MotF 40: Castles Made of Sand

My entry, I'm breaking it into multiple posts as I can only post one image per post, but this is all just one entry. I hope doing it this way is no problem.

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A powerful general named Kul Yabghu emerges in the Western Turkic Qhaganate in the 640's. Ruthless and tactically brilliant, he defeats all enemies, siezes power and crushes the wavering tribes of the confederation, before leading his campaign into the Eastern Khaganate over the next twenty years. He defeats a great Tang army sent to suppress him, but in the process is thrown from his horse and paralyzed. He refuses to die, however, and while he remains in his palace in Otuken, his sons and one trusted general named Ruqan conduct wars of conquest of their own, in the hopes of becoming favored for the succession. China, Persia and the Eastern Roman empire are overcome (Constantinople, which withstood a Turkic army for 4 years before reinforcements came from the south and made the difference, was completely depopulated), while the expanding Islamic armies are overwhelmed and absorbed or sent packing back to Arabia.

After a senile and delirious Kul Yabghu named his first son, Kul Bori (inconveniently already dead), as successor to the empire, the qhaganate enters into a brief period of civil war, which ends with an agreement that each il-qhagan would recognize the moral authority of the boy-khagan of <>. In practice, each il-khaganate quickly became autonomous, and in the case of the Western il-qhaganate and the Jue dynasty in China, began the process of being absorbed into the local cultures. Though the Ruqanids and the Jue have expanded slightly in the meantime, the Western il-qhaganate has lost control of Egypt to a local insurrection.

By 800, the central khaganate has collapsed, with a rump Kulid state surviving precariously in the west, but the seat of imperial power in the east has fallen to Uighurs and Tanguts. The Western Kulids and the Ruqanids each claim their own khagan as pre-eminent, while in China the Turkic ruler begins to refer to himself as simply the Jue Emperor. A cadet branch of the Kulids under a strong khagan named Kabrut is expanding rapidly in the northwest of India. The Western Kulids have converted to Zoroastrianism (after allowing the Christians, Jews and remnant Muslims a chance to make their case), and are thoroughly Persian in culture, which alienates them somewhat from parts of their empire that were once part of the defunct Byzantines. The Ruqanids remain followers of Tengri, and take a hands-off approach to religion: they discourage coercion and religious violence though. This has meant that Christianity under the Ruqanids has schismed drastically, and gains against paganism have slowed down. Few Christians under the Ruqanids pay much heed to the Western Pope in Aachen.

By 900, precious little remains of Kul Yabghu's empire. Local revolutions have overturned Turkic power in the Middle East, while the Ruqanite khaganate has shrunk into a shadow of it's former self while much of it's former territories heave with holy war between Christian sects (the states in what we would call Russia are all cheerfully pagan, and more organized about it than OTL). A Jue garrison in the far west, surrounded by hostile nomads claims to protect the last prince, but China has been largely reunified under the native Zhang dynasty. The Kabrutid Qhaganate remains the most impressive remnant, but it of late its expansion has slowed as the current qhagan finds more interest in Persian poetry and Buddhism than continued expansion into India.

The remnant clustered around the Bosporus is interesting. After Constantinople was razed, a small detachment of Turkic soldiers were ordered to remain amongst the ruins, as a "Murder Garrison", with orders to kill anyone who attempted to enter the city. As time went on, the Olduri, as they became known, themselves ended up settling down there, taking wives from Thrace and Anatolia and taxing ships that moved through the Bosporus. They became a unique ethnic group of their own, and when the Western Kulid dynasty collapsed they possessed enough power to carve out a polity of their own. Constantinople remains a closed, secret city, admitting only Olduri or their wives on pain of death. Though not ruled by remnant Kulids (it is actually a republic of sorts, with limited franchise), it can be considered a relic of the Turkic expansion.

The Federative Republic of Carolina, at its height during the 60s was a global superpower, with bustling slave markets, great industry and cheap agriculture. It dominated two continents and heavily influenced another two.

