Worlds That Might Have Been

Forks in the road, both past and present.

[st-just]

Sovietpunk by  Kevin Bai

[st-just]

If we’re forced to endure ten thousand different takes on ‘What if the Confederacy had won” could at least one well-polished rendition of something like this get made as compensation?

[alternatestates]

The Problem With HBO’s Confederate Is That the Legacy of Slavery Isn’t an Alt-History Fantasy, It’s Our Reality

What do you feel when you see the Confederate American flag? For some, it’s a patriotic symbol of their southern American heritage. For many others, though, the Confederate flag is a painful reminder that America’s is a legacy steeped in the blood, pain, and misery of black slaves and their still-living descendants.

[overpricedvodka]

Game of Thrones' showrunners have a new show about a US where the Confederacy won.

After “Game of Thrones” wraps up, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will continue onto their next project for HBO — an alternate history series called “Confederate,” the network announced Wednesday.

Benioff and Weiss will executive produce the series, which exists in a fictional timeline where the South succeeded in seceding from the Union. In this version of the United States — or what’s become of it — slavery has remained legal and has continued into the modern era.

The story takes place during what’s called the Third American Civil War and follows a group of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, now a demilitarized zone. The groups the characters belong to are vast and include freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists and others. One specific group are the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families they control.

(cont. The Wrap) 

I don’t want this.  Honestly, I have a visceral reaction to this subject.  In a world where Hulu’s biggest hit is a show about forced servitude which centers on a white woman, where the most realistic depiction of slavery was just cancelled, where white kids are still learning in school that “slavery wasn’t that bad,” where we’re still fighting to have monuments and remembrances from a LOSING, TREASONOUS COUNTRY removed from public display, these two want to give us some fantasy story where slavery was never abolished?  Does anybody want this other than Jeff Secessions and The Klan Supremacy Band?

The thing about alternative history is, it only works when there is agreement on the actual history.  We don’t have that in this country.  The United States has never come to terms with its history and we’re in a constant battle between brutal accuracy and neutering the truth.  If you have a society where people can say, with pride, that their family treated their slaves so well and loved their slaves so much that they buried one under the floor in the kitchen, you do not have a society that has come to terms with the horrors of slavery.  When summers are filled with beautifully staged pictures of Duncan and Abigail having their dream wedding on a plantation where countless Black people were whipped or killed, you do not have a society that is ready for fanfic about slavery that never ended.  A country where some of our most prestigious banks and institutions have foundations firmly rooted in the slave trade is not really equipped to handle an alternative history where slavery never ended.

I’m sure it’ll be well-done, well-written, and well-produced.  I’m sure it will be thought-provoking and intelligent.  I’m also reasonably sure it will be responsible in its storytelling.  But I also live in this country where too many people are still trying to Make America Great, too many people are willfully ignorant of the actual history of slavery, and too many people still say “oh that was so long ago.”  They don’t need this show and I don’t want it.

[alternatestates]

Can I send you ideas for what if worlds?

Absolutely! But I may not get to them for a while, so be warned.

[jpechacek]

Commissions are open! Got some expenses coming up, both foreseen and un-, so if you could help me out, that would be great. Shoot me an email and we’ll go from there.

Thanks!

[alternatestates]

I’m also an artist in addition to being an intermittent alternate history blogger, and I’d be delighted to draw whatever you lovely people want to throw my way! Surely alt-history fans can come up with some fun things…

[alternatestates]

The last time you posted anything was 3 months back, are you still active?

I am...intermittently active. Due to work/life constraints, it’s more difficult for me to find the time for original content these days, and I’m pretty picky about what I reblog, since the premise of the blog excludes a lot of the more exotic forms of alternate history (Time-Traveling Greta Garbo: Holy Roman Imperial Assassin might be a great story, but it doesn’t quite fit here, y’know?).

But I do have a couple things percolating, so stick around, and thanks so much for your enthusiasm and interest! It means a lot.

