How do you think Ford and Kennedy would react to their OTL selves?
Reds! A Revolutionary Timeline
- Thread starter Aelita
- Start date
- Timeline Post-1900 Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Re-reading this and found this guy in the 1942 Election post. Shouldn't he be dead at this point in time of cancer?
AG_AG
I love vegetarian food: it goes great with steak
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If it is not a mistake by the author, then it was probably something that ended up being butterflied away
Kaori Mizushima
(Entry from Speculative Words Encyclopedia, published by Speculative International, 2015)
Mizushima, Kaori (1954-2009), pen name of Asami Imaoka (originally assigned male at birth as Kenichi Imaoka). Prolific Nipponese author of popular fiction in the speculative field who helped to pioneer the so-called 'light novel' medium in Nipponese publishing (1). Her collected works, printed and published by the literary collective Coalition Publishing, reached 300 volumes by the time of her death. A seemingly tireless storyteller, her output was immense and diverse, famously including her space opera epic Record of the Galactic Conflict, the sword and sorcery series Outlaws of the Wild Marsh, and the humorous YA mystery series High School Detective Saori. She also authored several science fiction and fantasy short stories and standalone novels, wrote several tanka poems, authored plays and composed music; she was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Most of her works were (and continue to be) adapted into films, television serials, comics and video games. At over 150,000,000 copies in print, she is one of the most widely read and translated Nipponese authors.
Born in Tokyo in 1954, Imaoka came of age in the tumultuous early years of the Socialist Republic of Nippon. After the previous Imperial government's defeat in the Great Revolutionary War, life in the infant republic had been one of rebuilding, rationing, and reform. Culturally, it was also one of furious conflict; the short-lived premiership of Inejiro Asanuma had resulted in a campaign of ferocious denunciation and condemnation of traditional Nipponese culture. Art forms such as traditional kabuki, Noh drama, and even bunraku puppet theater were the subjects of government censorship. By the time that Imaoka had entered University in 1970, the effects of these campaigns were still felt: although all three art forms had undergone a comeback, the content had been drastically altered from the traditional to more avante-garde and irreverent forms. In contrast, newer art forms such as manga, anime and tokusatsu had flourished. By the time of Imaoka's graduation in 1974, all three new mediums had become firmly entrenched in Nipponese popular culture.
Outside of this, Imaoka's early life and school career were largely uneventful. She was a voracious reader and competent student, showing both her diligence and her creativity at an early age. She was a member of her school's Science Fiction club, as well as a soloist and accompanist in her school's choir and band club. She was proficient in the following instruments: piano (which was her first instrument), shamisen (which she took up for her interest in kabuki), violin, accordion, guitar and french horn(2). Her musical interests and activities would persist throughout her life; During University she played keyboards for the hard rock band Pandora (she was a lifelong fan of The Quarrymen and T. Rex), composed music for her theatrical productions (and on occasion playing the accompanying music herself), and filled her books with songs and poems of her own creation. She would even recommend selections to ideally accompany her books in her prescripts. In her later years she would tour with her jazz ensemble the Asami Imaoka trio(3).
Although she began writing in her teenage years, her literary career began in earnest during her University career. Her first stories were published in popular periodicals such as SF Magazine and Weekly Novel, both of which she would continue to be published in up until her death. Part of her burgeoning popularity in this time period can be credited to her frequent illustrators, namely her lifelong friend Shinji Wada (a popular mangaka and illustrator) and Ken Ishikawa (creator of the Getter Robo franchise)(4), which helped to visualize the characters in her stories and imprint them upon the popular imagination. Many popular literary magazines by this time, especially those aimed at younger readers, had begun using manga-style illustrations in an attempt to attract newer readers. Many of these serials, which would then be published in heavily illustrated paperbacks, would prove to be the foundation of a new popular literary format: the light novel.
It was in these periodicals that her most famous works were serialized, namely both Record of the Galactic Conflict(5) and Outlaws of the Wild Marsh(6) were published in SF Magazine. Of the two, it is arguably the first that has been her most influential internationally. Taking place several centuries into the future, the saga takes place in a time period where the center of political and cultural power has shifted from Earth (now called Terra and considered a polluted backwater), and most of humanity now lives in several colonized worlds. Decades after a nuclear conflict between the Popular Coalition (a clear reference to the Comintern) and the Democratic Alliance (the AFS) devastated the planet and reduced the human population to 1/10th its size, humanity banded together under a single flag and began to explore the galaxy, eventually colonizing several planets while the people of Earth slowly rebuilt. After seven centuries of prosperity and peace, the cracks begin to unravel: the political leadership begins to adopt more and more conservative policies while the people seem to lose interest in scientific progress, resulting in widespread poverty and social upheaval as Earth's rim colonies grow more and more distant and self-sufficient: the discovery of the Earth-like planet Sirius in the Horsehead Nebula had allowed for greater mineral and energy dependence from Earth for these distant colonies. Out of this mileu came a reactionary politician named Rudolf Von Goldenbaum, whose charisma and cunning allowed him to climb the ranks of the World Parliament and eventually be elected both Prime Minister and President of Earth, an unprecedented move that gave him near dictatorial power. Through the first few years of his reign, Goldenbaum concentrated more and more power in himself and declared that he wished to restart the 'Golden Age of Humanity', eventually dissolving the World Parliament and declaring himself Rudolf the First, Emperor of the Galactic Empire. The sheer violence that Rudolf's reign would unleash over the next twenty years would result in the death of billions, including everyone from political dissidents to those considered to have 'undesirable traits' such as the disabled, the poor, sexual minorities and others. This would ultimately prove to be the GE's undoing: resistance elements within the Goldenbaum regime, business leaders, parliamentarians on Earth and its satelites, as well as dissidents and labor organizers from the rim colonies would eventually form an alliance to overthrow Rudolf's regime and put Rudolf himself on trial. However, the result of this war (which included the bombardment of the planet with nuclear arms), would once again force humanity to migrate away from the planet of its birth, forcing the people of Earth to migrate to another planet: Heinnesen, named after Resistance leader Arle Heinnesen, in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
The 'Galactic Conflict' of the title does not refer to these events, rather they are distant history by the beginning of the first book. Instead, the conflict is between the two galactic polities that result from this conflict: the League of Democratic Planets (a socialist coalition with its power center on Sirius), and the Free Planet Alliance (a liberal capitalist polity with its power center on Heinnesen). Both groups have been in a conflict over political and cultural supremacy of the human race, and for the last century have been in direct war with each other. Though the story is loaded with several characters, most of the action is centered around two different figures: with the Free Planet Alliance is a career military officer and visionary statesman named Reinhardt Lohengramm, a famously gallant and blonde-haired leader seeking to right the 'decadence' of the FPA to return it to its original ideals. On the other side is a former smelter turned People's Militia leader named Kaoru Nguyen, a dark-haired young woman whose prompt planning and leadership during the evacuation of a mining colony during an FPA attack has her referred to eventual military advisory and leadership in the LDP's space fleets. The conflict between these two individuals and their respective polities explore many political and philosophical dualities: The LDP, although rugged and rustic in its early years is quickly becoming more cosmopolitan and prosperous through its socialist system, whereas the FPA is quickly decaying into despotism and reaction due to their stubborn adherence to capitalism (ironically mirroring the very conditions that gave rise to Rudolf). In the end, Reinhardt's actions are for naught: in a final climatic battle near the ruins of Earth, his fleet is decimated by Kaoru's tactics and the FPA is dissolved. The conflict, told as ancient history by the narrator, leaves what humanity's actual future is up in the air for the reader to discuss.
(Of course, this would not be the end of this particular universe, as the thirty book epic would be added onto by fans, authors and game designers for years afterwards. The anthem of the LDP composed by Imaoka, "Risen from Ruins" and partially inspired by the anthem of the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, would become a feature of many Comintern Sci-fi conventions).
