An Introduction; The 16th and 17th Centuries
An Introduction; The 16th and 17th Centuries
Synopsis
This is the Earth of Timeline-1001, a timeline where the country of Kingawa sits on the western coast of the continent called Hesperia, which we call North America. A timeline where, two hundred thousand years ago, one last species of camelid—camelops celeris, called nayoomee in Bii’wemowin [Ojibwe]—was born on that continent, and through speed and stubbornness survived the incursion of humans into its territory. A timeline where, six thousand years ago, agriculture began in earnest in two places—in the Twin Valleys that in our timeline we call California, and along the Great River, our Mississippi—and then spread to much of the rest of the continent. A timeline where the inhabitants came to work stone, then bronze, then iron; developed a writing system unlike any other known in the world; formed and felled mighty empires; came to create faiths that would unify so much of the world…and all this by the time the first Greenlanders arrived at the start of what in Europe was the 11th Century.
The settling of the Greenlanders in territory controlled by the Nnu [Mi’kmaq], which would later become known as Vinland (or Wi‘nlan if you happen to speak Nnu), did a great deal for the continent. For the first time, cows, horses, and goats could be adapted for use alongside dwarf bison, nayoomee, and bighorn sheep. The giant crab-claw canoes of the Bawa Sea [Caribbean] now had a rival in Vinlandic longships, and a slow but steady naval Cold War started between north and south. While the Vinlanders found that the Nnu were unwilling to give up their faith—Nandowin, the Seeking, with a fourfold god, a homeland on the Great Lakes to the west among the Bii’we circuits, and a book almost as long as the Bible—they were tolerant of those who practiced Christianity. And diseases made their way around as well—not just local ones like gagiibaabiwin, gizhazhe, bakegidaazwe, and jiichiigomins (in English, knipps, alcom, swelting pox, and syphilis), but diseases the Norse brought with them, most notably smallpox and (later) horsepox.
Smallpox devastated much of the continent, causing the collapse of the Wóšnathípi [Kincaid] Imperium on the River, leading to a period of civil war on the Great Lakes and the Forest Coast [British Columbia] alike, leading to the end of Muwekma [Ohlone] hegemony over the Great Bay [San Francisco Bay Area], and providing an excuse for the southward migration of the nayoomee-herding Nahua people, inadvertently causing the foundation of their empire in Mexico many centuries later. It also led, along the Great River, to the creation of a rather zealous new religion, Hvshi Anowa or “the path of the sun”, replacing the older city-based Bird-Man cults practiced by the Wakatunga [Lakota and Dakota] and Ičhé [Missouri] with a monotheistic, highly cautious faith focused on dispelling the okpvni, spiritual shadows that weigh people down and stop them from achieving the light of Tomi Vt in earnest. Worst, it took quite a toll on the population. It has been estimated that the pre-Eriksonian population of Hesperia north of Mexico was around 83 million people; by 1100 this had dropped to 57 million, and by 1300, 48 million.
That’s not to say that the “Old” World didn’t have its trouble too. Spurred on by trouble in the south and east, the Tau [Inuit] began expanding their own raids and reaches along the coasts, and soon enough across the Bering Strait. Trade with Japan and a China currently undergoing Mongol conquest led to a double outbreak of alcom—a nightmare disease for the Mongols, leading to fever and sometimes fatal seizures followed by meningitis and coma-inducing encephalitis up to five years later. It was enough to halt the conquest of China long enough for the Song to stabilize in the south, and to save Baghdad from an untimely destruction. It preserved the Crusader state of Armenia, but it also kept Al-Andalus up and running, forcing the Christian kingdoms to the north to seek a different way to get their ancestral homes back. In India it meant there was enough disarray for the last of the Chola Dynasty to escape eastward with their followers in a literally unprecedented move, finding a great island to the east of gold-filled soil and gold-haired people. Not as much damage was done in Africa, but it was a close thing. In the end, tens of millions died—just in time for the Bubonic Plague to waltz its way west on the heels of its Hesperian partners-in-pestilence, leading to a further reduction in the population…and more changes to the history.
Thus it was a smaller and less populous, but decidedly angrier, Japan that sent forth Kuroda Kiyoshi in 1485 to seek out a trade route to France that didn’t rely on the Mongol-controlled Silk Road (understandably, given their recent conquest by and even more recent rebellion against the Chinese Khan). And it was a smaller, more cautious, and more humbled Europe, boxed in by sea, Scandinavia, Mongols, and Muslims on all four sides, that awaited the expedition by Gloqontiej Tegiptnat, a Vinlandic captain intent on spreading the Mystery to the cold and desolate land the Christians were supposed to have come from all those centuries ago.
Gloqontiej found Lisboa, capital of Spain. Kuroda found the Great Bay, and called it France.
Talk about a culture shock.
* * *
The 16th Century: A First Glimpse
“The Nou [Nnu, Mi’kmaq] know of Christ and His disciples, but despite the best efforts of the Norsemen still practice their own debased version of the faith. They believe in one God, whom they call Kesook [Kisu’lkw], but say that He left the creation of the world to demiurges, spirits entrapping themselves in flesh, and that the only spirits without form are the Archangel Michael and the Devil [the Good and Bad Answers], who either direct men to action or drive them to despair. They place great value in the asking and answering of questions, which is well and good when directed properly, but they are unabashed in their denial of the truth unless it can be given to them in baby-talk. They are at once the most intelligent and the most childlike barbarians I have ever encountered.”
—Thomas Molesley, 1504
“The Iglisi’l [English], like the Ispanio’l [Spanish], are followers of Yisu [Christ], with all that this entails. They make emphasis on living a good life in the service of their Last Prophet, which an honourable if warped path to the truth. But they believe, too, that their very birth and salvation depends on the decree of Yisu, and those who depart from this will be tormented for all eternity without possibility of placation. They have some knowledge of the Answers, but believe them separate from the consequences of one’s actions—generals gathering armies instead of teachers and guides. And unlike the Norse, they will not suffer their Holy Book to be translated into words they understand, leaving their people at the mercy of one man’s interpretation. The barbarians of the eastern lands are sophisticated, yes—but they are guided by tyrants and paranoid to the extreme.”
