Post by Lord Nethercross on Aug 4, 2010 19:42:48 GMT -6
=Timeline: 1837-1889=
1837: Queen Victoria ascends the throne.
1838: The Chartism movement begins, demanding universal manhood suffrage, the secret ballot, and other parliamentary reforms.
1839: Prussia and Austria refuse to sign the London Treaty recognizing the independence of Belgium from the Netherlands. The Netherlands retakes Belgium within the year, aided by secret shipments of Prussian arms. The newly reunited Kingdom of the Netherlands adopts a policy of official neutrality, to assuage British fears that it is drifting into the Prussian orbit.
1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield.
1845: The Irish famine begins. Within five years, starvation and emigration reduce the population of Ireland itself by over 50%.
1848: Popular uprisings occur across the Continent, but most of them are quickly put down. Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, and the Ottoman Empire are the only major European states to be spared a national revolution in this period. / In England, around 2,000 people a week die in a cholera epidemic.
1849: Prince Albert takes an interest in the work of Charles Babbage, providing financial support. New advances in precision machining allow parts to be made small enough to construct a Difference Engine - an early mechanical computer. Babbage produces a working prototype within the year.
1851: The Great Exhibition is held at the Crystal Palace. The world's first World's Fair attracts much international attention, particularly to Charles Babbage's new Analytical Engine, which is put on display.
1854: The Crimean War: Britain and France join the Ottoman Empire in declaring war on Russia. The Analytical Engine is used for the first time in warfare - to calculate artillery trajectories during the Siege of Sevastopol. Not wanting to be left behind, the other Great Powers begin working on their own mechanical computing devices.
1857: The Indian Mutiny, a widespread revolt against the rule of the British East India Company, is ignited by sepoys (Indian soldiers) in the Company's army. The rebellion is suppressed within the year. In response to the mutiny, the East India Company is abolished in 1858 and India comes under the direct rule of the crown, beginning the period of the British Raj.
1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
1861: Victor Emmanuel II is proclaimed King of a newly unified Italy. / Prince Albert dies.
1861-5: The American Civil War ends with a Union victory. Balloons are used in significant numbers by both sides during the conflict for reconnaissance, and the U.S. Balloon Corps survives the war to become a permanent branch of the U.S. Army. Other nations follow suit and form their own aerial forces in the coming decade.
1867: The Constitution Act passes and British North America becomes the Dominion of Canada.
1870-1: The Franco-Prussian War ends with the unification of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm I. The French Emperor Napoleon III is captured and humiliated at Sedan, and his opponents in France overthrow his government and proclaim the Third Republic.
1875: Britain purchases Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal as the Khedive is forced to raise money to pay off its debts.
1881: Tsar Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by anarchist bomb-throwers.
1882: British troops begin the occupation of Egypt by taking the Suez Canal, in order to secure the vital trade route and passage to India; the country becomes a British protectorate.
1884: Hiram Maxim invents the Maxim Gun, the first self-powered machine gun.
1883: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin starts his own airship company, and begins building airships for civilian and military use.
1884-5: The Berlin Conference is convened to mediate competition between imperial powers during the "Scramble for Africa."
1886: Prime Minister Gladstone and the Liberal Party try to pass the first Irish Home Rule Bill, but the bill is rejected by the House of Commons.
1888: The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murders and mutilates five (possibly more) prostitutes on the streets of London.
1889: The Eiffel Tower is opened in Paris, France. / The London Dock Strike breaks out. / Inspired by Jules Verne, woman journalist Nellie Bly beats the fictional Phileas Fogg's record by travelling around the world in fewer than 80 days.
=The Great Powers=
The British Empire
The sun never sets on the British Empire, but while Britain nears the height of her imperial power, her pre-eminence upon the world stage is not uncontested. The industrial revolution turned Britain into the richest country in the world, but now British capitalists prefer to invest in American factories, while the industrial might of Germany will someday surpass her own. For now, so long as Britannia rules the waves, her supremacy is assured...
The French Republic
After losing Alsace and Lorraine to the Prussians in 1871, France repaired her international prestige by accumulating the world's second largest colonial empire, and by strengthening her metropolitan army against any continental foe. Paris is the cultural capital of the world, at least according to Parisians, yet some worry about the potentially disastrous effects of the new Eiffel Tower on its skyline. France's diplomatic relations with Britain are strained, as the two have a long history of rivalry, but the threat of another war with Germany may convince her to put aside their historic differences...
