My read of the setting is that most of the polities with some amount of uptime relics are also trashfires though.
Crete is the main exception, and Egypt lead the pack among functional natives to adopt tech but they're just that, exceptions. Most uptimer polities are more like New Arizona than Crete and most downtimer polities aren't stable and strong enough to absorb change without destabilization like Egypt.
Yes, but New Arizona was especially bad even by Age of Rust standards. They were doing things like "kill 10-20% of the city's population as punishment for the most recent riot" on a relatively frequent basis.
Most Age of Rust Nations are trashfires to some degree, but not to the point of New Arizona, where it was basically fighting a nonstop war against the vast majority of its own population. Even West Anatolian Nations that have that problem at least have Downtimers tending towards being a minority or close to one.
We are obviously behind uptime relics. But what we have is a budding understanding of how to restart an industry from a downtime base and that's much more valuable to most of the states around the Mediterranean than relics they can't reproduce, even if it's less flashy.
That understanding is almost universal unfortunately and we do not even have the personnel that would be optimal for that, either on the construction end or the worker end. We do have stability and relative peace, so the army isn't eating everything/we have stable supply lines. But most any process engineer can design what we are doing with a few textbooks that they would generally have due to the sheer value. Furthermore, any process engineer is actually qualified to do the work we are doing at the highest levels/educated for it, instead of improvising off effectively undergrads without even original research experience much less more detailed work(with the exception of our chemist). If they can also bring actually educated labor into work, even better/they can fairly easily push further than us. We have worse expertise, a downtime industrial labor base, and Wikipedia as a database compared to textbooks.
It's not a case of uptime relics, those are far less relevant, it's a case of an uptime-educated labor and technical base. We have so far been forced to learn practically every single normally taught lesson with blood that we keep inefficiently throwing into imperfect machinery, but it's costing us workers, at every step. See the coal mines and their high casualty rates, we basically killed every puddle furnace operator/they will expire in the next few years, every chemical plant has an attrition rate, and the less said about our current iron industry the better.
That understanding is almost universal unfortunately and we do not even have the personnel that would be optimal for that, either on the construction end or the worker end. We do have stability and relative peace, so the army isn't eating everything/we have stable supply lines. But most any process engineer can design what we are doing with a few textbooks that they would generally have due to the sheer value. Furthermore, any process engineer is actually qualified to do the work we are doing at the highest levels/educated for it, instead of improvising off effectively undergrads without even original research experience much less more detailed work(with the exception of our chemist). If they can also bring actually educated labor into work, even better/they can fairly easily push further than us. We have worse expertise, a downtime industrial labor base, and Wikipedia as a database compared to textbooks.
It's not a case of uptime relics, those are far less relevant, it's a case of an uptime-educated labor and technical base. We have so far been forced to learn practically every single normally taught lesson with blood that we keep inefficiently throwing into imperfect machinery, but it's costing us workers, at every step. See the coal mines and their high casualty rates, we basically killed every puddle furnace operator/they will expire in the next few years, every chemical plant has an attrition rate, and the less said about our current iron industry the better.
Designing what we did and already having done it and knowing the most common pitfalls an uneducated workforce will fall into from experience are very different things though.
But yes, states who have more uptimers and thus more educated workers in general do have an advantage. Most of them are trashfires though. And I also don't think most uptime workers are used to working with the level of jury rigged tech they'll have to handle to start industry back up anyway.
From what we have seen, the other uptimer polities are still using downtimers as their workforce because, even if they have more uptimer workforce, they don't have enough to cover all posts. This fact, combined with the fact that most downtimers are (at best) second class citizens in this polities, suggests that they are suffering even more attrition than we are.
From what we have seen, the other uptimer polities are still using downtimers as their workforce because, even if they have more uptimer workforce, they don't have enough to cover all posts. This fact, combined with the fact that most downtimers are (at best) second class citizens in this polities, suggests that they are suffering even more attrition than we are.
With maybe the exception of the West Anatolian polities closest to the Tucson ruins, where there might be enough uptimers to run the factories if they make the downtimers do all the agricultural labor.
The two far larger issues we face relative to higher American percent states is that we do not actually have experienced personnel in industrial design or plant operation at any level, i.e. we lack graduate engineers of really any variety. The other one is that the difference between a weakly reading down timer that cannot do math outside counting is stark to an HS grad that can do algebra and read/understand manuals and follow them, plus have the experience of working around machinery/not have to be taught a practically inbuilt standard of the industry/being around machinery from no context.
It also doesn't take much for a state to have enough up timers for specific industrial labor which will let them go far far far further than we can in the next half-decade until our rushed probably heavily science-focused secondary Ed can start producing graduates that are worse in general, but competitive in specific industrial applications. Our entire industrial workforce is likely smaller than 10k across the republic, if not far smaller, and nowhere near all of them have to be uptime to gain massive improvements in efficiency especially in a period of rapid technique change/core learning skills being critical on a workforce level.
