The Serpent's Isles (Part II)

Both the Imperial Army's and Imperial Navy's steady withdrawal from the Isles bothered Totani, as it did everyone connected with both the garrison and the residents. According to many of the local villagers, a fortress division made up of army infantry, samurai and various fortress, regimental and battalion artillery units had occupied the islands since at least the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Navy had during much the same period, place a third class naval station at Fang Bay with a flotilla of gunboats to patrol the local waters.

Since 1881, various units forming the permanent garrison had been pulled out or reassigned temporally never to return, causing the garrison to steadily dwindle. In 1885 the Navy had pulled out all but one of the gunboats and reduced the naval station to the barest minimum. Only a handful of steam launches and their crews remained to perform routine patrol amidst the isles or check the papers and cargo manifests of visiting vessels. Only a few scattered artillery companies and one field battalion of mixed regular infantry and samurai companies remained in place, under a major of the artillery Oda Mitsuru, to hold all the isles in the Emperor's name. The beginning of 1889 was not shaping up to be a good year for the garrison, as still more cuts to the establishment were rumoured to be contemplated by the Imperial Government.

Totani shook off these grim thoughts, as the heavily bearded, burly Ainu waved an arm towards her in cheery greeting. Akagi Tomi, was like her a Go-cho in the infantry branch of the Imperial Garrison, born and raised like herself in the Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan and as he admitted to her on one occasion, good for nothing but the army, fishing and drinking. Totani liked him for his rough good sense, good humour and his candor. His Ainu name she did not know nor did he confide it to anyone outside his own family or extended clan. Like many Ainu and Lemurians he had taken a Japanese name to accommodate the dictates of the Imperial Government, and learned to read and speak the Japanese language, and patiently observed Japanese customs that were not his own, although he remained just as intractably fluent in his native dialect and still faithfully followed many of his people's ancient customs. Joto-hei Sasaki Sata, was a Lemurian, and as different in looks and background as Totani and Akagi were to each other despite both coming from the same part of Japan.

First of all, Sasaki, was not human, she was a Lemurian Draconian one of the two non-human species the other being the Lemurian Snake-Folk, to inhabit the islands of Lemuria and Mu within the Japanese Empire. Standing easily six feet tall, she fairly towered over both sturdy Ainu and slender Japanese alike. Her features suggested both the reptilian and the human strangely mixed together, in her case rather alluringly. She had a pleasing oval face, full lipped with a delicate chin, high cheekbones and deep, lustrous almondine eyes. Sasaki's eyes were by contrast to any human eyes however cool and alien, being slitted like a cat's and a glittering topez in colour, her skin was a rich jewel tone green set off by her neck length jet black hair.


Note: (1) Joto-hei, IJA rank for a lance-corporal in the 1880s or superior private by the 1930s. (2) A 3rd class naval station, was a naval post or anchorage that could refuel and resupply naval vessels in most particulars but was only capably of very limited repairs or engineering services. Such a base generally wasn't capable of constructing major warships, although building small craft like steam or motor launches, gunboats or gunvessels might just be within it's means.

The Serpent's Isles (Part I)

Go-cho Totani Tayo, walked along the rough cut stone pathway on her way to the Green Lagoon's defensive batteries to collect the morning reports, the balmy early morning sea breeze caused her long black hair to stream out with the wind from under her service cap. The sun was just making it's way lazily up over the horizon the same way it seemed to every day since she'd been posted here. The Serpent's Isles were not much to look at really, being an irregular clump of palm forest and jungle covered mountainous volcanic islands and atolls coiled around two deep water lagoons and an equally deep water bay hedged by jagged coral reefs and sandy beaches. The name of the place came from it's overall shape, which from the air suggested the look of an open mouthed serpent half coiled back upon itself.

The isles, had been inhabited on and off over the centuries, Totani knew from that from both her history books and first hand knowledge. The signs were to be found all over the islands, the place had been visited by the Ainu, Polynesians, Chinese and Lemurians of ancient times and all of them had settled here. Although none it seemed had stayed in possession or prospered for long if they did. Totani's dark brown eyes surveyed the distant horizon, out across the foaming waters capping the reefs, the sun glintered off the endless waves of the Pacific. These islands were a lonely spot amidst the endless water, the islands of the Japanese Empire themselves were barely visible even on a clear day from the mountain tops. The Serpent's Isles stood like a lonely sentry out beyond a fortress gate. A sentinel was what the islands were: taken by force from the Wako, the dreaded pirates of Asian waters during the first Oda Shogunate, and then held against them thereafter.

The Nests of the Red Serpent, the pirate folk of the Lemurian snake-men had tried to retake the isles to use as a permanent privateering and slaving base during the Toyatomi Shogunate and they had succeeded for a time before imperial forces under the Tokugawa Shogunate had won the isles back and purged the vile Nests. Totani felt herself shuddering despite the heat of the day, there were still spots on these isles that spoke of that old carnage; areas of sprawling ruins, fire blacked, broken stone and crumbling wooden timbers, creeping vines and jungle undergrowth wrapped around and through rusting weapons and armour. Sometimes decaying bones were visible, a half hidden skulls of inhuman origin leered from the vegetation or watched mournfully with darkened eyeless sockets. These places, mercifully few now, were shunned by both the Japanese soldiers and sailors of the garrison and the small communities of Japanese and European fishermen, whalers and petty merchants and their families that resided both seasonally and semi-permanently in the isles.

These days the place was a quiet outpost of the Empire used sometimes as a victualing, watering and coaling station by ships making a passage to the distant Midway islands and still more distant Hawaiian and North American shores. The islands yielded fresh water, tropical fruit and vegetables in some abundance and there was enough wild game and fishing to top off any visiting ship's onboard supplies. Certainly they served the Imperial Army garrison;'s needs sufficiently, that a military supply ship only needed to show up once or twice every few months.

The Soryu Battery, a roughly circular pillar of living volcanic rock and coral some eighty feet high loomed on the horizon. It stood just inside and to one side of the entrance of the smaller of the two atoll lagoons, called by the locals the Green Lagoon. Its name referred to both it's relative shallowness and the resultant colour of it's waters, the place made a suitable protected anchorage for seagoing junks, larger sailing sampans and European seagoing sailing craft of moderate size. The larger windjammers, clippers and steamships typically used either the Blue Lagoon or Fang Bay, both of which had deeper and wider entrances and greater depths within their confines. The Hiryu Battery stood on the other side of the lagoon entrance and between them, they effectively covered both the lagoon's mouth and it's relatively spacious interior. Hiryu was built upon a roughly triangular ledge of rock nearly forty feet high surrounded by coral reefs at it's base. Almost an island in itself, it was reached by a long causeway that traced along the top of the atoll that encircled the lagoon and a short bridge.

Totani saw a tall Lemurian and a heavily bearded Ainu stride down an adjoining path that emerged from the hillsides to her left, she picked up her pace to meet them.


Note: (1) Go-chu is the Imperial Japanese Army rank of roughly equivalent to a full corporal or junior sergeant. Historically the non-commissioned and lower ranks of the IJA were in a state of flux at various time from the 1880s to the 1940s. (2) Japanese names in this story are given under the traditional Japanese style/convention: that is family name first, followed by personal name.

