AH Run-downs, summaries and general gubbins

[Sideways]

This maybe one of the dumbest things that I've ever done, forgive me.

I love it

 

[Time Enough]

I love it

Probably the silliest and jokiest one I’ve ever done but I for one just loved the idea of Grace Campbell becoming a Chaotic Good Prime Minister on the back of Pro-EU Populism.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

His Majesty's Most Loyal Realm of Ireland
Forty Years After Home Rule (1925)

Well, as the Dublin Gazette's report says, the government lost its majority. But God how are we going to get a new one? You would need the Tories and IPP to work together [which for the record, I heavily doubt Redmond is that deluded], or for that matter the IPP, ICCL and Shinners [The three hate each other a lot. Irish politics, always so fractious]. Most likely, we'll get a new election, honestly...

Irish Unionist Party (30.43% of the seats)
They're oscillating between being pleased as punch at coming first, and being engulfed in despair about the impossibility of creating a new government. Carson has been bullish about his chances, but making it clear that any deal with any other party would require the consent to Home Rule being granted to Ulster and it separating from Ireland. His people up there have been blaring "Home Rule, not Rome Rule!"

Nevertheless to say, this counts out basically every Irish nationalist party, even the milktoast IPP. Still, he's very confident isn't he?

Irish Catholic and Conservative League (21.61% of the seats)
The IPP couldn't have held together for ever, and in the end the more rural, traditionalist, aspect bolted to form the ICCL in protest at the IPP looking like it was becoming merely the "Liberals in Ireland". The Catholic League, as they're often known as, is very much a clerical party, and believes in rejection of anything that smells like it's liberalism, socialism or God forbid, unionism. It's this last bit that makes them distinct from the Unionists, and why the two will likely never work together at all. Certainly, Eddie de Valera isn't gonna concede much, although even his own party despises him...

Sinn Féin (15.07% of the seats)
Apparently Irish for "ourselves alone" or something like that. The War has certainly emboldened them, as many embittered and shell-shook veterans turn to the Shinners for an explanation of their experiences. It's certainly easy to go "Britain sent Irish soldiers in as cannon fodder" and blame it all on the UK. Griffith has nothing but contempt for the government that did nothing but permit Irish soldiers to go off and die in Belgium. Which now includes both the IPP and the Catholic League. Some of his more die-hard members even argue for abstention to a "British-ruled" chamber.

I will say that if they did do that, as much as Griffith thinks it's pointless, coalition negotiations gets easier.

Irish Parliamentary Party (14.93% of the seats)
Redmond is sore about Dev and his lot bolting from the party, of course. Now he's left with the romantics too moderate for the Shinners and those who just turn in to vote IPP every election without fail since they're the "Party of Home Rule" and all. Which isn't much. But he has plans. Weird plans, if those leaks are correct. But will his party really agree to an Unionist-IPP coalition? Really? Not to mention the Ulster issue...

Irish Liberal Party (10.43% of the seats)
Also known as "the IPP for those who don't like voting for Catholics". But perhaps I'm a little unfair on them, they have tried to build up some sort of appeal in Dublin to non-Protestants. And apparently there's some sort of non-sectarian agrarian nationalist down in Cork who is sort of associated with the party? Certainly, the Catholic League hate that guy. Any talk of the Liberals working with the Unionists are of course, impossible with the Unionists wanting partition. Which makes stuff interesting for Redmond, that much is certain, if even his most reliable coalition partners won't agree.

Belfast and Dublin Trade Union League (4.73% of the seats)
And last but not least, we have those people. The ones who want socialism above all. Well, the Shinners have plenty of that, and the Catholic League say that O'Brien is pushing socialism down in Cork, but those are the genuine sort, the ones who are a socialist party above everything else. Just don't talk about anything else, even the Ulster Question, you'll get the Belfast and Dublin halves disagreeing. A lot. Way too much. How do they even stay together.

Independent Nationalists (2.74% of the seats)
With Irish politics being quite rural-dominated, it's unsurprising that there's some nationalists who look at the three-way split [four if you count O'Brien] and hold up their hands, going "look, I'm just proudly Irish and want money to my constituency. My voters want that road fixed above all". They tend to eschew partisan loyalties, most often noted down in the records as "Independent IPP" or "Independent Nationalist". But good luck getting them to listen to de Valera, Griffith or Redmond, they're not here for anything but what that one newspaper called 'parish pump politics'.

 

[Time Enough]

The New Consensus:
1970-1978: Ted Heath (Conservative)
1970 (Majority) def: Harold Wilson (Labour), Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal)
1974 (Majority) def: Harold Wilson (Labour), Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal), Dick Taverne (Democratic Labour)
1978-1983: William Whitlaw (Conservative)
1979 (Majority) def: Michael Foot (Labour), David Steel-Roy Jenkins (Liberal-Democrat Alliance), William Wolfe (SNP)
1983-1993: Neil Kinnock (Labour)
1983 (Majority) def: William Whitlaw (Conservative), David Steel (Liberal Democrats), Reg Prentice (National Democrats)
1985 EEC Referendum: Leave 56%, Remain 44%
1987 (Majority) def: Michael Heseltine (Conservative), David Penhaligon (Liberal Democrats), Norman Tebbit (National Democrats)
1991 (Majority) def: Ian Gow (Conservative), David Penhaligon (Liberal Democrats), Jim Sillars (SNP)
1993-: Bryan Gould (Labour)
1993 (Majority) def: Lynda Chalker (Conservative), Malcolm Bruce (Liberal Democrats), Jim Sillars (SNP), Sara Parkin-Derek Wall (Green)

"That Dick, Tavarne has fucked us"

-1974, Supposed Harold Wilson Quote

“If William Whitlaw wins on Thursday–

I warn you not to be ordinary.

I warn you not to be young.

I warn you not to fall ill.

I warn you not to get old.”

-1983, Neil Kinnock’s Final Campaign Speech which was partially credited with causing Labour’s landslide victory in retrospective. There is much argument about this.

"Monetarism is Dead...Long Live Monetarism."