Contemporaneous to the serialization of Record of the Galactic Conflict, Imaoka also would write the somewhat more light-hearted and episodic Heroic Fantasy series Outlaws of the Wild Marsh. Inspired by the classic Chinese novel Water Margin, it told the story of a group of Robin Hood-esqe outlaws and rebels who make their home in a secret base in the eponymous Wild Marsh, a monster-filled swamp that is treacherous for everyone but the Outlaws themselves to navigate. From this secret base, they plot out various heists and battle plans against their enemies: the Noir Empire, which is ruled with an iron fist by the genocidal Emperor Gustave, and his league of wizards who use dark magic and demons to keep themselves in power. Most of the stories are centered around a young peasant named Catherine, a boyish dark-haired girl forced to flee her village after she is forced into an arranged marriage. She runs into a platoon of the Outlaws during a raid on a wizard's tower (aiding them in destroying it) and is taken in by the platoon's leader: Guin, a muscle-hewed warrior cursed with the head of a tiger by the Emperor's grand advisor. Over the course of fifteen books (8 novel-length works and 7 short story and novella collections), the Outlaws fight a guerrilla war against the Noir Empire before finally toppling it in a climactic upheaval, founding a Republic headed by Catherine herself with her advisor (and husband) Guin.
Eagle-eyed readers may notice a running theme in these serials: they include as a protagonist a dark-haired woman whose looks (and often times, name) resemble that of Imaoka herself(7). This is no coincidence. Even her non-speculative novels and serials (including the previously mentioned High School Detective Saori) include this feature. When asked about this, Imaoka replied that this was a way for her to put herself in her stories and to both drive her creative process and complete a deadline. Comparisons have been made to turn-of-the-century German author Karl May, though unlike the former, Imaoka never claimed to have experienced futuristic space warfare or castle sieges the way May claimed his exploits in the Wild West or the Middle East.
There is, however, another factor: Imaoka's gender identity. Although considered a modern icon of Transgender women, Imaoka was extremely private about how she realized her gender during her lifetime, often giving conflicting accounts of when she began identifying as a woman: one interview in the 1980s claimed that she had begun identifying as Asami during her teen years, whereas a later one said she had begun transitioning after she had graduated University and become a full-time writer. Imaoka was often uncomfortable with discussing her private affairs, and rarely gave any concrete infomration about her love life or her sexuality. It wasn't until after her death that her relationship with editor Mitsuteru Kobayashi became widely known.
The flipside to this is that Imaoka, more than almost any other author of popular fiction in her generation, helped to boost queer themes in popular Nipponese literature(8). Many of her books feature same-sex relationships and attraction (Kaoru Nguyen develops a romantic relationship with her ensign Cleo Hernandez, and Guin laments the death of his best friend and lover Kenneth from his youth). The previously mentioned High School Detective Saori (whose plot and themes are outside the range of this encyclopedia) is arguably the most obvious: The 'Saori' of the title is in fact a boy who identifies and presents as a girl, and gains the romantic attraction of both male and female students and townspeople. But it didn't stop there, as Imaoka was also a modern pioneer of writing queer erotica, often mixing her common themes of science fiction, fantasy and crime with themes of Uranian and Sapphic sexual expression and sexual activity.
Imaoka's popularity has proven to be perrenial, not just in book sales but also in adaptations. In 1987, the animation collective Sunrise Entertainment (famous for the Mobile Suit Gundam series) began production of an animated serial adapting Record of the Galactic Conflict , which was then broadcast on ANN. In 1990, the game designing collective Intelligence Systems(9), famous for pioneering the 'Simulation RPG' of video games, released their fourth title: a game adapted from Record of the Galactic Conflict, in which one could choose either faction to fight for and which built upon the still expanding universe of Imaoka's creation (including going into detail on the battleships and their function, as the game required units to both operate the ships as well as to man smaller vehicles and platoons). As the so-called NRPG (Nipponese Role-Playing Game) genre of video games began to mature in the 1990s, Imaoka's influence grew even further: the video game collective Enix(10) produced a popular video game adaption of Outlaws of the Wild Marsh, which in turn birthed a series that is still in production as of this writing (it's eighth installment was released in 2014). There have been numerous claims from fans both within and without the Comintern that the Star Legacy series of ARPG games have cribbed elements and plot points for the former (though these are largely circumstantial, as both series take inspiration from Eastern and Western fantasy traditions).
In 2007, Imaoka made the public announcement that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (the same disease that would claim the life of her mother some twenty years earlier). At the time, she was still working on a new serial (a noir detective novel), and a kabuki script (her third to be produced). Two years later, she passed away in the cancer ward of Tokyo Hospital, age 55.
Notes:
1: This person is a composite character made of Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka (author of Legend of the Galactic Heroes), and Kaoru Kurimoto (prolific multi-genre author who wrote the record-breaking 100+ volume Guin Saga), with a bit of Karl May thrown in for good measure.
2: Kurimoto famously played both piano and shamisen (even became a certified master of the later) and would write and compose plays and musicals throughout her career. The other instruments come from Karl May.
3: Kurimoto had a jazz trio she would tour with under her other pen name, Azusa Nakajima. She also played with a rock band also called Pandora in the 70s. She loved rock music and made references to them in lots of her work (including making reccomendations for listening along while reading)
4: Shinji Wada was a male shojo mangaka who created Sukeban Deka. Ishikawa's involvement is in reference to his OTL mentor Go Nagai, who illustrated Kurimoto's Makai Suikoden book series.
5: TTL's equivalent of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
6: TTL's equivalent of The Guin Saga.
7: Got this idea from Karl May, who does in fact still exist ITTL and is still a major impact on German pop culture.
8: Kurimoto is often considered to be one of the founding mothers of the Yaoi genre, and therefore helping to introduce homosexual themes into popular fiction in Japan. I decided to make Imaoka similar, though with less toxic themes as old-school Yaoi tends to include.
9: Intelligence Systems OTL is an arm of Nintendo, famous for the Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem series. ITTL, they're an independent collective of developers.
10: Enix is famous for Dragon Quest (before merging with Square). They're also a major force ITTL.
Mizushima, Kaori (1954-2009), pen name of Asami Imaoka (originally assigned male at birth as Kenichi Imaoka). Prolific Nipponese author of popular fiction in the speculative field who helped to pioneer the so-called 'light novel' medium in Nipponese publishing (1). Her collected works, printed and published by the literary collective Coalition Publishing, reached 300 volumes by the time of her death. A seemingly tireless storyteller, her output was immense and diverse, famously including her space opera epic Record of the Galactic Conflict, the sword and sorcery series Outlaws of the Wild Marsh, and the humorous YA mystery series High School Detective Saori. She also authored several science fiction and fantasy short stories and standalone novels, wrote several tanka poems, authored plays and composed music; she was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Most of her works were (and continue to be) adapted into films, television serials, comics and video games. At over 150,000,000 copies in print, she is one of the most widely read and translated Nipponese authors.
Born in Tokyo in 1954, Imaoka came of age in the tumultuous early years of the Socialist Republic of Nippon. After the previous Imperial government's defeat in the Great Revolutionary War, life in the infant republic had been one of rebuilding, rationing, and reform. Culturally, it was also one of furious conflict; the short-lived premiership of Inejiro Asanuma had resulted in a campaign of ferocious denunciation and condemnation of traditional Nipponese culture. Art forms such as traditional kabuki, Noh drama, and even bunraku puppet theater were the subjects of government censorship. By the time that Imaoka had entered University in 1970, the effects of these campaigns were still felt: although all three art forms had undergone a comeback, the content had been drastically altered from the traditional to more avante-garde and irreverent forms. In contrast, newer art forms such as manga, anime and tokusatsu had flourished. By the time of Imaoka's graduation in 1974, all three new mediums had become firmly entrenched in Nipponese popular culture.
Outside of this, Imaoka's early life and school career were largely uneventful. She was a voracious reader and competent student, showing both her diligence and her creativity at an early age. She was a member of her school's Science Fiction club, as well as a soloist and accompanist in her school's choir and band club. She was proficient in the following instruments: piano (which was her first instrument), shamisen (which she took up for her interest in kabuki), violin, accordion, guitar and french horn(2). Her musical interests and activities would persist throughout her life; During University she played keyboards for the hard rock band Pandora (she was a lifelong fan of The Quarrymen and T. Rex), composed music for her theatrical productions (and on occasion playing the accompanying music herself), and filled her books with songs and poems of her own creation. She would even recommend selections to ideally accompany her books in her prescripts. In her later years she would tour with her jazz ensemble the Asami Imaoka trio(3).
