After the Caliphate

After the Caliphate

They had not easily been overcome. The struggle was harsh, but the fanatical hordes of Islam had been over-matched by the strength, courage and skill of the Imperial German troops and their incomparable, and it seemed- unconquerable - organisation, leadership and technology. The Moslems had sought death unflinchingly, and they had found it; sent to Allah by the bullets, bombs and bayonets of the best army in the world.

After driving Islam out of Europe, and overcoming the Turks with the aid of the Russians, the Germans and their allies or auxiliaries from the shrunken successor states of western Europe, had established a firm grasp on Antioch and it's environs, that strategic region which had seen victories of Alexander and Bohemund, and many before and since. Not trusting the Turks to remain defeated and quiescent, they had strongly fortified themselves there and dared the Moslems of the Middle East to break their teeth upon this iron stronghold at the entrance to the Levant. All the time, of course, they were strengthening their grip on the supply route by land and sea leading from the recently liberated Constantinople, and back by sea, river,rail and road, through the Balkans to Germany itself. Held in a vise between the threats of the Russians to their north and east, and the Germans to their west and south, the exhausted Turks had been compelled to remain still. However fervently the more resentful and religious wished to intervene in response to their own inclinations and the inflaming appeals from the Caliph in Jerusalem; they were unable to do more than wriggle feebly and make a few unofficial ghazi raids with low level piracies and spying against the hated infidels. Slowly the Europeans cleared the pirates from the Aegean and Cilician coasts and the islands of Crete and Cyprus and took firm control of the adjacent seas, reducing the Islamic threat in this theatre to merely nuisance value.The Moslems lacked the timber and the iron, and much of the technical skill and determination that would have been needed to float a fleet strong enough to wrest naval dominance from the Europeans. After several years of fighting around Antioch, it was clear that the Moslems could not re-capture it, and it appeared that the Germans were unable or unwilling to give the blood and treasure that would be required for a major assault into Syria aimed at the capture of Jerusalem. Their men, however, were receiving battle training which kept the German war machine alert and efficient at relatively low cost.

Whilst the attention of the Caliphate was fixed on the immediate German threat in the Levant, the allies or auxiliaries of the Germans became active in the Mediterranean and the Maghreb. The Men of Wessex, jealous of the mineral resources of the Yorkshiremen, and even of the Mercians, had scraped together a fleet and army and had seized the iron mines of southern Morocco and it's thinly settled coast, to give themselves the basis for a metal working industry that they hoped would be comparable with that of their neighbors and rivals. The Germans had approved this initiative as it gained an important resource from the Moslems, kept the Wessexmen keen on continuing the fight, and encouraged their other European partners to try their own luck at despoiling the Moslems. They had coaxed the Mercians and Yorkshiremen into selling coal to Wessex to promote it's industrial growth.This had resulted in a revamping of the old decayed system of canals and river transport
throughout England.

The Moroccans had not been able to make any vigorous response, not least because they feared falling victim to the renewed aggression of the Spaniards and the French, who had themselves started to seize the coastal towns of north Africa, partly in response to Moslem piracy, and partly in hopes of gaining some useful territory, and partly from a desire not to be completely outdone by their neighbors in fighting the Moslems. Biter complaints to Allah and to his Caliph had elicited no helpful response, so the small number of invaders, supported by the Germans, had slowly taken over the coast and organised estates to grow crops for export to Europe. There was a severe limit to the quantity of olive oil and wine from the Mediterranean that could be profitably sold in the markets of Europe - and North Africa produced little else that could be profitably sold in the markets of Europe. Hence the area relapsed into it's usual torpor with the coastal towns and farmlands under the control of new masters, as had happened before. The desert tribes continued their migrations and squabbling and occasional raiding of the settled areas, eliciting the predictable and predictably ineffective punitive counter raids, so that everything continued as it always had.

The Germans were interested in controlling the Mediterranean passage between Sicily and Tunisia, so they ensured that there was a reasonable garrison and a naval force based in Tunisia. Some Imperial bureaucrat with a sense of history and a liking for pretty maps, had designated the North African littoral from Morocco to Tunisia, 'Vandalia'. He had given it a governor and council which co-ordinated the relations between the French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Dutch and Danish owners and occupiers of it's towns and estates, with a military commander to ensure that their forces worked together.

The big surprise, particularly for the Moslems, came when the German attack arrived, not via Antioch and through the Levant as everyone had expected, but directly across the sea; to fall upon an Egypt that was not well prepared to receive it. Of course, it had been impossible to conceal the preparations for such a large attack, but the Moslem commanders had expected the Germans to attack through Antioch, possibly with diversionary attacks on Libya by the other Europeans, so the defences of Egypt had been weakened. Counter attacking the Germans, in prepared positions, across the Sinai desert, once they had secured the main points in Egypt, and had left their 'partners' who had bypassed Libya by sea, to clean up remaining resistance, had been another losing proposition for the forces of the Caliph when they arrived from the north. Allah had had a bad week before his battered forces pulled back to organise what defence they could on the other side of the desert, and to respond to the raids from the re-invigorated Imperial forces around Antioch who had taken the opportunity to make gains into northern Syria and to probe along the coast towards Lebanon. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth in Jerusalem, but no compensation for the irrecoverable losses of manpower, territory and prestige.

Command of the sea had then enabled the Europeans to by-pass the Sinai desert and land substantial forces along the coast of Palestine, as well as to introduce long distance raiders and reconnaissance teams, supported by the German airships.Co-ordinated defence efforts collapsed and soon the whole coastline was liberated, although fierce Moslem resistance continued in fortified areas and towns.Many such points of resistance had to be reduced to rubble by German artillery and the final defenders killed in hand to hand combat.The end had come when, unable to defend Jerusalem any longer, the Caliph and his entourage had died in a suicidal attack against the German forces. Although mopping up continued for some time, this series of unparalleled disasters for the cause of Islam had broken the morale of the remaining Moslem forces which had no further powerful Moslem state to support. It caused many to question the foundations of their belief. A final German psychological victory, just before the death of the Caliph and the liberation of Jerusalem, had been achieved by a daring raid on Mecca. An airship had quietly carried a company of assault troops down the Red Sea and over the desert.In the middle of a sleepy night they had silently descended unobserved into the centre of Mecca, removed the already broken holy meteorite from its corner of the Kaaba and departed with it's fragments which would later be displayed to the world along with photographs of the raid to prove it's authenticity, leaving explosive charges to detonate spectacularly as they flew away through the otherwise silent night.

A war god who keeps losing battles soon loses followers. Thereafter Islam became far less popular in the Middle East, although it remained strong amongst savages in Africa and in areas of southern and central Asia far from German influence.

All that was some years ago, and since then the Germans and their supporters have busily consolidated their gains. Egypt, jewel in the Mediterranean crown, has become a major producer of sub-tropical produce. There is even talk of re-building the dams on the Nile to regulate it's floods again. It's importance for the Romans lay in it's grain production to feed the voracious and parasitical city of Rome. This is no longer needed. Poland and the Ukraine can more easily supply any grain needed beyond local production. Of course the Egyptian population is much lower now, it's cities are cleaner, it is well managed and Islam is a superstition now found only amongst the lowest classes.

The Holy Land is a quaint backwater. It's surviving Moslem population was expelled to Iraq or Arabia or Jordan, and the remaining population subsists on basic agriculture and the tourist or pilgrim trade to mainly Christian religious sites. Of course, it's not at peace. The wrangles between the various Christian sects have replaced the Moslem disputes, albeit they have been more a matter of words than of blood, thus far. Unfortunately these wrangles are replicated in the disputes amongst the governing council, which includes Russian and French as well as German representatives, reflecting the enormous prestige of the Holy Land and it's history of religious disputes and of foreign interference. Organisation and policing of the pilgrim routes and facilities is in the hands of a revived Templar Order, headquartered again in what was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, although this is no longer believed to have been Solomon's Temple. The tour groups are brought mostly by German and Russian ship owners or operators.It's a long way and quite expensive. The route from the south of France is less safe because of piracy by Italian, Greek, Corsican, Sardinian and Sicilian gangs, as there is less protection than on the military route from Constantinople. There was far too much disagreement amongst the religious sects for Jerusalem to be made a Patriarchate, as Constantinople had been, and there was no agreement on who should be king of a proposed new Kingdom of Jerusalem, so the area remains under a Council for the Holy Land, representing various sects and their foreign backers, and depending ultimately on German arms and goodwill.Sectarians of apocalyptic disposition ponder the recent German successes and compare them confusedly with their expectations of a climatic battle of Armageddon, not sure what to make of recent history and it's potential relation to their favourite Biblical prophecies, and only serving to confuse each other still further by their ranting.

The rest of the Fertile Crescent is under direct German control. Following the destruction of the Caliphate, the Germans acted swiftly to gain control of Mesopotamia, sending forces as far as Basra, to secure access to the Persian Gulf and forestall any such move by the Russians. These were becoming restive at the comparison between their own passivity, distanced by rugged mountains and recovering from the terrible casualties they had suffered against Turkey, and the continuing series of spectacular German successes. This far sighted geopolitical manoeuvre has yet to bear fruit as the Germans have shown no interest in extending their influence through the Persian Gulf into the Indian Ocean. They have been content to receive a small amount of trade via Arab or Persian intermediaries. Perhaps this trade will grow as the spices brought from India or the Indies by Arab sailors, and commonly used in middle eastern cooking, may start to become popular in Europe once again.

Much has been achieved, and more may follow. Europe and the Mediterranean and the Middle East have been freed from the plague and curse of Islam, their people free to follow milder and less violent superstitions. Germany stands supreme, a colossus bestriding three continents; a benign colossus, encouraging and keeping peace amongst the pygmies of the rest of Europe, whilst busily extending it's population and influence in southeastern Europe, making it an enlargement of Germany itself. This organisation, colonisation and prosperity is being extended to the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts that had been occupied by the Turks, and to the uplands of Syria that had seen the Crusader states and before them the cities of the Seleucid successors of Alexander.

It had been proposed to revive Ionia, but it was immediately obvious that the remaining 'Greeks' were no longer sufficiently 'Ionian' to be able to supply enough suitable settlers. Hence, most of the remaining Turkish inhabitants were simply deported to the Anatolian plateau, and the coastlands garrisoned and slowly settled by Europeans, to protect the route to the Middle East and to strengthen the fetters binding Turkey to prevent it from again intervening against the interests of Europe and civilisation.

Not altogether co-incidentally the ruins of the great Seleucid city and military base of Apamea, not very far from Antioch, and where the great Seleucid military parades had been held, has become a favoured tourist site, and there are important modern military bases in its vicinity. Many senior officers and officials and businessmen have holiday villas in the area, to enjoy the climate and the company and use the area as a base for sight seeing throughout the Middle East. There is now a comfortable commercial airship service linking Berlin, Vienna, Belgrade, Constantinople, Troy, Ephesus, Pergamon, Antioch, Apamea, Baghdad and Basra. From Antioch a branch goes to Jerusalem and Alexandria. Railways and steamships carry freight and poorer passengers over much the same routes, which are fully protected by the military. The difficulties of supply, communications, government, trade and tourism have been greatly reduced and the prosperity of many correspondingly increased.

Apart from maintaining some military and naval base, the Germans have been less interested in the western and central Mediterranean than in the east. The minor European states maintain their footholds in 'Vandalia' and ship some produce from Alexandria. The Mediterranean islanders avoid tangling with the Germans, but slyly raid others, and each other, when they can.

The Germans seem content with their achievements, able after generations of sustained struggle to rest and turn to the pursuits of peace and pleasure. They do not want to conquer the world. They do not even want to extirpate Islam. They are willing to maintain their empire within the bounds of the deserts to the south and the mountains to the south east. They have no interest in the wretched savages living in and beyond the Sahara. They will keep an eye on the semi-independent Arabs of southern Arabia and allow some trade with them and with the Persians. The status of the latter within Islam as Shi'ite heretics has moderated their grief at the failure of the Arab orthodox Sunni Caliphate, and their reluctance to be caught between the Russians and the Germans in the same vise as constricts the Turks - also hereditary enemies to whom much territory was lost in the past - makes them cautious and polite towards the Germans and causes them to influence their followers within Imperial domains to be similarly prudent and self-effacing. The Germans seem happy to remain in Middle Earth, between the physical and spiritual extremes of Ice and Fire, rejecting the temptations of Eastern ecstasies and indifferent to their western equivalent.

