SkunkyArt | CHIPMUNKEN — The Age of Illuminism

Less than a decade after the Treaty of Paris, it had become clear that the Articles of Confederation were insufficient. In 1789, delegates of the nine states gathered in Philadelphia to create a new system of governance. The plan presented by James Madison and the Virginia delegation was, from the start of the convention, the most popular plan. When the convention adjourned, the nation had a new constitution (pedants will say that this is not technically true, given that states had to ratify the Constitution) Under the Madisonian Constitution, there would be two houses of Congress: the lower house, the House of Delegates, would be elected by the residents of each state, while the upper house, the Senate, would be elected by the Delegates from lists submitted by the states. The Senate would be responsible for the election of a National Executive. The most important piece of this puzzle was the fact that Congressional apportionment was decided by the Contributory Quota, an arcane formula which took into account tax, military, and other contributions from each state. In this way, heavily populated states might have less representation in Congress than lightly populated states that paid more in taxes. Importantly, the Quota was under the control of the National Appraiser, an official appointed by the National Executive.

Though the Madisonian Constitution promised a free and fair government, things did not turn out that way. Planters and their lackeys from the southern states took control of Congress and subsequently control of the Executiveship. With the Executiveship in their pocket, the slavocratic Whig Party cooked the books and adjusted the Quota to favor the less populous southern states over the growing north and west. Though things could be labeled unfair following the 1800 census, after 1840 the Whigs had created a system in which the opposition could never take control and, without opposition control of the Executiveship, they could never rebalance apportionment to Congress.

The Illuminati were founded in 1776 by professor Adam Weishaupt in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The Illuminati declared as their enemies things like superstition, ignorance, and despotism. Their ranks were swelled by intellectuals and burghers in the following decade. In the mid-1780s, the Illuminati were forced underground by pressure from temporal monarchs and the Church in Germany. The Illuminati only became more popular in the aftermath of the crackdown as many former Freemasons fled that organization, which was riddled with pro-Church informers. Following this, the Illuminati turned sharply towards political radicalism, and members increasingly advocated for the abolition of monarchies and establishment of a German Republic. During the late 1780s and early 1790s, the Illuminati branched out and lodges were established in France, the Low Countries, and Poland.

Poland of the late 18th century was, to put it lightly, incredibly dysfunctional. The magnates, a group of noble families, dominated the country and prevented any change to the status quo through their veto power in the Sejm. Unsurprisingly, there was considerable opposition to this state of affairs. Poland-Lithuania chugged on for decades like this, though on two occasions, Austria, Prussia, and Russia took territories increasingly close to the core in “partitions”. Following the second partition, Poland’s government became a de facto client state of Russia. The end came in 1798, when the aging author Ignacy Krasicki released a pamphlet criticizing the government. Urged by the Russians, the Polish government arrested Krasicki, and during his arrest he was beaten. Within hours, Krakow was in flames as years of anger at the government created a mob that forced the Sejm and monarchy to flee. Into this chaos came a clique led by noted democrat Tadeusz Kościuszko. Urged on by Kościuszko, a constitutional convention was convened in mob-occupied Krakow and the United Provinces of Poland-Lithuania was declared. With Russia busy elsewhere, Prussia remaining neutral in hopes of harming its enemies, and portions of the Polish army defecting to the Republicans, the rebels survived into 1799.

In 1799, inspired by Poland but driven by war taxes, the Illuminati and its supporters rose up throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Though Illuminati members hailed from the small middle class, they harnessed popular discontent with taxation and general opposition to the governments of the time to create revolutionary armies. Strongest in Bavaria, they stormed Regensburg and made it the center of the revolution. In early 1800, the Republic of Germany was declared with Adam Weishaupt as Protector of the Republic. Poland and Germany fought on for nine years. As the war continued, they found themselves fighting against all of Europe. Despite the raising of large, popular armies, the rebels were ultimately defeated across Europe, with Weishaupt surrendering his army at the Weltenburg Narrows in October 1808.

The major struggle of the 19th century pits illiberal nationalism against liberal internationalism. Though the Illuminist revolutionary republics were put down and their leaders executed in an orgy of blood, their ideas did not die and has evolved into crypto-Illuminism. Crypto-Illuminists, like their forebears, believe in the destruction of superstition and illogical systems. To realize these ideals, they must destroy the state and church. Against them are arrayed the forces of reaction. The monarchies of Europe have found themselves able to channel nationalism and while nationalism demands the monarchies feud among each other, the monarchs retain amicable relations and are able to unite when threatened by liberalism.