Although she began writing in her teenage years, her literary career began in earnest during her University career. Her first stories were published in popular periodicals such as SF Magazine and Weekly Novel, both of which she would continue to be published in up until her death. Part of her burgeoning popularity in this time period can be credited to her frequent illustrators, namely her lifelong friend Shinji Wada (a popular mangaka and illustrator) and Ken Ishikawa (creator of the Getter Robo franchise)(4), which helped to visualize the characters in her stories and imprint them upon the popular imagination. Many popular literary magazines by this time, especially those aimed at younger readers, had begun using manga-style illustrations in an attempt to attract newer readers. Many of these serials, which would then be published in heavily illustrated paperbacks, would prove to be the foundation of a new popular literary format: the light novel.
It was in these periodicals that her most famous works were serialized, namely both Record of the Galactic Conflict(5) and Outlaws of the Wild Marsh(6) were published in SF Magazine. Of the two, it is arguably the first that has been her most influential internationally. Taking place several centuries into the future, the saga takes place in a time period where the center of political and cultural power has shifted from Earth (now called Terra and considered a polluted backwater), and most of humanity now lives in several colonized worlds. Decades after a nuclear conflict between the Popular Coalition (a clear reference to the Comintern) and the Democratic Alliance (the AFS) devastated the planet and reduced the human population to 1/10th its size, humanity banded together under a single flag and began to explore the galaxy, eventually colonizing several planets while the people of Earth slowly rebuilt. After seven centuries of prosperity and peace, the cracks begin to unravel: the political leadership begins to adopt more and more conservative policies while the people seem to lose interest in scientific progress, resulting in widespread poverty and social upheaval as Earth's rim colonies grow more and more distant and self-sufficient: the discovery of the Earth-like planet Sirius in the Horsehead Nebula had allowed for greater mineral and energy dependence from Earth for these distant colonies. Out of this mileu came a reactionary politician named Rudolf Von Goldenbaum, whose charisma and cunning allowed him to climb the ranks of the World Parliament and eventually be elected both Prime Minister and President of Earth, an unprecedented move that gave him near dictatorial power. Through the first few years of his reign, Goldenbaum concentrated more and more power in himself and declared that he wished to restart the 'Golden Age of Humanity', eventually dissolving the World Parliament and declaring himself Rudolf the First, Emperor of the Galactic Empire. The sheer violence that Rudolf's reign would unleash over the next twenty years would result in the death of billions, including everyone from political dissidents to those considered to have 'undesirable traits' such as the disabled, the poor, sexual minorities and others. This would ultimately prove to be the GE's undoing: resistance elements within the Goldenbaum regime, business leaders, parliamentarians on Earth and its satelites, as well as dissidents and labor organizers from the rim colonies would eventually form an alliance to overthrow Rudolf's regime and put Rudolf himself on trial. However, the result of this war (which included the bombardment of the planet with nuclear arms), would once again force humanity to migrate away from the planet of its birth, forcing the people of Earth to migrate to another planet: Heinnesen, named after Resistance leader Arle Heinnesen, in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
The 'Galactic Conflict' of the title does not refer to these events, rather they are distant history by the beginning of the first book. Instead, the conflict is between the two galactic polities that result from this conflict: the League of Democratic Planets (a socialist coalition with its power center on Sirius), and the Free Planet Alliance (a liberal capitalist polity with its power center on Heinnesen). Both groups have been in a conflict over political and cultural supremacy of the human race, and for the last century have been in direct war with each other. Though the story is loaded with several characters, most of the action is centered around two different figures: with the Free Planet Alliance is a career military officer and visionary statesman named Reinhardt Lohengramm, a famously gallant and blonde-haired leader seeking to right the 'decadence' of the FPA to return it to its original ideals. On the other side is a former smelter turned People's Militia leader named Kaoru Nguyen, a dark-haired young woman whose prompt planning and leadership during the evacuation of a mining colony during an FPA attack has her referred to eventual military advisory and leadership in the LDP's space fleets. The conflict between these two individuals and their respective polities explore many political and philosophical dualities: The LDP, although rugged and rustic in its early years is quickly becoming more cosmopolitan and prosperous through its socialist system, whereas the FPA is quickly decaying into despotism and reaction due to their stubborn adherence to capitalism (ironically mirroring the very conditions that gave rise to Rudolf). In the end, Reinhardt's actions are for naught: in a final climatic battle near the ruins of Earth, his fleet is decimated by Kaoru's tactics and the FPA is dissolved. The conflict, told as ancient history by the narrator, leaves what humanity's actual future is up in the air for the reader to discuss.
(Of course, this would not be the end of this particular universe, as the thirty book epic would be added onto by fans, authors and game designers for years afterwards. The anthem of the LDP composed by Imaoka, "Risen from Ruins" and partially inspired by the anthem of the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, would become a feature of many Comintern Sci-fi conventions).
Contemporaneous to the serialization of Record of the Galactic Conflict, Imaoka also would write the somewhat more light-hearted and episodic Heroic Fantasy series Outlaws of the Wild Marsh. Inspired by the classic Chinese novel Water Margin, it told the story of a group of Robin Hood-esqe outlaws and rebels who make their home in a secret base in the eponymous Wild Marsh, a monster-filled swamp that is treacherous for everyone but the Outlaws themselves to navigate. From this secret base, they plot out various heists and battle plans against their enemies: the Noir Empire, which is ruled with an iron fist by the genocidal Emperor Gustave, and his league of wizards who use dark magic and demons to keep themselves in power. Most of the stories are centered around a young peasant named Catherine, a boyish dark-haired girl forced to flee her village after she is forced into an arranged marriage. She runs into a platoon of the Outlaws during a raid on a wizard's tower (aiding them in destroying it) and is taken in by the platoon's leader: Guin, a muscle-hewed warrior cursed with the head of a tiger by the Emperor's grand advisor. Over the course of fifteen books (8 novel-length works and 7 short story and novella collections), the Outlaws fight a guerrilla war against the Noir Empire before finally toppling it in a climactic upheaval, founding a Republic headed by Catherine herself with her advisor (and husband) Guin.
Eagle-eyed readers may notice a running theme in these serials: they include as a protagonist a dark-haired woman whose looks (and often times, name) resemble that of Imaoka herself(7). This is no coincidence. Even her non-speculative novels and serials (including the previously mentioned High School Detective Saori) include this feature. When asked about this, Imaoka replied that this was a way for her to put herself in her stories and to both drive her creative process and complete a deadline. Comparisons have been made to turn-of-the-century German author Karl May, though unlike the former, Imaoka never claimed to have experienced futuristic space warfare or castle sieges the way May claimed his exploits in the Wild West or the Middle East.
There is, however, another factor: Imaoka's gender identity. Although considered a modern icon of Transgender women, Imaoka was extremely private about how she realized her gender during her lifetime, often giving conflicting accounts of when she began identifying as a woman: one interview in the 1980s claimed that she had begun identifying as Asami during her teen years, whereas a later one said she had begun transitioning after she had graduated University and become a full-time writer. Imaoka was often uncomfortable with discussing her private affairs, and rarely gave any concrete infomration about her love life or her sexuality. It wasn't until after her death that her relationship with editor Mitsuteru Kobayashi became widely known.
The flipside to this is that Imaoka, more than almost any other author of popular fiction in her generation, helped to boost queer themes in popular Nipponese literature(8). Many of her books feature same-sex relationships and attraction (Kaoru Nguyen develops a romantic relationship with her ensign Cleo Hernandez, and Guin laments the death of his best friend and lover Kenneth from his youth). The previously mentioned High School Detective Saori (whose plot and themes are outside the range of this encyclopedia) is arguably the most obvious: The 'Saori' of the title is in fact a boy who identifies and presents as a girl, and gains the romantic attraction of both male and female students and townspeople. But it didn't stop there, as Imaoka was also a modern pioneer of writing queer erotica, often mixing her common themes of science fiction, fantasy and crime with themes of Uranian and Sapphic sexual expression and sexual activity.
