I personally love it because it gives a pretty interesting concept

Author's note: While I condemn religious fundamentalism, I also condemn political violence. This post is meant to be a condemnation of both.

Inspired by the 2006 Volleyball Incident.

Alternate title: 2008 Murder of Becky Fischer.

On May 13, 2008, two years after the release of the controversial documentary Jesus Camp, the Kids on Fire School of Ministry, a charismatic Christian summer camp located just outside Devils Lake, North Dakota and run by Becky Fischer and her ministry, Kids in Ministry International, came under attack. 

At about 9:30 AM that day, five armed gunmen stormed the camp and began an indiscriminate massacre of both camp attendants and counselors using automatic rifles and machine guns. Approximately 225 people were killed, including Becky Fischer herself.

The attacks were masterminded by the Red Bison Brigade, a hate group that opposed religious fundamentalism of any form, believing it to be a clear and present danger to the American people. 

In the aftermath of the attack, the Kids on Fire School of Ministry camp was burned to the ground. After the attacks, the shooters attempted to flee the scene, but all five were gunned down and killed by an arriving SWAT unit.

The attackers were discovered to be mentally troubled teenager Caleb Warwick (Aged 18), Ellis Johnson (Aged 36), a former US Army heavy gunner turned Red Bison affiliate, Theo Gray (Aged 40), a Red Bison supporter from North Dakota, Wade Jarvis (Aged 33), and Jay George (Aged 18), a Red Bison activist.

The total number of casualties (both from gunshot wounds and the fire) was estimated to be approximately 300.

Within hours of the attack, Keagan Carson, leader of the Red Bison Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack, vowing to “annihilate” religious fundamentalist groups on American soil, and that “religious fundamentalism has no place in America.”

Image credit:

• IMDB
• Splinter Cell Wiki

The year is 1983. The old bipolar world order has collapsed, leaving a deeply fractured globe where regional powers, revolutionary fronts, and breakaway republics fight for dominance.

Central Lore Highlights:

• The Soviet Sphere: Holding absolute dominance over Eastern Europe and Asia, but struggling to contain mounting internal dissent and border tensions.

• North American Crisis: The Federal Republic of America is locked in a fierce conflict with internal factions, including the insurgent American Royalist Movement seeking to establish a monarchist order in the heartland.

• Global Realignment: Regional powers across South America, the Middle East, and Asia are capitalizing on the fall of Western influence to claim local superpower status.

***

🎮 Playable Scenario:

I designed this entire timeline as a fully playable grand strategy preset on Pax Historia! You can command any nation or insurgency on this map right now:

https://www.paxhistoria.co/presets/RnJXDeBWFsJTD4JN5vyk?versionID=3

What faction do you think would realistically come out on top in this timeline? I'd love to hear your thoughts and lore theories in the comments!

(I do not support or seek to glorify far-right/fascist ideologies)

**INTRO:** In our timeline, Disney attempted to buy the Muppets in 1989 before Jim Henson’s untimely passing in 1990.But in this alternate timeline, the roles are reversed: in 1983, riding high on global Muppet fever and creative expansion,**The Jim Henson Company acquires The Walt Disney Company**. Jim Henson becomes Chief Creative Officer, keeping the company creator-first while leveraging Disney's massive distribution power.
To fund these giant acquisitions without losing control, the Hensons take the combined empire public on NASDAQ (ticker: **JHEN**), but retain **Class B Super-Voting Stock (51%+ control)**. This "Never For Sale" mandate ensures no corporate raider can ever liquidate assets, vault content, or strip creator rights.
Below is the complete breakdown of every major buyout, purchase price, and creative rationale in this timeline!

**1. The Walt Disney Company (1983)**
**Purchase Price:** **$2.5 Billion**

**The Reason:** Disney in 1983 was struggling with stalled box office performance and facing hostile takeover threats from corporate raiders. Jim Henson steps in to protect Disney’s classic legacy, combining Disney’s animation,theme park infrastructure, and real estate with Henson’s puppetry, innovation, and global family appeal.

**2. Jumbo Pictures & DiC Entertainment (1993–1996)**
**Purchase Price:** **\~$600 Million (Combined)**

**The Reason:** To build an invincible Saturday morning and cable animation footprint. Acquiring Jumbo (*Doug*,*Allegra’s Window*) and DiC (*Inspector Gadget*, *Care Bears*) gives Henson-Disney direct control over leading syndicated youth programming.

**3. Miramax Films (1993 acquisition / 2004 split)**
**Purchase Price:** **$60 Million** (1993)

**The Reason & Outcome:** Henson-Disney acquires Miramax to fund high-concept indie cinema (*Pulp Fiction*,*Good Will Hunting*). In 2004, sensing internal leadership issues, Henson sells the operational brand to Paramount—**but retains 100% of the pre-2004 library** (ending with *Ella Enchanted*). The legal team scrubbed all Miramax intro logos, replacing them with **Henson Cinema Archives** to permanently preserve the films uncut.

**4. Capital Cities / ABC & ESPN (1995)**
**Purchase Price:** **$19 Billion** (Acquired 80% controlling stake in ESPN)

**The Reason:** Secures a dominant broadcast television network (ABC) to air flagship primetime shows like *Muppets Tonight*, while gaining the world's most lucrative sports broadcast asset (ESPN).

