Here are a couple of quick ideas to get the conversation going:
- David Schwarz does not die of heart problems in 1897 and airship technology is advanced by a decade - important when WW1 arrives. or...
- Zeppelin dies in early airship accident. Schütte-Lanz decides that plywood is not the best building material for airships and this more innovative company advances the technology beyond OTL. or...
- Gas prices are very high (for some reason) and the more fuel efficient airships become more economical than heavier-than-air vehicles. or...
- To avoid treaty restrictions after WWI, all airship development and construction is shipped to Argentina. or...
- Airships are less useful in WW1 than in OTL so they are not mentioned in treaty agreements at the end of the war. Germany is allowed to continue ownership and development of airships. The Berlin-Rio De Janeiro rout is wildly successful. or...
- Texas stays part of Mexico giving that country access to large helium reserves. or...
- add your POD here.
--AirshipArmada 19:05, 29 Jul 2005 (UTC)
Any general ideas of when the POD is? Given the different names of the Americas, it would have to be at least a few centuries ago. Is this "Manchu Empire" anything like *here*'s Manchukuo (formally named Great Manchu Empire), or is it a different origin? Perhaps no Qing conquest of China, and thus was never integrated into China? Why the name Via Latina? The name suggests, to me, differences stemming all the way back to the Roman Empire, but perhaps I'm reading too much into it? Nik 23:42, 29 Jul 2005 (UTC)
Like I've said, I don't really have any points of divergence worked out, and there has been no WWI. That is about the extent of my work, but I'll have to research some of those. The Manchu Empire was the name of China prior to 1911, when it was overthrown by the Kuomintang; in this timeline, the Kuomintang wasn't nearly as successful as it was in OTL. --Aero 02:55, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
- Was it? The only names I've ever seen for China pre-1911 are, besides "China", "Chinese Empire" and "Qing Empire" Nik 03:01, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Wikipedia says that the Qing Dynasty was also known as the Manchu Dynasty, so I think I was wanting to use the Manchu instead of Qinq, as that seemed more of this time period to me, since the Wade-Giles was used by Western countries until pinyin was introduced, so I might change that, I'm not sure at the moment. --Aero 17:02, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
- Period maps I've seen just have "Chinese Empire". Western terms for Asian nations are notorious for their failure to correspond with the local names. Like, China for Zhongguo or Korea for Hanguk/Joseon or Japan for Nihon.
- Given the Latinate names for other nations, however, you might perhaps want to consider something based on the Latin word for China, Sinae, say, Sinitic Empire Nik 18:39, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Hmm, yes, I kinda like that; Sinitic Empire... Hmmm, something to consider. --Aero 18:45, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Columbia[]
Just a suggestion - perhaps, in the early days of colonization, the British referred to the Americas as Cabotia, after John Cabot. Even if they later adopted the name "Columbia", perhaps Cabotia survives in some place names, like *there*'s equivalent of the United States, something like the United States of Cabotia, or the Cabotian Federation, or something to that effect Nik 18:54, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Excellent thought, maybe I'll use Cabotia somewhere. I've been wondering what I can call a nation in OTL New England. --Aero 19:05, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Ireland[]
Is the difference between the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland similar to *here*'s Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland? Nik 18:54, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Actually they are different factions in the Irish Civil War. I just included them mainly because some nations recognize only one and Hearts of Iron 2 includes Manchukho and several warlords as nations, even though they weren't recognized by the bulk of the world community at the time. --Aero 19:05, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
- Ah, neat. So, the Irish Civil War is ongoing at the "present" time? Nik 19:25, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
Yessir. The British officially support the Royalists (Kingdom of Ireland). Other involved Irish factions are the Nationalists (The Republic of Ireland) and the Regionalists, who want to break up Ireland into either its various countiesor its modern provinces (Ulster, Connacht and the like). The Regionalists are made up of the people who are fighting against the other two factions and probably would be the smallest numerically... Hm... --Aero 19:49, 3 Aug 2005 (UTC)
- Why do the British support the Royalists? Do the Royalists support the King of England as King or Ireland? Do the Regionalists want these divisions to be fully sovreign nations, or do they seek some sort of federal entity? Nik 03:23, 4 Aug 2005 (UTC)
The British support the Royalists because they would allow Ireland to become, in effect, a British protectorate, however with the Irish government having full control over internal affairs, no British forces based in Ireland proper (excluding northern Ireland), and the British essentially responsible for foreign affairs. As for the regionalists... They probably would have some kind of authority over all of Ireland, but it'd be more like a council, for defense of the homeland and the like. They would probably be sovereign but isolationist. --Aero 22:39, 5 Aug 2005 (UTC)