HOME | DD

Description
Seek God In The West:
A request by Void-Wolf. A few minor changes in Britain in the 17th Century lead to the Quakers emigrating from England earlier and in larger numbers. This allows them to make a somewhat greater impact on the slowly expanding British colonies in the America's. Though they don't have much of an overt impact at first they do slowly start to make their presence felt and successfully convert a lot of people.

Despite the obvious rough start they have, the influence of the Quakers starts to change colonial perceptions of the neighbouring Amerindians, or at least those with societies too well organised to easily slaughter and remove. Whilst not all people follow the ideals of the Quakers the cultural weight they add to the issue does lead to the local governments creating and honouring several treaties with the Amerindian nations on their western border. In the north, where the Puritan evangelists still dominate, things were not as pleasant.

Like OTL Britain had a lot of luck when it came to fighting it's enemies for colonial territory in the 18th Century and managed to successfully steal French North America and India from them. Also like in OTL, they managed to mismanage their colonies when the time came to reorganise their empire to accommodate the new territories and the costs incurred in policing them. Rebellion broke out and after a long and arduous back-and-forth war the British gave up and agreed to let the rebelling colonies secede. After going through their own period of intense reorganisation the new nation was born and christened the United States of America.

From the very beginning the USA was different from OTL. The Quakers instilled a far more passive and cooperative streak in American culture which affected their politics. Still the ideas of free enterprise and frontier expansionism couldn't be stopped and the US still annexed territory to its west, it was just not as aggressive or rapid.

By 2014 the United States is a very different nation compared to OTL. For starters the slower and less aggressive expansion have left it smaller. Though the British had more success in pressing their claims to territory the Americans had more luck against the Mexicans who broke away under a shaky government when the French invaded Spain. They may have failed to gain California but the USA has enough strength and substance to be a major regional player. US foreign policy is explicitly isolationist and concerns itself only with trade and acting as an impartial third party for any international issues. The American military is much smaller than OTL but they do have a modest ability to project their military power in North America and the North Atlantic. The army is mostly used for defensive purposes and is well equipped enough to deter opportunists from both sides of the Cold War.

American internal politics are based around a multi-party democracy but only two parties have any real chance of getting elected. In fact third and fourth option parties are considered a joke by most of the population (usually those who vote for either of the two major parties). The conservative party is fairly religious though this involves continuing strict isolationism and non-interventionism. The more religious affiliates of the conservatives are mostly descended from politicised groups of the Quakers and do encourage conservative politicians to foster more peaceful relations with foreign powers and remain neutral in international politics. The liberal parties are far more focused on progressive reform. Their biggest concern is the implementation of more interventionist policies that will get the US more involved in the affairs of other nations. Whilst hardly less religious than the conservatives they prefer to leave their own faiths out of most political matters. American society on the whole is more conservative than OTL, at least in regards to matters such as religions significance in the community and family matters. Whilst they do show obvious preference for Christian denominations, they do have a high degree of religious tolerance and have happily encouraged immigration in the past, though mostly of white people.

Thanks to greater Quaker influence the USA abolished slavery much earlier, at about the 1840s. Discriminatory laws were still developed but a Civil Rights Movement fortunately developed as well. Black Americans have the same legal rights as OTL. These initiatives were made somewhat easier by the fact that an attempted “back to Africa” movement was much more well funded and successful. America has also offered a lot of aid to many post-communist states in Africa.

Overseas things managed to go much as OTL with an Enlightenment of sorts, an Industrial Revolution in Britain and colonialism. France, which avoided the same kinds of revolution as OTL, feuded with Britain for territory and prominence. Disputes over colonial claims and the formation of alliance systems would eventually lead to a 'World War' breaking out in the early 20th Century. In the first of these conflicts the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russians faced off against the British, Prussians, Austrians and Ottomans. The 'Second World War' saw an autocratic and very angry France try to recover their former status and gain greater power as well. They also got help from many of the losers of the previous war as well as other groups like the Arabs. They lost as well but the impacts of the war were undeniable.