Fragments from the Vistula

Royal Castle, Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland: January 1889

"There are times when being a Poniatowski, is a certified prescription for hair loss, heart attack or ulcers." Prince Witold Sobiestian Poniatowski, remarked half aloud to himself. His gaze was directed out a window on the second floor of the red bricked, white trimmed Royal Castle. The beautiful vista of the city of Warsaw sprawled before him, lite by the coming spring sun, which only served to make his glumly reflective mood worse.  The room, was one of the royal studies used by his father, the King of Poland, for confidential or informal cabinet meetings. With both Papa and Josef, his older brother the crown prince on diplomatic visits to Paris and London, he was stuck with the job of acting as prince regent till they returned. Which made him glummer still, as they both were likely to be away for at least another six weeks.

Prince Witold, sipped his cup of hot coffee reflexively without noticing it or even enjoying it. Dealing with the demands of the cabinet, the Sejm and the Senate, always put him in a black mood he thought. It's not like the work isn't unimportant, or even unworthy. He thought. It was just so... mind numbingly complicated. He quenched the thought with another sip of coffee. Prince Witold vastly preferred his work as a General Dywizji within the Polish Royal Army, at least it was relatively straightforward absorbing both his personal and professional interest, whatever went on in the Ministry of War, and it's various staffs, branches and bureaus. Commanding an infantry division competently was the height of his ambition a present, perhaps a corps in the fullness of time when he was both a great deal older and more experienced as a soldier.

Prince Witold turned from the window, to glance at a map of Europe that covered one of the study's walls. Poland's problem was that politics and what could only be called accidents of history had put it in a perfect devil's triangle, as Papa put it more then once. The Kingdom of Poland, reconstituted by the Congress of Vienna, stood squarely between three of the Great Powers of Europe, who for their own historical reasons would much rather it not exist at all. At present neither Germany, Austria-Hungary or Russia was actively hostile to their credit, but they were not going out of their way to help Poland prosper, at least not to the point it would actively present a threat to them, at any rate. Great Britain was mildly sympathetic to Poland's predicament but not inclined to do much, save make the usual vague promises to help and bland expressions of polite sympathy.

France on the other hand was at least a bit more proactive in it's expressions of sympathy, providing financial aid, favourable trade pacts and some military aid in the form of advisors, technicians and the like. The Polish Army had reached the point where it could said it was adequately equipped as regards small arms and the production of most of the munitions it required. Although there were still pressing shortages in medium and heavy artillery that couldn't yet be filled fully domestically. Many artillery batteries had two or three guns on their establishments when they should have had four or more. The Air Force, was much the same having decent aircraft at its disposal both French and domestic designs to chose from for reconnaissance, air patrol and light bombing duties. the small Navy was much the same, although, the thought of Poland, a landlocked country having any thing called a navy, seemed ludicrous at times to Prince Witold. The bulk of the naval ships possessed by the Polish Royal Navy were in fact riverine monitors and gunboats to patrol the various rivers that crisscrossed Poland, the rest were sky ships, many of them unfortunately of the first and second generation, not unlike those first launched in the Crimea War of the 1850s. Poland's arsenal of armoured fighting vehicles, land ships and land fortresses was almost as unimpressive, in fact compared to it's possible enemies it was downright disheartening when he thought about it.

Prince Witold frowned, if war broke out with even one of the states surrounding the kingdom, without outside help from either France or Great Britain, it would go ill for Poland whatever pride might  say and the valour of it's soldiers and citizens might accomplish. He turned back towards the desk and sifted through the reports and dossiers, enough brooding, Witold, the business of the kingdom will not wait. Finding the next folder he had been directed to read, he broke the tap and began turning the pages.

Nation States of An Age of Steam, Steel and Iron: Part Five

Central America: 1889

Mexico, ruled by Emperor Maximilian I, has struggled for stability and prosperity ever since it won it's freedom form Spanish colonial rule. Civil wars, wars with the United States in 1846-48 and Confederate States of America in 1873 have marred Mexico's steps towards both peace and plenty that are the earnest hope of it's citizens. Under the House of Habsburg, a corner has been turned with the future seeming much brighter and internal peace a solid reality after much strife and conflict.

Hispaniola, the only other empire in Central America, formed by the union of formally French ruled Saint-Dominque (Haiti) and Spanish ruled Santo Domingo (Dominica) during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This sometimes turbulent country, ruled by an elective monarchy and inhabited by the descendents of self-freed African slaves has effected a measure of political and economic stability, further it has successfully resisted repeated attempts by the Great Powers and the Union and Confederacy to dominate it. The Emperors of Hispaniola have typically been selected from members of the Dessalines, Toussaint L'ouverture or Christophe families.

Tortuga, the fabled Pirate Isle, ruled for centuries with an iron fist by the mysterious Captains Council: a body of thirteen individuals who's identities are concealed behind decorative masks and body armours, nothing goes on in Tortuga without them either knowing about it or taking a cut of the profits. Tortuga is considered the informal capital and home of nearly every pirate, privateer and mercenary in the Western Hemisphere. A strange land of towering mountains, menacing castles and glowering fortresses, tropical forest shrouded plantations, crowded shanty towns and sprawling dockyards, colourful street markets, storehouses, alehouses, brothels and inns. Here in Tortuga, everything is negotiable and everything has it's price.

El Salvador, reckoned the smallest but most densely populated country in Central America, it's people largely being Mestizos of European and Indigenous American descent. Home to several Mesoamerican nations of the past, the Cuzcaltecs, the Lenca, and the Maya, and later the Spanish Empire, the country has a rich history. Chronic political and economic instability is almost a fact of life here however, as are coups, revolts and a succession of authoritarian rulers. Indigo and Coffee planting are twin motors of it's economy.

Honduras, sometimes refered to as Spanish Honduras, to avoid confusing it with neighbouring British Honduras (Belize), has been like it's neighbours a home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the Maya. Honduras won it's independence from Spain in 1821, becoming a republic shortly thereafter and has endured much social strife and political instability and poverty since then, despite the country's rich resources, which include minerals, coffee, tropical fruit and sugar cane as well as a growing production of textiles.

Panama, this small country holds the key to swift passage between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific. Formally a province of Colombia, Panama won it's independent through the intervention of Imperial France, who financed and built the great canal and lock system during the 1850s and 1860s that allow ships to pass, safely and with reasonable quickness from one ocean to another. With France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, Panama took direct control of the Grand Canal, and with it the tolls and revenues generated by it's operation. Recently the canal has been shut down to oversee the widening and dredging of the canal and the rebuilding of the locks, to allow the passage of more modern and larger shipping, then were previously able to use the system including the largest ironclads.

Guatemala, reckoned the most populous state in Central America, with a functioning representative democracy, was once the core of Maya civilization it's culture representing a interesting, rich and distinct fusion of Spanish and Indigenous influences. While conquered by the Spanish Empire, the country won it's freedom in 1821 and formed a part of the Federal Republic of Central America (along with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica), until it dissolved in 1841. Like many of it's neighbours, Guatemala has suffered through periods of chronic instabliltiy and civil strife.

Nicaragua, since gaining it's independence from Spain in 1821, the country has undergone periods of political unrest, dictatorship and fiscal crisis. The population of the country is more diversified then perhaps anywhere else in Central America, representing an unusual mix of indigenous peoples, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The warm tropical climate, active volcanoes and rich culture are beginning to make the country a attractive tourist spot for the fashionably wealthy of Europe and the Americas.