What we do however have is a stable area with stable logistical networks and time to build up industry outside of the real threat of anyone striking directly at the industrial base. Plus, this is combined with our people actually approving of the government which saves a mass of resources/lets us actually use the massive downtimer population. This leads to education/the math around it, in that we need to replace our Americans with downtimers and are one of I think the only states with a long-term capacity to sustain an educated base, especially if a university can be established and work long enough to close the loop of needing more graduates.
Yeah frantically plowing 12 dice a turn into education is what I think our main priority should be whenever there isn't an immediate existential crisis like war/famine/plague actively happening that needs the dice instead. We're in a race against mortality to get a self-sustaining college level educational base going before our handful of college-educated uptimers are too dead to pass on their knowledge to downtimers, and it takes like 15+ years of education to really make a fresh nerd.
Helps that schools are a cheap place to park dice, too, but even if/when it gets expensive (facilities and ESPECIALLY faculty for tertiary education probably) I still think it should remain a top priority because it's THE thing that will make sure our state survives more than the 20-30 years our Americans have left. If we don't have a robust downtimer based educational system that fully self-sustains its own teacher inputs by then, then we're really fucked.
Helps that schools are a cheap place to park dice, too, but even if/when it gets expensive (facilities and ESPECIALLY faculty for tertiary education probably) I still think it should remain a top priority because it's THE thing that will make sure our state survives more than the 20-30 years our Americans have left. If we don't have a robust downtimer based educational system that fully self-sustains its own teacher inputs by then, then we're really fucked.
We are already doing pretty well though. Getting everyone literate means people can actually start writing down their skills. Then you just need people to collect that knowledge and teach it. Even better we can actually have some higher educated Uptimers teach when we don't desperately need them to administer because the downtimers have at least learned enough basic literacy and numeracy to do that.
Not really, best we can do is keep building as many schools as we can reasonably staff (note reasonable is very flexible when it comes to qualifications) and hope we get enough grads to both staff our industries and new schools for our growong population.
Hopefully we can keep getting uptimer immigrants to shove into classrooms
You can do focused education for specific subjects, but a proper education will take years, you can shock labor knowledge, but it's hard to shock labor understanding. The real reason I see to shock construct schools is that even if they aren't good quality, the foundation they lay is arguably more important than anything else. If the knowledge the Americans have, even if it's argued that others have better, is lost, it will be crippling.
Curiosity is universal - provide the means for downtimers to learn, and inevitably many will learn no matter the difficulty. Universalized public education is a trait of a later age than the one we are technologically working with, though of course there's nothing wrong with getting a head start.
However, when it comes to preserving the nucleus of uptime knowledge, a smaller subset of the most interested and best performing downtimers is sufficient to not lose anything and start filling in the gaps - much akin to the age of natural philosophers. In the meantime, expanding communication networks and literacy will allow that nucleus to expand into a reignition of modern science.
An imperfect solution in many ways, but I think it's resistant to dissolution. From there we can begin enhancing the basic public education into something more familiar (or better, preferably), once parents are teaching children to read instead of our strained resources teaching people of all ages.
What we need is to get some sort, any sort, of post-secondary education and formalized R&D institutions going. This is when we'll be able to create new skilled personnel and truly generate knowledge, and be able to solve the technical challenges we face in a way beyond "find the one uptimer who did something like this before the event and have them drill the peasants". It's clearly a long road to get there, but we need to hurry down it.
By the way, just how high IS the uptimer population of the republic roughly, and how many uptimers survived the event in total?
I believe the amount of Uptimers that survived the aftermath of the ISOT and most of the large-scale die-offs immediately after it was something like 300,000 out of around 800,000. By 20 AE in canon, the American population had boomed to 500,000, but it'll probably be smaller TTL thanks to the disruption caused by Smallpox and the West Anatolian conflicts.
The Popular Republic started this Quest with around 100 or so Americans, and now I think has a population of somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 Americans, with a few (very vague on how many "few" is) hundred arriving every turn thanks to the West Anatolian wars meaning everyone's trying to get out.
Man has always been subject to the whims of the gods. It is shown throughout history that no matter their station man has always feared and warded away disaster, and he has always wanted security from disaster. Farms to fend off famine, dams to fend off drought, levies to fend off flood. It is this organized change to their environment that sets man apart from animals and the whims of the gods, and what invites their wrath.
The gods view the earth as their own domain! Their mastery over it enables them great and powerful control over the very environment, we are but pests amongst their fields, tolerable as long as we give tribute in ritual, as we are needful for their goodwill. But their whims are capricious, the rituals they desire never enough to fully sate them, they demand more and more tribute from man like a lord their taxes. They see man try to improve their lot, protect against the god's power, and so send punishment for his 'hubris'!
