I am going to disagree with you there . Partially because I come at this form a viewpoint focused on robustness to crisis, ability to respond to mass death and long term competency correction. Purely Accountable governments are, in the long run, better than Purely Competent Governments. Very often the competency is exaggerated.
Here the competency simply isn't exaggerated. The states that manage to preserve most of Tucsons rapidly decaying know-how will be the ones dominating the future of this world.
Of course that doesn't mean that you have to treat the downtimers as serfs or behave like a butcher but just because it is wrong doesn't mean that its not effective. At least for a while.
In the long run the states who now create the foundation for cooperation with the downtimers are better off. We just shouldn't forget that the downtimers aren't necessarily opposed to concepts like slavery or aristocracy.
The real strength of more inclusive states is going to be growth. If a state manages to turn downtimers and their kids into loyal, educated citizens its going to rapidly outgrow any of the aristocratic projects.
Here the competency simply isn't exaggerated. The states that manage to preserve most of Tucsons rapidly decaying know-how will be the ones dominating the future of this world.
Of course that doesn't mean that you have to treat the downtimers as serfs or behave like a butcher but just because it is wrong doesn't mean that its not effective. At least for a while.
In the long run the states who now create the foundation for cooperation with the downtimers are better off. We just shouldn't forget that the downtimers aren't necessarily opposed to concepts like slavery or aristocracy.
The real strength of more inclusive states is going to be growth. If a state manages to turn downtimers and their kids into loyal, educated citizens its going to rapidly outgrow any of the aristocratic projects.
Yeah, the most important factor for long term strength is a combination of ability to incorporate new citizens (not just downtimers but also various uptimers who may now hate each other), foster unity amongst its people and both maintain and create knowledge. Luckily (or unluckily as it maybe) the American Cultural Package is actually pretty good at all of these things, especially the first one. Which means the group which starts the steamroller will have plenty of advantages.
Flawed democracy is a very flexible term. Especially if we look at the South...
Leadership that is not based on bloodlines but on some form of (ideally somewhat meritocratic) peaceful popular approval process is certainly superior in the long run. Most of the stable models won't be very democratic though. If you limit the franchise beyond a certain point I would hesitate to call it even a flawed democracy.
Currently the Tucsonans are the only population group that really matters in terms of stability. So for the next few decades the guys with the guns and the steel are going to form a quasi-aristocracy that every ruler has to please. The best way to achieve that is of course some form of democracy for the uptimers.
Spartan , Confederate or Roman LARPERs (sadly) are a perfectly viable model due to the gigantic disparity between the Tucsonans and the downtimers.
Things will get interesting once the downtimers have catched up somewhat. The wannabe Spartans might consider a more democratic approach when the Helots start shooting back.
Democracy is rather complicated in this situation. The biggest problems is the lack of instutional experience. Most states are run by people who before event didn't have anything resembling government experience. Added to that a lot of the first states didn't really recover any texts on how to a government until considerable time had passed, since other things took priority. And you have the complication of running a Democracy in time period when tech is very schizo and part of your population is bronze age peasents. But none of that means that Democracy is non-viable in this situation. Doesn't mean that it's easy either. This is stuff I'll get into later but to reiterate a point made in the last update, people learned from New America what they wanted to learn.
And yeah Tucsonians, this is basically the time Tucsonians get to be stupid because of the sheer advantage they have the only real competition they have in Antaolia at least is each other.
Democracy is rather complicated in this situation. The biggest problems is the lack of instutional experience. Most states are run by people who before event didn't have anything resembling government experience. Added to that a lot of the first states didn't really recover any texts on how to a government until considerable time had passed, since other things took priority. And you have the complication of running a Democracy in time period when tech is very schizo and part of your population is bronze age peasents. But none of that means that Democracy is non-viable in this situation. Doesn't mean that it's easy either. This is stuff I'll get into later but to reiterate a point made in the last update, people learned from New America what they wanted to learn.
And yeah Tucsonians, this is basically the time Tucsonians get to be stupid because of the sheer advantage they have the only real competition they have in Antaolia at least is each other.
So I am actually curious about the relative population numbers, because I wonder really when and if any one else will be able to pose a signifigant threat to the tucsonians.
