A RED SUN: A TLIAD.
- Thread starter Sulemain
- Start date
Sulemain
Banned
Whilst I wouldn't scold you for not showing people munching on soma and shagigng or people downing victory gin and...not shagging, I would argue it's hard to avoid the global effects of this, whether they be economic, environmental or simply the realisation that an event worse than all the wars and atrocities combined has occurred in just a few days ending up as being rather damning for humanity. Just my two groats.
Oh the consequences will be very present, although I must add that the nuclear exchange was 36 years before the present ITTL, and the update we've seen so far is a long way away from what used to be China. The next update will give a view as to what the situation was at the time. To say it was awful for those nearest would be an understatement. The entire world felt it as well.
You're quite welcome.
Sulemain, you... don't screw around when it comes to opening big, do you?
I'll be very interested to see where this goes, and how it avoids going down the toilet for the entire planet.
I'll be very interested to see where this goes, and how it avoids going down the toilet for the entire planet.
I tried to send Sule a PM earlier aksing when the next update would be but the only response I got was this read receipt,
Sulemain said:
Then my computer went all static-y
Sulemain
Banned
Ask and ye shall receive.
Three flights in eight days will take anyone out for a loop. A Boeing SonicCruiser from Phoenix to New York, a long weekend in that city, followed by a Convair Superliner (1st Class) to Dublin, home for me, and, after a rest there, an Airbus Twinjet to Constantinople. On my transatlantic flight, I discover that my newest book, The Imperial Presidency, America 1909-1940, has been received favourable reviews and is selling at good rates. I get, and accept, an offer to act as an adviser to a new BBC show, Foyle’s War, about policing occupied Berlin after the Great War. Apart from that, the only excitement is a RAF Typhoon coming to greet us over the Eastern Atlantic; the pessimist in me wonders what the free world stands for when a civilian airliner being intercepted by a fighter jet is a common event. The optimist in me replies that if we were flying into Soviet airspace, one of their cyber-fighters would have shot us out the sky.
Arriving in Constantinople is a strange business. Just as Washington DC is under the authority of the Federal Government, so ultimate authority in Constantinople rests in the Global Community; it’s elected Mayor is subject to their oversight. As such, there are three lines, of varying length, at passport control. Those from within the European Confederation, those from outside it, and those working for the Global Community. Thankfully the last is the shortest, and after collecting my luggage, I make my way outside into the morning air. It is cool, but the sun is shining and the wind is gentle. I find a sign with my name on it, and a short while later, I find myself in a hotel in the old city. I have a whole week in this city in which to conduct my work. I aim to make the most of it.
My hotel is located within walking distance of both the Hagia Sophia Cathedral and the Blue Mosque; themselves facing each, symbols of a city which, for all the avowed non-sectarianism and secularism of its government, has faith etched into it’s very bones. The park between them is spotless, and I decide to take advantage of the morning calmness in order to visit the two centres of worship, the shining iconography of the Orthodox and the beautiful simplicity of Islam making for a charming contrast. The rest of the city displays the same mixture, the contrast between the ancient and the new, the Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish and everything in between. French seems to be the most common Western language here, a legacy of the old Empire, and it is thankfully a language I speak well. I spend the day looking around just the Old City, taking in more than 2000 years of history, walking streets where Emperors and Sultans once walked. And every, the golden disc on blue flag of the Global Community, a symbol of unity that has been divided, mixed and then divided again for centuries.
My second day is another interview, this time with a woman whose memory of The War are clearer than most, and with good reason. Her name is Xiao Xian, and in 1978, she was the Democratic People’s Republic of China’s representative to the Global Community. Now aged 86, modern medicine has kept her healthy and active, but she still prefers any interviews to be conducted early in the morning. She speaks English without an accent, and, in what seems to be a pattern, she pre-empts me.
“Another young man who wishes to hear of the darkest days. Tell me, what gives you the right to ask me of those days, eh?”