-1993 City of London Banker joking in the aftermath of the Japanese Stock Market Crash

—///—

State of the British Parties, 1993:

In Government:
Labour: Well, Gould somehow done it. The man has gained his own majority, despite the fact that we've had ten years of Labour Government, it shouldn't possible. But the architect of Labour's Anglo Model of Democratic Socialism, Industrial Democracy and Social Market has managed to do it (thank Philip Gould for that I guess). This isn't to say there aren't problems. The sudden collapse of the Japanese Stock Market has soured the impact of the Anglo-Japan Pact, the EEC is planning to unify into Federal System and are planning on punishing Britain for it and the Soviet Union has collapsed into Civil War which is making Britain cutting it's Defence budget look awkward. Still, at least we have Free Fibre Optic Connection, Satellite TV and jobs at the Local CoOp, can't complain too much.

Opposition:
Conservative: Lynda Chalker has stayed as leader because she's really the first Conservative leader that hasn't driven the Conservative Party off a fucking cliff, Whitlaw helped lead to the National Democrats occurring (or, how dare you only do Soft Monetarism, we want full on Keith Joseph, Hard Right Ballardesque Monetarism as Hayeck/Friedman wanted), Michael Heseltine alienated both the remaining Monetarists and One Nation types and Ian Gow was trying to ensure that the Conservative party healed more than than trying to gain much in seats. Chalker has told everyone that all it'll take is 'One More Heave', hoping that One More Heave isn't the 1922 Committee heaving her out of the leadership. Here's hoping and all that.

Liberal Democrats: Slightly annoyed that the Conservatives have finally managed to patch up there differences with the National Democrats and now the Conservatives are finally unified the Liberal Democrats can't be the voice of sensible Centrist Reason anymore. Ah well. Malcolm Bruce is a confident captain who has decided that the Liberal Democrats should apply triangulation and aim for what as he calls it 'Radical Centrism'...so Social Democracy then? Like, that's the Centre now.

Minor Parties:
Scottish National Party: Jim Sillars is slowly becoming the villain of the British Labour Government, more than the Tories. It's not Sillars fault that he's pitching a form Scottish Nationalism that adds Classic Social Democracy with a dash of Nordic Model to the mix instead of just vague One Nation style Scottish Nationalism. It's not Sillars fault that he has 8 seat in the House of Commons. It's not Sillars fault that he won John Smith's former seat...okay it his fault but still...

Green Party: Well David Icke has fucked off with his weirdo mates so now Derek Wall can pitch his version of wobbly Left Eco Municipal Libertarianism I guess. Popular with folks who think that Bryan Gould should be more Left Wing, EuroCommunists or with the Children of Tories who want to be Left Wing. The party has committed to aiming mainly at getting councillors but 1993 lead to some surprise victories, mainly Peter Tatchell winning abruptly in Vauxhall and John Peck surprising many in Nottingham. Still I'm sure the Green Party won't capitalise on the eventual Labour apathy...right?

 

[Ares96]

I really like the idea of the Taverne mob becoming the SDP and the Lib Dems forming ten years early. It's one of those things that fit so well they feel like they should be less original than they are, regardless of whether they're actually plausible.

 

[Time Enough]

I will quickly say, thanks @Nomad for providing inspiration for this.

I really like the idea of the Taverne mob becoming the SDP and the Lib Dems forming ten years early. It's one of those things that fit so well they feel like they should be less original than they are, regardless of whether they're actually plausible.

Indeed, it would also be more of a Centrist organisation particularly since David Owen and Shirley Williams would probably be as less inspired to join. There are a lot of possibilities that come from it.

I used it as a way to have a more Tribunite Kinnock but there’s a lot of possibilities to it.

 

[Uhura's Mazda]

Current Mainline Locomotives and Railcars Used by New Zealand Railways

Diesel Locomotives
DC class: The formerly the workhorse of the railway network, initially introduced as the DA class in the 1950s and then rebuilt in the late 70s to the DCs, which themselves are now ailing. Many have been scrapped, either due to damage (rust is an issue, even beyond the increasingly lax safety standards on NZR) or simply obsolescence. The Railways Minister, Rob Gore, has given as many as he can to Third World countries in return for debt forgiveness, but even the lads in Mozambique are reluctant to take any more off his hands now that they've received the first consignment. I reckon the remaining examples will be worked to death.
DBR class: Formerly very similar to the DA class; subsequently rebuilt to be very similar to the DC class. Now they're all sitting in some disused yards north of Taumarunui.
DJ class: Bought from Mitsubishi in the 60s by Muldoon with World Bank money - which is ironic, considering Muldoon's dramatic divorce with that (and other) international institutions after the coup. This lightweight diesel-electric saw a lot of service on the South Island and is now confined to the beautiful but loss-making Otago Central branch, which will probably never be electrified.
DX class: A number of examples still bear the infamous 'chequerboard' livery adopted by NZR for a couple of unfortunate years in the 1990s. Inspired by the silver fern and the All Blacks colours, the white portions immediately attracted a deep, unsightly layer of grime. It is obvious to the naked eye that this patina has never been washed off since.
DFT class: a turbocharged loco mostly used for freight, but which also does a few branch line passenger hauls. The most recent news associated with the DFT was the hiring of 6260 by the National Party to pull the 'Electoral Express', used by President Laws to jazz up his re-election campaign with a literal whistlestop tour of the half-empty public halls of the nation. Labour did their usual thing of limp-wristedly protesting the cosy relationship between the Nats and the organs of this 'state' thing - you know, the apparatus that literally exists in order to keep the Nats in power.

Electric Locomotives
EF class: A long boi only really suitable for the North Island Main Trunk, this was a white elephant even when it was purchased as part of Muldoon's 'Think Big' programme. However, the electrification of the NIMT was a significant step forward in the context of the foreign trade situation. After the Caretaker Coup, supplies of foreign oil dried up and NZ has been left to utilise its own resources - principally hydro and tidal power, provided by an ever-growing number of controversial dams.
EO class: Before the EF, only short stretches of the network were electrified, with the EOs being purchased from the Japanese to run trains through the Otira Tunnel in the Southern Alps. When the whole Midland line went electric in 2003, the EOs were judged too puny to pull the huge coal trains over long distances, and are now used on the Auckland suburban network.
ES class: The South Island electric loco, recently in the news for brake faults which have delayed a number of shipments and reduced confidence in the NZR behemoth's ability to deliver the goods, as it were. These machines were constructed during a period of remarkably disruptive industrial action at Hillside.
EN class: Running on North Island secondary lines, the EN was notably the locomotive pulling the Kawerau-bound log train hijacked by the 'Army of Counter-Tyranny' when they kicked their guerrilla campaign into a higher gear. The sight of 'Colonel' Roger Douglas whipping up the paper-workers from the cab of EN 4268 strikes a chord in the hearts of many an anti-establishment fanatic, although obviously that particular loco was destroyed in the final defence of the 'Republic of Whangamomona' six months later.

