Alright here's a list of all the discords you can find me on if you want to chat to me about this project in particular, while I recommend you join them all I am fine with you picking and choosing one or the other. Though without further ado...
Goebbels screamed about "Total War", but even he could never imagine a war as total as this, a war where everything is a front in the struggle against the enemy, down to the very food that people eat!
I absolutely adore this update. Social and cultural history is far too overlooked for real life history, much less alt history, so it's absolutely fascinating to see what type of fast food franchises would take off in other timelines not dominated by American burger chains. It is such a wonderful idea. It makes it feel so real because suddenly you can envision there being more to these places than politicians, soldiers, and factory workers. It grounds it. These bombastic fascist states with over the top propaganda, and here's a teenager working as a fry cook making dumplings or kebabs. Suddenly it's so easy to imagine people living there doing people stuff. While also not forgetting that those states are built on bloodshed.
In addition to these other states influenced by the war and post war experience. It is funny that the big things to take off in Germany are donairs and American style sausages in buns. There's other street food of course but it's still amusing. I love the novelty of meat pies being the main focus for a fast food places. It isn't actually baked in house, it'd take too long. It's shipped to stores to be reheated on the spot and served with an order of actual deep fried foods. An Aussie friend of mine has sworn by meat pies being really good finger food, so I can see it. I just really appreciate the effort to make each timeline stand out. While there's plenty of copycat burger places, each major franchise feels distinct.
This doesn't even get into stuff like Tex-Mex chains like Taco Bell, which I don't think really took off yet. It's incredible what things can be turned into fast food when the process is broken down and standardized. I've seen a Greek place in malls that can make a gyro, calamari, and Greek fries in five minutes, served with a side of tzatziki. Yes it's capitalism, exploitative and commercialization of culture, but damn if that isn't impressive. Something you'd expect to only find in restaurants suddenly available to go wrapped up in a bag. It's incredible, I love it. That's what this post really captures. It makes it feel like more of a living breathing world. I'm wondering about all the type of sides you could get from these places.
I've got a soft spot for street foods. They're were you really find a lot of variety compared to major franchises and a lot more ethnic food too. It's always a fun affair, so this post is fantastic. I'd love to see a Guy Fieri style review of each major place, maybe a brief one. I may write it. Maybe not quite Guy Fieri but a similar food showcasing style.
Also archaeofuturistic is such a banger of a term.
When it comes to fast food, in urban areas it typically follows the mold of a large cafeteria, either community owned or provided by large industrial centers. Food is pre-prepared in large batches rather than made to order. There's also more standard street food fare.
Stylistically, general American cuisine has major influences from East Asian and East Slavic staples. Some common elements include soya-enriched breads, the popularization of previously ethnic cuisines through the Army mess hall. "Burgers" are still a thing, but they're served on toasted bread patty-melt style, and the endless styles of hot dog, incorporating new ethnic stylings, are probably the American calling card globally.
Cuisine in the Soviet Union goes on a similar trajectory, incorporating many general American influences as well as the popularization of Chinese dishes.
"if getting children to beg their parents to eat prebaked pies five days in a row to get every colour of a vaguely dalek shaped hunk of plastic that probably cost a penny to make isn't proof positive of Capitalism's brainwashing power, I don't know what is."
Voting is unanimous so I'll call it here and start posting results.
"The person who decided that humanity should inhabit Northern Sweden in the midst of winter is a man as cruel as Attila the Hun" - Anonymous
The Borealic War as the press called it was a conflict where driving snow and impenetrable blizzard was actually a good thing, because it meant that the ground was frozen rock solid and that tracked and corkscrew driven vehicles could advance without issue, as opposed to the deep muds of spring after the snows melted away. It also meant that airpower had no power over the battlefield during these bitter, cold months. Planes could not find targets, and artillery may as well be firing blind into the snow. Infantry similarly could scarcely be expected to stay outside during such intensive snows. Thus, this was a matter to be decided almost entirely by AFVs engaging at knife fighting ranges as they discovered each other through the impenetrable cold with thermal imaging.
This, more than anything, informed the choice of forces to dispatch to reinforce the Swedish Kingdom following the special meeting of the Communist International Revolutionary Military Command on the Swedish matter and some brisk discussions with the Armed Forces of the Worker's Socialist International's own high command.
Core components would include forces on loan from the Socialist Council Republic of Sweden in the Crimson Typhoon, Norwegian troops from the Red Morning, Cold Snow, and Crimson Typhoon, Danish and Finnish soldiers from myriad of timelines, and armed soldiery on loan from Germany and Britain along with some Soviet and American commitment. Perhaps more surprisingly was the presence of some east asian volunteer brigades, typicallyhailing from Chosun, Zhonggua, and Nippon and Canadian forces from the Red Morning and the Cold Snows.
