First one. In OTL he was the original choice for Zoe’s husband, before the nobility ditched him for Romanos III because he was easier to control.
- 2
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Some part of me wonders how we get Salian Venice and Bulgaria, since Venice stayed neutral in the Investiture Controversy and even helped the Byzantines against Robert Guiscard? Maybe there's a way to preserve the Republic of Venice while also giving Henrich's descendants estates in northern Italy and Bulgaria, maybe even getting them elected as Doge of Venice a few times.
So Fredrich's crusades would be against the Fatimids instead of Abbasids, contrary to previous updates.
- 1
First, they wouldn’t be Heinrich IV’s descendants, because if they did exist then the German nobility would support one of his sons or sons-in-law as the next emperor. Probably will be other descendants of his siblings, like perhaps a son of Judith and Solomon of Hungary.
Second, I wasn’t familiar with Venice’s role in the Investiture Controversy since I focused on the big players. Venice helping against Robert Guiscard was the result of a treaty with Alexios Komnenos, who had no choice but to exempt all Venetian merchants from Byzantine taxes because the Byzantine navy had been thoroughly gutted by now. That wouldn’t happen with a clean transfer of power from Basil II to Konstantinos VIII Dalassenos to Isaac I Komnenos to Konstantinos IX Doukas. The Byzantine navy would remain as strong as it was in Basil's time. The only other thing I can think of changing is having Otto Orsoleo not die in 1032 when being restored to power. I don’t know what he’d do after becoming doge again. Maybe he’d establish a hereditary monarchy, but that sounds like something his enemies claimed he would do. Otto maintained friendly relations with both the HRE and ERE and had ties to both the Salians and the Macedonian dynasty, so I could see him being one link in the bridge between the two empires against the pope. After Restoration, Venice gradually fades into the surrounding March of Verona due to being crowded out by other merchant republics.
Not sure what to do with Bulgaria, but maybe a Salian is appointed as a governor there at some point. But since Basil II’s tolerance policies towards Bulgarians were kept (and probably expanded to other minorities under the Reich), there are no rebellions there, and Bulgaria gradually becomes Hellenized.
Yes, I was mistaken. The OTL Abbasids were powerless puppets of the Seljuks by then, so it wouldn’t really make sense.
- 2
That reminds me, I wonder how the history of Poland and Hungary would shake out since they both had large scale pagan rebellions before 1066? Best I can think of is having both kingdoms collapse to strong pagan rebellions and later reconquered by the Reich, with the Piast dynasty in the former either replaced or forced to marry off a princess to Werner von Habsburg due to siding with the Papacy in the Investiture Controversy. I also wonder if the Northern March still collapse to a pagan rebellion?
Since Malian Islam is more accommodating to West African paganism, I wonder if there would be mansas like Mansa Musa that would patron it, even if paganism remains entrench after their death, given how diverse traditional African religions are and how decentralized the Mali Empire of Sundiata Keita is?
Maybe there wouldn't be a direct Chinese connection here, but I wonder if there's room for an Iran-Contra affair style connection between the Nordenland and Fusang situations prior to WW3? Also I wonder if the triumvirate between MacLiam, "Thatcher", and "Meir"?
I also wonder how the development of the UVR would be affected by its civil war not being as long and brutal as the OTL Russian civil war was and the invasion of Yavdi going smoothly?
Btw, where did the term Colli come from? Looking back on older chapters through the search engine, it seems to be Mexicayotl's equivalent of Sharia, but I can't seem to find precedent for that in Mesoamerican history.
Last edited:
- 1
For Poland there was a pushback against Christianity in the Pagan reaction in Poland of the 1030's by people who were upset about the progress of Christianization so Zen could play around with that. As for Hungary I am not sure.
Speaking of the UVR civil war in OTL there was other conflicts linked to the Russian Civil War such as the Finnish Civil War and the Polish–Soviet War. I feel like the Finnish Civil War could be the same with the UVR supported faction failing against the Whites of the Yavdi Government in exile (who in the rework I assume controls Finland along with the Sami Region) and this leads to a situation like the Winter War which leads to the UVR getting revenge during WWII. As for the Polish-Soviet War I don't think that the Reich under Markos Angelos would be as lenient as the Pole's were and I could see Angelos just try and take all of Rusia so that would not work. I think a better idea would be to have the UVR try and attack Persia between 1918/1919 to March 18, 1921. That way it helps the Fascist rise to power in Persia?
