22 April, 1453
Siege Camps of Mehmed II, Outside Constantinople
As night fell on his camp, Mehmed the Second looked out upon the City. He saw the dome of the Sophia, lit up by the setting sun. Marble glistening in a manner akin to diamond. Closer to the camp, he spied the Theodosian Walls, continuing to resist his cannon. He gazed upon piles of bodies, signs of many a failed attempt at scaling those walls. Stacked feet high, armor pierced through and glinting in the fading light. As if a marker of his failure and the determination of the Greeks. An exclamation saying 'come all, and see our will'. Written in the blood of Turk, Serb and many others, pressed into service by the Sultan on this glorious day. To fulfill a dream that Mehmed had long-held. To be the man who would take the City of Constantine in the name of Allah.
Even seeing the corpses of so many had done nothing to sway him.
Mehmed turned his gaze away from the fallen, and towards the walls. The banner of the Palaiologoi still flew from the numerous towers. Crimson, visible even against the fading sunlight. Defiance. The Sultan well-remembered the response of the petty Emperor to his offer of surrender. His generous gift of the governorship of Morea, in exchange for leniency for the City and her inhabitants.
"To surrender the City to you is beyond my authority, or anyone else's who lives in it. For all of us, after taking the mutual decision, shall die out of free will without sparing our lives."
In a way, it was honorable. Worthy of respect, from one man to another. Of a ruler to another ruler. However, it was also foolish. Mehmed would take the City, regardless of if the foolish Emperor surrendered or not. His fleet would soon take the Golden Horn, and with the Sea Wall threatened, the Greeks would find themselves stretched thin. Even the mighty Theodosian Walls could hardly stand if there were no men to garrison the ramparts. It would become merely a matter of wearing the defenders down, and the City would be his. And if the Greeks were all so ready to die?
Well, he could be merciful. They would merely be sold as slaves, their homes becoming the home of his own men.
With that thought in mind, the Sultan turned from the City and retired to his tent. No assault would take place this night, beyond probing attacks to keep the defenders from rest. Let them repair the breaches in the walls. Eventually, the defenders would tire. Eventually, the determination of the Greeks would falter. And then, Mehmed would lead his Janissaries through the gates of the City. Constantinople would be his.
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It would only be a matter of hours, before the Sultan would be awoken from his slumber. He would stare into wide, panicked eyes. A Janissary, hastily muttering apologies even as he fruitlessly gestured in the direction of the City. Mehmed merely raised an eyebrow, imperiously striding past the soldier as only a young ruler could. He believed that the Greeks had sortied or fought off the skirmishers. Perhaps done some minor damage to the Fleet by fire ships. What greeted his eyes was not so simple. Even Mehmed found himself at a loss for words, instantly forgetting the impenitent Janissary. The glorious City, the source of his dreams and obsessions, was simply gone.
The rising sun shone down on empty land and water, with only the distant Galata and its Tower visible.
The Theodosian Walls no longer stood in a blocking position. Sophia's proud dome was missing. No crimson banners fluttered in the air, and no ships floated in the Horn that did not fly the Ottoman Crescent. Where there had been a city, the City, was nothing. Not a single sign of human habitation. Not even the smoking ruins of a building. It was as if Allah himself had descended, and taken the City with him. Impossible. Inconceivable. Horrifying.
Even while thoughts of how this could happen raced through his mind, Mehmed had already decided. It would be impossible to keep his men from talking. As impossible as the idea that the City could vanish. However, he could stop the Genoese. His mighty army would soon be turned on Galata, to silence the colonists and loot. It would keep the Genoese quiet, it would give his men riches they had been promised, and it would allow for Mehmed to form his own narrative as to what happened this day. Constantinople did not vanish.
He had burned it to the ground and salted the Earth, leaving not so much as a single stone unturned. He would be remembered as a butcher and warmonger. As the man who destroyed the City of Constantine. He would rather that, than be known as the man who had been robbed of his prize by an act of Allah. An act that seemed to favor the Christians, and not the Muslims.
He would not, could not, let that be known.
Mehmed would go to his grave, known to history as Mehmed the Butcher. Worse than Timur and the Mongols. Moreover, he would never have an answer to his question, of what had become of Constantine and the City. That would be up to his successors, some centuries down the line. It would not be a pleasant time for the Ottoman Empire. Nor the inhabitants of Istanbul, built upon the ruins of Galata and the former site of the City...
23 April, 1453
Constantinople, Unknown Land
In the City, the defenders- those not blinded by a flash of light in the night -would awaken in a new land. The familiar Golden Horn and Galata were gone. Even the very landscape had changed. The City was surrounded by new hills and mountains. Thick fog was visible in the distance, as well as the Black Sea coastline being replaced by...what appeared to be a bay. Exploration by Venetian and Genoese ships would confirm this. To the North and South, a massive enclosed bay stretched as far as the eye could see. There was no sign of any civilization. No Turks, no Genoese colonies, and no Greeks.
