It's been awhile since my most recent ethnicity, and [as of 11/29] I've been struck with a few days of something that's never happened before: writer's block. I honestly have no ideas to run with, at least for anything particularly new or interesting...
...but I do see some big, glaring things that need filling in. Like the UCNA's population, for instance. Where the hell do they all come from? Some are Arabs, many other are Moors, some are Mozarabs... but they have to come from somewhere. Who are they? How do they interact with each other?
Of all the ethnic groups of the UCNA, though, none has vexed me quite so much as the elephant in the room: the Catholic French Andalusians. Until tonight, I haven't written anything significant about them. Until tonight, anyways, when I named them the Occidentales. This is their story.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The Black Friars
For the first few centuries of the modern era, everybody expected the French Inquisition. Dystopian Catholic France would have it no other way. They scoured Farrellitism into paranoid French undergrounds or Occidental exile; to this day, children are terrorized into good behavior by the simple threat "Gardes ta langue": watch your tongue. When the Nestorian Epistles led to the construction of Saint-Thomas d'Indé in Paris, the Inquisitors fought it tooth and nail, driving several Syro-Indian metrans back to the Malabar Coast before the rest were built and burning one or two Heretical Heroes [who?]. During the Guise Golden Age, any thinker or writer of note expected a visit from inquisitors at some point during their career; the first visit by the Inquisition was a commemorated coming of age, like losing your virginity.
After the War of the French Succession, the Burgundian disengagement from the Catholic Church led to the decline of the Inquisition as an arm of the French state. But given how powerful it had been for those first 200 years, is it any surprise that the fear of the Inquistion has lasted to the present day?
In Andalusada, that fear has a name, a face and a mythos: the Black Friars.
After the War of the French Succession, the Burgundian disengagement from the Catholic Church led to the decline of the Inquisition as an arm of the French state. But given how powerful it had been for those first 200 years, is it any surprise that the fear of the Inquistion has lasted to the present day?
In Andalusada, that fear has a name, a face and a mythos: the Black Friars.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The I.C.&Cie. Modeste AR
The world's most famous tierseur is also its least respected. In the market ecology of tierseurs, the Modeste's niche is to be the pariah, the untouchable, the one that all other customers sniff their noses at. The Modeste exists as a designated inferior for all others in the industry to be better than in every way. It also exists because a valid market niche exists for such a device.
Before 1895, the tierseureries coexisted in peace. Oh, there was drama between the tierseureurs - what artistic medium isn't without its petty feuds and legendary rivalries? - but the industry, such as it was, was governed by a rigid unspoken code of honor. Each tierseurerie was distinct, and they made a point of not stepping on each other's toes.
In 1895, Innocent Cauvigne et Cie. introduced their own interpretation of the tierseur. No sooner had the first order been shipped than the Calais firm was buried under a dozen lawsuits from outraged tierseureries, each and all striving to destroy the upstart.
Before 1895, the tierseureries coexisted in peace. Oh, there was drama between the tierseureurs - what artistic medium isn't without its petty feuds and legendary rivalries? - but the industry, such as it was, was governed by a rigid unspoken code of honor. Each tierseurerie was distinct, and they made a point of not stepping on each other's toes.
In 1895, Innocent Cauvigne et Cie. introduced their own interpretation of the tierseur. No sooner had the first order been shipped than the Calais firm was buried under a dozen lawsuits from outraged tierseureries, each and all striving to destroy the upstart.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Shimoga man-eaters
The events described in this post are nothing historical. No lines on maps were redrawn because of it, no wars fought, no great men created and only a few notable ones [who?] destroyed. If I had never thought of it, if it had never been written, Andalusada would look no different. In no way does this significantly change the overall flow of history.
This post is parerga. And yet it is legendary parerga. This post is a symptom of imperial France in its decline, a post of a story that's become etched in the French consciousness as surely as Jaws is in ours.
This post is parerga. And yet it is legendary parerga. This post is a symptom of imperial France in its decline, a post of a story that's become etched in the French consciousness as surely as Jaws is in ours.