The German Empire
Germany was only recently unified under Prussian leadership, guided by the masterful statesmanship of her Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. As a newcomer to the world stage, Germany now seeks her place in the sun, and international prestige to match her industrial and military might. Germany's diplomatic relations with Britain are mostly friendly, as their royal families are closely related, but things could turn sour if Germany begins building a battle fleet to challenge British naval superiority in the North Sea...
The Russian Empire
Russia is the largest country in the world with a large military to match, but she lags behind the other great powers in industrial development and political reforms, and it was not until 1861 that the last Russian serfs were emancipated. Russia's diplomatic relations with Britain have been rocky, as the two powers play "The Great Game" for supremacy in Central Asia, but they have entered a period of detente while Russia entertains the idea of an alliance with France to contain a growing Germany...
The United States of America
America survived her civil war intact, and went on to fulfill her manifest destiny by building a nation from sea to shining sea. Now the wild west is all but tamed, though pockets of lawlessness persist. Immigrants from the old world flock to her shores for the promise of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and New York has joined the ranks of London and Paris as a world class city. America looks down on the outdated monarchies and empires of the old world, but at the same time she desires their respect and recognition as a world power. America's relations with Britain are occasionally strained, but mostly friendly.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire
The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary presides over a polyglot empire, and the rising influence of nationalism has enflamed tensions between her numerous ethnic groups. She has been slow to industrialize, and her power and prestige have declined since 1866, when she lost the Seven Weeks War to Prussia and Italy. Her relations with Britain are mostly friendly.
=Regional Powers=
The Ottoman Empire
The Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Kingdom of Spain
The Union of Sweden and Norway
The Empire of Japan
The Empire of China
The Empire of Brazil
The Republic of Mexico
Humans & Furres
A certain percentage of people worldwide exhibit anthropomorphic or "furry" features to varying degrees, but they talk and walk on two legs and appear to be otherwise human. They may have certain physical advantages over "normal" human beings, such as fangs and claws, heightened senses, and so on, but they often find themselves at a disadvantage socially, and they are treated as second class citizens in many countries.
Furres have faced discrimination for centuries, but they have recently gained some measure of acceptance among polite society, since Charles Darwin theorized in his book On The Origin of Species that the majority of humans merely exhibit the features of their ape ancestors, while the residuum of furres reflect the range of other evolutionary chains. However, due to their long history as talented outcasts, furres are often found among the more dangerous and adventurous professions.
Science & Magic
The accelerating pace of scientific and technological advances inspires faith in progress and an unwavering optimism about the ability of science to solve society's problems. If it seemed possible to the Victorians, it is possible here - even unworkable inventions may work, and theories later proven false may prove true in our continuity.
Magical and supernatural phenomena exist, but they are extremely rare and their effects are limited in the civilized world, where science has begun to replace superstition. The power of magic is proportional to the number of people in any given area who believe in magic. For example, a shaman may cast a spell on a member of his own tribe because they believe in his ability to do so, but if he were to cast the same spell on a hard-nosed skeptic, it would have no effect. The skeptic, observing the spell's effect on the shaman's subject, would attribute it to the power of suggestion, a sort of magical placebo.
Spiritualism is the predominant form of "magic" in the western world - psychics, mediums, séances, ghosts, and so on. Practitioners of ritual magic also exist, usually conducting their rituals in secrecy, but genuine ritual magic is very rare. Whether real or fake, skeptics will be able to find scientific explanations for most any magical occurrences.
Economy & Politics
The western world has experienced a depression in trade since the Panic of 1873 was triggered by the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange. Plummeting commodity prices and soaring unemployment led many nations to raise protectionist tariffs on imports, while seeking captive markets for their goods in the form of new colonies, culminating in the "Scramble for Africa" in the mid-1880s. The economic crisis hit Britain the hardest; as a result, she has lost some her industrial lead over the rest of the world, as her economic growth is outpaced by that of Germany and the United States.
British politics are dominated by two parties, the Liberal and the Conservative Party. The Liberal Party promotes a laissez-faire policy of free trade and limited government intervention in the economy, while the Conservative Party favours a strong government dedicated to conserving constitutional traditions. The Liberal leader William Gladstone serves as Prime Minister for most of the first half of the 1880s, while the Conservative Lord Salisbury serves as PM for the latter half of the decade.
Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto, has lived in London for the past three decades, but the influence of communism on radical politics in Britain is negligible. Much more important, but still marginal to the political mainstream, are the ideologies of socialism, anarchism, trade-unionism and republicanism. Revolution is a remote but very real possibility, as economic hardships and the growing gap between rich and poor foster a sense of solidarity among the working classes.