And what can we men do? We are but specks to them, unable to fight back against the power Gaia holds in her bosom. Men, despairing at his impotence, look upon the domination of the gods and see no way to fight back, and so this leads man to imitate them, to grasp at the smallest amount of power to gain security.
This grasping for power, for security from disaster leads to hierarchy, leading men to mimic the gods in their whims. As the gods throw their spite and tantrums at man, the ruler siphons man's work to protect himself to his own ends, neglecting the protection of society as a whole. Feasts for his court, in imitation of the gods' bacchanalia. This grasp for security and power causes those the rulers steal from yet more suffering and insecurity, and this, like the god's whims, was accepted as natural and right.
However, comrades, this need not any more be, with the event and the coming of the Americans we have been shown the solution to both gods and rulers! In their society of the future they had found ways to supplant the gods, they speak of a society that made food for the entire world, they had the power to do away with disease, and machines to do every task the common laborer struggles with! And though they still had rulers, they knew of a solution to them as well.
Communism! A stateless, classless, godless society. One with no need to bow and scrape to rulers or gods; each man may give to his neighbor what he needs, and receive what he needs in return, as every man has more than enough for himself, his family, and others beside.
This is done not through rituals to the gods, but through rituals for man! Using the tools Prometheus taught us to make, which The Earthshaker punished him for, burning him into coal and iron, and human labor, which the gods would rather be used in ritual for them, we create the great ritual of Industry!
Industry is not just one great ritual, it is composed of many small rituals, each done across society, which grants instead of spiritual energy for the gods, material energy for a world free of hunger, of disease, of toil and struggle!
This is the Promise of Prometheus, comrades! This is what he was sealed in his fiery tomb for, and what his Makhina escaped to share. A new world is in birth comrades! Through coal and fire and steel, in your children's children's lifetime there will be no more famine or plague, men will die of old age, celebrated by friends and family instead of mourned for their early passing! The power of Industry is in your hands! It is yours to build! Onwards, for the future!
General Jessica Myers-Wilson took a sip of wine as she waited for the others to take their seat at the dining table.
At first glance one might assume this was a friendly gathering, after all she was in the dining room of her longtime friend Randy Hayes, having dinner with Hayes husband, Itaja, and a number of other associates and acquaintances. Though in reality the meeting was far from a casual gathering, indeed entire policies could be made tonight if things went well. The room was crowded with a number of important people, priestesses, American and Cretan senators, and even Yun Shi-Eun had pulled herself away from her work for this occasion.
The Sicilian Rebellions were largely over, the last rebel 'king' of any notes was in chains and most organized resistance had dissolved, surrendered or simply died out from disease or lack of food. It wasn't a victory worth celebrating, most of the island was basically a graveyard at this point, but a victory nevertheless.
And with any victory came spoils and the question of how to divide those spoils.
The room finally gathered, all eyes focusing on Jessica as they waited for her message.
"Alright, tentatively, and I mean tentatively," Jessica emphasized, "The Anax is willing to agree to almost all of your requests. Not in writing of course, we're not there yet."
Jessica had been doing backroom deals for her wife well before she was even Anax. While Rachel was the one who built the smuggling operation in Troy, it was Jessica and Aranare who were making plans for weeks before they even suggested such a thing to Rachel.
As Anax, there were things that Rachel needed done that her name couldn't be attached to, and on a personal level for Jessica, there were things her wife was better off not knowing the full details of.
The ugly business on Sicily was far from over, as much as Jessica wished otherwise, Anti-partisan warfare would be a thing for months more if not years. And even in areas where things were relatively calm, there would still be forced relocations, many remaining villages would likely be cleared out and forced to resettle in Palermo.Rachel wasn't blind to that, but Jessica would rather not subject her wife to the details if she could. The suffering in Sicily had caused her enough strain as it is.
"Yun, you will get first you have first pick on sulfur mines on the island, with exclusive rights for 50 years," Jessica went on.
"Yes!" Yun replied, pumping her fist in excitement.
"Security will be paramount," Jessica cautioned, "Most of the Sulphur despots are near where the worst of the rebellions occurred, we'll have troops to protect the mines of course but you need to be prepared for saboteurs."
"Well I guess hiring any of the locals is out of the question," Yun muttered to herself, "Maybe I could make an arrangement with the King of Malta, give him some of those cannons he's been asking for in exchange for letting me hire laborers."
They needed that sulfur so there wasn't a doubt in Jessica's mind that no one in the senate would protest protecting the mines with a large garrison, and Yun may have been half mad but she wouldn't be alive today if she wasn't competent.
Jessica turned her attention towards the traditionally dressed priestess who's stare was threatening to bore holes in Jessica's head.
"Rhea, the Anax is willing to let you expand Poppy cultivation to Sicily," Jessica stated, "But the coastal regions aren't exactly suitable so we're advising you wait until the interior has calmed down. Talk with the agriculture advisors, they'll know more."