Background to the Shimoga man-eaters
Since it hasn't been mentioned in awhile, southern India is a French colony. L'affaire de Chimogue was entirely a colonial affair, taking place in French Malenadu - specifically in the vicinity of Shimoga, home to a fairly large and young coffee latifonde.- The War of the French Succession left the Empire perilously close to fiscal collapse; the next generation had been spent trying to rebuild it. Fortunately for them, the Iberian coffee monopoly had cracked with the collapse of Umayyad Seville thirty years earlier; since the price of New World coffee stayed high (between limited Mexican production and Cabralia's war-shaken economy), the French colonies were able to make it a lucrative cash crop, leading to the Oriental Company's latifundism.
- From the 1880s, the spread of coffee rust blight from Africa started seriously impacting the global coffee market. French India, which had thus far managed to avoid the coffee blight, was thus even more profitable than it had ever been before.
- About a generation later [when?], tiger-hunting become the sport of choice for a certain type of cosmopolitan noble twit. Guns in hand (many totally inadequate for the task; many Frenchmen gave their lives before the black-powder cat-gun was sorted out), they managed to devastate the Malabar tiger population, which led to some interesting side effects, such as...
- ...the collapse of tiger-hunting, and with it preparation for dealing with tigers.
- ...the collapse of a lot of former tiger habitats, as growing populations along the Malabar Coast began expanding outward, pushing back the tree coverage that the tigers needed to move and progressively driving them north.
- ...a period of about a decade in which so few tiger hunts were successful that the tables began to turn: every year during this period [when?], Malabar tigers killed more humans than humans could find tigers to kill. (This was chalked up to the tigers being more aggressive rather than any environmental changes.)
Tierseur
Tierseur, n. French. A third-bore rifle, esp. used for the hunting of dangerous game.In the French Empire, no hunt is more revered or mythologized than the tiger hunt. And just as no iconic Great White Hunter IRL is complete without a big-bore double rifle, no great French hunter is great without his weapon of choice: a tierseur.
Monday, November 19, 2012
The Remarkable Mahr
No Muslim marriage is complete without a mahr: a mandatory expenditure (4:4 aside, it's not a "gift") that the husband owes to his wife, without which the entire nikah is void. I'm saying it here because you, dear reader, might not know it already: Andalusada (where the survival of Moorish Spain has left most of Europe much more exposed to Moorish interpretations of Islamic cultural norms) already does.
In fiction, of course, simply paying in cash isn't gonna cut it. A mahr is an opportunity for the author to say something important about the bride-to-be, and just like the chance for anyone opposed to speak now or forever hold their peace, it's too good to pass up. Any creative works that involve a mahr will, almost of necessity, involve a Remarkable Mahr.
In fiction, of course, simply paying in cash isn't gonna cut it. A mahr is an opportunity for the author to say something important about the bride-to-be, and just like the chance for anyone opposed to speak now or forever hold their peace, it's too good to pass up. Any creative works that involve a mahr will, almost of necessity, involve a Remarkable Mahr.
Moorish phratries
When Abu Talha Rais first sighted the northern coast of Cabralia in 1484, he had no illusions that he'd reached India. (He did, however, name Hispaniola al-Waqwaq, whence its current name "Guaquaquite.") Instead, he categorically named everything on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean the Bilad al-Aqsa: "the Farthest Land." Later maps would declare the continents to be "America" and "Cabralia," and the water between them and Florida Algeciras to be "Caribby," but in Arabic none of that mattered. For the Moorish world, the New World was always al-Aqsa.
For most of the Five Families era, the Arabs weren't terribly interested in colonizing it. It was simpler to let the Isidorans ease their demographic pressures by moving abroad, converting the New World to (Isidoran) Catholicism and making them administrators of the dhimma. Come 1700, though, Umayyad Seville changed that forever. And when in 1792 al-Mahdi was driven into Maghrebi exile, things changed forever again.