The Prussians, who were practically dominated by nationalist groups by the 20th Century, tried to use their victory in the First World War to allow them to unite the Holy Roman Empire. However the Austrians opposed these ideas which just upset them. This, combined with war damages led to even more radicals developing. In the Second World War, most of the German states were conquered by the French and it was socialist partisan groups that were responsible for ousting the French in the latter days of the war. Germany fell to socialism altogether after that and overran other states like Prussia and the Netherlands as well.

The Socialist Republic of Germany is one of the leaders of the Danzig Pact. As one of the primary founders and a powerful socialist nation, they hold a position of primacy that only the Russians match. Officially they are supposed to be equal with all other nations in the Pact but their economic and military strength gives them power over most other states. Like the rest of the Pact they have experienced economic decline in the past few decades leading up to the 2010s and have been forced to go through a number of economic reforms in order to save their economy and arrest the decline. Small scale capitalism is now allowed, as long as it is only with surplus, in order to encourage small businesses. However the controls on media and communication are still incredibly strict. This has left most German culture incredibly dull and repetitive, with only government approved messages being broadcast. Pirate radios stations and interlink networks do provide contraband messages and have mostly learnt to avoid the regular government crackdowns.

Russia turned to 'fascist' government after the First World War which collapsed into a socialist one after they lost in the Second World War. Socialist Russia is a leviathan, far more inefficient than their German 'partner', but capable of matching them in terms of power through sheer volume and brutality. Socialist Russia is also undergoing several reforms, the current premier being a bit of a magnificent bastard. However said premier does have his hands full trying to manipulate his incredibly corrupt government into becoming what he wants, whilst quietly purging the worst elements. Russian industry is still horribly inefficient but the new government measures are forcing them to improve their standards somewhat. Russia's power is most evident in it's army. They maintain the largest standing military in the Pact (a bit of an accomplishment but other states can easily conscript larger forces if they need to) but they tend to use it to police the Pact these days.

The Danzig Pact managed to hold itself together for the majority of the Cold War. However with the near collapse of the Danzig Pact's collective economy they have been forced to reduce their size. Most of the liabilities within the Pact have been dropped whilst the move to reform has led to a lot of irate fundamentalists seceding. A large number of former communist states have tried to retain their governments. Some have been overthrown and replaced with different kinds of regimes whilst others have become even more repressive and isolationist, shutting themselves out of the world in order to prevent foreign disruption of the delicate orders they're trying to maintain.

Britain is the leader of the opposition against the Danzig Pact. Britain still had the Restoration and even today is a fairly stable constitutional monarch. A different set of rulers has allowed the Stuarts to survive to this day as the monarchs of Britain and a few more canny kings and queens have even managed to preserve some of their traditional power (however they aren't really allowed to use it). Britain built an empire much like OTL but the story of its creation and expansion was very different. Their loss in the American War of Independence was a blow to national pride that was only recovered by their expansion elsewhere. Today the British have been forced to decolonise the more unproductive or unruly portions of their empire and grant equal status with the rest. The British Imperial Union stays together largely out of a “stand together or hang separately” mentality. Economic interdependence and a combined military also ensure unity between the various member states. The king of England is the head of state and does have a fair amount of influence but the Union parliament handles most matters.

The members of the Union are technically equal but there are obviously some that have more influence within the Union than others. Canada, which was Britain's jewel in the crown for a long time, is one of the lead members of the Union and actively rivals Britain in terms of economic productivity. They have a problem with Quebecese separatism and occasionally worry over whether the Amerindian provinces will try to secede as well. British Africa, whilst still below Britain and the 'white states' in terms of standard of living, is already an economically significant portion of the Union.

Austria is the Alliance's strongest foothold in Europe. Though they were unable to sustain hegemony in Germany the Hapsburgs were still incredibly successful and made gains elsewhere in Italy, Poland and the Balkans. Today the Austrian Empire is a constitutional monarchy (of the 'monarch still has all of their power but needs the Diet's permission to actually exercise it variety) and has undergone intense federalisation in order to survive. Austria's internal politics are complex enough to warrant various distinct tiers of government to handle the various cultural, regional and political privileges that each political subdivision has been granted. Despite this the fear of invasion by the Pact has created some social and political conformity and orthodoxy. Austria is rather conservative and religious at the same time they do promote religious tolerance and have several official languages though German is considered the language of business and politics within the Empire.