—Gloqontiej Tegiptnat of Gespeg, 1504
“Welcome to Paradise.”
—Captain Gregory Town, on the discovery of the area soon to be called Plymouth [Salvador, Brazil], 1517
“They possess herds of humpless camels but rarely take them forth into the jungles; it becomes them not, they say, to put pressure on beasts built for cooler climes. The camel they deem sacred, as a source of fine wool, meat, and milk; this last is drunk only by their great nobles, or mixed with bitter beans to produce papachcatl…
“But this reverence for camels has not prevented them from seeking out human victims, to be captured, sacrificed, and eaten in many festivals. How horrifying a place is Nopalla [Mexico City]—where a man can be killed should he slaughter a camel out of season, but freely partakes in the eating of his enemies, his lessers, even his own children. When they feel especially lenient, these Mexicans will substitute a camel for a child—but the skulls of the consumed dead are piled high nonetheless, and piled high in many places.”
—Salvador Coimbra, companion of Captain Guillermo de Sanabria, 1530 (shortly before The Night of Screams)
“The people of Hinedi [India] are cultured, ancient, and bizarre to the extreme. Their gods are many, and yet part of one—or possibly more than one, or perhaps they are aspects of one as yet unnamed. Their architecture is superb, their food more taste-full than any known, their languages mellifluous, their families ancient. Yet their social order confuses the heart. They possess phratries, of a sort, but while as is only proper the clans may rise to great influence, the phratries themselves—styling themselves priest, warrior, merchant, and farmer respectively—are given a hierarchy of their own. There are no farmer-archons that I know of; priests and warriors rule without election, and believe themselves born of ghosts [editor’s note: reincarnation as a concept is somewhat alien to the Bemaadizijig] who performed some great deed. And even they are ruled, by the Teminidag [Temirids] from the west, who have a completely different faith and proclaim their law above that of the natives. As absurd as if the Panseg [French] or Igiliig [English] could nullify our laws and treaties with a wave of their book! Either these people ask no Questions, or they have only had Bad Answers.”
—Thunderbird Wayaabamaan of Ishpadinaa [Toronto, Ontario], 1576
The 17th Century: Matters Moving
“There is no equal on the entirety of Maghsaqa [North America] to the Western Road of Missibun [the Mississippi River]. The barbarians constructed it long ago in the hopes of corralling the savages who ride false camels [nayoomee] in raids—a series of fortification-cities blocking the Riverlands from the Sea of Grass, linked by the ever-rebuilt River Road. Tending to this edge of settled civilization they deem a sacred duty, and all younger sons of noble lords learn combat there. The armies are thus ever-satisfied for glory without becoming a threat to the heathen emperor’s reign.
“Consider the benefits! A similar make of wall, keeping Garnat’ah [Granada] safe from the northern heathens, could also grant unity to the squabbling lordlings who undid our Settlement. A reassertion of our divine right of conquest could once and for all drive the rebelling Spanish back from Al-Andalus—but only with a strong heartland. And with gold from a Western World to bankrupt them—if only the Emir would spare but a small army to take the Great River, he should find his efforts rewarded one-hundredfold…”
—Jahwar ibn Sufyān al-Ghafūr, 1610
“The Bearded Men [Europeans+Middle Easterners] are masters of much technology and purveyors of many strange goods, but they are borne on wings of plague and slither as serpents with their Nameless God. Still, the factions within their chiefdoms—they cannot decide how best to worship their single deity, and will battle each other before they seek war with the Dawn People—something we much keep in mind. They speak of one ancestor, a man called No’a [Noah]; theirs is thus perhaps the most extended family squabble in history.”
—Lord Waχpéšá of Hohúpažóla [Emerald Mound, Illinois], 1613
“To His Majesty Mark IV, King by Election and Conquest of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and Hy-Brasil, from Your Little Brothers—Raccoon Nembaapi’idiz, Frog Nebekaazo, Lynx Dayebweyendang, Heron Enjaagizwaan, and Pelican Wepaamaad, Archons-Elect of the Circuit of Ishpadinaa—on the First Birthing Moon of the 1,648th Year of the Journey, greetings.
“Know that we did not, in fact, permit or condone this terrible attack on your temple. Christians have been free to worship in this Circuit for nearly six hundred years, provided they keep the ritual pillaging to a decent minimum. We also, however, cannot grant compensation by way of expansion into the Circuit. Land is the purview of the Carriers, allotted on a non-permanent basis to favoured members of other clans; sacred sites are non-denominational. If your people wish to rebuild the church in the City they are more than welcome to do so…”
—1617
“Having drunk their chocolate, I cannot understand why the Mexicans prefer blood. Having drunk camel’s milk, I understand far too well.”
—Friar Jorge Ocaña, 1622
“I am surprised that people seem to think that the Japanese can write. Any fool can smudge paper; it is another thing altogether for the symbols to sing regardless of what language the reader speaks.”
—Tspe’ey of Mispu [Santa Barbara, California], 1631
“The French [Miwoks] are a people much diminished by plague and pestilence, and with excessive devotion to their ten gods. But they are strong, nevertheless, resilient and prone to profit-seeking. The Japanese have laid claim to their land, much as they do Korea; with your Imperial Majesty’s permission, we might seek to offer them a counteroffer: service to the Àn (岸) Dynasty in exchange for weapons against the Japanese. Who knows? Perhaps a good legion of Frenchmen mercenaries, armed with Chinese guns and French camels, will be of use in taking back the North from the barbarian usurpers [Yuan Dynasty]. Set a savage to trap a savage, and spare the lives of honoured soldiers from ancient clans.”