For the moment the Imperial war machine rests, and begins to rust. It's soldiers stand at the furthest limits of the old Roman Empire, behind them it's bureaucrats and businessmen busily organise peace and prosperity; before them only a small picquet of romantics, orientalist academics, mystics and travellers on 'the golden road to Samarkand', who travel physically and spiritually 'for lust of knowing what should not be known'. The rulers of the Empire, this Second Holy Roman Empire of the German People, this western head of the revived Double Eagle would not put it in such terms, but they have lifted their faces to the dawn gleaming on the snowy peaks of the Zagros Mountains and rejected the lure of following the Macedonian and the Dionysian rout over them to Ecbatana, Persepolis, Hyrcania, Parapamisadae and onwards to the utmost bounds of mellifluous possibility in places of mystery, horror, terror and ecstasy. For them, practical men prudently seeking security, prosperity and social success, in charge of the humble destinies of common men seeking just these things,- although inhabitants of such a romantic enterprise as an Empire, and such a wildly romantically named Empire,- it is as if they sit as merchants ruling an emporium, and forget Imperium. In their hearts, and as men bearing serious worldly responsibilities for others and not free to wander as poor pilgrims seeking salvation, the call of Apollo from Delphi rings louder; 'Know Thyself','Nothing in Excess'.

Britain after the Collapse

As far as subsequent scholars and historians were able to reconstruct the situation before the Collapse, Britain was a united kingdom with a population of between 60 and 70 million people, hard as it is for modern people to accept and understand such a vast number. Most people lived in huge cities, tightly governed and integrated into a global economy which brought food and everything else from the four corners of the world, every day, in season and out.

The Israeli nuclear strike ended that instantly. All the major cities were hit and
destroyed, with the exception of York. No-one knew why York had been spared; was it an accident? Had the missile meant for it gone astray? Had the Israelis run out of missiles or not got as far as 'Y' in their targeting? Had it gone to 'New York' instead? Whatever the reason, it left the north of England with a natural capital, when the chaos diminished and such things started to matter once more.

It was estimated that about one quarter to one third of the population had died in the strike or as an immediate consequence. Most of the rest of the population died in the next few months. Elimination of the major cities had beheaded all large scale organisations, political and economic and social.Even the monarchy, the symbol of national unity, was gone. No one was left with the authority or ability to issue orders, or to communicate a message of reassurance and re-invigoration. Television, radio and the internet were gone. The electrical and gas grids were gone, although piped water lasted much longer.There was no one to organise work beyond small scale local firms, no-one to collect taxes or dispense benefits, no-one to organise the distribution of food, in an island which had imported almost all it's food. Banks and their cash machines stopped working, and currency had been replaced by barter. The National Health Service, that sacred cow worshiped by most of the population as the magic means which would enable them to live forever, had disappeared as soon as the government payments had stopped. Any surviving doctors or nurses worked for themselves. Starvation, crime and disease had quickly killed most city dwellers. Perhaps 95% of the population died before the situation stabilised.The infamous Black Death in the 14th century had only killed a third to a half of the people.

Of course, the remnants of the old political class and it's 'statist' or socialist
bureaucracy had not given up the ghost without a struggle. Surviving bureaucrats in counties and remaining towns had tried to maintain 'business as usual', but this was no longer possible. Their numbers and functions could not be maintained in the absence of large grants from a no longer existent central government. Bluster and force could not extract enough taxes from an impoverished and resentful local population. Society had been brutally and radically simplified; it could no longer afford specialism at the previous level, people had to become 'jacks of all trades and masters of none'. Where there was no longer the ability to maintain large numbers of road-menders, firemen, policemen, jailers, judges, teachers or doctors, the public could see no need or scope for 'health and safety executives', 'equality and diversity monitors', 'Council chief executives' or any of the numerous politically correct jobsworths who had infested the old system. Thus, most people had again to concentrate on growing as much as they could of their own food, and then in bartering whatever goods, skills or services they could offer to a limited local market. Government in the old sense as the universal provider could not be maintained.

There were regions, particularly the northeast,where there had been little actual work available,so most of the population was on the government payroll, either as a 'public sector worker' or as unemployed. It had long been a scandal that in such areas corrupt doctors certified most of the unemployed as 'disabled', to get higher benefits. In these areas, which had been propped up by all sorts of 're-development' grants extracted from other areas, where everyone in a responsible position was a socialist, it was inconceivable that they could no longer sponge off the rest of the country to maintain their desires. The old leftist attitudes were 'hard-wired' into the people. It was quite natural for them to follow the Stalinist policy of sending raiding parties to strip the countryside of all food, to keep the towns going a little longer. Not surprizingly, the whole area starved. Desperate refugees had not proved popular in more civilised areas, so 'Geordies' became extinct, and the area was slowly re-settled by farmers from Yorkshire.

Naturally,'government' in the older sense as 'rulers', did not entirely disappear, or was quickly re-created. Control of food production re-asserted itself as the basis of political power. This was no longer a matter of useless 'grasshoppers' voting to steal the produce of useful 'ants'; now the mice might as well vote to bell the cat,- and the cat had become lean and hungry and bad tempered, with larger and sharper claws and teeth. The new rulers who emerged from the chaos were nearer to a traditional ruling class, ruthless men proficient in violence and with the intelligence and charm and organising ability to attract and keep the loyalty of sufficient competent followers, on what could be 'sustainably' extracted from local farmers in return for effective protection from other would-be rulers or looters. They came from a variety of backgrounds, some were successful criminals, or businessmen, or landowners, others were senior police or army officers, or ex-politicians and senior bureaucrats.They all showed the requisite abilities to inspire fear, respect and loyalty, and the competence to maintain themselves in a cut-throat environment, along with the ambition to make names for themselves,and even to feel they were serving their community.

The disappearance of a central government from which pay, supplies and orders had emanated, together with the disappearance of the monarchy to which allegiance had been pledged as symbol of the nation, had forced a radical change of attitude on the senior officers of surviving military units. They could steal whatever was available locally, as long as they could maintain the loyalty and discipline of their men, which would soon depend on their ability to keep these men fed. In the longer term they knew that their own authority would depend on having loyalty to some political authority from which they could notionally claim to have derived it. Otherwise they would just become the temporary leaders of robber bands.'Community leaders',local notables who had the respect and support of local farmers, proved keen to have the protection of military units, or other gangs. They soon became organised areas where the soldiers helped with the farming and engineering and road and bridge maintenance,and 'law and order',in the old Roman manner, in return for food and a sense of community. Luxuries were no longer available. Over a generation or so, the military became even more integrated with the local community, marrying local women, and recruiting local men. At the same time, in the absence of the old institutions and media and education, people's sense of identity became much more local.Local dialects became more marked. Few people had occasion to travel further than the nearest market town.There were no longer pilgrims, but peddlers brought a little news from further afield.

The democratic madness simply disappeared. Few wanted to be ruled by glib rogues who would lie and cheat and steal, rob Peter to pay Paul, enrich themselves whilst prating of public service, tax and oppress their own people to enrich and advance foreign invaders, and prove not only unable to protect their people, but to be in the pockets of those who would attack the country. Crazy fools and lefties claiming a right to 'protest' whilst interfering with the peaceful occasions of ordinary people no longer existed, and would receive very short shrift if they ever reappeared. Now people were valued for their ability to be productive,or an effective fighter, or a cunning and successful ruler. 'Those who work' and 'those who fight' were still around and still valued, but the third medieval class of society, 'those who pray', were no longer evident, and it would be some time before a religious or intellectual class re-emerged. Even before the Collapse, Christianity, particularly the Church of England, had been very weak. It's wishy-washy leftism, adopted to make it popular, had simply repelled serious people; so when adversity came it was found to be a house of straw with no foundations, and it had blown away. The intellectuals had been irredeemably urban and lefty. They were not missed.

Agriculture was again the basis of society, but the Collapse had changed it. Large scale agri-business had ceased because the oil and chemical products and the fancy machinery on which it had depended were no longer available. Labour on the other hand was again relatively plentiful, even if crop yields were lower.Slowly population regained the medieval level of five or six million, but this was just a guess because the sort of governments which were able and interested in making such intrusive enquiries no longer existed.

Over time the stronger and more prosperous local areas absorbed their neighbors, partly by conquest and partly by people wanting to join a successful group. Yorkshire was the first, and strongest, based on local pride and identity.It had absorbed Northumbria and what was left of Lancashire and Cumbria. It's example had stimulated the development of Wessex in the south and Mercia in the midlands. Yorkshire's emblems included the white rose and the Cross of St. George, the upright red cross on a white background, which had been the flag of England, and no one disputed their right to it. York was the oldest surviving city in England, able to trace it's history back to the Romans. Others wanted to vie with this prestige, so the old Saxon city of Winchester became again the capital of a renewed Wessex, with a popular flag of a golden or yellow wyvern on a red background. The midlands had revived the name of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia, with emblems of a silver double-headed eagle and a yellow diagonal cross, or saltire, on a blue background, and it's old capital of Tamworth was pressed into use again.

It was not clear what had happened to Wales and Scotland after Cardiff, Swansea, Glasgow and Edinburgh had been destroyed. In what was left of England few missed those socialist subsidy-junkies, but they were determined that no more tribute would be sent in their direction. Neither was Northern Ireland greatly missed. It seemed that the Israelis had not bombed Dublin or Belfast, so the decline of Ireland was less dramatic than what happened to Britain. Although Ireland could feed itself, it lacked the industrial resources to sustain the old level of population, especially in the new situation where the western world had been virtually destroyed and there was very little international contact - apart of course from the immense Islamic jihad which had immediately overwhelmed western and southern Europe. New 'Barbary Pirates' had become a serious nuisance raiding the coasts of Britain and Ireland for loot and slaves. This had encouraged local self defence as the weak Irish central forces could not be everywhere they were needed, and had started the political crumbling into a host of local lordships which had left the central state a mere honorific shell. This however had eased the re-absorbsion of Northern Ireland.

Surviving Moslems had attempted to join their raiding co-religionists. This had been a fatal error. The military units which underpinned Yorkshire, supported by units of volunteers, had swiftly moved to clear the north of England of all Moslems. This explained how Yorkshire had come to absorb Lancashire. There had not been many Lancastrians left, and these were oppressed by Moslems until the men of Yorkshire had extirpated the threat; so the survivors were glad to be under the protection of a strong power.Wessex had had a more difficult time. It had been much more plagued by Moslem sea raiders, who had managed to establish shore bases from which they had conducted larger raids. It had taken generations, during which time the power and identity of Wessex had slowly consolidated, to gradually gain the upper hand in the continual fighting. Finally, with the assistance of forces from Mercia and
Yorkshire, the last Moslem bases on the mainland had been stormed, and the Isle of Wight, which for so long had been a Moslem fortress, was re-captured. Finally all three English kingdoms had been cleansed of the Moslem presence. For centuries this struggle would be remembered as the re-founding of England, and there was no doubt as to who were the enemies of England, Europe and civilisation. When the Germans eventually broke the military power of Islam, this was greeted with great enthusiasm in England and Ireland, and with eagerness to assist them in driving the monster out of Europe.

It was difficult to find anything beneficial in such an almost complete disaster as the Collapse, but there was one backhanded benefit. The elimination of the cities had destroyed not only the evil, socialist,tax and blood-sucking, state structure run by the most filthy and immoral lefty degenerate traitors imaginable, but also their favorite pets, the 'multi-cultural' 'ethnic minorities' and the 'underclass' on permanent state benefits. Without government preferences, and without connections to the land, few of them had lasted long. Some had attempted to take over farming areas, but despite murdering some of the locals they had not been able to make their rule stick, and local self defence units had worn them down and eliminated them.The country had passed through a very severe ordeal and survived with it's ethnic and moral base strengthened, although it's political unity had been lost. Gold through a refiner's fire, as the Biblical phrase had it. There were now three English states, not as good as one, but an improvement on the Heptarchy. At least, they were inhabited by, and run by and for, English people.They had regained self-respect and honour. They would make and cherish their own identity and history again. Any lefties or Moslems they met would die.

The Constantinople Campaign

The Constantinople Campaign: The Eagles' New Eyrie

The celebrations had been spectacular and prolonged. Everywhere one looked there seemed to be flags and images of double headed eagles, in various combinations of gold, black, silver,white, red, yellow and blue - a heraldic extravaganza on a single theme. They had been carried as standards by the troops as they marched in procession through the streets. They served as backdrops to the Royal and Illustrious personages who had traveled so far to greet each other, be seen by their troops and attend long and magnificent, if little understood, services in the incense scented cathedral. They were threaded across the streets, around squares, over doorways,in trees, and most thickly and colourfully draped over the front and from the minarets of Hagia Sophia, and the Topkapi Palace. Indeed, the utility of the minarets as flagpoles had helped to preserve them, against the desires of those who had wished to demolish them as Islamic excrescences spoiling the original design. The firework displays had also featured these magnificent birds in many colours. The cannon had roared victory salutes, the eminent personages had driven around in their carriages of state to the cheers of the crowd - not many of whom were locals, the lesser persons had enjoyed the free food and wine.It was certainly a historic occasion, the celebration of the liberation of the great city of Constantinople after well over a millennium under the Mohammedan yoke. No doubt the new day would bring it's headaches, hangovers for the simpler souls and knotty matters of diplomacy, protocol, strategy,logistics, planning and business for the men who made made things happen; whilst the remaining Muslim inhabitants were mustered again in their work groups to continue their new campaign to clean up the accumulated grime and repair the neglect of centuries, under the orders, eyes, boots, fists and canes of their new German masters.

