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Description

Into Germania:

In this world a change of judgement leads to Varus gaining a modicum of paranoia about Arminius and not giving away the marching of his positions. The Roman are able to return to their fortress in Teutoburger and successfully repel the Germanic tribes in the region. With local resistance confirmed but repelled, the Romans reinforce their expeditionary forces and continue into Germania.

The Romans do make considerable progress in Germania, recruiting local mercenaries to help adapt to the local environment and exploiting the divisions between the tribes like they had in Gaul. Unfortunately the empire was over-stretching itself and the lack of natural defensive barriers forced them to commit more soldiers to securing territory. In several cases they had to accept merely setting up local puppet tribes rather than directly annexing the people of the German interior.

At the same time the Roman conquest displaces many German tribes, forcing them east and north and causing havoc in Eastern Europe.

Despite their difficulties in Germania, the lack of a Teutoburger disaster does give future Roman emperors the confidence to continue expanding the empire. Expeditions into Dacia, Armenia and further portions of Germania do take place and, at times, do make stable gains. However, as corruption, internal strife and crises of succession take place, the Roman Empire finds itself even more over-stretched than OTL.

The Roman Empire still does collapse but the tribes that migrate into Western Europe are a somewhat different cast who end up in different areas. What's more a larger Latin sphere manages to survive with direct Roman influence extending along western Gaul as well as the Mediterranean Basin. The Roman Empire also has several surviving successors in Anatolia and Africa (the Empire was divided but it was in different ways).

By 2016 the Roman Empire has gone through several incarnations over the centuries.

The current Roman Empire tried to reunite the Latin world in the 20th Century and made a lot of progress, conquering much of Europe and North Africa and seizing numerous colonies from their conquered enemies. The Roman Empire is officially a traditional absolute monarchy but has mostly reformed into an oligarchic state where a combination of the army and the bureaucracy hold most of the power. The Roman Empire's rise to power in the region is relatively recent. An ideology that developed in the 19th Century known as olympanism, took control of the government in the middle of the 20th Century.

Olympanism is an ideology developed from revisionist perspectives on the Roman Empire and its politics. It advocates militancy, overt imperial ism, suppression of demokratic and subversive ideals and worship of the emperor. While there is a cult of personality dedicated to the emperor of Rome, the current system works to obfuscate his ability to actually use his power.

The Roman Empire is a modernised state with a classical aesthetic. Neo-classical architecture has been popular since the middle of the 20th Century and many of empire's prominent cities have been radically redesigned. Rome is once again the envy of the world thanks to radical reconstruction, the restoration and modernisation of famous monuments and an entire class of slaves devoted to keeping the better parts of the cities meticulously clean and tidy. The Romans have revived the empire's ancient class system as well. Non-Latin peoples who were conquered or annexed in the Great War have been relegated to second-class citizenship status that can only be upgraded through military service or some kind of similar work.

The Empire used to be based in Carthage but has since returned the capital to the redesigned Rome. However their African ancestry is still obvious as their version of Latin still incorporates a lot of Berber and even some Arabic from the short time the Arabs ruled the region. The olympan government also revived a form of the classical Roman religion and have begun a campaign of prosecution against the other religions in their territories, especially the popular Mithraist and Christian faiths. The success of this campaign is very limited and has often led to bizarre reinterpretations of the revived faith (ironically using features and systems from Mithraism and Christianity).

Rome's closest ally is the Empire of Tarsus, a former contender for the title of Roman Empire that gave it up after their alliance with the Roman Empire.

Also known as the Syrian Empire, the Empire of Tarsus was given the opportunities to expand that it was looking for and has claimed descent from the Alexandrian Empire instead. They too have embraced olympanism though their version has since shifted its focus away from militancy and closer towards the neo-classicalism that is now attached to it. They too are an oligarchic state with a supposedly absolute monarchy. However, their emperor has been able to hold onto more power than his Roman counterpart and has even managed to implement a few reforms that are annoying the Romans for their demokratic connotations.