—Admiral Tang Chen of Guangzhou, 1632
“The Kingdom of Karamel [Garramillah] sits on the edge of desolation, the people divided into three broad classes. The Shozaair [Cholas] are the ruling dynasty, who have established dominion over the northern shores of this continent, and who worship a god of destruction [Shiva]. The Tamijar [Tamils] are the middle rung, divided as in Hodoe [India] or Gamijn [the Great Lakes] into sub-castes for the purpose of division of labour, and who worship a goddess of creation [Shakti]. Both god and goddess have many associated saints. The last group comprises the Pilawa [Larrakia people and assorted others], who know no caste or culture but come to the coastal cities to work. The people here know of gold and iron, and indeed the Shozaair and wealthy Tamijar wear clothes of gold. Their foodstuffs are odd, being rice, roots, and a strange bread made from fruit, among other things. The capital city of Poelaair [Pulayur; Darwin, Australia] is built of a pink-gold stone [porcellanite] with wooden beams and clay tiles, with mud-brick streets painted in many colours and perfectly clean of filth. It is by far the most beautiful place I have yet seen on God’s Earth."
—Wolfgang da Silva, 1633
“The Zealanders [Netherlands] have declared their independence from the Empire [Austria] and the League [Hamburg] alike. Restituant Christians in England, Scotland, France, Bohemia, Sicily, and dozens of princely states have declared their own monarchs to be head of the church. The Carnatians have sworn neutrality against the Iberian Union [Spain+Aragon] and the Sullimans [the Turkish empire that toppled the Byzantines]—an unspoken declaration of war against both. This Peace of Nassau bodes well for none; it has turned Europe into a patchwork of heretic kings and peasant mobs.“
—Holy Roman Empress Leonor of Austria, 1642
“The Panseg [French] have chosen to ally with the Ongweh’onweh [Iroquois]; the Iginiig [English] with us; the Docheg [Hanseatic League] with Vinland; the Anidaanoosig [Granadans] with the Empire of the Sun [Mississippi Basin+Florida]; the Izibaanig [Spanish] with the Coastal Kings [Carolina]; and the Anaagonig [Aragonese] with the people of faraway Kaanuhaan [Texas].
“What fun! No war need be fought on this continent again—we can let the Europeans do it in their own lands instead, and send our warriors out for glory in a new world! Truly, this is a masterpiece of diplomacy.”
—Lynx Nidebi’ig of Wawiiantanong, 1642
“For all that they raid the cities of the east and north, the Tinta [Shoshone] are an honourable people, blessed in spirit. They follow the great Beasts [bison] on their annual migrations, never staying in one land too long, and scorning the trappings of the urbane. Unlike the Wakatungag [Wapkátχúŋwaŋ] they do not worship the sun; instead, like us, they recognize the importance of totem animals, and upon attaining manhood their Question is Answered by a chosen spirit…
“They have come to a period of civil war, thanks to the arrival of horses stolen from the Myaamiaki [Miami people; Chicago]. Most remain traditionalists, riding nayoomee, but an ever-expanding group led by a chief named Be’aiweda [Beai Weda, “Old Bear”] prefers the use of horses, gaining in speed and endurance what they lose in functionality and edibility… “It is uncertain as to the future of the Great Plains, but whatever the Riverpeople say the Tinta will lead the charge—be it on nayoomee, horse, or underwater panther.”
—Hawk Zhaabiwose of Manidoowaling [Manitoulin Island], 1645
“Neige-Coin [Nezhikowin] is a most unusual game, suited for the people of the Great Lakes in all particulars. Played on a small board, five squares by five squares, the five pieces each have a different goal. But each player takes turns playing each piece, so all are aided on their quests. The player who completes the quests for the most pieces wins by default of points. It is said to aid in their understanding of politics—and what a marvel it is, that they have found in their heathen faith a game of peace that rivals the war of chess!”
—Jean-Jacques Cousteau, 1651
“The King is dead—and no more need be said.”
—Marmaduke Harrogate, 1652
“Apparently I no longer may be King of Britain. I shall have to content myself with being King of Brasil. What an ill wind.”
—Thomas I of Brasil, upon hearing of the Isles’ decision to depose the House of Ossory in favour of an elected monarch under the leadership of Marmaduke Harrogate, 1652
“Then let them drink tea.”
—Magistrate Zì Jiànhóng, upon hearing that the people of the colony of Danmaxi [Singapore] did not have clean water, 1653
“The practice of sinanguya [sinankuya] is one of the most bizarre and yet most effective methods of peacekeeping I have yet seen. Here and on their island of Gejigun [Cuba, “sea island”], the leading clans are ritually obliged to insult one another in day-to-day meetings. These insults are practically scripted, detailing a certain relationship between the families, and invariably end in laughter and camaraderie on both sides. Even their slaves, who are from the same stock but different speakings [language families], have adopted a similar attitude among themselves, perhaps as a coping mechanism. Certainly they are expected to show more formal deference to their masters.”
—Mikjikj Me’te’m, On the Monarchy of Mali, 1655
“They take biśkiyãa [dwarf bison, Bii’wemowin bizhikig] as their primary source of meat, and ride snow-camels [nayoomee] in place of horses. They raise pīrū [turkeys] for meat as well, and the longest-lived ones produce eggs—a great delicacy. City- and country-dwellers alike have dogs of all breeds. But the strangest beast in Gamīn [the Great Lakes] is by far the mūs [moose, mooz]. When wild, these kings of deer are stubborn and implacable, but the wealthiest lords of Gamīn keep tamed mūs on their personal estate, and use them as mounts. They eat a great many more things than horses, are hardier in the cold, swim with riders on their backs, tower above all but the biggest stallions—and are very temperamental creatures. No better example of what Gamīn shows the world than its use of mūs.”
—Suman Kiritimati of Mahikawati [Mumbai], 1659
“The Maori love of wheat outdoes the most fervent fever of any French farmer.”
—Pierre Trichet, 1664
“Omašté [St. Louis] has fallen. The heathens who buried living people far from the Sun they worship shall be burnt alive. None shall remain. This is my Only Answer.”