For most of the Five Families era, the Arabs weren't terribly interested in colonizing it. It was simpler to let the Isidorans ease their demographic pressures by moving abroad, converting the New World to (Isidoran) Catholicism and making them administrators of the dhimma. Come 1700, though, Umayyad Seville changed that forever. And when in 1792 al-Mahdi was driven into Maghrebi exile, things changed forever again.
Zahra
Life: 1887-present.
Position: Calipha of the Umayyad Caliphate in New Andalusia
Preceded by: [who?]
The electoral side of the UCNA's history is justifiably a sausage party: as of 1930, women's suffrage is still something that needs campaigning for. The monarchic side of the UCNA's political history is, at this point, a sausage party too, and it shouldn't be. Presumably the caliphs have no shortage of wives and daughters, but who are they? What are they doing?
As of tonight, I'm only really familiar with the current calipha of New Andalusia; I'm not even sure about her family name yet. What I know is that, in several spellings, her name is Zahra, devoted wife of Caliph Yusuf III. This is her story.
Position: Calipha of the Umayyad Caliphate in New Andalusia
Preceded by: [who?]
The electoral side of the UCNA's history is justifiably a sausage party: as of 1930, women's suffrage is still something that needs campaigning for. The monarchic side of the UCNA's political history is, at this point, a sausage party too, and it shouldn't be. Presumably the caliphs have no shortage of wives and daughters, but who are they? What are they doing?
As of tonight, I'm only really familiar with the current calipha of New Andalusia; I'm not even sure about her family name yet. What I know is that, in several spellings, her name is Zahra, devoted wife of Caliph Yusuf III. This is her story.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
The Backbiting Journalists
This is the golden age of newspapers. They're everywhere, and so are their employees; any newspaper reporter could be a stock character - in fact, most of them are, because Andalusada recognizes the same News Tropes and uses them in the same basic ways.
When you have two of them, however, they transform into a world-specific trope worth talking about on its own: the Backbiting Journalists. Very much like Buddy Cops, Backbiting Journalists come in pairs; what makes them so tropey is the huge variety of ways their relationship (between each other and the rest of the cast) can be explored by any halfway-decent author. Where any other character archetype can show up, the Backbiting Journalists can too, and probably have at some point.
This trope is big, moreso than anything yet discussed.
When you have two of them, however, they transform into a world-specific trope worth talking about on its own: the Backbiting Journalists. Very much like Buddy Cops, Backbiting Journalists come in pairs; what makes them so tropey is the huge variety of ways their relationship (between each other and the rest of the cast) can be explored by any halfway-decent author. Where any other character archetype can show up, the Backbiting Journalists can too, and probably have at some point.
This trope is big, moreso than anything yet discussed.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Yusuf III
Dates: January 20, 1891-present.
The Caliphate in New Andalusia is no stranger to unexpected successors; they're pretty much inevitable when congenital madness runs in the family, the (Jewish) maître d' has rights over each step of the acclamation process, and there are half a dozen collateral lines waiting in the wings. In the 19th century, those unexpected successors went down in history as "the six weak caliphs." In the 20th century, one of them turned out famously well. Only one of them, however, has been judged a bad caliph. His name is Yusuf III, and this is his story.
The Caliphate in New Andalusia is no stranger to unexpected successors; they're pretty much inevitable when congenital madness runs in the family, the (Jewish) maître d' has rights over each step of the acclamation process, and there are half a dozen collateral lines waiting in the wings. In the 19th century, those unexpected successors went down in history as "the six weak caliphs." In the 20th century, one of them turned out famously well. Only one of them, however, has been judged a bad caliph. His name is Yusuf III, and this is his story.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Andalus
The very first draft of what is becoming Andalusada was written as a GURPS Infinite Worlds setting on the SJG forums. (You can read it here, if you're so inclined.) Even by my current standards, it's embarrassingly bad, but I do believe it's worth reposting, just so I can link to it within this blog more easily.