Unsurprisingly, New England remained a hotbed of anti-British sentiment for over half a century after a peace with the Americans was signed that left New England as a British colony. In an attempt to break the power of the colonial legislatures, the old colonies were abolished and counties became the largest subdivision. At least once a decade, and usually more, the Boston mob erupted into violence. After a Patriot plan to blow up the capital in 1798 was uncovered, the capital of the colony was moved to Portsmouth (formerly in New Hampshire), which was a hotbed of loyalist sentiment. In 1826, the largest revolt since the 1770s broke out, led by men like Levi Lincoln and other sons of the original Patriots. The Patriot cause had initial successes and the American government issued an ultimatum to Britain, ordering them to vacate New England. The tide soon turned, and the Second Anglo-American War broke out. Between 1826 and 1828, American forces were trounced on all fronts. This led to the end of American ambitions to recover New England.

The Spanish Empire’s days were numbered. Inspired by the American Revolution and liberal agitation in Europe, Latin America burst into revolt in the early 19th century. Fighting began first in Mexico and soon engulfed the entire region. With Spain unable to fight back on its own, a collection of Catholic powers, including France and Austria pledged their own forces to join the Spanish. This grouping, alongside the Orthodox power of Russia, became known as the Holy Alliance. The Holy Alliance sent several expeditionary forces but finally gave up when an army stricken by malaria was swallowed up along with General Bagration at Cali in 1833. The presence of the armies of the Holy Alliance gave the newly-independent Latin American states a radical tinge. The Church was in disrepute and governments were composed of crypto-Illuminists. In Brazil, the most extreme of the new states, an openly Illuminist regime was established.

Throughout the 19th century, the United States expanded to the west. Louisiana was purchased from a cash-strapped Spain, while Florida and Cuba were taken by a combination of coercion and cash in the dying days of the Spanish New World Empire. The wars of expansion came to a close in the Conquest of Mexico, which lasted from 1848 to 1853. Over five years, American forces marched on and took Mexico City in a series of cataclysmic battles that pitted the liberal Mexican government and population against a pro-American collaborationist government composed of devout Catholics and large landowners. At the war’s close, the US created over a dozen states out of its new conquests. Through confiscation, Anglo settlers received large plantations along the coast and came to dominate a number of these new states. Other states were drawn in bad farmland and were given over to Mexicans to rule, and unruly citizens of other states were encouraged to migrate to these Mexican-led states. This system could only be propped up with the bayonet, and since 1853, the US Army has been on constant occupation duty in former Mexico. Nationalist agitation is at an all time high and the region is a powderkeg just waiting for a spark.

Throughout this period, the United States turned into a dictatorship of the legislature. Under Prime Minister Randolph, the Whig Party took control of the United States and made their brand of slavocracy dominant. They trampled liberalism underfoot and the United States resembled a European autocracy more than the republic its founders claimed it would be. Through use of the Contributory Quota, the Whigs have entrenched themselves in power, something that has angered the northerners, who see themselves as a disenfranchised majority within the country. Civil war is on the horizon.

Europe remains dominated by the Holy Alliance. France, Spain, Austria, and Russia have an understanding and cooperate to defeat liberalism wherever it appears. When they are not cooperating, they will fight something akin to the Aztec flower wars to let out pent up nationalist energy. One thing that the Holy Alliance cooperated in was the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. This idea was supported by both Habsburgs and Romanovs and with the help of the French, the Ottomans lost several wars, culminating in their defeat in 1859-1861. The old empire has been wholly dismantled and divided between the occupying powers and several newcomers.

Austria is the great power of Europe. It saw comparatively little revolutionary violence and was able to put down the republicans elsewhere and its image was rejuvenated in Germany, where people saw the Austrians as liberators. In the post-war period, much of Germany was annexed to Austria or reorganized into regional kingdoms. Austria’s up and coming rival, Prussia, was dismantled and weakened. Austria’s Emperors retained the old Holy Roman title, but the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in all but name, with newly-signed treaties of alliance and economic pacts binding Austria with its German vassals. Austria has pioneered a form of nationalism in which multiple ethnic groups are united under a single monarchy with considerable autonomy given to regions within the state. Despite the odds, this has worked, though Austria’s puppets of Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia are wracked by revolutionary violence as hopes of leaving the Habsburg sphere have taken hold.

