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The Years of Rice and Salt

While I find Kim Stanley Robinson’s Years of Rice and Salt interesting, I find it rather implausible. The near-total death of all Europeans strikes me as incredibly unlikely, so I have changed that to the death of 60-80% of the European population, which allows for the survival of a Christian majority in parts of Muslim Europe and several Christian-majority states. Secondly, I have never been a fan of the mass killing of butterflies Stanley Robinson committed (the Qing and Ottomans, especially). Rather than Travancore rather anachronistically rising to prominence, it is Venad. Several other points have also been changed. However, I have tried to stay close to the gist of the book. Many thanks to B_Munro’s cover!

The bubonic plague arrived in Europe in 1347. It killed up to 70% of the European population, leaving vastly weakened states in its wake. Islamic states took advantage of this weakness and easily conquered continental Europe. Despite several invasions of the British Isles and Scandinavia, those regions remained Christian and have until the present day. The Pope was forced to flee to England, where he was gifted Canterbury as his personal domain. The Papacy has retained close ties to the monarchy to the present day (there have been no non-English Popes since 1750!)

Under the Ming, China began the Time of Expansion. After conquering Vietnam, its armies were hurled against Japan. Unfortunately, storms pushed the army off course, and ethnically Burmese Admiral Kheim with what remained of his fleet discovered the continent referred to as Yingzhou. The gunpowder-armed armies of China threw aside native resistance to its encroachment.

And so, the centuries passed. China continued its dominance of the Pacific and western coast of Yingzhou. As time passed, news of the new continent spread west, reaching the Christian and Muslim states of the Atlantic. In search of gold, they set sail and founded their own colonies. In response to this encroachment from west and east, and aided by a band of Japanese exiles, the peoples of Yingzhou began to unite under the banner of the Haudenosaunee League.

During the late 18th century, the rulers of Venad in southern India modernized their armies and encouraged scientific advancement in their realm. Ruler from 1809 to 1838, Devadaram Vira Kerala Varma VI was the most brilliant and ambitious of all the Venadi maharajas. He dreamt of the unification of all India. His well-trained armies subdued their neighbors, forging a grand alliance of Hindu states intent on pushing Islam from the subcontinent. The largest army seen in Indian history marched into the then-powerful Karzid Sultanate. Delhi was sacked and the Indians marched all the way to the Sultanates western frontier near Tehran. Devadaram VI’s supply lines were at the limit and his generals forced him to retreat back across the Indus. The conqueror-king was struck down by illness just two years later, having made no other major conquests. In his wake, the Karzid Sultanate splintered while his successor took steps to realize his dream of a unified India. The states closest to Venad were integrated into the Indian Federation while the League of Kollam was established to unite all Indian states. Despite the League’s best efforts, much of the old Karzid Sultanate was annexed into the new Pashtun Empire. Through fearmongering and a not-insignificant amount of coercion, other Hindu and Buddhist states (like Siam) and former colonies joined the League. The League is intent on pushing the Muslims back across the Indus for good and is willing to fight alongside any power that will help with that goal.

In Europe, the Pope in Canterbury is as powerful as ever. Bolstered by new communications technology, his message of Crusade against Islamic Europe is broadcast further than ever before (even into Islamic Europe, where it is rumored there are revolutionary cells ready to rise up and liberate their continent) Though several other Catholic states exist, the Church, and by extent, England dominate them. Though Papal doctrine proclaims all non-Catholics as the enemy, an alliance of convenience has been formed between the Catholic world and the Haudenosaunee. Whether this alliance will endure is a valid question.

China is currently under the Hai dynasty. Originally from southern China, they threw out the previous dynasty after a series of disastrous colonial wars lost because of overextension. The newcomers took the name Hai, meaning “return to a place” – the place in question being one of isolation. However, recent Hai Emperors have been as expansionist as their Ming predecessors.

The present is the Year of Our Lord Nineteen-hundred and fifteen. The world is, generally, in a state of peace but religious disputes that grow every year make academicians the world over predict global war before 1915 is out.