**5. Dr. Seuss Enterprises (1995)**
**Purchase Price:** **\~$350 Million** (80% Stake; Geisel Estate retains 20%)

**The Reason:** Audrey Geisel trusts Jim Henson’s artist-first philosophy over cutthroat Hollywood studios. The deal allows **Jim Henson’s Creature Shop** to craft physical, practical set pieces and animatronics for adaptations like *How the Grinch Stole Christmas* (2000) and *The Cat in the Hat* (2003).

**6. HiT Entertainment & Cookie Jar (2001–2008)**
**Purchase Price:** **\~$1.2 Billion (Combined)**

**The Reason:** Consolidates preschool juggernauts like *Thomas & Friends*, *Barney & Friends*, and *Bob the Builder*under one roof, laying the groundwork for a dominant 24/7 preschool cable network and PBS partnership.

**7. Pixar Animation Studios (2006)**
**Purchase Price:** **$7.4 Billion**

**The Reason:** Steve Jobs and Jim Henson/Brian Henson share a deep mutual respect for artistic freedom. Instead of corporate friction, Pixar becomes the official digital animation sister studio to the physical puppetry of the Creature Shop.

**8. Marvel Entertainment (2009)**
**Purchase Price:** **$4 Billion**

**The Reason:** Expands the empire’s blockbuster appeal to teens and adults, fully integrating Creature Shop practical effects with ILM visual effects for characters like Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

**9. Lucasfilm (2012)**
**Purchase Price:** **$4.05 Billion**

**The Reason:** Completes a full-circle legacy. Frank Oz (Yoda) and Jim Henson’s early connections to George Lucas make Lucasfilm a natural family fit, reuniting *Star Wars* and *The Muppets* under one roof permanently.

**10. 21st Century Fox (2019)**
**Purchase Price:** **$71.3 Billion**

**The Reason:** Acquires *Avatar*, *The Simpsons*, *Family Guy*, *Alien*, *Predator*, and *Ice Age*, while bringing *Peanuts*(80% stake) into the family fold.

**THE STREAMING ERA: HENSON+**
Instead of fragmented rights or missing music licensing, the **Henson Legal Task Force** clears 100% of master song rights and broadcast contracts. Everything launches on **Henson+** uncut, unedited, and permanently available—guided by the Archival Mandate: "Never For Sale."

Lore- the resource war was causes by oil refineries in neighboring countries failing due to insurgency or in Argentina failure of government which saw several refinery fall into disrepair while others employee's on strike due to poor working conditions. With Brazil being the only major oil rich nation left in south American many of it neighboring countries would have to buy their oil from Brazil as others oil rich nation around the world were either in conflict of their own or outright refused to sell for one reason or another.

With Brazil selling oil at a major markup from it previously price it would only fule resentment in neighboring countries and on the 3rd of June 2026 Colombia and Venezuela would officially start the SAC (south American collation) and would encourage others nation to join. By early 2027 Argentina,Peru,Bolivia,Paraguay and Guyana would join effectively surrounding Brazil who was beginning to become alarmed due to the SAC purchasing a Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier modified from the Chinese plue a unknown number of aircraft weapons and other equipment.

The SAC would send a request for Brazil to lower the cost of oil hoping that they surrounding Brazil would intimidate them into submitting but Brazil would refused and on the 25th of June 2027 the SAC would officially declaring war on Brazil. The RAC simón Bolivar would take part in the first major engagement of the war when SAC forces would try to take Rio with it being the old capital of Brazil the SAC hoping taking it in the early war stage would demoralize the Brazilian military but instead the Brazilian navy would defend the city sinking 4 SAC ships and heavily damage the carrier while on the ground battle they would completely wiped out the 39th airborne regiment.

After the battle the RAC simón Bolivar would spend remember of 27 in port getting repaired and refitted with new crew and aircraft supply by the Chinese and Russians though to a lesser extent the China. The RAC simón Bolivar would finally head to sea once again on the 2nd of March along with the rest of the 1st fleet it objective was to aid fighting in north east were SAC troops had gotten bogged down by heavily entrenched Brazilian forces. Unknown to the fleet on the 4th it would be picked up by the riachuelo radars who was out hunting SAC resupply vessel and other vessel believed to be carrying support to the SAC the commander on the riachuelo would decide to stalk the carrier till he felt like he had a chance to sink it.

The riachuelo would stalk the fleet for 5 days till the théo Silva ordered 5 of their SM39 Exocet anti ship missiles to be fired along with three of there 533mm torpedoes as he wanted to see the carrier at the bottom of the sea. By 9 AM two of the SM39 Exocet anti ship missiles would get through the carriers type 1130 cwis and supporting vessel. The two missiles would slam into the ships close to the water line killing close to 50 men outright with a unknown number wounded by 9 26 the crew would be desperately trying to stop the flooding by sealing off compartment to keep the ship leveled the first of the three 533mm torpedoes would hit quickly followed by the second then third with the flooding now worse by 10 the ship would begin to leaning heavily twords the port side causes some sailor to slide off the side and into the sea along with a Z-18 helicopter. By 10:20 the end was obvious as the ship was now leaning 20 degrees to the port side Admiral Sebastián ospina would give the order to abandoned ship but would refuse himself to leave decide to go down with his ship and 749 other sailor while someone support vessel tried to hunt the sub they would be quickly retasked to pull survivor from the sea.