1837: Queen Victoria ascends the throne.
1838: The Chartism movement begins, demanding universal manhood suffrage, the secret ballot, and other parliamentary reforms.
1839: Prussia and Austria refuse to sign the London Treaty recognizing the independence of Belgium from the Netherlands. The Netherlands retakes Belgium within the year, aided by secret shipments of Prussian arms. The newly reunited Kingdom of the Netherlands adopts a policy of official neutrality, to assuage British fears that it is drifting into the Prussian orbit.
1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield.
1845: The Irish famine begins. Within five years, starvation and emigration reduce the population of Ireland itself by over 50%.
1848: Popular uprisings occur across the Continent, but most of them are quickly put down. Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, and the Ottoman Empire are the only major European states to be spared a national revolution in this period. / In England, around 2,000 people a week die in a cholera epidemic.
1849: Prince Albert takes an interest in the work of Charles Babbage, providing financial support. New advances in precision machining allow parts to be made small enough to construct a Difference Engine - an early mechanical computer. Babbage produces a working prototype within the year.
1851: The Great Exhibition is held at the Crystal Palace. The world's first World's Fair attracts much international attention, particularly to Charles Babbage's new Analytical Engine, which is put on display.
1854: The Crimean War: Britain and France join the Ottoman Empire in declaring war on Russia. The Analytical Engine is used for the first time in warfare - to calculate artillery trajectories during the Siege of Sevastopol. Not wanting to be left behind, the other Great Powers begin working on their own mechanical computing devices.
1857: The Indian Mutiny, a widespread revolt against the rule of the British East India Company, is ignited by sepoys (Indian soldiers) in the Company's army. The rebellion is suppressed within the year. In response to the mutiny, the East India Company is abolished in 1858 and India comes under the direct rule of the crown, beginning the period of the British Raj.
1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
1861: Victor Emmanuel II is proclaimed King of a newly unified Italy. / Prince Albert dies.
1861-5: The American Civil War ends with a Union victory. Balloons are used in significant numbers by both sides during the conflict for reconnaissance, and the U.S. Balloon Corps survives the war to become a permanent branch of the U.S. Army. Other nations follow suit and form their own aerial forces in the coming decade.
1867: The Constitution Act passes and British North America becomes the Dominion of Canada.
1870-1: The Franco-Prussian War ends with the unification of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm I. The French Emperor Napoleon III is captured and humiliated at Sedan, and his opponents in France overthrow his government and proclaim the Third Republic.
1875: Britain purchases Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal as the Khedive is forced to raise money to pay off its debts.
1881: Tsar Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by anarchist bomb-throwers.
1882: British troops begin the occupation of Egypt by taking the Suez Canal, in order to secure the vital trade route and passage to India; the country becomes a British protectorate.
1884: Hiram Maxim invents the Maxim Gun, the first self-powered machine gun.
1883: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin starts his own airship company, and begins building airships for civilian and military use.
1884-5: The Berlin Conference is convened to mediate competition between imperial powers during the "Scramble for Africa."
1886: Prime Minister Gladstone and the Liberal Party try to pass the first Irish Home Rule Bill, but the bill is rejected by the House of Commons.
1888: The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murders and mutilates five (possibly more) prostitutes on the streets of London.
1889: The Eiffel Tower is opened in Paris, France. / The London Dock Strike breaks out. / Inspired by Jules Verne, woman journalist Nellie Bly beats the fictional Phileas Fogg's record by travelling around the world in fewer than 80 days.
=The Great Powers=
The British Empire
The sun never sets on the British Empire, but while Britain nears the height of her imperial power, her pre-eminence upon the world stage is not uncontested. The industrial revolution turned Britain into the richest country in the world, but now British capitalists prefer to invest in American factories, while the industrial might of Germany will someday surpass her own. For now, so long as Britannia rules the waves, her supremacy is assured...
The French Republic
After losing Alsace and Lorraine to the Prussians in 1871, France repaired her international prestige by accumulating the world's second largest colonial empire, and by strengthening her metropolitan army against any continental foe. Paris is the cultural capital of the world, at least according to Parisians, yet some worry about the potentially disastrous effects of the new Eiffel Tower on its skyline. France's diplomatic relations with Britain are strained, as the two have a long history of rivalry, but the threat of another war with Germany may convince her to put aside their historic differences...