Expanding their poppy fields was triple edged sword in Jessica's opinion, The Priesthoods loved it because of its religious importance, it created a lucrative but stubbornly hard to control drug trade, and it provided useful but dangerously addictive
Jessica wanted to burn every field but that simply wasn't possible.
"What about-" Priestess Rhea began
"No" Jessica cut her off sharply.
"Really?" The Priestess protested, "the Anax is not even willing to consider this-"
"No, she is not." Jessica replied coldly, "And considering we're going to be spending decades fixing Kikera's mistake, I have no idea why you would want to provoke the natives even further."
The mention of the much hated Kikera was enough to get every pair of eyes to shift towards Rhea, who was shaking from barely contained rage.
"Kikera was a madwoman and a borderline heretic," Rhea said tersely, "All we wish is for the temples of Ariadne in Sicily to be able to properly enact their duties in a traditional manner."
"I seem to recall the Temples of the Anasso practiced child sacrifice in times of great distress," Jessica replied, "The Anax ended that evil, just as she intends to end the evil of slavery."
If there was one advantage to every horrible thing that went down in Sicily is that it gave Rachel and Jessica some leeway against the worst parts of the priesthood, particularly on more controversial issues like slavery.
"Her grace has allowed us to maintain our traditional sources of labor," Rhea said, her voice wavering.
"Maintain, not expand," Jessica cut her off. "You will have your temples all across Sicily, even in Palermo, you will have your fields, and Sicily will belong to the gods and goddesses of our great island in time. You don't need slaves to make that happen."
Rhea stared at her for a long moment before the tension vanished from her back as she sighed in defeat.
"Very well, I will advise my peers to accept the Anax's requirements," Rhea said with a nod.
"Alright," Jessica nodded before turning her attention elsewhere, "Itaja, we're willing to expand the port at Atlas and we can get you in contact with the Nuragics but we can't ensure a trade deal. Promising something on their behalf would piss off most of Sardinia."
Nuragic Sardinia was a downtime power relatively untouched by the Event, though tech trade with Crete had naturally given the Dual Kingdom some influence on the island. Jessica was certain that eventually her wife and much of the Senate would want Sardinia as part of the Kingdom, at least under their influence. But that was a long term goal, one that could hopefully be accomplished peacefully.
While she still took pride in her position as General, part of Jessica now hoped that she would never see another land war in her lifetime outside of Rhodes. Even she couldn't stomach another Sicily.
"Just opening the door is help enough," Itaja nodded.
"Alright then, Senator Matthews" Jessica turned to the short, balding Senator with a patchy brown and red beard, "I can fast track the immigration process for your old buddies and their families from the Emergency Commission, they'll set up in Atlas."
"You'll give them what I asked?" Senator Mattews questioned.
Sometimes bribes were the best way to get something done. Senator Mattews was one of the strongest American voices in the senate that didn't come from Rachel's inner circle. He had been a pain in the ass when it came to getting relief to Sicily when the famine hit but thankfully this time, chaos in Anatolia had left him with some friends in dire need of a new place to live.
"Yes, they'll get a generous stipend, an allotment of land within the city walls and access to some of the best builders in the kingdom," Jessica assured him, "provided they don't cause any problems, and prove even remotely useful, they could have very well off lives in Atlas."
"Very good," Mattews nodded, "though I had hoped they could move somewhere close by."
"Have they changed their mind about keeping their faith private?" Jessica questioned.
"No," Mattews shook his head.
"Then Atlas is the best I can offer." she shrugged.
Bringing a dozen devout Baptists to Crete would set off a political firestorm with every priesthood, to say nothing of Rachel's own general disdain for conservative christians.
"Alright," Jessica said, hands clasped in front of her, "I've made it clear what your Anax is willing to do for you. Now let's talk about what you can do for your Anax."
Jessica's phrasing earned a few eye rolls from the Americans among the group. She ignored them as she took another small sip of wine.
"Alright, despite our victory, we find ourselves in a rather complicated situation" Jessica said, mentally going through the brief speech she had prepared. "We hold Sicily but we still need to secure it, nazis plague the Aeagan and Italy itself, and we still have a number of diplomatic open wounds we need to treat. We can solve all of these issues, with your help."
"What is the Anax asking of us?" Priestess Rhea asked.
"For starters, a comprehensive aid package for Sicily. Palermo needs to be rebuilt and survivors and settlers alike need food and shelter." Jessica explained, "In a few days, Kiya is going to propose an aid deal in the Senate, you will all have time to look it over before the vote but we would very much like it to pass this time."
"The last aid package was proposed during the worst harvest since the Cold Summers, we needed to look after our own people first." Senator Mattews said defensively.
"But it will pass this time, right?" she asked
Senator Mattews nodded, "I won't be able to give a firm opinion until I see the proposal but I see no reason to object this time."