In total, an international army that, through drips and drabs of different nations tallied up to an entire corps to reinforce the Royal Swedish Army with another en route to provide for a field army. All without dipping all that deeply into the ranks of the RIVA while certainly helping to deal with Sweden's manpower fears in the face of Accord-supported Finnish forces. With the vote of the newly anointed executive command posts accorded to the Pan-African Association of Socialist Republics and the Socialist United Arab Republic; the bear would be stopped at the coastline and in the sight of the ancient mountains.
In the past, wars such as this would not have been fought in the midst of the twenty-eight days of night or in snowstorms of this intensity. With modern thermal imaging though, one no longer needed eyes to see and the heat of armoured vehicle engines was more than enough to keep the cold at bay. And without aircraft to watch the skies and with infantry preferring to huddle as close as possible to IFVs, it would be the tanks fitted with thermal imagers that would lead the way, ploughing ahead with specially fitted prows to cut through layers of deep frost while their barrels poked over the cold like the snouts of beasts sniffing for prey.
The Finnish were stopped in the northern mountain ranges where the winding paths through forests older than humanity's presence in this part of the world were far more familiar to the Swedes than the invading Brothers-in-Arms of the Moscow Accord. Here, infantry could play a greater role with the trees breaking up the howling winds and the man-burying lashes of snow and ice, plumes of fire breaking up the shadows of an eternal night while men, women, and people as a whole shouted to be heard over the battling audio titans of warfare and winter.
At the coast, where populations were denser, the ominous sight of the Russian Navy put a serious risk of uncontrollable escalation if they were engaged, flying the flags of the Moscow Accord rather than the National Federal People's Republic of Russia. The Red Order Soviet Baltic sea fleet had also joined the patrols, with Alexey Sorokin watching the high naval tensions from the bridge of the BBG "Drednout" guided missile battleship, a ship made entirely out of what the Soviet military had come to call "electrium" due to the use of electricity in producing this glide enhanced material that gave it armour that would let it shrug off virtually any conventional impact.
A well suited flagship to the Soviet baltic fleet's voluntary expedition, and one that seemed to work to keep the National Populists on their side of the fence. It was a tense standoff, but neither wanted the situation to escalate, and it was easy for governments to pull back even from lengthy military engagements as long as the desire for a protracted war simply wasn't there, and with the Bear of National Populism and the Communist Ant and its newfound Syndicalist Bee compatriot still in an exploratory, curious phase, they would avoid committing any further for now.
At the centre though, was where the real action was taking place as the Voynists decided to thread the needle and push away from either the mountains or the coasts, driving into the teeth of panzerkiels with a ferocity hardly seen outside of the world wars. It was doubtless that the 7th Combat Squad Tank Division "Khans" was involved with changed up liveries to provide a legal figleaf, but the juggernaut of the heavy tank division would meet the dreadnought of the 5th Commonwealth Guard Tank division from Britain. Together with the support already provided, it was enough to, nearly two hundred kilometres deep into the Swedish hinterland, finally drag the Moscow Accord's armies to a halt when backed by three extra brigades, one Soviet, one Norwegian, one Chosunese.
It was a vicious battle, tanks atop tanks, men scrambling for warmth and cover whenever forced from the safety of the vehicles they clung to, thunder that not even the fury of Skathi; mother of winter; could fully drown out. The Voynists had advanced farther than they were able to support in this miserable weather, and sensing their gambit for a quick thrust to take Umea and thus dominate Northern Sweden had failed they found little choice but to pull away for the winter.
For even the bear knows to lie down in the face of an intense blizzard, and a polar vortex storm was coming to bring forth the mother of all blizzards.
While the landing in Aland was successful, the gainsin the north would have to be abandoned come the snow's thaw and the activation of aircraft wings being moved to airbases in Sweden ready to join the fray as soon as the weather cleared.
So the bear would go to its den not with the Lappland, but merely a single set of small, obscure baltic Islands.
Scheduled vote count started by Spartakrod on Dec 22, 2022 at 6:14 PM, finished with 63 posts and 16 votes.
[X] Plan United Front with Caveats 0.2
-[X] RM Sweden: Defer to the Socintern as a courtesy, indicate support for Sweden and willingness to send arms and volunteers to fight Voynists.
-[X] Pan-African Association of Socialist Republics: grant them a permanent seat on Stavka.
-[X] South American War: Wang Hongwen and Simon Levy are both correct. Local leftist movements must be helped grow so that they may have the strength to employ revolutionary defeatism. We are not sending volunteers to fight there, merely material aid and activists to help local leftists organize.