The Syrian Empire is a Greek speaking state which has made their relationship with the Romans somewhat less awkward than initial estimates would suggest. Like the Romans they have set up a class system that does allow non-Greeks to be assimilated. It is also much less rigid than the Roman version though they have issues with accepting groups like the Persians in their eastern territories. Settlement and educational programs are being used to try to culturally convert as much of the population as possible. Unlike Rome they haven't bothered trying to revive classical faiths and have continued to slowly turn more Christian as time goes by. Their denomination is strictly nationalised though and they tend to have little problem with their allies persecuting other members of their faith.

The last of Rome's allies is the extensive Empire of Allemannia. The Allemanns were a German tribe who initially settled in Gaul and were then displaced again and forced north to the British Isles where they conquered the Jutes and Geats that had already settled there.

The Allemanns aren't exactly an olympan government, still being very militant and oligarchic but not as overtly absolutist and pursuing a more mercantile form of imperialism. The Allemanns, one of the more archaic great powers at the beginning of the 20th Century, modernised very quickly under a series of more visionary kings and noble lords. They are now a fully modernised nation though they do still retain a lot of their more old-fashioned aesthetics and traditions. The king doesn't have much actual authority anymore, the noble lords and richer commoners holding most of the power. Royal companies, who are responsible for the majority of their overseas expansion, also have significant political influence.

The Allemann empire overseas is a combination of settled territories and indigenous puppets. Through the exploits of the royal companies, the Allemanns have primarily preferred to set up networks of collaborative governments amongst the local kingdoms. There has been a lot of centralisation as the companies became involved in the government but for the most part the local states either run themselves or have considerable amounts of autonomy. The Allemanns have expanded rapidly at the expense of the victims of the Romans and changed some of their policies as they have taken control of more traditional colonial territories.

Allemannia has set up a class system amongst the people of their hegemonic empire. They favour most of the older nations they have dealt with and brought close into their orbit. Many of the new or more dissenting nations tend to receive more overt intervention, often suffering from occupation of territory, restrictions on unregulated movement and forcible control of markets. The Allemanns have also abolished chattel slavery in their empire though other forms of indentured servitude do still exist.

Despite the rise of the Olympan League there are some nations, isolated from the conflict of the Great War, who have organised against them.

The Republic of Kuamarya is one of the more prominent members. Conquered by the Empire of Hispania, the state was named for a mispronunciation for one of the regional states that existed before the conquest. Initially a more traditional monarchy, the break-away state succumbed to demokratic revolution in the late 19th Century. Still a very Amerindian nation, the Kuamaryans have retained a lot of indigenous culture including a heliocentric faith derived from traditional beliefs.

Despite attempts to popularise the indigenous language, the official Kuamaryan language is still largely Latin with some Quecha additions. The old creole upper class and the descendants of the integrated indigenous elite continue to dominate much of the society but the modernisation of the nation has led to the rise of the middle class. Kuamaryan demokratia is more moderate than the other major demokratic states around the world due to the local elite's participation in the revolution and the retention of much of the existing class system. Racial tensions are also a major issue as the creole upper class still hold most of the power and the working class are largely composed of Amerindians.

The Long War with the Olympan League has led to some changes in Kuamarya. Despite already being a developed nation, they have undergone serious redevelopment programs to expand their economic capabilities. There was also an intense reinforcement of public security that even led to witch-hunts, primarily against people of overtly Latin descent. However this paranoia died down decades ago though the state security apparatus is still very extensive. Kuamarya has also built a substantial social security network in place to support the citizenry and immigrants. This has been enticing for refugees who have fled from the Olympan League.

The other major demokratic nation is the Union of Turkomann. Formed from a powerful continental empire, the Turkomann were born in one of the more destructive revolutions. After overthrowing their monarchy, the radical new government that took over went on to aggressively complete the industrialisation program that was already under-way before revolution broke out.