[electricliterature]

9 Memorable Visions of Alternate Todays

All the parallel worlds, divergent paths, and bizarro realities of literature

Check out the full list on EL!

[tlatollotl]

I just wanted to share this with you all. I think it’s a neat project and I’ve always enjoyed  Emmanuel Valtierra’s artwork. Check him out on FB if you haven’t already

https://www.facebook.com/Emmanuel-Valtierra-Illustrator-804139329608066/

Codex Valtierra is an Illustrated book that recounts the events of the war that the Aztecs had against the Spaniards. According to history, the Aztecs surrendered on August 13, 1521, giving the victory to the Spanish Crown. They destroyed many pyramids, killed thousands of people, and burned all the books they found. Therefore, there are just a handful of Aztec Codex still in existence.

Now imagine a world where the Aztecs had defeated the Spaniards. How would our world be different?

Codex Zouche Nuttall

We will present you our version of the story. The story will start with historical facts and figures, but as the story progresses, you will notice how everything will begin to change and open the gates to a completely version of the facts you know.

Codex Borbonicus

We invite you to enjoy the first pages of the book.

CHAPTER 1

The elders recall, on behalf of those who were there to witness it and left it stated to be true, that almost 500 years ago the white man came upon these lands from beyond the sea through the coast of what was once the “Totonaca Empire.”

They arrived with weapons of fire and covered in shining splendid steel, things never seen or imagined by the people; so terrifying was the sound of cannons that the people thought them to be gifts given to the pale visitors from one of their gods, working their horror with favor from the sun.

Spaniards landing in the new world. Tlatoani speech to soldiers.

Many deaths befell us in those times, as the caxtiltecas took to turning the pueblos against each other to gain their trust, only to betray them and treat them as servants. These were times when the bronze people felt abandoned by their creators, times to stop and reflect and organize some kind of defense against what the elders called, “teules”.

Survival messenger sharing the tlatoani’s ideals to all the tribes

Many a hero and warrior that faced the threat confirmed what the elders, in their great wisdom, denied to believe: that there would come a time where the teules would use us as slaves, destroy our temples, and burn our books.

Amongst those that braved the fire and metal of the foreigner’s weapons, Tzilzcatzin, Temilotzin, Xicotencatl, Cuaupopoca, Erendira Ikikunari, Temoctzin, Cuitlahuac showed the bronze toed people of the various nations their own virtues. The importance of courage, intelligence, and temperance.

First night rebellion against the spaniards. Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc helping

Elders tell children around fires of the great deeds of our people, when everything seemed lost, when our temples and the spirit of the warriors, old men, priests, and our women fell, that something unexpected happened from the land of the Itzaes when Tenochtitlan fell for the first time at the hands of the caxtiltecas. Amongst the last orders of Cuautemoctzin, an invigorating message roused in the hearts of every mexica. every purepecha warrior, tlaxcalteca, totonaca, hña-hñu, ben-zaa and nations that once considered each other enemies.

Spaniards surrounded in the woods. Kids and women join the battle

Our young lord of 21 years, sent paynani messengers to Tenochtitlan by various routes repeating the following:

“Friends, meditate in the depths of your hearts, and ask yourselves, ‘Will we let these foreigners come here to make us their women? To erase from the land the greatness that with love and care our venerable grandfathers left us?

Aztec and European Gods. Cortes’s death rumors. The robbery of the armory

Today is not the day we will break to a pale enemy sick with greed for gold; our children will not suffer knowing they are the sons and daughters of cowards. Let the plains boil, let a torrential rain of darts pierce the throats of our enemies, let the spirit of war spread, let our warriors emblazon themselves with their best weapons, their most beautiful feathers. Our lord of war has spoken, this has only been a test to prove our might. The drums of war call to us, and the whistle of death yearns to be heard.

We will eventually find ourselves in the land of the fleshless one way or another. Either one by one or all together. But there, we will finally awake from the dream of war.