Railcars
'Silver Fern' class: Notable for its corrugated stainless steel bodywork, this antiquated diesel is now used on passenger runs on the West Coast, and also the Nelson section, which for some reason has been reopened. Actually, I know the reason: a South African company has promised to build a make-work factory at Glenhope, at the other end of the 100km independent rail line. I sure hope that company, incidentally owned by De Beers Holdings, is ethical!
'Premier' class: A decent, well-built little single unit, mostly used on North Island secondary lines, and one of the least hated pieces of NZR rolling stock. I, however, cringe whenever I see people on KiwiNet refer to them as "the premier railcars" as if the class name is a descriptor. No, the point is that they're named after the best-known Prime Ministers we had up until 1985, that's why they have words like 'Seddon' and 'Holyoake' emblazoned down the side. Ugh. KiwiNet is the worst, that's why I'm low-key breaking the law to post on the World Wide Web.
'Current' class: Brand-spanking-new - the seats still have some padding in them! These are named after rivers with hydro dams on them, hence the clever-clever class name. These operate on the North Island Main Trunk and the Main South Line, replacing the Muldoon class railcars, which were just as knackered and woeful as their namesake was when he was forced out by President Peters.
DM class: 1930s English Electric EMUs, used for a long time on the Wellington suburban network and now restricted to just the Johnsonville Line. The oldest trains still in service. Those 10km up the Ngaio Gorge are quite an adventure!
EM class: 1980s Ganz Mavag EMUs, which replaced the English Electrics on all the other Wellington lines, and are now being sent up to Auckland in a vain attempt at sparking some life into that city's ludicrously poor suburban train services. The lines themselves aren't too bad, but the carriages and the stations (Auckland station is nowhere near Queen St, for one thing) and the timetables are abhorrent, and forty-year-old railcars aren't going to solve that.
UM class: Another brand-new multiple unit, but because the workshops were fully focused on the Currents, the 'underground motor' tender was - shock, horror - let to a foreign company for the first time since the coup. These now run throughout the Wellington network except the Johnsonville Line (at least until track straightening work is completed in 2025) and their debut coincided with the opening of the underground line from Wellington Station to Miramar through the central city. As such, the UMs are styled after Buenos Aires Metro stock, the units of course being bought from the state railway company of everybody's favourite non-dictatorship. However, the Argentines haven't actually received their money yet, due to the catastrophic shortage of foreign currency reserves which has been endemic for... the entirety of NZ history. We're going to get Falklanded, aren't we?

 

[Uhura's Mazda]

Novels (Completed) of Luther Mackenzie

Luther Mackenzie was New Zealand's first notable science fiction writer. Apart from a few short stories in Astounding Science Fiction and comparable international publications, Mackenzie's work only saw light in his own monthly magazine, which he published for over forty years from 1933 until his death with the help of the ailing second-hand printing press in his garage. Scholars generally agree that the failure of this journal to achieve any degree of success or profitability was partly down to the poor quality of the output, but mostly because the inveterately Kiwi Mackenzie modestly entitled the mag 'Bemusing Science Fiction'.

Mackenzie would pen the bulk of the magazine's content himself, publishing half a dozen short stories along with installments of at least two serialised novels per issue. Unfortunately, the editor's hectic schedule and his demanding day job as a self-employed haulier, not to mention his sensitivity to negative reviews, meant that these serials usually cut off abruptly just as the plot was beginning to develop. However, the renaissance of New Zealand letters in the 1980s led to a reappraisal of Mackenzie's work and the publication of all his completed serials in novel format - subsequently, new editions were put out to tie in with Peter Jackson's critically panned 2014 adaptation of Vampires of Venus.

This Happy Breed of Men (1934-5)
A supposed history book purporting to recount the events of the 20th and 21st centuries. Although many works along these lines can claim to be prescient, at least by accident, Mackenzie's insistence that the future would be "broadly fine and pleasantly settled" was outpaced by events even as he was writing his predictions, resulting in an uneven serial that retcons itself in every chapter as Mackenzie became aware of, for instance, the rise of Hitler and the invasion of Abyssinia. He tied himself in so many knots that he attempted a rewrite the next year in which he retained his initial thesis but attempted to present the real-life events of the 1930s in a positive light. This self-inflicted mental violence coloured some of his later politics.

Vampires of Venus (1934-5)
A derivative work, in which an ex-soldier from the New Zealand Wars is teleported to the planet Venus, which he finds is inhabited by a race of attractive and scantily clad women who have created a subterranean Eden after breaking off relations with their industrially-minded menfolk (hence the dense smog on the surface of the planet) and are now in dire need of the seed of a virile man such as, for instance, Corporal Calvin Mackessack. The drama comes when Mackessack discovers that the Venusian version of sexual intercourse involves the mingling of blood, and escapes to the nightmarish surface world. Jackson's film drops as much as possible of the horrendous sexual politics, instead expanding on the train-based chase scene to turn the tale into an inconsequential CGI-fest.

A Shameful Conquest (1936)
In a dystopian near-future, the United Comradedom is trying to wipe out all aspects of British culture and turn its citizens into oppressed automatons. Only Captain Wesley MacLaurin can stop them, choosing to do so by deserting from the People's Army to join up with an underground secret society called the Black Fist, bent on restoring the King, Edward VIII, to the throne. Some have argued that this novel inspired George Orwell, but it is doubtful that the latter was aware of its existence. Many more have argued that it should not have been part of the 2014 reissue due to its outright Fascist themes and the fact that it was patently obvious that Mackenzie had never actually been to Britain.

Velociraptors of Venus (1941-6)
The fifth attempt at a sequel to the Venus series, this short novel was stretched out for several years due to wartime paper shortages. Interestingly, it treats three of the partially completed sequels as canon while redacting the events of the other - a position which was reversed in the next book. In this volume, Corporal Mackessack tangles with another, equally lascivious, Venusian civilisation, who have replaced their own males with dinosaur-like animals that evolved from their pets. Mackessack teaches Princess Virgilabia the pleasures of humanoid sex, while learning a little of the exciting BDSM techniques of the Venusians' toothy gigolos. Controversial at the time, Velociraptors almost got Bemusing banned - until Parliament learned of the magazine's single-digit circulation numbers.