So the population of Tucson is ~1 million people pre ISOT and the population of the world is somewhere between 10 and 50 million given a year somewhere between -2000 and -1000. So I am going to assume that only about 5-10% of the Tucson population survived. That puts Tucsonians at around 50,000-100,000 people which makes them seem small relatively.
HOWEVER, the problem for the downtimers is diseases. Quite frankly while it is a better situation than the arrival of diseases in the Americas, it might not by much. Diseases have been slowly accumulating over time historically, and this is 3000 years before OTL and global disease transmission and mass urbanization and so many things. As bad as the Tucson post-apocalypse is, the downtime post-apocalypse might just last longer. I do not envy anyone in this scenario, including the downtimers. At All.
Though that was a really optimistic number on the Tucson survival rates. I think lowering it is probably more accurate.
HOWEVER, the problem for the downtimers is diseases. Quite frankly while it is a better situation than the arrival of diseases in the Americas, it might not by much. Diseases have been slowly accumulating over time historically, and this is 3000 years before OTL and global disease transmission and mass urbanization and so many things. As bad as the Tucson post-apocalypse is, the downtime post-apocalypse might just last longer. I do not envy anyone in this scenario, including the downtimers. At All.
Every time there is a contact scenario the same wrong tropes get trotted out again.
No evolution doesn't work as XP accumulated over time.
Younger generations are not inherently "superior".
Immunity disappears over time. If you were sent back to 1349 you'd probably be as vulnerable to the Black Death as the locals.
The Bronze Age population would not get hit by as much major epidemics as the Columbian exchange, if at all.
The (population) reservoir of potential pathogerms of the Tucson population is much, much smaller. Also it is a one-time event, in contrast to the CE, where there was a constant replenishment of disease vectors from the old world.
The Bronze Age people have domesticated animals, which means they already have some immunity to diseases carried by pigs, bovines, goats, etc. The most important factor in Amerindians' vulnerability was lack of these animals.
The animals of Tucson probably got all slaughtered pretty much immediately. So very little, or no possibility of transmission from them, even if they happened to be carriers of dangerous pathogenes.
There will be no major pandemics. The few thousands survivors are far too few. If they're really, really unlucky there will be an extra wave of flu, that will cause some extra mortality that will be barely noticeable among all the other sicknesses that neolithic people had to endure. But no apocalyptic decimation.
She would end up arriving at Knossos with two boats about a month after she had first just suggested the trip. The second boat was an uptime sailboat found adrift in the open water, its name, the S.S Alma, written on the bow. Its occupants were dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds and the two bodies were given a burial at sea after which Rachel transferred over with her girlfriend Jessie, and her friend Clark Brown to crew the boat. The Alma wasn't as large as the Minoan vessel she had named The Eagle but it had room to fit five people comfortable and a small amount of storage, and a modern hull would make it far more suited for long range travel if and when that need ever arose.
The general apathy both Grey and Paris showed for this trip had allowed Wilson to staff it with her people and in addition to her girlfriend and Clark Brown she had brought along two other longtime friends; Maria Espinoza and Henry Alden. Both remained onboard The Eagle along with its former owner, a man name Komawens. Komawens had arrived the day after Troy was taken and quickly had his ship and crew impounded. Komawens and his crew had proven incredibly useful as the language they spoke was of the Semitic family, which made establishing a working translation with them far easier than it had been with the Trojans. Henry interpreted for him, and Maria was helping to translate his written language.
Still things on the boat had been tense, Komawens appeared to hold no small amount of fear of the uptimers. This was understandable, but more than once Rachel had found herself unable to sleep as she worried Komawens might slit their throats while they slept. To her surprise however, the downtimer never made any attempts at rebelling, even when they docked. Part of Wilson suspected that whatever fear Komawens had of them, he did seem to realize they were a potential fast track to making him very rich.
Still even with the Semetic merchant attempting to calm the situation, the docks very quickly became chaotic as the locals grew aware of the strange boat pulling into port, with even stranger people emerging from it. It wasn't the sort of chaos they had seen before with villagers running and screaming before them and women clutching their children as they shook fearfully at the sight of them. This was more of a chaos built from sheer curiosity, like the Americans were aliens whose spaceship had just crashlanded. The anarchy only increased as the locals in the port quickly realized they had goods to trade. Forks, knives, jewelry, pots, auto glass, toys, and even some fabric all of a kind that was unknown to them. The trade goods were given to Wilson's expedition by some of the other survivors in exchange for things like better rations, better housing and promises of getting part of whatever profit they made off of their mission. The sight of steel, clear glass and colorful fabric nearly pushed the situation into a riot and Wilson feared she might be trampled to death before some guards in leather armor came to restore order. The guards then escorted most of them (Maria and Jessie remained behind to guard the ships) and samples of their cargo away from the docks and to where they were now.
