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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

C H A O S

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

2010-2015: David Cameron (Conservative)
2010 (Coalition with Liberal Democrats) def. Gordon Brown (Labour), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat), Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2011 AV referendum; NO 68%, YES 32%
2014 Scottish independence referendum; NO 55%, YES 45%

2015-0000: Ed Miliband (Labour)
2015 (Minority, with SNP confidence and supply) def. David Cameron (Conservative), Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat), Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist)
2016 Scottish independence referendum; NO 58%, YES 42%
2020; cancelled amid Coronavirus pandemic
2021 (Majority) def. Boris Johnson (Conservative), Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat), Angus Robertson (Scottish National), Arlene Foster (Democratic Unionist), Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fein)
 
1961-1965: John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1960 (with Lyndon B. Johnson): Richard Nixon (Republican)
1965-1969: Barry Goldwater (Republican)
1964 (with William Scranton): John F. Kennedy (Democratic), Ross Barnett (Dixiecrat)
1969-1975: Eugene McCarthy (Democratic)
1968 (with John Connally): George Wallace (Freedom), Barry Goldwater (Republican)
1972 (with George McGovern): John Wayne (National Alliance), Nelson Rockefeller ('Moderate' Republican)

1975-1981: George McGovern (Democratic)
1976 (with Hubert Humphrey): Evan Mecham (National Alliance), John Connally (Moderate)
1981-0000: George L. Rockwell (National Alliance)
1980 (with Ronald Reagan): George McGovern (Democratic), Hugh Carey (Moderate), Jerry Brown (Libertarian)

Perhaps Kennedy should have made an earlier push for civil rights, or perhaps he shouldn't have pushed at all. Maybe it doesn't matter. He could get nothing done once the Baker and Rometsch scandals blew up anyway. All there was left for him to do was run limply in the general election and lose to the Republican nominee. But that Republican nominee would be Barry Goldwater. Now the campaign would be competitive. But it was not to be. Texas was called for Goldwater in the early hour of the morning, giving him the election, as President Kennedy suffered from his worsened appeal, a Dixiecrat splinter, and (alleged) meddling by scorned VP Lyndon Johnson.

The Presidency of Barry Goldwater was as bad as Democratic campaigners had warned. Although Democratic congressional majorities prevented him from cutting FDR's New Deal to pieces, his executive policy of 'benign neglect' and his refusal to sign the 1967 budget, which led to a government shutdown, would degrade public trust in government and the efficacy of existing social services. With Kennedy having been forced out before he could make significant progress, it was up to Goldwater to deal with civil rights. The 1965 Civil Rights Act, which exempted private businesses from integration, was passed even over the opposition of southern stalwarts and liberals decrying it as a half-measure. The 1966 Voting Protection Act empowered state attorney generals to protect potential voters but explicitly established the issue as one of "states' rights." African-Americans and civil rights groups were livid. Martin Luther King Jr. denounced President Goldwater as a "craven coward" and Walter Reuther even considered a general strike as the grueling administration wore on. Both men were assassinated by far-right gunmen just weeks apart in the early months of 1968. On the more militant side of things, Malcolm X's Muslim Mosque Inc. and Stokely Carmichael's African People's Party absorbed a generation of young black men who were enraged at a dysfunctional status quo and sought war with the government in the streets. And then there was Vietnam. With a presence winding down during the Kennedy administration, Goldwater doubled down on the American military commitment to Southeast Asia. Using a recent naval battle as leverage, Goldwater got Congress to grant him war-powers in Vietnam. Tens of thousands of American GI's were sent over and the subsequent military draft drew the ire of the nation's youth. The war would turn into a meatgrinder. By late-1967, North Vietnamese offenses had brought upon untold casualties to American forces and crippled American morale at home. To Goldwater, he was left with no choice. In February, 1968 orders were initiated for Operation Fracture Jaw. Within weeks nuclear weapons were utilized by American forces in combat. The outrage back home was intense. Combined with the racial situation and the draft, opposition to the use of nuclear weapons in combat would galvanize American protesters to the streets in the summer of 1968.

Although he would defeat a primary challenge from Michigan Governor George Romney, Goldwater was not looking good going into the election of 1968. Taking advantage of his perceived weakness on the right was former Alabama Governor George Wallace. In late 1967 Wallace worked closely with Bill Shearer of California and his rump 'Freedom Party.' The Freedom Party was the remnants of the Dixiecrat political apparatus set up for Ross Barnett's independent run in 1964. Wallace was virtually guaranteed the nomination and, alongside the (comparably) moderate Happy Chandler, campaigned on economic populism and law and order. On the Democratic side of things was the rejuvenated campaign of Lyndon Johnson. Apologizing for his (alleged) role in the Bobby Baker scandal and for the Kennedy administration's inaction on civil rights and poverty, the liberal Lyndon Johnson began to establish a rapport with African-American voters and poor whites and cleaned up against candidates like Scoop Jackson, Hubert Humphrey, and George Smathers. He promised further action on civil rights and a new left-wing domestic reform package billed as the 'New Society.' His biggest challenge would be from Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. Running on a platform largely based around his strong opposition to the Vietnam War, McCarthy sweeped the youth vote and the left fringe of the Democratic Party. The Democratic race would narrow down to Johnson and McCarthy as the primaries wore on. McCarthy won the early contests and Johnson was the only one who was able to rally against him later on. It would not be enough for Johnson. McCarthy, despite the initial opposition he faced from the party establishment, used his less strident economic and social stances to form necessary alliances in the lead up to the DNC. Johnson meanwhile, seeing that his influence in the party had degraded after five years, fought to make up for lost ground. A (survived) heart attack on the night before the convention was the nail in the coffin for Johnson and Eugene McCarthy was declared the narrow victor on the first ballot. With a profoundly split conservative front (Wallace dominating the south, and Goldwater dominating the west), the Democrats' McCarthy/Connally ticket achieved victory in November as chaos blazed.

Eugene McCarthy's withdrawal from Vietnam proceeded as swiftly as possible. By the end of the year, US personnel had completely left the beleaguered nation. While McCarthy would be blamed by conservatives for South Vietnam's fall in 1971, he received enough support for following through on his campaign's most prominent plank and solidified support for his re-election. Outside of foreign affairs, McCarthy played a careful balancing act in trying to satisfy the many wings of the Democratic Party in the lead-up to presidential consideration. Although he would empower the federal government to handle the cause of voting rights in 1970, many would be disappointed in the administration's seeming retreat from social issues. Protests continued, but they would never reach the ferocity they had achieved under Goldwater. Arguably McCarthy's biggest achievement on the economic front would be the passage a $2,000 yearly basic income in early 1972. This would have significant electoral implications as well. Seeing as his relationship with Vice President Connally had finally fallen apart (two egos in a house built for one), McCarthy chose the bill's senate sponsor, Senator George McGovern, as his new running mate. Connally was livid but due to the quick nature of his firing was unable to do much immediately outside of withholding his endorsement. McCarthy's opposition stumbled worse than he did. With the assassination of George Wallace in January, 1972 by a black nationalist, the Freedom Party was left moribund and without a leader. That was until California Governor John Wayne entered the scene. The Republican candidate was dominating the Republican primaries against a divided field of Nelson Rockefeller, Charles Percy, William Scranton, Jim Rhodes, and Gerald Ford. After a meeting with Shearer in the spring, Wayne promised that if he won the Republican nomination he would work to fuse the two parties together. Now, once Wayne did become the Republican nominee, the process would become much more difficult. As Wayne's faction (bolstered by alleged "Freedomite" delegates) made it so that an article merging the two parties narrowly passes, Nelson Rockefeller lead a walkout of moderate Republicans. The New 'National Alliance' Party had now lost a substantial amount of support to a renegade 'Moderate' Republican ticket and throughout the fall campaign were never able to make up lost ground against McCarthy. The President had won re-election.