Costa Rica, is reckoned as perhaps the most sparsely inhabited of the countries in the area, although Spanish colonial rule changed that to some extent, although it remained a very peripheral colony of the empire. Following membership in the Federal Republic of Central America, Costa Rica declared it's formal independence in 1847. Unlike the majority of it's neighbours, Costa Rica has remained largely stable, prosperous and progressive without the revolts, coups and counter-coups that have so marked and troubled the other nations of Central America.

Memories of Past 2016 Conventions

Sir Leo and Cosplayer Vickybunnyangel, Hamilton ConBravo 2016

Sir Leo and Cosplayer Yaya Han, Toronto Fan Expo 2016

Sir Leo and Cosplayer UndeadDu, Toronto Fan Expo 2016

Sir Leo and Cosplayer UndeadDu, Hamilton Comic Con 2016

Fragments from the Britiannic Isles

Hughenden Manor, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Great Britain: January 1889

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, looked out through the windows of his study, across the snow frosted gardens of his home. He sighed, suppressing an asthmatic cough will difficulty, the dull and dreary landscape, matched his mood at the moment. He had had a most eventful political career over the last fifty-two years, MP and accomplished backbencher, three times Chancellor of the Exchequer, once leader of the Opposition, and twice Prime Minister of Great Britain. It had all come to a crash in the end of course, the triple disasters of the unpopular although largely successful Second Afghan War in 1878-80, the catastrophic Zulu War in 1879 and the confounded Boer War in 1880-81 had finished him and his cabinet. Gladstone and his Liberals had swept to power before the year was out, although they had crashed in their turn with their stupid idea to go to war with the Ottoman Empire in 1882. To be fair, they had thought that a show of force off Alexandria along the Ottoman Egyptian coast would remind the Sublime Porte of their place in the scheme of things. Of course, the Ottomans had definitely not seen it Gladstone's or Admiral Beauchamp Seymour's way and the Royal Navy had wound up coming to blows with the Ottoman coastal forts! Within that week, Great Britain had  found itself at war with another Great Power. Disraeli had he admitted felt some grim satisfaction at the whole mess Gladstone had gotten himself and his Liberal cabinet into, although not for long, the war although mercifully short had cost Britain and it's empire dearly in terms of treasure and blood.

Britain had been unreasonablely lucky, that the rest of the Great Powers had been too busy tied up in their own affairs to either take notice or take advantage of the fracas. Germany had been too busy hammering France's armies into the ground, since the start of the Franco-German War in '81, for the second time this century and plunging France into internal political turmoil yet again for the second time this century, he thought mordauntly.  Disraeli suppressed a shudder of apprehension about that time. Germany had grown still stronger from that war and it's annexation of  it's neighbours: Belgium and the Netherlands, and their considerable colonial holdings had sent shockwaves through political, economic and military Europe. When and how that mess was going to clear up was anyone's guess, Disraeli thought grimly, even seven years on the implications were still being felt across the world in a hundred subtle and unsubtle ways.

Imperial Russia's government had at the time been greatly distracted by five all too nearly successful attempts by revolutionaries to assassinated the Tsar in 1881. The aftershocks of the turmoil that had caused had kept the Russians sufficiently busy til the middle of '82. With the main focus of it's foreign policy still concentrated in Central Asia and the Far East, Russia had been in no position other then to make some threatening diplomatic and military gestures along the common Russo-Ottoman borders in the Black Sea region, Persia and Afghanistan. Ironically these moves had in the long run helped Britain disentangle itself from the both unpopular and unsuccessful war, as neither Britain nor the Ottomans had wanted to give the Russians time or the means to get involved.

Spain and Scandinavia had very much other fish to fry at the time. Portugal had offered Britain a qualified support which was to be expected, considering the country's limited means at the time. Still it had been heartening, that Portugal felt the old friendship between the two countries still mattered enough for them to try to offer what help they could. Even if all they could offer at the time was single division of troops and a small squadron of ironclads.  Austria-Hungary had been too busy at the start of the whole affair trying to figure out what the Poles were doing, as well as the Russians, Roumanians, Bulgarians and Greeks were all up to to intervene for or against Britain. When the Austro-Hungarians did decide to intervention against the Ottomans, it had been decisive, and it had saved Gladstone's tottering Liberals and had eventually allowed Britain to end the war at the negotiating table after some twelve months of often bloody and strategically inconclusive fighting.

Italy, had joined Great Britain in the Anglo-Ottoman War, although only to take advantage of what they had considered to be Ottoman weakness. Disraeli snorted with some distain, the Italians had not gained much by it, the Ottomans had been anything but weak. The Italians had picked up a few less then choice bits of eastern Africa on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and a crushing addition to their national debt. The Greeks, had also joined hands with Great Britain too. Not that it had availed them much other then yet another ruinous expenditure of lives and treasure. The Ottoman Army and Navy had been far too strong in the Aegean islands and the Ottoman Balkans for that.

Disraeli, felt another bout of asthmatic coughing filter up through his lungs. He sat down abruptly on the window sill, clutching his arms tightly around his chest, his walking stick fell unnoticed from his trembling hand to strike the floor. The fit passed, mercifully enough after a few minutes of gasping breathlessness. His twin scourges gout and asthma had nearly killed him back in 1881, even as it had felt like the bitter electoral defeat had been the end of his world and finished his political career forever. Still there was no finality in politics, times changed, people changed too. The Conservative Party had fractured into three parties since 1881, the Old Tories, the One Nation Tories and the New Conservatives. They faced the Liberals and Radical Parties across the floor of Parliament now, sometimes together, at other times at cross purposes. Surprisingly the Whigs under leadership of the Duke of Darkmoor had re-entered the political scene of Great Britain and formed a government or two, following the Liberals fall in 1884 under Gladestone.

He had to wait, plan for the future, build up his Tories from his position within the House of Lords as he had been doing the last few year, do what he could to head off stupid or poorly considered policies both with his vote in the Lords, and his friends and fellow One Nation Tories in the Commons. Mending the fences between the fractional Conservatives was another goal, although one Disraeli had little faith in, the breaches between them were to wide at present, although still just possible to bridge. Perhaps the office of prime minister or at least a cabinet office would be his again, where he could shape and advance policy and keep Great Britain save, secure and prosperous. So few people could  really be trusted with the safety of the Empire, he and others had worked so hard to create and more importantly sustain. He still had the ironclad loyalty and kind regard of his Queen, Victoria, these hopes were not ideal ones: they just awaited their proper moment....

A knock at the door of his study startled him out of his reverie. Disraeli straighten himself, reclaimed his stick from the carpeted floor. A glance at the clock showed it was just about to strike one o'clock, he remembered he had a most important interview to attend to today. It would not do for him to show infirmity. The Butler of Hughenden, swung open the door, behind him stood a man in the shadows that filled the hall.

"His Grace, the Duke of Darkmoor, to see you, milord."

Disraeli, allowed himself a small thin smile, yes things were moving more a pace then he had dared hope.