Exiled and penniless, Rodrigo Diaz spent the winter of 1080 in Barcelona, falling out with its lords and weighing his options. In 1081, he caused this worldline's history to diverge when he turned south for Seville, whose armies awaited his order to march west. The taifas fell like dominos; Badajoz in 1082, Cordoba in 1083, and Toledo in 1085. When the Berbers invaded (in a desperate Granadan bid for power), he led the coalition that drove them back from Gibraltar and laid the siege that would capture Granada nine months later. A terrified Alfonso VII recalled his general from exile in 1087 (aborting a planned campaign on Barcelona), but the damage was already done; by the time Valencia fell in 1110, all land south of the Duero and Ebro belonged to the Abbadids, and the cause of Christendom in Spain had been set back 300 years.
Current Events
1930: With war on the horizon and a perilous world economy, the last Muslim superpower is looking for allies and preparing for its first move.
Divergence Point
1080: El Cid is hired as a mercenary general by the taifa of Seville, derailing the Reconquista and setting the stage for Islamic Spain as a European power.
Major Civilizations
Western-Islamic (empire), Western (empire with rivals), Orthodox (empire with rivals), Japanese (empire with satellites.)
Great Powers
Umayyad Caliphate of New Andalusia (feudal representative democracy, CR3 for Muslims, CR4 for everyone else); Greater German Empire (dictatorship, CR4); Great Britain (anarchic representative democracy, CR4 and rising); French Fourth Republic (representative democracy, CR3 and falling); Empire of Japan (clan-based oligarchy with democratic traits, CR4-6); Russian SFSR (socialist oligarchy, CR4-5); Turanian SFSR (socialist oligarchy, CR5) Alaskan RFSR (socialist republic, CR3-4); Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (feudal theocracy, CR2-4)
Worldline Data:
TL: 6 Mana Level: Low
Quantum: 4 Infinity Class: P9
Centrum Zone: Inaccessible
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Lisbon Meridian
The equator's position is fixed and determined by geography and mathematics. The prime meridian's position is not only not fixed, it's utterly arbitrary. It took until 1851 for most of the world to establish the Greenwich meridian as their standard, and several nations (France most notably, but also the Empire of Brazil) didn't accept it for decades.
Andalusada, ever the disorganized one, has reduced its own mess of meridians to three. And unlike IRL, the dominant one is based not in England-Scotland but in Lisbon.
Andalusada, ever the disorganized one, has reduced its own mess of meridians to three. And unlike IRL, the dominant one is based not in England-Scotland but in Lisbon.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
The Maud Missionary
The Missionary Sisters of the Office have such a widespread colonial presence that they've become a stock character of their own, as recognized as the Great White Hunter. Or, at least, the fully-ordained Sister has become a stock character, the Maud Missionary - inevitably a white-hat character.
Unlike other female stock characters, the Maud Missionary is universally acceptable. Her vow of celibacy desexualizes her even as it locks her into the traditional femininity of a woman religious, and her vow of obedience puts no stress on Andalusada's glass ceiling. Those same vows that establish her femininity, however, also make her a Missionary, a daughter of Holy Mother Church whose job is to go to exotic, dangerous non-Western places and prevent folk Catholicism from forming. Even in environments where proper women have no business appearing, the Maud Missionary not only has an excuse to show up - she isn't necessarily a burden on the men. This ability to go anywhere, and thus fill "feminine" roles anywhere, is a big part of what's established the Maud Missionaries in popular fiction.
Unlike other female stock characters, the Maud Missionary is universally acceptable. Her vow of celibacy desexualizes her even as it locks her into the traditional femininity of a woman religious, and her vow of obedience puts no stress on Andalusada's glass ceiling. Those same vows that establish her femininity, however, also make her a Missionary, a daughter of Holy Mother Church whose job is to go to exotic, dangerous non-Western places and prevent folk Catholicism from forming. Even in environments where proper women have no business appearing, the Maud Missionary not only has an excuse to show up - she isn't necessarily a burden on the men. This ability to go anywhere, and thus fill "feminine" roles anywhere, is a big part of what's established the Maud Missionaries in popular fiction.