But on what basis? A bombshell report from the New York Times would ask in the fall of 1973. A whistleblower from a high-ranking post in the McCarthy White House had revealed that the President had illegally ordered a wiretapping of the National Alliance Party's makeshift party headquarters in Bar Harbor, Maryland shortly after the events of the RNC. The whistleblower, soon revealed to have been White House Counsel Ramsey Clark, was quickly fired bringing greater attention to the developing scandal. McCarthy would fight the charges for over a year. The National Alliance Party and their Moderate Republican congressional allies had waited until the 1974 elections before formally moving towards articles of impeachment, in order the reap the benefits of a midterm crowd hostile to President McCarthy. And reap they would, bringing the Democrats down to scant majorities in both chambers. In April, 1975 the House of Representatives would pass articles of impeachment against President Eugene McCarthy. Weeks later, he would resign from the presidency in order to avoid a senate trial over his removal. Just days earlier he had been confronted by Vice President George McGovern and Senator Mike Gravel to resign in order to save the country and the party from a nasty senate trial. McCarthy would be sentenced to 4 years in prison in 1977 although he would be released on the orders of President McGovern in 1979.

When George McGovern became President in April, 1975 he was immediately faced with a difficult situation. Although he was currently benefiting from a honeymoon period, his predecessor was hated (McCarthy had a 22% approval rating at the time of his resignation). So, McGovern immediately set about repairing the White House's frayed relations with congress. By the end of the year he would pass landmark administration increasing yearly basic income to $4,000. Meanwhile, his opposition was ready to destroy themselves. As 1975 turned into 1976, the rump moderate faction of the Republican Party formally created the Moderate Party, absorbing the growing number of dissident Democrats in the process. This served to embolden their image as the National Alliance Party commenced a vicious primary between former nominee John Wayne, Representative John Ashbrook, Representative John Schmitz, Louisiana Governor John Rarick, Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo, and Arizona Governor Evan Mecham, among other less popular candidates. The candidates were individually savaged but it would be the theatrical Mecham who rose victorious following several ballots at the convention. The Mecham/Rizzo ticket set about to continue the party's theme of a 'law and order' platform. On the Moderate side of things, former Vice President John Connally, with the aid of party leader Richard Nixon, triumphed over his many intraparty 'Rockefeller Republican' opponents and seized the nomination alongside Elliot Richardson. On the opposite side of the ideological aisle stood the incumbent President George McGovern, who overcame bare opposition in his party's primaries and was paired up with the elderly Senate Majority Leader Hubert Humphrey. The election would end up an easier fight than the DNC had initially thought. The odious Mecham and untrustworthy Connally largely attacked eachother as President McGovern remained above the fray, practicing a Rose Garden strategy. So despite the Democrats' incumbency fatigue and widespread unpopularity, they would be granted an electoral victory in November, 1976.

It was 1977 and segregation still persisted in the United States of America. And not just the school segregation and housing segregation that had come to dominate American suburbia, real legally defined segregation. The Goldwater civil rights bills were considered jokes by those who supported the very concept of civil rights, let alone by those whose lives were directly impacted by their ramifications. Black leaders from the more moderate like Congressman John Lewis and Mayor Tom Bradley, who regularly demanded legal action on the issue, to the more radical like Louis X of Muslim Mosque Inc. and African People's Party Women's Leader Assata Shakur, who used it as reason to condemn the United States, kept the issue in conversation. But President McCarthy didn't really care, similar to how he didn't care to help abolish the poll tax. After all, the black vote went to his primary opponent, Lyndon Johnson, and African-Americans had been a lock for the Democratic Party since the days of FDR. But George McGovern did care. Although it may have not seemed like it based on the inaction of his first year and a half in office, George McGovern was willing to evangelize for the cause of civil rights. He did so in congress and he was willing to do so in front of the notoriously stubborn Eugene McCarthy. His platform had featured an article calling for the end of "legalized discrimination in all its remaining forms" but he really didn't run on the issues. However, now was the time to focus on the issues. So, knowing this about the President, it should not have been a surprise to see him in the Rose Garden with Vice President Humphrey, Congressman Lewis, Ambassador Young, and Speaker Udall, in February, 1977 announcing that his administration was going to end discrimination by private businesses.

It would have been better if Goldwater, or even Kennedy or Eisenhower, ended business discrimination. In the more than decade since Goldwater's bill passed segregation had continued to fester and it had become a right of passage for many southern businesses to throw out black customers. The initial patchwork of integrated/segregated businesses across the South had given way to a bizarre system by the mid-70s. Chain stores and restaurants were almost universally expected to be integrated establishments while small businesses, in near parallel uniformity, were expected to be whites only. The vast majority of integrated southern small businesses were fractured by boycotts and many were forced to change policies or close entirely by the time 1977 rolled around. This toxic social environment was beginning to sink in as a regional peculiarity for the American South. And a large number of southern citizenry wanted to keep it that way. So as the Democratic-dominated House and Senate passed the 1977 Civil Rights Act in quick succession, even breaking a National Alliance filibuster with the help of Moderate senators, and got the bill signed by President McGovern in May, white southerners went up in arms. Enter stage left, George Lincoln Rockwell.

Splitting with Matthias Koehl's occultist 'New Order' organization, George Lincoln Rockwell established the nationalistic and conservative American Citizens' Group in 1968. While initially criticized as "the same old American Nazi Party with a fresh coat of paint" (ACG still used ANP slogans like "White Power") Rockwell simultaneously tried to ingratiate himself to the nation's radicalizing right-wing. Affiliating with candidates backed by groups like the John Birch Society, Rockwell would soon become well respected enough within the burgeoning National Alliance Party to become a delegate at the 1976 convention (Rockwell was initially supportive of John Schmitz but would switch his vote to Evan Mecham alongside much of the convention hall). After that initial credibility Rockwell's stock rose rapidly. He even opened for Evan Mecham at an ACG event in September of that year. With that behind him he announced that he was running for Governor of Virginia in February of 1977. Condemning the civil rights action of the McGovern administration, and Governor Henry Howell's willingness to go along with it, Rockwell would destroy his opposition for the Republican nomination. Rockwell would be elected Governor of Virginia with nearly 60% of the vote. He could attribute nothing but a well-oiled rightist political machine and an enraged bigoted populace to his victory. Rockwell's victor, and his past as leader of the American Nazi Party, grabbed headlines. To many in the national press it was an indication that southern opposition to President McGovern's policies had reached a critical point, but to Governor Rockwell and his backers it merely showed that a decade of work had been enough to scrub away the PR sin of his Nazi involvement. George Lincoln Rockwell had big plans.