Description

The Years of Rice and Salt

While I find Kim Stanley Robinson’s Years of Rice and Salt interesting, I find it rather implausible. The near-total death of all Europeans strikes me as incredibly unlikely, so I have changed that to the death of 60-80% of the European population, which allows for the survival of a Christian majority in parts of Muslim Europe and several Christian-majority states. Secondly, I have never been a fan of the mass killing of butterflies Stanley Robinson committed (the Qing and Ottomans, especially). Rather than Travancore rather anachronistically rising to prominence, it is Venad. Several other points have also been changed. However, I have tried to stay close to the gist of the book. Many thanks to B_Munro’s cover!

The bubonic plague arrived in Europe in 1347. It killed up to 70% of the European population, leaving vastly weakened states in its wake. Islamic states took advantage of this weakness and easily conquered continental Europe. Despite several invasions of the British Isles and Scandinavia, those regions remained Christian and have until the present day. The Pope was forced to flee to England, where he was gifted Canterbury as his personal domain. The Papacy has retained close ties to the monarchy to the present day (there have been no non-English Popes since 1750!)

Under the Ming, China began the Time of Expansion. After conquering Vietnam, its armies were hurled against Japan. Unfortunately, storms pushed the army off course, and ethnically Burmese Admiral Kheim with what remained of his fleet discovered the continent referred to as Yingzhou. The gunpowder-armed armies of China threw aside native resistance to its encroachment.

And so, the centuries passed. China continued its dominance of the Pacific and western coast of Yingzhou. As time passed, news of the new continent spread west, reaching the Christian and Muslim states of the Atlantic. In search of gold, they set sail and founded their own colonies. In response to this encroachment from west and east, and aided by a band of Japanese exiles, the peoples of Yingzhou began to unite under the banner of the Haudenosaunee League.

During the late 18th century, the rulers of Venad in southern India modernized their armies and encouraged scientific advancement in their realm. Ruler from 1809 to 1838, Devadaram Vira Kerala Varma VI was the most brilliant and ambitious of all the Venadi maharajas. He dreamt of the unification of all India. His well-trained armies subdued their neighbors, forging a grand alliance of Hindu states intent on pushing Islam from the subcontinent. The largest army seen in Indian history marched into the then-powerful Karzid Sultanate. Delhi was sacked and the Indians marched all the way to the Sultanates western frontier near Tehran. Devadaram VI’s supply lines were at the limit and his generals forced him to retreat back across the Indus. The conqueror-king was struck down by illness just two years later, having made no other major conquests. In his wake, the Karzid Sultanate splintered while his successor took steps to realize his dream of a unified India. The states closest to Venad were integrated into the Indian Federation while the League of Kollam was established to unite all Indian states. Despite the League’s best efforts, much of the old Karzid Sultanate was annexed into the new Pashtun Empire. Through fearmongering and a not-insignificant amount of coercion, other Hindu and Buddhist states (like Siam) and former colonies joined the League. The League is intent on pushing the Muslims back across the Indus for good and is willing to fight alongside any power that will help with that goal.

In Europe, the Pope in Canterbury is as powerful as ever. Bolstered by new communications technology, his message of Crusade against Islamic Europe is broadcast further than ever before (even into Islamic Europe, where it is rumored there are revolutionary cells ready to rise up and liberate their continent) Though several other Catholic states exist, the Church, and by extent, England dominate them. Though Papal doctrine proclaims all non-Catholics as the enemy, an alliance of convenience has been formed between the Catholic world and the Haudenosaunee. Whether this alliance will endure is a valid question.

China is currently under the Hai dynasty. Originally from southern China, they threw out the previous dynasty after a series of disastrous colonial wars lost because of overextension. The newcomers took the name Hai, meaning “return to a place” – the place in question being one of isolation. However, recent Hai Emperors have been as expansionist as their Ming predecessors.

The present is the Year of Our Lord Nineteen-hundred and fifteen. The world is, generally, in a state of peace but religious disputes that grow every year make academicians the world over predict global war before 1915 is out.