Imaoka's popularity has proven to be perrenial, not just in book sales but also in adaptations. In 1987, the animation collective Sunrise Entertainment (famous for the Mobile Suit Gundam series) began production of an animated serial adapting Record of the Galactic Conflict , which was then broadcast on ANN. In 1990, the game designing collective Intelligence Systems(9), famous for pioneering the 'Simulation RPG' of video games, released their fourth title: a game adapted from Record of the Galactic Conflict, in which one could choose either faction to fight for and which built upon the still expanding universe of Imaoka's creation (including going into detail on the battleships and their function, as the game required units to both operate the ships as well as to man smaller vehicles and platoons). As the so-called NRPG (Nipponese Role-Playing Game) genre of video games began to mature in the 1990s, Imaoka's influence grew even further: the video game collective Enix(10) produced a popular video game adaption of Outlaws of the Wild Marsh, which in turn birthed a series that is still in production as of this writing (it's eighth installment was released in 2014). There have been numerous claims from fans both within and without the Comintern that the Star Legacy series of ARPG games have cribbed elements and plot points for the former (though these are largely circumstantial, as both series take inspiration from Eastern and Western fantasy traditions).
In 2007, Imaoka made the public announcement that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (the same disease that would claim the life of her mother some twenty years earlier). At the time, she was still working on a new serial (a noir detective novel), and a kabuki script (her third to be produced). Two years later, she passed away in the cancer ward of Tokyo Hospital, age 55.
Notes:
1: This person is a composite character made of Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka (author of Legend of the Galactic Heroes), and Kaoru Kurimoto (prolific multi-genre author who wrote the record-breaking 100+ volume Guin Saga), with a bit of Karl May thrown in for good measure.
2: Kurimoto famously played both piano and shamisen (even became a certified master of the later) and would write and compose plays and musicals throughout her career. The other instruments come from Karl May.
3: Kurimoto had a jazz trio she would tour with under her other pen name, Azusa Nakajima. She also played with a rock band also called Pandora in the 70s. She loved rock music and made references to them in lots of her work (including making reccomendations for listening along while reading)
4: Shinji Wada was a male shojo mangaka who created Sukeban Deka. Ishikawa's involvement is in reference to his OTL mentor Go Nagai, who illustrated Kurimoto's Makai Suikoden book series.
5: TTL's equivalent of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
6: TTL's equivalent of The Guin Saga.
7: Got this idea from Karl May, who does in fact still exist ITTL and is still a major impact on German pop culture.
8: Kurimoto is often considered to be one of the founding mothers of the Yaoi genre, and therefore helping to introduce homosexual themes into popular fiction in Japan. I decided to make Imaoka similar, though with less toxic themes as old-school Yaoi tends to include.
9: Intelligence Systems OTL is an arm of Nintendo, famous for the Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem series. ITTL, they're an independent collective of developers.
10: Enix is famous for Dragon Quest (before merging with Square). They're also a major force ITTL.
Last edited:
Kurimoto wrote 300 books in her career, and according to her she only wrote for like three hours a day, otherwise she just lived the life of a regular Japanese housewife.
Miss Teri
The Queen
- Location
- West
- Pronouns
- She/Her
(That's my exact fantasy. Like, to the letter.)
Tango With Death: South American Theater 1942
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The South American Theatre: A Tango with Death
Window of Victory
Excerpt from John Hercain, The World Revolutionary War: The Grapple (Chicago: Vanguard Press, 2002)
…Brazil, for all its supposed success and progress that Salgado claimed that the Brazilian Army had made in its war against "the Bolshevik heathens", is often seen by historians as the weakest of the Axis Powers. While many attribute this to the Integralist regime's quick and early collapse during the war, the considerably different circumstances of 1942 in South America compared to their European and Mediterranean allies play a role in this.
As Integralist troops approached Buenos Aires, Salgado had simply thought that the fall of the capital would shatter the Argentine nation, then hopefully the entire Latin section of the Vladivostok Compact would follow in a domino effect. Being divorced from the reality on the ground, Salgado could be permitted to have such naively hopeful daydreams. And he was not alone. The Integralist brass similarly thought that the fall of the capital would invoke an Argentine surrender, but knew that military efforts would be needed to subdue the rest of the socialist republics such as Chile and Peru.
However, Salgado and the brass had vastly underestimated the resolve of the INTREV alliance, particularly Argentina. Nicolas Repetto, the President of Argentina, had resolved to fight on against the Integralist Bloc until their regimes were grinded into ash. The longtime socialist, now leader on the world stage, held a deep contempt towards Salgado that grew as the war dragged on. Robert Minor, the Foreign Secretary of the UASR, remarked in his memoirs on a visit he had to Argentina during the war. When the topic of the Brazilian Generalissimo came up, Repetto had remarked,
"That man talks as if his victory is assured. If he believes that he alone can stop the revolution, then he may look at the fate of those who have tried."
Repetto's rhetoric was equally shared among much of the Comintern in the Americas. To them, Brazil presented the largest, strongest and most dangerous force of reactionary counter-revolution in the hemisphere. Even when he was Foreign Secretary himself, John Reed had been one of the loudest voices in the Central Committee in support of the Brazilian Revolution, arguing that;
"Such an opportunity must be seized, likewise to our proletariat revolution. Otherwise the forces of reaction and counter-revolution will wield the boot down on the oppressed. It is up to us if we want to see a Brazil that can be one of our strongest allies, or one that could be one of our greatest enemies."
Now Premier of the UASR, Reed devoted as many men as he could to assist the defense of Argentina. An American expeditionary force that started off at 75,000 in the summer of 1940, would grow to 200,000 by 1942. Chile and Peru, newly christened socialist republics, assisted Argentina en masse. But like the Americans, the initial expeditionary forces they could muster paled in comparison to the half a million Brazilian forces that were streaming across the border.
Brazil's navy had also gotten assistance from the Kriegsmarine, as part of the larger Battle of the Atlantic. While Brazil wasn't a naval powerhouse compared to the world powers, it still had the most powerful navy in South America. Added with the assistance of the Germans with U-Boat warfare, the Marinha do Brasil could be able to easily gain naval superiority on the Rio de la Plata, which would allow them to shell the capital almost with impunity.
But Brazil was relying on a quick and simple victory. One where the swift capitulation of Buenos Aires would allow the Integralist state to seize Argentine production and industry, in order to fund their war effort, and to turn it westwards against the nascent, fledgling worker's nations of Chile and Peru.
However, much like the Soviets nearly half a world away, a significant part of the Argentine industry and military capacity was moved further south, out of reach of Integralist hands. Comintern military advisors, as well as commanders who accompanied the expeditionary forces pursued a defensive strategy, and built up forces through reinforcements and materiel to eventually launch a counter-attack. But one thing they all agreed on, was that Buenos Aires must not fall. An additional port available to the Axis would allow their fleets to have naval hegemony across the South Atlantic, and put the chances of Argentine survival in dire straits.
The Americans, having experience with Central American conflicts, most recently with their support of Latin worker's revolutions in the aftermath of their revolution, were aware that utilizing the combined power of the Comintern's industry in Latin America was the key to defeating Brazil. For all their militarisation and industrial growth that was done, even before the half-decade since Salgado ascended to power, Brazil's industrial capacity was simply not as high as its German and Italian counterparts. While among the highest in South America, it was vastly dwarfed by the colossus that was the UASR, and now by a coalition of communist Latin American republics. A war of attrition was not in the cards for Brazil.
It was clear that the longer this war lasted, the smaller the window of victory became.
The Appetite of War
The Paraguayan War of 1864-70 was the conflict previously known as "South America's Bloodiest War", with a death toll reaching as high as 500,000 dead. That number was surpassed within the month of Brazil's invasion. Despite the South American front ending the earliest of all the major fronts of the Second World War, it would end with a total of 8 million dead. The majority of them would be civilians, mostly through famine or starvation. And still, a year into the front's opening, the war seemed to be at a stalemate.
By early 1941, the Brazilian offensive was facing a crisis of cohesion. The forces that made up the initial 500,000 invasion force were from the main Armed Forces, the Greenshirts (who now faced conventional troops rather than armed workers in the streets) and the Guarda Verde, the ritualistic guard of Cristiano Boaventura. The difference in fanaticism between these groups, as well as the rivalry between the Greenshirts and the Guarda Verde, caused a concerning lack of discipline that was brought forward to Salgado by Integralist command.
Salgado, agreeing to this dilemma and needing to drive the energy his fanatical troops had towards a target, decided to use the (uncaptured) city of Buenos Aires as a target. After all, a unifying target would bode well for cohesion.