The 1978 midterms were a disaster for George McGovern. Like in Virginia, southern opposition to his civil rights policies had led to the rejection of congressional Democrats en masse. But that was not his only problem. The overthrow of the American-backed regime in Iran over the summer had cast a dark haze over the midterms nationwide. The subsequent establishment of the Revolutionary Socialist Republic of Iran aided the President's foreign policy detractors. The revolutionaries' impromptu guillotining of the Shah didn't help matters much either. The National Alliance would claim majorities in both congressional chambers. They vowed to permanently obstruct the agenda of President McGovern. Despite this setback, President McGovern still vowed to run for another term. As 1979 dragged on and the summer's racial and social turmoil worsened as the economy entered a recession, primary challengers entered the fray. California Governor Jerry Brown blamed the President's "big government solutions" and "lack of big ideas" for the nation's current state of disarray while New York Governor Hugh Carey blamed the President's "left-wing radicalism." Brown's challenge would win him several states against McGovern (including the early primary of New Hampshire) while Carey would drop his challenge in October and switch parties to the Moderates to continue his run there. As President McGovern finally defeated Governor Brown, Carey would rise above a fractured field filled with John Connally, John Anderson, Larry Pressler, and Howard Baker. On the National Alliance side, 19 candidates would come to prominence in the party's first national primary. While they ranged from relative moderates to hardline rightists, policy wonks to demagogues, none would stand out like Virginia Governor George Rockwell. Rockwell dominated polling throughout the contest, first with pluralities and then with majorities, and remained the first frontrunner through the first few primaries. Rockwell's "Make America Great Again" slogan and the viciousness of his campaign led by the competitive Roger Stone and Lee Atwater and based on nationalism, social conservatism, and economic populism, captivated National Alliance voters and overcame a hastily assembled "Anybody But Rockwell" coalition to triumph on the convention's first ballot. Rockwell's selection of a National Alliance moderate, California Senator Ronald Reagan was enough to quell the concerns that many in the party had with him. Meanwhile, Hugh Carey selected Representative John Anderson as his running mate at a convention where he welcomed a worryingly small number of fleeing National Alliance supporters. President McGovern attempted to rally Democrats with his selection of the more moderate Senator Ed Muskie to fill the VP role vacated in the wake of Hubert Humphrey's death. But McGovern would face yet another complication. Former opponent Jerry Brown was nowhere to be found at the 1980 DNC because he was planning on becoming the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee alongside a young wealthy donor named Ed Koch. For the entire race McGovern and Rockwell were neck-and-neck as Carey pulled a very strong third and Brown vied for contention. The candidates swapped strong debate performances. McGovern began to pull ahead with just weeks before the election after warning voters in his closing statement in the final debate that Rockwell's ideology was one "we defeated on the beaches of Normandy" and victory appeared just within his grasp until the 'Fort Wayne story' broke. Affairharbor, released by operatives from the Rockwell campaign just days before the election brought the revelation that McGovern had had an affair that produced a child. The backlash was enormous and as the public woke on election day, 1980 the polls showed McGovern and Rockwell were tied.

Rockwell's narrow victory over a divided field brought the National Alliance to power for the first time. Emboldened with congressional gains in both houses, Rockwell was ready to put his plan into action: Singlaub at State, Rarick at Justice, Paul at Treasury, LaRouche at Interior, Buchanan at Communications, Carto running the White House... they would end welfare as American knew it while emboldening Yearly Basic Income, break with weak foreign allies who couldn't fend for themselves, and a lot more than he said on the campaign trail, that's for certain. Finally, George Lincoln Rockwell had made it to the White House.

And a white house it would be.
 
I know we're heading away from history into creative writing but this *is* creative writing


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No Throne For The Bug King
Part II: The Inevitable Hordes

Lucretian Dynasty (Rome)
The new, purely Roman dynasty was known for its purity and its devotion to religious matters, building up the authority of the Papacy and establishing the doctrine of what would become the Roman Orthodox Church. However, its policy of ignoring secular matters would prove to be its downfall when its own armies would turn against the Emperor.

996-1017: Lucretius The Roman
1017-1023: Lucian I The Pure
1023-1051: Hadrian II The Unready


The Phillipikian Dynasty (Byzantium)
A short-lived dynasty that focused mainly on the declining power of the Avars but did retake Jerusalem fro the Alexandrians.

1034-1049: Phillipikos II
1049-1052: Phillipikos III


Ezran Dynasty (Alexandria)
A more standard dynasty, passed on from father to son and focused on the military, with attempted to stop the tide of Byzantine reconquest, which seemed for a while to be nearly inevitable.

1043-1066: Ezra I
1066-1074: Ezra II
1074-1091: Ezra III
1091-1111: Joseph III
1111-1117: Ezra IV


Norse Dynasty (Rome)
Norse settlers, long established in northern France, became a key feature of the Imperial navy and eventually an established part of life in the north of Empire, which was of growing economic importance. The Norse dynasty established its base of power there, and used this as the base for it's invasion of Italy, using army pay as a pretext.

The family would assimilate into the Eternal City, to a degree. But maintained strong links to northern France and to the wider Norse world, which would lead to the first Roman expeditions to Hyperborea and even on to Greenland.

1051-1075: Harald I The Barbarian
1075-1079: Leo IV The Bald
1079-1094: Godrun I The Pretender
1094-1099: Leo V The Sailor
1099-1114: Theodocius IV The Sailor
1114-1129: Harald II The Pious
1129-1138: Leo VI The Scholar


The Later Justinian Dynasty (Byzantium)
A well-established noble family from Byzantium, the Justinians presided over a time of relative calm for the Empire which was notable mostly for religious, cultural, and scientific innovation. Firearms, the printing press, and even paper money were experimented with and a heliocentric theory of the heavens was created. However for the Justinians the greatest achievements were religious - the expansion of the Hagia Sophia and the construction of a new dome to replace fire damage, and the development of new doctrinal orthodoxy for the Byzantine Orthodox Church in an attempt to reconcile Monophysitism, Monoenergism and Chalcedonianism into a new whole. This was only partially successful. The Empire never really incorporated the Persians or the Levant and the extra territory lead to religious and ethnic violence at an ever increasing level.

1052-1059: Justinian VIII
1059-1067: Maurice I
1067-1084: Justinian XI
1084-1086: Callinicos
1086-1115: Maurice II


The Ctesiphonian Dynasty (Byzantium)
The primary city of Persia had grown in importance within Rome as a site for campaigning and maintaining control over a religiously volatile part of the empire. The Csteiphonians gained power through marriage but were still in many ways treated as usurpers by a state that feared that they were closet monoenergists - like many of the Romano-Persians. Or worse, all out Zoroastrians. Rumours of strange rituals continued and the family was frequently sidelined by the growing importance of the Senate, and maintained power elsewhere through not asking for too much. However the later emperors regained some prestige by retaking Jerusalem and marching into Egypt itself.

Ironically, the Dynasty spent much of its time fighting Zoroastrian and Jewish rebellions in Persia, where the delicate balance between minimal rule and preventing rebellion was often missed, sometimes with devastating results.

1115-1133: Constans III
1133-1145: Leo V
1145-1158: Basil II
1158-1178: Constantine VI
1178-1193: Leo VI
1193-1206: Valentinian VI


The Despotism (Alexandria)
Early military victories allowed Joshua I to achieve something that should not technically have been possible in the Alexandrian system - a father to son dynasty, which for a lifetime gained an almost supernatural place in the Coptic imagination, despite their failures to capitalise on their success and the economic decline of the region.

1117-1133: Joshua I
1133-1158: Joshua II
1158-1184: Joshua III


Magnian Dynasty (Rome)
The Magnian Dynasty came from Southern Italy and were far closer to East Byzantine, particularly religiously. This came at a time of religious conflict in the East and consequent migration of the more Chalcedonian factions west, which they largely supported.

1138-1151: Magnus I The Heretic
1151-1179: Tiberius XI The Bastard


Parisian Dynasty (Rome)
Used the perception of Chalcedonian heresy to secure their own legitimacy and dealt with the growing religious division between the Roman Orthodox Church (representing papal authority) the Chalcedonians (representing unity with the East), alongside the Celtic, Norse, and Arian churches and various heresies. Beyond these challenges, the Empire built up its presence in Britain, Hibernia, and Greenland, were they came to establish colonies in the Gulf of Gudromsland at the south of the continent, and even got down to Atlantis.

The Empire in this time grew less and less close to the Western Empire due to diplomatic issues as the Romans gained more dominance in the Mediterranean and the threat of the Chalcedonian "heresy". This lead to them ignoring the threats to the Eastern Empire and remaining neutral in the final fight on theat frontier.

1179-1211: Theodebert I The Great
1211-1218: Leo VII The Soldier
1218-1232: Thallasomer I The Law-giver
1232-1256: Bascilicind I The Expected
1256-1263: Lucian II The Artist
1263-1288: Tiberius XI The Peacemaker


The Time of Purity (Alexandria)
Having been badly defeated, Egyptian leadership entered a political freefall that lead to direct rule from the Church.