Jessica bit her lip. Kikera may have set the fire but Mattews and a number of others fuelled when they denied Rachel's aid package. Thousands were dead because of them, and she couldn't say a damn thing to them, not now anyways.
"And I assume the Anax wishes for more funding for the navy?" Itaja remarked as he swirled around a drink in his silver goblet.
"I know the ironclad wasn't cheap but while it's going to be a game changer when it launches, it can't win the war on its own," Jessica explained, "We need to strangle Rhodes and the Reich before that stupid flag of theirs is flown all over Italy."
"The pirates hurt our people, our trade, and those we would trade with," Rhea replied, "rallying the people against them will be a trivial matter."
While a few unsavory elements, thankfully largely dealt with, had dealings with Rhodes, most on the island were coming to loathe the Nazis for a myriad of reasons. Getting more funding for the navy shouldn't be too hard.
"The axe should absolutely make mince meat of the pirates though, like it will utterly slaughter them in combat" Yun spoke up, "I did design its cannons after all."
"No one is denying its potential," Jessica clarified, "that ship is a revolution."
"Okay, good," Yun replied, her ego appeased.
"Now, most importantly, the Anax needs a favor from all of you for this next part," Jessica said calmly, "We need to stop stalling negotiations with the Popular Republic."
Thankfully no one shouted at this, while most in Crete weren't fans of Mycenae,they had come to at least tolerate their northern neighbor. The utter curb stomping that New Arizona suffered had made it rather clear to many that PRM was here to stay for the time being and was a power in its own right.
"I'm confused," Mattews spoke up, "You're the one who pushed for the senate to stall out negotiations."
Jessica nodded, "Yes but that was when 80% of Sicily was on fire and we were fighting actual kings. If we negotiated then, the Central Committee could have taken advantage of that and tried to force us to give up control of Sicily as part of any long term agreement."
Mattews nodded in understanding.
"Now that's no longer an option," Jessica went on, "Between the Zeroth Reich and the general state of the island, there's no way they could even try to force us off the island. So now is the time to secure a proper relationship with them."
This was the main reason Jessica had made so many deals and even organized this meeting in the first place. For Rachel's plans to work they not only needed the Senate, they needed to make sure the priesthoods didn't vocally object to making deals with priest slaughtering Communists.
"What exactly are you after?" Yun questioned. "An alliance?"
That drew a scandalous look from Mattews.
"They wouldn't go for that even if we were interested in such a thing," Jessica assured the group, "But we need real peace, safe borders, more trade, and hopefully help with the Nazis."
Jessica didn't share her wife's sympathies with those on the far left but the PRM were clearly competent at rulership and she knew from personal experience they know how to fight. Not a group she wanted as an enemy.
"But they would force us to give up the Anax's claim on Mycenae." Rhea said.
"We don't hold Mycenae," Jessica observed, "I was able to claim Southern Achaea and Sicily though. I think those are worth far more than one city."
It was bragging for sure, bragging Jessica knew she didn't deserve. She and Yun had been stumbling around Achaea half of the time during the first conflict and even during the early days of the war with Sicily, the difference in tech had made the actual battles little more than a metaphorical seal clubbing.
Still being able to club a seal made her better than half of the so-called military leaders around considering the brutal slugfest that much of Anatolia had turned into.
"So if we give up the claim on the Lion city, in exchange we'll get them to acknowledge our rulership of Sicily?" Rhea said.
"For starters, yeah," Jessica nodded, "Though I know my wife wants a lot more out of any deal with Popular Republic."
"Dual Kingdom of Crete and Sicily does sound a lot cooler than the old title." Yun mused.
Nuragic Sardinia was a downtime power relatively untouched by the Event, though tech trade with Crete had naturally given the Dual Kingdom some influence on the island. Jessica was certain that eventually her wife and much of the Senate would want Sardinia as part of the Kingdom, at least under their influence. But that was a long term goal, one that could hopefully be accomplished peacefully.
Damn they really watched their own policies reduce Sicily to a depopulated wasteland then said "ok but this time we'll definitely just peacefully assimilate them"
What we need is to get some sort, any sort, of post-secondary education and formalized R&D institutions going. This is when we'll be able to create new skilled personnel and truly generate knowledge, and be able to solve the technical challenges we face in a way beyond "find the one uptimer who did something like this before the event and have them drill the peasants". It's clearly a long road to get there, but we need to hurry down it.
By the way, just how high IS the uptimer population of the republic roughly, and how many uptimers survived the event in total?