—Horse-Lord Dogwa-Tekka’a of the Tinta, 1669
“To Ayan, now, Olympus of the West,
"Whence Sun doth shine across a land most blessed.”
—Enoch Brown, apparently upon seeing Ayantepui, 1672
“So the world knows three democracies: the Athenian, in Ireland, Zealand, Vinland, Canata [New York State], and Spadina [Ishpadinaa], where the best rule kingless; the Roman, in Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, Kingawa [Japanese British Columbia], Mexico, and Cathay, where the people choose their king; and the Spartan, in Venice, Missiponi, Baghdad, Egypt, and Mali, where the king, although holy, is beholden to the people. It remains to be seen which will prevail, if any, in Christian Europe, but one thing is certain: democracy in any form is antithetical to the rule of the good Sultan, Commander of the Three Faithful Peoples, and must be given no consideration under any circumstances.”
—Dragoman Eulalios Attaliates of Istanbul [not Constantinople], 1677
“Would it have been possible, a mere decade ago, for a trading guild to overrun a nation? But there you do have it: the Temirids have capitulated, granting the East [Indian] Ocean Company free reign over the city of Mahikawati [Mumbai] and a near-exclusive right to their cotton textiles. Our missionaries are spreading word of a a new Communion under the Restituant Church of Britain, our surveyors are mapping their empire where the Huns could not be bothered. Pepper, tea, cloves, cotton, silk—the stuff of fortunes, borne forth under King Arthur Come Again, master of Britain’s navies, her churches, and her hills.”
—Sir Cuthbert Grantham, 1681
“A royal wedding—between Prince Tupac Huaman of the Iberian Suyu [Peru] and Princess Edith of Brasil! One from a country ruled in all but fact by the Spanish, the other from the first free monarchy of the Western World. One is Catholic, the other Restituant. One is of solid, noble stock, the other is English. And yet theirs is very much a story of great love, if tales be believed.”
—T’āriq bin Makkī al-Jadd of Mālaqah [Málaga], 1684
“If one has not worn bison wool, one has not learned comfort.”
—Ganzorig Khan, Aqyar [Sevastopol, Crimea], 1687
兵法は
銃声響く
名誉なし
Heihō wa
jūsei hibiku
meiyo nashi
“Where, where, the art of war? A gun is fired, the savages scatter. There is no honour in slaughter.”
—Rōnin Oda Hiroshige, Satoyoko [Vancouver, British Columbia], 1689
“Therein lies the difference between our faiths. You believe, wholeheartedly, that the physical world is sinful, a trap for the spirit. We recognize that the world can affect us, and that there is a greater power at the end of all things. But we also recognize that we are not alone here. Many spirits, great and small, reside with us on this Earth, to return some day to the Truth, each with their own power and place, and they chose to come here. When all we have is this one chance at living before an eternity of Life, why not appreciate it?”
—Guide Íkháhseráhas of Canada to (Cathar) Croyant Charles Caron, 1692
“…in hindsight, I do somewhat understand why the great guides might have been slightly ticked when I asked whether Islam was another sect of Christianity.”
—Catfish Nwaaji’iweng, Great Guide of Manidoowaling, after a rather bad meeting in Lisboa [Lisbon] with Julian Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Maurício Gama, Bishop of Lisboa, and Tayyib, Grand Mufti of Istanbul, 1699
“A stunning turn of events, that this, the third embassy of Siam to France, should coincide with the first embassy from Canada [New York State]. To see the Siamese dressed in white shirts and trousered skirts with tall, conical hats of bamboo, matched against the many-coloured shirts, clan kilts, white leggings, and feathered headdresses of the Ganontiens [Haudenosaunee], the people of Brest, Versailles, and Paris are utterly ecstatic. We cannot say what will happen when they meet with His Majesty [Jean III Anjou], but their presence alone is cause for celebration. To see all three Worlds—East, West, and Centre—united in Gaul is to know truly the import of our people.”
—Stéphane Colbert, writing for the Mercure de France, 1699
“Of all things—tea? We gave our lives for them. We, as sailors, travelled across the Great [Pacific] Ocean for them. We, as farmers, brought kūrawa [groundnuts] and rice so they might keep alive. We, as soldiers, harried the Spanish and Malinese who sought to make slaves of our people. We, as warriors, captured Koreans aplenty to work in plantations across their Empire. And our reward for such labours is to be punished? Taxed for tea? Our father has forsaken us; is it any wonder that we, as children of a new world, have chosen to go our own way?”
—Watanabe Jōichirō, Satoyoko [Vancouver, British Columbia], 1700
“The French [Native American] tribes in this land are as follows:
-The Tau [Inuit] in their northern lordships;
-The Kinkitsu [Tlingit] who trade in names;
-The Sinjan [Tsimshian] who travel out to sea;
-The Haida on their island, whom all others fear;
-The Nasuga [Nisga’a] who died when Mount Aya [the Tseax Cone] erupted;
-The Dene who rule the north;
-The Nūchan [Nuu-Chah-Nulth] who surrendered to us;
-The Sanka [Kutenai] who live inland;
-The Nesaimu [Coastal Salish] who surrendered to us; and
-The Katāma [Chinook] who surrendered to us.
"The people of Kingawa [California] are as follows:
-The Homa [Pomo] in the north of the Great Valley;
-The Kocha-jin [Miwok] on the northern coast;
-The Yoko-jin [Yokuts] in the south of the Great Valley;
-The Awasu [Ohlone] on the southern coast;
-The Samara [Chumash] on the Three Islands; and
-The Kichu [Tongva] whose great city is Yāna [Los Angeles, “Iyáanga”].
"We are the Nikkeijin of Fusō. These lands are ours, as the lands of the Jōmon-jin and Ainu were our ancestors’. And in this new land we need no Emperor to lead us.”