1184-1221: Council of Elders

Nersian Dynasty (Byzantium)
An Armenian dynasty that ruled mostly from the front. Initially they concentrated on rebellions in Persia, but the arrival of Kereyit Hordes made the situation even worse. At first because of migrating tribes entering the empire on mass to get away from the invaders in Persia, and in the Levant the Empire finally lost Jerusalem to Arabic Jews. Finally, the empire faced a massive invasion along its Persian borders that pushed through the defences so fast that it encircled the Byzantine armies and Emperor Nerses II was killed retreating from the scene of conflict.

1206-1233: Nerses I
1233-1256: Valentinian V
1256-1271: Nerses II


The Civil War (Alexandria)
Facing rebellions in Africa and Egypt, Peter never really gained full control of the region and fought constant usurpers until one of them gained the support of Byzantium.

1221-1226: Peter

The Puppet Emperors (Alexandria)
Elected nominally by the council of Church Elders, real power rested with Byzantium, or rather, Byzantine interests. As war and rebellion stretched on the actual power of Byzantium in the region ebbed and flowed, with Byzantine power. The last two Emperors were totally independent, but also totally powerless to defend the empire, which ultimately couldn't defend itself against Nubian attacks and the end of the Empire.

1226-1229: Solomon I
1229-1235: Joseph IV
1235-1247: Adam
1247-1258: Alexander III
1258-1263: Alexander IV
1263-1270: Moses-Abraham


The Last Dynasty (Byzantium)
Two further waves of Kereyit invasian took place during the Last Dynasty. Much of the Empire's defences were positioned in Persia, and when it fell there was little left. Armenia fell shortly after, and an additional wave pushed into Anatolia against a weakened and demoralised empire.

1271-1273: Valentinian VI
1273-1275: Anastasios III
1275-1278: Phillipikos II
1278-1284: Valentinian VII
1284-1288: Constantine VII
 
New York State of Mind

2007-2008: Eliot Spitzer (Democratic) [Resigned in Wake of Prostitution Scandal]
2006 (with David Paterson) def. John Faso (Republican)
2008-2010: David Paterson (Democratic) [Was pressured by President Clinton into not seeking another term]
2011-2011: Anthony Weiner (Democratic) [Resigned in Wake of Sexting Scandal]
2010 (with Byron Brown) def. Rick Lazio (Republican)
2011-2014: Byron Brown (Democratic)
2015-2016: Chris Collins (Republican) [Resigned in Wake of Insider Trading Scandal]
2014 (with Marc Molinaro) def. Byron Brown (Democratic)
2016-2018: Marc Molinaro (Republican)
2019-2021: Kirsten Gillibrand (Democratic) [Resigned to take a position in President Cuomo's Cabinet]
2018 (with Preet Bharara) def. Marc Molinaro (Republican)
2021-????: Preet Bharara (Democratic)

"I'd like something other than eternal Andrew Cuomo in the Governor's Mansion" Monkey's Paw curls
 
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List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom (1916 Onwards)
1916-1924: David Lloyd George (Liberal)
1924-1926: Winston Churchill (Liberal)
1926-1932: William Bridgeman (Conservative)
1932-1940: Neville Chamberlain (Conservative)
1940-1946: John Simon (Liberal)
1946-1955: Philip Fothergill (Liberal)
1955-1962: Oliver Lyttelton (Conservative)
1962-1967: Anthony Wedgwood Benn (Liberal)
1967-1973: William Whitelaw (Conservative)
1973-1978: Jeremy Thorpe (Conservative)
1978-1987: Roy Jenkins (Liberal)
1987-1990: William Rodgers (Liberal)
1990-1995: Kenneth Clarke (Conservative)
1995-2002: Jenny Tonge (Liberal)
2002-2007: Michael Ancram (Conservative)
2007-2014: Sandra Gidley (Liberal)
2014-2019: Julie Kirkbride (Conservative)
2019-????: Chris Evans (Liberal / Reform)
 
“When you first start playing chess and you become a half-decent chess-player you always try to go for the opponent's queen first. It makes sense, the queen is the most dangerous piece of all, and if the queen is not immediately for the taking, you go for the rook, the bishop, the knight. It is first when you understand that none of those pieces really matter, that the only piece of your opponent's that truly matters is the king, that is when you start to become a good chess-player.

“The world of politics is full of half-decent chess-players. Ambitious men who seek to swell their ranks, and get everyone to vote for them and their party, fifty percent or more. They need to win everywhere, it seems. To paint the assemblies in their own colours. But what use is commanding the greatest minority if the majority is still against you? And what use is a landslide if it's only fleeting? It is not the politicians who won the greatest victories at the polls that we remember, but the politicians who implemented their programs. Power, not majorities, is what matters.”

– Artur Christian Andersen, Reflections on Parliamentary Democracy, 1939.

The Days of Valdemar Vågmäster[1]:

1914-1922: Sigurd Meissner (Liberal leading Liberal majority government)
1922-1925: Anton Svinhufvud (Unionist leading Unionist-Labour-Radical composition majority government)
1925-1927: Sigurd Meissner (Liberal leading Liberal minority government)
1927-1928: Svante Vikander (Liberal leading Liberal minority government)
1928-1930: Anton Svinhufvud (Unionist leading Unionist-Labour-Radical composition majority government)
1930-1931: Artur Christian Andersen (Radical leading Radical minority government)
1931-1932: Svante Vikander (Liberal leading Liberal-Radical composition majority government)
1932-1934: Artur Christian Andersen (Radical leading Radical minority government)
1934-1936: Patrik Lagercrantz (Unionist leading Unionist-Skeptical composition minority government)
1936-1937: Bernhard Crafoord (Skeptical leading Skeptical minority government)
1937-1939: Gunnar Berglund (Liberal leading Liberal-Radical minority government)
1939-1940: Christoffer Kjeldahl (Radical leading Radical minority government)
1940-1952: Thorsager Brandstrup (Labour leading Labour-Radical majority government, then Labour minority government, then Labour majority government, then Labour minority government)



[1] The Nordic Emperor Valdemar I, who reigned 1919-1947, has become known popularly as Valdemar Vågmäster after vågmästare, an old title referring to an engineer or craftsman tasked with making sure that scales were accurate (the word translates as "master of scales"). As the Nordic Empire's political landscape was experiencing nigh constant realignment owing to the entry into the Unionsdag of the Nordic Labour Party in the early 20th century and the introduction of a uniform system of proportional representation in 1923, the Emperor often had to be consulted and invited to mediate cabinet disputes and constructing government compositions that could survive votes of no confidence, hence becoming called a "scale master" as he was the one who had to make sure the political balance was maintained. Note that this political definition of vågmästare i actually at odds to the two other definitions of vågmästare in politics that exist in OTL Swedish politics.


Very basic idea of where the different political parties stand:

View attachment 4355

I would like to do a follow up on this one some day, but I simply do not know enough about the period that follows afterward to be able to properly figure it out. I do have in mind that there is a Unionist from Norway by the name of Norvald Espensen who serves as Chancery President on three occasions in the 50s and 60s, including leading another Roundtable composition government at a time of something resembling a Cuban missile crisis. There's also a Finnish Labour politician by the name of Pekka Elias Lammikko who runs a Labour-Radical composition government in the 1970s.
 
I would like to do a follow up on this one some day, but I simply do not know enough about the period that follows afterward to be able to properly figure it out. I do have in mind that there is a Unionist from Norway by the name of Norvald Espensen who serves as Chancery President on three occasions in the 50s and 60s, including leading another Roundtable composition government at a time of something resembling a Cuban missile crisis. There's also a Finnish Labour politician by the name of Pekka Elias Lammikko who runs a Labour-Radical composition government in the 1970s.
If you want to flesh it out at some point, hit me up. :)
 
If you want to flesh it out at some point, hit me up. :)

Would much love to. Though of course, you do understand how my creative process works:

"So, basically, my creative process is as follows-..."