Thane Richard Stephenson had enjoyed the celebrations. He had been astonished by the prevalence of the old emblem of the double headed eagle in the flags and heraldry of all the main allies in this crusade, Germany, Russia, Serbia and lesser Balkan principalities, the Orthodox Church,and even his own kingdom of Mercia. He was impressed by this not quite coincidence, since they had all been derived from the old Byzantine imperial sign. He wondered whether this signified a revival in the fortunes of the conjoined spiritual and physical rulership indicated by the bird, and whether it would be long before the amity between the various claimants dissipated and they turned to tear each other apart. Perhaps the continued and continual threat posed by the Caliphate would induce them to hang together. The unfathomable ways of Wyrd had dissolved the power of another world-girdling empire emblemed by an eagle more than half a millennium since, and now appeared to be
reviving another such empire or imperial ideal which had gone to oblivion a millennium before that. All the busy-ness and self-important bustle of success was soon stilled and laid in earth, but no man knew whether the whimsy of Fate might not revive it and show it again as having undergone 'a sea-change, into something rich and strange'.

He considered that he he had been extremely lucky to have been chosen as one of the two assistants of Sir Henry Wright, the Mercian political representative and military attache to the German High Command, as it had enabled him to get a good view of the campaign. He had seen a good deal of the fighting, and had talked to many of those involved in various capacities, as well as to colleagues in the delegations from other powers also attached to this historic enterprize of the Second Holy Roman Empire of the German People. He thought that he might write a book about it. He was well placed to meet knowledgeable people, his German was good, and he had already collected a lot of material. His tasks included collecting letters to be carried home from the soldiers of the Mercian Regiment along with Sir Henry's despatches to the Royal Council, so he had come to know a great deal of what happened and how it appeared at different levels. Sometimes he had helped to compose and write these letters for soldiers who were less than literate, and whose families would get friends, neighbours or employers to read them when they were received. For that matter, he had sometimes written Sir Henry's despatches, at his dictation; not that Sir Henry was lacking in literacy or in style, but Richard wrote a fairer hand, which would be easier for the Royal clerks to decipher. Sir Henry saw Richard and his other assistant, John Bishop, as his charges to be trained and guided as observers and representatives and budding courtiers, so he often discussed situations with them, drew out the implications of their observations, and even sought their opinions occasionally.

These letters and packages were carried home in those most effective vehicles of German diplomacy, their airships. They maintained a sketchy, (approximately quarterly except in winter,) service between the front lines and the capital towns of Germany's allies. These huge gasbags passing almost silently overhead, until they came down to be tethered overshadowing a large field, impressed both kings and commoners. Everyone wanted a ride in one of them, and Richard was envied because he had carried home the mail in one on several occasions.The commoners enjoyed the sight of them, felt they demonstrated the might of a friendly power, and were happy to receive news of their Toms Dicks and Harrys in the field far more rapidly and reliably than would otherwise have been the case. They talked excitedly of anyone who had seen one close up, or had had the rare treat of being allowed aboard and
even taken for a brief flight when they came on diplomatic missions. The kings and their councillors smiled more coldly upon them, but with a thoughtful appreciation of how unwise it might prove to refuse the courteously presented requests of the masters of these machines. The artificers who saw them were awed by the technical achievements, and many were inspired with determination not just to replicate them, but to think and tinker over other inventions. Without the airships, communications would have been much slower, and the participation of some of the allies far less certain. At what point, Richard wondered, did the agreement of a neighbour become the acquiescence of an ally or the obedience of a province of the mighty German Empire, or the Second Holy Roman Empire of the German People,as he must now get used to calling it without breaking into laughter.

The growing emphasis on the association with the Roman Empire seemed a bit strange, but Richard thought it was understandable. The old Fourth Reich had emerged from the ruins of the European Community. Those ruins were quite literal after the Israeli nuclear attack had destroyed the main cities of Europe, except those of Germany and Russia. This left Germany as even more obviously a giant surrounded by pygmies and their obvious, irresistible, leader.The immediate and prolonged struggle against Islamic invasion had summoned associations with the medieval Holy Roman Empire, and the leadership expected from the Emperor. This had passed over to the Hapsburgs, and their double headed eagle, in leading resistance to earlier Islamic aggression. The Russians had fitted neatly into the symbolism of the situation, and it's parallels to the eastern Roman Empire and the medieval and renaissance struggles of Europe against Islamic attack. The old Romanov double eagle was dusted off for Russia, whose Orthodox clerics were still quick to claim that Russia was the successor state to the eastern Roman Empire. Russia also had it's problems with Islam, and these echoed those of earlier times, and spurred a strong Russian determination to avoid a repetition of the humiliations of the centuries under Muslim Mongol rule, and the long centuries spent driving the Tartars and Ottomans out of southern Russia, the Caucasus and the Balkans. An alliance was natural in these circumstances. The querulous Poles, though lacking a Roman connection, could also be included and soothed with reminders of their gallant ancestors heroic relief of the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, which had saved central Europe from being overrun.Thus, Constantinople, it's strategic, political, religious and symbolic importance revived, became the obvious target for a great campaign to liberate Europe from the renewed threat of Islam. The success of the campaign was more than military, and this had been reflected in the prolonged celebrations. Both the German and Russian Emperors had traveled there to participate in joint ceremonies of revival of the eastern and western Roman empires, coronation and installation as Emperors of East and West. They would continue to rule from Berlin and Moscow, but Constantinople now stood as a symbol of joint interests and intentions. It might be political theatre, or even political thaumaturgy, but popular emotion and loyalty would be stimulated by these actions, and the sense of identity of the peoples of Europe would be altered.

The city itself and a strip of land bordering the Straits linking the Aegean and Black Seas was under the nominally independent control of the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, guaranteeing free access to the troops and fleets of both the German and Russian Emperors. In practice this meant it was under German control; but it was important to acknowledge Russian rights there also, in view of its symbolic importance to them, and in recognition of the centuries their predecessors had spent vainly seeking to obtain control of the city (thwarted by the 19th century British). By religion the Patriarch would be expected to sympathise with the Russians, but as a practical matter he depended on German troops, and was in their power.


In any case, Richard was sure that without the airships to motivate the diplomacy and carry the troops and supplies, a British Division consisting of brigades from Yorkshire, Mercia and Wessex, would not have fought their way across the Balkans as part of the German army,and participated in the liberation of Constantinople. Sir Henry had commented on the fact that the Germans had such a good understanding of the state of affairs in Britain and were such accomplished diplomats that they had been able to obtain a contribution about as large as was possible, and had it provided voluntarily. It was strange, he thought, that the unity of Britain, the United Kingdom, which had been lost in the Time of Chaos, was being somewhat restored as it's main successor states, the Kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Yorkshire came together emotionally in fighting a common foe, and in the closer economic and social contacts and wider knowledge of the world encouraged by the airships. Letters from his father told him that business was booming, with strong demand for cloth and metal ware, weapons and transport. There was a fever of new inventions and speculative projects, fortunes to be made and lost at home as lives and reputations were made and lost at the front. His father and his friends among the local gentry and merchants were looking for worthwhile, but not too speculative, investments. The smiths, mechanics and engineers were seeking to improve their skills and machines, keen to learn from and copy the Germans when they could get training and machines to copy. That reminded Richard that he needed to complete his letters home.

This time he would in addition be carrying some packages of tulip bulbs. He had found that the Turks and Russians were both fond of tulips, the archetypal flower of the steppes, and through his contacts he had managed to obtain packages of several varieties with which he was unfamiliar. He hoped they would flourish at the family estate, near Tamworth, the capital of Mercia.

Next morning Richard and his manservant Dixon, who had accompanied him throughout the campaign, and given a good account of himself in battle at Richard's side on several occasions, were driven in a two horse carriage to the airfield outside the city where the great airship Bismarck was tethered. They went aboard, and as Dixon settled Richard's baggage into his cabin, Richard checked that the trunks and chests of soldiers mail and diplomatic baggage for which he was responsible had been properly stowed. He exchanged greetings with his colleagues from Yorkshire and Wessex, who were about similar business, and whom he knew well.They nodded to their equivalents from Serbia, Montenegro, some of the north Italian city states, Spain, Portugal and France who would be landed before they reached Britain,stopping at Winchester, Tamworth and York.The Scandinavians who would be the last to leave before the airship finally reached Berlin. Richard was looking forward to the trip. He wanted to get home to visit his family, but he knew from experience that the food, drink, service and conversation were likely to be congenial. He intended to talk to his foreign colleagues and obtain what news and gossip was available, particularly anything that might be useful for his intended book about the war.It would be pleasant to sit with good companions, enjoying a meal, or a fine vintage as they chatted and looked out over the landscape moving slowly beneath them.

Before strolling along to meet his colleagues for a pre-luncheon drink in the lounge for first class passengers, Richard sat in his cabin and reviewed some of his notes about the war. He knew that after the liberation of France and Spain, the Germans had driven the Muslims out of Italy.

A couple of spectacular incidents in the capture of Sicily had greatly increased the fame and popularity of the airships. The Germans had risked one of their half a dozen airships to land a battalion behind the defenders of Messina, and the demoralised Muslims had surrendered to the forces landing from small boats, which otherwise they could have resisted. The next day the Governor of Palermo had surrendered the island of Sicily to a single officer bearing a peremptory demand from the airship Friedrich hanging over the city like a big bird of prey or angel of doom. Over and over the military airships had demonstrated their great value, for observation, reconnaissance, transport and for morale-sapping assaults on the enemy.Now they were famous across Europe, regarded with pride and affection by the Germans and their allies. They were becoming as famous across the Caliphate, regarded with the opposite emotions. Only the steadiest troops could withstand
their psychological pressure. It wasn't that they caused so much physical destruction themselves, but they had a mighty effect on morale. They gave the impression of being all-seeing, and indeed they were equipped with the best optical equipment, and could signal their observations to the German troops, whose tactical mobility and agility made up for their relatively small numbers.Their appearance usually was followed by bad news for the Moslem forces which saw them. The Mediterranean belief in the Evil Eye was played upon by their shape, and sometimes they were painted to resemble an eye. Moslem morale was also battered by the fact that they had no effective countermeasures, either material or magical. The injunctions and conjurations of the superstitious against the Evil Eye had no more effect on them than the scattered arrows and musket or rifle shots fired at them. Whispers were spreading, assisted by German Intelligence operatives, that the favour of Allah was passing from the Moslems to the Germans, and that his eyes in the sky were turning in anger on his previously favoured people.

Italy had again become a geographical rather than a political expression. After the nuclear destruction of Rome, Naples, Turin and Milan, the old united Italy had been shattered, and the land had quickly been overrun by Moslem hordes from north Africa. Centuries of occupation had changed the nature of the people, especially in the south. Even before the attack it had commonly been said that "Africa begins immediately to the south of Rome". Many of the people had converted to Mohammedanism, and intermarried with the Moslem invaders. The destruction of the Vatican together with the Pope and much of the Catholic hierarchy had weakened Catholicism and the focus of identity and resistance which would otherwise have delayed this conversion.Popular Catholicism survived in a weakened state, without much leadership, maintained mainly by the emotional needs of women, ignoring the new Papacy established by the German Empire in Cologne.

It had to be said that Italy had been a disappointment to the Germans. Many of its inhabitants had not been grateful to their liberators. They no longer thought of themselves as Italians, but as Moslems, and not a few had died resisting the liberators. Even in the north, the liberated locals, after the most obvious Moslem traces and elements had been eliminated or expelled, showed little enthusiasm for anything but squabbling amongst themselves.They did not like the Germans. They did not want to join in a war against the Moslems. They did not want to restore an Italian state. Their identities and interests focused on intense local patriotism. They were mistrustful of their neighbouring towns, and as far as they were concerned, the wider world might as well not exist. They did want subsidies and assistance in their intrigues against each other. They were an embarrassment to anything which professed admiration for the ancient Romans. There was little trace of the relics of antiquity, or interest in the art and architecture of the Renaissance. Most of the cultural heritage which had survived the Israeli attack had been destroyed by the Moslems as idolatrous.There was far more knowledge of it and respect for it amongst Germans than amongst the - no longer - 'Italians'. It had taken much effort and patience, threats and bribery, on the part of the Germans to construct the appearance of unity,in the form of a league of north Italian city states, which would commit token forces to the German campaign against Islam, when they weren't fighting each other.

The situation of the south of Italy was even worse. The locals were poor, and to outsiders,indistinguishable from Moslems, if indeed they were not secretly Moslem. Crime appeared to be the main industry,and the real religion of the area.The invisible heads of ferociously feuding clans of bandits appeared to be the real rulers there.These people demonstrated no capacity for or interest in any other form of government or way of life. The Germans had set up a government which they called a revival of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,in memory of their previous German and Austrian rulers.It had no local support and had difficulty extracting enough taxes to cover the cost of their collection, let alone any other costs. Hence it was used, at the expense of German money and manpower, as a means of attempting to restrict the exit of locals to ply their criminal talents in more civilised areas, and to prevent the infiltration of Moslem smugglers, raiders and spies. Otherwise the locals and the Germans pretty much ignored each other. The locals were free to murder and extort each other in their immemorial fashion provided they ignored the Germans, who were mainly confined to a few bases, from which they carried out small patrols of land and sea in search of their enemies.