Fragments from the Americas (Part I)

Puget Sound, Washington State, January 1889

Lieutenant Jasper Crockett, moved along the deck of the sleeping ironclad USS Oregon, the sun had not yet risen over the horizon let alone over the yard arm he thought wrly. The Sound, was chock full of the ships of the Union Pacific Fleet, all commanded by Admiral Samuel Powhatan Carter. Their number still surprised Crockett on occasion, nine old but solid centre battery ships-of-the line, ten more modern turret battleships, thirty monitors and dozens of cruisers, corvettes and gunboats of all types and descriptions. Auxiliary ships too, armed merchant cruisers, repair and store ships as well as troop ships by the score and more and more were arriving every day he thought soberly. The bays and inlets of the Sound and the harbor of Seattle were becoming vast forests of funnels and masts!

Crockett, could feel it, Old Pow, was up to something, really something again. Another operation and a major one was in the offing, everyone could feel it, even if no one dared give voice to that sentiment. Something as large as when the whole Pacific Fleet had sailed under Admiral Carter's for the first time and blasted it's way into the I.S.A's capital in San Francisco Bay, fighting their way past the rebel forts of the Golden Gate, and circled the inner bay twice before getting out again and back to safety in Puget Sound.

Crockett, felt sorry he hadn't been with the fleet when that had gone off. It had been one hell of a fight, the crew of the Oregon had told him with unconcealed pride. Each ship blazing away as they passed the batteries on the points, the night time sky awash with light and crackling detonations! Oregon, had been battered and bloodied, when she'd finally hauled herself out into the Pacific waters beyond the Golden Gate, but she and every other ship under Admiral Carter's command that day had show the Union Navy still had fight in it!

Crockett, walked back and forth across the upper flag bridge of the Oregon. Down below him, glowered, two of the turret battleship's four broadside mounted turrets: two each side of the ship, each shipping two brand new twelve-inch guns, powerful, modern and long-range pieces. The ship was fresh out of dock from a long refit to put her back into fighting trim after several hard months of naval blockade and coastal bombardment work along the Oregon and California coasts. The almost daily action had left many of the Oregon's guns worn almost smooth from constant firing, the ship's engines had been badly worn by constant steaming often at high speed for days on end. Hull plates had been buckled, rivets sprung and a host of other minor damages caused by being at sea for extended periods of time, either patrolling or stopped for coaling alongside some collier at some lonely spot. Crockett had no doubt at all that the battlewagon would see action again.

Crockett had heard scuttlebutt that said, the Pacific Fleet was heading into a massive reorganization, mercifully, Carter was still going to hold the senior command, but some of his admiralty staff, and some of his squadron and division commanders were going to be changed. Some people had been found wanting over the last year, since Admiral Carter had taken the reins from his predecessor the now departed and disgraced Admiral David Dixon Porter. Both Admiral Carter and the Secretary of the Navy were going to do a clean sweep of the Fleet's old guard. According to rumour the Oregon was shortly to become the flagship of Vice-Admiral Mark Ketrenos. Crockett hadn't heard much about the new flag officer, other then he was a veteran of the first civil war back in 1861-67, and had served well by all accounts. He'd spent much of the last decade in staff apointments as chief naval secretary to the Secretary of the Navy or seagoing appointments as a division and squadron commander in the Atlantic Fleet. One rumour had bothered many when they heard it, Vice-Admiral Ketrenos was from Oregon, one the rebel Independent States of America's founding trio. Crockett had stomped down on that sort of talk amid the lower deck, it was bad for morale, and was very bad for the incoming admiral's reputation within the Pacific Fleet. A lot of Oregonians had stayed loyal to the Union and paid for it with their property, their businesses and their freedom and all to often their lives. From what Crockett had heard, Vice-Admiral Ketrenos, was a loyal Unionist and was one of those who had lost nearly everything when the crash that broke the Union a second time came in 1885.

Steampunk Story Snippet

West London, January 1886

Sir Leo looked up from the clutter of paperwork: logs, diaries, journals, reference books and maps that covered his desk, he eyed his two companions skeptically through the half lowered lenses of his reading glasses. Otani was as ever silent, controlled and inscrutable, settled in a ramrod straight posture, hands resting on his thighs in the approved Japanese fashion in the armchair to Sir Leo's immediate right as if he'd always belonged there. Sometimes, Sir Leo thought wryly, having a Japanese ronin: a professional mercenary of the Samurai-caste, in one's service was a pain in the neck and at other times in the last year it had been all too invaluable: particularly when it came to keeping one's head attached to one's shoulders when it came to dealing with ill intentioned strangers, whether they were native Africans or Arabs, the Germans or the French in the Ivory Coast and the Western Sudan.

Sonrisa, the darkly alluring and scar-faced Spanish woman, who sat in the chair to Sir Leo's left, was just as unreadable as her male counterpart although she was it had to be admitted a lot easier to look at, he thought whimsically. Although sat was not the right word lounged or lazed would be a better one. Sonrisa was in one of her languid moods, which to be perfectly honest was pretty much her normal state, well unless she was trying very enthusiastically to kill someone or threatening to snap into small pieces some young jackass who decided to stupidly make an unwanted pass at her or even more stupidly and chauvinistically tried to put her in her place. Both events had happened all too often in the last year they had gotten to know each other in.

Sonrisa, no one had ever called her anything else in his presence nor for that matter did she answer to anything else in all the long months he'd come to know her and no amount of careful inquiry or investigation on his or Otani's part, for that matter, had yet ferreted out what her actual christian name or surname was. Everyone in West Africa, whether they were British, German, French, Arab, Portuguese or African called her 'La Sonrisa', which meant 'the Smile' in Spanish. One look at her beautiful, bronzed face framed by long gleaming black hair that fell nearly to her waist and one discovered the reason for the woman's glib nickname. Someone had tried, whether out of cruelty or drunken amusement, to widen Sonrisa's mouth by using a blade to slash open the corners of her full lipped mouth to up alongside her cheek bones. The effect of the scars was both horrifying and fascinating, giving her a permanent death's head grin. Sir Leo had absolutely no idea if the person or persons responsible for this grotesque injury were dead or not, although for his money, he figured that if they weren't dead yet they were going to absolutely wish they were if Sonrisa ever got hold of them!

Josephine Rumbleton, chief inspector and detective in the Royal Metropolitan Police of London was very wet, very cold and just about as thoroughly frustrated as she could get as she stood gazing up at the very imposing neo-gothic, neo-Romanesque front entrance of a townhouse in one of the most fashionable parts of London in the middle of the night. London had been covered in a fine, harsh powdery snow for much of December, interspace with periods of freezing rain. Tonight both were falling in more abundance then anyone who had to be outside cared for. She was, she admitted to herself, in a state of most uncharacteristic indecision, although that was in itself understandable. The owner of this regal residence, as evidenced by the ornate coat-of-arms over the entranceway, was not a person to be taken lightly: Sir Leopold Stanley Worthing-Topper was a member of the British peerage, a highly decorated soldier, talented technocrat and celebrated writer and absolutely notorious for both his sarcastic temperament and a willingness to speak his mind. She had only met the man once, personally although memorably, back in '83 on board a German passenger liner they both happened to be on making their respective ways back to England from India. She'd been a newly minted constable, looking to make detective sergeant, on assignment from Great Britain to the Empire to help investigate a promising lead on a London crime ring that was smuggling narcotics into southern England. That trip to the fabled and mysterious India sub-continent had not been a good one, it had ended in miserable failure for the investigating team and the deaths of three of it's four members: two veteran detective sergeants and her mentor the celebrated Inspector Sir Nigel Redfern.