The Russian Empire has had a good century. A series of victories over Polish revolutionary armies (as well as their Russian collaborators, though this part is hardly mentioned) created national unity. As a member of the Holy Alliance, Russia participated in the ill-fated attempts to restore order to Spanish America, something that led to a surge in nationalism at home. This nationalism was channeled into southern expansionism and a series of wars were fought against the Ottomans, culminating in the Siege and defeat of the Turks at Istanbul in 1861. With the House of Osman out of the way, Russia was free to annex a strip leading to the Persian Gulf. Despite nationalist dreams of Russian settlement in these regions, the government has attempted only to Christianize their new client states and integrate them into the Russian economic sphere. Progress has been slow and seen many setbacks but Russia is still stronger than ever before.

The old Turkish Empire was destroyed by the Holy Alliance, but remnants of the Turks remain. Shortly before the fall of Istanbul, a cousin of the final Sultan converted to Orthodoxy and was promised land in exchange for his use to the Russians. He lived up to his end of the bargain but received only a small region. King Peter was enthroned in Kütahya as King of the Turks. He has stayed loyal to Russia, and continues to rule as a friend of the Tsar and the Holy Alliance. Much of his population has converted to Orthodoxy, though the holdouts against him are few but very extreme. Further east, a military junta led by the Janissaries has taken hold. Decrying the House of Osman as weak and unsuited to rule, these Janissaries rule in their own right. They have pioneered a form of Turkish nationalism that has proven quite potent, as radicals in Russian territories speak of support for the Janissaries. Russia and Austria have considered a war to defeat the Janissaries, but at the moment they are too powerful and the Holy Alliance is still consolidating its conquests of the 1860s. Throughout the whole of the former empire, banditry remains common as a form of resistance against the Russians.

The Greeks have been unable to coalesce under a single regime. The dispossessed House of Württemberg was given the Greek throne, but proved unpopular because of rumors of remaining Protestant and of using German rather than Greek at court. During 1860s and the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek monarchy attempted to conquer the Greek-speaking lands of Anatolia. They were greeted with mistrust by Anatolian Greeks, who carved out their own Hellenic Republic of Lydia. These two states are constantly at odds and significant factions within both states desire a union, they just can’t figure out what type of government should be had. Elsewhere in Anatolia, Greeks serve as middlemen between Russian imperial authorities and their Turkish subjects.

The fall of the Ottomans represented an opportunity for the growing Saudi state. The Sauds had been expanding over a century as a Wahabbist regime, but their most rapid expansion came as the Ottomans collapsed. The Sauds overran much of Syria expecting resistance but were surprised when they were treated as liberators. With the Holy Alliance advancing from the north, many Arab governorates were happy to submit to the Sauds and receive protection from them. The Saudi Empire is now quite strong, though technologically behind its neighbors. With the Ottomans gone, many people now see the Sauds as the premier Islamic power. Wahabbism has seen massive growth because of this and Wahabbists now live beyond the borders of the Saudi realm.

Europe has vastly ramped up its involvement in Africa in the past several decades. Formerly restricted to a series of ports along the coast, Europe has established colonies further inland than ever before. This is occurring across the entire continent. In West Africa, the largest colony is Liberténia, a French colony established by settlers from Haiti after slavery was abolished there. Liberténia’s population has swelled due to these settlers and has almost 500,000 people living there. A committed revolutionary movement exists there, but the majority of Liberténians are loyal to the House of Bourbon. To the north, the colony of New Albion was an attempt by the British to settle Afro-British and New Englanders in Africa. Migration there never became popular and New Albion has a fairly small population. In Southern Africa, tensions between the British rulers and and their Afrikaans-speaking subjects are high. The two groups have not got along since Britain's conquest of the Cape from the Netherlands and at the moment, the Afrikaner-led Oranje Republic seems poised to go to war with the British Empire.