Eugen Karl Orff
By the end of the Great Realignment, the Electorate and Archduchy of Saxony had become a notable player in the Mediterranean, mostly through their control of Malta [details?] and, more lastingly, through majority ownership of the half-completed, half-assed Egyptian Canal. Saxon money and Saxon engineers saw that crumbling vanity project to its conclusion, cementing Saxon importance not only in the Mediterranean but the Levant as well.
Nearly a century after its completion, however, most of the names of that great work have passed into history. Only historians know the original builders of the Canal before it was abandoned. Only economists know the names of the diplomats who acquired the rights to the site, or the engineers who redesigned it. Even the Egyptians have forgotten the names of their own who toiled and died bringing that national folly to fruition.
One name, remains common knowledge, and is given far more credit for the completion of the Canal than even he was willing to accept. Even if they know nothing about what he did to earn that name, everybody knows "Eugen of Egypt": gunfighter, financial wizard, the man involved (somehow) with the Canal, and infamous apostate.
Eugen of Egypt was baptized Eugen Karl Orff. This is his story.
Nearly a century after its completion, however, most of the names of that great work have passed into history. Only historians know the original builders of the Canal before it was abandoned. Only economists know the names of the diplomats who acquired the rights to the site, or the engineers who redesigned it. Even the Egyptians have forgotten the names of their own who toiled and died bringing that national folly to fruition.
One name, remains common knowledge, and is given far more credit for the completion of the Canal than even he was willing to accept. Even if they know nothing about what he did to earn that name, everybody knows "Eugen of Egypt": gunfighter, financial wizard, the man involved (somehow) with the Canal, and infamous apostate.
Eugen of Egypt was baptized Eugen Karl Orff. This is his story.
The Ryalkirk rifle
Late in the second round of the Northern Wars [when?], the armed forces of New Britain - which had heretofore struggled against those of the Anglo-Scottish north, New Andalusia, and assorted aboriginal nations [details?] - fielded something fairly commonplace by our standards, but unheard of at the time: a repeating bolt-action rifle. It was named Ryalkirk, after the armory it was first built in [where?], and it changed military history forever.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The Missionary Sisters of the Office
While I was writing out my thoughts on Andalusada's differences from IRL two nights ago, I came up with the Heretical Hero as an archetype. And then, between that, Taiping China, and my drabblings of writing about the Maroons (out when they're done), I came up with another tropey character, the Maud Missionary.
I really should have written up her first, because while I know that the Maud Missionary is the perfect and rightful heir of St. Matilda, I don't know anything about the movement she's a part of. So little, in fact, that I've been hammering myself for hours about what they're named.
To that end, a conversation with Ebola gave me the working name, and the one I'll be using for the URL: "the Missionaries of Hegemony."
I really should have written up her first, because while I know that the Maud Missionary is the perfect and rightful heir of St. Matilda, I don't know anything about the movement she's a part of. So little, in fact, that I've been hammering myself for hours about what they're named.
To that end, a conversation with Ebola gave me the working name, and the one I'll be using for the URL: "the Missionaries of Hegemony."
The Heretical Hero
In the works he appears, the Swiss Advisor wears a white hat. He is invariably a Good Guy, and the proof of it is that he walks with crowds and keeps his virtue - although immersed amidst the most raw and primitive of the aboriginal world, he pours out his civilizing whiteness upon them like the oil of anointment, and their aboriginality cannot grasp or overcome him.
His shadow, his dark parallel, is a separate but related trope: the Heretical Hero. Where the Swiss Advisor blurs the line between civilized and savage respectably - by bestowing honorary whiteness upon those around them - the Heretical Hero blurs that line the wrong way: making their darkness his own, even into the depths of his soul.