She, had been the only survivor, and she readily admitted a most distraught and discouraged one at that. That return trip home, had however ironically been the making of her career even as the outbound trip to India had come so disasterously and permanently close to ending it. Rumbleton, began to climb the rain and slush slick stairs. Darkness enshrouded her, matching her bleak mood all too well, along with the ever present fog, sleet and drizzle that covered London as often as not it seemed tonight. The Viscount Worthing, came from a very old family of an impeccably aristocratic lineage, his late father and  his older brother were both the Duke of Schomberg, and truly frightening wealth and an equally stubborn, vindictive willingness to use it in whatever cause, hobby, quarrel or feud that took their fancy.

She rang the bell, once she reached the roofed and colonnades platform that marked the end of the stairs, she detected the hint of a musical chime even through the thick, decorative oak and blacked ornamental ironwork double doors. Rumbleton, waited without impatience turning her gaze back into the rain and mist that blanketed the streets, gas lamps blased in the night like eerie will-of-the wisps from atop their wrought iron poles. A few carriages sped up and down the street, most were typical London growlers making a few last late night's cab fares.

"Hmmzzt. May, I help you Madam?"

Rumbleton, gave a violent start and whirled around from where she had stood poised in thought with her back to the door on the front portico, at the peculiar, mechanical voice that emerged from the now opened doors behind her.  A very tall, heavily constructed automaton stood backlit by the glow of lights in the entranceway, two small lights glowed like hot coals inside the darkened visor slit which was the only feature of it's otherwise featureless bucket like head. It's barrel like body was canted slightly forward so that it could look down at her from it's very imposing six foot height.

The detective very sternly got a hold of herself and pulled out one of her visiting cards, the automaton silently raised a multi fingered, white gloved hand to receive it, scanned it briefly with it's glowing eyes. It paused a moment, then seemed to nod to itself in answer to someone or something it was in wireless contact with.

"This way, Madam." The automaton, intoned politely gesturing for her to step across the threshold. Rumbleton found herself lead down a hall to a luxuriously and it and to be said tastefully furnished waiting room. The automaton took both her rain coat and umbrella, hooking them to a drying rack and quietly poured her a small glass of sherry wine to ward off the cold from an assortment of crystal decanters stacked neatly upon a finely crafted wood sideboard. The automation saw her seated comfortably upon a well stuffed settee that was placed close to the waiting room's glowing fireplace, it then bowed and left the room bearing her visiting card to it's master.

The Nation States of An Age of Steam, Steel and Iron: Part Four

North America: 1889

United States of America, ruled by President Rutherford B. Hayes, the states of the American Union: the District of Columbia, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri and Washington are bitter, angry and defiant following the disasters of the American Civil War of 1861-67. The Union government struggles to hold onto the now disputed and chaotic western territories, which have fractured into a thousand mini-states, enclaves and self-styled republics. A new seccession crisis has fractured the American dream even further then the previous civil war did; California, Nevada and Oregon have broken away from the Union in 1885. Utah, followed in 1887 after a wave of renewed and virulent Anti-Mormon sentiments swept throughout the Union. The ongoing and bitter post American Civil War military occupation of Missouri, now refered to by all sides as 'Bleeding Missouri', threatens to restart the war with the C.S.A. Further distracting the Union, sapping it's wealth and resources, a new series of Indian wars have broken out and caused the formation of two new and militant native states in the West. The Lakota Nation, west of the Missouri river in the Dakota territories. This Plains Indian nation sprawls across the Dakotas, Wyoming and the Nebraska territories, while the Navajo Nation, is centered on the "Four Corners" region of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.

 

Confederate States of America, ruled by President Samuel Bell Maxey, the states of the American Confederacy: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, South Missouri, South Kentucky, Confederate Arizona and New Maryland have been left utterly exhausted by the 1861-67 War of Independence and the subsequent and disasterous 1873 war with Imperial Mexico. The C.S.A. now only wishes for peace and time to recover from the ravages of war. War however looms on the horizon, this time between the Confederacy and Spain over Cuba and Puerto Rico which are coverted by elements within the confederate congress. Simmering tensions between the U.S.A. and the C.S.A. over the continued and often brutal military occupation of the state of Missouri (which just missed being included in the Confederacy) threaten the fragile peace of 1867. The tacit support given by the Confederate government to the emergent Navajo and Lakota Nations and the I.S.A. has done nothing to smooth already strained C.S. and U.S. relations. Confederate diplomatic relations with it's former wartime allies, France and Great Britain are now at an all time low, following the failure of the Confederate Congress to honour many of it's wartime treaty obligations: Particularly the proviso to abolish Slavery within it's territorial borders in it's entirety.

 

Independent States of America, composed of the former Union states of California, Nevada and Oregon, which broke with the Union throughout 1885. The I.S.A. is ruled by a special council of three governors and a popularly elected parliament of citizens, the Chamber of Deputies and the I.S.A. Senate with San Francisco serving as the Federal capital. The I.S.A. formally declared its existence in 1886 with the direct political, economic and military union of the three states, the independent Mormon Republic of Utah is not actually a member of the I.S.A. (contrary to Union propaganda and the Yellow Press) but is more of an associated state or allied power. The I.S.A. has designs on the Idaho Territory and the Arizona and New Mexico Territories as well as the Union state of Washington, to solidify it's territorial cohesion. However the I.S.A. offensive into Washington has stalled, the Oregon and California coasts must contend with an increasingly active and effective blockade by the Union Navy, while a deadly game of strategic maneuvering goes on in New Mexico Territory, as yet without decisive results to either side. The Union Army stands dangerous at the doorstep of the Mormon Republic with the siege of Salt Lake City, I.S.A. field columns and air units from California and Nevada are moving to break the siege and drive the Union Armies back into Colorado. Time will tell if they are successful or not.

Mormon Republic of Utah, Utah left the Union in 1887, declaring it's independence before God and in defiance of the Union Government's tyrannical threats. The Mormon Republic considers itself a co-belligerent in the war against the Union being waged by the I.S.A., the Lakota and the Navajo Nations. Utah also regards itself as the spiritual leader of the Thousand Enclaves and works to strengthen their resolve to resist re-annexation by the Union. Utah relations with the Lakota are distant and often strained but endure because of a common foe. Relations between Utah and the Navajo Nation are by comparsion extremely tense, confrontational and often at cross-purposes. As 1889 dawns, the Mormon Republic stands endangered, with five Union armies assembled within twenty miles of the capital, Salt Lake City. The rock of the Mormon defense is the battle tested and veteran Nauvoo and Deseret Legions, backed up by the Utah State Guards and the Mormon Militias. Three irregular para military forces are utilized by the Mormon Republic to police and defend it's territories as well as to sometimes expand it's influence, the Blue Star Irregulars, which operate across the counties of Northern Utah and into the disputed counties of the Wyoming and Colorado Territories. The White Star Irregulars operate in the southern counties of the state of Utah, while making the ocassional forays into the Colorado and Arizona Territories, The White Stars have several times clashed with defenders of the Navajo Nation's borders even as the White Stars try to distabilize the Union Army's hold on the New Mexico and Arizona Territories. The Red Star Irregulars, operate solely in the counties adjacent and encompassing, the capital of the Mormon Repubic, Salt Lake City. They act as a rear area security and police force as well as assisting the Mormon Army in the field in the entrenchments around Salt Lake City, they also operate a number of Air Guard units flying barrier and scouting patrols over the Utah capital and the siege lines.