To the brass and Salgado's horror, it had the opposite effect. With the announcement to take Buenos Aires, both the Greenshirts and the Guarda Verde viewed this as a way to "best" the other, and tried to outcompete the other faction. The Greenshirts, the more undisciplined of the three factions, took the higher rate of casualties in comparison to the military or the Guarda Verde. But even the later two would find themselves attempting to reach unrealistic objectives and getting bogged down by Argentine defenses. The issues were made even worse by Comintern air divisions managing to get aerial superiority on certain areas of the front, effectively making certain units unable to advance or else they would be met with strafing fire from Red fighters. The entire offensive ground to a halt in the face of such ineptitude.
By August 5th, Salgado would be forced to switch from going on the offensive to simply besieging the city, by both land and sea.
[...]
As tenuous as the state of the front line was for Brazil, its supply line did it no favors. The lack of new railway tracks being laid meant that the supply chain for the frontline could be easily sabotaged by partisans or air raids. The upkeep of the food, fuel and material needed to fund the war effort soon brought the Integralist home front to its knees.
All of this, including the strain on the home front, would contribute to the Brazilian Famine that lasted from 1940 and only ended by the spring of 1944. Bad harvests, combined with the massive rationing that was made to feed the frontline troops, led many Brazilian peasants to practice subsistence farming, in order to be able to feed themselves. With barely any food coming in from the countryside, people starved in the urban cities. The problem was made worse when Integralist officials started to seize produce from these farmers, often through violence, which led to famine in the countryside. By mid-1941, most Brazillians started to wonder if this "great crusade" would even be worth it.
Brazil's Axis allies in Germany and Italy weren't much help in terms of material assistance. Germany's war against the Soviet Union required much of their resources, while Italy was splitting its assets between the grueling campaign in the USSR, and an audacious plan to secure the British Empire's Mediterranean territories. Brazil's two strongest allies would not be able to alleviate the Integralist war machine or its starving population.
The rest of the Integralist Bloc (Bolivia, Paraguay) were but lukewarm allies of Salgado, and even their limited resources served as a band-aid over a compound fracture that was the Brazilian supply issue.
The failure of the 1941 offensive was in part due to an under-supplied, disorganized and uncoordinated army; which soon made Salgado decide to halt the offensive and go back to the drawing board. Buenos Aires would have to be captured another day. And hopefully before the people of Brazil broke.
With the ball finally in their court, Comintern forces began a counter-offensive plan, hoping that this lull in active offensives would allow them to strike their first true success against the Integralists.
And this too failed to meet expectations. Despite the lack of offensive capabilities from the Integralist forces, their defensive line held as the Comintern forces failed to open a corridor to relieve Buenos Aires. The Battle of Junin even saw Guarda Verde shocktroopers attempt to infiltrate American lines and cut off the supply lines to the defenses in the Platine region. Thankfully for the Americans, it was halted due to the efforts of one Marshal Lau Sing Kee.
But the year of 1941 saw both sides fail to make any true breakthrough in the Argentine front. Worse, though, was the scale of devastation around Argentina's population centers. Argentina, for all its courage and determination in the face of hostile aggression, had a population suffering and on the brink of collapse. Brazilian occupational forces stripped rice and other produce from peasants to fund their war effort, leaving them often in an on-and-off state of famine as the Integralists advanced. The fall of Buenos Aires would most likely be a fatal blow to Argentine resistance, at least in terms of the official government. Partisan action still impacted the war effort against Brazil immensely, but reprisals by Guarda Verde units were brutal, with multiple accounts of plunder, murder and rape being conducted as part of anti-partisan operations.
For the Comintern allies, that meant letting Buenos Aires be besieged, hoping that they could relieve it before it surrendered. For Brazil, it meant that time was running out on this window of victory. For Salgado and the Integralists, 1942 would be the year that would decide if they would be the victors…..or the vanquished.
Red Waves, Red Ships
Excerpt from Kirk LeMarc, John Reed: Journalist to Revolutionary to World Leader (New York: Public Affairs Press, 2018)As 1942 arrived, the situation of the war for the UASR and their allies seemed to teeter on the edge. With two fronts on two continents, Reed needed a way to deliver a victory that had the chance to turn the tide in both Eurasia and the Americas. The news of success in the Battle of Moscow granted him hope for the former theater and boosted morale along with the hopes of winning the Eastern Front, so that story will have to be put off until later.
As for the South American theater, things would need a different approach. The front had bogged down to a war of attrition. While Brazil wasn't exactly steamrolling through the Americas at the moment, its besiegement of Buenos Aires, as well as the position of the Marinha do Brasil put the whole defensive front on the backfoot; as any offensive that could attempted to relive the city had to consider the threat of being bombarded by Brazilian naval ships.
[...]
The Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) convened on December 7th, 1941 to discuss a possible strike against Brazil, meant to put pressure off of Buenos Aires. The meeting had three plans put forward in order to achieve that goal.
The first plan, proposed by Chairman Browder (who held the position since Secretary-General Kantorovitch often removed himself from military affairs out of preference) suggested a raid to destroy the port of Natal. A raid to damage the port could cripple the ability of the Marinha to conduct naval operations for a sizable time, and would be able to draw ships away from the naval blockade of Buenos Aires, and plan for a way to relieve the city without the threat of Brazilian ships.
A majority of the council wanted to pursue a different plan however. Admiral Forrest Sherman instead suggested a decisive naval battle to cripple the Marinha do Brasil in the long term. Allow for the superior WFRN to send the Integralist fleet to the bottom of the sea, thus gaining permanent control of the South Atlantic for the duration of the war. But Reed and Browder pushed back hard against the plan, arguing that the presence of German U-boats and other ships could result in a battle against a German-Brazilian flotilla. As the two camps pushed back and forth, a third option was given.
People's Secretary for Defense Martin Abern suggested a plan that could combine the aspects of the two, in which a raid on Natal could be used to draw the Marinha do Brasil out into an open-sea battle, where they could be set upon by a WFRN Task Force awaiting near the Rio de la Plata. The two sides, wanting a plan of some sorts instead of debating all day, agreed to Abern's compromise plan.
As the current Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Sherman was in charge of planning this ambitious attack meant to cripple the Marinha do Brasil and seize control of the Rio de la Plata estuary. Gathering what was available to him in the Atlantic Fleet, Sherman's plan consisted of an initial raid fleet of: 2 fleet carriers, 1 light carrier, 2 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers, all to be led by decorated Admiral Jean-Paul Sanders.
The second fleet that would intercept the Brazilian fleet at the Rio de la Plata, would consist of 1 fleet carrier, 4 battleships, 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers. While this would have been considered small if facing the Kriegsmarine or the Regia Marina, aerial reconnaissance reports viewed by the RMC indicated that the fleet blockading the Rio de la Plata was smaller than initially thought.
The raid was planned meticulously and the WFRN had to keep a tight lid on both its naval movements, quietly maneuvering its second fleet through the Atlantic. By some stroke of luck, they managed to avoid any interception by U-boat or recon plane. As January 5th of 1942 rolled around, and with the second fleet in position, the decision to launch the raid was approved.
[...]
Natal has been one of Brazil's most important ports, especially in its position. Rumors of the MacArthur-led Americuban nation joining the Allies seemed to be all too true, especially as the purge of Silver Legion members implied a government shift away from the Axis. If the General were to throw his hat in with the British, then Natal would be the point from which to launch an attack at the exile nation.
As ships of the Marinha do Brasil lay in dock on the morning of January 5th, Brazilian radar, loaned to them by the Italians, picked up a wave of planes headed towards the harbor. Initially surprised at first, they initially thought it was their own planes arriving early. They could not have been more mistaken.
The resulting air raid wrecked the docked fleet at Natal, sinking a battleship and two cruisers in the harbor, as well as destroying oil storages and any planes on the tarmac, their pilots unable to reach them in time as SB2D "Dervishes" turned them into burning husks.
The raid was devastating by itself, with Brazil's naval capacity crippled in the Caribbean. The RMC was jovial at hearing the success of the raid, even if the second part of their plan were to somehow falter.
Later that day, as a portion of the Brazilian blockade fleet raced to reinforce a possible attack on Natal, the second WFRN fleet struck. In the resulting battle, known as the Battle of the Rio, much of the Brazilian fleet sank to the bottom of the sea, and what remained of them limped away to Porte Alegre, to seek cover.