This Seat of Mars (1946-8)
Influenced by Mackenzie's conversion to Theosophy, this lengthy story consists of a series of discrete adventures, in which a put-upon househusband, Wing Commander Zwingli Macintosh (Ret'd.), goes about his daily errands and then, when sitting down with a well-deserved cuppa, sees psychic visions of a series of Kings of Mars. The Kings, all of the same dynasty, engage in escapist pieces of derring-do - sword fights and bold rescues of alien damsels and so on. Ultimately, in the course of defeating a villain, the last King uses nuclear bombs to blast the planet into a red-hued desert, and Macintosh decides that he ought to be thankful to lead his own dull life. Luther Mackenzie appears to have wished to develop the Martian world into something quite complex, but merely succeeded in writing a lot of internally inconsistent worldbuilding by virtue of changing his mind and making simple errors during the serialising process. The 1986 publication was popular among the anti-nuclear crowd in New Zealand.

Valkyries of Venus (1951-2)
Mackessack comes across a tribe of winged women who can breathe the toxic fog gushed forth by the Venusian lead foundries, and seduces Queen Vaginarsia into giving him the antidote. This installment treats Velociraptors as a fever dream experienced by Mackessack while he lies wounded as a result of events in the unwritten final third of Vats of Venus (1939), hitherto itself treated as non-canonical. Another unusual point is that the sex scenes are all tastefully glossed over for fear of legal retribution, forcing Mackenzie to write much more dialogue and set-dressing than the other entries in the series.

Stubborn Jewry (1959-60)
Rear-Admiral Hus MacGillivray opens the doors of perception to see snapshots of the future, right down to the end of the last humanoid civilisation in the 69th Millennium, and learns that there is a malign, eldritch force governing our affairs. Best not discussed.

The Triumphant Sea (1967-8)
Generalissimo Miller Macfayden discovers the existence of beautiful mermaids, with results that can perhaps be imagined.

Vultures of Venus (1974-6)
This story concluded in the final issue of Bemused, and deals with Mackessack tangling with a race of ugly bird-women whose breath is in fact the real cause of the planet's atmospheric unpleasantness. The vulture-women are in the process of splitting from their masculine counterparts, and the narrative is interrupted by frequent diatribes on the iniquities of alimony law. Not entirely coincidentally, Luther Mackenzie's wife was awarded his printing press in their own divorce settlement, and blood-spattered copies of the farewell issue can reach tens of thousands of dollars on TradeMe.

For more information, please read Professor Janice Brady's Venus Perceived: A Contemplation of Luther Mackenzie's Attitudes on Gender and Life (2015), available from Auckland University Press for $69.99.

 

[Skinny87]

@Uhura's Mazda this is a brilliant concept that is exceedingly well executed as usual, but must admit that I am in love with the idea of a science-fiction writer trying to write a utopian, pacifistic 'future history' book, only to be confronted with almost daily refutations via the newspaper.

Burning his entire first draft when his neighbour casually mentions that the Reichstag burnt down

 

[Sideways]

Mackessack teaches Princess Virgilabia the pleasures of humanoid sex, while learning a little of the exciting BDSM techniques of the Venusians' toothy gigolos. Controversial at the time

UM is the poet we deserve for this blighted age.

 

[Sideways]

@Uhura's Mazda this is a brilliant concept that is exceedingly well executed as usual, but must admit that I am in love with the idea of a science-fiction writer trying to write a utopian, pacifistic 'future history' book, only to be confronted with almost daily refutations via the newspaper.

Burning his entire first draft when his neighbour casually mentions that the Reichstag burnt down

Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men (1930) has some amazing bits about the success of liberal, democratic, Germany

 

[Walpurgisnacht]

Current Mainline Locomotives and Railcars Used by New Zealand Railways

Delicious. The subtle hints of New Zealand's autarkic not-a-dictatorship in between the train mania is a delightful contrast.

 

[varyar]

REPUBLIC OF NEW YORK ARMED FORCES

Republic of New York Army

1st Infantry Division "Hudson"

4th Infantry Brigade "Saint Lawrence"
7th Infantry Brigade "Susquehanna"
10th Armored Brigade "Rochester"

2nd Armored Division "Adirondack"

3rd Armored Brigade "New York"
5th Armored Brigade "Buffalo"
9th Infantry Brigade "Allegheny"

12th Special Operations Brigade "Mount Marcy"

17th Special Operations Regiment "Alqonquin Peak"
23rd Special Operations Regiment "Mount Haystack"

Republic of New York Navy

Bay-class submarines

NYS Flushing

Lake-class frigates

NYS Erie
NYS Ontario
NYS Champlain

County-class corvette

NYS Kings
NYS Nassau
NYS Onondaga
NYS Oneida

Republic of New York Air Force

8th Fighter Wing

11th Fighter Group
34th Fighter Group

3rd Tactical Wing

42nd Tactical Group
84th Tactical Group

 

[Kaiser Julius]

Socking the Tarot: An American Decking the Shuffle (am I doing the properly...)

1948 Election: Death (Truman chooses the more moderate civil rights platform throwing the election to Dewey.)
Dewey: The Tower (Promised Land comes before a Fall.)
Eisenhower: Judgement (Him and the Dulles brothers are the dark secret of the Dewey administration.)
Stevenson: Six of Wands (Having to negotiate between the New Deal Coalition until he ultimately stands for nothing.)
Goldwater: The Sun (Social Libertarianism and Civil Rights.)
Kennedy: Ten of Swords (Mired in scandal bombing his run in 1964 until he succumbs to his Huntingdons in 1970.)
Nixon: Strength (Liberal McConnell.)
Reagan: The Moon (Creative, Illusion, An early Roger Stone.)
1968 Election (Wallace vs Bush vs Humphrey): Seven of Swords (A Political Earthquake)
Wallace: The Hanged Man (Mostly insincere populist who's reputation gets salvaged by his assassination.)
McGovern: Four of Cups (Boring insider thrust into the Presidency.)
Ford: Knight of Coins (The reborn Teddy Roosevelt, trapped in the Senate by the House Leadership eventually gets revenge.)
Johnson: Temperance (Loses Box 19 and stays in the House while being thrust into House leadership roles despite his health concerns.)
Carter: Justice (Johnson's more forceful successor as House leader and later Speaker.)
1980 Election (Mondale vs Dole vs Anderson): Knight of Cups (A political shift.)
Mondale: The World (Its a pun.)
Dukakis: Six of Coins (Rides the Mondale Wave before losing a second run.)
McCain: The Fool (Fumbles the '88 debate with Dukakis and never really recovers.)
Clinton: The Magician (A Flower Warrior.)
Perot: Ace of Coins (The liberal David Koch.)
Trump: The Emperor (Authoritative boss of the New York Democratic Party and Chair of the DNC.)
Biden: Two of Cups (Forms an alliance with the conservatives to get into office.)
Kerry: The Chariot (A War Hawk.)
Dubya: Eight of Swords (An independant wins the Presidency.)
Gore: The Heirophant (A really nice guy.)
Billy and Hillary Romney: The Queen of Cups (A power couple who both stay in the counter culture with Billy becoming a Lincoln Chaffee figure.)
Obama: King of Wands (Charismatic Tulsi figure. The Bernie figure)
2020 Election: The Lovers (Choice between Johnson and Stein.)