His shadow, his dark parallel, is a separate but related trope: the Heretical Hero. Where the Swiss Advisor blurs the line between civilized and savage respectably - by bestowing honorary whiteness upon those around them - the Heretical Hero blurs that line the wrong way: making their darkness his own, even into the depths of his soul.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Line-based calibers
As an American, calibers come in two varieties: Imperial, and metric. While there are some irregularities with the Imperial system (some .44s are actually .43 because they originally used heeled bullets, and anything may or may not have an extra .008" to allow for rifling), the Imperial system is blessedly devoid of any such. (Except, of course, for 8mm Mauser, which is 8mmJ or 8mmS.) Those two systems of measure - one of which I grew up with, one of which is intuitive - are the only ones that matter. Not so in Andalusada.
Sans decimalizing revolutionaries, France doesn't adopt the metric system. Sans France, nobody else necessarily does either. Up until the French Revolution, the world had worked just fine without universal metrication; there's no reason to think it couldn't continue to do so. (Except for France, and even that Augean stable doesn't need metrication.) And that means two, three, many systems of measurement - making my beloved gun porn a nightmare to write about.
But today, poring over two, three, many obsolete customary measurements, something clicked - and after doing some math, I found a beautiful heuristic in which to express calibers: for most of the world, smokeless cartridges are measured not by any international norm, but in lines.
Sans decimalizing revolutionaries, France doesn't adopt the metric system. Sans France, nobody else necessarily does either. Up until the French Revolution, the world had worked just fine without universal metrication; there's no reason to think it couldn't continue to do so. (Except for France, and even that Augean stable doesn't need metrication.) And that means two, three, many systems of measurement - making my beloved gun porn a nightmare to write about.
But today, poring over two, three, many obsolete customary measurements, something clicked - and after doing some math, I found a beautiful heuristic in which to express calibers: for most of the world, smokeless cartridges are measured not by any international norm, but in lines.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Crown of All Spains (and France)
Writing about Mahdism this last week or so leaves me kinda bothered that I haven't written about Spain yet. I have my reasons; given that it's ground zero for the point of divergence, all I can honestly say is that I know the Crown of All Spains exists (for plot reasons), and that it's ruled by the pre-Wars of Religion French ruling house (whence the inevitable "and France" in the name.)
But I've posted articles about things I knew less than that about, so here goes nothing.
But I've posted articles about things I knew less than that about, so here goes nothing.
The Crown of All Spains 101
Why? Because it's been here from the beginning. Admittedly in the beginning it was Napoleon driving the Moors out of Spain, but a united Spain is still there.- Who? Not the Galicians (Galicia having been part of Galicia or Portugal or Portugal-Galicia for most of its history since 1090, when Garcia II sets up shop in A Corunha), but other than that you'd recognize most of the territories. There's Asturias and Cantabria, and the Catalans and the Aragonese, the Léonese and the Castillans, the Toletans... and, south of the Tagus, the Andalusis, many of whom still speak Arabic at home.
- What? The Crown of All Spains is one of the complex dynastic unions that Andalusada seems to love - a confederal monarchy that on its good days is exactly the sum of its parts, and on its bad days much less as those parts cancel each other out.
- Where? Most of Iberia, predictably. The Crown of All Spains also controls a number of North African city-states, which it occupied during the destruction of Barbary Coast piracy, and a fair bit of Morocco through very unreliable Andalusi landlords.
- When? The Crown of All Spains dates from the late 1780s, although I'm not sure exactly what year it was.
The Second Mahdist War
Timeframe: Early to mid-1820s, contemporary with the War of the French Succession
Belligerents: The Crown of All Spains vs. al-Mahdi and his supporters
Consequences: The death of al-Mahdi; collapse of Mahdism as a unified force; Legitimist withdrawal from France; rise of Saxon-aligned Malta as a Mediterranean force
In 1786, Umayyad Seville knew its last year of peace and sovereignty. Seven years later, the Civil War had run its course, and the newly-united Spanish Crown was busily annexing what was left of Moorish Spain. Hisham V [who?], the last Caliph of Seville, was dead. The caliphate was contested by three squabbling, doomed brothers, and his four-year-old son had been smuggled into safety and irrelevance across the Straits of Gibraltar.