Lakota Nation, comprising the Sioux and other Great Plains Indian lands and tribal reservation territories in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and the Colorado territories. The Lakota have been at war with the Union government since 1868. The Lakota Nation has received qualified and very covert military, economic and political assistance from both the Independent States of America and the Confederates States of America. Although there is no formal alliance between the nations, relations are workmanlike and all three states recognize that a resurgent Union is most definitely not in their best interests.

Navajo Nation, comprising Navajo and other native tribal reservation holdings in Southern Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico Territories, the Navajo have like their northern plains brethren, been at war with the Union since 1868. The Navajo Nation, also has relations with the I.S.A and C.S.A., although they are somewhat cooler then the Lakota, although just as workmanlike.

The Thousand Enclaves, the bulk of the now disputed western territories (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Nebraska), is under no single state's control. The Union Army, often as not, only controls the ground it happens to be standing on. The Union Army often has to deal with tenuously long supply lines back into Union territory in Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas, that feed troops, artillery and other much needed logistical supplies to the various armies, independent corps and detachments scattered across the West and Midwest in an attempt to control and administer the area. The Independent States Army has much the same logistical problems. The Second American Civil War rages across thousands of miles, at many points across the vast area. Many townships, villages and hamlets answer to neither the Union nor the I.S.A. claiming their own fragile independence, raising their own militias and levying their own taxes, and trying to survive: at least they do until the Union or Independent States Army or someone else arrives...

The Nation States in An Age of Steam, Steel and Iron: Part Three

Africa: 1889

Morocco, ruled by Sultan Hassan I, the lands have prospered, reforms started by the previous sultan and carried through by Hassan, have seen the economy, civil administration and military of the country advance and improve by leaps and bounds. The Sultan and his government work carefully to maintain friendly diplomatic and trade relations with the Great Powers of Europe, being especially careful to avoid falling under the dominion of any one of them. France and it's aspirations both in the Senegal and Algeria is a particular worry, as is Spain, with it's claims to northern coastal Morocco and the Spanish Sahara to the south.

Rabahian Empire, founded by the powerful slaver, Rabeh Fadal Allah or Rabah Zubeir as he was also known, who proclaimed himself Sultan over the petty tribal kings and petty sultans of the Lake Chad region. Using his army of loyal and skilled Sudanese riflemen, he has quickly become known as the "Napoleon of Africa". While highly successful in his first wave of conquests, Sultan Rabah's efforts to further expand and secure his realm have been checked however: in the west by the Agadez, in the East by the Ottoman Empire, and to the South by the Germans. There remains only the north, and there is rumour of a fabulously wealthy collection of city-states hidden within the Tibesti mountains, if the rumours are true, Rabad means to add this fabled place: it's wealth and it's people to his expanding realm.

Zululand, a powerful African kingdom consisting of the tribal lands of the Zulus themselves, Swaziland, Transpongolaland and Natal, ruled by King Cetshwayo, ferociously independent and determined to remain so, the Zulus have built up their armies and modernized them with new tactics and modern weapons allowing them to fend off attempts by both the British and the Boers to subjugate them in the 1870s and 1880s. The Zulus know that either enemy will in the fullness of time try again to conquer them, and they work to make ready.

Ndebele Kingdom, ruled by King Lobengula Khumalo, the Matabele originally broke away from the Zulu Kingdom, and came north across the Limpopo River with the Zulu way of war, discipline and weaponry which they used to carve out a new kingdom of their own from the lands of the Mashona. Now the Mashona petty kingdoms and independent tribes bow to the Ndebele. It is only amatter of time before all the Mashonaland comes under the banner of the Ndebele. However not is all serene for the Matabele, outsiders, the Boers and the British have taken an interest in their tribal lands, seeking gold, diamonds, land for farming and cattle.   

Basutoland, A British protectorate founded in 1884, due to the British Cape Colony being unable to govern or control the Basuto tribes effectively. Ruled technically by a paramount chief, Letsie I Moshoeshoe of Lesotho, actual control lies in the hands of a British appointed Resident-Commissioner.

Orange Free State, the senior of the two Boer republics in southern Africa, the Boers glare at the British Cape Colonies to the south and west, while shuddering at Zululand to the east. The Boers of the Orange Free State, are at odds with the British and have so far staved off attempts by the British to force a protectorate upon them, although the memory of the 1881 Anglo-Boer War means that the Boers fear the British will make another attempt if they show a moment of weakness.

Transvaal Republic, the younger of the two Boer republics, these Boers are even more conservative and isolationist then their fellows in Orange Free State. The relations between the two Boer republics are sometimes tense, although a sense of kinship and common cause means they can usually present a united front against the British as in the 1880-1881 Anglo-Boer War. The Transvaalers however save their greatest fear and loathing for the Zulus who have stolen away the Vynheidland from them, following an attempt by the Boers to force the Zulu Kingdom to capitulate in 1882. The resultant war was a catastrophe for the Transvaal Republic.

Tukolor Empire, one of the largest African empires, ruled by the Sultan Ahmadu, centered on it's relatively new capital of Timbuctu on the Upper Niger River. By African standards, the empire is both powerful militarily, politically stable and moderately prosperous. That very prosperity has however attracted the attentions of the French who pushing out from their colonies in Senegal and Mauritania, threaten the Tukolor Empire's western borders and in the long term, Tukolor territorial sovereignty, despite French claims of friendship and commerce.

Agadez Caliphate, ruled by Sultan Umaru bin Ali, founded by retreating elements of the Sokoto Caliphate, which failed due to internal rebellion and the arrival and steady colonial developments in West Africa by first the Electorate of Brandenburg-Prussia, then the Kingdom of Prussia and finally the German Empire. Umaru bin Ali, rules his lands from his great palace at the foot of the Massif de L'Air. The Caliphate is now under threat from the Tukolors in the west, the Germans from the south, and Rabahian Empire's expansionism in the east.

Wassoulou Empire, founded by the remarkable Alamamy Samori Toure, this empire is completely his creation and held together solely by his personality and will. Using sound principals of government and administration, the Wassoulou Empire in the western sudan, based on the Niger river at Bamako is the rising star of West Africa. Prosperous from gold mining, caravan trade and slave trading, the empire has developed a powerful, well disciplined and well armed army, capable of fending off outside encroachments and internal rebellions. Samori is however apprehensive about his relations both for the present and in the future with his neighbours: the British (in Sierra Leone), the Germans (in German West Africa), the Tukolors (to the east) and most of all the French (to the west in Senegal and Mauritania and the distant north in Algeria).

Madagascar, ruled by the Queen Ranavalona III, the Malagasy have prospered and developed largely on their own terms, and require little from the Great Powers, save to be left alone.  The island nation however looks apprehensively at the shadow of France, which falls across it, and controls many of the island groups around it and each year tries to make new encroachments upon the kingdom's sovereignty via trade concessions and increasingly stringent political demands for a French protectorate over the island. Worryingly Britain, once a friend, seems disinclined to restrain French ambitions for the island nation.

