian activities, though not to the point where people begin to seriously protest. His support for charities in Africa, Asia and North America have actually granted him a lot of approval.
Russia has managed to form their own regional alliance system, mostly from their vassal states and old allies, in order to combat the growing influence of the Oceanic Axis.
The strongest nation not associated with the two major power blocs is the German Federation. The Holy Roman Empire was united in a different manner to OTL. They were forcibly unified by a series of effective emperors that not only crushed the aristocrats of the various states of the old Holy Roman Empire but also instated a hereditary monarchy as well. For several centuries the state was the German Empire but after their success in the Long War there were calls from the old states, many of which were reviving old regional identities, for autonomy. The federation was formed in the 1960s, granting autonomy to the provinces in order to quell nationalism. They decolonised rather quickly compared to most other empires, their colonial empire having been rather profitless.
Technologically this world is behind OTL, most fields of technology still stuck at 1980s levels. This world still had a Renaissance and an Industrial and Scientific Revolution but he greater degree so authoritarianism in the world have slowed down technological advancement. Colonialism in this world was largely a process of colonisation through the settlement of colonists brought from Europe. Imperialism in turn was rather different, focusing more on claiming land and setting up infrastructure to invite colonists in the more profitable regions. This did slow down the pace of colonisation in much of the world and portions of Africa and Asia are still relatively sparsely populated. This world is also more Christian, largely due to the conversion of weakened populations and cultures overseas. Most of it is Catholicism or a subordinate denomination associated with the Papacy in some form. Nuclear weapons were invented during the Long War and used in the final stages to destroy various cities and demonstrate the power of the German, Swedish, Japanese and New British alliance. Culturally this world is less diverse than OTL but as indigenous populations recover the remnants of their old cultures have begun to be revived or hybridized with that of the colonists. Colonial populations have also developed their own distinctions as well, especially since they were given independence.
A space race took place and ended with a successful trip to the Moon by Russian cosmonauts. Satellites are still being launched into orbit but like OTL there is very little perceivable profit, which along with a high cost, has prevented any return missions.