Turkomann is a much more restrictive and repressive nation than its Kuamaryan rival. Their direct proximity to the Olympan states and their more radical history led to a more authoritarian element of the government coming to prominence. The government does hold elections but the National Demokratic Party wins all the time, their rival parties usually being slandered, restricted or arrested prior to every election. They do, however, still support a social security network even more extensive than Kuamarya, ensuing the citizens have a consistent standard of living. At the same time the state security apparatus is also much larger as well. The secret police are a major political power and have agents and surveillance equipment everywhere.

The Turkomann continue the old empire's policies of racial integration. The legal system is also an evolution of the old and draconian laws that existed before the revolution. Despite the Party's best efforts the army has managed to gain a massive amount of influence that has begun to come at their expense. Though the various major factions of the government do vie for power and authority, fear of the olympan states keeps things relatively stable. A pan-national identity has finally begun to take shape as government efforts to dismantle overt regional identities and religions has begun to have real results with the current generation.

Though there are some neutral states, the majority of the world has now become largely divided between the ideologies of olympanism and demokratia and the other nations allied with these major ideological powers.

Despite being a more authoritarian world the continued Cold War situation has put technological development at about the same level as OTL. Computer technology is more restricted due to paranoia over political and social espionage and the tendency of the olympan states to censor their networks. The internet equivalent is actually a divided system with both major powers maintaining their own communication and information networks. Biology is, surprisingly, a more developed field than OTL. Genetic modification can't yet produce designer babies (or at least the technology hasn't been publicly released) but modified crops have been released to counteract climate change. Robotics are also being explored and some interesting results have begun to emerge.

There was a space race between the two power blocs that the Romans ultimately won. The fact that man could walk on other celestial bodies did cause some turbulence amongst the adherents of the revived pagan faiths but it never really got out of hand and quickly quieted down. There have been weapons platforms in orbit for decades now, a development that only led to the escalation of the Long War.

Description

Into Germania:

In this world a change of judgement leads to Varus gaining a modicum of paranoia about Arminius and not giving away the marching of his positions. The Roman are able to return to their fortress in Teutoburger and successfully repel the Germanic tribes in the region. With local resistance confirmed but repelled, the Romans reinforce their expeditionary forces and continue into Germania.

The Romans do make considerable progress in Germania, recruiting local mercenaries to help adapt to the local environment and exploiting the divisions between the tribes like they had in Gaul. Unfortunately the empire was over-stretching itself and the lack of natural defensive barriers forced them to commit more soldiers to securing territory. In several cases they had to accept merely setting up local puppet tribes rather than directly annexing the people of the German interior.

At the same time the Roman conquest displaces many German tribes, forcing them east and north and causing havoc in Eastern Europe.

Despite their difficulties in Germania, the lack of a Teutoburger disaster does give future Roman emperors the confidence to continue expanding the empire. Expeditions into Dacia, Armenia and further portions of Germania do take place and, at times, do make stable gains. However, as corruption, internal strife and crises of succession take place, the Roman Empire finds itself even more over-stretched than OTL.

The Roman Empire still does collapse but the tribes that migrate into Western Europe are a somewhat different cast who end up in different areas. What's more a larger Latin sphere manages to survive with direct Roman influence extending along western Gaul as well as the Mediterranean Basin. The Roman Empire also has several surviving successors in Anatolia and Africa (the Empire was divided but it was in different ways).

By 2016 the Roman Empire has gone through several incarnations over the centuries.

The current Roman Empire tried to reunite the Latin world in the 20th Century and made a lot of progress, conquering much of Europe and North Africa and seizing numerous colonies from their conquered enemies. The Roman Empire is officially a traditional absolute monarchy but has mostly reformed into an oligarchic state where a combination of the army and the bureaucracy hold most of the power. The Roman Empire's rise to power in the region is relatively recent. An ideology that developed in the 19th Century known as olympanism, took control of the government in the middle of the 20th Century.

