Zor's Bigass Alternate Roman Empire Timeline

[Zor]

This is another bit of Alternate History that I have come up with, hope you like it. More to be posted

"Grains of Thunder"

In 12 CE Sextus Terentius, a middle class Alchemist mixed of Saltpeter, Sulfur and Charcoal. He mixed it in with water, but did not find what he wanted to find (AKA turning a peace of lead into gold) and tossed the mixture into the fire. The resulting explosion restored his interest a dozen times of what it was originally, and he made more of the mixture over the next few weeks, selling it in the streets as something to liven up parties with. Within a year, he had become a wealthy man and many Nobles livened up their parties by setting off small bits of gunpowder in bowls.

Encouragement of Innovation

For the next twenty years, gunpowder was used more or less as a means of entertainment. Starting in 19 approximately a Kilo of gunpowder was set off in the Circus Maximums to signify the start of the Race. They also took to gluing gunpowder to sticks to make sparklers. How ever, this was not to be the case forever, in 32 an engineer working at a mine took a large Earthware vase, filled it with gunpowder, stuck it in a shaft and used a long string as a fuse. The result was a large blast that shattered a lot of rock quickly. The Mine owner was really impressed, and bough a lot more gunpowder and vases. Other mine owners took note of this, and began doing the same. The amount of gunpowder produced in Rome increased by a factor of Ten by 40. The mine owners began selling off some of there slaves to a number of low off jobs better than mining (such as fire stokers and construction workers) as they were a smaller need for them. A cloth with some gunpowder rubbed into it was also developed to make mining explosives easier to use.

The result of this was a spur in Invention over the next 100 years. While it was true that slaves did not receive a wage, they did require food, water, clothing, shelter, tools and overseers. Engineers took the hint from the Mine engineers and began improving tools. The Wheeled plow and Wheelbarrow are two of said inventions of this time. Many slaves were sold, advertised to "give one slave the Ability to do the work of three" and other such things. More slaves were used in construction, and the tools for construction were improved. Metal became cheaper, and became more commonly used.

Gunpowder also worked its way into the military. The first example of this was in the late 30s. First they tied gunpowder explosives to Ballista (Giant Tripod mounted Crossbow) bolts and pots of gunpowder thrown into enemy formations by Catapults. The Ballista bomb was an improvement, it disrupted enemy formations, caused some fires and minor shrapnel wounds, knocked over people (and caused them to be trampled to death) and disrupted the enemies vision. Catapult thrown Ballista bombs were only really good at setting fires. Early guns were also toyed with, these were simple tubes composed of two sheets of iron curled over each other with a ceiling at one end and a gap for inserting a match (flaming stick) inside to set off a gunpowder charge to deliver a stone or lead ball at the enemy, though single man military firearms were some time away away. During the conquest of England, one of Vespasian's pioneered the wooden frame and stock creating a man portable gunpowder weapon capable of scaring horses, was cheaper to use than a Pilum and very good threw armor but still took two men to fire and had a range of only 65 feet (slightly better than a Pilum) when fired off in salvos of over 10 weapons. The offensive into Germania was won to a good degree because of these early Gunpowder weapons.

Religions of the First Century

Polytheistic Religion (Paganism) remained the staple of Roman Religion. Jupiter, Venus and Minerva were worshiped by the vast majority of the Roman Population.

Christianity started off around 20-30, and was a minor cult for most of said time, and Rome did not take much interest in it. In the minds of the Romans Christianity was a Minor cult founded by some screwball, just like a thousand other minor cults founded by a thousand other screwballs. Some laws against Christianity were written, but enforcement was laxed, and remained laxed. St Paul was killed by an mugger in 42. One of Nero's Scandals was exposed due to a recently freed slave that was not freed in the original timeline and never became emperor. He died of natural causes on June 11th, 110. Without Nero setting off mass burnings of Christians producing Martyrs among the lower/slave classes, the religion never took hold to the same degree. In total, the number of Christians was only 20,000 people by 150.