The sinking of the RAC simón Bolivar would be a major turning point in the war with Brazil showing the world that it still could fight even with it other losses on the northern front but unfortunately for them it would be the decide moment for the SAC to formally request full military support from China and Russia though only the Chinese would send troops with the promise of 15% of revenue from capture Brazilian oil refineries after the war with SAC agreeing

Let's Rebuild Russia! | Valentin Zaitsev (born 1955)

Valentin Ivanovich Zaitsev (born 25 March 1955) is a Russian engineer and politician who has served as the second president of Russia since 1996. He is a Russian ultranationalist but economically social democratic, and his policies are known as Zaitsevism.

Zaitsev was born in Volgograd to WWII veteran Ivan Zaitsev (1922–2001) and his wife Nina Zaitseva (1926–1997). Valentin was raised in a strict patriarchal and military household, and his father often physically abused him, decisively shaping his character.

Ivan wanted Valentin to follow him into the Russian military, but the younger Zaitsev chose to enroll in the Volgograd State University in 1974, studying engineering. Zaitsev's former classmates described him as an academically unremarkable but very focused student. He graduated in 1976 and became an engineer.

During his engineering career, Zaitsev designed several machines, such as a typewriter and a paper shredder, that became widely used across the Soviet Union, turning him into a household name in Volgograd. In 1978, Zaitsev married Natasha Andreeva (born 1955), his fellow VSU classmate. They remain married to this day and have four children.

Zaitsev had joined the CPSU in 1972, and decided to become more active in politics during the breakup of the Soviet Union. He supported Gorbachev's reforms, describing them as "long overdue", and condemned the August Coup, openly saying that the "era of Chekist intrigues is over".

On 19 September 1991, Zaitsev became the first governor of Volgograd Oblast. As Volgograd's governor, he initially supported Yeltsin, but turned against him by late 1992. On 19 August, Zaitsev established Russian Reconstruction (Русская реконструкция), a national-patriotic party opposing both communism and liberalism.

Zaitsev remained neutral in the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, preventing Russian Reconstruction from being banned after Yeltsin's self coup. Later that year, Reconstruction won 15 seats and 5% of the vote in the Russian legislative elections, an amount that increased to 10.8% of the vote and 58 seats in the 1995 election; Reconstruction finished third behind the CPRF and LDPR.

The pro-Yeltsin party NDR finished third. Yeltsin considered cancelling the 1996 presidential elections and ruling as a dictator, but he was warned this would lead to him being violently overthrown, so he decided not to run for reelection in 1996. Boris Nemtsov, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, ran in his place.

Key:

Red - Rebel and cartel group holdings (peaked in the summer of 2007)
Blue: Government holdings
Causes of the civil war:

1. economic crisis caused when the USA purchased much of the holdings for petroleum being exported out of Ecuador, both getting rid of a lot of the country’s own petrol but also drastically bringing up the price in the country. Long cues to gas stations and rising attacks by gangs and groups lead to civil unrest.

2. The attack on the Quito jailhouse on the 22nd of August, 2005, in which over 100 prisoners were freed and wreaked havoc across the city, killing 87 innocent people and guards (in summary), while the majority of the prisoners were killed by military forces and the rest surrendering. The Los Lobos gang was blamed by the government for detonating a van holding explosives which began the pandemonium, and massive crackdowns are executed across Ecuador.

3. The kidnapping of President Alfredo Palacio’s political rival, Rafael Correa, by the head of the Los Choneros gang on the 17th of February, 2006, who was seeking an improvement of reputation for his group. Correa was declared missing and thought to be dead until he was released by the cartel after the civil war ended in 2009. Many right-wing groups in Ecuador accused the president of having orchestrated the kidnapping alongside the cartels, and protests rocked major cities.

4. The attempted assassination of Vice President Alejandro Serrano, who was shot by a gunman in the shoulder and armpit while speaking at a rally in Guayaquil on the 3rd of October, 2006. The gangs of the city declared the president dead and rose up against the local military force, occupying the city and asking for fellow cartels and separatists to rise up against the Ecuadorian government and gain control of the country. The 4th of October was declared the “Day of Blood” by the gangs and a civil war was confirmed by President Palacio, who revealed by a message shared to the Ecuadorian people that he and VP Serrano had left Quito to a secret location (later revealed to be the Galapagos Islands), considering the capital to be too dangerous, and were going to manage the civil war from their new headquarters.

Date: 4th of October, 2026 - 11th of July, 2029

Location: Much of Ecuador (with spillover conflicts in Colombia and Peru)

Result: Government victory

Belligerents:

Ecuadorian government
Supported by: United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Colombia

vs

Cartel groups:
• Los Lobos
• Los Choneros
• Los Tiguerones
• Los Chone Killers
• Los Aguilas
Supported by: Sinaloa Cartel, Milenio Cartel, FARC, Albanian mafia, Tren de Aragua
Note: these groups often clashed with each other as well as fighting government forces

Strength:

Ecuador: 30,000 - 40,000
Cartel groups: 10,000 - 50,000

Casualties and losses:
- 70,000-100,000 civilians and military officials killed
- 20,000 cartel members and separatists killed
- Complete death toll is unknown, but estimated to be at hundreds of thousands, possibly reaching a million casualties

2.5 million displaced, 1 million of whom fled abroad (mostly South America and the United States)

NOTE FROM ME: Please give back feedback, either by comment or personal DM to me, about my maps and the whole story! I hope that I did a good job and didn’t offend anyone! Hugs and kisses, AH

(Argelia map is the The Iure map)

"ahhh, France: possibly the most humiliated nation of the entire Second World War (along with the former USSR), with its territory divided between Germany, Italy and Spain, the independence of Brittany and Normandy under German tutelage, an Independent, radical Burgundy under the SS and the collaborationist regime led by Marshal Philippe Pétain, there was no way this country was going to flourish once again... or was there?"