I reply it isn’t a matter of rights, but one of duty, and she starts at hearing that word, but remains silent. I talk about the duty we all have to the truth, to prosperity, and to ourselves. If we decide to stop speaking about the past, those who died would be nothing anymore.
“You had me at the word duty. A legacy of being a formerly good communist. And a good Confucian for that matter. So, what is it you wish to know?”
I tell her my desire is not for an account of the day itself, that story having already been told, but for what came next, how the Community, and Constantinople itself had reacted.
“It was the coldest year on record. The ash clouds thrown up made the entire world shiver, and it’s a wonder that only a few millions starved in the famine that followed. We had rationing for years in the city afterward. And then there were the Enders.”
The Enders, I ask.
“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them. The GC doesn’t censor the past, doesn’t manipulate it like the Soviets do, but they have issues they do not wish to discuss. Ah yes, The Enders. The capitals are important. This city is steeped in religion, as you’ve probably noticed. And before The Exchange, the biggest war this planet ever saw was the Sino-Japanese War. My father fought in that conflict you know. He was there when the Mainland Republic, this was before the CCP took control of the National-Popular Front, took the surrender of the Japanese forces at Dandong”.
Her voice trails off into reminiscing, and I have to gently prompt her.
“The Enders, yes. Well, you are British, and for a country with a State Church, you are remarkably relaxed about religious affairs. Not so in this City. The Enders were Ecumenical; Muslims, Jews, Copts, Orthodox, Catholics, all unified in the belief that the end of days was upon us and that God had turned his face away from humanity. Constantinople tore itself apart over the days and weeks after the War. You wouldn’t know it now, but it took the International Gendarmerie firing into a crowd in what now Peace Square is too finally but an end to it. By the end of the riots, over ten thousand people were dead, through various means. And this was before the famine, and the rationing, and the cold years. The damm Soviets detonated many of the bombs on the ground; it was far worse than anyone predicted.”
I take all this in, silently thankful of being a citizen of the United Kingdom and ask her how she personally dealt with the situation. She remains silent with a faraway look in her eyes before responding.
“My family and most of my friends were killed in perhaps the most brutal way possible by a weapon that turns the very forces of the universe into something lethal. How do you think I feel? And felt!?”
I apologise, and she waves her hand in a gesture that is both imperial and conciliatory.
“At the time though, it was numbness. It wasn’t just the loss, the horror, it was also a loss of purpose. My life, 20 years of service had been given to my country. I was ten when the Great Reorganisation happened, and I was a member of the CCP for twenty-two years. Joined it on my eighteenth Birthday, April the first, nineteen fifty six. Twenty two years, and I find myself without a country, without a purpose, utterly adrift”.
I mention the Republic of China, the island state that claims all of China as its own, despite only controlling the coastline, and not even that. She laughs, and replies.
“If you had suggested the Republic to me in 1978, I would tried to strangle you. The DPRC hammered into us that the Republic was the enemy, and that our nation would not heal if we remained divided”
.
She pauses again, and yawns.
“Ironic then, that unity is once again ours”.
Three flights in eight days will take anyone out for a loop. A Boeing SonicCruiser from Phoenix to New York, a long weekend in that city, followed by a Convair Superliner (1st Class) to Dublin, home for me, and, after a rest there, an Airbus Twinjet to Constantinople. On my transatlantic flight, I discover that my newest book, The Imperial Presidency, America 1909-1940, has been received favourable reviews and is selling at good rates. I get, and accept, an offer to act as an adviser to a new BBC show, Foyle’s War, about policing occupied Berlin after the Great War. Apart from that, the only excitement is a RAF Typhoon coming to greet us over the Eastern Atlantic; the pessimist in me wonders what the free world stands for when a civilian airliner being intercepted by a fighter jet is a common event. The optimist in me replies that if we were flying into Soviet airspace, one of their cyber-fighters would have shot us out the sky.