But during the 70s, French-backed Latin nationalists, Chinese communists, African freedom-fighters, and all manner of other rebels wore down on the Carolinian economy. Its army and navy were worn ragged defending its vast empire, and it began to crumble. By the 70s, China was free as was Patagonia. West Africa was in chaos, and Native rebels along the Andes and Central America were preventing meaningful control in South America.

The house of cards collapsed when the Brighamites in Salinas struck. Other Brighamites in the State of Utar also struck, and then it erupted into violence. The more industrialised Virginia to Carolina's north fed the Brighamites arms, and soon not only Utar, but the whole West was in rebellion, as Chinese labourers and ordinary Carolinians fought side-by-side for democracy and the abolition of slavery.

At the same time, the Latin Revolutionaries were taking back South America and Mexico, and Carolinian soldiers were too thin to do anything. The killing blow came with the Nouvelle Orleans Massacre. The Virginians invaded to protect civilians from their oppressive government. By 2005, over a centuries worth of expansion had come to nothing. Carolina had been pushed back behind the Mississippi, and its once great empire was but ash in the wind.

The Arabian Caliphate, sometimes known by the various dynasties that controlled it, was at its height the most powerful empire in the world. It is considered the same nation throughout its history, despite its change of leaders, like other European kingdoms.

In the 600s it rose with the unification of the Arabs under Islam and the prophet Mohammad. By 661 the family of Mohammad had conquered much of the Greek and Persian empires. Then the Umayyads took over the governance of the empire, expanding it to its height.

By 754 the caliphate had expanded to breathtaking heights, crushing the christian kingdoms in Iberia, save for a small part in the northeast. There armies marched through Baluchistan and Turkic lands, converting as they went, all the way to northern India. They had also encroached into Abyssinian land. The empire was striking hard at the Byzantines, taking the islands of Crete and Sicily, but they could not manage to completely defeat their Greek adversaries.

The Caliphate stayed at around these borders for another 100 or so years before the cracks started to show. The Caliph in 871 was considered weak and was overthrown by a rival dynasty, the Fatimids. After this the dynasty could never quite consolidate the power that it had and this was its downfall. Independent muslim states started arising in the different regions of the empire and the Caliphate could not hold off against all of them at the same time. In around 1100 AD the Caliphate had only Arabian lands left.

The final blow was the Mongol invasion of Middle Eastern lands and the Caliphate wasted their soldiers on defending the north of their empire. Various other Sultans and leaders had risen up and created their own lands. Only Hejaz was under the Caliph, but this did not fall for a long period, against expectation still clinged to the former imperial name.

A somewhat unimaginative little map, I'm afraid - Nazis! US stays out of WWII in Europe, Nazis manage to push soviets east of the Urals, blah blah blah.

Bruce

Once, Spain was the greatest empire in the world, ruling not only the Iberian Peninsula, but large parts of the Americas, as well as holdings throughout, the Near East, Africa and Asia.

But that was centuries ago…

Ironically, it was Spain’s initial success that brought about its downfall. Inflation from the gold and silver mines in Spanish America destroyed its economy, while resentment by the emerging Protestant powers, which coveted its colonies, brought Spain to its knees. Nowadays Spain is merely an important Middle power, rather than a Great or Hegemonic power.

The first to go was the northern half of the Netherlands. Revolts by the Calvinists, concerned for their very lives and liberties, declared their independence from Spain in the latter half of the 16th century. Inviting Edward VI of England[1] to be their king, the combination of English and Dutch forces, forced the Spanish to recognise their independence.

Later, revolts in Portugal and Catalonia prompted the opportunistic France[2] to declare war, followed by the Tudor empire. Though the Catalans were crushed, the French and Anglo-Dutch managed to conquer a few Portuguese colonies and force Spain to recognise Portugal’s independence. The leader of the Portuguese rebels – Duke Luiz of Braganza – was installed as king.