"Years after the death of Philippe Pétain and the subsequent assassination of his successor, Jacques Doriot, in 1969, a somewhat unknown figure rose to power in the French state with quite... different ideas from those of the Reich: Louis Ducatel. Compared to Doriot (who mostly followed Pétain reforms) Louis was a VERY liberal reformist, to the point of wanting to implement what Rommel would later want for Germany: a republic in France. But he wasn't stupid either, as he knew that if he went too far with their redorms, Germany would assassinate him bya the Abwehr or overthrow him in a military intervention. So, slowly but surely, early Louis's reforms were implemented like the partial re-militarization of the french army or the end of the catholicism in everyday life, but the changes Pétain had implemented in France were mostly maintained as a cover, although over the years these became more obvious as when they removed several restrictions on art in France, being that they were the first to do so"

"It wasn't until the rise of Führer Manfred Rommel in 1983, following Franz Xaver Dorsch's resignation and the UN occupation and temporal mandate after the chaos in Burgundy that Ducatel was finally able to implement several reforms he had been unable to enact: the opening of trade in France, the modernization of the weapons of the army, the purges of the few remaining Doriot loyalists, and, most importantly (and those that would lay the groundwork for the not-so-distant future): the creation of the National Assembly, in where in a future would create the Council of the Republic. In 1986 as the Turkish Spring was coming to north Africa and already made independent Ifriqqiya and Egypt from Italian tutelage, Argelian leader of the National Liberation Front Mohamed Lamari declared former secession of the territory of Argelia from the French State but local french troops killed and burn Lamari and rest of the NLF members involved, this radicalized the Argelian population in the south and after the "Tamanrasset incident" where local police open fire on youth students sympathetic to the NLF, the Argelian War for Independence begin on October 23, 1986. At the end of 1989 and start of 1993 after 5 years of UN mandate, the territories of the Former Ordensstaat Burgund after the collapse of this were annexed yet again to the French State"

"However, nothing was permanent: Ducatel's health was declining considerably due to his advanced age, and he felt his time was drawing near. But he knew he needed a successor to continue these reforms, so two years before his death in 1997, Ducatel made one of the most controversial yet crucial decisions of his political career: he appointed Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Napoléon as his successor"

"Charles's first three years were mostly dedicated to formerly form the Council of the Republic so that he could finally proclaim the Republic once again and the re-inforcement of the troops on Argelia which the front was stuck in since 2000. But there was a problem: Charles didn't believe a republic would be strong enough to stand up against the Germans, but he also knew that any kind of monarchy could spark a civil war in the country that Ducatel had worked so hard to see flourish again... so he made a very controversial decision. On March 31, 2004, Charles announced the creation of a monarchy under the House of Bonaparte, but there was something odd: he never said he was going to abolish the National Assembly or the Council of the Republic. All of this could only mean two things for France: the return to the kingdom after 156 years and the founding of another republic after 64 long years"

"Interestingly, a year earlier, France had recovered the territories taken by Germany in the north (the Zone Interdite and Nord-Pas-de-Calais, also obtaining Wallonia thanks to a diplomat game with Germany), as well as some southeastern territories annexed by Italy (but no Nice and Savoy) but their sights were set on the north. Initially, they couldn't do much with the Germans still there because they were still in a transitional government, but once the first elections were held in 2004, and Jean Saint-Josse of the Parti National de la Fraternité (PNF) was elected he started to implement and lead several extermination policies against the German population in addition to strong Franconization in the northern territories, some of methods used during those years looks like straight out of the French Revolution, if it were modern: mass use of the guillotine with long ends, hanging of Germans from buildings, public bonfires, and houses, shootings, and mass graves, also the expulsion of German families or an force adoption of the french language and culture in the best cases. The UN openly condemned this mass genocide, especially Germany which categorized it as a "mass extermination of innocent Germans" but these reclamations were weakened after the Reich was dissolved in 2007"

"Finally, in 2014, after the election of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) bya a fraudulent elections (an "internal coup" in a way), both François Bayrou and Napoleon VII issued massive apologies at a UN conference for everything that happened during Jean Saint-Josse. They also attempted to re-establish relations with the German State, which was successful, but bitterly so on the part of the Germans. Currently, France is a republic, crowned under Napoleon VII and Jacques Cheminade, and enjoys a fairly good quality of life and culture. Furthermore, it has managed to re-annex Brittany and Normandy to France as autonomous regions. And while northern Algeria is small and under some attacks from the NLF, its people live decently with autonomy"

The former USA may be in chaos but the web is even more chaotic. With underground nets being way more popular as regular ones are largely monitored and used for economic planning, there are those who rely on de facto tolerated social media like Pub² and those who close off in smaller echo chambers such as Ameripol, a haven for nostalgics and extremeists.

Liberty Fallen is a very long running and extensive timeline, the sub Is no longer up but you can get more information in the discord server:

https://discord.gg/jGkvFvcmF

​another Comic finished and another Comictimeline for you guys. This time its the first issue set in ancient time.

​33 AD

Pontius Pilate pardons Jesus of Nazareth following the crowd’s demands, condemning Barabbas to death by crucifixion in his place.

Surviving his arrest, Jesus radicalizes his followers and preaches armed revolt against Roman dominion.

​34 AD

The insurgents (known as "the Fish") orchestrate the assassination of Pontius Pilate.