Conquests (60-200)

In 68, Vespasian assumed the title of Emperor. He was a Rough, coarse, practical soldier. He had seen the effectiveness of handguns, and is knowledgeable in there limitations. He ordered that each Legion have one century (80 men) be equipped with handguns, as well as making gunpowder Ballista bolts standard. In 76, After 60 years of trying, over half of Germania fell to the Roman Empire. 800,000 slaves were put onto the market and the Romans proceeded to colonize the area. A new style of matchlock was designed by an enterprising engineer in 131 using an S-Shaped iron bar to place a burning piece of string into the breach (which had been widened), resulting in a gun that could be fired by one person, allowing the rest of Germania to fall. Barrel production was also improved, no longer simply fusing two. All Legions were armed with these incredible weapons (which are called Arquebuses) by 163, Though only two Cohorts (960 men) per each legion (5,200 men strong) were armed with guns. Hibernia (Ireland) and Caledonia (Scotland) fell to the legions in 173. All three realms were settled and Rebuilt in Rome's Image within two decades of their conquest. Likewise, trousers became common in a good deal of the roman empire, Legionaries took to wearing them to fend off cold and when they returned to Italy (and other parts of the empire) they kept wearing them, causing them to spread to there families and other parts of the Empire.

Shield, Gladius and Gun (Development of firearm Tactics)

Early firearm tactics were simple, have the Legionaries armed with handguns stand in a line behind a loose shield wall, and fire a volley into the enemy's formation. Guns after that were dropped, and they began fighting like normal Legionaries. They were. The Goal was to cause a week spot in the enemy ranks and to frighten enemy horses (along with some barbarians). While they did have a slight range advantage over a Pilum (a Roman throwing spear) and very good Armor Pearceing potential, there slow reload rate and the fact that they took two men to work made them impractical.

Three inventions caused a vast improvement and an revolution in warfare. The First was the Solid barrel; this strengthened the barrel (made it less prone to explosion) and increased the range of the weapon. The Second was the Monopod; a simple stick shoved into the ground to support the Barrel give the user more stability, also increasing the range of the weapon. The third and most important development was the S-Bar; this is a simple iron (sometimes Bronze) bit that placed a burning wick (string) into the match port. This allowed the weapon to be loaded and fired effectively by one man. (In the OTL this weapon is called an Arquebus, and I will call said weapon that).

Arquebuses were used by the Romans in two ways, Velites and Heavy Infantry.

Heavy Infantry worked in formations (Layout discribed here C=Crouching swordsman, S=Standing Swordsman, A= armed Legionary)


SSA C
SS AC
SSA C
SS AC
SSA C

This Formation offered protection against Arrows and deviating barrages of gunfire. Half the Men would fire at once. Maximum range of a salvo was officially around 40-45 meters, but sometimes it was above it. The rate of fire was 2 rounds a minute, and between firings the first rank would throw Pilums into the enemy formation once they were in range. Heavy Arquebusmen were armed with swords and did use them, but bashing barbarians over the head with their guns was also done.

An improved system was developed in 322, using a spring and tumbler. This made the musket easier to fire.

Velites were used as scouts and snipers, they were lightly armored, but were quick on their feet and good shots. Barbarian formations were easily disrupted by fire from Velites, and they were capable of holding there own in HtH combat.

Some Roman cavalry bought small-scale versions of the Arquebus to some effect, but these were far from Reliable weapons. The Advent of the Spring Matchlock made these easier to use, but they were still not that reliable.

Cannons were also developed, and they were used occasionally but there was simply no real use for them. The Barbarians rarely had any fortifications more impressive than a Wooden wall around there Villages, if that. A weapon called the Viper was used. It was a wooden block on a wagon with 10-18 Gun barrels on it. A Person uses a match (burning stick) to set off said guns, allowing him to dump large amounts of fire into the enemy quite quickly, though it could only be used once in battle.

Between 140-350, the Romans held gunpowder weapons to themselves giving them a distinct advantage over everyone else in Europe. Parts of Tartaria and Poland, some of Persia and the Middle East were conquered by firearm wielding legions

Cultural advancements (150-350)

Butter was added to the Roman Diet during this time along with Sausage. Up until before the conquest of Germania these foods were considered to be only fit for barbarians, but because large portions of newly conquered territory was far from Ocean, it made Liquamen (a Roman Sauce made of Fermented Fish entrails, Not Kidding here) could not be made locally and was expensive to import for Settled Roman Nobles, so butter was often used as a stopgap measure. Sausage also made good appetizers. There ease of Production and low cost also made salted sausages a good source for supplementary food for Legions stationed in the area, which spread them across the empire.