"...you come up with an interesting-sounding name first, and then you try to work out everything from that...?"

"..."

"Well...?"

"Yes."
 
Sacred Defense

2017 - 2020: Donald Trump / Mike Pence (Republican Party) [1]
2016 Def: Hillary Clinton / Tim Kaine (Democratic Party)
2020: Mike Pence / vacant (Republican Party) [2]
2020 - 2021: Nancy Pelosi / Andrew Cuomo (Democratic Party) [3]
2021 - 2029: Andrew Cuomo / Kamala Harris (Democratic Party) [4]
2020 Def: Ted Cruz / Brian Kemp (Republican Party), Donald Trump / Jim Gilchrist (Independent)
2024 Def: Tom Cotton / Tim Fox (Republican Party); Tulsi Gabbard / Cynthia McKinney (Green Party)

2029 - : vacant / Josh Hawley (Republican Party) [5]
2028: Tucker Carlson / Josh Hawley (Republican Party), Kamala Harris / Pete Buttigieg (Democratic Party), Evan McMullin / various (Independent)

[1] - Trump's presidency both began and ended with a bang. He won the 2016 election with the skin of his teeth, his first year saw civil unrest which hadn't been seen in decades, his party failed in repealing Obamacare, and the 2018 midterms saw big gains for the Democratic Party. However, future historians would note that his presidency began to end when the US withdrew from the Iran Deal in May 2018. From then until January 2020, tensions between the US and Iran would gradually increase, from Iran supposedly sinking oil tankers to the Houthis in Yemen striking at Saudi Arabia's oil reserves to the attack on American embassies in Baghdad and Beirut in retaliation for America's airstrikes on Kata'ib Hizbollah on New Year's Eve, 2019.

On January 2nd, 2020, in retaliation for the Baghdad and Beirut embassy attacks, the US launched a series of airstrikes in Iraq and Lebanon, killing PMF commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Badr Organization Secretary General Hadi al-Ameri, Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, "Special Groups" leader Qais Khazali, and IRGC commander Abdul Reza Shahlai, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Mohammad Radd, head of Hezbollah's political wing. The killing of the "Seven Martyrs" (as they would be known in Iran) were the cause of great outrage in Iran and pro-Iran elements in the Levant. After a week of mourning and threats, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis struck back at the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, by launching a series of missile strikes at US military bases, Israeli governmental buildings, and Saudi oil fields. The strikes killed 30 Americans, 80 Saudis, and 10 Israelis. It was war.

The war ended up being a lot quicker than anyone expected, but ended in a way nobody wanted. After a few months of a war of attrition (which included a partition of Iraq, the collapse of Kuwait, and an Israeli invasion of Lebanon), both America and Iran would face a common threat - the Coronavirus. The Coronavirus pandemic began in China, where it killed a thousand people, and then spread to Iran in February. With much of Iran's resources focused on fighting America, it spread like wildfire in Iran, killing hundreds by March 15th. It was March 15th when America saw that its Coronavirus problem was also getting out of hands. Prior to the 15th, Trump spent days arguing with his staff over whether or not America should declare a national emergency under wartime. After days of deliberation, Trump conceded, and in a national address would declare the Coronavirus pandemic to be a national emergency.

Trump's prior dismantling of the CDC would make the problem hard to solve, and many states began to issue stay at home orders in order to lessen the spread. This would harm the war effort as staying at home meant that many Americans would not go to the recruitment office. Trump would find it hard to first combat a pandemic and win a war. Iran and Iraq would both offer ceasefire agreements, but it was rejected out of hand.

By April, Trump found himself exhausted and stressed. News from the front was not good, as the US found it hard to push forward in Iran. There were also reports of the Coronavirus infecting US soldiers. The Coronavirus would kill more Americans than 9/11, and America would have the highest number of reported cases (it was said that Iran had the most, but it wasn't reported). Soon, there would be some in the Trump administration advocating for a ceasefire and for an eventual withdrawal from both Iran and Iraq. Trump found himself isolated - there were many who supported him, but he began to think that many were just doing so for their own gain. Trump soon began to lose sight of what the goal of the war was: to place compliant governments in both Iran and Iraq. However, Trump began to believe his propaganda, and began to feel that they are evil and had to be destroyed

And so, on April 11th, 2020, the order was given out. 5 Minuteman-III ICBMs were to be launched: at Baghdad, at Tehran, at Qom, at Shiraz, and at Isfahan.

For many in the US military, the nuclear attacks were the last straw. Shortly afterwards, another order was given, and that was to arrest Trump. Trump was going through a form of mental breakdown shortly before giving the order to launch nuclear missiles, a breakdown he was still going under. It was clear that he shouldn't be allowed to be in office a moment longer. Secret Service agents detained Trump, and the US Marine Garrison in Washington would move in to arrest him.

[2] - Luckily for Pence, he was not in the White House at the time, and even luckier, many in the military were willing to have him be president on the condition that he does not pardon Trump. Pence was sworn in on April 12th, 2020, and was to become the president of a confused and shocked country. Pence would begin the withdrawal of American soldiers from Iran and Iraq, and declare the end of the Iran War. Withdrawal from Afghanistan was to be sped up as well. With much of Iran's leadership gone, Iran collapsed into anarchy, and . The Sadrists would take over Iraq, with Basra instead of Baghdad as the capital.

Pence felt uneasy over the condition the military gave him over not pardoning Trump, and felt that it meant that the military is getting too powerful. As such, on May 1st he decided to pardon Trump, in spite of the fact that all of his advisors were telling him not to. The pardoning of Trump caused a big controversy, and drastically hurt Pence's approval ratings. It seemed clear that Pence would lose in a landslide, but it didn't even come to that as Pence would be assassinated by an Iranian immigrant two days after the pardoning, for his complicity in the Iran War and the April 11th nuclear strikes.

[3] - Pelosi tried to do the best she could in the eight months of her presidency. Her response to the coronavirus pandemic was better than Trump's, and the number of cases began to decrease by July, and the stay at home orders began to be rescinded. The withdrawal from Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan was completed as well, but the US still maintained a role in the Saudi-Yemen War and the Israel-Lebanon War. Biden's death in July had led to his delegates being uncommitted, and there was a move to nominate Pelosi, but she took herself out of the nominating process before it could get somewhere. Her Vice President, Andrew Cuomo, was the one most Biden's delegates ended up supporting. Seeing as how Cuomo did not run in the primaries at all, this was seen a stolen convention, but the weakness of the Republican Party post-Trump (and the fact that Trump was running as an independent after failing to retake the nomination) meant that the Democrats still had the upper hand in the election. Her presidency is mainly seen as the transition period from the Trump era to the post-Trump era.

[4] - Andrew Cuomo ran in 2020, urging a return to normalcy. But the forces of history cannot be stopped, and that would prove itself throughout his presidency. The first two years in office would see some changes being made - a public option being implemented, a shift away from the Middle East, and by 2022 the Coronavirus Pandemic was officially over, with over a 2.5 million dead worldwide (the US pandemic was considered over by Spring 2021).

The 2022 Midterms would see a shift in the Democratic Party as much of the older congressmen and women would find themselves be primaried by younger, leftist challengers. Open primaries in Democratic-leaning seats would see the same phenomenon. Though the overall seat change would make it seem like the midterms were unimportant (Republicans gaining 20 seats, just 25 less of controlling the House), the number of DSA members in congress grew from three to twenty, a growth which would be seen in the 2024 and 2026 House and Senate elections as well.

Though Cuomo tried to begin a shift away from the Middle East, America would be forced to return. Cuomo had decreased American support for Saudi Arabia, which had led to MBS becoming unpopular amongst the rest of the Saudi government. A coup in 2023 had led to MBS's death, but most of the coup plotters didn't have a plan after that. Because of this, Saudi Arabia collapsed within two months after the coup. The Middle East, which was dealing with Iran's collapse, the partition of Iraq, the Israel-Lebanon War, now had to deal with Saudi Arabia's collapse. The collapse of Saudi Arabia had ripple effects across the Middle East as much of the Gulf States relied on a stable KSA to survive, and when the KSA collapsed, so did they. Egypt, Jordan, and the Mashriq Republic (Sunni Arab Iraq, which was partitioned during the Iran War) relied on Saudi handouts, and all of their economies collapse.