-[X] Olympics: boycott the 1976 Winter Games in German occupied Norway. Socintern may send athletes to the Spartakiad. Experiment with joint games without fully committing. Boycott the Titanic games if they're created.
-[X] Internal Comintern Agenda: Dial down military adventurism. Focus on consolidating gains, developing economies further, and promoting Comintern supremacy in its transition to a true world government. Maintain a strong focus on scientific research, cybernetic economies, increased ecological care, and cultural revolution.
-[X] UN: Continue vetoing any motion that'd allow Nazi Germany in the UN. Refuse entry to Voynist Russia and its sphere too.
-[X] Socintern Relations: Form a united front to show outward unity against other blocs. Join the Socintern as the Comintern, rather than as Comintern member states. Request 3 seat to represent the 3 alliances that make up the Comintern: Voscom, Weimar Pact, and Metropolis Accords. It's a diplomatic courtesy to avoid destabilizing the balance within the Socintern.
-[X] Diplomatic Agenda: Recognize countries that the Socintern does and doesn't recognize, and request they do the same courtesy for us. So that they don't recognize Nazi Germany. Offer Comintern membership to Socintern nations.
-[X] Brazilian Nightmare: Launch an intervention into the country. Seize coastal cities, provide food and medical aid, and liaison with local resistance movements. The priority is establishing a foothold before pushing inland to put down reactionary and fascist warlords. Liberal warlords/states may join under a popular front as junior partners to leftists. Invite Socintern to send volunteers and aid too, with a deferral to Voscom's command.
Escalation in this case would be either a counter-invasion of Finland or retaking Aaland.
The latter would require a contested amphibious op while the former is a massive escalation as Russia will perceive it as putting its policy of nobody hostile to the motherland bordering the motherland at risk.
Okay so this is a good start, we tested artic warfare doctrine, displayed a united front to the new fascists in town and showed them we wouldn't be pushed around. However to maintain our desire for less adventurism for a while, I propose that RIVA forces be primarily focused on defending what was already gained, any further offensives will be the prerogative of the Swedes and the Socintern with us providing support in material if they ask.
If you thought the Fast Food conflicts were intense, wait until the Cola Wars. Also, I would think Samosas, Empanadas and Dumplings would show up more as street food.
"Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo." - God Bless Africa (credit to @StarMaker764 )
Africa was devastated by colonialism, a continent despoiled and its riches pulled from every nation to provide cheap resources and captive markets for the flurry of Victorian imperialism that allowed Europe to at long last, achieve the dream of crushing and usurping China as the centre of the world's wealth. Together with the earlier history of slavery, the desire to justify the dogma of equality before the law with the conquest and subjugation of countless millions people combined to breed the modern sort of scornful rather than fearful racism (something reserved more for East Asians perceived as potential competitors who needed to be kept in check) directed at the black peoples of these earths. Savage, barbarian, and monkey to name a few of the more print-worthy insults directed at them.
The second world wars would show the first cracks in the system. In the Red Revolution Realised, Somalia would join Liberia and Ethiopia as a free nation; lead by its newly founded Communist party dominated by young cadreists who had fought in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. In the New oRder, it would widespread collapse in the death of French and British Africa and the Italo-German scramble for the mother continent followed by the massed bombing of the Sahara; nevertheless, there was a desire for a free, socialist Africa, exemplified by the unification of Cameroon and much of former Nigeria under a Pan-Africanist state that had ambitions to be so much more.
In the world of the Red Order, Socialism in Africa was limited principally to Ethiopia and Somalia following the assassination of Nasser by the British Empire, but it was enough of a base to start doing more. Born of the fall of the Italian Empire and the Ethiopian Monarchy, the new Communist order was highly active in acquiring the means of modern technology, coordinating with its fellow developing nations to develop into modern, advanced nations that could withstand the pressure of conflict with the might of the British Empire.
In the world of the Cold Revolution, the disintegration and chaos felt in the colonies of Britain and France in the course of the second world war echoed across Africa, seeing revolution in South Africa and encouraged in much of the French colonies under the French leftist government. From Liberia and beyond, the revolution had grown into a significant foothold in the continent, one that would allow for the rise of something greater following the worldmerges.
Together though, with a majority vote from the member states and the assent of the Comintern, they would form the Pan African Association of Socialist Republics and present a singular joint executive; General Nelson Mandela of the Azanian Army would be the first to sit upon the chair.