Olympanism is an ideology developed from revisionist perspectives on the Roman Empire and its politics. It advocates militancy, overt imperial ism, suppression of demokratic and subversive ideals and worship of the emperor. While there is a cult of personality dedicated to the emperor of Rome, the current system works to obfuscate his ability to actually use his power.

The Roman Empire is a modernised state with a classical aesthetic. Neo-classical architecture has been popular since the middle of the 20th Century and many of empire's prominent cities have been radically redesigned. Rome is once again the envy of the world thanks to radical reconstruction, the restoration and modernisation of famous monuments and an entire class of slaves devoted to keeping the better parts of the cities meticulously clean and tidy. The Romans have revived the empire's ancient class system as well. Non-Latin peoples who were conquered or annexed in the Great War have been relegated to second-class citizenship status that can only be upgraded through military service or some kind of similar work.

The Empire used to be based in Carthage but has since returned the capital to the redesigned Rome. However their African ancestry is still obvious as their version of Latin still incorporates a lot of Berber and even some Arabic from the short time the Arabs ruled the region. The olympan government also revived a form of the classical Roman religion and have begun a campaign of prosecution against the other religions in their territories, especially the popular Mithraist and Christian faiths. The success of this campaign is very limited and has often led to bizarre reinterpretations of the revived faith (ironically using features and systems from Mithraism and Christianity).

Rome's closest ally is the Empire of Tarsus, a former contender for the title of Roman Empire that gave it up after their alliance with the Roman Empire.

Also known as the Syrian Empire, the Empire of Tarsus was given the opportunities to expand that it was looking for and has claimed descent from the Alexandrian Empire instead. They too have embraced olympanism though their version has since shifted its focus away from militancy and closer towards the neo-classicalism that is now attached to it. They too are an oligarchic state with a supposedly absolute monarchy. However, their emperor has been able to hold onto more power than his Roman counterpart and has even managed to implement a few reforms that are annoying the Romans for their demokratic connotations.

The Syrian Empire is a Greek speaking state which has made their relationship with the Romans somewhat less awkward than initial estimates would suggest. Like the Romans they have set up a class system that does allow non-Greeks to be assimilated. It is also much less rigid than the Roman version though they have issues with accepting groups like the Persians in their eastern territories. Settlement and educational programs are being used to try to culturally convert as much of the population as possible. Unlike Rome they haven't bothered trying to revive classical faiths and have continued to slowly turn more Christian as time goes by. Their denomination is strictly nationalised though and they tend to have little problem with their allies persecuting other members of their faith.

The last of Rome's allies is the extensive Empire of Allemannia. The Allemanns were a German tribe who initially settled in Gaul and were then displaced again and forced north to the British Isles where they conquered the Jutes and Geats that had already settled there.

The Allemanns aren't exactly an olympan government, still being very militant and oligarchic but not as overtly absolutist and pursuing a more mercantile form of imperialism. The Allemanns, one of the more archaic great powers at the beginning of the 20th Century, modernised very quickly under a series of more visionary kings and noble lords. They are now a fully modernised nation though they do still retain a lot of their more old-fashioned aesthetics and traditions. The king doesn't have much actual authority anymore, the noble lords and richer commoners holding most of the power. Royal companies, who are responsible for the majority of their overseas expansion, also have significant political influence.

The Allemann empire overseas is a combination of settled territories and indigenous puppets. Through the exploits of the royal companies, the Allemanns have primarily preferred to set up networks of collaborative governments amongst the local kingdoms. There has been a lot of centralisation as the companies became involved in the government but for the most part the local states either run themselves or have considerable amounts of autonomy. The Allemanns have expanded rapidly at the expense of the victims of the Romans and changed some of their policies as they have taken control of more traditional colonial territories.