—Arai Norikatsu, Chūko [Seattle, Washington], 1700
* * *
Thoughts?
Synopsis
This is the Earth of Timeline-1001, a timeline where the country of Kingawa sits on the western coast of the continent called Hesperia, which we call North America. A timeline where, two hundred thousand years ago, one last species of camelid—camelops celeris, called nayoomee in Bii’wemowin [Ojibwe]—was born on that continent, and through speed and stubbornness survived the incursion of humans into its territory. A timeline where, six thousand years ago, agriculture began in earnest in two places—in the Twin Valleys that in our timeline we call California, and along the Great River, our Mississippi—and then spread to much of the rest of the continent. A timeline where the inhabitants came to work stone, then bronze, then iron; developed a writing system unlike any other known in the world; formed and felled mighty empires; came to create faiths that would unify so much of the world…and all this by the time the first Greenlanders arrived at the start of what in Europe was the 11th Century.
The settling of the Greenlanders in territory controlled by the Nnu [Mi’kmaq], which would later become known as Vinland (or Wi‘nlan if you happen to speak Nnu), did a great deal for the continent. For the first time, cows, horses, and goats could be adapted for use alongside dwarf bison, nayoomee, and bighorn sheep. The giant crab-claw canoes of the Bawa Sea [Caribbean] now had a rival in Vinlandic longships, and a slow but steady naval Cold War started between north and south. While the Vinlanders found that the Nnu were unwilling to give up their faith—Nandowin, the Seeking, with a fourfold god, a homeland on the Great Lakes to the west among the Bii’we circuits, and a book almost as long as the Bible—they were tolerant of those who practiced Christianity. And diseases made their way around as well—not just local ones like gagiibaabiwin, gizhazhe, bakegidaazwe, and jiichiigomins (in English, knipps, alcom, swelting pox, and syphilis), but diseases the Norse brought with them, most notably smallpox and (later) horsepox.
Smallpox devastated much of the continent, causing the collapse of the Wóšnathípi [Kincaid] Imperium on the River, leading to a period of civil war on the Great Lakes and the Forest Coast [British Columbia] alike, leading to the end of Muwekma [Ohlone] hegemony over the Great Bay [San Francisco Bay Area], and providing an excuse for the southward migration of the nayoomee-herding Nahua people, inadvertently causing the foundation of their empire in Mexico many centuries later. It also led, along the Great River, to the creation of a rather zealous new religion, Hvshi Anowa or “the path of the sun”, replacing the older city-based Bird-Man cults practiced by the Wakatunga [Lakota and Dakota] and Ičhé [Missouri] with a monotheistic, highly cautious faith focused on dispelling the okpvni, spiritual shadows that weigh people down and stop them from achieving the light of Tomi Vt in earnest. Worst, it took quite a toll on the population. It has been estimated that the pre-Eriksonian population of Hesperia north of Mexico was around 83 million people; by 1100 this had dropped to 57 million, and by 1300, 48 million.
That’s not to say that the “Old” World didn’t have its trouble too. Spurred on by trouble in the south and east, the Tau [Inuit] began expanding their own raids and reaches along the coasts, and soon enough across the Bering Strait. Trade with Japan and a China currently undergoing Mongol conquest led to a double outbreak of alcom—a nightmare disease for the Mongols, leading to fever and sometimes fatal seizures followed by meningitis and coma-inducing encephalitis up to five years later. It was enough to halt the conquest of China long enough for the Song to stabilize in the south, and to save Baghdad from an untimely destruction. It preserved the Crusader state of Armenia, but it also kept Al-Andalus up and running, forcing the Christian kingdoms to the north to seek a different way to get their ancestral homes back. In India it meant there was enough disarray for the last of the Chola Dynasty to escape eastward with their followers in a literally unprecedented move, finding a great island to the east of gold-filled soil and gold-haired people. Not as much damage was done in Africa, but it was a close thing. In the end, tens of millions died—just in time for the Bubonic Plague to waltz its way west on the heels of its Hesperian partners-in-pestilence, leading to a further reduction in the population…and more changes to the history.
Thus it was a smaller and less populous, but decidedly angrier, Japan that sent forth Kuroda Kiyoshi in 1485 to seek out a trade route to France that didn’t rely on the Mongol-controlled Silk Road (understandably, given their recent conquest by and even more recent rebellion against the Chinese Khan). And it was a smaller, more cautious, and more humbled Europe, boxed in by sea, Scandinavia, Mongols, and Muslims on all four sides, that awaited the expedition by Gloqontiej Tegiptnat, a Vinlandic captain intent on spreading the Mystery to the cold and desolate land the Christians were supposed to have come from all those centuries ago.
Gloqontiej found Lisboa, capital of Spain. Kuroda found the Great Bay, and called it France.
Talk about a culture shock.
* * *
The 16th Century: A First Glimpse
“The Nou [Nnu, Mi’kmaq] know of Christ and His disciples, but despite the best efforts of the Norsemen still practice their own debased version of the faith. They believe in one God, whom they call Kesook [Kisu’lkw], but say that He left the creation of the world to demiurges, spirits entrapping themselves in flesh, and that the only spirits without form are the Archangel Michael and the Devil [the Good and Bad Answers], who either direct men to action or drive them to despair. They place great value in the asking and answering of questions, which is well and good when directed properly, but they are unabashed in their denial of the truth unless it can be given to them in baby-talk. They are at once the most intelligent and the most childlike barbarians I have ever encountered.”
—Thomas Molesley, 1504
“The Iglisi’l [English], like the Ispanio’l [Spanish], are followers of Yisu [Christ], with all that this entails. They make emphasis on living a good life in the service of their Last Prophet, which an honourable if warped path to the truth. But they believe, too, that their very birth and salvation depends on the decree of Yisu, and those who depart from this will be tormented for all eternity without possibility of placation. They have some knowledge of the Answers, but believe them separate from the consequences of one’s actions—generals gathering armies instead of teachers and guides. And unlike the Norse, they will not suffer their Holy Book to be translated into words they understand, leaving their people at the mercy of one man’s interpretation. The barbarians of the eastern lands are sophisticated, yes—but they are guided by tyrants and paranoid to the extreme.”