 

[Cevolian]

Constitution of the Year VIII

First, Second, and Third Consuls

1799-1800: Napoleon Bonaparte / Pierre-Louis Roederer / Charles-François Lebrun
1800-1800: Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès / Pierre-Louis Roederer / Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis

Constitution of the Year IX

Great Elector

1800-1805: Jean Victor Marie Moreau (Messidorian)
1800 Provisionally elected by the Senat Conservateur
1805 Absorbed by the Senat Conservateur and disqualified from office
1805-1806: Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick (Nonpartisan)
1805 def. Antoine Claire Thibaudeau (Montagnard), Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (Rue de la Bûcherie Committee) supported the Duke of Brunswick, Joachim Murat (Bonapartist)
1806-1836: Louis Ferdinand Hohenzollern (Telemachian)
1806 def. Antoine Boulay (Socialist), Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (Caesarians), various Montagnard candidates
1811 Constitutional Referendum Oui - 59.2%
1836-1836: Antoine Destutt de Tracy (Socialist)
1836 def. Antoine Merlin ('Despotic' Telemachians), Élie Louis Décazes (Nonpartisan // de facto Royalist), Charles Fourier ('Communist' Telemachians)
1836-1840: Marie-Henri Beyle (Socialist)
1836 def. Élie Louis Décazes (Romantic) disqualified, Charles Fourier (Communist // backed by Old Montagnards) deceased
1840-1865: Antoine-Marie Roederer (Socialist)
1840 def. Armand-Emmanuel de Richelieu (Romantic), Éliphas Lévi (Communards)

Politics of the French Republic, 1865
​

Socialist Party The 'Party of the System', supported by the managerial middle class, high finance, and the (non-radical) urban proletariat, the party are the supporters of the current constitution and comprise the bulk of the meritocratic state bureaucracy and machinery from the Great Elector down to the Communal Lists. Dedicated to efficiency in government, including technocratic economic management and poor relief, opposed to Free Trade with Great Britain (though the Tracy Tendency is not) and supporters of the Continental System. Stay in power through the use of the state machinery and restrictions on the franchise, but genuinely popular (especially in urban areas) and tailor policies to public opinion as reported by the Office of Political Observation.

Sieyèsians The core of the party, made up both of Old Socialists (mainly the sons, now, of revolutionary relics) and bureaucratic ultras. Firmly onboard with both the Continental System and a planned economy. Opposed to opening the franchise further, or loosening the control of the Conservative Senate, central government, secret police, and Office of Political Observation. Leaders include the current Great Elector Roederer and most members of the government.​

​

Tracyists Heterodox Political Economists who believe in Free Trade with Britain and a loosening of economic restrictions to encourage competition, and favour a 'Planned Laissez-Faire' economy in which state intervention is focused on creating a free market. Supporters of central authority and the OPO, but willing to countenance a stronger executive led by the Great Elector in the name of technocratic efficiency. Take their name from their leader Destutt de Tracy, and supported by Auguste Comte and the late Jean-Baptiste Say. Marie-Henri Beyle was nominally a member of the tendency, but governed as a compromiser.​

​

Moreauians Very much the third faction, the (somewhat historically incoherent) party of the 'Moreau was right' crowd and the crypto-Bonapartists, supportive of a strengthened executive elected by the people (albeit indirectly) and breaking the power of the Conservative Senate. Support a planned economy and protectionism, but believe that Britain's expansion in the Americas and Asia should be opposed by force. Led by Consul for War Henri Boulay and Senator Lucien Bonaparte.​

​

Romantics Crypto (and not so crypto) Royalists, supporters of Telemachianism and opponents of scientific economic management, urbanisation, industrialisation, French imperialism, and republicanism. Supported mainly by former emigres, Catholic peasants, and radical nationalist students. Consistently win around 20% of the vote, but have struggled to break into the Senate except through defections, and so are largely locked out of the state machinery by the Great Elector and the Senate. Led by Senator Élie Décazes (disqualified from any other office since his co-option to the Senate), the party has been criticised for receiving financial support supposedly from the exiled Capetian dynasty.

Communards What it says on the tin: supporters of revolutionary overthrow of the existing state, destruction of the Socialist apparatus, and the replacement of the Continental System with an equal federation of European communes. A mixture of urban and agrarian revolutionaries, united by the 'Common Demands', a list of common goals, including direct democracy, federalism, and a war of revolutionary liberation against Great Britain. Both pro-Free Trade and Protectionist factions for differing strategic and short-term reasons. Further divisions exist between ‘Utopics’ who believe in the mysticism of Éliphas Lévi and the power of communist emancipation to unleash the mesmeric energies of the proletariat, allowing a higher state of human consciousness and ultimately emancipation from embodiment and even mortality itself, and everyone else, who thinks that’s fucking mental and just want better working conditions.

Telemachians The party of the affectionately named ‘Greatest Elector’ Louis Ferdinand Hohenzollern has seen much better days, and it’s idealistic and cosmopolitan agrarian republicanism has mostly been shed in favour of the Romantics’ nationalism and monarchism. Nicholas Radischev is the only ‘old’ Telemachian left, but what little remains of the movement is unlikely to fold into either of its successors due to his opposition to the Communards and the fact the Romantics don’t want a radical cosmopolitan among their ranks (current term of art for political refugees when they left because their fathers supported reform in Russia rather than being booted out after centuries of oppressing the populace). One man and a gaggle of followers don’t really make a party, but he’s still a Senator, and if the next election sees the long-predicted Socialist schism (it won’t) his vote might just count for a lot (it won’t).