Footwear also was changed; the polish winter saw many Roman settlers suffer frostbite. In said Northern provinces, boots made of sewn Leather samwicthed between two pieces of wood nailed together became common among farmers, herders, soldiers and other people who did a lot of outdoor activity. Likewise, these spread across the empire.

In Rome, there are even more Gradious buildings like the Flavian Apatheatere (Coliseum). There was even more slave labor and labor saving devices that allowed each slave to do more.

The Romans did not crush Christianity, Nor did the Empire give up Polytheism outright in the name of Christ. Emperor Silvanus Legalized Christianity in 277 as long as they would Sacrifice Incense to the Spirit of the Emperor and to the Glory of the Empire. Around 60% of the Christian Population (witch was 50,000 people) accepted this forming a sect called Roman Christians, the others either left the empire for Eastern lands or stayed underground, committing acts of Violence against Roman Christians every now and again.

The End of the Matchlock Monopoly (350-600)

For nearly three centuries the Roman Empire held the secrets of Firearms to themselves and Barbarians died in droves because of it. Barbarians adjusted there tactics out of necessity, they stooped using all armor save for helmets and leather vests and focused more on ambushing the legions supply lines, but they still could not go toe to toe with a Roman Legion. Occasionally, a few barbarians would steel a couple of guns some how and they did use them, but powder was something they could not make. A few local kings and chiefs every few generations would form an alliance, rallying up a sizeable army of 10,000-20,000 Soldiers, but even then a Legion or two would easily be able to do away with the unorganized, undisciplined rabble of Barbarians collecting a few slaves in the process.

However in 355 one of said alliances managed to over-run a small Frontier fortress and capture the Gunpowder makers. They then took to beating the crap out of them until he told them how to make black powder. These Barbarians were not technological leaders at the time, but they did have blacksmiths and grinding stones, S-Bar Arquebuses were nothing incredibly complex and also they had a few captured Arquebuses. In 358 the alliance struck against the Roman Empire armed with 1,300 Guns and plenty of infantry and Cavalry. More tribes and small kingdoms rallied into this alliance, leading to an army 33,000 warriors strong. This force marched against Roman Territories winning a few early battles and destroying a Legion (something that had not been done in over 200 years) and stealing there guns. Rome quickly responded by sending in three additional Legions against them, and the number of Cohorts armed with Arquebuses per Legion was increased from two to four. S-Bar guns were completely dropped in favor of Spring-bar guns. The Barbarians were stopped by late autumn of that year, but not before a couple of cities were sacked.

The knowledge of Gunpowder spread across non-Roman Europe Europe over the next 60 years. This however did not mean the End of Roman Military supremacy, the S-bar Arquebuses was still dedicatedly Inferior to Spring-bar weapons, there guns were of shoddy manufacture (many a barbarian found this out the hard way) and their users were far less disciplined than the Romans. How ever they did upset the balance of power, the tribes that did not get blackpowder or firearms technology were absorbed by those who did and those nations with better or more firearms annexed there weaker counterparts. Agrarian villages rapidly grew into cities that were seats to new, strong kingdoms. The Introduction of Stirrups from Asia in the 500s caused them to develop heavy cavalry (Something the Romans already had, and stirrups were and improvement to them as well). Huns invaded, but never crossed into Rome. Instead they entered the area, settled and were assimilated into there culture much like the OTL Vikings. Christianity entered some of these nations, but Paganism still remained prominent in most of them.

The Great Stagnation (400-850)

Rome grew ever more complacent in it's lot in the latter half of the Forth century. There were no real wars to fight (repulsing the odd Barbarian attack and the odd slaving missions into Southern Africa aside), no major slave revolts (one of the few things that did change was that it became Illegal for a master to kill a slave and that they had to be fed at least a meal a day) nor any notable emperors either way. Beyond a few refinements in their guns, no one made any adjustments to there military. Christianity spread somewhat (and there were a few Christian Emperors), but it did not replace the old gods. Simply put, It was an Uneventful few centuries. The biggest event of this time was the gradual increase in the Senate's power over the sixth and Seventh Centuries, becoming more than a rich man's club.