—Gloqontiej Tegiptnat of Gespeg, 1504
“Welcome to Paradise.”
—Captain Gregory Town, on the discovery of the area soon to be called Plymouth [Salvador, Brazil], 1517
“They possess herds of humpless camels but rarely take them forth into the jungles; it becomes them not, they say, to put pressure on beasts built for cooler climes. The camel they deem sacred, as a source of fine wool, meat, and milk; this last is drunk only by their great nobles, or mixed with bitter beans to produce papachcatl…
“But this reverence for camels has not prevented them from seeking out human victims, to be captured, sacrificed, and eaten in many festivals. How horrifying a place is Nopalla [Mexico City]—where a man can be killed should he slaughter a camel out of season, but freely partakes in the eating of his enemies, his lessers, even his own children. When they feel especially lenient, these Mexicans will substitute a camel for a child—but the skulls of the consumed dead are piled high nonetheless, and piled high in many places.”
—Salvador Coimbra, companion of Captain Guillermo de Sanabria, 1530 (shortly before The Night of Screams)
“The people of Hinedi [India] are cultured, ancient, and bizarre to the extreme. Their gods are many, and yet part of one—or possibly more than one, or perhaps they are aspects of one as yet unnamed. Their architecture is superb, their food more taste-full than any known, their languages mellifluous, their families ancient. Yet their social order confuses the heart. They possess phratries, of a sort, but while as is only proper the clans may rise to great influence, the phratries themselves—styling themselves priest, warrior, merchant, and farmer respectively—are given a hierarchy of their own. There are no farmer-archons that I know of; priests and warriors rule without election, and believe themselves born of ghosts [editor’s note: reincarnation as a concept is somewhat alien to the Bemaadizijig] who performed some great deed. And even they are ruled, by the Teminidag [Temirids] from the west, who have a completely different faith and proclaim their law above that of the natives. As absurd as if the Panseg [French] or Igiliig [English] could nullify our laws and treaties with a wave of their book! Either these people ask no Questions, or they have only had Bad Answers.”
—Thunderbird Wayaabamaan of Ishpadinaa [Toronto, Ontario], 1576
The 17th Century: Matters Moving
“There is no equal on the entirety of Maghsaqa [North America] to the Western Road of Missibun [the Mississippi River]. The barbarians constructed it long ago in the hopes of corralling the savages who ride false camels [nayoomee] in raids—a series of fortification-cities blocking the Riverlands from the Sea of Grass, linked by the ever-rebuilt River Road. Tending to this edge of settled civilization they deem a sacred duty, and all younger sons of noble lords learn combat there. The armies are thus ever-satisfied for glory without becoming a threat to the heathen emperor’s reign.
“Consider the benefits! A similar make of wall, keeping Garnat’ah [Granada] safe from the northern heathens, could also grant unity to the squabbling lordlings who undid our Settlement. A reassertion of our divine right of conquest could once and for all drive the rebelling Spanish back from Al-Andalus—but only with a strong heartland. And with gold from a Western World to bankrupt them—if only the Emir would spare but a small army to take the Great River, he should find his efforts rewarded one-hundredfold…”
—Jahwar ibn Sufyān al-Ghafūr, 1610
“The Bearded Men [Europeans+Middle Easterners] are masters of much technology and purveyors of many strange goods, but they are borne on wings of plague and slither as serpents with their Nameless God. Still, the factions within their chiefdoms—they cannot decide how best to worship their single deity, and will battle each other before they seek war with the Dawn People—something we much keep in mind. They speak of one ancestor, a man called No’a [Noah]; theirs is thus perhaps the most extended family squabble in history.”
—Lord Waχpéšá of Hohúpažóla [Emerald Mound, Illinois], 1613
“To His Majesty Mark IV, King by Election and Conquest of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and Hy-Brasil, from Your Little Brothers—Raccoon Nembaapi’idiz, Frog Nebekaazo, Lynx Dayebweyendang, Heron Enjaagizwaan, and Pelican Wepaamaad, Archons-Elect of the Circuit of Ishpadinaa—on the First Birthing Moon of the 1,648th Year of the Journey, greetings.
“Know that we did not, in fact, permit or condone this terrible attack on your temple. Christians have been free to worship in this Circuit for nearly six hundred years, provided they keep the ritual pillaging to a decent minimum. We also, however, cannot grant compensation by way of expansion into the Circuit. Land is the purview of the Carriers, allotted on a non-permanent basis to favoured members of other clans; sacred sites are non-denominational. If your people wish to rebuild the church in the City they are more than welcome to do so…”
—1617
“Having drunk their chocolate, I cannot understand why the Mexicans prefer blood. Having drunk camel’s milk, I understand far too well.”
—Friar Jorge Ocaña, 1622
“I am surprised that people seem to think that the Japanese can write. Any fool can smudge paper; it is another thing altogether for the symbols to sing regardless of what language the reader speaks.”
—Tspe’ey of Mispu [Santa Barbara, California], 1631
“The French [Miwoks] are a people much diminished by plague and pestilence, and with excessive devotion to their ten gods. But they are strong, nevertheless, resilient and prone to profit-seeking. The Japanese have laid claim to their land, much as they do Korea; with your Imperial Majesty’s permission, we might seek to offer them a counteroffer: service to the Àn (岸) Dynasty in exchange for weapons against the Japanese. Who knows? Perhaps a good legion of Frenchmen mercenaries, armed with Chinese guns and French camels, will be of use in taking back the North from the barbarian usurpers [Yuan Dynasty]. Set a savage to trap a savage, and spare the lives of honoured soldiers from ancient clans.”