Eventually, the Habsburgs’ perchance for marrying their own cousins proved their undoing. The War of the Spanish Succession may have finally driven the Protestant powers of France and the now United Kingdom of Albion apart, but it didn’t stop them from simply partitioning the Spanish empire between them, leaving Spain with a much shrunken domain. Meanwhile, the Austrians gained control over Milan, Sicily and Naples, while Savoy obtained Corsica and Sardinia.

Finally, independence revolts and another major war with France in North America, gave Mexico – who lost their northern lands to New France – and Chile their independence…

(P.S. the grey bits are just returned to their previous owners - mostly Muslim states.)

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[1] Edward lived much longer ITTL, married Mary Queen of Scots (Henry VIII was rather more persuasive) and united the British Isles under his rule. This also leads to the Church of England being closer to Lutheranism than IOTL, though his heirs weren’t quite as fervent about that as he was.
[2] Which is *technically* Protestant, but more like national Catholicism or Anglicanism-lite. Also, the house of Valois lasted much longer ITTL.

EDIT: Final revision.

"Oh, Ruthenia, Star of the Morning, how art thou fallen!"

Page from a history book ITTL. I think the map is self-explanatory, don't you?

The Western Roman Empire managed to weather the chaos of the mid-fifth century, but at the dear cost of centralized control of the empire. Republican, Imperial, and now Federal: these were the periods of Ancient Rome. Federalism was a creature of necessity, a pact between Romans and foederati when the fate of the Empire seemed most grim. Once the crisis had passed, however, Roman officials found that their newly-empowered barbarian subjects would not cede back the authority granted to them: While the Empire itself might live on, Roman supremacy would not.

Developed from a set of map made a Long time Ago, where Ramazan outshines the Ottomans and takes the place the Ottomans took in OTL. This Animation depicts its decline across the centures from its Zenith to the First World War in 1907.

Here's my entry. Basically, after the Great War the Poles instead of the Germans start rapidly industrializing and militarizing, led at first by Pilsudski and with some help from the Entente as a buffer against Bolshevism. Poland begins to turn fascist and start an expansionist phase and reaches is maximum extent by the 1950s, with Italy, Turkey, and Finland as its main allies. The Intermarum lasts for about 20 years, but holding on to all those territories and ethnicities is practically impossible and in the 70s it all comes crashing down. Freeport Odessa and the Free State of Memel are handled by the League of Nations while disputes between their respective claimants are resolved (similar to OTL's Trieste and Fiume).