The Ottoman Empire, which was lucky enough to get a few more visionary rulers, was able to successfully modernise itself, though not losing their European territories. The Ottoman Empire's fortunes changed even further when oil dependent industries grew to prominence. As the keeper of many of the Middle East's oil fields they have successfully modernised their nation to a level of equivalence with Britain and Austria.

The other members for the Alliance of Order are all capitalist and democratic nations. Though conservatism is rather prominent in the politics of the Alliance as a whole, they are not that repressive and do support welfare programs. The Alliance has also made efforts to court several of the former socialist states to their side by providing humanitarian aid. Religion, usually Christianity, is very important to the nations of the Alliance and often impacts political decision making on the national and supranational level. Most international organisations are religious or supported by religious organisations which means that aid programs are usually accompanied by missionaries. Despite their best efforts the Alliance still has its fair share of autocratic members that are too deeply entwined with their politics to be easily abandoned.

Technologically this world is at about the same level as OTL. The past two worlds wars and the Cold War helped accelerate technological development. Nuclear weapons were developed shortly before the end of the Second World War and were used to finish the fighting in Europe (the Northern French decided not to move the government back to Paris and have stayed in Orleans). The major powers have in fact been very strict when it comes to the distribution of nuclear weapons. There is no global internet but both blocs have their own regional communication and information networks. The Alliance has recently expanded their own interlink to encompass most neutral states like the USA. Both systems are rather closely watched and subjected to censorship in certain ways. The Danzig Pact is usually more likely to perform mass censorship campaigns on their own interlink though. The spread of socialism and the introduction to neo-imperialist ideas led to a greater attempt to industrialise Africa and Asia. Scientific racism was not developed but cultural racism persisted and led to the development of a recognisable form of imperialism and 'White Man's Burden'. Though these particular ideas have been dropped by most of the world it was what enforced the idea that the European nations on both sides of the Cold War were responsible for uplifting the rest of the world.

Though it was only discovered in recent years, climate change and pollution are now globally recognised problems (less so in the Pact) that several international initiatives have been created to combat. Renewable energy is receiving a few large programs in several nations and new taxes are being placed on carbon emissions. However many nations that are still developing are protesting these expensive measures.

Description
Seek God In The West:
A request by Void-Wolf. A few minor changes in Britain in the 17th Century lead to the Quakers emigrating from England earlier and in larger numbers. This allows them to make a somewhat greater impact on the slowly expanding British colonies in the America's. Though they don't have much of an overt impact at first they do slowly start to make their presence felt and successfully convert a lot of people.

Despite the obvious rough start they have, the influence of the Quakers starts to change colonial perceptions of the neighbouring Amerindians, or at least those with societies too well organised to easily slaughter and remove. Whilst not all people follow the ideals of the Quakers the cultural weight they add to the issue does lead to the local governments creating and honouring several treaties with the Amerindian nations on their western border. In the north, where the Puritan evangelists still dominate, things were not as pleasant.

Like OTL Britain had a lot of luck when it came to fighting it's enemies for colonial territory in the 18th Century and managed to successfully steal French North America and India from them. Also like in OTL, they managed to mismanage their colonies when the time came to reorganise their empire to accommodate the new territories and the costs incurred in policing them. Rebellion broke out and after a long and arduous back-and-forth war the British gave up and agreed to let the rebelling colonies secede. After going through their own period of intense reorganisation the new nation was born and christened the United States of America.

From the very beginning the USA was different from OTL. The Quakers instilled a far more passive and cooperative streak in American culture which affected their politics. Still the ideas of free enterprise and frontier expansionism couldn't be stopped and the US still annexed territory to its west, it was just not as aggressive or rapid.

By 2014 the United States is a very different nation compared to OTL. For starters the slower and less aggressive expansion have left it smaller. Though the British had more success in pressing their claims to territory the Americans had more luck against the Mexicans who broke away under a shaky government when the French invaded Spain. They may have failed to gain California but the USA has enough strength and substance to be a major regional player. US foreign policy is explicitly isolationist and concerns itself only with trade and acting as an impartial third party for any international issues. The American military is much smaller than OTL but they do have a modest ability to project their military power in North America and the North Atlantic. The army is mostly used for defensive purposes and is well equipped enough to deter opportunists from both sides of the Cold War.