—Admiral Tang Chen of Guangzhou, 1632
“The Kingdom of Karamel [Garramillah] sits on the edge of desolation, the people divided into three broad classes. The Shozaair [Cholas] are the ruling dynasty, who have established dominion over the northern shores of this continent, and who worship a god of destruction [Shiva]. The Tamijar [Tamils] are the middle rung, divided as in Hodoe [India] or Gamijn [the Great Lakes] into sub-castes for the purpose of division of labour, and who worship a goddess of creation [Shakti]. Both god and goddess have many associated saints. The last group comprises the Pilawa [Larrakia people and assorted others], who know no caste or culture but come to the coastal cities to work. The people here know of gold and iron, and indeed the Shozaair and wealthy Tamijar wear clothes of gold. Their foodstuffs are odd, being rice, roots, and a strange bread made from fruit, among other things. The capital city of Poelaair [Pulayur; Darwin, Australia] is built of a pink-gold stone [porcellanite] with wooden beams and clay tiles, with mud-brick streets painted in many colours and perfectly clean of filth. It is by far the most beautiful place I have yet seen on God’s Earth."
—Wolfgang da Silva, 1633
“The Zealanders [Netherlands] have declared their independence from the Empire [Austria] and the League [Hamburg] alike. Restituant Christians in England, Scotland, France, Bohemia, Sicily, and dozens of princely states have declared their own monarchs to be head of the church. The Carnatians have sworn neutrality against the Iberian Union [Spain+Aragon] and the Sullimans [the Turkish empire that toppled the Byzantines]—an unspoken declaration of war against both. This Peace of Nassau bodes well for none; it has turned Europe into a patchwork of heretic kings and peasant mobs.“
—Holy Roman Empress Leonor of Austria, 1642
“The Panseg [French] have chosen to ally with the Ongweh’onweh [Iroquois]; the Iginiig [English] with us; the Docheg [Hanseatic League] with Vinland; the Anidaanoosig [Granadans] with the Empire of the Sun [Mississippi Basin+Florida]; the Izibaanig [Spanish] with the Coastal Kings [Carolina]; and the Anaagonig [Aragonese] with the people of faraway Kaanuhaan [Texas].
“What fun! No war need be fought on this continent again—we can let the Europeans do it in their own lands instead, and send our warriors out for glory in a new world! Truly, this is a masterpiece of diplomacy.”
—Lynx Nidebi’ig of Wawiiantanong, 1642
“For all that they raid the cities of the east and north, the Tinta [Shoshone] are an honourable people, blessed in spirit. They follow the great Beasts [bison] on their annual migrations, never staying in one land too long, and scorning the trappings of the urbane. Unlike the Wakatungag [Wapkátχúŋwaŋ] they do not worship the sun; instead, like us, they recognize the importance of totem animals, and upon attaining manhood their Question is Answered by a chosen spirit…
“They have come to a period of civil war, thanks to the arrival of horses stolen from the Myaamiaki [Miami people; Chicago]. Most remain traditionalists, riding nayoomee, but an ever-expanding group led by a chief named Be’aiweda [Beai Weda, “Old Bear”] prefers the use of horses, gaining in speed and endurance what they lose in functionality and edibility… “It is uncertain as to the future of the Great Plains, but whatever the Riverpeople say the Tinta will lead the charge—be it on nayoomee, horse, or underwater panther.”
—Hawk Zhaabiwose of Manidoowaling [Manitoulin Island], 1645
“Neige-Coin [Nezhikowin] is a most unusual game, suited for the people of the Great Lakes in all particulars. Played on a small board, five squares by five squares, the five pieces each have a different goal. But each player takes turns playing each piece, so all are aided on their quests. The player who completes the quests for the most pieces wins by default of points. It is said to aid in their understanding of politics—and what a marvel it is, that they have found in their heathen faith a game of peace that rivals the war of chess!”
—Jean-Jacques Cousteau, 1651
“The King is dead—and no more need be said.”
—Marmaduke Harrogate, 1652
“Apparently I no longer may be King of Britain. I shall have to content myself with being King of Brasil. What an ill wind.”
—Thomas I of Brasil, upon hearing of the Isles’ decision to depose the House of Ossory in favour of an elected monarch under the leadership of Marmaduke Harrogate, 1652
“Then let them drink tea.”
—Magistrate Zì Jiànhóng, upon hearing that the people of the colony of Danmaxi [Singapore] did not have clean water, 1653
“The practice of sinanguya [sinankuya] is one of the most bizarre and yet most effective methods of peacekeeping I have yet seen. Here and on their island of Gejigun [Cuba, “sea island”], the leading clans are ritually obliged to insult one another in day-to-day meetings. These insults are practically scripted, detailing a certain relationship between the families, and invariably end in laughter and camaraderie on both sides. Even their slaves, who are from the same stock but different speakings [language families], have adopted a similar attitude among themselves, perhaps as a coping mechanism. Certainly they are expected to show more formal deference to their masters.”
—Mikjikj Me’te’m, On the Monarchy of Mali, 1655
“They take biśkiyãa [dwarf bison, Bii’wemowin bizhikig] as their primary source of meat, and ride snow-camels [nayoomee] in place of horses. They raise pīrū [turkeys] for meat as well, and the longest-lived ones produce eggs—a great delicacy. City- and country-dwellers alike have dogs of all breeds. But the strangest beast in Gamīn [the Great Lakes] is by far the mūs [moose, mooz]. When wild, these kings of deer are stubborn and implacable, but the wealthiest lords of Gamīn keep tamed mūs on their personal estate, and use them as mounts. They eat a great many more things than horses, are hardier in the cold, swim with riders on their backs, tower above all but the biggest stallions—and are very temperamental creatures. No better example of what Gamīn shows the world than its use of mūs.”
—Suman Kiritimati of Mahikawati [Mumbai], 1659
“The Maori love of wheat outdoes the most fervent fever of any French farmer.”
—Pierre Trichet, 1664
“Omašté [St. Louis] has fallen. The heathens who buried living people far from the Sun they worship shall be burnt alive. None shall remain. This is my Only Answer.”