It was, so far as anyone could tell, empty land. Sailing out of the Bay provided no further clues or signs of civilization. Merely a vast body of water, with such a lack of islands that it could not possibly be the Aegean.
For the Emperor Constantine, it seemed as if it were an Act of God. He had refused parlay with the Turkish conqueror, holding to a desperate hope in the Walls and that someone, anyone, would heed his call for aid. As the siege had progressed, this hope had changed. He had spent many a night praying in the Hagia Sophia. Beseeching the Lord, to do something. Anything. To not lead the City that his namesake had founded to ruin. To spare the citizens he lead from a fate worse than death. God had not seemed to heed his prayers, as the Turks took the Golden Horn. It had seemed as if he would have to hold to his word, and die in defense of his birthright.
Only to awaken, here, in an unspoiled land. The Turkish army vanished, and his people saved from almost certain annihilation. What else could it reasonably be, but an act of God? Taking his City and moving it somewhere safe, where the Empire could rebuild? He would have to send explorers out, of course. Perhaps the Italians would be willing to stay? Regardless, Constantine knew that he would have to know where his people had been moved.
If they were to prosper and rebuild, it would not do to have no idea where they were located. He was not so foolish as to believe the City would never again be besieged. That he, or his successors- be they of his own blood, or of his siblings -wouldn't find a new foe. Perhaps even the Turks, finding them even now. Constantine, as he looked out at the massive sea, made that promise to himself.
That, no matter what, the City would never fall. Rome would never fall.
Here we go again, eh? I know, I know. But I have very little resistance to putting interesting ideas down to paper, so to speak. And...well. This is an idea that has been tickling my fancy for a fair bit, though it took a long time to come up with a workable solution to it. Not the least being figuring out where I want it to end, in relation to the people getting ISOT. Looking up population curves and literally Byzantine politics is time consuming, who knew?
At any rate, a little bit of informational stuff here.
FAQ:
Why Constantinople?
Because I'm a raging Byzantophile? Joking answer entirely aside, it is one of the few cases where you can ISOT something and have it be mostly self-sufficient with a lot of room to grow. Constantinople, as of the Siege, is a city well past its prime. The area enclosed by the Theodsian Walls could comfortably house hundreds of thousands of people...but it isn't. There's somewhere in the range of 50-100k assorted Greeks, Turks and Italians inside those walls. So much has fallen to ruin, that you've basically got a lot of interconnected villages and reclaimed farmland. This is important, because as long as the climate is good...the City can grow a lot of food inside the walls to start.
Furthermore, it allows for relatively secure growth before the inhabitants start expanding again.
Another important little factor to keep in mind is how the Romans (Greeks) have experience in colonization. Even if they haven't done it in a very long time. They can expand fairly easily, with a secure area to fall back on. It also avoids this being a mass-death scenario, since the people inside of the City can mostly be fed off the resources they start with. If you're careful.
Why ISOT them to North America? And modern San Francisco?
Well. The obvious answer is simple. There's two kinds of ISOTs out there. The more common variant is taking something and putting it into a different time (and maybe place). Like the original Island in the Sea of Time. This could work...but I didn't want to go that route here. I wanted to take Constantinople and just 'rescue' it, move it to a safe place. Not through time, just location. The best option for this was North America. Not a massive change in ecosystem or climate (like moving them to, I dunno, sub-Saharan Africa) and it gives growth without pesky Europeans messing with it. Threads on AH.com are what convinced me (along with talk on my Discord server, for those who aren't there) that San Fran was possibly the best place. The landscape, if you twist the City around a bit, isn't that different from what they're used to. Fog aside.
There's very, very fertile ground not that far away.
And it is safe from any potential hostiles for centuries. The Natives aren't going to break the walls, those that don't die from disease. The Spanish won't show up for a century at minimum. More on that later. If it were put on the East Coast, the climate would screw them fierce and the Europeans would show back up in short order.
Not so much in Cali.
What about colonizers?
Like I said, the Spanish wouldn't show up for a century or so. And even then, they didn't really explore Cali for even longer. One thing I'm planning on here, is keeping a 'butterfly net' up over Europe for until...about the mid 1600s. I'm thinking it won't be until then that the word about misplaced Romans (Greeks) gets out as anything but rumors like Cibola. Plus it makes for fun times having the religious and theological questions about this get raised in the middle of the Reformation.
As for technology, it's pretty likely the Romans develop firearms on their own. They have cannon, it's not a huge stretch to go to 'hand cannon' and from there to proper guns.
Wouldn't the Romans spread far by then? Like the East Coast?