We will probably not make a dedicated RND institution for a long long while and generating knowledge is likely mostly out of the question except as a deeply secondary effect. ISOT happened almost fourteen years ago and we are only just now getting primary school classes up. This is also some of the earliest primary school classes so effectively we have the smallest pool of that leading generation for these assumptions. In four years(18 After ISOT) they will be going through what we could call incomplete secondary education which will get them to a point that, if we favor STEM in education as hard as the USSR they can go into industrial work to replace our deeply limited stocks of US HS grads on a one-to-one basis. And to note this is going to be the first generation through it, it will be small, there will be dropouts, and we will lack the mass to be picky on who we advance further into the system. The link below about demonstrates the content that they will learn, assuming a similarly lean and us desperately trying to shovel them into whatever industry US high school grads are retiring from.
The trade-educated/specialized polytechnic educated can then be split from the academic track so as to be useful to us as quickly as possible and to salvage the lower end of our student stream. As with a one to two-year hands-on near apprenticeship course in industry, they can become valuable workers that can then be directly tossed into the economy. This also makes the lowest age of employment 15-16 rather than those immediately out of incomplete secondary ed even if it is technically optional.
Those that we expect to go to university can also go through a further one to the two-year program as listed on that pdf so that they can at least know calculus/a solid basis in the sciences up to org chem/calculus-enabled physics before electrics. This can be done as an integrated system to a University, turning a bachelor's equivalent into a five-year program if condensed and stripped of electives. This is going to be necessary because at that point it will be 23 years after ISOT to produce a bachelor's equivalent graduate. An actual graduate degree that pursues independent research or design projects, assuming they go fairly quickly and we even have any form of instructors, will likely involve a further three years at the minimum, assuming they are fast, motivated, and can get funding to do it. This is just for the leading classes of students, the ones that are smaller and have far less statistical variation to draw upon we might be able to produce someone that has direct experience with independent development projects in 26 years after ISOT. Our supply of Americans is going to have to basically retire into teaching positions to keep all of this going, and it still might not be enough to completely close the gap and make a system that can supply itself.
While generating novel innovations is extremely unlikely, I think we might be able to manage fill-in-the-blank research of partially lost knowledge. A casual user's information about what the innovation is supposed to be and do + the Wikipedia cache is enough to battery test available leads.
This is also excellent practice for full scientific reignition, about two generations down the line.
Damn they really watched their own policies reduce Sicily to a depopulated wasteland then said "ok but this time we'll definitely just peacefully assimilate them"
I mean part of the thing is Sicily was caused to a great extent by bad luck and bad actors that they can easily convince themselves that this time will be different.
I mean part of the thing is Sicily was caused to a great extent by bad luck and bad actors that they can easily convince themselves that this time will be different.
The best thing to do would be gaining trust, while eventually claiming the land but allow the Sardinians to rule the island with certain conditions, while allowing them to have a voice in the senate. Not perfect and has may problems but could avoid what happened in Sicily
You know, I really wonder if we can send some volunteers to the ACAB coast. With Bolt Action rifles now entering our pros hands, sending people over to test them out and see how we can make it work in war would be prudent. Last thing we want to do is have Ioclus pull off an Isandlwana on us because we never realized that Higher Rate of Fire = More ammunition needed.
You know, I really wonder if we can send some volunteers to the ACAB coast. With Bolt Action rifles now entering our pros hands, sending people over to test them out and see how we can make it work in war would be prudent. Last thing we want to do is have Ioclus pull off an Isandlwana on us because we never realized that Higher Rate of Fire = More ammunition needed.
I don't know how serious the idea was but I know people on the discord we're floating around the idea of arranging for Crete's involvement in dealing with Troy as part of negotiations with them.
Trevor Patterson was a man of modest ambition, he had done what he could to advance himself both before and after the Event, but he was always keenly aware of his limits. Perhaps that is why, for better or worse, he was named the Popular Republic of Mycenae's ambassador to Crete.
Patterson had been there almost since the beginning, he and his family had followed Chalen Baxter to Mycenae a decade ago. He had watched as Chalen and the others conspired against the cruel Wanax, seeing the Popular Republic go from a simple idea born of frustration to a full fledged reality.
When the dust had settled, Baxter offered him a job as an advisor to the Central Committee. A position with little actual power but considerable influence. Patterson took the job eagerly, ready to lend his voice to the Popular Republic. He soon knew the entire Central Committee and much of its support staff on a first name basis, getting along reasonably well with most everyone.
But getting along well with someone didn't do Patterson much good politically. He had always been closer to Baxter and his allies then Gordon or Frexia. Patterson's step-father had been a proud Union man, back when that really meant something. And seeing workers rights fall so far over the years had pushed Patterson more and more to the left as he grew older. But there was still a vast gulf between where he stood and where people like Gordon stood.
That wasn't to say he opposed what the Popular Republic had become, whatever his disagreements with Gordon or Aitana, they were good people who treated Patterson and his family with respect and fairness. Better a thousand of them than any of those brutes in New Washington. Patterson was loyal to the revolution and the Republic, few could doubt that, but he was a voice of moderation in a state that had little use for such a thing.