The need to devote resources to the East Indies, Canada, and the high seas to defend against the strong French navy left Britain with limited ability to expand in India. Many native states were subjugated and integrated into the British Empire but the British met their match in the Sikhs, who fought four wars against the British in the mid-1800s. These wars ended with the rout of several British armies and their grudging recognition of the independence of the Sikh Empire. Maharaja Paramijt Singh avoided the wholesale adoption of European customs, selecting the best European weapons for his army and building modern universities while rejecting the worst excesses of the European monarchies. Singh’s descendants kept the empire intact and through a pragmatic alliance with Russia the Empire is fairly safe from British conquest for the present. The Sikhs harbor independence-minded intellectuals from across India and fears have been raised in London that one day the Sikhs might prove to be the arsenal of revolution across India.

China seems to have turned things around in the last several decades. British, French, and Russian military encroachment became a real concern in the middle of the 19th century, but the reforming Bianchang Emperor, who ascended the throne in 1857, modernized the Chinese state. He cut down on the power of the imperial household, sidelining traditionalist princes. The bureaucracy was modernized and traditionalist bureaucrats were similarly purged and sent on assignments far from Beijing. Memories of humiliation by the west are strong in the minds of China’s leaders and there are dreams of an eventual war and victory over the powers that kicked China while it was down.

Japan has had bad luck and poor leadership where China has had good luck and strong leaders. The weakening Shogunate finally collapsed in the 1840s, triggering a period of civil war in Japan. A strong Emperor might have allowed the forces loyal to the monarchy to coalesce, but the Emperor did not inspire that kind of authority and warring factions bought European weapons to arm their forces. The Bakumatsu era, a period of constant war, came to an end at the start of the 1870s, when the great powers of the world intervened, elevating the head of the Watanabe clan to the position of Shogun and imposing European influence on Japan. The weak Watanabe Shogunate holds power to this day but European companies have risen to hold considerable power across Japan as the Shogun has little power or will to go for full independence. The European powers have an understanding in place and refrain from actions that might lead to war with each other over their conflicting interests in Japan.

The ideals of the Illuminati traveled around the world. Junior officers of the Spanish army, blackballed because of their radical views, were often sent abroad. These officers associated with radicals in the colony of the Philippines to create the Grand Lodge of the Philippines. The Grand Lodge became a center for nationalists and liberals in the islands and in 1861, the islands burst into revolt as forces loyal to the Illuminati attacked forts and government buildings in a coordinated revolution. The Filipino Revolution lasted until 1865, at which point Spain recognized its independence. Membership in the Lodge and government positions are virtually synonymous. The Republic of the Philippines has established ties with Brazil and has quickly built up modern infrastructure. Most recently, its navy has taken control of the northern coast of New Guinea, which has become the first colony in a planned Filipino empire.

The Americas are dominated by the United States in the north and Brazil in the south. Both countries have massive and well-trained armies and neighbors that are scared of them. That’s where the similarities end. The United States is an autocratic, planter-dominated state while Brazil is a radical democracy guided by the local Illuminati. After the revolution from Portugal, Brazil established its capital at Sao Paulo, which it renamed Esclarecimento (having a capital named for a saint was just too primitive for the Brazilians) The rest of the country was reorganized into “more rational” provinces and subnational republics were set up in Bahia (led by Afro-Brazilian Illuminati members) and Rio Grande (under the leadership of the counter-revolutionary cattle ranchers, who were thrown a bone by the revolutionary regime) With leaders inspired by the democratic ideals of the Illuminati, Brazil waged wars against its neighbors. At present, it is a massive, sprawling state with growing industry. Recently, the growth of trade unions has presented a challenge to the Illuminati. Owing to fear of Brazil, all of its neighbors have strong armies bolstered by European immigration going to Latin America rather than the intolerant United States.

Religion recovered after the Enlightenment. Encouraged by princes across Europe, the Catholic Church experienced considerable popularity, though some cardinals feel secular princes listen too little to what the Pope actually says and too much to what they think the Pope is saying. In North America, a resurgence in evangelical religious thought spanned a group of Protestant denominations referred to as the Columbian Denominations. Columbian preachers gained considerable popularity in New England, where they converted heavily in the aftermath of the devastating 1826 war. These preachers also made inroads among French speakers, converting the Métis and bringing the entirety of Rupertsland into the Columbian fold.