A battleship and all its escorts were left in the bottom of the Rio de la Plata, and the blockade of Buenos Aires died with it. John Reed had dealt a blow to the viridian monster; one that would prove to be the first of many dominoes.
Milagro del Río de la Plata
Excerpt from Stephanie Reed, Rivers of War: Milagro del Río de la Plata (Los Angeles: Pathfinder, 2012)The Natal raid and subsequent sinking of Brazil's navy was a rude awakening for Salgado and the Integralists. Much of their advantage in the Buenos Aires campaign had been their local naval superiority, being able to shell enemy forces who attempted counter-offensives. On the diplomatic front, Britain's new government (now hostile to the Third Reich) no longer sought to support the Intergralist regime, who had recently hitched their wagon with the Axis. By Valentine's Day, the British Empire declared war on Germany, meaning British supplies would no longer be available. But Salgado had a plan in motion for such an event.
As the situation for Brazil was becoming increasingly untenable, many among the Integralist High Command thought that one decisive offensive could be the key to turning Brazil's fortunes. An offensive had been in the works for early 1942, even as the Natal Raid decimated the Marinha do Brasil. In order to counteract the lack of naval support, preparations for the new offensive sped up in the months of January and February 1942. The Guarda Verde or the Green Guard, the most successful units on the front, got expanded in preparation of the offensive. By 1942, the Guard numbered around 150,000, including recruits from neighboring Bolivia and Paraguay. Salgado grew blindly optimistic at the possibilities of the offensive's results, hoping that the Guarda Verde would serve at the spear-tip in Brazil's victorious counter-offensive.
That offensive in question, named Operation Canhão Gêmeo or "Twin Cannon" was launched on February 17th, consisting of the entire Green Guard, and the 1st and 2nd Armies, totalling to about 275,000 men involved in the offensive. The powerful offensive turned the siege of the city, now an important strategic point, into a full scale battle as the Comintern defenders attempted to hold off the surging tide of the Brazilian onslaught. However, despite the power of the offensive making impressive gains, due to Brazil's inefficient supply management and terrain, the sheer number of troops and vehicles clogged up the roads and turned the quick progress into a slog.
Comintern High Command reacted swiftly in the face of the Brazilian attack. Combined with Axis actions and offensives in fronts all over the world, the Comintern Joint Revolutionary Military Committee announced that the Soviet and American fronts of the war would be in separate, but unified commands. Known collectively as the International Revolutionary Armed Forces, or INTREV as an abbreviation, this reform of the various worker's armies seeked to streamline the fronts and have a central structure of command. Under the command of General Vicente Rodriguez, INTREV-South America was born.
INTREV-South America would have a baptism of fire, as now its unified command had to hold the tide against Operation Twin Cannon. A flanking sickle-cut led by the Brazilian 2nd Army was pushed back, but the pressure continued to mount against the front. Salgado, seeing an opportunity, ordered a last push against Buenos Aires. The "Savior of the Republic" planned to finally capture the elusive city once and for all.
As the Green Guard drove towards the city, General Rodriguez scrambled units to reinforce the city and push the green tide back. Among them were the Soviet expeditionary force, officially known as the Южный экспедиционный корпус (Yuzhnyy ekspeditsionnyy korpus, Southern Expeditionary Force), who fought immensely well despite the difference in climate. The American expeditionary force had previous experience in Central America, and now sought to defend the Argentine proletariat from having their revolution snuffed out by Integralist reactionaries. But among those units, the Argentine 1st Armored Division stands out among the defenders of Buenos Aires.
This armored division was unique in its makeup, being a mix of light Soviet T-26s and American M2s, heavy American M1s and indigenous DL-40 medium tanks built by the Argentines themselves. Using what remained of Argentine industry, as well as assistance from American engineers, this division was one of the key units in the defense of Buenos Aires. Eventually, it would be these tanks that would end Salgado's rule in Brazil.
But as of March 5th of 1942, they were among the units General Rodriguez gathered to halt the Guarda Verde's advance. And they would be halted. Drawing inspiration from both the Battles of Smolensk and Moscow, General Rodriguez launched Operation Rosette as a counterattack. The Argentine 1st Armored, and other armored units led a flanking attack towards the Parana River, routing the Greenshirt defenders there that threatened to encircle the Brazilian troops left near the city.
Not wanting a South American repeat of the Smolensk surrender, O Diablo Verde (nom de guerres among the Green Guard were common) ordered a retreat by river to avoid the encirclement. Operation Twin Cannon had failed.
Viva la Vida
Excerpt from Patrick O'Rielly, Dictators of the 20th Century: Plinio Salgado (Chicago: Pathfinder, 1999)March of 1942 was the beginning of the end of Salgado's ambitions. It was also the end of his sanity, by most contemporary accounts.
Before his forces were forced to retreat from Buenos Aires, MacArthur had set the island of Cuba against the Brazilian dictator. The tyrannical general feared Brazilian hegemony just as much as he feared communist hegemony.
By the end of the month, the entire Entente declared war on Salgado, firmly uniting the two camps of the Comintern and the Entente against the Axis Powers. Salgado had once viewed Britain as a possible ally. He had viewed King Edward VIII as a great ally in the face of "communist agitation". Now Edward VIII was gone, having lost the confidence of Parliament and the people. The UK had turned against him. With Germany fighting their own war in the East, Brazil stood alone.
Salgado was irate at this supposed "betrayal". In response, he had the Entente ambassadors arrested, and perhaps out of pure spite, had the consulate buildings set alight. Most of the moderates in Salgado's government looked with apoplectic horror, as the former hero of the Republic seemed to go mad before his eyes.
Brazil now had another front to worry about in colonial possessions up north. Troops were sent up across the Oyapock river, but the theater was considered secondary, at least to Integralist High Command. Nevertheless, the war situation by the end of March went from tenuous to dangerously untenable for Brazil. Stubborn resistance in the Guianas, Chile and Peru's halting of Bolivia's Andes Offensive, as well as no major action in Argentina has left fighting as a whole in a stalemate. But Brazil's odds at winning a war of attrition were next to zero. So for Salgado, stalemates were just death by a thousand cuts.
By 1942, resources needed to supply the war effort were running at a deficit. The home front would not be able to bear the burden of the war for much longer. Salgado's advisors warned him that if the home front situation were to destabilize any further, his regime may fall to revolution.
Now due to the previous crackdown on communists during the Brazilian Revolution, they were most likely not the group to lead a revolt. But many other political factions now viewed Salgado's rule as undermining the nation, especially as the war grew less and less in Brazil's favor. Social reformists, moderate liberals and even dye-in-the-wool conservatives weren't as eager to have the nation set alight just to satisfy Salgado's pride.
So Salgado attempted to weaken other homefronts to even his odds. He funded and encouraged Integralist terror attacks in places such as Cuba, America, the UK; wherever he thought he could strike a decisive blow against the grand coalition that had seemingly united against his "brilliance".
One decision that seemed to baffle politicians on the home front, was Salgado's decision to declare war on Uruguay. To many, it just seemed like Salgado wanted to declare war on the whole continent if he could. Nations like Columbia or Cuba, were declaring war on Brazil, so defense of the nation could be understandable to many.
But Uruguay? An ally, reluctantly of course, but an ally regardless? To many, Salgado was turning mad. And it wouldn't be an easy invasion, as the Brazilians would stall at Treinta y Tres and the Rio Negro. Leaving another front of the war in stalemate, and another nation against the Integralists.
Supplying three fronts would have been ambitious in 1940. It was flat out impossible by the conditions of 1942. Desperate to find a way to keep the war effort going without having the cities starve, Salgado gave a series of edicts, allowing for his troops to "live off the land" in occupied territories. In essence, it made loot and plunder within the occupation zones state policy. It did help alleviate the Brazilian Famine, but not by a substantial degree. Bad harvests, once again in 1942, meant that food would be scarce.
This had both the effect of somewhat feeding his army, but now Argentine peasants were flooding to join the partisans. In the final months of 1942, Argentine partisans exploded in number, gaining thousands of recruits weekly. By December, there were 75,000 partisans all within Brazilian lines.