ISIS, which had been lurking in the shadows since their defeat in Baghouz in 2019, came back with a vengeance after the collapse of the KSA. ISIS had followed a policy of infiltrating the armies of Muslim countries, starting from 2021, and this was most successful in the Mashriq Republic. The collapse of Mashriq's economy had led to a pro-ISIS coup taking place, where they declared the borders of Mashriq to be under jursidiction of ISIS. There were some who came out to rebel, but faced a brutal crackdown. ISIS began to expand south to the former Saudi Arabia and west to the collapsing Jordan and to Syria. They would also begin to take towns in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. It was 2014 all over again.

The US would begin a series of airstrikes in ISIS territory starting from December 2023. Many Republicans began to say that this was not enough, and war was the only solution. Tom Cotton was one of those Republicans, which was why he was nominated in 2024. However, most Americans, Democrats, independents, and even many Republicans did not want boots on the ground, which was why Cotton lost in spite of Gabbard acting as a spoiler in some states.

In spite of the airstrikes against ISIS, it continued to expand. Egypt would become a failed state by 2025, leading to ISIS expanding itself there as well. It captured Riyadh, and would try to expand itself to Mecca and Medina, but was stopped by a UN peacekeeping force consisting of entirely Muslim countries. ISIS knew what capturing Mecca and Medina would mean propaganda-wise, and pushed on, making those two cities battlegrounds. ISIS's rise would only be contested on the ground by Russia, which saw ISIS's expansion into Syria as dangerous to the friendly Assad regime. The Russian intervention in the Levant was seen as a model by many Republicans, but Cuomo dug his heels in and still chose not to put boots on the ground. Indeed, it did not take long for Russia to struggle with an intervention this large. The ISIS of the 2020s was not the same ISIS of the 2010s.

Climate Change's uglier effects would begin around Cuomo's second term as well. This was seen in South Asia, which had been going through a water crisis since 2024. India decided to breach the Indus Water Treaty in order to provide water for its northern half, angering Pakistan. Pakistan attacked Indian Kashmir and Indian Punjab in an attempt to prevent India from successfully cutting water from Pakistan, which in turn had led to an Indian retaliation. Pakistan's leadership, realizing it was on the losing end, knew that Pakistan would collapse without the Indus River's water, and decided that if they would go down, so would India. New Delhi, Kolkata, Bombay, and Ahmedabad were all nuked by Pakistan, and in retaliation, India nuked Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi.

The Indo-Pak Nuclear War had led to the world's economy going down, along with a refugee crisis and hundreds of millions dead. It was the worst humanitarian crisis since the Holocaust. The Taliban government in Afghanistan collapsed without Pakistani support, providing an avenue for ISIS to expand. The Naxalites in India saw a chance to rebound with the Indian government's collapse, and would gain the support of China and Nepal. China, realizing the importance of an ally in India, would intervene in 2028 on the side of the Naxalites.

The nuclear war in South Asia, along with ISIS's rise, had led to a refugee crisis which in turn had led to anti-refugee and anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise once more, just like in 2015-2016. Cuomo urged US governors to open their doors to refugees, but many wouldn't budge. Seeing as how it was the end of Cuomo's presidency and how he didn't have much political capital left, he didn't try to make a big issue out of it.

Cuomo is remembered as a mediocre president, which is strange, considering how much happened under his presidency. But it makes sense - though he did not do anything bad like launch an unnecessary war and end it with nukes, he failed to stop ISIS and mediate the conflict in Kashmir.

[5] - After years of being a Fox News host, Tucker Carlson's show ended in 2026. He was populist, anti-interventionist, and engaged in just enough anti-semitic and anti-immigrant dogwhistles, which weren't bad enough to have him be booted off the air, but loud enough to where he became the darling of the far-right. He became a Republican candidate in 2028 and quickly became the frontrunner, and became the presumptive nominee faster than Trump did in 2016. He was neck-and-neck with Vice President Harris, and when election day came...

...nobody won. It was an electoral tie, 269-269. The Republicans won in the Senate, but the House had them command a small lead of only three seats.

Ever since Trump's victory in 2016, there had been a rise in popularity of both far-right and far-left groups. This had continued under Pence, Pelosi, and Cuomo, and the confusion over the 2028 election was enough to make the former (which had been supporting Carlson all the way) to attack racial and religious minorities, who they proclaimed stole the election from Carlson. Attacks on minorities had led to far-left groups taking on the mantle of protecting them, which had led to an increase in violence between the two. To make things worse, two Utah electors and one Idaho elector, and two Missouri electors put their vote in, not for Carlson who had won the two states but instead for Utah Governor Evan McMullin. McMullin, who had opposed Tucker Carlson throughout the campaign decided that he would run in the House contigent election.

When the new Congress was sworn in, the contingent election began. The Republican Senate made Josh Hawley Vice President, but the House delegations were split between Carlson, Harris, and McMullin. The Contingent Vote was deadlocked, as many of the delegations either had ties or three way splits, preventing any candidate from reaching 26 delegations. This continued until the 20th, making Hawley acting president. It does not seem like America will have a president for the next few months. Threats of assassinating congressmen are, so far, relegated to the internet, but the chances of someone acting on those threats is high.

With ISIS controlling much of the Levant and the Gulf, India divided between a Hindutva death state, Chinese-aligned Maoists, and warlords who don't care about any ideology, along with far-right parties winning in Europe, Russian soldiers in the Middle East, America going through a political crisis, and with catastrophic Climate Change appearing inevitable the world does not have much to look forward to as the 2020s begin to end. One can hope that the 2040s or the 2050s may see some kind of renewal, but it all depends on what happens in the 2030s.

But if the last few years are any indication, we would be lucky if we end the 2030s without civilization collapsing.
 
All the worlds a stage - WI famous actors went into politics instead

1952 -1960: Fred MacMurray/Victor Mature (Republican)
1952 def: Humphrey Bogart/Pat O'Brien (Democrat)
1956 def: Joseph Cotten/Eddie Albert (Democrat)

1960 - 1968: Burt Lancaster/Robert Ryan (Democrat)
1960 def: Victor Mature/Harry Crosby (Republican)
1964 def: Cesar Romero/William Beedle (Republican)

1968 - 1972: William Beedle/James Cagney (Republican)
1968 def: Henry Fonda/E.E. Borgnino (Democrat)
1972 - 1980: Aristotelis Savalas/Katharine Hepburn (Democrat)
1972 def: William Beedle/James Cagney (Republican)
1976 def: James Stewart/Marion Morrison (Republican)

1980 - 1984: Katharine Hepburn/Sidney Poitier (Democrat)
1980 def: Marion Morrison/Warren Oates (Republican)
1984 - 1992: William Marshall/R.G. Armstrong (Republican)
1984 def: Katharine Hepburn/Sidney Poitier (Democrat)
1988 def: Robert Vaughan/Burt Reynolds (Democrat)

1992 - 2000: Peter Aurness/Burt Reynolds (Democrat)
1992 def: M.J Nance/Carlos Norris (Republican)
1996 def: Clint Eastwood/James Cann (Republican)

2000 - 2004: Burt Reynolds/Richard Roundtree (Democrat)
2000 def: Carlos Norris/Kurt Russell (Republican)
2004 - 2008: Richard Roundtree/Jane Fonda (Democrat)
2004 def: Kurt Russell/Joseph Pesci (Republican)
2008 - 2016: Tom Selleck/Adam Sandler (Republican)
2008 def: Jeff Daniels/A.L. Einstein (Democrat)
2012 def: Jane Fonda/Sam Jackson (Democrat)

2016 - XXXX: Meryl Streep/Mahershala Ali (Democrat)
2016 def: Adam Sandler/John Goodman (Republican)

Some of the above appear under their birth names rather than stage names, I may expand upon this in the writing folder.
 