 

[Sideways]

Star Trek IX: Insurrection (1997) - The first Star Trek film since the death of Patrick Stewart - Insurrection is debated by fans not over whether it was good or not (it was unquestionably not) but on whether it is a TNG film or not. The argument that its not is pretty weak, unless you're a Gene's Vision purist. Armin Shimerman gets a small cameo at the end as Quark - who arrives on Ba'ku with plans of turning it into a luxury resort. Even more tenuously - Max Grodénchik has a cameo as a Trill ensign who makes a joke about Riker. That said, the Death of Picard left a gap in the cast - with Brent Spiner wanting to retire Data from the franchise and Michael Dorn playing Worf on Deep Space Nine, a new character was created for the show. Jonathan Del Arco gave a creditable performance as Commander Armstrong, an enthusiastic by the book commander transferred to the Enterprise after the death of Picard in a mission against the Dominion. While the scenes with him annoying Riker were fun, the character was only ever reprised in a small number of underwhelming books.

2000-2004: Star Trek: Earth - Set on Earth itself, Star Trek Earth was an attempt at a kind of Police Procedural Star Trek show - starring two Federation investigators Michael Archer (Grant Vartin) and Tina Guevara (Jolene Blalock), alongside half Ferengi thief Kirsty Vork (Elliot Page) as they travel the world combatting Changeling Infiltrators to Earth, who turn out to be one and the same as the Section 31 agents they are supposedly helping them. This plot, however, was abandoned with incredible rapidity after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In part because attitudes changed to the old Star Trek trope around terrorists and freedom fighters, and in part because filming Earth locations turned out to be more expensive than sticking the characters in a spaceship, or an abandoned quarry. The last two series were a fun little romp, taking the characters to different Star Trek locations including Risa, Ferenginar, and even Deep Space Nine. It showed a bit of spine returning to Section 31 in the final series as they fought a group of Borg nanite drug addicts. But the show was cancelled before it could go anywhere interesting with this.

Star Trek X: Nemesis (2002) - The first non-TNG film. Captain Sisko appears on Earth with amnesia and warnings about an enemy assembling on the frontier of Federation space. He has to assemble a ragtag crew of Star Trek characters who tested particularly well with focus groups including Riker, Worf, Tina Guevara, Miles O'Brien, Kirsty Vork and Seven of Nine, their mission is to capture Khan Noonien Singh (Brent Spiner), who has bought together Borg and Dominion forces in an attempt to conquer the Federation and wipe out their biggest threat. The plot made very little sense but the experimental USS Scimitar was a good hero ship and Khan awkwardly flirting with the Borg Queen is fun. So there's that at least.

Star Trek XI: Typhon (2005) - The second Scimitar film pitted the crew against an alliance of minor and therefore not previously well defined Star Trek adversaries including the Tzenkethi, Gorn, Tholians, Sheliak, and Breen. The decision to make the Sheliak into a cloud of worms made them a fun and icky villain and may have launched the reverse gore fetish in the minds of impressionable youths. It was, in essence, a heist movie, with the crew attempting to steal an apparently Very Important Artefact from the new Typhon Pact on the eve of war. The USS Scimitar got to show off its holographic camoflage and the space battles were exceptional. Also The Doctor (Robert Picardo) was a good addition to the crew if you ignore the scenes with Seven of Nine. Aside from that the film is basically just things explode for ninety minutes and it's not exactly interesting. But people enjoy it I guess.

2006-2010: Star Trek: Omega - Set in the year 2451, Omega was designed to be an intentional break from the world of the films while returning Star Trek "to its roots". This basically means a stern but reassuring space daddy captain in the the form of Captain Anthony Hart (Andre Braugher) and an action film young first officer in the form of Commander Jake Duncan (Chris Pratt). The A-Plot mostly involves the USS Enterprise H fighting a revived Iconian Empire that's turned the Federation's allies against them. With the help of Q (Jayne Brook) they have to recover evidence of lost civilisations and build a super weapon which turns out to be the child of Chief Medical Officer Yasmin Dax (Yaya DaCosta) and Jake Duncan and it all gets very confusing. The problem was, the show took itself too seriously. Some of the scenes where Yasmin Dax deals with being recently joined to the Dax symbiote are fun and the scenes between Q and Yasmin are constantly being rediscovered by trans Twitter. But mostly it's a four series slog that was cancelled a season early, meaning that the already unlikely to be good finale had to compress about a series of plot into one episode. The last episode - Apocalypse and Rebirth is the worst Star Trek episode if you don't include the various cosmic rapes of Dianna Troi or Profit and Lace.

Star Trek XII: The Articles of Federation (2007) - A bit more of a back to basics kick for the series, the USS Scimitar is sent to the Andromeda galaxy via a newly discovered and unstable wormhole, where they discover the Kelvan Empire, who are running an Alpha Quadrant Zoo in an attempt to prepare for an invasion of the Milky Way. The crew is forced to essentially rebuild the Federation in miniature, overthrow the Kelvans and free the planet. How good this film is really depends on who you ask. Most people will say, not very. It's got an optimistic core message and that's fun but what can you do?

Star Trek XIII: Enterprise (2010) - The USS Scimitar is sent back through time to before the launch of the USS Enterprise-D. They uncover a plot by Pa'Wraiths to prevent the launch of the Enterprise and therefore prevent their crew from saving the Federation on countless occasions. Riker meets with, and mentors Jean-Luc Picard (David Tennant), who comes face to face with his previously off-screen death and in time-travel based shenanigans attends his own funeral. As with Star Trek Federation the film skirts around being First Contact, but misses the mark. This time badly. Instead, it felt like it was plagued with cameos and was struggling under the weight of accumulated lore from a franchise that was feeling tired. Going back to the beginning was possibly a final cry for help.