Salgado's mental state was also nearing the breaking point. Aides recorded that he wasn't sleeping, rarely ate and would be caught at times staring at the window that overlooked Rio De Janairo, with a face devoid of any energy…or joy. The military man, known to go on long rousing speeches and drew large crowds in nationalistic fervor now lacked that spark that brought him to power to begin with. He now rarely left his residence, and anytime he had dinner, he would eat in the large dining room, alone. No one to accompany him as he trusted no one, other than his female aide.
It was this nihilistic Salgado that decided that either he would succeed in his long-dead ambition, or his nation would die with them. By December 17th of that year, Salgado would launch one last offensive, truly the last one.
Operation Providence. A place that neither Salgado, or his dreams, would ever reach.
Mazeka
You must be joking
- Location
- United States
Hmm. Interesting choice.
Great War veteran. DSC recipient. NYC Chinatown civic leader. Distributed false documentation for Chinese illegal immigrants to create "paper sons". Imprisoned for 2 years for violating the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I can't help but imagine some poor Soviet soldier who volunteered to fight the nazi scum and is now discovering sweat in parts of his body he didn't even know could sweat.
Angriest man in the Red Army, determined to kill Salgado for the crime of making him fight in South America.
Angriest man in the Red Army, determined to kill Salgado for the crime of making him fight in South America.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So the first to fall is the would be crusader state, defeated by the strength of the revolution and the madness that consumed their once beloved leader. Now the old empires are finally seeing the threat that the axis represent and now the world is aligned against the madness they wrought.
Prelude to War: The Allies (Part II)
Miss Teri
The Queen
- Location
- West
- Pronouns
- She/Her
GUGB World Factbook, 2021-2022 edition
Franco-British Union/Union franco-britannique
Green: The metropolitan Franco-British Union (not showing Altavas-Aures and the Overseas Territories)
Light Green: Franco-British Dominions in Europe
Official Name: The Entente Cordiale of Great Britain and France/ L'Entente Cordiale de la France et de la Grand-Bretagne
Nicknames: The Franco-British Union, Anglo-French Union, Entente, Frangleterre
Capital: Paris (Legislative, Judicial), London (Executive)
Official Language(s): English, French
Demographics:
History:
Currency: Union Pound
Internet TLD: .min/fbu
-------------------------------------------------
Prelude to War: The Allies (Pt. II)
On New Years Day, 1942, after classifying them as a foreign front group, General Douglas MacArthur would formally expel the Silver Legion from the National Salvation Front for "espionage and treason against the United States", and the next morning, the NBI and US Marshals would storm the capitol to arrest every one of its representatives in Congress.
On January 4th, Charles Coughlin would resign from the Vice-Presidency, taking a deal to avoid prosecution and formally retiring from politics. After considering businessman Edsel Ford and one-time Presidential nominee Cordell Hull for VP, former British Ambassador Charles G. Dawes was chosen by MacArthur, for his internationalist bona fides. MacArthur would also purge the government of sympathizers or isolationists, especially Breckenridge Long (replaced by Clare Booth) and Joseph P. Kennedy (replaced by Averell Harriman). Ezra Pound was saved by switching his rhetoric to be more pro-government.
While MacArthur cleaned house, as tensions grew in Western Europe, William Joyce, leader of the National Socialists and Fascist League, took a gamble in reenacting Mussolini's "March on Rome." On January 8th, he would march with over 6000 supporters towards Westminister to prevent the United Kingdom from intervening in the war and "stopping the scourge of communism", hoping for a royal endorsement from sympathizer King Edward VIII.
King Edward had prepared a statement of endorsement towards granting Joyce's demands and being open towards negotiations (which would be an avenue to seize control), but thanks to some (intentional) mishaps from the Royal staff, it was never formally delivered as planned, though it was published after police managed to defeat the rioters and arrest Joyce.
Still, the controversy around intervention would remain, especially as Prime Minister Edward Wood attempted to maintain neutrality. All the while, Jean Monnet and Oswald Mosley continued refining the so-called "Union Treaty" to gain enough support within both the French government under Leon Blum and the British Parliament.
The opportunity would come when, after a month of mobilization, Leon Blum would formally declare war on Germany on January 28th. Five days later, Maréchal Phillipe Petain would declare a pronunciamiento against the Blum government, followed by an uprising by troops sympathetic to him. Despite the attempts by loyalists such as Rene Prioux to restore order, by February 7th, it was clear that France was in a state of civil war.
Prime Minister Wood declared, while he was open to mediating peace talks, Great Britain would not take any action to help the Third Republic. King Edward made a public statement the same day supporting this action. With such an open betrayal of an ally, Winston Churchill would have the leverage to bring a vote of no-confidence against Edward Wood, bringing together Conservative MPs opposed to non-intervention with Liberal, Labour, and Commonwealth Workers MPs to vote no-confidence on the government.
Fed up with the humiliation and concerned about the growing sentiment against the King, members of the Royal Family (including his own mother, the Queen Mother, who already disapproved of his marriage) forced Edward VIII to abdicate the same day as the no-confidence vote, instead being sent to serve as Governor General of New Zealand. His brother, the Duke of York, would ascend the throne to become King George VI.
Humiliated and realizing his defeat, Edward Wood, 1st Lord Halifax resigned from the Prime Ministership on February 8th. A caretaker government was assembled with the endorsement of the new King, with Clement Atlee as Prime Minister and Churchill as his deputy. With that, on February 14th, the United Kingdom would affirm its support for the Third Republic, its intention to restore them to power, and declare war against the Anti-Comintern Axis. On February 20th, they would welcome the exiled Leon Blum and several of his ministers as they exited France.
By then, Monnet and Mosley were finished with their finalized proposal for a union between Britain and the Third Republic. After gaining the approval of the government-in-exile, the Free France Forces, and the Atlee government, "The Act of Union" would be sent to Parliament.
The finalized "Act of Union" stated:
"At this most fateful moment in the history of the modern world the Governments of the United Kingdom and the French Republic make this declaration of indissoluble union and unyielding resolution in their common defence of justice and freedom, against subjection to a system which reduces mankind to a life of robots and slaves.
The two Governments declare that France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial, and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.
Both countries will share responsibility for the repair of the devastation of war, wherever it occurs in their territories, and the resources of both shall be equally, and as one, applied to that purpose.
During the war there shall be a single war Cabinet, and all the forces of Britain and France, whether on land, sea, or in the air, will be placed under its direction. It will govern from wherever it best can. The two Parliaments will be formally associated.
The nations of the British Empire are already forming new armies. France will keep her available forces in the field, on the sea, and in the air."[2]
The "single war Cabinet" would comprise of Clement Atlee and Leon Blum as effectively co-Prime Ministers, with Churchill and SFIO head Guy Mollet as co-"Deputy Prime Ministers". King George would become the founding monarch.
While there was some resistance, by March 1st, the Act of Union was ratified, and the "Entente Cordiale of Great Britain and France '' would be declared by Atlee in front of Westminister.
After the dust settled around his government, Douglas MacArthur turned his attention to the South and the growing threat of Brazil. Hoping to build a new image for Cuba as a regional power, MacArthur saw an opportunity to both establish a presence in South America and appease the British, who were increasingly pro-intervention.
The formation of the Franco-British Union would be the tipping point, and on March 7th, MacArthur declared war on Integralist Brazil, stating "Salgado poses a threat to the American way of life. His mongrel armies may one day come to invade our own, subjugating us in his religion of death and destruction. We must not allow that to pass! We must fight the Integralist menace, wherever it may try to hide!"