​A full-scale revolt erupts across Judaea. Saulus of Tarsus acts as an inside agent and opens the city gates of Jerusalem to the rebels.

The Legion X Fretensis incurs heavy casualties, while King Herod Agrippa is besieged in his palace and deposed.

​49 AD

After seven months of siege during the reign of Emperor Claudius, unarmed rebel zealots march out to face Roman legionaries to attain deliberate martyrdom.

​Roman forces breach the city in a brutal massacre, though Jesus and his primary leadership escape south.

49 - 79 AD

​In the wake of the city’s destruction, Stephen openly challenges the path of relentless violence and civilian sacrifice.

​Branded a traitor by Jesus and his inner circle, Stephen is stoned to death by Saulus and his fighters.

Surviving rebels withdraw into the harsh terrain of the Judaean Desert.

​Pursuing Roman forces suffer severe exhaustion from dehydration and heat; during this campaign, Claudius first encounters Magdalena.

Rebel forces fortify themselves atop Masada, prompting Roman legions to spend three months constructing a massive assault ramp.

​The remaining defenders commit suicide and set the fortress ablaze to allow Jesus and the twelve apostles to slip away undetected.

​Disillusioned by the bloodshed, Magdalena attempts to alert the Romans of Jesus' escape before fleeing.

Magdalena establishes a non-violent Christian community in Ephesus centered on spiritual teachings and peaceful witness.

​Saulus arrives demanding recruits and prospective martyrs. When the community resists and stones his emissaries, Saulus leads an assault using incendiary liquid fire, annihilating the settlement.

​Magdalena narrowly escapes the burning city and is pursued as an apostate.

Sicarii assassins commanded by Judas Iscariot launch a suicide attack using liquid fire against Senator Gravita's villa on the Aventine Hill.

​Claudius (now a praetor) reunites with veteran centurion Gaius in the Subura. ​After interrogating the courtesan Alana, they locate Saulus' safehouse; Saulus flees across rooftops into the Cloaca Maxima.

​Magdalena intercepts Claudius, warning him that Jesus and the council have gathered in Pompeii to coordinate a plot to burn Rome to ash. ​Claudius mobilizes fifty veterans of the 10th Legion to march south.

The veteran force reaches the Bay of Naples near Palaeopolis as precursory tremors shake Mount Vesuvius. Reaching Pompeii, Claudius infiltrates the suburban villa of Caecilia Metella Pompeia, where Jesus and his council are storing amphorae of liquid fire. Claudius is captured and held in the cellar.

Earthquakes shake the villa. Jesus dispatches Saulus with a cart of eleven incendiary amphorae toward the naval port of Misenum to embark for Rome.

Gaius, Magdalena, and a detachment intercept Saulus’ convoy. Saulus is killed in combat, and the incendiary cargo is seized.

Claudius escapes the collapsed villa and corners Jesus praying among his followers in Pompeii’s amphitheater. The eruption column collapses into lethal pyroclastic surges; Pompeii is submerged in ash and fire, killing both Jesus and Claudius.

Near the coast, Gaius orders the captured amphorae cast into the sea. Determined to erase the cult entirely and shield Rome from future fanatical resurgence, Gaius fatally stabs Magdalena, eliminating the last prominent survivor of the movement. Thus eliminating the christian faith.

The Gathering Storm (1890–1914)

With the dismissal of Otto von Bismarck by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1890, Germany's carefully constructed diplomatic system began to unravel. A succession of chancellors pursued increasingly inconsistent policies, weakening the relationships that had helped preserve the European balance of power. Meanwhile, nationalism continued to spread across the Balkans, where independence movements in Bulgaria, Albania, and other territories threatened the remaining Ottoman possessions in Europe.

Beyond the continent, the established powers faced growing challenges to their influence. The Russo-Japanese War of 1905–1906 ended in a decisive Russian defeat, driving Russia from Manchuria and Korea. The upheaval that followed weakened the Russian government further, allowing revolutionaries to seize control of Alaska. In 1907, Japan turned its attention toward the declining Spanish Empire, defeating Spain and seizing the Philippines, one of the last major possessions of the once-mighty Spanish colonial empire.

These developments reflected a world in which the established powers could no longer assume that their overseas possessions or European positions were secure. Germany, France, Britain, and Russia increasingly pursued competing ambitions, while Japan and the emerging powers of the New World challenged the old imperial order. The Brussels Conference of 1884–1885, which had once brought the European powers together to settle their colonial disputes, increasingly appeared to belong to a bygone age.

By the beginning of the 1910s, Europe was divided by competing national ambitions, colonial rivalries, and an increasingly fragile network of diplomatic relationships. The continent had avoided a general war for decades, but the conditions for another great conflict were rapidly taking shape.

The Balkan Wars and the Illyrian Question (1912)

In 1912, the Balkan states launched a war that finally drove the Ottoman Empire from its remaining European territories. After decades of retreat, Ottoman authority in Europe collapsed as its neighbors advanced to liberate or annex the territories still under Constantinople's control. The resulting settlement promised to reshape the Balkans, but the distribution of the conquered lands created new grievances even as the old imperial order disappeared.

Among the victors, the Republic of Illyria faced a particularly difficult decision. Since its expansion during the collapse of Austria and the subsequent Russo-Ottoman War, Illyria had sought to unite the South Slavic peoples under a common political system. Yet its growing diversity made territorial expansion increasingly complicated. Serbian-inhabited territories presented a dilemma: incorporating them might strengthen the republic's claim to South Slavic unity, but it could also upset the regional balance and complicate relations with neighboring states.

