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diff --git a/WORLDBUILDING.md b/WORLDBUILDING.md index c16df01..50fd19c 100644 --- a/WORLDBUILDING.md +++ b/WORLDBUILDING.md @@ -1876,12 +1876,141 @@ Questions for discussion: --- -## Open Questions (Post-1650) - -1. **England**: When does coal/iron industrialization drive formal independence? ~1700s? -2. **Egypt**: Independence timing — during or after Maunder Minimum? -3. **Great Khanate**: Survives Maunder Minimum but at what cost? Poland's trajectory? -4. **Jianzhou vs Japan**: Does Japan crack open or successfully resist? -5. **Americas west coast**: Jianzhou exploration → settlement? Competition with Kalmar Vinland? -6. **Portugal**: Golden age peak → when does decline begin? -7. **Remaining to 1836**: 186 years, ~7 checkpoints +## 1675 Checkpoint + +### New Song: Reconquest of Sichuan and Western Protectorate +- Several years of campaigns to bring Sichuan warlord and Western Protectorate (Hexi + E. Xinjiang) back under central authority +- By ~1675: New Song controls China proper + recovered Sichuan + recovered Western Protectorate +- Remaining independent: Jianzhou Republic (Liaodong), Mongol Khanate +- Vietnam/Burma: nominally Song but fully localized/autonomous + +### Jianzhou Republic Forces Open Japan (~1670s) +- Jianzhou needs export markets for its concentrated heavy industry +- **Attacks Japan**: ironic Black Ships parallel (from Manchuria, not America) +- Japan forced to accept: + - Treaty ports in Hokkaido and Honshu + - Jianzhou colonizes Sakhalin +- **Japan begins Meiji-equivalent modernization** (forced opening → rapid industrialization program) +- Japan's isolation policy shattered by an industrial micro-state, not a Western power + +### English Independence War (~1675-1685) + +#### Alliances +**Anti-French coalition (pro-English independence):** +- **England**: Coal/iron industrial base, noble parliament, Huguenot refugee skills, Channel defense +- **Greater Germany**: Wants to weaken France, Protestant solidarity, industrial/military power +- **Aragon**: French rival in Mediterranean/Italy +- **Burgundy**: "Capetian legitimacy" narrative, wants French territory + +**Pro-French coalition:** +- **Plantagenet France (Paris)**: Largest European population, continental army, wants to keep England +- **Great Khanate**: Supports France because Germany is the Khanate's primary threat (enemy's enemy logic) +- **Castile**: Aligns against Portugal's allies / promised colonial concessions by Paris + +**Neutral profiteers:** +- **Kalmar Union**: Sells weapons to BOTH sides → **profits enormously → upgraded to Tier 1.5 industrial nation** (Swedish arms industry booms) + +#### Huguenot Exodus +- Despite earlier tolerance edict, Paris court crackdown during war paranoia drives Huguenots out +- Main destination: England (Protestant, welcoming, needs skilled workers) +- Secondary: Germany +- Accelerates English industrialization (skilled artisans + anti-Paris motivation) + +#### War Results (~1685) + +**England: INDEPENDENT** ✓ +- Channel + combined anti-French navies = France cannot invade +- Independent Kingdom of England: England + Wales + Ireland (partial) + Scotland Lowlands +- Scotland Lowlands incorporated as English territory +- Coal/iron industrialization accelerates post-independence + +**France: DIMINISHED** +- Loses England (largest territorial loss) +- Loses Scotland Lowlands +- Keeps: Continental France + Scotland Highlands (island foothold, like Gibraltar) +- Keeps: Most North American colonies (French settlers dominate) +- Remains a great power but no longer cross-Channel empire +- From "Plantagenet France" → just "France" (or "Kingdom of France") + +**Scotland: SPLIT** +- Lowlands → England (integrated, considered English) +- Highlands → France (direct rule, garrison). England claims this as "Scotland" +- Permanent flashpoint for future conflicts + +**North American Colonies: MOSTLY FRENCH** +- French settlers dominated most shared colonies → France retains majority +- England