The German Empire
Germany was only recently unified under Prussian leadership, guided by the masterful statesmanship of her Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. As a newcomer to the world stage, Germany now seeks her place in the sun, and international prestige to match her industrial and military might. Germany's diplomatic relations with Britain are mostly friendly, as their royal families are closely related, but things could turn sour if Germany begins building a battle fleet to challenge British naval superiority in the North Sea...
The Russian Empire
Russia is the largest country in the world with a large military to match, but she lags behind the other great powers in industrial development and political reforms, and it was not until 1861 that the last Russian serfs were emancipated. Russia's diplomatic relations with Britain have been rocky, as the two powers play "The Great Game" for supremacy in Central Asia, but they have entered a period of detente while Russia entertains the idea of an alliance with France to contain a growing Germany...
The United States of America
America survived her civil war intact, and went on to fulfill her manifest destiny by building a nation from sea to shining sea. Now the wild west is all but tamed, though pockets of lawlessness persist. Immigrants from the old world flock to her shores for the promise of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and New York has joined the ranks of London and Paris as a world class city. America looks down on the outdated monarchies and empires of the old world, but at the same time she desires their respect and recognition as a world power. America's relations with Britain are occasionally strained, but mostly friendly.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire
The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary presides over a polyglot empire, and the rising influence of nationalism has enflamed tensions between her numerous ethnic groups. She has been slow to industrialize, and her power and prestige have declined since 1866, when she lost the Seven Weeks War to Prussia and Italy. Her relations with Britain are mostly friendly.
=Regional Powers=
The Ottoman Empire
The Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Kingdom of Spain
The Union of Sweden and Norway
The Empire of Japan
The Empire of China
The Empire of Brazil
The Republic of Mexico
Humans & Furres
A certain percentage of people worldwide exhibit anthropomorphic or "furry" features to varying degrees, but they talk and walk on two legs and appear to be otherwise human. They may have certain physical advantages over "normal" human beings, such as fangs and claws, heightened senses, and so on, but they often find themselves at a disadvantage socially, and they are treated as second class citizens in many countries.
Furres have faced discrimination for centuries, but they have recently gained some measure of acceptance among polite society, since Charles Darwin theorized in his book On The Origin of Species that the majority of humans merely exhibit the features of their ape ancestors, while the residuum of furres reflect the range of other evolutionary chains. However, due to their long history as talented outcasts, furres are often found among the more dangerous and adventurous professions.
Science & Magic
The accelerating pace of scientific and technological advances inspires faith in progress and an unwavering optimism about the ability of science to solve society's problems. If it seemed possible to the Victorians, it is possible here - even unworkable inventions may work, and theories later proven false may prove true in our continuity.
Magical and supernatural phenomena exist, but they are extremely rare and their effects are limited in the civilized world, where science has begun to replace superstition. The power of magic is proportional to the number of people in any given area who believe in magic. For example, a shaman may cast a spell on a member of his own tribe because they believe in his ability to do so, but if he were to cast the same spell on a hard-nosed skeptic, it would have no effect. The skeptic, observing the spell's effect on the shaman's subject, would attribute it to the power of suggestion, a sort of magical placebo.
Spiritualism is the predominant form of "magic" in the western world - psychics, mediums, séances, ghosts, and so on. Practitioners of ritual magic also exist, usually conducting their rituals in secrecy, but genuine ritual magic is very rare. Whether real or fake, skeptics will be able to find scientific explanations for most any magical occurrences.
Economy & Politics
The western world has experienced a depression in trade since the Panic of 1873 was triggered by the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange. Plummeting commodity prices and soaring unemployment led many nations to raise protectionist tariffs on imports, while seeking captive markets for their goods in the form of new colonies, culminating in the "Scramble for Africa" in the mid-1880s. The economic crisis hit Britain the hardest; as a result, she has lost some her industrial lead over the rest of the world, as her economic growth is outpaced by that of Germany and the United States.
British politics are dominated by two parties, the Liberal and the Conservative Party. The Liberal Party promotes a laissez-faire policy of free trade and limited government intervention in the economy, while the Conservative Party favours a strong government dedicated to conserving constitutional traditions. The Liberal leader William Gladstone serves as Prime Minister for most of the first half of the 1880s, while the Conservative Lord Salisbury serves as PM for the latter half of the decade.
Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto, has lived in London for the past three decades, but the influence of communism on radical politics in Britain is negligible. Much more important, but still marginal to the political mainstream, are the ideologies of socialism, anarchism, trade-unionism and republicanism. Revolution is a remote but very real possibility, as economic hardships and the growing gap between rich and poor foster a sense of solidarity among the working classes.