During those dark days, his supporters gave him a regnal name of his own: al-Mahdi. And in 1821, with the House of Guise crumbling and a civil war in France, al-Mahdi made his move and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar again.
Belligerents: The Crown of All Spains vs. al-Mahdi and his supporters
Consequences: The death of al-Mahdi; collapse of Mahdism as a unified force; Legitimist withdrawal from France; rise of Saxon-aligned Malta as a Mediterranean force
In 1786, Umayyad Seville knew its last year of peace and sovereignty. Seven years later, the Civil War had run its course, and the newly-united Spanish Crown was busily annexing what was left of Moorish Spain. Hisham V [who?], the last Caliph of Seville, was dead. The caliphate was contested by three squabbling, doomed brothers, and his four-year-old son had been smuggled into safety and irrelevance across the Straits of Gibraltar.
During those dark days, his supporters gave him a regnal name of his own: al-Mahdi. And in 1821, with the House of Guise crumbling and a civil war in France, al-Mahdi made his move and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar again.
New Toleto
This page has a writeup in GURPS format. You can view it here.
Significance: Capital city of the UCNA
Location: On the western shore of the Mississippi River, near its confluence with the Ohio
On April 5th, Yusuf was caliph over a very disjointed territory. One of his seats of power was in Cuba [details?], and the main city on the mainland was Port-Royal, which became the UCNA's de facto capital for most of his career. At best it was a stopgap solution.
As a permanent capital city, Port-Royal had serious disadvantages. It was built in the swamps, and epidemics of malaria and cholera were so regular that diplomats demanded hazard pay. It was vulnerable to naval warfare, making the (Cuban-dominated) navy too powerful [details?] - and Cuban aggression couldn't be ruled out. (And although it was a nonissue at the time, Port-Royal anchored the UCNA to Caribby at a time when the north was extremely open territory.) From fairly early, both Yusuf and Don Musa had plans to relocate the capital. All they needed was a suitable location.
Significance: Capital city of the UCNA
Location: On the western shore of the Mississippi River, near its confluence with the Ohio
On April 5th, Yusuf was caliph over a very disjointed territory. One of his seats of power was in Cuba [details?], and the main city on the mainland was Port-Royal, which became the UCNA's de facto capital for most of his career. At best it was a stopgap solution.
As a permanent capital city, Port-Royal had serious disadvantages. It was built in the swamps, and epidemics of malaria and cholera were so regular that diplomats demanded hazard pay. It was vulnerable to naval warfare, making the (Cuban-dominated) navy too powerful [details?] - and Cuban aggression couldn't be ruled out. (And although it was a nonissue at the time, Port-Royal anchored the UCNA to Caribby at a time when the north was extremely open territory.) From fairly early, both Yusuf and Don Musa had plans to relocate the capital. All they needed was a suitable location.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Asad from Seville
Mahdism doesn't just cause wars. As an ethos and a mythos, its (minor) influence has extended to every aspect of Iberian global culture, Christian and Muslim.
Mahdism has shaped the Ibero-Romance languages, giving them metaphors just like Jacobitism gave English sub rosa IRL. It's established an iconography and a lexicon of motifs (the keys on the necklace, hunter green shot through with silver thread) that are recognized worldwide. It's been a recurring inspiration for a pan-Iberian artistic corpus - especially a lyrical corpus: Mahdism has produced marches favored by directors as far south as the CRC, and its melodies have been set to different lyrics and become recognized as far away as Japan.
That said, though, Mahdism's mostly felt through its violence. It's caused three wars in Iberia itself; it's caused no end of troubles in Spanish North Africa, not counting the infamous Chergui; it is the impetus for considerable terrorism, especially that of the G1200.
The most legendary Mahdist terrorism, though, may have been neither Mahdist nor terrorist. We would call it the work of a serial killer, but when he struck there was no word in any language to describe the carnage he left behind.
