User:Caeruleus/Sandbox

This is the sandbox for Caeruleus. This is meant to display, hash out, and record various ideas and such.

Ideas
Black Star

Africa, a continent often abused and forgotten throughout history, never rose to greatness in our world. But what if it did? What if Africa, the black star, rose from the beginning and never faded? How would the world change?

The POV for this timeline occurs in 6th century during the last golden age of the Kingdom of Aksum, also known as the Aksumite Empire. Aksum was the most powerful and well-connected civilization in Africa and was named by Mani as one of the world's four great powers, along with Rome, China, and Peria. It controlled modern Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, eastern Sudan, and northern Yemen at its height. However, after the 6th century Aksum went into decline as a result of Islamic expansion in the Red Sea, the ceasation of trade routes, and droughts in the area. But what if they didn't decline? In this TL, Aksum was able to maintain its hold on most of southern and eastern Sudan, which they failed to do OTL, and this enabled them to rebuff Islamic expansion, withstand the droughts, and keep their trade routes open. As a result, Aksum continued as a major power for several more centuries and triggered the creation of developed states throughout Africa. Today, Africa is the world's premier continent containing its greatest civilizations.

Work in progress. Next on the list.

Eternal East

The Byzantine Empire was what remained of the once great Roman Empire. After centuries of decline, the power of Rome had retreated to the edges of the eastern Mediterranean. Eventually, after centuries of warfare and internal struggles, the Byzantine Empire collapsed on on 29 May 1453 after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.

But what if it had never fallen? There are many instances where history could have changed, but one particular war was the beginning of the draining of Byzantine power, the Gothic War. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I sought to reconquer the Mediterranean and began a series of wars to achieve this goal. The Gothic War was the longest and most draining of these wars. It also resulted in the fall of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, which was an attempt to resurrect the glories of the Western Roman Empire. If this war had never happened, what would happen to these two empires? Could they have changed the history of Europe, and the world?

The war resulted, partially, as a result of the death of Amalasuntha, Queen-Regent of Italy after the death of Theodoric. She was killed by her cousin, Theodahad, who she offered the kingship to after her son died. Unfortunately for her, Theodahad had her immediately killed. Amalasuntha was a Roman-educated Gothic woman who sought to reform the kingdom in the image of Rome and grow closer to the Byzantine Empire. This gained her many enemies within the Gothic tribes who sought to remove her. Ultimately, this intrigue resulted in her death, which Justinian used as an excuse to invade. If she had never offered Theodahad the kingship, remained Queen, and crushed the conspiracy, how would history have changed?

An idea. I might get to it eventually.

La Serenissima

The Most Serene Republic of Venice, commonly referred to as La Serenissima, was the greatest of all Italian city-states. Founded in 697, they became one of the dominant economic powers in Europe, the greatest power in Italy, and a major influence across the greater Mediterranean. However, it ultimately could not compete with the other great nation-states of Europe and the Middle East due to its smaller population and resources.

But what if Venice was able to grow to a "nation-state" status? Italy failed to develop a centralized state during the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, and as a result it was divided between its stronger neighbors. Venice, in itself, was a strong centralized state, but it never controlled all of Italy. But what if it did? What if La Serenissima controlled all of Italy?

Another idea.

Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast, The Glory of Kings, is the story of the beginnings of Ethiopia. In ancient times, Ethiopia was a great kingdom and it was prophesied that it would become stronger than Rome. What if it had?

Full Development

Today, most of the countries in the world are considered to be "developing." This means they generally have large-scale poverty, health and hunger issues, and generally lack in many key areas of national development. There are many reasons for why certain countries remain in a developing status and others have become fully developed, however, many of these reasons are historical. For several centuries, the world was dominated by European empires and most modern-day countries existed as their colonies. During the colonial area, economic growth in the European colonies was near stagnant. But what if certain European colonies were more developed than they were OTL? What if some countries that remained or gained their indepedence earlier on developed more rapidly? Could a fully developed world become a reality?