Isn’t it not our obligation to preserve the order of the universe?

Looking for truce. The exchanging of plants and animals

Resuscitate mexica pride and let us show them why we are renowned as warriors; the children of the sun have yet to fall.

From this day onward we will unite; the nations that were once servants will join us as equals, and as owners of the land we will expel the foreigners. Tributes will be put to use in the protection of your families and the greatness of our cities

Pacts with other cultures. Studies of iron. Studies of ships

The Mexica do not want to be lords and masters of these lands unless it is at the side of all the nations of Anahuac. Let us be one with the Purepecha warriors, with the Mayan and Zapotec warriors.

Who here in their hearts truly prefers to serve the white men than die at the edge of their swords? Who here wants to hide in the temples, to witness the death of our deities?

Bronze footed people awake and arise to battle!

The book will be printed in Mexico simulating a real codex and the illustrations will be created with a limited amount of colors like in the old times. It will contain between 55 and 65 of written and illustrated pages. The books will be also printed and shipped from Mexico to support the country’s economy.  

The printed version of the book will be available only English. The digital version, to start will be available in Spanish and English with more languages to come.

The book will be divided in two, front and back. On the front part of the codex you’ll see all the illustrations. The story and the description of every image can be found on the back.

We are still discussing the paper material. The options are a semi-gloss white paper or a brownish paper that simulates old and aged paper. This last one could make the codex look better but we are looking for durability too.

DIGITAL CODEX   Get the digital codex and take it with you anywhere on your phone, tablet or laptop! You’ll get to choose the Spanish or English version.

POCKET CODEX   Enjoy all the Illustrations and the shortened version of the story, in a pocketable size. ( 15cm x 7.5cm ).

Digital sample of the printed book (front)

THE CODEX A full size printed version of the codex. ( 30cm x 15cm folded). Enjoy all the Illustrations and the story about the alternate reality of the Aztecs.

Digital sample of the printed book (back)

HARD COVER CODEX A full printed version of the codex ( 30cm x 15cm ) with a beautiful hardcover to protect it. Enjoy all the Illustrations and the story about the alternate reality of the Aztecs.

GIANT HARD COVER CODEX A full printed version of the codex in a bigger size ( 45cm x 22.5cm ) and a beautiful hardcover to protect it. Enjoy all the Illustrations and the story about the alternate reality of the Aztecs.

[alternatestates]

Alt-World Takes on 5 Familiar Empires

“His very existence was improbable, inexplicable, and altogether bewildering. He was an insoluble problem. It was inconceivable how he had existed, how he had succeeded in getting so far, how he had managed to remain -- why he did not instantly disappear.” -Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Politic

[alternatestates]

Sorry about the non-functional link yesterday; this one should work!

[alternatestates]

Alt-World Takes on 5 Familiar Empires

“His very existence was improbable, inexplicable, and altogether bewildering. He was an insoluble problem. It was inconceivable how he had existed, how he had succeeded in getting so far, how he had managed to remain -- why he did not instantly disappear.” -Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Politic

[futurecoolposts]

The Empire State Building’s art deco spire was meant to be a mooring mast for Zeppelins (aka Dirigibles) from which transatlantic passengers would disembark and enter the 103rd floor of the building. Check-in for those boarding for the return trip was on the 86th floor.

Docking was too dangerous due to powerful updrafts created by the massive building itself.

[madddscience]

Future San Francisco, as depicted in 1950 by Alexander G Weygers, inventor of the discopter.