—Horse-Lord Dogwa-Tekka’a of the Tinta, 1669
“To Ayan, now, Olympus of the West,
"Whence Sun doth shine across a land most blessed.”
—Enoch Brown, apparently upon seeing Ayantepui, 1672
“So the world knows three democracies: the Athenian, in Ireland, Zealand, Vinland, Canata [New York State], and Spadina [Ishpadinaa], where the best rule kingless; the Roman, in Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, Kingawa [Japanese British Columbia], Mexico, and Cathay, where the people choose their king; and the Spartan, in Venice, Missiponi, Baghdad, Egypt, and Mali, where the king, although holy, is beholden to the people. It remains to be seen which will prevail, if any, in Christian Europe, but one thing is certain: democracy in any form is antithetical to the rule of the good Sultan, Commander of the Three Faithful Peoples, and must be given no consideration under any circumstances.”
—Dragoman Eulalios Attaliates of Istanbul [not Constantinople], 1677
“Would it have been possible, a mere decade ago, for a trading guild to overrun a nation? But there you do have it: the Temirids have capitulated, granting the East [Indian] Ocean Company free reign over the city of Mahikawati [Mumbai] and a near-exclusive right to their cotton textiles. Our missionaries are spreading word of a a new Communion under the Restituant Church of Britain, our surveyors are mapping their empire where the Huns could not be bothered. Pepper, tea, cloves, cotton, silk—the stuff of fortunes, borne forth under King Arthur Come Again, master of Britain’s navies, her churches, and her hills.”
—Sir Cuthbert Grantham, 1681
“A royal wedding—between Prince Tupac Huaman of the Iberian Suyu [Peru] and Princess Edith of Brasil! One from a country ruled in all but fact by the Spanish, the other from the first free monarchy of the Western World. One is Catholic, the other Restituant. One is of solid, noble stock, the other is English. And yet theirs is very much a story of great love, if tales be believed.”
—T’āriq bin Makkī al-Jadd of Mālaqah [Málaga], 1684
“If one has not worn bison wool, one has not learned comfort.”
—Ganzorig Khan, Aqyar [Sevastopol, Crimea], 1687
兵法は
銃声響く
名誉なし
Heihō wa
jūsei hibiku
meiyo nashi
“Where, where, the art of war? A gun is fired, the savages scatter. There is no honour in slaughter.”
—Rōnin Oda Hiroshige, Satoyoko [Vancouver, British Columbia], 1689
“Therein lies the difference between our faiths. You believe, wholeheartedly, that the physical world is sinful, a trap for the spirit. We recognize that the world can affect us, and that there is a greater power at the end of all things. But we also recognize that we are not alone here. Many spirits, great and small, reside with us on this Earth, to return some day to the Truth, each with their own power and place, and they chose to come here. When all we have is this one chance at living before an eternity of Life, why not appreciate it?”
—Guide Íkháhseráhas of Canada to (Cathar) Croyant Charles Caron, 1692
“…in hindsight, I do somewhat understand why the great guides might have been slightly ticked when I asked whether Islam was another sect of Christianity.”
—Catfish Nwaaji’iweng, Great Guide of Manidoowaling, after a rather bad meeting in Lisboa [Lisbon] with Julian Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Maurício Gama, Bishop of Lisboa, and Tayyib, Grand Mufti of Istanbul, 1699
“A stunning turn of events, that this, the third embassy of Siam to France, should coincide with the first embassy from Canada [New York State]. To see the Siamese dressed in white shirts and trousered skirts with tall, conical hats of bamboo, matched against the many-coloured shirts, clan kilts, white leggings, and feathered headdresses of the Ganontiens [Haudenosaunee], the people of Brest, Versailles, and Paris are utterly ecstatic. We cannot say what will happen when they meet with His Majesty [Jean III Anjou], but their presence alone is cause for celebration. To see all three Worlds—East, West, and Centre—united in Gaul is to know truly the import of our people.”
—Stéphane Colbert, writing for the Mercure de France, 1699
“Of all things—tea? We gave our lives for them. We, as sailors, travelled across the Great [Pacific] Ocean for them. We, as farmers, brought kūrawa [groundnuts] and rice so they might keep alive. We, as soldiers, harried the Spanish and Malinese who sought to make slaves of our people. We, as warriors, captured Koreans aplenty to work in plantations across their Empire. And our reward for such labours is to be punished? Taxed for tea? Our father has forsaken us; is it any wonder that we, as children of a new world, have chosen to go our own way?”
—Watanabe Jōichirō, Satoyoko [Vancouver, British Columbia], 1700
“The French [Native American] tribes in this land are as follows:
-The Tau [Inuit] in their northern lordships;
-The Kinkitsu [Tlingit] who trade in names;
-The Sinjan [Tsimshian] who travel out to sea;
-The Haida on their island, whom all others fear;
-The Nasuga [Nisga’a] who died when Mount Aya [the Tseax Cone] erupted;
-The Dene who rule the north;
-The Nūchan [Nuu-Chah-Nulth] who surrendered to us;
-The Sanka [Kutenai] who live inland;
-The Nesaimu [Coastal Salish] who surrendered to us; and
-The Katāma [Chinook] who surrendered to us.
"The people of Kingawa [California] are as follows:
-The Homa [Pomo] in the north of the Great Valley;
-The Kocha-jin [Miwok] on the northern coast;
-The Yoko-jin [Yokuts] in the south of the Great Valley;
-The Awasu [Ohlone] on the southern coast;
-The Samara [Chumash] on the Three Islands; and
-The Kichu [Tongva] whose great city is Yāna [Los Angeles, “Iyáanga”].
"We are the Nikkeijin of Fusō. These lands are ours, as the lands of the Jōmon-jin and Ainu were our ancestors’. And in this new land we need no Emperor to lead us.”
—Arai Norikatsu, Chūko [Seattle, Washington], 1700
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Thoughts?
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