That terrorism was the work of a single man, Asad from Seville.
Mahdism has shaped the Ibero-Romance languages, giving them metaphors just like Jacobitism gave English sub rosa IRL. It's established an iconography and a lexicon of motifs (the keys on the necklace, hunter green shot through with silver thread) that are recognized worldwide. It's been a recurring inspiration for a pan-Iberian artistic corpus - especially a lyrical corpus: Mahdism has produced marches favored by directors as far south as the CRC, and its melodies have been set to different lyrics and become recognized as far away as Japan.
That said, though, Mahdism's mostly felt through its violence. It's caused three wars in Iberia itself; it's caused no end of troubles in Spanish North Africa, not counting the infamous Chergui; it is the impetus for considerable terrorism, especially that of the G1200.
The most legendary Mahdist terrorism, though, may have been neither Mahdist nor terrorist. We would call it the work of a serial killer, but when he struck there was no word in any language to describe the carnage he left behind.
That terrorism was the work of a single man, Asad from Seville.
Friday, November 2, 2012
The Caliphal Household
New Andalusia was meant to be demotic, not democratic. Yusuf I was familiar enough with the arguments of Moorish Dissent to appreciate the distinction, but he feared and hated majority rule, and by the end of his life was vindicated by watching plebeian Cabralia plummet into monarchism. It's why the UCNA (several Charters later) still, uniquely, uses Borda count voting.
For all his efforts, though, the UCNA did slide towards democracy as time progressed. Most of this was the work of his right-hand man, who in his defense strengthened the Maxaha because he had a lot of weak caliphs to deal with, and the government needed to function somehow. But a side effect of Don Musa's efforts was the creation of a new and totally undemocratic force in Andalusian politics: the Caliphal Household.
For all his efforts, though, the UCNA did slide towards democracy as time progressed. Most of this was the work of his right-hand man, who in his defense strengthened the Maxaha because he had a lot of weak caliphs to deal with, and the government needed to function somehow. But a side effect of Don Musa's efforts was the creation of a new and totally undemocratic force in Andalusian politics: the Caliphal Household.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Don Ibrahim
Dates: 1860-1980. (Yes, he dies fifty years after the canonical present day. This is important.)
Position: Secretary of the Caliphal Household.
Preceded by: His father, Don Musa Cordovero
The least democratic institution in the UCNA is the Caliphal Household. Founded under Yusuf I, it has survived chart reforms, two regencies, three succession crises and Populism almost unscathed. Holding an ambiguous position, both private employees of the caliph and public servants of the caliphate, the Caliphal Household is barely accountable to either.
Between the death of Yusuf I and the rise of Yusuf II, the most powerful man in the UCNA was a Sephardi Jew whose friends and enemies alike styled him simply "Don Musa." The son is more formidable than the father; as of 1930 he is the longest-serving man in the government of New Andalusia at around 45 years. His name is Don Ibrahim - and if Cardinal Richelieu was hale as an ox, and could kill you with the power of his Kabbalah, he would start coming close to the fearful awe commanded by the UCNA's bespectacled court Jew.
Position: Secretary of the Caliphal Household.
Preceded by: His father, Don Musa Cordovero
The least democratic institution in the UCNA is the Caliphal Household. Founded under Yusuf I, it has survived chart reforms, two regencies, three succession crises and Populism almost unscathed. Holding an ambiguous position, both private employees of the caliph and public servants of the caliphate, the Caliphal Household is barely accountable to either.
Between the death of Yusuf I and the rise of Yusuf II, the most powerful man in the UCNA was a Sephardi Jew whose friends and enemies alike styled him simply "Don Musa." The son is more formidable than the father; as of 1930 he is the longest-serving man in the government of New Andalusia at around 45 years. His name is Don Ibrahim - and if Cardinal Richelieu was hale as an ox, and could kill you with the power of his Kabbalah, he would start coming close to the fearful awe commanded by the UCNA's bespectacled court Jew.
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