[elucubrare]

the thing about Rome never fell AUs, though, is that everyone assumes that Rome would keep being a global power until our year 2000, and that’s highly unlikely. 

for one thing, you need an earlier divergence point than the abdication of Romulus Augustulus, because the empire was already fucked by then - to be honest, I’d put it somewhere around the Punic Wars and the growth of the large estates; 

you’d also have to find a way to produce wealth that didn’t involve conquering people and a better way of getting food than “Egypt” - but still somehow keep a standing army. 

and this is the problem, you have to have a much better grasp of global history than most people who try to write these things have, and I include myself in that, because I think Persia and China and India would all be trying to expand, plus if you managed to keep the Germanic tribes from crossing the border and gave them time they’d probably make a state of their own to challenge Rome. 

i think Rome could probably keep going for a while by having really definite borders and defending them better, but that’s contrary to the whole Roman spirit - “empire without end” is kind of important; 

so basically, if you really want Rome to survive until 2000 AD and you want realism, you’d have to change everything.

[upvoteanthology]

A map I did for a contest, if Africa was never colonized by European powers.

[witch0winter-deactivated2020050]

A sequel long in coming to one of my first maps. This map, like the last, takes place in the universe of my timeline on alternatehistory.com, Where Hearts Were Entertaining June. The basics of the timeline is that the English Armada in 1589 is significantly more successful, though still fails to free Portugal from union with Spain. Instead, England is able to get its hands on the colony of Brazil, changing history forever. From there, history takes a far different turn, including Sweden entering a union with Brandenburg, France taking a more aggressive route in its European expansion, and North America is a motley patchwork of colonies rather than dominated by the English. Since the last map, in 1735, significant events have changed the face of Europe. The Brazilian War of Independence from 1765 to 1771 wrecked the British Empire, sending it into a state of near-civil war as the new United Kingdom Brazil split the power and allegiances of the House of Stuart. What may have sparked a Second English Civil War, however, turned out to be something else entirely: a republican revolution. Though led primarily by the aristocrats and power dealers of Parliament, the British Revolution was a short but meaningful one, sending the King of Great Britain into exile in Brazil and setting off a series of revolutionary wars in Europe. As the Commonwealth of Great Britain settled into relative peace, the underclasses of Europe fought the powers-that-be for control of the destinies of some of the most powerful countries on Earth. Many of the revolutions, underfunded and poorly-led, were failures, but those that weren’t shook the very foundations of Europe. In Spain, the aging House of Habsburg, inept at handling the colonies and affairs at home, were overthrown in by citizen-soldiers who quickly battered back a French attempt at taking Catalonia and fought a war with monarchists in the greater Spanish Empire. Like the British, the Spanish would soon divide their colonies into “sister commonwealths’ to give them some degree of self-rule while staying close to the Mother Country. Meanwhile in Italy, while the Kingdom of Sardinia locked down on its revolutionaries, popular revolution in Tuscany was so successful it provoked a response from the Papal States. However, with underhanded support from Venice, Tuscan revolutionary soldiers ripped apart the under-equipped and poorly-trained Papal soldiers and drove all the way to Rome itself before the Pope was forced to recognize the validity of the Commonwealth of Tuscany. Poland, however, would prove to be the biggest boon to revolutionary ideology, as a succession crisis gone wrong resulted in a civil war between the aristocracy that was ended by popular revolution. This popular revolution was not, however, popular outside Poland’s borders, and for the better part of a decade the Commonwealth of Poland found itself warring with Russia, Sweden, and Austria. However, the monarchist powers were poorly-organized and divided by greed and pettiness, while Poland stood as the most united it had ever been. One by one, the enemies around Poland were defeated and the Polish borders expanded anew. The war also provided an excuse to begin large-scale industrialization within the Polish lands, and by 1800 Poland is rapidly on its way to becoming the dominant power in Eastern Europe. However, while the guns may have fallen silent by 1800, all is not at peace. The monarchist powers of Europe lick their wounds and are figuring out how to make their nations work in the new world that the revolutions brought. While the fights in Spain and Poland may be over, the fight for Germany and Italy is just beginning. Long divided into small powers, the two incredibly valuable areas are too rich to remain divided for long; the only question will be who can unite them in the new century of empire, revolution, and industry.

[alternatehistoryandsuch]

The Reign of George VI, 1900-1925 by QuantumBranching

Inspired by a 1763 prediction of what the world would look like in the 20th century