Richard paused briefly, and considered the naval aspects of the campaign. He was no seaman, but his travels traversing much of the northern coast of the Mediterranean, and his converstions with people from these countries and those who dealt with them, had given him an interest in those vessels which were sometimes to be seen on the sparkling ocean far below the airship. The Germans and their allies were not strong naval powers. Really, no one was any more. For centuries the Mediterranean and the Black Sea had been Moslem lakes, but trade had been minimal compared to earlier eras, especially in the west. The Turks and Egyptians had maintained mercantile fleets and small naval fleets of sailing vessels to counter piracy. The progressive liberation of the coasts of Europe had created some opportunities for Moslem raids and piracy from North Africa, a mild revival of the Barbary pirates. The Germans had delegated countermeasures mainly to the Spanish, who were able to build some sailing ships to patrol between Gibraltar and Palermo, and to counter-raid North Africa. Richard had been deeply interested to see an example of the latest naval solution.

It shouldn't really be a surprize that similar causes produced similar results. When there was no oil or coal to power vessels, and there was a need to be somewhat independent of the wind, the Spaniards had re-invented that classic Mediterranean ship - the galley. He had seen one moving like a multi-legged beetle over the sea, off the coast of Barcelona, on a previous flight, and had been fascinated by it.The galleys also provided a useful way of dealing with the increasing numbers of Moslem prisoners or slaves available from the Balkans.It was satisfying that they should provide the propulsion needed to fight Moslems at sea.

After a fine meal, Richard talked to a Serbian colleague whom he knew slightly, about the progress of the war. The British Division had served alongside the Serbs, helping them to recover their homeland of Kossovo, and to slaughter Moslems in Albania. Grievances in the Balkans are endlessly treasured, polished, kept bright in memory and recounted, so the Serbs had been eager to inform Richard that many centuries ago, in the Old Times, the British had helped to deprive them of this dearly beloved homeland, handed over to the Moslem Albanians, probably on the instructions of the fabulous, and fabulously evil, Americans. Naturally, Richard had no knowledge of this, as it had not been preserved in British historical lore. Richard did not know or care whether he was reversing an old historical evil, or perpetrating a new one, but he meant to do his modest best to see that this campaign of the co-operating, if not exactly united, kingdoms of Britain, would be remembered. It was difficult to keep track of who was who in the fissiparous Balkans, let alone know who, if anyone, was in the right in ancient quarrels. It was confusing that both Serbs and Albanians claimed the symbol of the double-headed eagle. Fortunately, there was a clear test. He was fighting to cleanse Europe of Islamic influence and to permanently remove the threat of this ancient and recurrent evil.The Albanians, as far as he was concerned, had made the wrong choice when they had converted to Islam many centuries ago. No Moslems could have a place in Europe; those who did not leave would die.

As a young man of the military class, Richard expected and was expected to serve in a military capacity, and not only as a diplomat. He had spent alternate quarters each year as a relief junior officer leading platoons in the hills and mountains defending or attacking villages, bringing up supplies, searching out Moslem guerrillas and settlements, and killing all those found. That was why the war dragged on for so long. The Germans had smashed the formal armies resisting them fairly rapidly and had then ruthlessly cleared the main cities and towns; but it was a long, slow, tedious, unpleasant and dangerous task left to their allies to clear the countryside, winkling out and killing all remnants of Moslem resistance and population. The Germans did not want to have to fight the same people twice, but otherwise they fought a 'sustainable' war. They did not strain their manpower or economy by calling up too many men at once or for too long, but they were able to sustain this pace indefinitely and defeat much larger numbers through their technical superiority and matchless military skill. They made war pay. Areas of natural resources and fertile farmland were carefully targeted and brought into production as soon as possible to benefit the Empire. Many officers, and some soldiers, had prospered, gaining all sorts of wealth, but being expected to make sober and productive use of it, establishing estates and businesses and settling down with families. Looting, gambling, drunkenness, waste and destruction and
other such pastimes often associated with soldiers were frowned upon.

By now the Serbs and British had slowly ground their way into Greece, and Richard discussed the situation with Mihail, his Serb fellow passenger. Greece seemed to be as much of a mess as Italy. It was rough country, a poor land without resources, with nothing to attract attention since the end of the tourist industry of Old Times, deep in poverty since the ending of subsidies from the EU, consequent upon the ending of the EU. It had been quickly overrun by Islam, but not wholly islamised because the Orthodox church remained strong and had resumed it's ancient task of being a bastion of cultural and national as well as religious resistance. The inhabitants were no longer numerous and were as likely as the Italians to be brigands, with only hostility towards the outside world and it's attempts to control them. Absent resources and the vanished remains of classical antiquity, of which the modern 'Greeks' were as indifferent or contemptuous as Moslems, it had no attraction for the Germans. It's geographical situation, particularly the islands of the Aegean, which had not yet been cleared of Moslem influence and inhabitants, made it a strategic weakness, an easy route for Moslem infiltration, and for piracy from bases in the innumerable bays and islands. It looked as if a programme of galley building would be required to clear and hold these seas.

The galleys might also find themselves serving further afield before long. It was well known that the Egyptians had recently massacred all their Copts. These were the Christian descendents of the ancient Egyptians, a small minority amongst the Arab Moslem 'Egyptians'. Sir Henry had picked up a rumour that German Imperial and High Command circles were incensed by this. It could be that the Egyptians had inadvertantly made the fatal error of advancing themselves up the Germans' 'to do' list.

It was likely that thoughtful Germans were considering the famed fertility of the Egyptian soil, inundated and refreshed each year by the Nile flood. There had been a few centuries when the Old People had dammed the Nile and restricted it's flow, but their artificial lake had silted up and their dam had become just another cataract. Egypt could grow a lot of exotic crops like cotton or sugar; as well as producing much food for the Empire, as it had done in Roman times. The fact that it was currently over-populated and scarcely able to feed it's people would not be much of a problem. It would be necessary to keep the fellahin who cultivated the land. Under German management they might become even more productive. Over time they might be weaned from the Mahommedan superstition, but that scarcely mattered. The urban and ruling classes would not be needed. Any useful functions they performed could be
carried out by settlers from the Empire.It could be argued that the Moslems' massacre of the last remnants of the indigenous Egyptians meant that none of the current population had any rights there. They were all invaders and illegal immigrants, to be killed or expelled. The Emperor of the Second Holy Roman Empire of the German People and Western Roman Emperor could claim legitimacy in occupying and re-settling this long lost province of the Roman Empire.

Sir Henry had pointed out to Richard that behind the Germans' archaising their rule as 'Roman' there were always practical benefits to be claimed. It was not mere folly and flummery. It lent a splendid cloak of justification to their actions. It enhanced their prestige in the eyes of the simple, and encouraged assent and obedience. People enjoyed the pomp and pageantry. It made them feel part of something impressive and important and successful. It justified the 'recovery' of all territory which had been Roman - potentially including Britain as well as Egypt. They only made a big fuss about it when the area to be conquered was worthwhile. A discreet veil was drawn over relations with the heart of the historical Roman Empire - Italy and Greece - which were of little material or cultural value nowadays, or had degenerated into a savagery which shamed the Roman name. The double-headed imperial eagle business also eased relations with potential rivals, especially the Russians.

It wasn't altogether hypocritical, and it provided a template or narrative guiding action and taught rulers to emulate their admired predecessors. It was also a fact, as he had said, that people like to think well of themselves and their actions and be well thought of by others. It was important to rulers that the world should admire and think well of them. The tale that "the Germans conquered and occupied Egypt, massacring or expelling the Egyptians" would be much less desirable and useful than the tale that "the Emperor recovered the long lost province of Egypt and made it fruitful again, expelling the invaders and illegal immigrants who had despoiled it for so long."

The airship passed over the Adriatic and on to Italy, after dropping Mihail and other passengers in Belgrade.Richard and the remaining passengers marveled and exclaimed as the Bismarck passed by the strange sight of the sunken city of Venice. This had long passed beyond hope of salvage, and only it's roofs and upper walls protruded from the water. It had long since been abandoned, but still projected two strong impressions. One was of the glory and romance of it's distant past when this city had been the mistress of the Adriatic,dominating the Balkan coast, and extending it's commercial, political and military power as far as Crete and Constantinople. The other impression was of the extreme corruption and folly of the Italians of the Old Times, who had allowed it to sink away whilst their politicians and bureaucrats stole or wasted the funds meant for protection and restoration.

Although Richard's experience and most of his contacts had been in the German theatre of operations, he felt that the Russians should not be ignored. The original strategic concept had been for a pincers attack, to meet at Constantinople. The German pincer had got there, but not the Russian. This was not the result of any lack of effort on the part of the Russians. They had been optimistic to think it was possible. They had made great efforts in clearing southern Russia and Georgia of Moslems, but their lines of communication were stretched, and the rugged terrain of the Caucasus and eastern Turkey were all too suitable for defence. They lacked the organisational sophistication and some of the technical advantages of the Germans. Also, Russians and Turks were hereditary enemies, so the Turks fought them with special determination. It was a far more equal struggle than against the Germans.The Turks had maintained their reputation as very dogged defensive fighters, and the Russians had maintained their reputation for endurance and the ability to sustain terrible casualties.Stalemate was achieved somewhere in the mountains of eastern Turkey.This was not a failure; it distracted and exhausted the Turks, who were the strongest part of the Islamic armies.

It was on this front that the Moslems had made a technical innovation, or re-invention. They still had some oil patches, or places where petroleum or naptha oozed to the surface. They collected it and made fire-pots to throw at the Russians. The Germans had learned of this, and thought of the famous Greek Fire which Byzantine ships had used to terrify Islamic fleets. Research was in progress to make some modern equivalent, with the assistance of the German chemical industry, and their capacity to make oil from coal. No doubt when those Spanish or German galleys took to the sea against the ships of Egypt, they would be equipped with a version of the legendary fire-breathing apparatus.

Richard recalled that just before he had left Constantinople, there had been yet another victory celebration. This had indeed proved to be a miraculous year of victories and celebrations of historic achievements. The German forces had advanced across the Bosporus, ferried and supported by their airships, and had destroyed the last Turkish army in the west, defending their capital of Ankara. Rather than face annihilation the Turks had agreed to make peace. The Treaty of Ankara ceded all territory occupied by the Germans and Russians, and acknowledged a German protectorate over all Turkish islands and coastal areas.This opened the route to Syria, Jerusalem and Egypt. The dream of the Emperor Barbarossa might soon be achieved. It was rumoured that unofficial sources had hinted to the Turkish negotiators that the Germans were considering reversing the effects of the Battle of Manzikert in August 1071 which had overthrown the Byzantine army and Emperor, allowing the Seljuk Turks to infiltrate and take over Anatolia. The Germans might now declare the Turks to be illegal immigrants and usurpers in East Roman provinces, and expel them back to Turkmenistan.The Turks were stubborn, but they were not stupid. They knew the Germans could exterminate them, if they were willing to take the time to do so, and betting against German determination and patience would be very risky. It would be better to survive in a truncated state. They could imagine the Russians licking their lips as they sharpened their swords and bayonets, laughing at the thought of columns of Turkish refugees being driven towards them. The Turks were prohibited from having a navy, or from developing airships or other advanced weapons, and German inspectors would monitor this. Naturally, there were reparations and subventions to be paid, but those might give the Germans an interest in seeing that the Turks remained able to keep up their payments.

Richard enjoyed the rest of the flight home. It usually took up to two weeks, as they stopped overnight, and the winds and weather had an affect on their route and timing. The captain, Graf von Humboldt, was a celebrity along the route, as he entertained local notables and kept a notably fine table. This enabled budding diplomats like Richard to make influential acquaintances, and gain the benefit of their wide-ranging knowledge. This was not altogether a holiday, but a diplomatic task requiring a noble rather than a lackey escorting parcels, which indeed would have been quite safe and efficiently delivered without any escort. Actually it contributed to the education and social development of young men like Richard who were likely to become influential themselves, constituting a minimal version of the Grand Tour of old. Richard had particularly enjoyed the morning they had spent passing up the Loire valley in lovely sunlight, admiring from above the still justly famous and well maintained chateaux and their gardens on their way to moor at the French capital of Orleans. He had much to tell his parents and siblings, whom he saw waiting for him as the great airship came to land at Tamworth.

It would be only an overnight stop, as he was required to make the round trip via Berlin and back to Constantinople. He hoped to make use of the time to write up some of his notes and to meet German officers who could tell him more that would go into what he already thought of as a book successful throughout Britain and the Empire, to be called 'The Constantinople Campaign'.