The Raiders of Norvegia (800-1,023)

Norvegia (Norway) was never viewed as a target for conquests by the Roman Empire, a cold barren wasteland that was not worth the cost of shipping the soldiers there to conquer it. The Norwegians imported Roman Inventions for agriculture, and had acquired guns threw trade with the Nations to the southeast. This means that they are larger population of Vikings than in the OTL. They spread into Northern Tartaria around 750, which was largely unclaimed due to the harsh Climate. However, the Vikings did not just go to Tartaria, Iceland, Greenland, Vinland (Newfoundland) and along the St Lawrence and far south on the eastern Atlantis (America) Coast New York were also colonized by the Vikings successfully. But these were not the only places were the Norvegians went.

Starting in 952, Vikings fleets moved onto Hibernia, Scotia and Britannia, they extended there attacks to Germania and coastal Gaul (France) within a decade. They had large (up to forty meters long, though 20-15 meters was the Norm) Longboats with two masts armed with 6-12 cannons. These ships were more flexible than Roman craft, and could deliver troops to coastal areas quickly and without warning. They struck cities and left before the Legions could arrive. They built forts, and set up towns and some of them stood up for more than a year (There was no Hibernian Legion for example, the island's total population at the time was only 160,000, nearly half of that being slaves and most of the free population being Farmers). The Roman "Navy" was a handful of Galleys with Rams and a couple of cannons, and the Vikings were at an advantage with speed and the crews manning their ships. Hibernia fell from Roman Control briefly in 963, and parts of Northern Scotia were over-run. The Vikings were among the best Musketmen of there time (Experienced sharpshooters, they had large numbers of Spring-Bar weapons and there muskets tended to had axe heads to make them deadly in close combat), powerful warships and good leaders. But even that was not enough to save the Vikings from the Romans. They began building Fortresses with cannons to keep them from their Coastlines. They redesigned there ships and launched two assaults against Norvegia, The first in 993 took away a lot of coastline from them, the second in 1033 made sure they were never a threat to the Empire again.

The Great Revival (800-1050)

The Great Stagnation could not last forever, eventually the Old Nobility fell apart and they were finally replaced with new non-complacent counterparts. Inventors, Artisans, moneylenders and other such people rose threw the ranks and became wealthy. They formed new Alliances, which became corporations and Banks were formed. A slew of New Inventions came in, the wheel-lock musket, Printing, windmill, rotary Saw and the blast Furnace being notable ones. The Viking attacks helped this period along.

Spellchecked for your viewing pleasure

Zor

[CaptainChewbacca]

1. Christianity would still spread, unless you kill off St. Paul.

2. Vikings in Atlanta = retarded.

[darthdavid]

1. Christianity would still spread, unless you kill off St. Paul.

2. Vikings in Atlanta = retarded.

When he posts something stupid just ignore it. He won't listen to you whatever you say. He'll just plow ahead with his retarded rambling. It took fucking months to get him to use a goddamn spell checker. Want to wager how long it would take to get him to fix his timeline so it's not fucking stupid?

[speaker-to-trolls]

I personally like this, even if it is unrealistic. However, I would agree with CaptainChewbacca that the Vikings would not have spread that far, even under these circumstances. I never understood why Christianity was so successful anyway, but maybe you could put something in about St Paul being killed before he got a chance to write his 'contribution' to the bible.
Also, part of what made longships so maneouverable was that they were quite small, certainly not 40 metres long, they were small ships designed to land on a beach and unload their crew of raiders, then be able to set off quickly.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Christianity didn't spread quickly because of its martyrs, it spread quickly because of its all-embracing faith and some really earnest evangelists.

[Zor]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longship

biggest one, 35 meters.

Also, the Atlantis thing was a Typo, The Romans (latter on) call America Atlantis.

[Admiral Bravo]

Seems pretty good so far.

[Junghalli]

Cool, so the industrial revolution starts about 1100 AD. That means that as of today humanity would be about 500 years more advanced than it actually is. I wonder what's going on today. My guess would be we'd at least have colonized the nearest stars by now at that rate.

[Zor]

Cool, so the industrial revolution starts about 1100 AD. That means that as of today humanity would be about 500 years more advanced than it actually is. I wonder what's going on today. My guess would be we'd at least have colonized the nearest stars by now at that rate.

Not Quite, the Great Revival is closser to the Renaissance, but yes they are more technologicly Advanced than the OTL (they have had Gunpowder weapons for nearly a Millenia, and they got the Recipe for Black Powder down to about what it was at 1800, as well as all the Classical knowladge lost durring the Middle Ages).