The reception courtyard of the palace of Knossos.
Rachel felt her heart pounding, the curiosity of a student flaring up within her once again. She was here, at the heart of Minoan Civilization. She was seeing their society as lived and breathed, and the palace was just one, admittedly quite impressive, part of it. Surrounding it was a well built and organized city that must have numbered in the thousands, with signs of a sewer system and even primitive aqueducts supplying fresh water to the palace and city. The markets they passed were filled with ivory by the ton, exotic woods, olives, oil lamps, wine, just to name a few things. Compared to this place, Troy seemed like nothing more than a collection of thatch huts surrounded by walls.
Children stared at them from behind red pillars, scribes kept their distance as they wrote on wooden boards covered with wax, women with pearls wrapped around their hair and dressed in rich blues and yellows looked at them with curious eyes, while what appeared to be priestess in shockingly revealing clothing glared at them from afar. Everyone in the area had their eyes trained on the four people standing next to the pile of boxes.
Wilson turned towards Komawens. "So are we in trouble or is this good?"
The downtimer looked at her for a moment before turning to Henry for clarification
"I am...not certain." Komawens replied awkwardly in heavily accented English "One normally does not...go to the palace so quickly unless one is expected."
"Who's in charge?" Wilson asked. The question was largely out of curiosity. Her teachers had told her Knossos was considered to be either a religious or an administrative center, or both. Putting an answer to that would settle a question that now would never be asked and also help them gauge how to deal with the Minoans.
He spoke with Henry for a minute, earning increased attention from everyone in the courtyard before finally Henry turned to her.
"There seems to be some sort of King whose name I can't pronounce without gargling marbles but Komawens seems more worried about some Snake Priestesses. I think that was the translation at least."
So did that mean they were dealing with a weak king, a particularly power religious caste, or a system that favored both? Figuring out who the real power was could be important, what one could see as a boon the other could see as a threat to their own power.
A man dressed in gold and light blue fabric stepped out of the palace, on his head was a Diadem crown lined with feathers. Next to him was an older woman wearing revealing clothes similar to the other priestess, in her hand was an oil lamp shaped like a serpent. Numerous rings and other jewels adorned both of them. Flanking them were six guards; all of them in leather armor; holding bronze spears and shields that were made of stretched cow hide.
Stretched cow hide.
Even by this point that seemed like something that would be considered out of date, only used when reducing weight was more important than protection. To a degree that made sense for a naval power like the Minoans, but this was a palace, the most important palace the Minoans had. She would have thought she'd see more guards with more armor on them, but she didn't. And even the guards she did see were, while not exactly at ease, surprisingly calm considering the situation. They didn't view her or any of her friends with fear, none of the people here did. Either that meant they hadn't heard of them (and that seemed unlikely all things considered) or they were confident Wilson and her crew weren't a threat.
Confidence did seem to be big here, the palace lacked any walls or defensive fortifications, even the port's defenses seemed relatively bare. On first impressions alone it appeared that the Minoans thought the sea and their navy was the only protection they needed. And why bother with defenses when you're a hub of trade in a era that was deeply dependent on trade?
If Tucson had appeared closer to or even on Crete, Knossos and the rest of the island would have been sacked by now, its trade network likely ruined in the process. How many idiots would try to turn this into a second New America if they could? Thankfully that hadn't happen, yet. For now it was safe and prosperous, and that was something that could make a great many possibilities become reality.
Whatever other ambitions the situation inspired, Wilson did her best to push them out of mind as one of the guards spoke.
"They want to know who's leading us." Henry translated.
Wilson stepped forward, hands held behind her as she kept her eyes level with the king but not staring directly at him. She nodded her head in place of a bow, if these people even took bowing as a sign of submission.