Prime Ministers of New Zealand
1906-1912:
Sir Joseph Ward (Liberal)
1908 def: William Massey (Opposition), David McLaren (Independent Political Labour League)
1911 def: William Massey (Reform), Alfred Hindmarsh (Labour)

1912-1915: Sir Joseph Ward (Liberal with Labour confidence and supply)
1914 def: William Massey (Reform), Alfred Hindmarsh (Labour), Paddy Webb (Socialist)
1915-1919: Sir Joseph Ward (War Government: Liberal, Reform, Labour)
1919: Sir Joseph Ward (Liberal-Labour coalition)
1919-1925:
Sir Joseph Ward (Liberal-Labour)
1919 def: William Massey (Reform), Harry Holland (Socialist)
1922 def: William Massey (Reform), Harry Holland (Socialist)

1925-1928: Gordon Coates (Liberal-Labour)
1925 def: William Downie Stewart (Reform), Harry Holland (Socialist)
1928-1930: Sir Joseph Ward (National minority)
1928 def: Gordon Coates (Liberal-Labour), William Nosworthy (Country), Harry Holland (Socialist)

The Liberals do slightly better in 1911, allowing them to govern with the anaemic and internally divided Labour cohort in return for basically adopting a social-democratic platform. This avoids major industrial disturbances, which means that the Red Feds still believe that a general strike is a more effective weapon than building their Socialist Party. The popularity of the Government's measures combines with the 'rally round the flag' effect in the start of the First World War, allowing a continuance of the Ward-Hindmarsh Government - at least until public pressure for a National Government mounts. After the War, moderate Labour has been so long accommodated by the Liberals that a merger is achieved, under the unwieldy title of the 'United National Liberal and Labour Federation'.

With the War won, the public offer their gratitude to Liberal-Labour at the polls, but the post-War economic depression reduces the Government's popularity with farmers, and thus also reduces their majority. After nineteen years in power, Ward is moved aside in favour of Agriculture Minister Gordon Coates - a young man with a vigorous image that rebuilds the dominance of the Liberals amid a slight economic recovery. The creation of a state shipping company and the nationalisation of wool marketing are completed under Coates' watch, but he proves a ditherer and is reviled as a Socialist among the urban business set who have been unhappily loyal to the Liberals for the past decade.

Offended at his removal and buoyed by the support of his natural constituency, Sir Joseph returns to the political fray as leader of the National Party - effectively a merger of the old Reform Party and the Wardite Liberals, taking advantage of Albert Davy's electioneering talents and the electorate's hunger for a return to fiscal stringency. Audiences applaud Ward's promise only to borrow £700,000, although it is later revealed that Ward intended to say £7 million but misread his notes. The National Party comes into office with the tolerance of the Liberals and the Country Party, a splinter of the Reformers who don't want anything to do with the man they've been bashing for two decades.

Before the Nats can bed in, the Depression hits. Ward is forced to borrow far more than he'd envisaged, while the essential services of the nation are being torn asunder by Red Fed strikes and sanguineous riots. Who can save New Zealand in her darkest hour?
 
file-20171122-6027-1oe0fkn.jpg

No Throne for the Bug King
Part III: Meet the New Boss

The Republic of Byzantium - The Founders (Byzantium)

The Byzantine Senate had slowly been gaining power during the later era of the Empire, and following the death of the last emperor the senate felt no need to appoint a successor, instead tapping into waves of popular dissent and declaring a new republic. The city survived its final siege and saw the Kereyit establish their borders with Europe.

More a city state than a serious empire, the new constitution would see a return to a warped recollection of classical Roman values. However, this was a limited vision. Elections were a rubber stamp and real power was held by those who could corrall the public and the demes from the hippodrome, and from the pulpits of various churches. Riots were commonplace and usually paid for.

1288-1291: Hippolytus Stratioticus
1291-1294: Justinianus Staurakius
1294-1297: Maxentius Bardanes
1297-1306: Cerularius Acropolita
1306-1309: Gratian Stratioticus
1309-1312: Vigilius Sphrantzes
1312-1318: Maximianus Comnenus
1318-1324: Athanasius Stauricius
1324-1336: Alexius Glycas
1336-1341: Basiliscus Sphrantzes


The Caromagian Dynasty (Rome)

A Frankish dynasty - the Carolmagians were made up of a marital union of the Austrasian and Frankish nobility. Like most northerners they were dedicated Orthodox Romans and rejected the Chalcedonian Heresy, while also showing only a limited respect for the Popes, who were largely reduced to puppet status.

1288-1309: Carol I
1309-1321: Magnus II
1321-1330: Theo I

1330-1342: Pius I

The Demic System (Byzantium)

The Demes gradually grew into the real power behind the throne in Rome and eventually these sporting teams would morph into something more akin to political and religious factions. The Greens were coopted into Senatorial power, while the Blues represented a growing merchant class. The Reds, rising later, represented those who felt failed by the system entirely, along with religious minorities.

In the 1400s the city was one of the first parts of Europe to be hit by the Blood Plague - a deadly immune virus spread by mostly by sex, though at this stage the old practice of bleeding patients also caused deaths as unsanitised blades would be used on multiple patients. At the same time, fresh Kereyit advances hit the city, and Greek rebellions saw Byzantium lose its external empire. With the city's manpower and finances at a low ebb they could not rebuild fortifications after a major earthquake and the city was taken by the Kereyit with relative ease.

1341-1362: Basiliscus Sphrantzes (Greens)
1362-1365: Georgios Stauricius (Greens)
1365-1371: Probus Palamas (Greens)
1371-1377: Isaac Attaliates (Blues)
1377-1386: Critobulus Ptochoprodromus (Greens)
1386-1392: Castinus Ducas (Blues)
1392-1397: Pegarius Melodus (Greens)
1397-1400: Petrus Chalcocondyles (Greens)
1400-1406: Virus Prodromus (Blues)
1406-1410: Basil Constantinus (Bues)
1410-1422: Auxitius Glycas (Greens)
1422-1425: Anastasius Psellus (Blues)
1425-1428: Constantine Ducas (Reds)
1428-1433: Ablabius Vatatzes (Greens)
1433-1442: Belisarius Kurkuas (Reds)


The Jutish Dynasty (Rome)

The Jutish Dynasty was in reality, despite the name, more north Belgian, they where strongly related to the forces of the northern empire and rejected strongly any notion of "Chalcedonianism", a term which increasingly came to be associated even with Papal authority. They had some luck with increasing Roman power in the north, particularly in Britain and Hyperborea, however as the family became more established in the capitol it lost its connection to those that had put it on the throne.

1342-1358: Harald III
1358-1366: Harald IV
1366-1383: Urban I
1383-1392: Galswintha
1392-1411: Harald V


The Great Civil War (Rome)

A complex religious and political conflict, neither the Chalcedonians nor the Metanomians started off using these terms, though they would become less exaggeration and more reality as conditions worsened. The war started as a simple disagreement between two branches of the imperial family but would expand in scope.

Metanomianism - the belief that prophecy was not over and God's message is not complete - was popular in the north of the Empire and in more rural areas. This belief became a rallying call for Sufidebert's family line, particularly after Sufidebert and his first son Tacitus died of the Blood Plague. Following the atrocious year of 1413 the Sufidebertan campaign fell into more of a generalised religious and political uprising which in the end would do away with the need for an Emperor entirely.

