what do you MEAN germany doesn’t exist yet
it is a FIC set in EIGHTEEN OH SIX and the COUNTRY OF GERMANY is not a LEGAL ENTITY THAT EXISTS YET (it is instead the holy roman empire and also prussia until napoleon takes over but HE HASN'T DONE THAT YET)
anyway here is an excerpt
A moment’s quiet was a damned tricky thing to find in the service of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, least of all with Jack Aubrey as the captain of one’s ship, so he took these peacetimes with gratitude and vigor, allowing himself to settle into the frame of mind needed to properly admire the wonders of the natural world, all too often obscured by a wicked fog of sea mist and gunsmoke. This morning, soft red light was only just beginning to reach across the ocean’s surface, the hands of dawn clawing across the waves with steadfast determination. Far from land, there was not another living creature to be seen—save the seaman posted watch at the bow—but for the time, Stephen contented himself with the slow, gentle vanishing of the stars from the heavens and the glow that embraced the Surprise with a rarely-felt warmth.
Nodding, Stephen took a ponderous sip of his coffee, loosening the cloth about his neck. There was no one else to see him, and even if there were, there was no one else to care.
For the time, all was still, a portrait in the makings of a lone ship standing stalwart against the yawning sky.
And then, from far above, a light very much not of the sun exploded with radiant blue and gold, like a star plummeting to earth.
what's this!! it's Aubreyad Adjacent!!!