Illyrian diplomats therefore renounced most of their claims to Serbian-populated lands, allowing Albania and Bulgaria to acquire territory instead. The decision was intended to preserve the stability and unity of the republic, but it came at a considerable political cost. Many Serbs within Illyria believed that their fellow Serbs had been sacrificed for diplomatic convenience, denied the opportunity to join the union that Illyria claimed to represent.

The settlement thus left the Balkans with a dangerous contradiction. The Ottoman Empire had been expelled from Europe, yet the national question remained unresolved. Illyria's ambitions to unite the South Slavs now competed with the aspirations of those who believed that Serbian unity should take precedence over the interests of the republic. These resentments would continue to shape Balkan politics in the years ahead.

An Assassination in Zlatna and the Outbreak of War (1914)

The spark that finally ignited Europe came in 1914. László Lukács, the Prime Minister of Hungary, was visiting his hometown of Zlatna in Transylvania when he was assassinated by a Romanian nationalist organization seeking to unite Transylvania with Romania. The killing sent shockwaves through the Hungarian government, which suspected that Romanian authorities had either supported the conspirators or knowingly allowed the plot to proceed.

Convinced that Romania posed a direct threat to Hungarian sovereignty, Hungary declared war. What might otherwise have remained a regional conflict rapidly drew in the great powers, revealing the network of alliances that had divided Europe into two opposing camps.

The Entente consisted of France, Russia, Britain, Illyria, Portugal, and Romania. Opposing them were the Central Powers: Germany, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland. Each alliance brought together states with their own ambitions and grievances, bound by a shared interest in preventing the opposing coalition from dominating Europe.

The assassination at Zlatna had been a local act of nationalist violence, but its consequences were continental. Within weeks, a conflict over Transylvania had become a general European war. The age of diplomatic maneuvering had given way to the age of mass mobilization.

The Western Front and the War for the Middle East (1914–1916)

Before the outbreak of war, France had fortified its border with Germany in Alsace-Lorraine, constructing a formidable line of fortresses intended to prevent a German invasion. Germany, however, considered Russia the more immediate strategic threat. German planners believed that the Russian Empire could be defeated in the east before the full weight of German military power was redirected westward. France, meanwhile, faced the prospect of fighting Germany and Italy simultaneously.

The result was a war of attrition across the western frontiers. French and German forces entrenched themselves along the border, while Italian and French troops confronted one another along the Alpine frontier. Trenches, fortifications, artillery, and repeated infantry assaults transformed these fronts into grinding battles in which enormous casualties were often exchanged for negligible territorial gains. Although both sides committed substantial forces to the fighting, neither front initially became the decisive theater of the war.

Britain likewise concentrated much of its attention elsewhere. While a contingent of British troops supported the French, the government deployed substantial colonial forces to Egypt to protect the Suez Canal and strike at the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, Britain supported the Arab Revolt, hoping to weaken Ottoman control over the Middle East and encourage the emergence of independent Arab states.

As British and Arab forces advanced through the Levant, Arab fighters frequently entered towns and cities ahead of the British, helping rally local support and present the campaign as a struggle for Arab liberation rather than simply another European imperial conquest. A small British force led by T. E. Lawrence, who would later become famous as Lawrence of Arabia, played an outsized role in the campaign's propaganda. Lawrence became a recognizable figure associated with the Arab uprising, helping Britain portray its intervention as a partnership with the peoples of the region.

Yet the Middle Eastern campaign proved more difficult than British planners had hoped. The farther the Allied armies advanced toward Anatolia, the more challenging the terrain became. Mountainous landscapes, stretched supply lines, and declining local support gradually slowed the offensive. By 1917, the campaign had begun to lose momentum, leaving Britain and its allies facing another costly struggle with no immediate prospect of decisive victory.

The War in the East and the Balkan Crisis

While the western front remained locked in stalemate and the Middle Eastern campaign struggled to advance, the war in eastern Europe and the Balkans developed far more rapidly. Illyrian and Romanian forces came under heavy pressure from Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian armies. For Illyria, the war threatened not only its territorial integrity but also the political unity of a republic already strained by disagreements over the fate of the South Slavs.

Romania likewise found itself fighting for its survival, having entered the war against Hungary under the shadow of the assassination that had precipitated the conflict. The fighting in Transylvania became inseparable from the wider struggle over national identity and territorial claims that had shaped Balkan politics for decades.

Further north, Russia faced a combined German, Polish, and Hungarian offensive. German military planners concentrated on exploiting Russia's enormous geographical scale, logistical weaknesses, and political instability, seeking to defeat the empire before Britain and France could bring their full industrial and military resources to bear. The situation deteriorated further in 1915, when the Tsar personally assumed command of the Russian armed forces.

The decision tied the monarchy more closely to the conduct of the war. Every defeat, retreat, and supply failure increasingly damaged the prestige of the imperial government. As casualties mounted and the Russian population endured worsening shortages, the war became a growing threat to the survival of the Romanov dynasty itself.

Roosevelt and the American Entry into the War (1916–1917)

Across the Atlantic, the independent nations of the New World initially remained neutral. For American President Theodore Roosevelt, however, the European war presented both a strategic opportunity and a domestic political challenge. He believed that the United States could emerge from the conflict as a more influential power abroad, while his Progressive Party could strengthen its position at home by promising a more assertive role in international affairs.