"Greetings, My name is Rachel Wilson." She spoke loudly and clearly, Henry translating for her to Komawens who in turn spoke to the guard. "I sit on the new council that now leads Troy. We wish to renew the trade you had with that city- actually we wish to increase it. We have brought some of our many wares and goods with us, do they interest you?" She gestured to the piles of crates, particularly an open one with a steel pot in it.
There was murmuring when she stepped forward, but not as much as she had expected, that might have been more for her rather plain attire rather than her gender. Thankfully they weren't dealing with Classical Greece.
The priestess spoke this time, her grey eyes focused on Wilson
"We have heard the people of the demon city were nothing more than beasts, and yet here you come looking to trade. Are...are..." Henry struggled with the translation "Basically she seems skeptical that these goods are actually ours, she seems to think we could be thieves looking to make rich on what's actually one time deal."
An understandable concern, frankly even being honest Wilson wasn't sure if they had enough for a second trip, or that Grey would be willing to authorize one. Grey lacked ambition, frankly he lacked the ability to see more than five feet in front of his face.
Wilson put on her best smile. "I assure you we are but men, desperate men forced to do terrible things in hard times. But those times are over, and now we must plan for the future."
The general apathy both Grey and Paris showed for this trip had allowed Wilson to staff it with her people and in addition to her girlfriend and Clark Brown she had brought along two other longtime friends; Maria Espinoza and Henry Alden. Both remained onboard The Eagle along with its former owner, a man name Komawens. Komawens had arrived the day after Troy was taken and quickly had his ship and crew impounded. Komawens and his crew had proven incredibly useful as the language they spoke was of the Semitic family, which made establishing a working translation with them far easier than it had been with the Trojans. Henry interpreted for him, and Maria was helping to translate his written language.
If Tucson had appeared closer to or even on Crete, Knossos and the rest of the island would have been sacked by now, its trade network likely ruined in the process. How many idiots would try to turn this into a second New America if they could? Thankfully that hadn't happen, yet. For now it was safe and prosperous, and that was something that could make a great many possibilities become reality.
Thats an awful lot of derision and ambition she has. Not entirely unjustified, but still. I wonder how that will affect things once she is completly in charge. I am both excited and kind of terrified to find out.
Thats an awful lot of derision and ambition she has. Not entirely unjustified, but still. I wonder how that will affect things once she is completly in charge. I am both excited and kind of terrified to find out.
The Minoans remind me of the Dodos or the Moa- flightless birds who were perfectly well evolved for the world they were used to, but new predators have shown up and their days are numbered.
The Minoans remind me of the Dodos or the Moa- flightless birds who were perfectly well evolved for the world they were used to, but new predators have shown up and their days are numbered.
A small thought about the Queen Rachel Wilson* Minoan Kingdom and her worries for the future (vide map from the OP): it's not like the Thera eruption historically destroyed all cities on Crete. As far I see (I now read about that) mainly ports and trade routes were damaged, causing possibly a few decades of economic decline and a pretty slow death of their culture.
PS. In her place I would be more tempted to conquer barbarian tribes of Sicily (done on the much smaller scale with the colonisation of Malta, I suppose) than try to conquer the giant mess that is Grecee, but well. Ambitious woman, goals can significantly differ even between smart people.
*...use of surname by the regining monarch sounds seriously weird, but well, different cultural convention probably.
A small thought about the Queen Rachel Wilson* Minoan Kingdom and her worries for the future (vide map from the OP): it's not like the Thera eruption historically destroyed all cities on Crete. As far I see (I now read about that) mainly ports and trade routes were damaged, causing possibly a few decades of economic decline and a pretty slow death of their culture.
*...use of surname by the regining monarch sounds seriously weird, but well, different cultural convention probably.
You're thinking of the eruption in 1450 BCE, which was the death for the Minoan Civilization. The one Wilson's worried about occurred sometime between 1642–1540 BCE. It was economically bad but could have been recovered from.
Even that was not instant death, as I said. But thank you for clarification, fascinating history.