Essentially the idea is that when he's Alexander the Great lives to be 46 instead of dying when he's 32. He manages to conquer Arabia, and his armies were laying siege to Varansai in India when he falls ill and dies, leaving Ptolemey as regen for his then-14-year-old son, now Alexander II. the empire goes through a variety of dynasties, coups, interregenums, and regencies in its 600-year history.The Empire expanded into northern india and North Africa, also Illyria, Italy, the south of France, and Hispania fell to the Empire. It was under the rule of Dionysus VI and Alexanders XIV, XV, and XVI, the empire was at its height. Briefly, Alexander XIV managed to conquer the Tocharians and Wusun, however his nephew then allowed those territories to slip away.The butterfly effect meant that the Han Dynasty in china was more successful against the Xiongnu, driving them away. The decline of the empire was really marked with the reign of Phillip VIII, who lost battle after battle on the plains of central asia. The emperor then slipped into madness after his wife died, and shortly afterwards his son was killed fighting the Tocharians, this tome within the empire itselt, near OTL Lahore. He then began a paranoid rampage, as his gaurds arrested and executed thousands in and out of the Capital. Fearing the spirits of those he killed, he constructed a massive, labarynthine palace (think winchester house times 10) After forcibly marrying his sister, he was killed by his own gaurds, as the emperor with only three grandparents and five great-grandparents, left behind his wife and eight-year-old son, Georgios. Many dynasties, howver, fall because they adopt the Egyptian concept of Divine Rule, that the Emperor (Alexandros) is a god on Earth. Therefore inbreeding is rampant. At one point, Alexandros Georgios IIX ruled for 58 years after his coronation at the age of seven- or, a council made up of the most important generals in the Army, the most important families in the Capital, and a representative from each of the Satraps (theyy adopted the persian practice), ruled for him, while the deformed emperor said what he needed to say in official ceremonies, having the words fed to him Effectively Georgios XII was a low point for emperors, with roughly the build and mental faculties of an obese five-year-old. After this, bloodletting for the succession began, and the decline began in earnest as dozens of emperors siezed and lost power and barbarians raided the entirety of the empire. In 210 the satraps of India seceeded from the Empire, declaring one of their own Emperor of India. In 237 Axum and Nubia followed suit. In 233 CE, a Wusun army broke down the walls of the capital, and the First Sacking of Alexandria took place. Southern Europe and North Africa were lost in the years following this. A Wusun general set up a puppet Alexandros after siezing the Capital of Alexandria in 247. The legitimate Alexandros then fled to Egypt, declaring himself Pharoah there. His brother fled to Macedon, and declared the Kingdom of Macedonia, controling Macedonia, Lydia, Ionia, and Greece, before his short-lived kingdom was overrun by the Quadi. Finally, in 288 CE, the Xiongnu siezed the capital from the new Wusun puppet, Alexander Phillip, and the general, Modu, declared himself Emperor. This is usually considered the fall of the Alexandrian Empire. The legacy of the Alexandrian Empire is myriad. It left its impact on statecraft, art, literature, and philosophy. the Hellenistic linguistic zone stretches across persia, southern Europe, and North Africa.

now a (crude) map

I hope I'm not too late.

For a great many centuries, man has dreamed of exploring the cosmos and discovering the wonders of the Universe. There was a burning passion to discover like-minded sentient beings somewhere in the vast reaches of outer space. Many a Science-fiction author have spun long tales of such a meeting as one between brethren and that the new alien technology would aid in the forging of a new era of peace, stability and prosperity.

However, this was not to be.

When the aliens did arrive, in the form of the Q'zularki, at a small Belgian village, the dreams of much of humanity were to be shattered forever, for these beings did not being messages of peace and solidarity but of war and exploitation. Instead of renewing the Earth, they burned the Ardennes to the ground. In their question of expansion and "inferior" humans for use as slaves and underpaid coolies, they quickly united the Low Countries with an iron fist and ferocity not seen since the time of Genghis Khan. They quickly launched a massive invasion of France with massive siege engines that made the Maginot Line look like a primitive barricade. The Nazi leadership of Germany was very enthusiastic about supporting the Q'zularki at first and Adolph Hitler himself was said to have congratulated their swift conquest of France and referred to them as the "Intergalactic Aryan race" and their new nation as the "Greater Alien Reich (GAR)". The name stuck. The Q'zularki responded by nuking Berlin, effectively decapitating Nazi leadership. In the ensuing chaos and panic, the Greater Alien Reich was able to step into the nation and seize it for themselves.

For the next new months, nation after nation fell to the awesome might of the Greater Alien Reich. Their massive armies and great technological prowess was used to their advantage in the subjugation of neighboring nations. Even the mighty Soviet Union was forced to concede much territory, including the city of Leningrad, effectively shutting it off from the Baltic. Stalin was assassinated just days before the end of the war by an Alien sharpshooter. He is replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union. He would institute various social and economic reforms and granted the writers and artists their freedom of expression just as in Lenin's time. Gay marriage was legalized and Lenin's New Economic Policy was put into practice. This not only helped the nation rebuild after the war but cemented it's place among the great powers. The last nations to fall to the Greater Alien Reich were Finland and Turkey in the Summer of 1940. However, by now the Alien troops were weary of the fighting and were now spread thin across the continent. After the Treaty of Rome officially ended the First Alien-Human War, these troops were now assigned to patrolling the borders of the vast new empire and to keep the peace within its borders as its new human subjects were not too pleased with the new regime as they were discriminated against and treated like chattel. Most were treated like (and were) slaves.