Blood and Spirit in Future History

A Life on the Ocean Wave

Sean O'Rourke lay still on the traditional bull's hide as his mind slowly returned to normal after it's day and two night's journey into the realm of Manannan.He sighed, got up from his bed and went next door to the study where he sat at the table with the light from the window streaming over it as the dust motes spun and sparkled there. He took up his knife and one of the squared tallies of wood lying in a corner of the desk, and began to notch the corners into one of the oghams customarily used for such reports.As he wrote, Bridget the servant girl came in with a warm earthenware bowl of beef broth, a piece of buttered wholemeal bread and a wooden spoon, which she silently left beside him as he wrote. He was a Birdman, one of the Watchers who surveyed this world and others, and whose heavily edited reports kept the kings and druids of Eire informed of much which others did not know that they knew.

'A Life on the Ocean wave!
A home on the rolling deep!
Where the scatter'd waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep!'

He heard Bridget softly singing the old song to herself as she went about the housework. It was often used as part of an induction ritual, and she had heard it many times.She was a pleasant cheerful girl, and he wished her well in finding a young man with whom she could start a family. He turned his attention back to what he was writing.

It was hard to control the course of such journeys as he had undertaken. The spirits, the elementals and the creatures he contacted all had wills of their own, besides being playfully capricious, and it was not wise to try to force them too much. They did however follow patterns and acknowledge greater spiritual entities, and were often friendly, so a good deal could be learned from them.It was not so much a matter of obtaining information from them, as of participating in their life and consciousness.Most of those who made use of predictions about the weather, or the likely location of schools of fish, or the political and economic developments in foreign countries, did not know or care where the information came from, or that it was only a minor aspect of the spiritual activities of such men as Sean.

He had crossed and scanned the Ocean with the eye of a gull, had found and followed fish in the company of porpoises, had sounded the dark depths of the sea with whales.He had danced with the elementals of air and water as they had created clouds and storms, he had ridden the Hurricane, and felt the exhilaration as the storms stirred up the waters and blew themselves out over land. He knew the link between the storms of mass emotions in people and the weather that materialised around them. He had crossed continents with the consciousness of animals and birds, some opening access to aspects of existence not otherwise available to humans. He had entered the minds of men and had felt the shaping of events before they came to pass.His body had never left his homeland, but his spirit had ranged further and deeper than had most men.

His latest trip had taken him across the Atlantic, noting the weather patterns moving towards Europe, the stocks of fish and the movement of those sentient sea creatures who lived on them, and the general sense of the place and time. He had encountered the spirit of Sigurd, the old Icelandic skald who had similar interests, and together they had surveyed the Coast of Death on the other side of the Atlantic. It was a horrible place, still bearing the scars of unclean destruction after many centuries.Even the fish and sea creatures offshore had been sickened and had not properly recovered. Apart from the contorted ruins and areas of rubble where nothing grew, and which were surrounded by areas of sickly and distorted growth, and relatively unaffected areas where strange and savage men subsisted, the whole region was spiritually as well as physically desolate. The sense of evil was strong there, old evil from before the destruction, compounded by that event, haunted by so many whose souls had been destroyed or irredeemably distorted. It was not physically or spiritually safe to linger there.

He had followed the island chain of the Caribbean. This was an area of natural beauty, unfortunately still morally and physically polluted by the savagery of it's inhabitants. He had skimmed the west coast of Africa, and seen it to be in a similar state. The old squabbles over oil had ended with the oil, long ago; but the inhabitants had benefited no more from it's absence than they had from it's presence. Squabbles enough remained, although oil no longer provided an occasion for them.

Had he known, he could have reflected that the disappearance of oil had at least benefited the world in a minor way.No longer was it possible to easily hold conferences of petty tyrants, known outside their countries of domination chiefly for the bizarre and extravagant nature of their attire, or gatherings of pompous and pretentious politicians posing for 'photo opportunities'. A whole menagerie of 'international aid organisations' which had principally aided the growth of their participants' self esteem had faded away without much loss to the causes they had supposedly aided. In fact, Sean gave no thought to oil, because he had never known it, and it had no interest for him. The world got along without it, rather as it had before it had come into use.It's absence was not a reason for sorrow, and the remaining people were less crowded. A bit like the effect of the Black Death. Had someone explained to him that cheap oil had powered a lot of mechanical devices which had enabled a many more people to live, and to live more comfortably, than would otherwise have been the case, he would have asked about the value of those lives; what had the extra people done to justify their existence? Had they lived intensely? Had they devised anything useful? Had they shown a physical or spiritual return on the 'talents' invested in them? If told that they were mainly useless eaters, often criminals and layabouts who harmed other people and were a drain on resources, defended by sentimentalists and government employees whose own income depended on them; he would have pointed out that bad consequences were to be expected from the reign of quantity over quality, and that things were better now.

Some areas of West Africa he found were fairly heavily populated, with a semblance of government,where the cheerfully stoic people tried to conduct their lives with as little as possible reference to government. Other areas were simply victims of that semblance. All were agitated by continual conflict as the Muslims pressed down from the north, waging jihad against the remaining Christians and animists.

As he passed down the length of Africa, he had seen the remorseless jihad, and sensed it as a burning spearthrust into the vitals of the continent. The Arab slavers had burned their way well into central Africa, and were busily depopulating what had been the Congo and adjacent regions, sending a stream of slave caravans back down the Nile to market the survivors in Cairo. Further south there had been mines of fabulous richness. These were now of course merely fables. Some ruins were faintly discernible, but even the Chinese had given up trying to extract anything from them in a ceaseless fight against the diseases, the locals, the difficulty in keeping machinery running, and the distances. The further he passed from the penumbra of Arab influence, which brought trade for simple goods like clothing and pots and hand tools, ahead of the religious conversions, fanaticism,jihad, slavery and death, the more primitive the condition of the people became. Only an archaeologist would have noticed faint signs that Europeans had for a short time maintained a thriving civilization there.

There was little sign of large animals.As soon as the flow of funds from tourists had ceased, and the ego-stroking visits promoting 'conservation',from foreign celebrities to local 'big men',so had any local interest in conservation, or even any ability to protect the game for which Africa had been famous.They had soon been killed and eaten. No more gorillas in the mist. No more elephants, rhinoceros, buffalo,hippo, lions, leopards, giraffes, wildebeest,zebras,kudu, eland, even impalas and gazelle. Just scrawny cattle, some crocodiles, snakes and the ever more successful mosquitoes and tsetse flies spreading disease. Sean had had only a vague idea about these creatures and what they had looked like, but he had managed to contact their group souls. These were understandably shy and hostile to humans, but he was enough of a nature-druid to somewhat overcome this reluctance and get an impression of their appearance and consciousness, and understand why they no longer wished to live on earth.

He had passed the southern limit of this increasingly dark continent with a sense of relief.Table Mountain still stood majestic in it's setting, but apart from a few huts and cows in what had been Cape Town, there was little sign of human presence. There were no ships rounding, what to it's discoverer had been, "the fairest cape in all the world". Now there was nothing but the wind and waves blowing in from the south, with only the fishes and seabirds between that shore and the ice of Antarctica.

Joyfully Sean's spirit had leapt to whirl with the winds and as an albatross swoop to the waves, where the birds soar, the whales sing and the winds scream over endless, restless, rolling sea.

"We shoot thro' the sparkling foam,
Like an ocean-bird set free,
Like the ocean-bird, our home
We'll find far out on the sea!
A life on the ocean wave! . . "


Blood of the Earth

Major Augusto Hernandez sat patiently on his horse and smoked a cigarillo as he waited for his men to clear the area of dense bushes ahead. They had tracked a wounded savage into this hideout, and the major wanted to be sure that he had been dealt with before they resumed their steady advance. Already they had killed fifty nine of the savages in the six days since the patrol had crossed the Mississippi, and had taken their ears to prove it. Most of those had been a lucky catch, admittedly, from surprising a small village in the swamp, but they still counted towards the government bounty. Idly he wondered what the total would be for the full two weeks. He had a bet with Captain Roberto Morales that it would exceed one hundred, and he felt lucky.

He knew why patrol activity had been intensified. His Excellency the provincial governor and some of his friends, including his own commanding officer, Colonel Gomez, wanted more land on which to grow tropical crops.Naturally this meant that the land had first to be cleared of savages.This land was too good to be kept from profitable cultivation any longer. Many centuries ago it had borne crops of cotton and tobacco, but it had fallen out of use in the Time of Chaos, and ever since it had been occupied by the savages who had no use for cultivation. After such a long fallow period the yield would surely be very good.He knew that demand for cotton, tobacco, sugar, tropical fruit, coffee, sisal or anything else which could be grown efficiently on a large scale would be strong. The government would smile on local developers who could reduce the country's reliance on the produce of the plantations
and factories of Brazil, saving scarce foreign exchange. It was likely that, if necessary, some degree of protection and even subsidy could be secured, assisted by the right arguments and appropriate generosity to people in a position to be helpful.He himself was hoping for some land or shares in the scheme.

It was also good to extend the territory under Mexican control, especially if it had once belonged to the still hated Yanquis. At first, in the Time of Chaos, when Mexico reclaimed everything taken from it by the Yanquis, there had been too much turmoil to be able to bring this area under control. It had fallen under the sway of gangs of savage criminals, who had raided Mexico when they weren't fighting each other.Then when the Mexicans had become strong enough to defend themselves and launch punitive raids into what had become known as the Blacklands, things stabilised a bit. A regular trade had arisen in which the savages captured and sold their fellows into slavery in Mexico, or via the Caribbean islands, to the plantations in Brazil. Some of their leaders even attempted to form their own slave run estates, without much success as conditions were not sufficiently stable for reliable commerce. Now it was time to open the next phase, in which effective Mexican control would be asserted along the Gulf Coast, and sufficiently far inland to permit the functioning of estates, whose prosperity would solidify Mexican control and add an important new province to the country.Naturally he hoped and expected to increase his own standing and prosperity as a founder of the new province.

Whilst he smoked and waited, he glanced to his right, out over the Gulf of Mexico. Even after half a millenia, there were still twisted fingers of steel rising out of the water,the ruins of oil drilling platforms. The shore was also littered with the the rusted residue of buildings and equipment associated with the old oil industry, heavily overgrown. They seemed like sea monsters which had crawled there to die, or been cast up by the sea, caked with their own blood, or that of the earth which they had injured. Or, perhaps they were like the bloody shattered bones of insolent titans hurled to earth by angry gods.What was it about oil and it's relics which seemed as if man had over-reached himself in using it? Perhaps it was meant to remain as blood within the body of the earth, from which it had been impious to take it. See what a fate had befallen those who had taken the lead in that enterprise, and what trouble they had caused for those Mexicans who had followed their lead.

There was a sudden flurry of shouts and shots, which told him that his men had completed their task. A few minutes later Sergeant Miguel Garcia emerged from the bush grinning as he held up a couple of black ears, from which blood still dripped to the ground. He smiled and nodded to the sergeant and gave the order to advance.


Blood of Sacrifice

Cacique Montezuma Garcia was a man experienced at his work. He had conducted many sweeps of the Blacklands, and led back many thousands of savages to Mexico-Tenochtitlan City. In earlier times his precursors had cleared the more fertile parts of the land, and had captured slaves to labour on it. Things had changed, and nowadays the captives were needed, not for labour, but for sacrifice.

Things had changed in Mexico. Population had grown inexorably faster than resources became available to feed, clothe and employ them. Perhaps more important was the shift in attitudes and behaviour. People had lost faith, and even interest, in a religion imported from Europe and the attitudes and failed technology associated with it. Increasingly they turned to the gods of their ancestors, gods who demanded blood, not just pious words. Perhaps the change had come through popular superstition, which had re-interpreted and absorbed the saints and devotions of Catholicism into new versions of the older faiths. Jesus had become a Flayed One, assimilated with Xipe Totec 'Our Lord the Flayed One',and in popular beliefs, blood was demanded on every occasion. For ages people had resorted to murder and black magic in search of economic fortune and social success. They sought out witches to cast love spells and curses, or to defend themselves against the real or imagined curses of others. Every petty dispute, each minor illness, became an affair of sorcerers.The populace became afraid of their own shadows, each person imagining him - or more fervently, her -self to be surrounded by ill-wishers deploying immense powers of malicious destruction.Those who rose to the top in this society were more cunning and ruthless, but no less superstitious than average, and certainly did not fail to avail themselves of all means of procuring their self advancement.All of this required immense outpourings of blood and money.The country was adrift on a sea of blood. Many priests had become religious generalists, willing to supply rituals for any faith. It was even rumoured that the Pope himself doubled as the head of the religion of Huitzilopochtli and presided over some of the human sacrifices wearing the cured skin of a flayed man.