Zor

[Straha]

Right, my few cents:

You say Gunpowder sets of a wave of innovations in the labor-related areas, and more specifically dealing with slaves. Yet the Romans and Greeks, who knew the power of the steam engine (along with being able to make the wheelbarrow and blow) never did. The christianity thing, with Paul dead, I can understand, but Nero would take power if all other things went undisturbed, because his mother, wife of Claudius, was making him emperor. Vespasian being Emperor in 66 can't happen because one of the main reasons he was able to appoint himself emperor was the revolts of Judea, which only happened in 66 and weren't put down untill sometime later. Conquering Germania wouldn't have come into the picture because of Varri legions. Rebuilding Ireland and Scotland, barbarian lands, in Rome's image in 20 years is a bit much. ALso saying that Rome would alone hold the secrets of Gunpowder for 3+ centuries is a bit much, considering that this was available commercially for parties, and that Rome fought enough wars and civil wars during this time period for the secret to drop into anyone's hands I'd say a fair amount of people would at least have some quantity of the stuff, or at least know how to make it.

Finally a minor nitpick. There were no Velites after the Marian reforms, and (unless I'm mistaken) that was just the final straw as Velites had been in and out since Scipio Africanus's campaigns in Spain.

[Zor]

The steam engine the Romans had was a toy. It did not have the power to turn Drills, pump water or propell vehicles of any pratical sizee at a pratical speed.

Zor

[Straha]

The steam engine the Romans had was a toy. It did not have the power to turn Drills, pump water or propell vehicles of any pratical sizee at a pratical speed.

No, but they should have known it could have been developed further. Also Archimedes did make a steam gun, and I think it played a part in the Siege of Syracuse during the Second Punic War, but I'm not so sure I can back that up right away. Also, though my memory is hazy (for lack of real interest) I think some guy made a steam siren for Alexandria during Egyptian times, and I also think there was one other guy who made something nifty out of steam and used it to slide temple doors.


EDIT: After skimming through my favorites I found this: Buncha Stuff on Greek inventions in which it talks about this. A nifty little quote from Vespasian (who you cherish in your Original Post) when he destroyed a labor-saving device, "You must let me feed my poor commons".

[Zor]

The steam engine the Romans had was a toy. It did not have the power to turn Drills, pump water or propell vehicles of any pratical sizee at a pratical speed.

No, but they should have known it could have been developed further. Also Archimedes did make a steam gun, and I think it played a part in the Siege of Syracuse during the Second Punic War, but I'm not so sure I can back that up right away. Also, though my memory is hazy (for lack of real interest) I think some guy made a steam siren for Alexandria during Egyptian times, and I also think there was one other guy who made something nifty out of steam and used it to slide temple doors.

The Last two inventions have nothing to do with Vehicles or drills and the existance of the latter of the two is iffy at best.

The system behind the Roman Steam engine and the one we used in the 1800s is completly diferent (besides the fact they both use steam). I should also tell you that it took nearly a Century to Refine the Steam Engine in the OTL.

Zor

[Straha]

The steam engine the Romans had was a toy. It did not have the power to turn Drills, pump water or propell vehicles of any pratical sizee at a pratical speed.

No, but they should have known it could have been developed further. Also Archimedes did make a steam gun, and I think it played a part in the Siege of Syracuse during the Second Punic War, but I'm not so sure I can back that up right away. Also, though my memory is hazy (for lack of real interest) I think some guy made a steam siren for Alexandria during Egyptian times, and I also think there was one other guy who made something nifty out of steam and used it to slide temple doors.

The Last two inventions have nothing to do with Vehicles or drills and the existance of the latter of the two is iffy at best.

Mind providing a link about the temple doors?

The system behind the Roman Steam engine and the one we used in the 1800s is completly diferent (besides the fact they both use steam). I should also tell you that it took nearly a Century to Refine the Steam Engine in the OTL.

The point remains that they knew it could be used, and they knew it could make work loads easier, yet they didn't bother to develop it further because that's what slaves were for.The fact that it took a century to refine the steam engine to a working mobile model is irrelevant because: A. Most inventions (Gunpowder included) do take years or decades to be refined to working models, and B. They were already using steam engines for practical work (pumping water in mines) 19 years after the first model european steam engine was made in 1679. Further more the Romans were not all that unfamiliar with complicated machinery, just check out the Antikythera device (that thing is fucking amazing, seriously.)