Abyssinia, the fabled African kingdom, later empire said to have been founded by the legendary Prester John, it is a rugged, virtually landlocked country and a place of ancient culture . This country is also one of the last true absolute monarchies in the world, blending both elements of kingship and Ethiopian orthodox theocracy. Reliable records within the Empire go back to the 1130s, although fragmentary records going back to at least the 9th Century have been discovered within the Imperial or Monastic achieves within the borders of the nation. The country (sometimes referred to as Ethiopia) has prospered to varying degrees under the many dynasties that have held the throne since the Zagwe Dynasty started the line of the King of Kings. The current Atse or Emperor is Yohannes IV of the Solomonic Dynasty's Tigrean Line.

Liberia, the only republic in West Africa, ruled by President Hilary Richard Wright Johnson, was established by the efforts of the American Colonization Society (a lobbying group dedicated to the resettling of free-born or manumitted American Negros) in January 7th, 1822. The A.C.S. closely controlled the emergent colony until July 26th, 1847, when the Liberian Legislature declared the colony - then called the Commonwealth of Liberia - an independent nation. The United States of America did not formally recognize this state of affairs until February 5th, 1862, the A.C.S. did not recognize Liberia's independence until 1867. The Liberian Republic annexed the neighbouring independent Republic of Maryland, in March 18, 1857, which had been settled by free-blacks and manumitted slaves primarily from the State of Maryland via the auspices of the Maryland State Colonization Society. The republic is a nation split between two parties, the Republicans and True Whigs, and two important ethnic and political divides, the Americo-Liberians (the original American settlers and their decendents) and the Indigenous Africans.

 Buganda, one of five traditional kingdoms of Uganda, was first established in the 13th century by the first Kabaka (king) Kato Kintu, who established the Kintu Dynasty which ruled there after. Buganda, prospered over the centuries and rapidly became one of the largest and most powerful states in East Africa by the 18th and 19th centuries, becoming an important exporter of coffee and cotton, amoung other goods. British attempts to establish a "Uganda Protectorate"(which would have included all of the five traditional kingdoms) in 1884 were rebuff forcefully and tacklessly by Kabaka Mwanga II. The majority of foreign encouragements in the region were eventually repulsed by the Buganda kingdom, though not without cost, Mwanga II, lacked the subtlty of his predecessor, Muteesa I at managing and directing the competing interests and drives of the kingdom's christians (Catholics and Protestants), pagans, and muslim inbabitants and keeping contact with the rest of the developing world without being swamped by it. While Mwanga II has managed with some success to keep his throne, it has been at the cost of much internal bloodshed, fractionalism and intrigue within the kingdom, with the resulant political, economic and military instablility that now threatening the kingdom's safety, should the British or another power in the region attempt to move in upon them.

Toro/Tooro, one of five traditional kingdoms of Uganda, was founded in 1830 by Omukama Kaboyo Olimi I, the eldest son of the Omukama of Bunyoro, Nyamutukura Kyebambe III. Olimi I had successfully seceded from his father's realm and fashioned his own independent kingdom. Tooro remained independent until 1876, when is was reabsorbed into the Bunyaro-Kitara kingdom for a short period before reasserting it's independence.

Ankole/Nkore, One of the five traditional kingdoms of Uganda, was founded in the 15th century in the south western portion of Uganda, east of Lake Edward. The founding people of Kingdom of Ankole, the Banyankole, were a Bantu people and maintained much of their traditional customs and language. The monarch of Ankole was titled the Mugabe or Omugabe.

Busoga, The Land of the Soga, one of the five traditional kingdoms of Uganda, it is composed of some eleven principalities, it's earliest written historical records goes back to the 1862 following contact with European African explorers and missionaries. The country is by the standards of the region prosperous and densely populated compared to some of it's neighbours, although sometimes prone to outbreaks of famine and epidemics in consequence. Many of inhabitants of the kingdom originated in other tribal areas and migrated to Busoga to make a fresh start, following their traditional clan or chiefdoms decimation by plagues and famines. The kingdom's economy is centered on agriculture and various cottage industries, and the production of both cash and food crops, such as cotton, coffee, bananas, potatoes, cassava, fruits and vegetables. Subsistence farming is slowly but steadily becoming a thing of the past and the surplus of goods is fueling both increased trade with the kingdom's neighbours as well as a raising standard of living for the kingdom's inhabitants.

Bunyaro/Bunyaro-Kitara, One of the five traditional kingdoms of Uganda, Bunyaro occupied a portion of Western Uganda and was reckoned on of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century onwards until it began to fade in significance from the 16th century. By the 18th century internal divisions were causing Bunyaro to seriously decline, the Kingdom of Buganda was quick to profit by this and seized the Kooki and Buddu regions. Toro seceded and claimed much of the realm's valuable saltworks. By the 19th century, Bunyaro (also called Unyoro by this time) was a much smaller state then it had been at the height of it's powers. Despite this, Bunyaro was still significant amoung the five kingdoms due to it's not inconsiderable wealth, from control of the trade routes over Lake Victoria and trade links to the Indian Ocean, particularly the ivory trade. Further it still held control of several of the holiest shrines in the region, controlled the Kibiro saltworks of Lake Albert and maintained the highest quality metallurgy in the area, which made it even as it faded one of the strongest military and economic powers in the African Great Lakes region. Armed struggles between Bunyaro and Buganda over the Ivory trade were to be a continued problem from this point onwards, as was periodic bouts of internal political instablility.

New Moscow, a Free Cossack colony established on January 6th, 1889 by the Cossack adventurer and African explorer Nikolay Ivanovitch Achinov, who had previously visited Abysssinia on behalf of the Russian government to establish clerical and political ties between the two countries in 1883. In 1888 upon returning from Abyssinia and the Horn of Africa region, Achinov put into effect plans to mount an expedition to the Gulf of Tadjoura to establish a permanent Russian settlement there. Achinov gained semi-offical financial and logisitical backing for the venture from the Imperial Russian government on being given assurances that Achinov had cemented agreements with Mohammed Loitah, the Sultan of Tadjoura for the permanent lease of the necessary land to establish the colony.

The expedition gathered it's vanguard in Odessa in the Black Sea, some 165 Terek Cossacks and 35 Russian Colonists and a great deal of logisitical supplies, tools and trade goods. The espediton travelled first by Russian owned vessels, the Kornilov and Lazarev, to Alexandria and Port Said in the Ottoman province of Egypt. The expedition was joined by the chartered Austrian vessel Amfitrida, the trio then entered the Gulf of Tadjoura and landed at Sagallo. Achinov renamed Sagallo, New Moscow after occupying Sagallo and setting up camp in the abandoned Ottoman fortifications and outposts in the area.

The French administration in French Somilialand are at present, completely unaware of the Russian colony's existance and will be very put out, when they do. The french have concentrated most of the their colonialization efforts at Obock far to the east of Sagallo, and to the south across the Gulf of Tadjoura, paying scant attention to the northern western part of the territory that they claim.

The Nation States in An Age of Steam, Steel and Iron: Part Two

Asia: 1889

Japan, ruled by the Emperor Meiji, is rapidly becoming the premier power in Asia both economically and militarily, although not politically much to Japanese chagrin. Composed of the fabled islands of Nippon: Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu and Hokkaido, and it's tributary islands: the Kurile, Ryukyu and Bonin islands. The Empire also includes the territories of the islands of Formosa, the Pescadores and Sakhalin as well as Korea, Manchuria and the mysterious and ancient islands of Lemuria and Mu. This situation is a development definitely not welcomed by Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, the USA, the ISA or Imperial China, all nations with significant holdings or stakes in Asia. Japan, is for the most part content with the situation as it stands for the present but carefully eyes it's neighbours for further opportunities, particularly China.