This had naturally increased the demand for captives to be sacrificed, and it was Garcia's job to supply them. He himself was a devotee of Tezcatlipoca, the patron god of fortune, war and sorcery.He felt protected by him, and thankful for his guidance. He had frequently strolled through the city, admiring it's tall pyramids of sacrifice, it's throngs of bustling people, and it's meat markets where the butchered corpses of the sacrificed were displayed for sale amidst clouds of buzzing flies,as meat to sustain the people. He supposed that he and the shoppers here had often partaken of the meat of sacrificed savages whom he and his men had captured. Although there were farms where slaves were bred and fattened for market, this was slow and expensive; and many preferred the taste of free range meat. He was pleased that his efforts, approved and guided by the gods, helped to nourish the people with the meat, and the gods with the blood of those sacrificed. So busy was the ritual schedule at the main pyramids, and so voracious the demand for their produce, in all the main cities, that ceremonies continued even at night, illuminated by the light cast from bowls of flaming liquid which still oozed from the ground at sites associated with the ancient and long discontinued practice of oil drilling. The underworld deities associated with 'oil' had long ago withdrawn their favour, but now it seemed they might be starting to relent.Perhaps they had been influenced by the deluge of blood pouring on the ground, which perhaps they saw as recompense for the oil that had been taken from the earth. He had seen many grotesque ruins along the coast and in the sea off the Blacklands where he pursued his business, and wondered vaguely whether they might have had to do with the mysteries of oil.

He had always been a landsman, and had worked to the north along the Gulf coast, but he had met colleagues who were seamen and raided the islands of the Caribbean from their bases in Yucatan.They had even passed on rumours that, far to the south, the Brasilians raided the coast of Africa.

Over time the rich pickings from the north had dwindled. Settlers had moved into the coastal lands and established towns and estates. He and those like him, had to travel further, striking inland and eastwards, and then south through the swamps of what had been Florida, infested with snakes, alligators and savages of a particularly virulent ferocity.Some teams were already working up the Atlantic coast. As the savages had disappeared, white men had filtered down from the highlands of the north. These people were much better armed and organised than the savages, so not many had been captured, although their rarity value brought much higher prices. Now Garcia had formed an audacious intention. He meant to make a fortune and enhance his reputation as a warrior by being the first to capture large numbers of these people.He knew it would be arduous and bloody, but he had made arrangements with other leaders and had five thousand men, well armed with clubs, spears, bows, obsidian knives, and even a few muskets from Brazil. Days had been spent in rituals and ceremonies, prayers and sacrifices. Priests had declared the omens to be propritious, and the expedition had set out, carrying plenty of supplies, with whips and rope for captives, cheered by the people they passed.

Now they had passed the area of Mexican settlement and pressed ever northwards towards the region inhabited by the mysterious white men.Garcia did not know, and would not have deviated a step had he known, that he was headed straight for Brigadier Aurelius Jones and his men, entrenched behind a well surveyed and ranged killing ground, supported by artillery and cavalry.There would be a decisive clash between men fully confident of the favour of their gods, and men just as confident in their rifles, cannon and tactical training. Whoever won, much blood was about to be sacrificed.


American Cossacks

Cptain Septimus Stuart sat his horse and observed the scene in front of him.This was Clan MacPherson territory, and he noted the white and grey of their tartan saddle blankets, cockades in their caps and the pennants on their wagons, as the men rode around their scattered herds of cattle, horses and bison. They were all drifting south in front of an increasingly chilly breeze. The northern horizon was darkening with storm clouds as the winter season approached.

He knew that the tartan was an affectation, a bit of nonsense thought up by a haberdasher back east, who had found an old book of tartan designs, had samples produced at a woolen mill,and then sent salesmen on an amazingly successful campaign across the Plains; many of whose inhabitants liked to think of themselves as romantic characters, free men in sympathy with the vague but stirring tales told of Scottish Highlanders from the distant past. Some of the leaders of this group may have been called MacPherson, so it was an instant sale, and an encouragement to their neighbours to find an association with another colourful and distinguishing pattern.

The Republican government kept an eye on such things. They approved of ties to ancient identities, even if more than a little bogus, because they pointed to the greater truth of common European origin and sympathy.There were other groups, guilds, tribes or associations which boasted of other notionally eponymous identities. There were Men of Wayland among the smiths. The Sons of Hermes formed an association of merchants, for instance. Some of the horseclans, particularly those whose leaders could claim Germanic ancestry, called themselves Goths. None of them could claim a symbol of identity as spectacular and apparently historical as the tartan. Some of the envious Goths advanced a claim to share the tartan because of the very ancient tartan-wearing mummies of white people found long ago in the steppe borders of ancient China. The Scots derided this, saying that the Goths were much later arrivals on the Eurasian steppes, and that only in Scotland had the tartan been perfected.

Stuart smiled to himself thinking that the notion of Goths must have been a little hard for the Romanophiles in Pittsburg to swallow. They were well aware of the great battle of Adrianople in 378 A.D. when the real Goths had inflicted a crushing defeat on the Romans. Perhaps they had rationalised acceptace by remembrance that many Goths had served faithfully in Roman armies and even as senior Roman officers. Perhaps, he mused, it had been the easier to accept because the defeat had been inflicted on the Roman Empire, not on the Republic. Of course, the old Americans had also disliked the notion of Empire even though they had become one. It was said that the Romans had acquired an Empire by fighting strictly defensive wars, and the old Americans by defending 'democracy' around the world. In any case, he was sure that the American Republic intended that their Goths remained American, loyal and useful.

He had spent the warmer months riding the Great Plains visiting the various groupings inhabiting this vast grassland. It was the task of officers like himself to keep a finger on the pulse of the Plains.He had noted their needs, absorbed their news, adjudicated minor disputes, kept them aware of the power of Pittsburg and it's benificent interest in their welfare and claim on their loyalty. Wryly he noted that he was not without romanticism himself, as he caught himself comparing himself to the Political Officers in the North West Frontier tribal areas of the old British Raj in India.

As he headed back towards the encampment,Stuart reviewed the history of the Plains. After The Collapse of the old America, the Mexicans had swept through the region, killing almost everyone. They had only established effective occupancy in the south, and the rest became a vast wildlife reserve. Slowly herds of bison, cattle and horses established themselves and roamed freely, eventually attracting some predation from Mexicans and Americans.Wolves or coyotes seemed to have done for the sheep, or perhaps it was the Mexicans. When the Republic was firmly established, they turned some attention to making use of the resources provided by these herds.Slowly people began to resettle the area, a few farmers and growing numbers of herders and hunters. The annual forays for meat and skins to take back east became more systematic, and people who had reason to leave the east behind them drifted onto the Plains, where as permanent inhabitants they felt more free. Back east, some quipped that this movement benefitted both source and destination.

The Republic knew it could not intensively settle much of this vast area. It was very glad to keep the Mexicans out of it, and worked to develop groups of nomads who would be a counterpoise to them. The cavalry potential had been obvious. The Republic mounted it's own cavalry partly on horses from the Plains, took an interest in horse breeding there, sent it's units to train there, and above all, encouraged and recruited the Plainsmen to function as light cavalry. The Mexicans could do the same, but the Republic hoped that their own Plains cavalrymen,supported by regular units of 'galloper guns' horse artillery, would make a Mexican attack via the Plains too costly to be worthwhile, by harrying it's communications. Now that there were steam gunboats patrolling the Mississippi, the Republic felt a lot more confident about it's western defences. Indeed, the shattering of their cannibal raiding assaults in the old Southern states, and subsequent expulsion of all Mexicans west of the Mississippi, had given the Republic the confidence of a good defence line. The Plainsmen were in full control north of the Arkansas river, and infiltrating south of it, nudging Mexican influence away from the Mississippi,providing a glacis in front of the moat protecting Fortress America.

The comparison Stuart most liked for the Plainsmen was with the Cossacks of Eastern Europe. The name had supposedly derived from the Turkish for free man or unruly wanderer. They had attracted all sorts of people squeezed out of a more settled life, and formed a miscellany of groups serving or fighting the Poles, Russians and Turks. Very romantic characters in folklore, they had mainly served the Tsars as light cavalry and frontier guards and had helped the eastern advance of Russia into Siberia. The development of the old America had proceeded so rapidly that the railroads and then the oil-based surge of automobiles and aircraft had settled and leaped over the Plains very quickly in historical terms. The disappearance of oil had brought back distance as a major factor in life, and the Plains certainly represented distance. The second development of America was going to be much slower, and the Plains would have longer in which to play a 'romantic' role. The Plains Indians had almost fitted the bill the first time around, but although the buffalo had returned, the Indians had not. So, Highlanders, Goths or Cossacks, whoever they were likened to, the American Republican Plainsmen would have their hour.

Books and Blood in Future History

Blood of Christ

Father Enrique Hernandez de Mendoza paused in his writing. Laying the fountain pen carefully on the dark wooden desk in front of him, he glanced casually out of the window. In the middle distance he saw a peasant boy in a dirty shirt carrying a long switch over his left shoulder as he guided the wooden plough being dragged through the ground by the two negro slaves shackled to it. A usual scene, the Father noted. The boy's mother, Maria, was sick again, as he had learned when talking to the boy on the previous day. The family had little land and could not afford the attentions of a medico - whatever they, in truth, might be worth. The crops would be poor again this year, he thought.

Little changed here in the pacified region of what had been one of those 'United States' - Texas, perhaps, or maybe it had been New Mexico, as if it mattered, save to the most nit-picking of chroniclers. Now, of course it was part of the province of Central Northern Mexico. Decades had passed since there had been more than minor troubles in this area. The army of His Excellency Don Arturo Gallenos de Columbo had seen to that, in the usual bloody, but unusually thorough, manner. It was still grimly whispered among the peasants that the sighing and howling of the wind carried the screams of those, and they were many, who had been flayed, impaled or roasted. Now there were few white Americanos left to cause trouble. The frontier raids of black and mestizo bandits were far away in the Blacklands of the eastern coast and Caribbean, where the savages ate or enslaved each other, for sale mainly to the plantations of Brazil.

His eyes turned back to the pen in front of him. He was pleased with it.The pen, of black plastic and gold plated steel, was a treasured family heirloom and was the emblem of his status as a cleric, a man of learning and of at least modest position in the Bishop's entourage. His superior, an avid collector of stories about the past had sent him to this monastery of San Geronimo to search what records they might have, seeking anything interesting. The humble brothers were scarcely literate in Spanish, let alone in the infidel English tongue of the previous heathen occupiers of the area. Although welcoming and hospitable, they had not been able to be of much assistance. He had spent a few days leafing through such records and writings as they possessed. Beyond the sparse hand written administrative records of their monastery, which had never had more than a handful of brothers for the century or so of it's existence, there was little but a few old printed devotional works.

The single exception, which might make his journey worthwhile in the Bishop's eyes, was what appeared to be a popular magazine from the latter part of the twentieth century. It had probably survived so long because it had been lost inside the drawer of an old table which he had idly opened.

As an educated man, he had been aware that the ancients had had horseless carriages, but he had never seen one or even a picture of one. He was fascinated to see colourful pictures of what appeared to be these self-moving machines, but repulsed by the sinful avarice with which they were advertised, and the expectation that every common man and woman should have at least one of these, surely noisy, and possibly blasphemous, monsters.They appeared to be each be made out of many hundred kilogrammes of metal, which must have been a grotesque extravagance. He had never seen so much metal in a single object, yet here were streets filled with them. It was most unsettling to see such a disdainful display of extravagance; all the more so as the arrogant attitudes of the populace would have been hard to take in an assembly of nobles and notables, let alone being quite devoid of the humility properly expected of common people.Then there was the scandal of the women.

Many of the pages not devoted to pictures of horseless carriages, were given over to beautiful women advertising clothing as scanty as their morals. Even the pictures of the people in the streets showed that ordinarily the women were indecently, and even lasciviously, dressed. Their attitudes were quite brazen. No doubt all of this had contributed to the wrath of the Almighty which had fallen upon them, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Such a thing could not be left to bring confusion and temptation to the simple people and humble brethren of this place.

More troubling to his mind and spirit was one of the stories set amongst the vulgar commercial dross. It raved in a confused manner about how the god Apollo had appeared at least thirteen times; and borne some of the locals, who had henceforth become heroes, into the heavens,even as far as the moon, in some sort of fire-breathing dragon-like heavenly chariot. At least one of these ventures had ended like Icarus, in falling to earth in flames. Father Enrique considered the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, which had angered The Lord, and supposed this story of Apollo to indicate similar vainglorious folly, probably with similar results, if the contrast between the Florida of that time and now was anything to go by. This open, public, demonolatry and black magic was deeply disturbing. Perhaps these people had derived their power from summoning demons. There were hints that they had indeed drawn power from Hell, from the realms of Pluto and Uranus, and that it had proved demonically destructive.

He pondered these matters, slowly turning his fountain pen over and over in his hands. The more he thought about it, the more clearly he perceived the influence of Satan. It was obvious in these stories and pictures of the ancient people, the Americans. It was latent in such unholy relics, lying dormant for centuries until Satan found an occasion to use them to tempt the unwary, leading them to taste the forbidden fruit. Even publicising such things was dangerous. There was a temptation to seek to advance a career as the discover of something sensational; but this could be to advance the work of the Devil, to say nothing of the uncertain currents of theological fashion and Curial favour, which could as easily lead to condemnation for heresy, torture and imprisonment or death at the stake. He knelt at the old prie dieu beside him, and prayed for a long time.