The Chalcedonians
1411-1419: Theudeschilde
1419-1430: Urban II


The Metanomians
1411-1413: Sufidebert
1413: Tacitus
1413: Harald VI
1413-1415: Vasilisc Julian
1415-1438: The Triumvirate


The Second Roman Republic (Rome)

With the war over Rome entered a new period of consular democracy, in many ways following the Byzantine model of popular uprising and consultation. However, the Republic's new highly trained professional army formed a core of dictatorial support around the leading Valentine family that threatened to become a Dynasty before Tiberic's coup bought in a genuine sense of "new republican values".

The Empire in this time became firmly metanomian, although a rebel Roman Orthodox Church continued, and competed for the dregs of social status alongside the Chalcedonian church in the south.

1438-1442: Lucius Valentine
1442-1449: Eric Valentine
1459-1459: Tiberic Cornelian

The Godromists (Rome)

Signmund Godrom gained power the same way as Tiberic, and may have been accepted in the same way, had it not been for his decision to crown himself Emperor. Acclaimation as emperor by the troops and affirmed by the crowds in the hippodrome should have been uncontroversial, it had been standard practice for centuries in one form or other. However Sigmund failed to make the switch back to monarchy. Part of the problem was his extreme metanomian beliefs - even going so far as to fire the Pope and appoint a more radical candidate. Nobody was surprised, and few were sad, when his four year reign of terror ended in assassination. Although there are a few minor free churches in the north of Romania where he is still revered as a saint.

1459-1463: Sigmund Godrom

The Theudebertans (Rome)

Assassination and the Senate's appointment of a new Emperor was an old story, and Theudebert attempted to take the role of Augustus establishing a new principate. An avowed Chalcedonian, his extreme beliefs even put him at odds with the typically conservative Papacy. In the country at large, he pursued policies of land reform and enclosure that gave him opportunities to attack local shrines and hermitages, and the persecution of Chalcedonians changed overnight into a persecution of Metanomians. His son attempted to continue the policy, but the weak and sickly boy king was not popular with the Senate or the army and was pushed aside.

1463-1492: Theudebert
1492-1494: Augustus II


The Third Roman Republic (Rome)

The Third Republic was founded on an expansion of the Senate, the establishment of a new upper legislature, and an attempt to forge some kind of religious compromise that allowed for religious freedoms to be expanded. It was, however, a republic built on shakey legitimacy. It's attempts to win back territory that had been lost over the years was testament to that. The Republic would spend much of its time attempting to regain east Frankish territory, areas in Lusitania, Hispaniola and Africa, and even push into lands that had been abandoned in earlier Roman History.

The Justinian strategy of "taking it all back" was based on an understanding of the world and Rome's place in it that no longer existed, and Rome found itself confronted by the Ten Nation Alliance of Greek Alliance, Avaria, Bulgaria, Britannia, Lusitania, Slavia, Persia, The Tuareg Empire, Maya and China. While they managed to find allies in the form of the Aztec, Japanese, Kereyit and Scandinavians the war was hardly even sided and over a period of 15 years Rome was pushed back on all fronts and, in the end, suffered utter defeat.

1494-1516: Auril Lawrents
1516-1526: Vailent Seinsheim

Britannic Occupation (Rome)

Former Roman territory was divided among the allies, with only Hyperboria maintaining its independence as a sovereign metanomian republic. Most of Frankia and Australia was swallowed into Slavia, Greece expanded around the Aegean and into South Italia, Lusitanian concerns extended so far into Hispaniola that the national identity changed with it. However, core Roman territories were maintained, from Rome to Southern Frankia. It was a small territory and the decision to accept Britannic occupation was in part a tactical one made to secure some part of the Empire from complete destruction. For a time, the Empire was reduced to a backwater colony of one of the vast global naval empires, which was at the time expanding from Japan to Antipodia to both North and South Greenland.

These fifty years were not pleasant for Rome, and increasingly the demes re-emerged as a focus for resistance in various forms. While the Resistance is now remembered fondly the reality is that the upper classes worked closely with the Brittannic empire throughout this time.

1626-1658: Owen ap Iago
1658-1695: Bryn ap Dwglus
1695-1738: Domitic ap Luci
1738-1778: Harolt ap Eric


The Fourth Roman Republic (Rome)

The restored republic focused a lot of its attention on industrialisation and leveraging its historic importance as essentially a third rate regional power. The Green Deme had grown into the main representative of the old aristocracy and attempted to secure the state's shrinking borders. The loss of Frankia ended Green dominance.

1678-1688: Leo Ecdit (Popular Front)
1688-1693: Armand Salon (Popular Front)
1693-1703: August Ciceran (Peasants)


The Later Augustinians (Rome)

August Ciceran was elected as a man of the people and went on to be the last Roman to found a dynasty. The empire suffered from constant a series of crisises including the loss of Northern Italy to Avaria, a Chalcedonian Rebellion in South Italy, and an unprecedented financial collapse. The Empire was a financial and economic backwater, although it did have some early successes in rocket technology that briefly bought some status to the ailing Empire.

However, by Justinian IV the Empire was reduced to a small area around Rome, more loyal to the Papacy than the Imperium. In the end when Romulus died young the Imperial Senate voted to join with the newly formed Italian Republic and end 2000 years of empire.

1703-1712: Augustus III
1712-1724: Harald VII
1724-1733: Urban III
1733: Theo II
1733-1743: Julia
1743-1748: Justinian IV
1748-1753: Pius II
1753-1756: Romulus


The First Republic of the Romanian Federation

The world did not flourish after the fall of Rome. In the 1830s the Little Ice Age finally came to an end and the world experienced the full force of the Greenhouse Effect hitting fast and hard. Over the course of the century, almost two billion people died worldwide of famine, flooding, and pandemics.

The harsh world of the nineteenth century created a new need for global unity, and the old powers of Romania grew into a potent alliance. Stretching from Hispania to Persia and Hyperborea to Coptika, the new Federation was a true multi-ethnic world power and represented a growing economy that would come to challenge the great powers of Frankia and China.

1898-1904: Petronia Comnena (Byzantine Green Deme)
1904-1910: Oskar Fenks (Austrasian Worker's Deme)
1910-1919: Jesus Attian (Roman Democratic Deme)


The Second Republic of the Romanian Federation

The First Federation was always meant as an interim arrangement, and the second was built around a more solid and unified constitutional framework - the Consuls of the New Rome oversaw a nation that gradually came to challenge the other world powers, however this was slow going. As space colonisation began Rome missed out on the prime locations in the Inner system, however they would dominate more areas of the outer system, including Opis, the largest moon of Saturn.

The Federation is now leading the way as humanity makes its first steps to nearby star systems.

1919-1922: Jesus Attian (United) [Rome]
1922-1928: Kattrin Kereyeeta (People's Alliance) [Coptika]
1928-1935: Brynhilde Laecanian (United) [North Frankia]
1935-1938: Suintila Sisenand (People's Alliance) [Hispania]
1938-1941: Theodore Nikomedes (United) [Anatolia]
1941-1950: Leo Avilian (People's Alliance) [Italy]
1950-1956: Oskar Domitia (United) [Frankia]
1956-1958: Eudocia ap Gwendolyn (United) [Greece]
1958-1964: Coszcatl Luna Kan (United) [Rome]
1964-1967: Menachem Shalhoub (People's Alliance) [Levant]
1967-1976: Feduda ult Ansar (United) [Africa]
1976-1982: Titania Graccian (People's Alliance) [Rome]
1982-1985: Gregor Passinian (United) [Italy]
1985-1991: Freja Clovisdottir (People's Alliance) [Hyperborea]
1991-1997: Michael Urbanian (United) [Rome]
1997-2002: Corrippus ult Julia (People's Alliance) [Africa]
2002-2008: Sorkhatu Jurki (People's Alliance) [Kereyita]
2008-2011: Harald Seinheim (United) [Opis]
2011-2017: Oi Lun (People's Alliance - Ecology Deme) [Rome]
2017-xxxx: Augusta Hippoline (People's Alliance - Technarchic Deme) [Greece]
 
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