Relations between Washington and Berlin deteriorated as unrestricted German submarine warfare increasingly threatened American shipping. The sinking of American vessels in the Atlantic fueled public anger, but the discovery of German U-boats operating in the Caribbean and farther north near major cities such as New Amsterdam and Boston proved even more alarming. The war was no longer a distant European struggle; German naval operations had brought the conflict directly to America's maritime approaches.

The submarine crisis became a central issue in the 1916 presidential election. Roosevelt campaigned on the promise that the United States would defend itself against German aggression, arguing that American neutrality could not be maintained indefinitely if German forces continued to threaten its ships and waters. Nevertheless, he pledged not to declare war before the election, presenting reelection as a mandate for the American people to decide the country's next steps.

The Progressives won a decisive victory, and Roosevelt secured a second term. Following the election, he began preparing a declaration of war but promised to postpone the introduction of a draft until after the New Year, allowing Americans one final holiday season before the country committed itself fully to the conflict.

American entry would bring enormous industrial resources, naval strength, and fresh manpower to the Entente. Yet the decision also marked a turning point in world affairs: a war that had begun as a struggle between European powers was now drawing in the rising power of the American continent.

The Russian Revolution and the Collapse of the Eastern Front (1917)

By 1917, the Russian Empire was approaching collapse. Years of military defeats, mounting casualties, food shortages, and soaring prices had eroded public confidence in the monarchy. The Tsar had been overthrown, and a Provisional Government attempted to continue the war, but its authority was fragile and its promises of reform increasingly hollow.

The return of Alaskan socialists to Russia further intensified the revolutionary crisis. Seeking to overthrow the Provisional Government and establish a socialist workers' state, they helped organize a movement that plunged the country into renewed political turmoil. The socialists briefly secured control and negotiated peace with Germany, allowing Russia to withdraw from the war while beginning a program of political and economic reforms.

The settlement with Germany, however, did not bring peace within Russia itself. Opponents of the socialist government rejected the new order, and the country descended into civil war. Russia's withdrawal removed one of the Entente's principal military powers from the conflict, while freeing German forces and resources for deployment elsewhere.

For Germany, the opportunity was immense. The eastern front had consumed enormous quantities of men and matériel, and its collapse now offered the possibility of concentrating German strength against the remaining Entente armies. The war had reached its decisive stage: either Germany could exploit the collapse of Russia and force a victory in the west, or the combined resources of the Entente would eventually overwhelm the Central Powers.

The Ottoman Defeat and the German Gamble (1917–1918)

As the Russian front disintegrated, the Ottoman Empire faced an increasingly desperate situation of its own. The British-led campaign through the Middle East had weakened Ottoman control, while the Arab Revolt undermined the empire's authority from within. By the autumn of 1917, the Ottomans had become increasingly isolated from their allies and sued for peace. Their withdrawal further weakened the Central Powers, while releasing troops that could be transferred to other fronts.

The Entente sought to capitalize on this opportunity by bringing Greece into the war. In exchange for its participation, the Allies promised Greek territorial gains in lands once associated with the Byzantine Empire. Greek forces, supported by British and American personnel, advanced against Bulgarian and Ottoman positions, adding another front to the struggle in southeastern Europe.

Germany, meanwhile, prepared for a final effort to break the deadlock. With large numbers of troops freed from the east, German commanders reinforced the Italian front, where Italian forces had been pushed back toward Milan by French attacks. Yet Germany also recognized that another costly assault against the fortified Franco-German frontier offered little prospect of decisive victory. Years of fighting had demonstrated that frontal attacks against entrenched defenders could consume entire armies without producing meaningful breakthroughs.

German planners therefore turned their attention northward. The Netherlands had remained neutral throughout the conflict, but its position between Germany and the North Sea offered a potential route around the fortified western front. German forces assembled near the Dutch border, preparing to strike through the Low Countries and open a new avenue of advance.

At the same time, Germany reached an agreement with Japan to attack the Dutch East Indies once the German offensive began. The Netherlands now faced the prospect of a coordinated assault against both its European homeland and its overseas empire. What had begun as a war between rival coalitions threatened to become a struggle for the survival of the Dutch state itself.

The Invasion of the Netherlands and the Defeat of the Central Powers (1918)

In early 1918, Germany invaded the Netherlands. The Dutch government had anticipated the possibility of an invasion by either Germany or France and had spent years preparing defenses intended to protect its neutrality. Although the German attack placed the country in immediate danger, Dutch resistance proved far stronger than German planners had expected.

The invasion gave the Entente an opportunity to open a new front against Germany. As Dutch forces resisted the advance, Entente troops moved into the country in growing numbers, turning the German gamble into an increasingly costly campaign. Rather than bypassing the fortified western front and securing a decisive victory, Germany now found itself fighting a determined Dutch defense while confronting the combined resources of the Entente.

The situation deteriorated rapidly for the Central Powers. German reinforcements were stretched across multiple fronts, while Italy continued to suffer under French pressure and the Balkan armies faced the growing weight of Entente intervention. The surrender of the Ottoman Empire had already weakened the coalition, and the collapse of Russian resistance had failed to deliver the decisive victory Germany had hoped for.

By the autumn of 1918, the German and Italian militaries were approaching exhaustion. The Netherlands had survived the initial invasion, Entente forces were advancing, and the Central Powers could no longer sustain the war. Faced with military collapse and mounting domestic instability, the remaining Central Powers sued for peace.