American internal politics are based around a multi-party democracy but only two parties have any real chance of getting elected. In fact third and fourth option parties are considered a joke by most of the population (usually those who vote for either of the two major parties). The conservative party is fairly religious though this involves continuing strict isolationism and non-interventionism. The more religious affiliates of the conservatives are mostly descended from politicised groups of the Quakers and do encourage conservative politicians to foster more peaceful relations with foreign powers and remain neutral in international politics. The liberal parties are far more focused on progressive reform. Their biggest concern is the implementation of more interventionist policies that will get the US more involved in the affairs of other nations. Whilst hardly less religious than the conservatives they prefer to leave their own faiths out of most political matters. American society on the whole is more conservative than OTL, at least in regards to matters such as religions significance in the community and family matters. Whilst they do show obvious preference for Christian denominations, they do have a high degree of religious tolerance and have happily encouraged immigration in the past, though mostly of white people.

Thanks to greater Quaker influence the USA abolished slavery much earlier, at about the 1840s. Discriminatory laws were still developed but a Civil Rights Movement fortunately developed as well. Black Americans have the same legal rights as OTL. These initiatives were made somewhat easier by the fact that an attempted “back to Africa” movement was much more well funded and successful. America has also offered a lot of aid to many post-communist states in Africa.

Overseas things managed to go much as OTL with an Enlightenment of sorts, an Industrial Revolution in Britain and colonialism. France, which avoided the same kinds of revolution as OTL, feuded with Britain for territory and prominence. Disputes over colonial claims and the formation of alliance systems would eventually lead to a 'World War' breaking out in the early 20th Century. In the first of these conflicts the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russians faced off against the British, Prussians, Austrians and Ottomans. The 'Second World War' saw an autocratic and very angry France try to recover their former status and gain greater power as well. They also got help from many of the losers of the previous war as well as other groups like the Arabs. They lost as well but the impacts of the war were undeniable.

The Prussians, who were practically dominated by nationalist groups by the 20th Century, tried to use their victory in the First World War to allow them to unite the Holy Roman Empire. However the Austrians opposed these ideas which just upset them. This, combined with war damages led to even more radicals developing. In the Second World War, most of the German states were conquered by the French and it was socialist partisan groups that were responsible for ousting the French in the latter days of the war. Germany fell to socialism altogether after that and overran other states like Prussia and the Netherlands as well.

The Socialist Republic of Germany is one of the leaders of the Danzig Pact. As one of the primary founders and a powerful socialist nation, they hold a position of primacy that only the Russians match. Officially they are supposed to be equal with all other nations in the Pact but their economic and military strength gives them power over most other states. Like the rest of the Pact they have experienced economic decline in the past few decades leading up to the 2010s and have been forced to go through a number of economic reforms in order to save their economy and arrest the decline. Small scale capitalism is now allowed, as long as it is only with surplus, in order to encourage small businesses. However the controls on media and communication are still incredibly strict. This has left most German culture incredibly dull and repetitive, with only government approved messages being broadcast. Pirate radios stations and interlink networks do provide contraband messages and have mostly learnt to avoid the regular government crackdowns.

Russia turned to 'fascist' government after the First World War which collapsed into a socialist one after they lost in the Second World War. Socialist Russia is a leviathan, far more inefficient than their German 'partner', but capable of matching them in terms of power through sheer volume and brutality. Socialist Russia is also undergoing several reforms, the current premier being a bit of a magnificent bastard. However said premier does have his hands full trying to manipulate his incredibly corrupt government into becoming what he wants, whilst quietly purging the worst elements. Russian industry is still horribly inefficient but the new government measures are forcing them to improve their standards somewhat. Russia's power is most evident in it's army. They maintain the largest standing military in the Pact (a bit of an accomplishment but other states can easily conscript larger forces if they need to) but they tend to use it to police the Pact these days.

The Danzig Pact managed to hold itself together for the majority of the Cold War. However with the near collapse of the Danzig Pact's collective economy they have been forced to reduce their size. Most of the liabilities within the Pact have been dropped whilst the move to reform has led to a lot of irate fundamentalists seceding. A large number of former communist states have tried to retain their governments. Some have been overthrown and replaced with different kinds of regimes whilst others have become even more repressive and isolationist, shutting themselves out of the world in order to prevent foreign disruption of the delicate orders they're trying to maintain.