[1] While Northern Ireland was devolved from London as early as 1920, its status was constitutionally "reset" and the area was devolved alongside France with the Charter of 1948
[2] Direct quote: FRENCH REPUBLIC (PROPOSED UNION WITH GREAT BRITAIN). (Hansard, 16 October 1940)
Franco-British Union/Union franco-britannique
Green: The metropolitan Franco-British Union (not showing Altavas-Aures and the Overseas Territories)
Light Green: Franco-British Dominions in Europe
Official Name: The Entente Cordiale of Great Britain and France/ L'Entente Cordiale de la France et de la Grand-Bretagne
Nicknames: The Franco-British Union, Anglo-French Union, Entente, Frangleterre
Capital: Paris (Legislative, Judicial), London (Executive)
Official Language(s): English, French
- Recognized Languages: Scots, Ulster Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Breton, Catalan, Franconian, Basque, Darja, Maltese, Hindi, Urdu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Assyrian, Entente Sign Language
- Metropole: 887,411 sq km
Demographics:
- Ethnicity: English, French, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Walloons, Italian, Algerian, Spanish, Moroccan, German, Dutch, Assyrian, Asian (Indian, Sri Lankan, Bhutanese, Nepalese), Basque, Catalan, Black-Caribbean (Jamaican, Cuban, Trinidadian), Black-African (Nigerian, East African, South African), East Asian (Chinese exile/Hong Kong Chinese, Japanese exile, Southern Filipino, Thai, Burmese etc)
- Religion: Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Non-Anglican Protestantism), Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform), Islam (Shia, Sunni), Hinduism, Dianetics, Buddhism, Sikhism
- Overseas Territories (Devolved 1982): Hong Kong, Singapore, Guangzhouwan, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Guyanas, Malta, Gibraltar, Entente Antilles, Aden, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Falkland Islands, Entente Atlantic Islands, Entente Southern Islands and Antarctic Territories
- Upper House: Senate
- Lower House: National Assembly
- Head of State: Marie (Sovereign of the State Council)
- Head of Government: Dave Hodgson (Prime Minister)
History:
- Act of Union ratified: 1 March 1942
- Union Treaty Signed: 7 March 1942
- Entente Charter: 12 April 1948
- Start of People's Alliance Government: 23 February 1950
- Annexation of Wallonia and Government of Wales, Scotland, and Wallonia Act: 2 May 1967
- New Entente Charter: 19 August 1978
- Lee Premiership: 1981-1988
- Overseas Territories Self-Government Act: 3 October 1982
- Blair Premiership: 2009-2015
Currency: Union Pound
Internet TLD: .min/fbu
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Prelude to War: The Allies (Pt. II)
On New Years Day, 1942, after classifying them as a foreign front group, General Douglas MacArthur would formally expel the Silver Legion from the National Salvation Front for "espionage and treason against the United States", and the next morning, the NBI and US Marshals would storm the capitol to arrest every one of its representatives in Congress.
On January 4th, Charles Coughlin would resign from the Vice-Presidency, taking a deal to avoid prosecution and formally retiring from politics. After considering businessman Edsel Ford and one-time Presidential nominee Cordell Hull for VP, former British Ambassador Charles G. Dawes was chosen by MacArthur, for his internationalist bona fides. MacArthur would also purge the government of sympathizers or isolationists, especially Breckenridge Long (replaced by Clare Booth) and Joseph P. Kennedy (replaced by Averell Harriman). Ezra Pound was saved by switching his rhetoric to be more pro-government.
While MacArthur cleaned house, as tensions grew in Western Europe, William Joyce, leader of the National Socialists and Fascist League, took a gamble in reenacting Mussolini's "March on Rome." On January 8th, he would march with over 6000 supporters towards Westminister to prevent the United Kingdom from intervening in the war and "stopping the scourge of communism", hoping for a royal endorsement from sympathizer King Edward VIII.
King Edward had prepared a statement of endorsement towards granting Joyce's demands and being open towards negotiations (which would be an avenue to seize control), but thanks to some (intentional) mishaps from the Royal staff, it was never formally delivered as planned, though it was published after police managed to defeat the rioters and arrest Joyce.
Still, the controversy around intervention would remain, especially as Prime Minister Edward Wood attempted to maintain neutrality. All the while, Jean Monnet and Oswald Mosley continued refining the so-called "Union Treaty" to gain enough support within both the French government under Leon Blum and the British Parliament.
The opportunity would come when, after a month of mobilization, Leon Blum would formally declare war on Germany on January 28th. Five days later, Maréchal Phillipe Petain would declare a pronunciamiento against the Blum government, followed by an uprising by troops sympathetic to him. Despite the attempts by loyalists such as Rene Prioux to restore order, by February 7th, it was clear that France was in a state of civil war.
Prime Minister Wood declared, while he was open to mediating peace talks, Great Britain would not take any action to help the Third Republic. King Edward made a public statement the same day supporting this action. With such an open betrayal of an ally, Winston Churchill would have the leverage to bring a vote of no-confidence against Edward Wood, bringing together Conservative MPs opposed to non-intervention with Liberal, Labour, and Commonwealth Workers MPs to vote no-confidence on the government.
Fed up with the humiliation and concerned about the growing sentiment against the King, members of the Royal Family (including his own mother, the Queen Mother, who already disapproved of his marriage) forced Edward VIII to abdicate the same day as the no-confidence vote, instead being sent to serve as Governor General of New Zealand. His brother, the Duke of York, would ascend the throne to become King George VI.
Humiliated and realizing his defeat, Edward Wood, 1st Lord Halifax resigned from the Prime Ministership on February 8th. A caretaker government was assembled with the endorsement of the new King, with Clement Atlee as Prime Minister and Churchill as his deputy. With that, on February 14th, the United Kingdom would affirm its support for the Third Republic, its intention to restore them to power, and declare war against the Anti-Comintern Axis. On February 20th, they would welcome the exiled Leon Blum and several of his ministers as they exited France.
By then, Monnet and Mosley were finished with their finalized proposal for a union between Britain and the Third Republic. After gaining the approval of the government-in-exile, the Free France Forces, and the Atlee government, "The Act of Union" would be sent to Parliament.
The finalized "Act of Union" stated:
"At this most fateful moment in the history of the modern world the Governments of the United Kingdom and the French Republic make this declaration of indissoluble union and unyielding resolution in their common defence of justice and freedom, against subjection to a system which reduces mankind to a life of robots and slaves.
The two Governments declare that France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial, and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.
Both countries will share responsibility for the repair of the devastation of war, wherever it occurs in their territories, and the resources of both shall be equally, and as one, applied to that purpose.
During the war there shall be a single war Cabinet, and all the forces of Britain and France, whether on land, sea, or in the air, will be placed under its direction. It will govern from wherever it best can. The two Parliaments will be formally associated.
The nations of the British Empire are already forming new armies. France will keep her available forces in the field, on the sea, and in the air."[2]
The "single war Cabinet" would comprise of Clement Atlee and Leon Blum as effectively co-Prime Ministers, with Churchill and SFIO head Guy Mollet as co-"Deputy Prime Ministers". King George would become the founding monarch.
While there was some resistance, by March 1st, the Act of Union was ratified, and the "Entente Cordiale of Great Britain and France '' would be declared by Atlee in front of Westminister.
After the dust settled around his government, Douglas MacArthur turned his attention to the South and the growing threat of Brazil. Hoping to build a new image for Cuba as a regional power, MacArthur saw an opportunity to both establish a presence in South America and appease the British, who were increasingly pro-intervention.
The formation of the Franco-British Union would be the tipping point, and on March 7th, MacArthur declared war on Integralist Brazil, stating "Salgado poses a threat to the American way of life. His mongrel armies may one day come to invade our own, subjugating us in his religion of death and destruction. We must not allow that to pass! We must fight the Integralist menace, wherever it may try to hide!"
[1] While Northern Ireland was devolved from London as early as 1920, its status was constitutionally "reset" and the area was devolved alongside France with the Charter of 1948
[2] Direct quote: FRENCH REPUBLIC (PROPOSED UNION WITH GREAT BRITAIN). (Hansard, 16 October 1940)
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
That was the Coat of Arms of the Third Republic from 1905
Seeing that Barbenheimer is five days away -- what do you guys think Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie film looks like ITTL?
Libertad
Interdimensional Traveler and Culture agent
- Location
- Culture orbital It's Fantastic For You To Be Here
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Based on latest discussion, these places' 21st century fates are not yet truly settled so far. It's just a mixture of unintentional omission and indecisiveness as to the fate of these places.
Mayotte
Réunion
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
French Polynesia
Belize
Seychelles
Comoros
Mauritius
The fate of these small islands and as to where they stand (independent, FBU, or annexed to someplace else) has become sort of an in-Discord server meme but nothing like that of Mongolia's and Spain's ever-changing fates. Those are something else.
Don't worry that much about it. They'll eventually be settled..... one day, I hope....
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Not every film has a Redsverse version
- Location
- San Francisco
Would Barbie even exist? I know Transformers is supposed to still be around ITTL, but a lot of classic 80s franchises probably never get off the ground. Many were developed explicitly to sell toys.
I think there's a chance Barbie still exists. It first launched in 1959, If I can recall.