Finally, you might of missed my edit above in which I provide a quote from Vespasian regarding the official imperial roman views about labor-saving devices (It's a pity I don't have my suetonius handy, I think he provides some detail about it, not sure though.)

[Jason von Evil]

*Snip*

I saw a thing on the History Channel a few months ago about the temple doors thing. I'll try to find a link.

Edit: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HeronAlexandria.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Alexandria

Second link lists his other inventions.

[Zor]

Finally, you might of missed my edit above in which I provide a quote from Vespasian regarding the official imperial roman views about labor-saving devices (It's a pity I don't have my suetonius handy, I think he provides some detail about it, not sure though.)

Three Things

1-Vespasian was a sucsessful General and Military Emperor, I value him for that. Not for being a Scientist or someone who encuraged Learning.

2-Wheelbarrows were introduced in this timeline when he was a Teenager and he did not realy care about them. Just another tool among a wide arsenal of Tools.

3-That was one Emperor, I admit the Romans did not incurage improvement (which is why i had the Romans have 900 years to go from S-Bar guns to Wheel-locks) but they were smart enough to use improvements When they came. The Inventer unloads a few Wheelbarrows on someone using vebouse sales picthes, they find out they do well and begin making there own (wood being something rome had no shortage of), the idea spreads and before you no it, the Yoke has been phased out.

Zor

[Straha]

Finally, you might of missed my edit above in which I provide a quote from Vespasian regarding the official imperial roman views about labor-saving devices (It's a pity I don't have my suetonius handy, I think he provides some detail about it, not sure though.)

Two Things

1-Vespasian was a sucsessful General and Military Emperor, I value him for that. Not for being a Scientist or someone who encuraged Learning.

2-Wheelbarrows were introduced in this timeline when he was a Teenager and he did not realy care about them. Just another tool among a wide arsenal of Tools.

You miss the point. Firstly no emperor would have let it happen, because that would have cut into the people's respect for him, especially under people as controversial as Tiberius and Sejanus, when you have it coming out.

Secondly, there was no real desire to make a wheel-barrow, because slaves could do it. No need to make their work easier, because they're slaves, if they ever tire out you can just buy new ones.

[Zor]

Viking Atlantis (970-1300)

Viking settlers first set foot on Vinland around 970-975, the exact date is uncertain but this is a technicality. The Vikings here are better warriors (muskets), better farmers (Wheeled plows, crop rotation) and there were more them than in the OTL. The Colony took, the natives were (originally) scared shitless by the muskets and additional settlers Arrived from Norvegia. Rome’s attack against Norvegia caused an Exodus to Vinland and Atlantis. They moved inland, in search of new places to establish settlements along the St Lawrence River, reaching to lake Ontario. Several small settlements were established south of the Gulf of St Lawrence/St Lawrence river, but only a few of them took and the bulk of the population was happy there. By 1050, there were between 20-50,000 Norvegians in Atlantis, most of them concentrated around the sight of OTL Quebec City and Montreal, PEI and the southern cost of the gulf of St Lawrence.

The Vikings, while they did fight with them, were also valuable trading partners with the natives. The Notion of Native Americans being peaceful people until the Europeans “Corrupted them” with violence and that they did not know of trade and bartering are myths. The natives (Huron and Iroquois being the two big ones) in the Region were farmers, town and Empire builders and traders. The Vikings exchanged metal goods (hammers, hatchets, pots and other such things) and weapons (swords, muskets and armor) for food, lumber, hides, mercenaries and slaves. The natives also took to using sails in their boats, as well as importing domesticating pigs, sheep and horses, Coinage, building simple stone walls around there towns and adopting some European tactics (the Shield wall being one of them). The Vikings also took to eating corn and using canoes were longboats were impractical. There was a die-off of natives during this time period as well due to European diseases, although it was slightly less severe. While Norse mythology did not replace the native’s beliefs completely, it did worm it’s way in over the next few hundred years.