When he arose, his mind was calm and his duty clear. He could not leave this snare of the Evil One to fall into innocent hands. Nor could he destroy it, for fear that others and worse, for which the Church would not be prepared, might come to light elsewhere.He knew that he lacked the subtlety of mind and depth of spiritual faith required to deal properly with this discovery. It would have to go to the Bishop, with a carefully composed covering explanation, and probably to the Papal Curia at the New Vatican in Mexico City. He saw that the hand of God may have guided his usually more worldly superior to send him here. As he wrapped the offending object in his spare shirt and bundled it into his saddle bag he was thankful that he may have been of service, and thanked God for having brought knowledge of the saving blood of His Son to the people around him, of infinitely greater value than the vain foolishness of the departed world portrayed in the object of temptation. He went to make his farewells to the Abbot and his brethren, looking forward to the long muleback journey home with far more happiness than he had anticipated.


Blood of Holy War

Cadi Mohammed ibn Abdullah was a man at peace with himself, his world and his god. Life was good. Allah was smiling upon him. He sat on comfortable cushions and looked out over his estate, enjoying the sight of his French slaves tending his crops and his rows of orange trees. Just this morning he had completed the purchase of another farm, adding to a satisfying portfolio of holdings in the area, which marked his growing wealth and influence.

He was becoming a man whose views and participation in business dealings were solicited by other wealthy and influential men. He had hopes of marrying his sons and daughters into even more influential families whose interests extended across the whole Muslim world, from the Maghreb to Indonesia and from the Alps and Istanbul to the depths of Africa. Although Valencia was far from the centre of affairs at Al Quds, where the Caliph Hisham reigned supreme, he was happy here. He had investments in the dhows and their cargoes which busily plied the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean as far as the clove groves of Zanzibar and Pemba. He had been angling for inclusion in a consortium which traded beyond India to Malaya and Indonesia, even to the Spice Islands. He felt confident that this would soon be achieved, as his reputation and assets increased and he continued in the good graces of His
Highness Ali, the local representative of the Caliph (Peace Be Upon Him).

After noon prayers and a light meal of fruit and spiced meat he had decided to devote the afternoon to reading history. He particularly enjoyed reading about the Great Jihad that had brought Western Europe under the control of Islam, and turned the Mediterranean into an Islamic lake. As a youger man he had hoped to participate as a Ghazi in the next great Jihad, which would surely overwhelm the Germans who still controlled Northern Europe, and plant the Caliph's green banner on the shores of the Baltic and North Seas. Alas, such had not been the will of Allah, as shown through the political weakness of the Caliphate at that time, and in the demonstrated superiority of the Germans' weapons and military organisation.

Now he no longer regretted the path his life had taken. Instead, his knowledge of affairs left him uneasily wondering whether his sons would be permitted to enjoy their inheritance for many years before the Germans seized it from them - but these were thoughts which could never be revealed.

He took pleasure in turning the stiff pages of the lovingly printed and lavishly illustrated volume in it's decorative leather binding, a work of art in itself. He was well acquainted with the tale, a story of Allah's providence to his people in bemusing the minds of the rulers of Europe, so that they contrived their own destruction and that of their people who had once ruled the globe. The book was a couple of centuries old, and the tale, of course, even older.The fools had encouraged Muslim immigration, given them favoured treatment, enabled their growth in numbers, wealth and confidence until they strutted the streets beating, burning, looting and raping the natives, needing to fear little reprisal from people whom they increasingly despised. Thus the first and second stages, infiltration and assertion had been accomplished. The final stage of outright conquest had been deferred for a considerable time.

The leading power of the time had been the Americans, based in the north of the great continent on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. They had involved the Europeans in their financial, economic, social and military follies, so both collapsed into confusion together when Allah had willed it, through the debauching of their government finances and the inflation of their currency, and the social unrest consequent upon their inability to keep paying for more and more as oil and other resources became scarcer. As they declined the rest of the world suffered, but relatively less, so were better able to oppose the Americans and Europeans, who became unable to continue paying tribute to the Israelis who were thus no longer able to dominate the Arabs and retain Al Quds. In their desperation the Israelis threatened and ultimately unleashed their nuclear missiles on America and Europe, in what they called their Samson Option.This had destroyed the main cities, armies and military bases of America and Europe, leaving them open to internal uprisings and invasion from the south.

Zealous ghazis had launched raid after raid into an undefended Europe. His own ancestors had established their family fortunes with the loot which Allah had enabled them to acquire, and to establish a still flourishing business of raiding slaves from Spain, France and Italy, selling them to the relatively prosperous in the cities of the Muslim world. They were even depicted piously following the example of the Prophet Mohammed (P.B.U.H)in beheading hundreds of prisoners. He still had one of their specially made scimitars. Similar armed bands overran the whole of Southern Europe. Miraculously the chaos had resolved itself into Muslim emirs controlling all this territory and subordinating themselves to Ahmed, the newly arisen Caliph who established himself at Al Quds amidst the most tremendous rejoicing ever seen throughout the Muslim world.It was no surprise that many spoke of him as the Expected One, the Mahdi.

Success, however, had been less than total. The Russians had managed to destroy the Israeli missiles aimed at themselves and the Germans, so they were much less damaged by the Muslim uprisings and raids, and had before long managed to repel and expel the Faithful from their lands, and to protect themselves from subsequent attacks. (Russian and Chinese anti-missile defences had protected most of the Muslim cities, but the American defences were ineffective because the Israelis had their codes and the Europeans had no independent defences or deterrents.)

In succeeding generations, as the oil ran dry, it's use was restricted to the vehicles of high officials and the military, and the public came again to rely on camels, horses,donkeys and their own feet for transport.In truth even the vehicles of the high ones, and most of such machinery as could be obtained, came from the Germans, Russians and Chinese who were not motivated to supply much that was dangerous. They still had large reserves of iron and coal, and the superb tradition of German engineering. Thus as oil disappeared they smoothly converted back to steam power, and overhauled their rail network with a close eye on military uses. They were still able to make some oil from coal,(a process they had pioneered before the Second World War,) so were in an increasingly powerful position to maintain military forces smaller than those of Islam, but superior in every way except numbers. This had been amply demonstrated when they had crossed the Rhine and occupied the coal and iron bearing areas of eastern and northern France, routing the Muslim forces in short order.

Quite recently, the Basques had revolted against their Muslim overlords, and the Germans had conducted a lightning campaign through western France and across the Pyrenees to link up with the Basques and expel the Muslims from northern Spain, leaving the Germans in possession and the Muslims deprived of another area of engineering and it's associated coal and iron resources. There was talk of crusades and counter-jihad.

Already Mohammed felt a chill, and it wasn't just that the evening was approaching and a breeze had started to blow. He recognised the need to submit to the will of Allah, and hoped that he and his descendants would be able to bow with grace to whatever was to be. Then he closed the book, put it back on it's shelf, and went to enjoy his harem.


Blood of the dark haired people

Han Wu loved writing history. He enjoyed the ritual of preparation, of calming his mind, preparing his writing implements, donning his robe, lighting the incense, seating himself on the floor of his study surrounded by beautiful vases, paintings and examples of fine calligraphy. He had consulted the I Ching, deeply considering the meaning of the hexagram which the yarrow stalks had revealed. Naturally he had long since completed his study of the written sources and the interpretations of previous scholars.Now he sat quietly, awaiting the correct moment. When it came he allowed his hand to pick up the brush, dip it in the ink and make the first fluid strokes upon the paper.

He loved best to read and write the history of his own people, the Han Chinese, Old Hundred Names, the dark haired people.He respected their strength and endurance and had on his wall a painting of a twisted pine tree growing out of a sheer rock face, which symbolised their indomitability. Tyrants shed their blood like water, but like water they eventually wore away resistance and found a way to their objective of survival. He had written of their very ancient river-taming works of irrigation and drainage, and of the vast numbers drowned when these had failed. He had written of the Great Wall and the fall and rise of dynasties as the Mandate of Heaven was transferred to stronger and more vigorous hands. Always amid torrents of blood, as if such sacrifice was required to keep the state strong and the land and people
fertile. China was no place for the sentimental, no place for those who babbled of individual liberty, no place for those who disregarded their families and their obligations to state, people and ancestors. In truth, there was no place in China for anyone who was not Han Chinese.

He suited his writing to the seasons. Now, in the winter season, he wrote of decline and death, of hardship, bitter endurance and the hope of better times.

He had written of the impact which the arrival of the Europeans had had on old China, dreaming that it was the centre of existence and unprepared for a spiritual as well as physical struggle with interlopers who denied and derided such an idea. He had noted the response of China in attempting to imitate the ideas and industry of the invaders, abandoning in large measure it's own culture and history in the process. He had noted the similarity of the Tai Ping rebels and the Communists as attempts to appropriate a special relationship to the apparent motivating forces behind the successful westerners, Christianity in the nineteenth century and Marxism in the twentieth.He had noticed that the Chinese response had always been to seek the creation of a new Mandarinate, educated in a different set of sacred texts, to guide the people. He noted how the decline of Western power had inevitably been accompanied by a decline in the status of western ideas and people. The revival of China's traditional culture had been accelerated by the upheavals consequent upon the collapse of the fantasy of 'Chimerica'as the economy built around exporting plastic rubbish to the west and constructing empty cities to meet chimerical targets had imploded, with the usual starvation, bloodshed and eventual transfer of the Mandate of Heaven to a more inward looking and traditional arrangement of power. Now the population, not only of China, but of the whole world, was considerably smaller and poorer, but the Tao had, in some measure, been restored.


Whispers in the blood

Michael O'Malley was tired, and cold. He had spent the night meditating inside a megalithic tomb, at an auspicious season, and he was pleased that he had made contact with the spirits of his ancestors. Not that they had had much to say. They seldom did. Nevertheless, it was important to maintain the connection between the living and the dead, and he felt that they participated in his musings on the old legends and sometimes they added details or even new stories to the traditional lore.

He was a junior bard, proud of his responsibility for maintaining the old songs and recitations, and even perhaps adding to them, subject to the approval of the ancestors and of his superiors in the bardic order. He had work to do on the words and music of a new composition. His secret hope was that he might be called upon to perform before the guests at the regular assemblies of his order, in the House of Wisdom. Perhaps in time he might even be invited to be heard at the quarterly Courts of the High Kings held in their ceremonial centre of New Tara, where there was feasting and rejoicing, contests of strength and skill, gossip and horse trading, as the business of law and politics was conducted in the atmosphere of a fair. That was where reputations could be made and spread, and where a bard could hope to attract the attention of a noble and wealthy patron.

Putting aside such musings, Michael greeted the sun and the morning breeze, as he strolled through the green meadow dotted with the contented cattle of Leary, the local chieftain. He would certainly mention the inspiring energy in the air and the joyousness evident in nature to his friend Finbar of the Order of Blessed Crombie of Findhorn when he next saw him. They were evidently doing good work contacting and co-operating with the spirits of nature to secure the fertility and happiness of all beings in the environment.

He smiled and waved to Gregor and Connor, the lads who had just brought the cattle back to pasture after their morning milking. The morning bowl of porridge and milk would be very welcome when he got back to the house.As they walked together through the village of thatched and whitewashed houses, with the smoke of the peat or wood fires rising from their chimneys,and the hens clucking and pecking around their feet, the boys were eager to tell Michael the latest news. A small group of travellers had stopped at the village last night, after one of their horses had cast a shoe,and had naturally been invited to accommodate themselves in Leary's house and barn. His smith would see to replacing the horseshoe this morning before they continued their journey.The evening spent around the open fire had been cheerful as the strangers shared around a skinful of French wine they had bought in Dublin.The lads had managed to evade their normal bedtime, and listen from the shadows to the traveller's tales.

Micheal listened with interest. Traveller's tales were usually of intrigues between the various kings and sub-kings who ruled the land, with the assistance of the druids, and of sporting competitions between popular teams of footballers and hurley players, often paid by and wearing the livery of kings or towns.This time the news was of a great war, far to the south of Eire. The travellers had it from a Dublin merchant, one of whose trading contacts had heard from someone on the Continent, who had claimed to have seen the German dirigibles and flying machines as they had passed overhead en route to attack the Muslims in the south of France. Business conditions were disturbed as columns of men and horses and wagons and artillery, some of them drawn by steam engines, had streamed south.This was news which would interest the Royal Courts, as some of the young nobles might well have taken service with the Germans to learn the art of war.

Certainly there was likely to be little sympathy for the Muslims. Memories remained of their sneaking slave raids upon undefended coastal villages;there would be delight at the prospect that they would receive a sound thrashing. Stories of the horrors inflicted when they had infiltrated and assaulted a stricken Europe were well remembered over the centuries. The general feeling was that Europe would be the better for their absence, and if the Germans and Russians could drive them back to the deserts from which these fiends had emerged,so much the better for civilization and humanity.