gets some coastal settlements with English-speaking populations +- England will aggressively develop its smaller American holdings (new national project) + +**Burgundy: MODEST GAINS** +- Takes parts of Champagne from eastern France (expanded buffer zone) +- Still landlocked — cannot reach the coast (Low Countries = German territory, too far from Dijon) +- Negotiates Rhine navigation rights / German port access as war ally reward +- Remains small but more secure + +#### Poland Uprising: CRUSHED +- Polish szlachta revolt during the war, hoping Great Khanate is distracted +- **Europe underestimates Great Khanate mobilization speed** → Khanate deploys faster than expected +- Uprising suppressed +- **Poland upgraded from vassal to direct province**: szlachta privileges abolished, Catholic Church restricted, darughachi system intensified +- BUT: Germany grabs western Poland during the chaos: + - **Gdańsk (Danzig)**: Major Baltic port + - **Poznań (Posen)**: Greater Poland's capital + - Forms **Grand Duchy of Poland** (德意志附庸): German puppet claiming Polish legitimacy + - "True Poland is here, not under Mongol tyranny" — propaganda tool against Great Khanate +- Great Khanate fails to rescue France (too busy suppressing Poland) + +#### Post-War Power Rankings (~1685) +| Tier | Powers | +|---|---| +| Tier 1 (industrial great powers) | Ilkhanate, New Song, Greater Germany | +| Tier 1.5 (strong industrial) | Bohemia, Kalmar Union (arms industry boom), England (coal/iron takeoff) | +| Tier 2 (industrial) | Jianzhou Republic, Portugal (hollowing), France (diminished), Aragon | +| Tier 2.5 (emerging) | Burgundy, Italian states, Tunisia/Morocco, Korea | +| Tier 3 (limited/resource) | Mongol Khanate, Castile | +| Blocked/declining | Great Khanate (serfdom), India (hollowed), Japan (just opening) | + +### Scientific Revolution: English Newton-Equivalent (~1680s) +- England's scientific tradition (universities + noble republic's intellectual freedom + Huguenot refugee scholars) +- **Newton-equivalent breakthrough**: NOT classical mechanics (tech base already more advanced) — possibly thermodynamics, optics, electromagnetic theory, or advanced chemistry +- English scientific institution (Royal Society equivalent) established +- Previously: German universities (earliest, ~1500s), English + Bohemian institutions (~1550s-1600s), Italian Renaissance institutions (latest but most innovative) +- By ~1685: scientific knowledge is international, but English empirical tradition + industrial application = particularly productive combination + +### Timurid-Indian Empire: Overextension +- Aurangzeb-equivalent ruler: maximum territorial extent but religious intolerance + administrative overstretch +- All historical Mughal problems appearing: Hindu resistance, Maratha-equivalent rebellions, provincial autonomy increasing +- Economic dependency on Ilkhanate industrial imports deepening +- V3 trajectory: unified India but increasingly unstable, may fragment + +### European Post-War Map (~1685) +``` + Kalmar Union (neutral profiteer, T1.5) + │ + North. Ulus (GK subordinate) GK direct Poland + │ │ + England ── North Sea ── Germany ── GD of Poland (puppet) + (independent) │ │ + │ Burgundy Great Khanate + Channel (expanded) (diminished) + │ │ + France Bohemia + (diminished) │ + ├ Highland Scotland Italy + └ N. American colonies │ + Aragon + (Naples) +``` + +--- + +## Open Questions (Post-1675) + +1. **England**: How fast does coal/iron industrialization develop post-independence? +2. **France**: How does it recover from losing England? Absolutism or reform? +3. **Egypt**: Independence still pending — when? +4. **Japan**: Meiji-equivalent modernization — how fast? Does it become a great power? +5. **Great Khanate**: Absorbed Poland directly — does this help or create new problems? +6. **Portugal**: Dutch Disease continuing — when does decline become visible? +7. **Americas**: English colonial expansion vs French colonial dominance? +8. **Remaining to 1836**: 161 years, ~6 checkpoints |