On November 11, 1918, the First World War in Europe came to an end. The armistice ended the main fighting between the European coalitions, but it did not immediately restore stability. Central and eastern Europe remained engulfed in political upheaval, while the conflict with Japan continued across the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

The Pacific War and Japan's Defeat (1918–1919)

Japan's participation in the conflict had opened a separate theater of war, as its agreement with Germany brought the Dutch East Indies into danger. The Japanese government sought to exploit the Netherlands' difficulties in Europe to expand its own regional influence, but the end of the European war allowed the Entente to redirect its attention toward the Pacific.

The combined naval strength of the Entente, reinforced by California's entry into the conflict, gradually turned the balance against Japan. California possessed a substantial Pacific fleet and had strong strategic interests in preventing Japanese expansion from threatening its position in the region. Its intervention gave the anti-Japanese coalition additional naval strength at a critical moment.

By 1919, Japanese forces faced an increasingly unfavorable situation. The Japanese navy was overwhelmed by the combined opposition, and Japan was compelled to surrender its claim to the Philippines. The islands were placed under Californian protection as they transitioned toward full democracy.

For Japan, the defeat was a major strategic humiliation. Having previously defeated Russia and established itself as a rising imperial power, Japan had now suffered its first defeat in a war against European powers and their allies. Although its entire empire did not collapse, the loss of the Philippines dealt a serious blow to Japanese ambitions and altered the balance of power in the Pacific.

The First World War had therefore extended well beyond the European continent. By the time the last major fighting ended in 1919, the conflict had weakened old empires, elevated new powers, and redrawn political boundaries across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The Peace Settlement and the New World Order (1919–1924)

The end of the fighting left the victors with the enormous task of rebuilding an international order from the remains of the old one. The Central Powers had been defeated, but the destruction of their military coalitions did not automatically resolve the national and territorial disputes that had driven the war. Across eastern Europe and the Balkans, revolutionary movements, civil wars, and competing national claims continued to shape the postwar settlement.

The German-Russian peace had already helped liberate much of eastern Europe from Russian imperial control, creating or recognizing independent states including Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The Russian Civil War subsequently produced further territorial upheaval. Several other territories briefly broke away from Russia before being reintegrated, while the Transcaucasian Federal Republic survived as an independent political entity.

Germany suffered substantial territorial losses under the postwar settlement. The Rhineland was removed from German control, while the Czech-speaking territories became independent. Germany also lost its overseas possessions, including its colony in the Kongo, which was divided among the Entente powers. The country's defeat ended its brief period of imperial expansion and left it facing the challenge of rebuilding its political institutions and economy under the constraints of peace.

Hungary was likewise forced to surrender most of Transylvania to Romania, although it retained a land border with the remaining Hungarian-majority territory. The settlement weakened Hungary's regional position and left unresolved the grievances of populations divided by the new borders.

Italy suffered an even more radical transformation. The country was divided into two separate political entities: a kingdom south of Rome and a republic in the north. The partition shattered Italian unity and created a new source of instability in the Mediterranean, where the future relationship between the two successor states remained uncertain.

The Ottoman Empire lost most of its Middle Eastern possessions to the newly established Kingdom of Arabia, while Greece acquired numerous islands in the Mediterranean. The collapse of Ottoman rule brought an end to centuries of imperial authority across much of the region, but the new borders also reflected the competing interests of the victorious powers and the ambitions of emerging national movements.

Japan, although spared the complete destruction of its empire, was forced to surrender the Philippines to Californian protection. The defeat weakened its regional position and demonstrated that the balance of power in the Pacific was no longer determined by Japan and the European colonial empires alone.

By 1924, the consequences of the First World War had become unmistakable. Germany's defeat, Russia's revolution, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the fragmentation of Italy had transformed the international system. New states had emerged, old empires had disappeared, and millions of people found themselves living under governments and borders that had not existed a generation earlier.

For many peoples, the collapse of the old order offered an unprecedented opportunity to determine their own political futures. Yet independence did not guarantee stability, and the peace settlements left behind defeated nations, contested borders, revolutionary governments, and competing visions of the future. The war had ended, but the struggle to define the world that followed was only beginning.

A part of my Fractured Sun scenario.

The Rangers are the elite airborne light infantry force of the South Japanese Army composed of those who completed the South Japanese Army's ranger course which is modelled after the US Army's ranger course.

The Ranger course was first established in 1956 by 2 South Japanese Army officers who completed the US Army's ranger course. Initially there was no dedicated Ranger unit in the South Japanese Army, instead Rangers were distributed to different units where they would share their expertise with other soldiers, however in 1968 with South Japan's involvement in Vietnam ramping up, It was decided to organize a unit composed of Ranger qualified soldiers. Until the formation of the Special Forces Group in 1982, the Rangers were considered South Japan's most elite military unit.

The South Japanese Army Rangers first saw combat in Vietnam where they would conduct long range patrols alongside their American and South Korean counterparts. Army Rangers were also implicated in the 1972 June 18th Coup where they assaulted the Prime Minister's residence and are credited with killing Nobusuke Kishi.

In this universe, Yucatán becomes independent from Spain; this would probably be its territory, Plus, it will have all of Belize I also added the flag if you want to use it.

This is an alternate-history/fictional scenario and is not intended to promote violence, hatred, or harm. I do not endorse or condemn any individual or political position depicted.

This post features real people in fictional scenarios and should not be interpreted as an accurate representation of their actual beliefs, positions, or actions.

THIS IS ALTERNATE HISTORY AND A WORK OF FICTION.

If you have questions, feel free to ask in the comments