This information had come from the south. As he sat at table enjoying his breakfast at last, Michael reflected that most of the foreign news they received came from the east, via traders from Britain who brought cargoes of coal and metal ware, and woolen cloth and even guns for the entourages of the kings, in exchange for horses, cattle, linen and whisky. He knew that that country was recovering from the Time of Chaos when the unity of the United Kingdom had been broken.The main power there now was in the Midlands and North as the old industrial areas made a modest resurgence, and there was plenty of room now for a renewal of the herds of sheep in the north and west which had been the mainstay of the medieval economy so long before.

Idly he considered that much less information came from the other directions. The cessation of tourism had left the Highlands and Isles of Scotland almost deserted, and beyond them who hnew whether glaciers had swallowed Scandinavia. From the west, only occasional rumours emerged. Fishermen and a few rare travellers brought stories from Iceland, including a tale that explorers had established friendly relations with Nova Scotia, and even a wild legend that beyond the forests, hills, rivers and badlands, an enclave of Americans might still exist!


Books of blood
James Hopkins sat rocking gently on his porch as he watched the setting sun go down behind the hills. He savoured the tobacco in his pipe, glad that a supply still trickled up from the south. He was tired, but had done a good day's work on his farm and was hopeful that the crops of corn and vegetables and apples would be good. Any surplus beyond what he could sell at the farmers market in the nearest town would go towards making his next supply of moonshine liquor, in itself, like the tobacco, a near-money readily acceptable as a means of exchange and store of value, supplementing the official paper newdollars.

The rocking chair, made by his grandfather, was comfortable and he almost fell into a doze as he rumimated upon the news he had heard in the village. According to the official, and only, newspaper the Pittsburg Gazette, which the government ensured was made available to all settlements within a week or so of it's publication, an incursion of savages from what had been New York, had been repulsed with heavy losses by the local militia supplemented by some assistance from the central government's forces. Nothing in that to alarm him; any more serious news would have spread far more rapidly, and he would again have been called to the colours by his militia captain Geoffrey Hughes, who happened to be a cousin.

He had heard that in the old America, centuries ago, people had played at being weekend soldiers, calling themselves 'militia', and others had squabbled about a right to carry pistols either openly or hidden. What nonsense, he thought, more of the insanity that seemed to have characterised the old times.Now every upright citizen was enrolled in the militia, responsible for a military firearm, regularly inspected, drilled, sent on training exercises. and liable for a stint of border patrolling, as well as being required to assist other areas in the event of serious incursions. It was not a game, certainly no fun, and any loss or misuse of a weapon would be severely punished, not least because they were valuable, scarce and provided part of the superiority over the surrounding savages.The militia system, he mused, was a vital reason for the success of the refounded American Republic, providing relatively cheap and effective local defence and policing assistance to the civil power if needed. If required for a major effort, militia units could be quickly sent to assist those in other parts of the republic, without quibbles as to where and for how long they might serve. Machiavelli would have been proud to have seen such effective citizen forces.

Another news item had been that the fur trade with the northern people was steadily expanding. Not really news, of course, but the government and their journalising academics at the university, loved to instruct people, and liked to fill the pages of the Gazette with improving knowledge. The population of wildlife, including the fur-bearing varieties, had naturally grown a lot since The Collapse, especially because of the colder weather of recent centuries. It was another sign of the insanity of the ancients that, just before The Collapse they had been obsessed with the belief that humanity, particularly the Americans, had caused the earth to warm irreversibly! Sometimes when surrounded by winter blizzards or long lying snow obstructing movement, he wished that this part of the earth would become rather warmer. He had a beaver hat and a bison coat and stout leather boots and glooves lined with fleece, so he was equipped for winter weather, along with a good supply of logs for his hearth and stove to keep his house warm so he was not unduly worried.

Thoughts of his warm and heavy bison coat reminded him of the time when he had joined the hunters on the plains beyond the Mississippi. Over the centuries the herds of bison had returned and resumed their wandering, accompanied by herds of wild cattle, and even herds of horses. These were culled and preyed upon, not only by wolves, but also by Mexicans and Americans, the latter of whom at least tried to prevent excessive hunting. It was well organised, with wagon trains accompanying the hunters to collect, skin, butcher and salt the carcasses, which were brought back to the light railways and rapidly transported east.He thought that bison meat was probably more popular than the tough and stringy beef. At any rate the plains provided plenty of leather and tallow for candles.These were valuable resources, and the government would be reluctant to lose them should the usually lethargic Mexicans attempt to assert effective control over this almost uninhabited area.

The governments of Mexico and the American Republic, he knew, were well aware of each other's existence, but usually tried to ignore each other and avoid precise claims which might give rise to grievances and conflict or force them to deal with each other. Bitter memories were recorded of the way in which the Mexicans and their criminal allies had almost overrun the United States at the time of The Collapse, raping and pillaging, looting and murdering as far as the Great Lakes and almost to Pittsburg itself, before themselves falling victim to a series of civil disorders and military coups. Subsequent incursions across the Mississippi or Ohio, once the American Republic had been refounded or re-organised - and he knew that different opinions were held about that - had been bloodily repulsed. He recalled the dark saying attributed to Heraclitus of Ephesus, that strife is the father and origin of all things, so found it in no way surprising that fear of the Mexicans had stimulated the Republic to seek to strengthen itself through more efficient armed forces, recovery and re-development of old technology, economic development, exploration of it's surroundings, and the education of it's citizens.

The American Republic found itself to be surprisingly well situated strategically and economically. It had good defensible boundaries, forming a rough triangle with the Great Lakes to the north, the Mississippi to the west and the mountains to the south and east.Some called this 'Fortress America'.It had the famously fertile farmland of the Mid-West, as well as the coal and iron of the mountains and the engineering and organisational capacity of it's major surviving city, Pittsburg, which had soon become it's natural capital.It had a relatively numerous, homogeneous and active population which retained it's culture and sufficient social cohesion and political organisation to constitute either the successor to, or the surviving remnant of, the old United States, depending on how one wished to look at it. It had plenty of water and timber, a reasonable climate and the priceless advantage of having, with the rather distant exception of Mexico, no civilised states as neighbours or rivals. Population had dropped by at least half to three quarters in the area of the Republic following The Collapse, and by even more in the rest of the old America. Numbers were slowly growing, as the productive capacity of the Republic slowly increased, but no one wanted the uncontrolled growth of the old times. It was strange to think that the people of old had been been so worried about running out of resources. Now people were the scarce resource.

Canada had dissolved under snow, distance and social disorder. There were pockets of subsistence farmers and scattered tribes of wandering hunters. Some of these people traded furs or timber in exchange for axeheads, fish-hooks, pots, traps and liquor with Americans who crossed the Great Lakes in small sailing boats. Now there were even a few steamships.The probibition on selling them firearms or powder and ball was strictly and quite effectively enforced. Prospectors searched for minerals which might later be explioted, and there would be no nonsense about needing permission from another government if that ever happened.

Indeed, the Republic had sent cautious expeditions all the way to the Pacific and the coast of Alaska. These had found no extensive settlements or sign of organised government. Expeditions which had penetrated the area that had been California reported that it was more or less under Mexican control, quite extensively populated but squalid, dispirited and crime ridden. No doubt such reports were kept in a filing cabinet in Pittsburg, to be dusted off and re-considered if circumstances in future centuries made it necessary to seek control of more natural resources, but for the moment they merely provided reassurance that the Republic need fear no threat from those directions.

As to the Atlantic coast, this had become the Savage Lands.This had been achieved instantly, as soon as the Israeli missiles had struck what had been the most densely populated and culturally and politically dominant part of the country. Not only had they eliminated the seat of government and the main cities, but the prevailing winds had driven the plumes of radiation contamination across the whole area.The region fell into the most savage disorder, which persisted for generations. There had been no recovery, no restoration of civilization.The Atlantic coast became the regular home paddock and exercise ground for the Four Horsemen, although they took outings over the rest of the country. In the early years there had been serious incursions and infiltrations into the mountains, which had helped to solidify a sense of separate identity from the mongrels, mutants, monsters and misbegotten maggotty varmints of the coastlands. Outbreaks of disease had been a serious risk until the Republic had become strong enough to implement consistent interdiction of contact and strict quarantine from the lowlands - which generally took the form of a warning shot quickly followed by a lethal one into anyone foolish or desperate enough to continue advancing. The effectiveness of the militia was honed by their border patrolling. There was no trade across this boundary. Occasional stealthy expeditions confirmed that radiation levels were still high, that the wretched inhabitants had no significant government, social organisation, manufacturing or resources.There was still a surprising number of them, and they did sometimes form gangs or warbands, large or small, to attempt to raid the Republic. Much of the area was reverting to jungle, providing animals for the spears and arrows and clubs of the locals.Unfortunately, it was also improving their woodcraft, so they would probably attempt more sneaky infiltration of the Republic.

Far to the south it was reported that the Mississippi had burst it's man-made restrictions and it's silt was rebuilding it's delta.In the opposite direction, beyond what had been New England, there were said to be small numbers of farmers and fishers. An expedition down the St.Lawrence had reported friendly contact with these people, who seemed to receive irregular visits from Iceland. Whatever might be happening throughout the rest of the globe was beyond the Republic's ken, and they had little appetite to learn. Failing to mind one's own business, and becoming entangled in the business of others had worked out very badly for the old America, and he heartily hoped that the Republic would continue to avoid this error.

Fortress America contained all that was needed to provide the material base for a good life for it's citizens. They did not need to import anything exotic, even were there people from whom these things could have been imported. Not even the legendary 'tea' and 'coffee' and 'sugar' so casually mentioned in the texts from the old America. Strangely or not, these things were not mentioned in the texts from the much older republic - Rome. What was emphasised however was the deleterious effect of 'luxury'on the moral fibre of citizens and their state. The old Americans seemed to have been enslaved by this vice.

The new Republic had a high moral tone. It expected much of it's citizens, and expected them to have similar expectations of it. Serious efforts were made to encourage people to improve their minds.This was quite separate from technical training for work skills, which the old Americans seem to have confused with education, or even with religion.The government press,and there was no other, produced and distributed as much as it's scholars had managed to salvage of the literature and history and philosophy of Greek and Roman antiquity, and of
the Renaissance. It did so alongside the publication of practical manuals, knowing that philosopher kings would feel a greater need for plumbers and plasterers than the latter might for the former. Books were relatively expensive, but free public libraries were maintained even in villages, even if they had to double up with the other public buildings such as schools or post offices or town halls. The carrot came with a stick. A high standard of literary culture, not just bare literacy, was expected of all who wanted a government job or who aspired to a political career, or even to social acceptance as a respectable person beyond the condition of a mere yokel or labourer, who would probably not be allowed to participate in any political activity. Even those who had no nobler ambition than to make money, had become ambitious that their sons at least should acquire some of the polish they had themselves missed.

The Republic admired, demanded and encouraged talent. Quality ordered Quantity, not the reverse. The old American competition between 'Dimocrats' and 'Risibilians' for the votes of the stupid and ignorant, the foolish and feckless, who always outnumbered the more worthwhile people, was quite absurd; so it had ceased. Another absurdity which had ceased was the practice of taxing the decent and productive to pay the vicious and idle to proliferate and live at the expense of the public. Such vermin had been a major cause of chaos at the time of The Collapse. Now those who could not afford to bring up a family were discouraged from marriage, those who produced bastards outside marriage were punished, and only the deserving poor were given alms if their families were unable to support them.Criminals and dubious characters were few, and received a quick death. Everyone was known in their local community, so this presented little difficulty, and there was no need for hordes of bureaucrats. Certainly the notion of importing low class, disorderly, philoprogenerative foreigners to live off the public whilst insulting and commiting crimes against their benefactors,was a notion so outrageous James had had extreme difficulty in crediting it, even of the insane old Americans, until he had been shown surviving accounts of such things. Obviously the ancients had transgressed so blatantly against the laws of nature that their destruction had been a blessing to humanity.

Some of this high seriousness had been forged in the fiery crucible of war, and war to protect one's people and their land and society and future destiny from destruction by savages cunning, evil, strong and numerous. Some rested on the fortuitous recovery and acceptance of the Elizabethan humanist curriculum. A diet of learning which had produced Shakespeare and the English Renaissance, including schooling for twelve hours each day but Sunday in the complexities of Latin language and literature, whilst speaking only Latin, was meat too strong for the stomachs of Republican America.It had, however, given impetus to their education programme, and to their sense of Republican virtue, which sometimes attained an almost French Revolutionary fervour. Another, more practical strand of sobriety and seriousness was contributed by the influence of the Amish. These people were already living
a simpler and more neighbourly life than those around them at the time of The Collapse, and their example had helped to bring about the recovery of an orderly society.

That night James Hopkins, after his humble but satisfying supper of boiled vegetables, washed down by a mug of home brewed cider, lit a candle and opened the volume he had borrowed from the village library, an English translation and commentary on Plato's 'Republic'. As he studied and pondered along with the author and his students on questions like 'What is Justice?' or 'What is the Good Life, and am I living it?', he did not stop to think that this night, in the Republic of America, more people were studying the philosophers of Antiquity than over the rest of the earth, or had anywhere done so for many centuries. Maybe, just maybe - a renaissance was beginning.