Arriving in Constantinople is a strange business. Just as Washington DC is under the authority of the Federal Government, so ultimate authority in Constantinople rests in the Global Community; it’s elected Mayor is subject to their oversight. As such, there are three lines, of varying length, at passport control. Those from within the European Confederation, those from outside it, and those working for the Global Community. Thankfully the last is the shortest, and after collecting my luggage, I make my way outside into the morning air. It is cool, but the sun is shining and the wind is gentle. I find a sign with my name on it, and a short while later, I find myself in a hotel in the old city. I have a whole week in this city in which to conduct my work. I aim to make the most of it.
My hotel is located within walking distance of both the Hagia Sophia Cathedral and the Blue Mosque; themselves facing each, symbols of a city which, for all the avowed non-sectarianism and secularism of its government, has faith etched into it’s very bones. The park between them is spotless, and I decide to take advantage of the morning calmness in order to visit the two centres of worship, the shining iconography of the Orthodox and the beautiful simplicity of Islam making for a charming contrast. The rest of the city displays the same mixture, the contrast between the ancient and the new, the Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish and everything in between. French seems to be the most common Western language here, a legacy of the old Empire, and it is thankfully a language I speak well. I spend the day looking around just the Old City, taking in more than 2000 years of history, walking streets where Emperors and Sultans once walked. And every, the golden disc on blue flag of the Global Community, a symbol of unity that has been divided, mixed and then divided again for centuries.
My second day is another interview, this time with a woman whose memory of The War are clearer than most, and with good reason. Her name is Xiao Xian, and in 1978, she was the Democratic People’s Republic of China’s representative to the Global Community. Now aged 86, modern medicine has kept her healthy and active, but she still prefers any interviews to be conducted early in the morning. She speaks English without an accent, and, in what seems to be a pattern, she pre-empts me.
“Another young man who wishes to hear of the darkest days. Tell me, what gives you the right to ask me of those days, eh?”
I reply it isn’t a matter of rights, but one of duty, and she starts at hearing that word, but remains silent. I talk about the duty we all have to the truth, to prosperity, and to ourselves. If we decide to stop speaking about the past, those who died would be nothing anymore.
“You had me at the word duty. A legacy of being a formerly good communist. And a good Confucian for that matter. So, what is it you wish to know?”
I tell her my desire is not for an account of the day itself, that story having already been told, but for what came next, how the Community, and Constantinople itself had reacted.
“It was the coldest year on record. The ash clouds thrown up made the entire world shiver, and it’s a wonder that only a few millions starved in the famine that followed. We had rationing for years in the city afterward. And then there were the Enders.”
The Enders, I ask.
“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them. The GC doesn’t censor the past, doesn’t manipulate it like the Soviets do, but they have issues they do not wish to discuss. Ah yes, The Enders. The capitals are important. This city is steeped in religion, as you’ve probably noticed. And before The Exchange, the biggest war this planet ever saw was the Sino-Japanese War. My father fought in that conflict you know. He was there when the Mainland Republic, this was before the CCP took control of the National-Popular Front, took the surrender of the Japanese forces at Dandong”.
Her voice trails off into reminiscing, and I have to gently prompt her.
“The Enders, yes. Well, you are British, and for a country with a State Church, you are remarkably relaxed about religious affairs. Not so in this City. The Enders were Ecumenical; Muslims, Jews, Copts, Orthodox, Catholics, all unified in the belief that the end of days was upon us and that God had turned his face away from humanity. Constantinople tore itself apart over the days and weeks after the War. You wouldn’t know it now, but it took the International Gendarmerie firing into a crowd in what now Peace Square is too finally but an end to it. By the end of the riots, over ten thousand people were dead, through various means. And this was before the famine, and the rationing, and the cold years. The damm Soviets detonated many of the bombs on the ground; it was far worse than anyone predicted.”
I take all this in, silently thankful of being a citizen of the United Kingdom and ask her how she personally dealt with the situation. She remains silent with a faraway look in her eyes before responding.
“My family and most of my friends were killed in perhaps the most brutal way possible by a weapon that turns the very forces of the universe into something lethal. How do you think I feel? And felt!?”