China, ruled by the Manchu Emperors, once the greatest of all empires of continental Asia has been slowly faltering towards oblivion and dismemberment for the last four centuries. Continued and largely unsuccessful military conflicts with the Great Powers of Europe has cost the Chinese much in political and economic concessions, prestige (both at home and abroad) and equally lost territory: Great Britain has stolen Kowloon/Hong Kong; France, Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina and Cambodia; Russia, the distant tributary provinces of the Amur; while that upstart, Japan, has seized Formosa, Korea and Manchuria (the later the homeland of the Jurchen, the Manchu!). These difficulties have forced the enactment of long considered but long delayed political, economic and military reforms, which are beginning to take positive effect so that China's future prospects seem brighter then in the past.

Mongolia, or properly the semi-independent province of Outer Mongolia (the other part of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia is a province of Imperial China), is left much to it's own devices after the fall of the Golden Horde and it's successors, the tribal horse lords and khans of the Mongol tribes have reverted to the pastoral and steppes conflicts of their ancestors. The Great Khanate is unfilled and no one has the prestige or strength to take it and reunite the Great Hordes of the ancient past. For the present Mongolia is the next best thing to a geographical expression, wedged between the lands of Imperial China to the south, Imperial Russia to the north and Imperial Japan in the east. For all three nations Mongolia is a useful buffer state, if a troublesome and often lawless seeming one, all three quietly recruit the hardy Mongol horsemen skilled with both traditional bows and modern breech loading carbines as mounted mercenaries to protect caravan, railway and postal routes through their more distant districts.

Siam, if Japan is the raising first power of Asia, then the ancient kingdom of Siam has a fair claim to be it's second. Ruled by King Chulalongkorn the Great, has seen the Thai people raised to perhaps their zenith in terms of internal unity, industrial and administrative modernization, economic prosperity and military strength. Following Burma's gradual annexation by Great Britain in the Burma Wars, Siam managed to wrestle away the Burmese districts on the eastern bank of the Salween river, along it's entire length, securing Siam's long western border against further British encroachment. Against the French, the Siamese have been less successful, watching with alarm as France gobbled up their eastern neighbours Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina and Cambodia through wars and diplomatic manovers. Only Laos remains independent, after Siam twice threatened to go to war with France, and the French were forced to back down by events elsewhere in the world.

Laos, wedged between Siam and France's Indochina possession, Laos is not in a comfortable position. The French press continuously for Laos to accept a protectorate, that France will be the protector of Laos interests and territorial soveriegnty in return for certain considerations both economic and political. Siam meanwhile, quietly fortifies it's borders, and readies it's land armies and air squadrons for the day everyone knows may be soon be coming, a showdown with France, with Laos caught in between.

Tonga, An island nation in the Pacific, ruled by King George Tupou I, quietly prosperous and zealous about guarding it's sovereignty, the kingdom comprises an archipelago of some 169 islands scattered across a considerable area of the South Pacific Ocean. The Tongans maintain friendly diplomatic relations with many nations, although they are careful to avoid an entanglements that would compromise their own sovereignty, and the islands are a favoured vacation spot for the wealthy of many European countries.

Hawaii, An island nation in the Pacific, ruled by King Kalākaua, like it's distant neighbor Tonga, quietly prosperous and just as fervently zealous about remaining an independent nation free of foreign occupation. The kingdom is composed of the islands of Hawaii proper and the distant tributary islands of Midway Atoll, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Wake Atoll and Palmyra. Hawaii is currently being courted by many nations, particularly the British, Japanese, Russians and Germans for basing rights for their military and mercantile fleets, so far the Hawaiians have viewed their overtures with some skepticism. The Hawaiians much to anger of many foreign merchants have also refused to grant sweeping economic concessions to any outside powers or their representatives amid the growing plantation owner class.

Brunei, a small petroleum rich nation in the East Indies, ruled by Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin, Brunei while obtaining great wealth from it's petroleum resources is under the shadow of Great Britain, a situation the Sultan has vigorously but not altogether successfully been able to avoid, given the borders he shares with British Sarawak, Austrian-Hungarian North Borneo and German Borneo. While the Austrians maintain generally friendly relations and fair trade policies, as do the Germans, the British are aggressively pushing a policy of complete dominance in all Brunei trade and internal affairs. So far, the German and Austrian governments have lent quiet support to fore stall these developments, but this covert aid may eventually not be enough to stop British plans for Brunei.

Nepal, A mountainous Hindu kingdom between India and Tibet, ruled by the King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, famous for it's Gurkha regiments, Nepal has so far avoided being swallowed up by either the Tibetians, Chinese, Indian states, or for that matter the British Empire.

Bhutan, a mountainous kingdom locked within the Himalayas, ruled by King Sangye Dorji, friendly to Great Britain and Tibet. like Nepal it's neighbor, it has stubbornly maintained it's own sovereignty for many generations and will likely remain so for many yet to come.

Tibet, an ancient theocracy, ruled by the Dalai Lamas, that has fiercely guarded it's sovereignty for centuries against both Mongol, Indian, and Chinese attempts to become it's masters. More recently Great Britain has tried to encroach upon it's territories, without much success and at bitter cost it has to be said. Safe behind it's mountain walls, Tibet is not either a land easy to know or get to as many have learned to their cost, although it is rumored to be a land of fabulous wealth, ancient culture and mystic knowledge.

Samoa, The island kingdom of Samoa, is still dealing with the aftermath of the ongoing civil war which started in 1886 because of conflicts between the crown and several of the competiting paramount chieftains for control of all sixteen of the islands or atolls that make up the Samoan Archipeligo. Several major powers had previously interested themselves in supporting one faction or another, in the hopes of having a say in the eventual outcome and possible annexation or at least territorial division of the islands. Those powers being Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Hawai'i. The King Susuga Malietoa Laupepa's fraction is currently in the acendent position within the islands, due to the vigorous support of the Japanese and Hawaiian monarchies. For the moment this has caused Germany, France and Great Britain, to reconsider their current support of the rival factions within the kingdom, and for the present they have adopted a wait and see attitude. Samoa's strategically important position in the geographical center of the Pacific Ocean, however means this ambivalent and indecisive attitude will not likely persist for long. The Japanese and Hawaiians in conjunction with the Royal Samoan government are taking steps to shore up Samoan Crown's political, economic and military position to bring the civil war to a successful conclusion, in the King's favour.

Sikkim, ruled by the 9th Chogyal Thutob Namgyal, this independent Indian kingdom was founded in 1642 by Phuntsog Namgyal, who became the nation's first Chogyal (King). While committed to programs of modernization for the kingdom, and maintaining largely friendly and prosperous economic relations with it neighbours, the 9th Chogyal must carefully balance not only the national interests of his realm but the sometimes troublesome ethnic and religious divisions of it's inhabitants: ethnic Nepali, Tibetian and native Sikkimese represent the largest segements with the kingdom, alongside Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Muslims and Jains amoung others, all of whom have their own particular histories, interests and needs, which can and often do come into conflict with one another. Further the Sikkimese government has to carefully navigate between the territorial ambitions four other powers that it shares it's borders with, Tibet, the British Empire and it's closest neighbours Nepal and Bhutan.