After Shaw took power and Baxter was forced into retirement, Patterson went from a respected voice among the council to all but ignored, any influence he had faded rapidly as the more moderate voices were drowned out on the Committee.
Trevor wasn't surprised when he was offered the role of Ambassador to Crete, it was an acknowledgement of his skills as a negotiator and salesman,a reward for his years of service to the Popular Republic, and an easy way for the Central Committee to completely remove him from politics.
Trevor didn't mind all that much, in truth, he had long ago given up his hopes of getting onto the Central Committee, and as a man in his fifties, a good run as ambassador to an important power was probably the only way he had left of making a real name for himself before his age caught up with him.
And Crete proved hospitable enough, the Anax setting up Trevor, his wife Abigail, and their twenty year old son Tristan in a decent sized home, complete with a courtyard and a small garden. Close enough that he could see the main palace-complex every morning when he woke up, and well away from the construction and remodeling that was taking up most of the outer edges of Knossos these days.
The actual job was frustrating and confusing. The Anax herself was perfectly civil, even downright friendly at times, and she'd gone out of her way to make sure Tristan felt comfortable and no one mistreated or misgendered him. And for that, Trevor was beyond grateful.
As for the rest, most of the Americans surrounding the Anax seemed since, as nice as the ultra-rich and powerful (by post-Event standards) could get at least. The rest of the Americans on the island ran the whole spectrum from almost decent to greedy scumbags. Locals were a different story, the priestesses kept him at arm's length while most of the lords were only interested in trying to make trade deals with Mycenae, the common workers largely viewing him and the whole embassy as a curiosity they had largely lost interest in.
The whole kingdom was utterly absurd to Trevor, its politics a mismatch between an oligarchy and pre-Event Iran, mixed together with a college student's idea of a socially progressive welfare state. All with an absurd monarchy placed on top. That it endured baffled him, that it actually seemed to be thriving was even more absurd.
As for the actual job, Patterson found being ambassador to be a frustrating experience, most of his time was spent dealing with angry fishermen and merchants who were convinced Myceane had violated their rightful fishing grounds or trade routes (Jacob desperately wanted to strangle whoever introduced the concept of territorial waters to this island) or dining with various senators in a seemingly futile struggle to get Crete to formally renounce it's claim on Mycenae. Then there was the utter agony of having to walk on pins and needles when it came to subject of Sicily, least he offend his hosts by implying they were committing genocide, which would be immediately countered by twenty-five different excuses.
It had its interesting days though, like when news of New Arizona's destruction reached Crete, which was publicly met with mute response but privately Jacob and his family spent the night celebrating with the Anax and a few of their friends who seemed quite pleased to be rid of those assholes.
Today was another interesting day, as Ambassador Patterson had found himself invited to the launching of Tyche's Axe, the world's first Ironclad warship.
The ambassador stared the vessel as it waited on the slipway. It was a curious sight to behold, at first glance one might argue it was primitive or out of date, the metal sheen of it's hull didn't change the fact that it was largely constructed out of wood, something the Popular Republic had moved passed, and while it's broadside looked impressive, Patterson had seen Cretan ships with similar armaments before. Then one noticed the funnel towards the center of the ship. Tyche's Axe was not only one of the first steamships to be built since the Event, it was also armored. The vessel that brought Patterson to Crete may have been metal but a rifle shot could have punched a hole in it, meanwhile Tyche's sides were said to bounce cannon balls. Tyche's Axe was a game changer, and Crete knew it.
The vessel's launch was surrounded by celebration, The earlier parts of the day had been filled with various religious festivals and even now Patterson could hear the sounds of vendors selling food and the distant shouts from nearby sporting events.
On a personal level, the sight of the ship left Trevor uneasy. Crete built it to fight Rhodes and its pirates and the ambassador had no doubt it would be effective at that. His concern was what came after.
Trevor Patterson was not a naval expert, indeed he had never even been on a ship until Baxter convinced him to get on that trading ship and sail to Myceane, but he knew enough to understand that while the vessel before him wasn't indestructible, it did have an edge, one it could likely hold for a few years.
'And what would a nation like Crete do with such an edge once Rhodes is no longer a threat?' Patterson wondered. 'What if they're able to keep that edge with the next ship, what then?'
"Ahh, Ambassador, glad to see you made it." The voice of General Jessica Myers-Wilson distracted Patterson
Trevor turned to see the General and her Daughter, Kiya, approaching. Jessica was dressed in a purple Cretan officer's uniform, complete with a polished cuirass, a lion's pelt draped over one shoulder. Kiya Wilson by contrast was dressed in a modified version of a traditional Cretan dress, the skirt layered with red and blue cloth.
"Ah, general, senator, lovely to see you," Patterson greeted politely.
He found their royal titles to be utterly absurd and did their best to avoid using them whenever he could.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Jessica asked, "You should check out the food when you get the chance, my brother has a stand that's selling some pretty bomb tamales."