I apologise, and she waves her hand in a gesture that is both imperial and conciliatory.
“At the time though, it was numbness. It wasn’t just the loss, the horror, it was also a loss of purpose. My life, 20 years of service had been given to my country. I was ten when the Great Reorganisation happened, and I was a member of the CCP for twenty-two years. Joined it on my eighteenth Birthday, April the first, nineteen fifty six. Twenty two years, and I find myself without a country, without a purpose, utterly adrift”.
I mention the Republic of China, the island state that claims all of China as its own, despite only controlling the coastline, and not even that. She laughs, and replies.
“If you had suggested the Republic to me in 1978, I would tried to strangle you. The DPRC hammered into us that the Republic was the enemy, and that our nation would not heal if we remained divided”
.
She pauses again, and yawns.
“Ironic then, that unity is once again ours”.
Great TL. I like how you are telling the story. The only nitpick/personal preference is I generally dont care for stories to be told in present tense. But, you've got a very nice thing going here so dont let me distract you.
Alex Richards
Donor
Loving the hints here, Ireland within the UK (do they have a devolved government or not?), the different developments in China.
Sulemain
Banned
I am glad you've enjoyed it.
Ireland enjoys Maximum Devolution within the United Kingdom as of the 1975 Settlement under Prime Minister Barbara Castle.
I'm wondering how the Global Community got its own army (or at least police) in what still seems to be an age of empires, albeit a declining one. I'm also interested in what powers the Community has outside Constantinople (and other international zones?) and how it is governed.
Well, what do people think
I think this needs to be expanded beyond a TLIAD
Sulemain
Banned
It's not an age of empires, and hasn't been for some time, even by TTL's 1978. Decolonisation happened rather differently, and at a different pace.
guinazacity
Banned
So many good stuff on the forum today, the Muses are blessing this place!
Beautiful writing, and very intriguing TL
Beautiful writing, and very intriguing TL
Interesting stuff!
The Soviet state is _more_ totalitarian than OTL's Stalinist Russia? North Korea in the large economy size? (Which makes the high tech in "cyber fighters" seem iffy ). I'd say it can't really be as _lethal_ for it's own citizens as Stalin's USSR was, anyway: that rate of democide probably wasn't sustainable, unless they've also found a way to seriously boost the birth rate (rather a problem in the Warsaw Pact nations OTL)
The tech progress of China, at least, seems slower than in our timeline: they had their own nuke OTL by 1964, and first fusion device 1967, with no Nixonian aid whatsoever.
Polish SSR? So there was no Miracle on the Vistula, and Poland was overrun in 1920? That would most likely lead to a grudging acceptance of an early rearmament of Germany, and no Nazis, although "paranoid authoritarian police state" is a not unlikely additional outcome for Germany under the circumstances.
The radioactive fallout in Japan would have been...substantial. I imagine Soviet-Japanese relations remain somewhat less warm than North Korean-Japanese relations OTL.
Looking forward to more detail with interest.
Bruce
The Soviet state is _more_ totalitarian than OTL's Stalinist Russia? North Korea in the large economy size? (Which makes the high tech in "cyber fighters" seem iffy
). I'd say it can't really be as _lethal_ for it's own citizens as Stalin's USSR was, anyway: that rate of democide probably wasn't sustainable, unless they've also found a way to seriously boost the birth rate (rather a problem in the Warsaw Pact nations OTL)The tech progress of China, at least, seems slower than in our timeline: they had their own nuke OTL by 1964, and first fusion device 1967, with no Nixonian aid whatsoever.
Polish SSR? So there was no Miracle on the Vistula, and Poland was overrun in 1920? That would most likely lead to a grudging acceptance of an early rearmament of Germany, and no Nazis, although "paranoid authoritarian police state" is a not unlikely additional outcome for Germany under the circumstances.
The radioactive fallout in Japan would have been...substantial. I imagine Soviet-Japanese relations remain somewhat less warm than North Korean-Japanese relations OTL.
Looking forward to more detail with interest.
Bruce