2017-XXXX: Star Trek: Origins - This series attempted to do a soft reset of the Star Trek universe, returning to a simpler time when most of the lore about the galaxy that had accumulated over the years was simply unknown. Set in 2150 the show follows the events of the Romulan Wars and the formation of the Federation from the perspective of the crew of the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain Adeline Koh (Michelle Yeoh). While the Romulans are present as distant villains the show mostly focuses on how the Federation was established and defeated various xenophobic factions within the founding planets, aside from with the Klingons, where things seem to be going badly. Earth's President Monk (Nick Offerman) is a not very subtle political allusion to current events. The series has broken ground for having the first gay male relationship, and it is planned that Elliot Smith will be returning to the series in his first substantial role since transition as Tarek a transgender Vulcan. So, fun stuff.

Films? - Hasnan Minhaj is meant to be playing Khan Noonien Singh in a new film series... apparently? Set in the past, or with time travel? It gets really hard to say whats true and what's rumours at this stage, and obviously a lot of projects aren't going ahead as planned, but Khan Noonien Singh played by someone other than a white guy and the first sympathetic augment character since Julian Bashir sounds cool. We'll see, I guess.

 

[Mumby]

ohhh @Sideways now I want to post my alternate star trek continuity that i did in chinese lockdown

 

[Sideways]

ohhh @Sideways now I want to post my alternate star trek continuity that i did in chinese lockdown

Ooh that would be interesting.

I got to thinking about this after something @KingCrawa said on twitter about how DS9 solved a lot of the problems with TNG and I got thinking about how DS9, VOY and ENT disappeared from the popular consciousness compared to TNG and TOS largely because of the film franchise, and how, if Picard were removed, the films would have had to draw on popular characters from TV a little more - which has its good points and bad points - the TV and film series have a symbiotic relationship and one of the things that really harmed the film franchise was that it was stuck with the actors from one series as they aged and got stale - like, how long could Data really continue?

 

[Mumby]

Ooh that would be interesting.

I got to thinking about this after something @KingCrawa said on twitter about how DS9 solved a lot of the problems with TNG and I got thinking about how DS9, VOY and ENT disappeared from the popular consciousness compared to TNG and TOS largely because of the film franchise, and how, if Picard were removed, the films would have had to draw on popular characters from TV a little more - which has its good points and bad points - the TV and film series have a symbiotic relationship and one of the things that really harmed the film franchise was that it was stuck with the actors from one series as they aged and got stale - like, how long could Data really continue?

tbf i do think they said data would externally age at an early stage in TNG

my take was more on the lines of 'instead of ENT, another series takes place subsequent to the events of DS9 and VOY'

 

[Mumby]

Star Trek: The Frontier Saga (2001-2005)

Set from 2378 to 2382, in the aftermath of the Dominion War. Often compared to DS9, as it continued themes of Federation fallibility and occasional amoral decision making. It followed a Starfleet vessel tasked with patrolling the Former Cardassian Union - early themes involved conflict with fellow victors of the Dominion War, the Romulans and Klingons. Later, they had to deal with a cell of Cardassian hyper-nationalists, and with an imperialistic Bajoran political movement, as well as the rising power of the Breen Confederacy. Along with that came conflict with remnants/successors of the Maquis, rogue Starfleet officers and individuals from the Federation traumatised by the events of the Dominion War, as well as the episodic problems that had little to do with wider galactic affairs.

Criticised for further diverging from Gene Roddenberry's utopian vision, it also drew ire from conservative commentators who had much to say about the series' portrayal of terrorists and war - an unintentional coincidence being that The Frontier Saga began broadcast only a month after the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the beginning of the War on Terror. Despite this - or perhaps because of it - The Frontier Saga enjoyed a loyal viewership. This declined after 2003, in which plotlines which appeared openly critical of the Iraq War led to a concerted effort to boycott the show. While this failed, the controversy led to a reversion to safer storylines which in turn disappointed viewers who had found the previous storyline engaging. Ratings declined and by 2005 the show faced cancellation.

The relatively poor performance, and controversial nature, of The Frontier Saga led to the first major hiatus in Star Trek on the screen (either big or small) since the end of the Animated Series in 1974. When Star Trek returned, it was in the form of a reboot, mirroring similar efforts to rejuvenate popular culture franchises, in 2009. These films took place in a different timeline following the adventures of the crew of the original Enterprise. This film was a box office hit, and while it drew criticism for rebooting the timeline, it did reignite interest in the franchise in a new generation.

The Frontier Saga underwent reassessment as the 'Kelvin Timeline' films came out - the series' attempts to tackle plotlines about terrorism and assymetric warfare now appeared prescient rather than controversial. It was for this reason that when a new Star Trek TV series came out - a collaboration between CBS and BlockbusterOnline - it was not set in the Kelvin Timeline but subsequent to the events of The Frontier Saga.

Star Trek: Odyssey (2017-present)

Picking up the thread from where The Frontier Saga left off, Odyssey brought Star Trek into the 'present day' ie keeping up with the pacing set by The Next Generation, that the events of Star Trek are always set 377 years from the date of broadcast. Odyssey was hence set in 2394, some twelve years after the events of The Frontier Saga. Initial ideas about a Kelvin Timeline TV series following Kirk's Enterprise on a traditional deep space mission were adapted into a new Enterprise under a wholly new crew, setting off from the Alpha Quadrant into the Delta Quadrant - effectively following up on what had happened there since the events of Voyager.

A feature of the show was a resurgent and bellicose Klingon Empire - the lowborn Martok was overthrown by hyper-traditionalists, who have severed the Khitomer Accords and slowly rebuilt their military might - in the years before the events of the show, a swathe of the Former Cardassian Union was occupied and illegally annexed by the Klingons and the embattled Cardassians are continuing to fight a clandestinely Klingon backed insurgency. Now, it is clear that the Klingons have prepared a grand armada to seek new conquests in the Delta Quadrant. Starfleet, fearing a coming battle with the Klingons, have sent the Enterprise to go ahead of any potential invasion and assess the status of the Delta Quadrant.

As well as Klingon warlords, the new Enterprise would face the fragmented remains of Borg Unimatrices, the vibrant but unstable Vidiian Sodality, a unified Kazon Order, and the mercantile federation of the Talaxian Hansa. Familiar faces from previous series would occasionally appear, such as disgraced former Ambassador and Klingon dissident, Worf of the House of Martok, and the telepathic energy life-form Kes.