Allemannia has set up a class system amongst the people of their hegemonic empire. They favour most of the older nations they have dealt with and brought close into their orbit. Many of the new or more dissenting nations tend to receive more overt intervention, often suffering from occupation of territory, restrictions on unregulated movement and forcible control of markets. The Allemanns have also abolished chattel slavery in their empire though other forms of indentured servitude do still exist.

Despite the rise of the Olympan League there are some nations, isolated from the conflict of the Great War, who have organised against them.

The Republic of Kuamarya is one of the more prominent members. Conquered by the Empire of Hispania, the state was named for a mispronunciation for one of the regional states that existed before the conquest. Initially a more traditional monarchy, the break-away state succumbed to demokratic revolution in the late 19th Century. Still a very Amerindian nation, the Kuamaryans have retained a lot of indigenous culture including a heliocentric faith derived from traditional beliefs.

Despite attempts to popularise the indigenous language, the official Kuamaryan language is still largely Latin with some Quecha additions. The old creole upper class and the descendants of the integrated indigenous elite continue to dominate much of the society but the modernisation of the nation has led to the rise of the middle class. Kuamaryan demokratia is more moderate than the other major demokratic states around the world due to the local elite's participation in the revolution and the retention of much of the existing class system. Racial tensions are also a major issue as the creole upper class still hold most of the power and the working class are largely composed of Amerindians.

The Long War with the Olympan League has led to some changes in Kuamarya. Despite already being a developed nation, they have undergone serious redevelopment programs to expand their economic capabilities. There was also an intense reinforcement of public security that even led to witch-hunts, primarily against people of overtly Latin descent. However this paranoia died down decades ago though the state security apparatus is still very extensive. Kuamarya has also built a substantial social security network in place to support the citizenry and immigrants. This has been enticing for refugees who have fled from the Olympan League.

The other major demokratic nation is the Union of Turkomann. Formed from a powerful continental empire, the Turkomann were born in one of the more destructive revolutions. After overthrowing their monarchy, the radical new government that took over went on to aggressively complete the industrialisation program that was already under-way before revolution broke out.

Turkomann is a much more restrictive and repressive nation than its Kuamaryan rival. Their direct proximity to the Olympan states and their more radical history led to a more authoritarian element of the government coming to prominence. The government does hold elections but the National Demokratic Party wins all the time, their rival parties usually being slandered, restricted or arrested prior to every election. They do, however, still support a social security network even more extensive than Kuamarya, ensuing the citizens have a consistent standard of living. At the same time the state security apparatus is also much larger as well. The secret police are a major political power and have agents and surveillance equipment everywhere.

The Turkomann continue the old empire's policies of racial integration. The legal system is also an evolution of the old and draconian laws that existed before the revolution. Despite the Party's best efforts the army has managed to gain a massive amount of influence that has begun to come at their expense. Though the various major factions of the government do vie for power and authority, fear of the olympan states keeps things relatively stable. A pan-national identity has finally begun to take shape as government efforts to dismantle overt regional identities and religions has begun to have real results with the current generation.

Though there are some neutral states, the majority of the world has now become largely divided between the ideologies of olympanism and demokratia and the other nations allied with these major ideological powers.

Despite being a more authoritarian world the continued Cold War situation has put technological development at about the same level as OTL. Computer technology is more restricted due to paranoia over political and social espionage and the tendency of the olympan states to censor their networks. The internet equivalent is actually a divided system with both major powers maintaining their own communication and information networks. Biology is, surprisingly, a more developed field than OTL. Genetic modification can't yet produce designer babies (or at least the technology hasn't been publicly released) but modified crops have been released to counteract climate change. Robotics are also being explored and some interesting results have begun to emerge.

There was a space race between the two power blocs that the Romans ultimately won. The fact that man could walk on other celestial bodies did cause some turbulence amongst the adherents of the revived pagan faiths but it never really got out of hand and quickly quieted down. There have been weapons platforms in orbit for decades now, a development that only led to the escalation of the Long War.