Edit1:
Interesting (vide Wikipedia):
Another natural catastrophe occurred around 1600 BC, possibly an eruption of the Thera volcano. The Minoans rebuilt the palaces with several major differences in function.[23][20][24]
Around 1450 BC, Minoan culture reached a turning point due to a natural catastrophe (possibly an earthquake). Although another eruption of the Thera volcano has been linked to this downfall, its dating and implications are disputed. Several important palaces, in locations such as Malia, Tylissos, Phaistos and Hagia Triada, and the living quarters of Knossos were destroyed. The palace in Knossos seems to have remained largely intact, resulting in its dynasty's ability to spread its influence over large parts of Crete until it was overrun by the Mycenaean Greeks.[20]
After about a century of partial recovery, most Cretan cities and palaces declined during the 13th century BC (LHIIIB-LMIIIB). The last Linear A archives date to LMIIIA, contemporary with LHIIIA. Knossos remained an administrative center until 1200 BC. The last Minoan site was the defensive mountain site of Karfi, a refuge which had vestiges of Minoan civilization nearly into the Iron Age.[25]
Edit2:
I also wonder whether use of pretty egalitarian words, as far as monarchy goes, is caused by the influences from the American culture? Like, "Queen Rachel Wilson", nothing like "Her Majesty Queen Rachel, Queen of the...(here include at least 10 titles and then etc xD )".
Not to mention that some ancient rulers were styled like "His Divine Majesty". xd
I also wonder whether use of pretty egalitarian words, as far as monarchy goes, is caused by the influences from the American culture? Like, "Queen Rachel Wilson", nothing like "Her Majesty Queen Rachel, Queen of the...(here include at least 10 titles and then etc xD )".
Not to mention that some ancient rulers were styled like "His Divine Majesty". xd
While they could easily get 20 guys with guns, do they know how to build a mortar? Like here is the thing most of Tucson died in the chaos of the ISOT, the survivers have access to modern guns, but those won't last forever, and not all of them will know how to build guns let alone a mortar. I mean do you know how to make guns or cannons, without looking it up on wikipedia? The whole time traveler uplifting thing is eye roll worthy because most people don't know the process for building things unless they tinker in their spare time.
While they could easily get 20 guys with guns, do they know how to build a mortar? Like here is the thing most of Tucson died in the chaos of the ISOT, the survivers have access to modern guns, but those won't last forever, and not all of them will know how to build guns let alone a mortar. I mean do you know how to make guns or cannons, without looking it up on wikipedia? The whole time traveler uplifting thing is eye roll worthy because most people don't know the process for building things unless they tinker in their spare time.
Building a shitty mortar is incredibly easy, as far as I understand- the earliest mortars in the 15th century were literally iron bowls (heavier versions of mortar-and-pestle mortars). During the Civil War Union troops made temporary mortars out of iron-banded logs. You can make a mortar from a metal propane cylinder or just a wide enough metal pipe. The most difficult part would be making ammunition. There is a sizeable community of amateur gun-smiths in America, odds are that few made it out. That said, anyone with an understanding of basic wood-working design, a normal tool-box, and some junk can make a (dangerous and extremely shitty) working gun. People have made guns barrels out of truck steering wheels. You can make a working shotgun out of two pieces of pipe with no expertise required more advanced the ability to solder a crude firing pin at the end of one of them. Once again, the tricky part is ammunition and people probably won't have the capability to produce ammo more advanced than black power and solid rounds for a while, but metalworking already exists in this universe and shitty smooth-bore cannon/muskets don't require much improvement to existing tech. Not that you need metalworking to build a cannon- wooden cannons firing loads of small rocks have historically been a thing.
Could I make a gun? Probably, guns aren't that hard, although TBF I might injure/kill myself by accident. Could I make ammunition? Fuck no. I might be able to make black powder and use nails as projectiles, not sure. Point is, there will be people capable of making improvised firearms among the survivors- technically your average handyman has the expertise he would need.
But that's not the point. There are definitely enough guns and ammunition to equip 20-30 people for a single attack on Knossus that would successfully take the city. If Pizarro could conquer the Incan Empire of 16,000,000 with only 168 Spanish soldiers then, a few moderns with automatic weapons can take a city of 18,000 (I am aware that there was more to Pizarro's conquest than advanced tech and surprise, he attacked during a civil war, but the point stands that such things are possible). The question is; could they hold it? There's no way they'd be able to make new ammunition for the assault rifles, so once that runs dry can they keep control of the city? Can they recruit enough native allies and collaborators because there's no way they can hold onto power just by themselves? Can they make your crude muskets and powder and equip a loyal force with them to replace their modern arms? Can they actually govern the city that they've conquered in a reasonably competent fashion so as to avoid revolts?