Britain is the leader of the opposition against the Danzig Pact. Britain still had the Restoration and even today is a fairly stable constitutional monarch. A different set of rulers has allowed the Stuarts to survive to this day as the monarchs of Britain and a few more canny kings and queens have even managed to preserve some of their traditional power (however they aren't really allowed to use it). Britain built an empire much like OTL but the story of its creation and expansion was very different. Their loss in the American War of Independence was a blow to national pride that was only recovered by their expansion elsewhere. Today the British have been forced to decolonise the more unproductive or unruly portions of their empire and grant equal status with the rest. The British Imperial Union stays together largely out of a “stand together or hang separately” mentality. Economic interdependence and a combined military also ensure unity between the various member states. The king of England is the head of state and does have a fair amount of influence but the Union parliament handles most matters.

The members of the Union are technically equal but there are obviously some that have more influence within the Union than others. Canada, which was Britain's jewel in the crown for a long time, is one of the lead members of the Union and actively rivals Britain in terms of economic productivity. They have a problem with Quebecese separatism and occasionally worry over whether the Amerindian provinces will try to secede as well. British Africa, whilst still below Britain and the 'white states' in terms of standard of living, is already an economically significant portion of the Union.

Austria is the Alliance's strongest foothold in Europe. Though they were unable to sustain hegemony in Germany the Hapsburgs were still incredibly successful and made gains elsewhere in Italy, Poland and the Balkans. Today the Austrian Empire is a constitutional monarchy (of the 'monarch still has all of their power but needs the Diet's permission to actually exercise it variety) and has undergone intense federalisation in order to survive. Austria's internal politics are complex enough to warrant various distinct tiers of government to handle the various cultural, regional and political privileges that each political subdivision has been granted. Despite this the fear of invasion by the Pact has created some social and political conformity and orthodoxy. Austria is rather conservative and religious at the same time they do promote religious tolerance and have several official languages though German is considered the language of business and politics within the Empire.

The Ottoman Empire, which was lucky enough to get a few more visionary rulers, was able to successfully modernise itself, though not losing their European territories. The Ottoman Empire's fortunes changed even further when oil dependent industries grew to prominence. As the keeper of many of the Middle East's oil fields they have successfully modernised their nation to a level of equivalence with Britain and Austria.

The other members for the Alliance of Order are all capitalist and democratic nations. Though conservatism is rather prominent in the politics of the Alliance as a whole, they are not that repressive and do support welfare programs. The Alliance has also made efforts to court several of the former socialist states to their side by providing humanitarian aid. Religion, usually Christianity, is very important to the nations of the Alliance and often impacts political decision making on the national and supranational level. Most international organisations are religious or supported by religious organisations which means that aid programs are usually accompanied by missionaries. Despite their best efforts the Alliance still has its fair share of autocratic members that are too deeply entwined with their politics to be easily abandoned.

Technologically this world is at about the same level as OTL. The past two worlds wars and the Cold War helped accelerate technological development. Nuclear weapons were developed shortly before the end of the Second World War and were used to finish the fighting in Europe (the Northern French decided not to move the government back to Paris and have stayed in Orleans). The major powers have in fact been very strict when it comes to the distribution of nuclear weapons. There is no global internet but both blocs have their own regional communication and information networks. The Alliance has recently expanded their own interlink to encompass most neutral states like the USA. Both systems are rather closely watched and subjected to censorship in certain ways. The Danzig Pact is usually more likely to perform mass censorship campaigns on their own interlink though. The spread of socialism and the introduction to neo-imperialist ideas led to a greater attempt to industrialise Africa and Asia. Scientific racism was not developed but cultural racism persisted and led to the development of a recognisable form of imperialism and 'White Man's Burden'. Though these particular ideas have been dropped by most of the world it was what enforced the idea that the European nations on both sides of the Cold War were responsible for uplifting the rest of the world.

Though it was only discovered in recent years, climate change and pollution are now globally recognised problems (less so in the Pact) that several international initiatives have been created to combat. Renewable energy is receiving a few large programs in several nations and new taxes are being placed on carbon emissions. However many nations that are still developing are protesting these expensive measures.