"Umoja wa Afrika"
Nelson Mandela, wearing his military uniform and commissar's cap, would cut a striking figure with his substantial height while he eased himself into his new position in the Pyongyang of the Red Revolution realised, announcing to the world that Communism had taken a foothold in the mother continent and would not be letting it go anytime soon, proclaiming that there would be a reckoning with the forces of extractive colonialism and economic imperialism sooner rather than later and that the empires of the eight worlds should tremble before the united, liberated African Worker and Peasant.
Perhaps predictably, Nazi internal propaganda condemned this as a Judeo-Bolshevik incitement to race war against "Aryan harmony" and a "declaration of chaos meant to make Africans die for the cause of Jews and Masons under the guise of the false doctrine of class struggle that would seek to smother the national awakening of the dark man" to quote the words of the chief Nazi Propagandist Gerhard Frey, who had risen to the position following the announcement of Fuhrer Josef Goebbels' illness and then death.
Indeed, the Nazis were starting to flex more of their muscles as the Speerist system was; while not without flaw, able to stabilise the Nazi regime and its control over eastern Europe and Africa. Most worryingly was that Speer was starting to make major inroads in calming relations with Imperial and Concordist Japan as well as Fascist Italy. Though an enemy of Voynist Russia, the communist pressure on the first fascist bloc following the atomic bombing of the Petersburg and the humiliating reveal of the actual size of the Italian arsenal had given Speer a stronger negotiating position; especially with his "Co-fuhrer" Goebbels out of the way.
Indeed, the Communists had so neglected the Third Reich as a threat thanks to Speer's efforts to stay out of their radar that the news that Albert Speer had achieved his goal of forming the "Iron Coalition" came as a surprise even to George Habash and Premier Lyndon Baines Johnson. The Third Reich was back, stronger than before, and even in his seventies, Speer seemed to be in good spirits as he quietly made plans for his own succession while strangling his old rival's own hopes for a piece of the pie.
Just as the Pan-African Association was announced, Speer announced the birth of the "Fraternal Coalition of Anti-Communist and Anti-Liberal Nations" that would serve in essence, as a dark mirror of organisations such as the OECD or the COMECON, meant to coordinate the economic labours of these massive world blocs and powers and allow for smoother, more efficient decision making that would allow the economies of these systems to transition to Fiat currency painlessly and quickly. And with the clear threat posed to their African interests by the Pan-African Associationof Socialist Republics, for how to stop stabbing each other in the back constantly over their desires for the dark continent; and how to deal with the potential dangers of Russia to this system.
It was clear then, that dismissing the Nazis or Speer so early was perhaps premature, and that there may yet be a reborn reckoning with the darkest son of German history, as Speer announces his ascension to the position of the sole Fuhrer of a singular reich of a singular people to the cheering crowds of Deutschstadt and Germania and an end to the "useless struggle between fellow racially, nationally, and ideologically awakened nations and peoples who will now; as they once did; stand together against the threats of Liberal Degeneracy, Communist Subversion, and now Fourth thesis Nonsense." The start of what many would call the "consolidation" phase of the cold war.
It was clear then, that dismissing the Nazis or Speer so early was perhaps premature, and that there may yet be a reborn reckoning with the darkest son of German history, as Speer announces his ascension to the position of the sole Fuhrer of a singular reich of a singular people to the cheering crowds of Deutschstadt and Germania and an end to the "useless struggle between fellow racially, nationally, and ideologically awakened nations and peoples who will now; as they once did; stand together against the threats of Liberal Degeneracy, Communist Subversion, and now Fourth thesis Nonsense." The start of what many would call the "consolidation" phase of the cold war.
Me one week ago: Oh come on guys, the EINPAK are an isolated regional power only able to compete by intertia and sheer size while unable to expand by ideology like we do, they are not a big threat anymore
Me now:…Well Fuck
Guess the PAASR's rise and its threat to colonialism may be enough to convince the libs to hold their nose and shake hands with Speer depending on who is in Speer's Coaliation. I do not regret doing it still and will push for SUAR membership as well
Perhaps predictably, Nazi internal propaganda condemned this as a Judeo-Bolshevik incitement to race war against "Aryan harmony" and a "declaration of chaos meant to make Africans die for the cause of Jews and Masons under the guise of the false doctrine of class struggle that would seek to smother the national awakening of the dark man" t
I wasn't expecting German-Italian reproach after Italy nuked a few German ships. Looks like Speer turned things around though. I'm not too concerned because the Voynists are another bloc to pressure Germany... hopefully. We're going to fight nazis either way, whether they're weak or strong.
Well in that case nuclear weapons would transmute Germans into SUPER-ARYANS, obviously we must help the Reich in such an endeavor by giving them as many as they need for all of two Germanies. Many of them will die but that is a sacrifice i am willing to make
discord.gg