The new series was immediately criticised online, even before broadcast, for a diverse cast that some believed was playing into politically correct narratives. Along with that were radical redesigns of traditional Starfleet uniforms, as well as of long-standing alien species - the Klingons being the most prominent and controversial. While the show explained their changes, by way of a supersoldier programme pursued by the new Klingon government, the new appearance did not sit well with a certain sector of viewers. Also controversial were narratives that paralleled political events - the Klingons had taken to their path of empire-building under a charismatic and populist leader who contrasted himself with a lowborn predecessor, which many alleged was a deliberate criticism of the Trump administration. Ongoing episodes portrayed a Klingon society that had become obsessed with purity to the detriment of honour and duty.

A more good faith criticism of the series narrative has been a tendency toward overarching plot arcs in the mould of other blockbuster TV series of the 2010s, such as Eragon. This tendency to follow complicated plots and a need to pursue twists, came at the detriment of the episodic nature previous Star Trek series had thrived upon. Odyssey's attempts to combine the two was unfavourably compared to Deep Space Nine's Dominion War plotline.

Despite these criticisms, Odyssey was considered a success and CBS soon came out with subsequent series held in parallel - Short Treks (appropriately these were short vignettes), Star Trek: Lowe Decks (loosely based upon the TNG episode of the same name, but set in 2394 aboard a different Starfleet vessel to the current Enterprise), and Star Trek: Worf (originally a series focussed around Picard was proposed but Patrick Stewart did not want to overshadow the new cast/crew of the Enterprise, and instead they turned to the established in-continuity character of Worf.)

Star Trek: Worf (2020-present)

Coming off the success of Michael Dorn's cameos in Odyssey, Star Trek: Worf was the first series of Star Trek (with the edge-example of Deep Space Nine) to follow a none-Starfleet crew, namely Worf's band of Klingon renegades. The former Ambassador is initially in a state of retirement/virtual house arrest on Qo'noS, but is arisen from his long melancholy first by clandestinely aiding the crew of the Enterprise-F. Following those events he becomes increasingly concerned about events regarding a secret renegade faction of the Tal Shiar which survived the supernova that destroyed Romulus and brought about the near-collapse of the Romulan Empire - and their seeming collaboration with elements of both the Federation and Klingon governments despite the supposed antipathy of all three.

Worf is torn by decisions he made when Ambassador, allowing his instinctive hatred of the Romulans to mean he turned his back on the refugee crisis. It did not take long for him to decide such an action was dishonourable and he has attempted to make amends. Quite what the status of the Romulan government is, remains something of a mystery this early on in the series - though it seems they are taking a rather worrying interest in the remnants of an abandoned Jem'Hadar fleet which was left behind in the Alpha Quadrant subsequent to the Dominion War.

As has been typical of Star Trek reboots and sequels, there have been criticisms of the altered aesthetics, from clothing to prosthetics. There has also been some narrative criticism, as Star Trek: Worf is the first series to fully commit to a serial rather than episodic structure. While most of the cast of regular characters consist of Worf's mostly Klingon crew, it is clear from promotional material that Worf will be joined by other newcomers such as a Vulcan martial artist, and other stalwarts of Star Trek notably Jeffrey Combs reprising his role as Weyoun (something of a mystery as yet as DS9 established that Weyoun 8 was the final clone after the cloning facility on Rondac III was destroyed in the Dominion War).

Great Powers of the Alpha & Beta Quadrants c. 2397

United Federation of Planets: A little bigger than it was fifteen years ago, but no less bruised. The final admittance of Bajor into the Federation has led to further fractious relations with the constitutionally neutral Cardassian Union - the Bajorans have disclaimed the illegal colonisation of Cardassian worlds by Bajoran Imperialist organisations, but it hasn't prevented incursions by them. Elsewhere, the Federation is struggling with the Romulan Protectorates, those worlds taken into the fold when the supernova of Romulus' star led to the near-collapse of the Romulan Empire. The poor management of the ensuing refugee crisis means many of this worlds resent Federation rule, and the steady re-emergence of a coherent Romulan state had led to calls for a restoration of the Neutral Zone. Starfleet's leadership has changed since Picard's day - they don't want to see the Federation reduced in any way - some kind of conflict with the Romulans seems likely.

Breen Confederacy: Always enigmatic, the Breen were the real winners of both the Dominion War and of the destruction of Romulus, in both cases taking dozens of worlds under their wing. They are now the second largest power in the quadrant - and are eyeing the rump Cardassian Union with glee, especially with the Klingon's incursions leaving the Cardassians' neutrality in tatters. One sore point for them was the accession of the Ferengi into the Federation - in the old days when latinum was the nagus, the Breen enjoyed a favourable relationship with the Ferengi. The last two decades have seen the Ferengi align themselves with the New Economics of the Federation, the alignment of the Ferengi Merchant Navy into Starfleet and finally full membership. With the Romulans on the rise, the Breen look more vulnerable than they have in decades, or at least they would if anyone had seen their faces.

Klingon Empire: The Romulan supernova eleven years ago brought about a seachange on Qo'noS. Chancellor Martok at first cooperated with Federation efforts to mitigate or prevent the supernova, despite his misgivings given tensions between the two Empires over the occupation of Cardassia. When these attempts failed, and the refugee crisis began however, he was outflanked by a reactionary group of Houses. He was challenged and deposed, and was disappointed as he witnessed Worf, embittered by the prospect of giving succour to the people who had killed his father, turn his back. The Klingon Empire has healed from the wounds of the Dominion War, annexed worlds from Cardassia as an ostensible protectorate, and has begun to sabre-rattle for further conquests in the still fairly unexplored frontier of the Delta Quadrant. The new Empire has essentially shredded the Khitomer Accords - the supposed reincarnation of Kahless disappeared years ago - and has taken a more prescriptive and exclusionary policy to non-Klingon subjects of the Empire. The traditional rights of clans and houses - particularly non-Klingon - has been curtailed to restore central power and authority to the High Council and in particular to the office of Chancellor. There are even allegations of ethnic cleansing, though the blockade on the exchange of information with the Federation means its hard to determine the truth of this.

Romulan 'Empire': The actual nature of the emergent Romulan state is difficult to ascertain. They use the old symbology of the Star Empire, though that may just be because of the longevity of the eagle in Romulan iconography since their ancestors left Vulcan. What is known is that they have taken an 'eggs in many baskets' approach, not wanting a repeat of the destruction of Romulus. They are intensely secretive, which again hardly differentiates them from the preceding Star Empire. But how the new empire is governed is not precisely known.