The answers to most of those questions are "probably not", but someone clever and resourceful enough could pull it off. Particularly if they were already familiar with the language and the culture and had cultivated political allies on the ground before they launched their attack.
Rachel Wilson had come back to Troy with four ships, three of them heavy loaded with everything from copper and tin to olive oil and grain. Any worries of food shortages were gone for the foreseeable future and she had the respect of many; by all accounts she should be overjoyed, yet she felt empty and unhappy. She knew why though- she was unhappy over Lucas Grey. He had approved a second trip, but it was of far more limited scope and he had placed a strict ban on any attempts to pursue diplomacy with the Minoans or anyone else. Worse still was his new Labor tax. Come next year everyone would have to work in the fields for some part of the year.
She hated even the idea of such a tax with every fiber of her being, she was not about to let her friends and family be subject to such back breaking labor, not after what they had already gone through. Victoria might be willing to overrule him but that would require delaying the next trip to Knossos in exchange for more resources for a bigger expedition to Tucson. An expedition was needed but a bigger one would probably mean more dead for little extra gain.
And if she was being honest with herself, a bigger expedition to Tucson would mean more power for Paris and Rachel didn't want that.
Rachel sighed as she rested on the roof of her 'apartment' staring up at the night sky, so full of stars that still seemed wrong.
It wasn't that she disliked Paris, she was a good sort if a bit heavy handed. Certainly better than Grey (and wasn't that a low bar). But she had watched both of them debate and argue policy, and it was clear they both shared a similar flaw. Neither realized this wasn't going to last. Sooner or late one of the other factions would secure Tucson or at least their route to the city, or the bandits would become too numerous, or someone would realize scavenging was profitable and monopolize it as a business. Either way access to Tucson was going to get more and more difficult as time went on. More damming, they failed to understand that now was not the time to go on the defensive but to expand. They needed allies, more territory, more citizens. The walls of Troy weren't going to protect them when the more ambitious warlords came around demanding fealty. Already there were rumors of people to the north taking over villages, flying the Wildcat logo like it was some sort of flag, and there were those thugs pretending to be the national guard. Sooner or later, someone would get ambitious or lucky enough to amass a good deal of power, and then things would start to snowball. It would take years, perhaps decades but sooner or later a few powers would rise to the top and the rest would sink into obscurity, and she was not going to let herself be forced into the trash bin of history simply because she had allied with people who lacked anything resembling ambition.
She knew what she had to do- no- she knew what she wanted to do. She understood what it would mean, what she was risking, the people she would endanger if not kill, the sheer gamble involved with even attempting her idea. And yet the thing that really troubled her was that all she was worried about was what might happen to her people, she couldn't force herself to care about what these plans might do to anyone else.
She had changed, something within her had died in the escape from Tucson. The old her would have never even considered what she was about to do beyond maybe idle thought. But it didn't matter what the old her would have done, what mattered was what she did now.
She stood up, gazing at city below. It was dark, dark on a level that made all those complaints about how dark Tucson was at night seem downright cute. Few people were active right now, which made it the prefect time to set things in motion.
"Hey honey?" She called down into the apartment.
Jessie's head appeared in the opening "Yeah?"
"You remember that thing I was talking about before?" Rachel hesitated for a moment. "Well I've decided to go through with it."
For a moment Jessie was expressionless and worry ate at Wilson as she stared at the love of her life. Finally, Jessie gave her a sly smile.
The room was packed with everyone Rachel trusted. Jessie, Maria, Clark, Henry, Carmen Abril, and her brother Joshua. Things between Josh and Rachel had been rocky for years, largely because he was the main reason their parents had discovered she was gay which led to her spending her sixteenth birthday on the street. But he had apologized, and he was still her family. More importantly he was a blacksmith, he'd had his own forge and everything back in Tucson, which made him invaluable for what was to come.
They all held cans of Coke in their hands, some of the last soda left in the city. Perhaps the entire world. Some drank from cans, others from dusty glasses they had taken from home or battered for. Rachel drank from a ceramic cup the King of Knossos had traded her for a sauce pan.
"You probably all have suspicions about why I called you here." Rachel said calmly
"I imagine it's about the new tax everyone's whispering about." Carmen replied
"That's a factor." Rachel nodded "I did not drag us all into the dark to see you guys end up as simple farmers. We deserve more than that, you deserve more than that."