I've seen people on AH suggest that result. I don't quite buy it. While, yes, there's about 75k assorted people ISOT (in here, at least), those people don't need to go that far. Even ignoring the very big problem of the Rocky Mountains, the Romans have plenty of good land and resources in California and the rest of the West Coast. I don't imagine them having much reason, a few brave explorers or an eccentric Emperor aside, going past the Rockies for at least a century or two. That's me, of course, but I don't see a Roman presence anywhere near the East Coast before the Europeans show up to party.
What about the Natives?
Dying in droves.* Probably the remainder get assimilated, and you get some very strange Greeks down the line. Greek with Navajo (eventually) loan words would be a weird language. Also the other native languages.
*Not intentional genocide on the part of the Romans. This is a reference to disease and the problems therein.
(I think this is good for now. Will add more as needed.)
As an avid player of the Byzantines in the Medieval: Total War games and a fan of the Belisarius series of novels, I fully approve of transplanting Roman (Greeks) into America. Oh, the future hijinks this will provoke ^_^
One big butterfly that I think will happen is that when the Spanish do discover Constantinople, it will be because of the Manila galleons laden with beeswax and Ming porcelain that now have a safe port to shoot for rather than just aim for the Pacific coast of Mexico. Heck, the Spanish may just come up with an overland trade route from Mexico to Constantinople as easier than navigating Cape Horn all the time.
Phenomenal and fantastic. My only complaint is that there's not more, and that will come in good time. Are you going to take the more personable narrative style of ISOT and some of the other ASB novels out there? Or will you be writing grand arcs of history?
Some enterprising Greek general : "If we can train these ursine beasts, they would make a wonderful weapon to throw at the flanks of an enemy. Release the Bears of War!"
Did the Byzantines refer to themselves as Greeks in the 15th century? Or was that the Ottoman's referring to them as Greeks? Since I know in much earlier times (long before Islam came to be), the Byzantines called themselves Romans.
Also would Byzantine astronomers be able to determine they are still on Earth and even relatively where they are in relation to Europe? The stars can determine that for them, can't it?
As an avid Byzantium player in EU4 and huge Byzantophile myself I approve of this! It will be interesting to see what happens once the europeans actually make it to California and find the goddamn City of World's Desire there.
Grizzlies would be fun. What would also be fun is the first Roman to go over the Rockies and into the Plains. All the Buffalo. All of them.
(also, the AH.com counterpart to this thread brought up an interesting point. Meeting the Inca. Assuming, of course, that the Romans develop ships capable of going that far south before Spain shows up)
You have about a hundred years before a Manila Galleon shows up. That started in 1565. Now how seeing one of those adjusts Roman shipbuilding will be interesting. Manila galleons were big girls for sailing ships, anywhere between 1600 - 2000 tons and could carry up to 1000 passengers.
Wouldn't the presence of constantinople in the Americas result in the rise of more centralized powers and kingdoms on both continents? The spreading of the wheel, various domesticated animals (horses, donkeys, and oxen), paper, and the idea of a system of writing would all be major contributing factors to making communication and the transportation of resources over long distances possible. Making controlling large territories under a single power much easier to accomplish.
You my friend have gotten my attention. All this needs to be perfect is for you to keep the expansion rate reasonable. Within the 150 years until European contact I'd say that they'd probably have fully developed the SanFran Bay and central valley maybe with some minor cities popping up in the better locations along the West Coast. With only 75k starting population its going to be a while till they could reasonably put up the resources to found another city.
Also a major butterfly is the natives get their initial 90% death toll finished about a century before Spain arrives along with the introduction of tech. The population will probably will still be recovering by the time the Spanish get here and some places might just be outright abandoned or dead but this time they won't be arriving to collapsing societies.
One more thought though. How much livestock would be in Constantinople anyway? Mostly a question of if they have sustainable breeding populations. Horses are very likely as they are only killed for meat in desperation and siege had only been going on for 16 days at the time of the ISOT. Chickens as well as the required amount is relatively low and they breed pretty fast. You could probably scrounge up a breeding stock of pigs and cows but they would probably have to limit meat to hunting until they get proper livestock farms finished.
Edit: another question is where to get lumber. Was the central valley wooded at this point or do they have to go to North Cali to get a good source of ship building wood? As you can probably tell I'm a bit of a stickler for the logistical portion of ISOTs.
Also a major butterfly is the natives get their initial 90% death toll finished about a century before Spain arrives along with the introduction of tech. The population will probably will still be recovering by the time the Spanish get here and some places might just be outright abandoned or dead but this time they won't be arriving to collapsing societies.
Just means that when the Romans find the silver mines in Idaho they'll probably go on the silver standard. Or trade with the Spanish for silver out of Mexico.