Viking Empires emerged between 1070-1150, originally each settlement was a more or less self-sufficient town led by it’s own regent. However, certain Viking settlements did better than others due to climate, resources, leadership or relations with other settlements. Feuds among certain leaders broke out, which led to armed conflict and that forced Vassalhood onto the lesser settlements, making the victors even more powerful and allowing them to raise larger armies. If said town already had one or more vassals, they also became vassals of the conquerors. Some native tribes (like the Mohawk) also became vassals of the Vikings. Native Mercenaries were heavily used during these wars. As a reward for victorious soldiers, shares of plunder were replaced with Land grant at the end of a Term of service by most Viking Empires by around 1100. This lead to five feudal kingdoms across the Region by 1200, Vinland (Newfoundland Island), Rusland (PEI), Sveinland (Northern Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick), Olavland (Most of New Brunswick, southern Nova Scotia, a bit of Quebec and part of Maine) and Godeland (Most of the St Lawarence Seaway, Anticosti Island, parts of New York). Each nation had a large standing army and did war with each other frequently.

(Footnote)-This is on Population of Vikings in north America, few facts.

1-50,000 people (high end estimate, the Vikings never did a Census on themselves) in 50 years=1,000 a year, assuming apsolute population growth stagenaton of those who were already there. Plus i said that there was an exodus to get away from the romans
2-Woman got married at age 15-18 around this time, and having 3-6 kids is common.(footnote)

[Myrmidon]

China had gunpowder for centuries before making use of it as a weapon. They never had any flowering of civilization because of it.

There have been many machines and industrial advances discovered and then abandoned only to be rediscovered centuries later. A few years ago archeologists discovered that one of the early medieval abbeys in England operated a blast furnace to make souvenir crosses for pilgrims. They probably got the idea from Roman books.

The real plow of civilization is cheap pulp paper and the printing press. It enables people to spread the word about their discoveries and lets people brainstorm and get new ideas from what others have done.

Sure, the Romans had the tools, scientific acumen and technology to build a steam engine or start the industrial revolution anytime they wanted. What they didn't have was a book or newspaper that told Roman engineers about advances and failures in steam powered devices. There was no far flung community of engineers and thus interest in developing the steam engine. If you could time travel back, no one would listen to you if you tried to tell them about steam power. Why bother? Just whip the slave harder and he'll row faster.

The Savery engine of the early 1700's was less advanced than some of the ancient Roman toys, but its existence and the widespread publishing of its design allowed Newcomen to improve on it. Watt improved on his design, and so on. People all over the planet to took an interest and with that many brains scrutinizing it, the improvements were very fast. Books sold them the idea.

[speaker-to-trolls]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longship

biggest one, 35 meters.

Also, the Atlantis thing was a Typo, The Romans (latter on) call America Atlantis.

Well I'll be damned. I wonder how they managed to carry that one overland (favored Viking tactic, carrying a longship over the land to a river or lake then setting off again).

[Zor]

The well runs dry (800 to 1200)

In Roman society, Household, Industrial and some other Slaves had the capacity to legally free themselves by selling wares in there free time. This slowly ate away at the number of slaves available to the Roman Population as well as increase the number of Slave buyers, and the percentage of slaves in the roman population dropped from 42% to 12.5% between 500 to 1000, and it got as low to 9% by 1200. A slow flow of slaves from Eastern Africa and a slight surge of captives after the conquest of Norvegian this deterioration slowed, but these slaves had to be shipped to roman territory (expensive and as many as half the slaves in question would die in transit) and were untrained. Unskilled slaves used for oarsman for Galleys, Miners and other dead end Careers (Hibernia had a large number of Galley Slaves) and these were sold to slave traders as the cost of servants rose. Gladiatorial combat also ate up slaves, and rules were placed to limit deaths. Disease also brought along the deaths of many slaves due to their lower Hygiene standard. The Empire also made laws to keep slaves from being killed, but this just slowed the shrinkage of the number of slaves. They became Luxury items for the Upper class, Gladiators, Farmers and Government laborers. Because of the deficiency of slaves, more Citizens were actively working as wage laborers and tenant farmers and other such things.

[Zor]

A spread of knowledge (900 to 1200)

A lower number of slaves and a higher number of roles being filled by Citizens, labor saving devices were introduced. One of said devices block printing (imported from China around 933) allowed the Romans to produce more written material. Papyrus and Vegetable paper (another Chinese Import) suddenly became booming industries as the demand for their products increased. The amount of Printed material also rose, Print shops sprung up across the empire like dandelions and they were all unorganized. Each one printed copies of Mythology, religious texts (bibles, torahs and the lot) and new stories unique to each one of them. The amounts of Roman Literature expands to an incredible degree in 100 years. The Senate in 1107 decreed that every month the government would release “the Printed Harold”, a single page long news pamphlet about the progress of projects, Heros, Local events and those happening across the empire and that it would be available to people who pay a News Tax. It became an instant success, with twenty thousand subscribers in Rome alone. It was doubled in size in 1161. This also led to an increase in the number of Engineers as engineering documents and blueprints were produced. This was one of the Key factors in the Great Revival.