"I'll try and check them out later." Patterson replied.
Alex Myers did have one of the better restaurants in Knossos.
"By yourself today?" Kiya questioned, her voice more stiff and formal then her mother's.
"Abigail and Tristan are catching a soccer game," Patterson explained.
Trying to pull his son away from watching women's soccer would have been impossible. Tristan may have been twenty but he still acted like a teenager sometimes around girls.
"Ah," Kiya replied, her face unreadable.
"Where is your mom?" Patterson asked.
It was curious that the Anax's wife and daughter had come out to meet him while she was nowhere to be seen.
"She is currently meeting with Captain Widinu and the vessel's crew," Kiya explained.
"They didn't want me getting too involved," Jessica explained, "They get annoyed when anyone in the army starts stepping on the navy's turf, even if I did help build the navy in the first place. So Kiya offered to walk around with me."
Patterson nodded.
"So you're certain your message will reach Myceane in time?" Jessica questioned, her expression getting a touch serious.
"Yes," Patterson nodded, "The Central Committee likely already knows."
"Good," Jessica said, flashing a smile, "We're just showing off, we don't want to cause an incident."
"You certainly have reason to show off," Patterson admitted.
"I'm just glad we're ahead for once," Jessica smirked, "You have no idea how many times I've had to listen to Yun rant about how you guys had just revolutionized firearms overnight, again. She practically locked herself in her lab for most of a month when we first heard you developed percussion caps."
We're not for her tone, Patterson would swear that the general was trying to play at something but her overall manner was rather disarming.
"It's amazing how much has changed so quickly," Patterson replied as he stared off at the horizon, "Feels like just yesterday we're fighting with bronze spears and cannons we made out of trees."
"I feel that," Jessica nodded thoughtfully, "I have to remind myself sometimes it's been over a decade since I got here. I still remember when I was eating MREs in the back of a houseboat that was utterly unsuited for the open seas."
"Back of my neighbor's pick-up and jerky for me. I still sometimes wake up smelling the stuff," Patterson replied.
"Really?" Kiya questioned, "That feels like a lifetime ago for me."
"Not surprised, my son feels much the same way," Patterson remarked.
Ten years for a child and ten years for an adult were drastically different things. Pretty soon there would be a generation of adults for whom everything before the Event is little more than a strange dream they once had.
Patterson turned back to the vessel.
"So," he remarked, "this is the warship that's gonna break the Nazis."
"That's the goal," Jessica replied as she leaned on the rail. "With any luck, next time we see here, she'll have sent hundreds of those bastards to an early grave beneath the waves."
Patterson found himself staring at the ship, imagining what it could do.
"You know we're not planning on turning it on Mycenae when we're done, right?" Jessica teased, seemingly sensing Patterson's worries.
"I know," he replied quickly.
"We both have enough enemies as it is, and many in the Royal Court and the Senate want peaceful relations with Myceane," Jessica tried to assure him.
"It pleases me to hear that, though I'm not sure many on the Central Committee agree," Patterson replied earnestly, "Our politics are rather far apart and many still remember our last war quite well."
Rather far apart was putting it delicately, Crete had many systems and practices that Patterson considered backwards if not outright barbaric. But that's not something he could say to to the wife of the nation's ruler, not with so many people around
"I remember it quite well myself," Jessica replied. "As far as I am concerned, I was at war with Myceane's Wanax, not you or any of the others."
Patterson remembered the end of the war rather well, he had been a bit far in the back when the treaty was signed but he could still picture Jessica on one side of the former Wanax's dining table, dressed in a old Army uniform and Lion skin cape, sitting across from Aitana, Gordon and Mathis as they hashed out a peace agreement, a wounded Baxter watching the whole thing unfold.
She had a point, they had been nominally serving the Wanax until the day of the coup, and Crete was signing a peace with them the next day. Arguably the Popular Republic itself had only civil relations with Crete. And Crete was one of the few powers to not condemn them as the aggressors in their war against the slavers of New Arizona.
"That is a fair point," Patterson replied, "And you're right, we both have enough enemies as it is."
Patterson wasn't sure what to think, he wanted peace as much as Jessica seemed to but he knew from personal correspondence many in the Popular Republic had become quite confident in the wake of their stunning victory. While Crete had a distinctly powerful weapon that even the Popular Republic would take a few years to match.
He didn't think war was inevitable or even likely, but things on both sides were not actively conducive to a civil diplomatic relationship.
Patterson's gaze shifted towards Kiya Wilson who was watching him quietly, her face an unreadable mask.
And course there was the question of what the next generation would do. He wanted peace and so did the Anax it seemed, but what would their successors want?
"You shouldn't worry so much," Jessica said as she observed his scowling features, "The complicated stuff will come later, today's a day for celebration."