- 1
Hungary also had a large scale pagan uprising and a decades long succession dispute caused by the death of Stephen I's son Emeric as I said before. Apparently Henrich III also tried to conquer Hungary a couple times and the Vata rebellion was caused by fears of Hungary becoming part of the HRE, so alternatively I guess Henrich III and Peter Orseolo could he could be more successful at integrating Hungary into the HRE.
The UVR did attack Finland for Karelia and peaced out shortly before the 1926 revolutions, but I'm not sure how the UVR would reach Persia since that would require going through Turkestan?
Now I'm wondering how similar the purges of Saint Wilhelmina and Fredrich the Glorious in the Middle East, Poland, and France would be to the Harrying of the North?
For Poland, Otto III living longer means he gets a second attempt at subjugating the Slavs of the Northern March. I’ll also have Mieszko I of Poland be firmly loyal to the Ottonians, not siding with Duke Heinrich II of Bavaria (that’s Emperor Heinrich II’s father) to overthrow Otto III during his regency. Like in OTL, he takes measures to integrate himself into German nobility and HRE institutions through marriage alliances and close ties with the emperors (aside from the above rebellion). Some sources claim Mieszko "subordinated himself to" Otto III, but it is unclear what this means. I’ll have him actually swear fealty, bringing Poland into the HRE. Otto then uses the Piasts to help suppress and Christianize the Slavs of the Northern March. As a result, Poland still converts to Christianity, though the presence of a strong Rus’ next door allows pagans to migrate over into Rus’ territory. In gameplay terms, it would be part of the HRE blob in 1066.
For Hungary, Friedrich backs the claim of his brother-in-law Solomon (married to Heinrich IV’s sister Judith) in exchange for swearing fealty to him. The offer is accepted in exchange for relative autonomy and kingdom status within the HRE like Bohemia.
I’d like to keep as much OTL history as possible.
I suppose the Habsburgs could inherit the throne if the Piasts die out without a male heir, but I’m inclined to retcon it in light of the new Piast lore above.
See above.
Probably a couple Muslim mansas or at least royal consorts.
That might work. I’ll have to think about it.
What do you mean about the triumvirate?
I guess so. I might retcon the invasion of Yavdi to be the UVR sending troops to support a similar revolution there. The civil war against remnant monarchist and other anti-UVR forces would be part of a larger period of anti-UVR insurgency, after which the regime decides to establish the volost system to prevent any future rebellions from gaining a large support base and implement policies that eventually evolve into deromanization.
You know what? I don’t remember what it means myself. I came up with it a long time ago while writing the gameplay events as a stand-in for the Salafi movement (I had another word for the Wahhabis if I remember correctly, though at the time I pretty much used both interchangeably). Now when I try searching it up in Nahuatl dictionaries, all I get are words that mean “bent” or “grandfather.” The second definition could fit as the name “Salafi” comes from “salaf” meaning “ancestors” (and that might be my reason for using “colli”), though part of me wants to find a new name that better fits the Mexica Empire’s context.
As said above, I think I’ll go with Friedrich installing Solomon on the throne in exchange for HRE vassalage.
In the interwar period, I’ll have the Yavdians setting up a government in exile their occupation zone in Finland. But the Yavdi government in exile isn’t as strong as the Finnish military, so it won’t be able to stand up to the UVR when it inevitably invades. However, it does stall the UVR advance for several years. The last holdouts are only destroyed around 1943, after which the UVR pours into northern Sweden by land and central Sweden in a naval invasion. For a Polish-Soviet War, maybe Turkestan in place of Persia, since old lore had them as “Poland.”
One of my previous posts about Harald
- 2
The conservative political alliance between Ruaidhrí MacLiam, "Rita Thatcher", and "Meir" in the Hohenzollern party you brought up in old lore. If nothing else, I wonder what the latter two would be renamed to?
Best I can come up with is "Atlpatia" which should roughly mean "water path" loosely based on the meaning of the word Sharia, but I'm not sure if that's accurate to the Nahuatl language or fits the Mexica Empire, even though we have the Almoravid exiles to somewhat justify it. I guess colli can stay as another name for the Mexicanist political movement.
Last edited:
- 1
On second thought, maybe naming it after a Mexica ruler like Nezahualcoyotl or some equivalent to him might be better.
On that note, do you have an idea to centralize the West African religions into one cohesive faith, or will you keep Mali religiously decentralized and diverse as you previously said?
Additionally, how would Ida's affairs shake out in DE? I think we can leave Doge Manfredo Doria of Genoa as is, but I feel like Jesek Markvartic should be from an important family involved in the Investiture Controversy, like the Přemyslid dynasty since he seems to be Bohemian based on his name, to justify Ida's affair politically, in line with a previous idea for Ida.