They had stolen, lied, and killed just to make it out of Tucson. It was horrifying but she had seen no other way. She had forced her friends to give up parts of who they were to survive- that had to mean something.
She stared at the contents of her cup for a moment. "I don't intend for any of us to be minor parts of a nation that might not even survive the next years, footnotes in an article two paragraphs long. America is dead, its values are dead, our old lives are dead. To survive in this new world we need to adapt. We need to take advantage of this chaos before our window closes and the natives start catching up to us technologically."
"What exactly are you purposing?" Her brother asked nervously
"Quite simply, I intend to take Crete." Rachel declared with utter confidence. "Take control of their palaces, install us as their new leaders and use their trade to forge a mighty kingdom. We have guns, they have spears, we have steel, they have hide shields. Why shouldn't we rule?"
The reaction was better than she expected, only a few looked horrified, most seemed to be considering it. Perhaps they were just as unenthusiastic about their situation as she was.
"You want to filibuster the Minoans?" Carmen questioned "With what, the seven of us?"
"Along with anyone else we can find who doesn't want to spend the rest of their life breaking their backs for potatoes. I'm asking a lot of you, but I know if we succeed we can build a life here worth living, spend our days in luxury instead out of hunched over in the fields. With our combined skills, our knowledge, and our education I believe we can ensure that our names are remembered through out history."
"I like it." Maria said with a smile "But with the age we're in, do you really expect any of these locals to take you seriously? We're not exactly in the best era for women after all."
"I wouldn't call the Minoans matriarchal." Rachel admitted. "But women there hold a lot of power and every major god they have is a goddess. We have a better shot than we do anywhere else."
"Why not just join up with one of the other groups?" Her brother asked. "Some of our other friends might still be alive. This seems extreme."
"And risk serving under another Grey?" Rachel retorted "The Government died in Tucson. All we have right now is managers and Air Force officers who think they have what it takes to rule. So why not us?"
"This is wrong." Clark muttered
"So was just about everything we've done since this began." Rachel said softly "I'm not talking about butchering the Minoans, far from it. We can use them to build something better and ensure their culture isn't consumed and replaced by the Mycenaeans."
"The Minoans have a powerful navy and complete control of their part of the Aegean." Jessie added "But they've grown over-confident and their military power is lacking. They don't think anything can challenge their domination of the waves. The sooner we strike the better, the longer we wait the longer we give them to realize just how dangerous we are and start increasing their military strength. It even possible that if we wait someone else might conquer the island."
The room was silent for a moment.
"I don't like it" Clark replied "But this place is soaked in blood. I'd rather be a hypocrite than live with a genocide."
The rest gave their agreements, some eagerly, some hesitantly
"You do have a plan right?" Maria asked "You don't just intend to sail to the island and shoot up the place until they surrender, right?"
"Of course not." Rachel replied with a smile. "For now just keep going on like normal, if you see anyone you think might be willing to join us, bring them to my attention. When the time is right we'll split in thirds. One third will head back to Tucson for supplies, another third will stick to the coast and recruit anyone useful and trustworthy enough to join our cause, the remaining third will take our heaviest weapons and head towards the Island of Ios. Our merchant friend mentioned that pirates had been using the island as a haven. Once we take it from them we can use Ios as a base, even set up some light industry. Dear brother, I'll need you to set up that forge you've been talking about."
"What about Grey?" Henry asked "He won't let you take the boats."
"I have plans for Grey." Rachel's smile deepened as she knew exactly what her next words had to be "Let's just say I intend to hand Paris the Apple of Discord."
A few groans filled the room.
"Come on, it was right there." Rachel defended herself.
"It's still terrible." Maria replied
"Yeah, yeah." Rachel shook her head "How about a toast, to the future!"
"What about Grey?" Henry asked "He won't let you take the boats."
"I have plans for Grey." Rachel's smile deepened as she knew exactly what her next words had to be "Let's just say I intend to hand Paris the Apple of Discord."
A few groans filled the room.
"Come on, it was right there." Rachel defended herself.
. Partially because I come at this form a viewpoint focused on robustness to crisis, ability to respond to mass death and long term competency correction. Purely Accountable governments are, in the long run, better than Purely Competent Governments. Very often the competency is exaggerated.
