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Post by Xaa on Dec 14, 2007 19:19:56 GMT -5
 Rule Columbia! Columbia Rule The Waves! Yankees never, never, ever will be slaves! |
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Post by Kilarin on Dec 17, 2007 9:39:48 GMT -5
Intriguing! I hope more information will follow?  |
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Post by Xaa on Dec 18, 2007 10:55:27 GMT -5
Intriguing! I hope more information will follow? Columbia is this alternate history world that's been bouncing around in my head for awhile. Every now and again, I get a picture in my head like this one, so I do it. Ummm... History proceeds as normal up until the end of the American Revolution. What follows thereafter... Differs. |
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Post by ghastley on Dec 18, 2007 20:17:28 GMT -5
Ever read Harry Harrison's "A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" ?? Washington lost the war and was executed ... Spain is still part of the Great Caliphate, France a monarchy. Steam powered airplanes, nuclear trains, and other silliness, including a Transatlantic Tunnel.
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Post by Xaa on Dec 21, 2007 3:34:44 GMT -5
Ever read Harry Harrison's "A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" ?? Washington lost the war and was executed ... Spain is still part of the Great Caliphate, France a monarchy. Steam powered airplanes, nuclear trains, and other silliness, including a Transatlantic Tunnel. Haven't read that one, but Columbia is along the same vein. Washington bowed to tremendous public pressure and agreed to be the first king - an elected office, term is 25 years. He still died on schedule, though. Jefferson was second president, and was there for the Louisiana Purchase, setting the stage for the rest of the continental US to line up under the Columbian flag. Civil war doesn't happen, though. Huge outbreak of yellow fever early on wiped out most of the slave population and caused the collapse of the southern economy. Jefferson agreed to bail out the south, but only on the condition that slavery be abolished. After all, the Brits had banned slavery by that time, and the newly-established Columbian government simply *couldn't* look backwards compared to the Brits. Und So Vieder. By the time you get to the end of the 19th century, the Columbians have had two wars with the Brits (1812 and 1848 - they won both), A war with Spain and Mexico (which they won, ending up with the rest of the western territories - the Columbians have a massive navy), and the loss of the Brits in 1848 meant they had to surrender the Southern Canadian Provinces to Columbia or risk the Columbians would continue the war and invade England. Which they would have, and they would have won, because they had the Brits massively outnumbered and had swept their fleets from the high seas by 1850. Steam-power comes to the fore during the 1850's, and the Columbians immediately adopt it. After all, being able to say precisely when a ship will arrive at it's destination gives them a tremendous advantage over other nations who still rely on wind and sail. They still have the westward expansion, but they miss out on the majority of the Indian Wars and the Oklahoma land-rush, simply because they established Oklahoma as both 1) A state, and 2) the permanent territory of all native tribes. The only fighting they did was with indians who didn't want to go to Oklahoma. Meanwhile, those who did go to Oklahoma quickly discovered that the Five Civilized Tribes pretty much run the entire state legislature, and everyone else lives under their thumb, most in abject poverty. Likely this will cause trouble sometime in the early 20th century, but that remains to be seen. There's more, but I'll spare you. I'm trying to collect my thoughts on Columbia, it's been popping up in my imagination for about ten years, now. |
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Post by Kilarin on Dec 21, 2007 14:32:28 GMT -5
Sounds like a fascinating story! I'm looking forward it some day!
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Post by Xaa on Dec 21, 2007 21:30:25 GMT -5
Sounds like a fascinating story! I'm looking forward it some day! Well, that's the thing - there is no story. What I've mentioned above is basically history. It's background. Both Historians and Journalists enjoy deluding themselves in thinking that what they are writing is a story. But, it isn't - not in the literary sense. A story has protagonists, antagonists, scene, background, a plot containing conflict, and a resolution, in which the protagonist experiences character change, or completes the character change they have been experiencing throughout the story. A story often usually has a moral - an overall synopsizing theme or general point the author is driving at. It doesn't hecessarily have to be a positive moral/theme/point, but a story without a point is rather dull. So, no, this is just background, it's not a story. If there's a story here, it hasn't come to me yet. |
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Post by Blondin235 on Jan 2, 2008 5:28:24 GMT -5
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Post by Kilarin on Jan 3, 2008 8:20:21 GMT -5
A world that fascinating, there is bound to be a story popping up in it sooner or later. Until then, I'll keep having to get my steam-punk fix from Girl Genius. |
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