[Zor]

Asian Empires (700 to 1300)

Until 700, Asian history proceeded very much as it did in the OTL. With Rome’s ports in the Middle East, it could easily send merchant ships to Chinese coastal cities and vice versa, trading jade, wine and gunpowder (rules on trading gunpowder had become laxed during the great stagnation) for silk and tea. The Chinese eventually discovered how to make there own black powder around 720, and rocketry was developed by the Chinese around 820 and began making heavy use of muskets around 960. The Mongols attempts to conquer china fell short due to muskets, thus allowing

Japan (or Nihonia as the Romans called it) was opened to Roman Traders in 680, they had figured out gunpowder around 770 and imported two roman muskets. Within twenty years, muskets had become common across Japan and in 837, Japan was re-unified under the Imperial throne and the Shogun. In 853, Japan launched an Invasion of Korea with a massive army of Ashigaru and Samurai, successfully conquering it completely. Enslaving it’s population and settling the area with ethnic Japanese. Japan now filled with Colonial Desires moved north along the coast of Siberia, establishing small scale sealing outposts. Between 900 and 1200, Japanese soldiers and settlers marched into Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia. Rome did not take much notice to this, as it was quite complacent with it’s lot in Europe and the Japanese were of no real threat to them.

India also did trading with Rome, but was not a unified nation. In 1233, Sri-Lanka was invaded and conquered by the Japanese, colonization followed shortly afterwards.

[Zor]

Atlantean Empires (1100 to 1400)

Besides the feudal Viking Kingdoms, Atlantis (Or Ericland as the Vikings call it (The Americas) had several civilizations. Most of them remained Nomads, hunters and fishers with a few horses and some muskets, but some took a different historical path.

In 1244, King Harald-II of Godeland decided that it was time to expand. He levied and army 20,000 men strong (12% of the total Male population of Godeland), hired 12,000 native mercenaries and sent his horde to the south. He went over the natives and small Norse city-states, pushing the boarder 750-km south of OTL New York before returning back to his capital in 1251. Soldiers and Mercs, their families, personal servants/slaves and the peasants and slaves that were used to build roads and forts in the new territories settled the Area. Rusland began sending out exploration ships to chart the lands to the south using a ship similar to the OTL Cogs reached as far as the Florida keys before returning. Colonies began popping up across the East coast.

Iroquois/Huron civilization that was not conquered or absorbed by the Vikings Benefited immensely, they learned how to make bronze around 1310 (they already had the ability to manipulate copper) thus making them able to produce better armor, weapons and other bronze goods. Wars between the natives became more deadly as clashing armies had better weapons.

To the southern states were farming was practiced along river valleys natives received additional technology. Horses and Donkeys were brought in and used for pack animals, along with Sailing boats increasing their ability to traverse their waterways. They also learned how to make plows, allowing an increase in agricultural output and pack animals allowed them to transport it more effectively. They also gained sheep, hogs and goats. Their population after recovering from disease increased by fifty percent. How ever, horses also spread to the desert tribes (such as the Apache) who attacked much of the southern US region, devastating everything in their path much like the OTL Mongols. They were absorbed into the population after a few generations. Ranged Cavalry armed with bow and spear became the staple of warfare in the region after the point with infantry being primarily spearmen with Leather or wicker shields and wool armor in a shield wall formation with ranks of archers behind them.

The Aztecs suffered, horses never spread into the Aztec region due to mountains and forest, but the Diseases did spread and hit the Aztecs (along with everyone else in there area) like a Sledgehammer. Hundreds of thousands died and their empire collapsed as neighboring nations attacked the weakened Aztec Empire and devoured it. These nations did not change much beyond using shields more and sailing ships, and no hegemon arouse among them.

The Peruvian and other South American Civilizations did not change much besides diseases preventing the rise of the Inca. They came to use bows more often, but this is the only major tech change.

[Eris]

Out of curiosity, what's an alchemist doing in 12 CE? Well before the Arabs, let alone the medievals.

I mean, you can still give them gunpowder without that, but it's indicative of the sloppy thinking that runs throughout this.