Kilimanjaro; The Assassination Of King Carlos

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February 1st, 2006

in 47,371 BCE, Swikolay reaches Africa again. Her clan has grown to a dozen strong, now, each dedicated to her great-grandmother’s dream of touching the sky. While they are traveling through eastern Africa, they see Kilimanjaro, and Swikolay decides that this mountain will be her final attempt to fulfill The Speaker’s wishes.

in 1003 Post-Creation, after living with autonomy for a few years, there are several half and quarter-angels in Eden. Relations between Eden and Heaven have become strained; relations between anyone and Lucifer have become worse. The bright one has isolated himself, although he has cautioned the other angels to cease using the humans, Adam and Eve, as breeding stock. His warnings have gone unheeded.

in 1861, Texas secedes from the United States, but doesn’t join the Confederacy or send troops to aid its cause. Instead, the reconstituted Republic of Texas fortifies its borders and waits out the civil war between the Confederate States and the Union. When the Union wins in 1863, Texas sues for peace and recognition as an independent nation; President Lincoln, unwilling to spill more American blood capturing another rebel state, formally recognizes them and grants their request for independence.

in 4591, Emperor Chengzu grants women full and equal protection under the law. This decree is even more controversial than the visionary Emperor’s space program, but it lays the groundwork for democratization in the next century.

in 1904, Ambassador Li’Kanto’Mk of earth makes contact with a secret organization of aliens on the Mlosh homeworld; they have kept records of the past in which his ancestors were forced to flee. After seeing them, the Mlosh Ambassador orders a quiet, but quick, withdrawal from the Mlosh home star system.

in 1908, King Carlos of Portugal is assassinated by rebels in the streets of Lisbon. His son, Luis Filipe, is wounded, but survives and succeeds him on the throne. Luis Filipe decides to follow the course of England, and transitions Portugal into a constitutional monarchy rather than face the possibility of revolt and abdication or execution. With his assistance, Italy’s Social Democrats gain power against the Fascisti, and Spain’s Republican forces win the civil war in 1936 against the Nationalists. The three nations usher in a new democratic era for southern Europe.

in 1918, Mikhail von Heflin and Velma Porter, tailed by the mysterious Milo Cranston, board their ship, the cruise liner Caesar Augustus, to sail to England. The Baron and his wife are treated somewhat icily by people aboard the ship, not only because of their interracial relationship, but also because of his German last name. The Baron realizes that he should have gone under an assumed name when he remembers that the first world war is not quite over yet.

in 1959, the Japanese begin evacuations in order to save some of their people from the New Reich’s Asian conquest. After seeing China fall to power of the Germans, they knew that it was only a matter of time before the bloodthirsty Reich leadership called for more lebensraum, and looked for it in their island nation.

in 2002, the People’s Republic of America explodes a nuclear dumping ground in Nevada. Wind currents sweep the radioactive waste across the Soviet States of America, causing hundreds of deaths immediately, and possibly tens of thousands in the coming years. This criminal action is condemned by every government in the world, and the P.R.A. loses a large chunk of its international support.

in 2005, now on the run, Jeanna Best and Dave Lange go with a couple of the Save Earthers to a farm house outside of Bastrop, Texas. Here, they find Mark Phillips and his wife, Meryl, along with the couple's 4 children. The Phillips family accepts them in and arms them; Best and Lange reluctantly accept guns. “Just for protection,” Best tells Lange.

Timelines in today's post: the Speaker, the Fall, the Chinese Empire, the Mlosh, von Heflin, the GZR, and Communist America.

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