The now allied human states wasted no time in researching captured enemy blueprints and weaponry. The first state to successfully reverse-engineer alien technology was the United Kingdom in 1943. However, the first nation to effectively mass produce such technology would be the Soviet Union in 1947 with their latest assault rifle, the AK-47.

In 1954, with each member of the newly created Terran Alliance mass-producing simplified versions of alien technology and incorporating its use into their armed forces alongside better training, improved tactics and the implementation of conscription which filled the ranks of the Terran armed forces with large numbers of wager young men and women. On the 4th of July 1954, the Terran Alliance declared war on the Greater Alien Reich. In what can only be described as 6 years of blood, violence and madness, the Greater Alien Reich was completely taken by surprise and the Terran Alliance was able to reverse much of the alien gains in the last war. In 1960, both sides, now exhausted and bleeding dry, agreed to sign the Treaty of Marseilles, ending the Second Alien-Human War. The Greater Alien Reich was forces to make massive concessions to the now victorious Terran forces. Broken, bloodied and battered with much of their industry smashed, the hatred and ire of the Alien leadership fell on their human subjects and the nationalist partisans who had collaborated with and aided the advance of the Terran forces. However, without the manpower necessary, they were unable to quash these human revolts, especially those in the Balkans which were already de facto independent of the Greater Alien Reich. The Alien leadership was soon forced to recognize these partisans and reluctantly granted them their independence (The Greek partisans would rejoin Greece). These actions would cause an uproar in the Greater Alien Reich and what was seen as a liberal Overlord was soon overthrown in a violent coup and replaced by a young xenophobic radical. He began bringing in settlers from their home planet, Q'zlar and forced the human population to be implanted with microchips that could track them them where-ever they went and present the Alien authorities with the whereabouts of every human in the Greater Alien Reich. He forced them to also live in designated sections of cities, often times, run down slums. This discrimination was to carry on for the next decade or so.

In 1978, the "Homeland" policy was enacted whereby areas that still had a high human population were given autonomy and a degree of self-rule, at least on paper. In practice, the Homelands were less autonomous then ever directly integrated provinces as they had to answer directly to Brussels. While discrimination and xenophobia against human beings have subsided in recent years, few humans can obtain administrative positions. for example, in the French Homelands, out of the estimated 57 administrators, only 4 of them are human.

Then, there is the question of "hybrids". These were the result of sick attempts by the Greater Alien Reich to "cleanse" the human race by mixing Q'zularki and Human. The result was a horrifying, extremely violent and horribly disfigured wrecks who were mentally shattered but had obtained sheer brute strength. Through the introduction of enhanced sedatives, hallucinogens and other such drugs, the Greater Alien Reich was able to control and use the hybrids for the most menial and/or dangerous work. While hybrids and completely sterile, the GAR continues to produce more, mostly from captured rebels or prisoners. Today, roughly 12% of the total population of the Greater Alien Reich is hybrid.

It is now the year 1997. Despite undergoing massive economic contraction, a shortage of various ores and rare materials along with the slow decline of the Q'zularki population (Humans are set to be the majority by 2011) and enduring massive famines, the Greater Alien Reich proclaims itself as one of the most powerful nations in the world. It's military, now rotting away and badly maintained due to a chronic lack of funds, is hailed by propaganda outlets as the greatest on Earth. It's failing autarkic command economy is touted as being the best in the world. Only time can tell when the Greater Alien Reich will collapse, whether from below in a human-hybrid revolution or from above in the form of a violent coup or regime change. For now, the Greater Alien Reich remains a very real threat to world peace and stability due to its massive stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weaponry. However, it's crumbling economy, deteriorating armed forces along with record unrest and massive social upheaval are just key indicators that show the Greater Alien Reich is nothing more than a castle made of sand

Map in next post.

And here's the map