- 1
In keeping with the non-German and non-Greek backgrounds of the triumvirate, “Thatcher” could be an Anglo-Saxon named Ethel Silverman. “Meir”
Again, Colli was based on the Salafi movement, not the concept of sharia, so if anything it would take after Salafi, which comes from the word salaf, which means “ancestors.”
Like the Cult of Quetzalcoatl?
Makes more sense to keep it decentralized.
In the game he had titles in Croatia in addition to being the duke of Spoleto, so he could have been installed first in Croatia after the HRE and its allies defeat the major papal ally Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia. I don't remember how old he was in the game, but I could have him become king of Croatia after Krešimir and his successors, Demetrius Zvonimir and Stjepan II, die at some point. In OTL that led to the king of Hungary taking the throne, but without those marriage connections I could have Jesek become king instead. Maybe he becomes duke of Spoleto as a reward for his service during the Battle of Cannae.
- 2
I forgot to mention that last one was referring to Golda Meir. Maybe a Rusian name in her case since she was Ukrainian?
I am aware, and I said we could keep Colli as the name of the “Salafi” movement. Not too sure about the equivalent of Sharia though, since old chapters seem to use the term “CollI’ interchangeably for sharia and Salafi.
That’s a good idea. I wonder if my idea of him being a Přemyslid could work on top of this, since he seems to have a Czech name and Vratislaus II was an ally of Henrich IV. Maybe Jesek would be a second son or illegitimate child of Vraitslaus. Guess it depends on his in-game culture and ancestry.
- 1
That's strange. I know I finished that response, but for some reason everything after "Meir" was deleted. I used the name Golda Neiditch (using her mother's surname), because I wanted her and Ethel Silverman to be referred to as a "gold and silver" duo. But I'm open to other suggestions for a surname.
I'd rather not try having a direct analogue of sharia, just something that would conceivably emerge within a fundamentalist strain of the Mexica religion.
Should work, since the name "Markvartice" isn't attested to until the 13th century.
- 2
Fair enough. You said you had another term for "Wahhabism" recently so I was wondering if you remember what it was? It's ok if you don't, just curious.
I'm having a thought, what if we rendered Fredrich incapable of having children after Prince Wilhelm's birth for whatever reason, like an injury sustained during battle? I'm pretty sure this would bare Fredrich from the Byzantine and HRE thrones, so Ida's affairs would serve to keep Fredrich's condition secret.
I'm also thinking, I know you said nobody knew about Ida's affairs, but even if Prince Wilhelm is legitimate, , I wonder if rumors about them getting out would affect Fredrich the Glorious and Saint Wilhelmina's legitimacy in anyway?
Last edited:
- 1
No, but if I didn’t misremember it, it should be somewhere in the 70s-90s gameplay chapters.
If I do go this way, I’d have it it happen shortly before the last two of his officially acknowledged children are born.
I suppose, but Friedrich the Glorious would demonstrate his legitimacy by being just as capable a military leader as his grandfather, while Wilhelmina just plows straight ahead and adds it to the list of slander against her.
On a related note, I was looking into Friedrich the Great’s background. After reading up on William the Conqueror’s life, I think I’ll make him an illegitimate son of Burkard, Count of Zollern, with a peasant woman of Hechingen. This peasant then raises Friedrich in his early years before Burkard legitimizes him and brings him into his court (illegitimacy not being as heavily stigmatized and a disqualifier for kingship at this point). I’ll distinguish him from his legitimate half-brother (the OTL Hohenzollern) by calling that one “Friederich,” sort of like what I did in the Apocalypse arc. Anyways, Friedrich’s time living among peasants teaches him empathy for the common people, which he passes on to Friederich, Heinrich, and Ida. Funny enough, since I won’t change William’s backstory, this makes them foils of each other. While both of them were raised by commoner mothers and were familiar with the plight of the common people, William was considered ruthless and brutal towards his opponents, while Friedrich was kinder and more tolerant.
The Zollerns of Friedrich’s line are raised to imperial immediacy by Heinrich when Friedrich marries Ida, which is how they become called Hohenzollerns. However, Friederich’s line is still known as Zollerns, even after becoming kings in their own right.
I still don’t have a good justification for why Berlin eventually becomes the capital. But the history of the region would be pushed up by 200 years due to Otto III successfully subduing the Slavs of the region and integrating Poland into the HRE, so the Nordmark still expands east under the Udonids. As Counts of Stade, their capital is in Stade, in the Altmark (named as the only part of the Nordmark to not be lost in the 983 rebellion), instead of what I assumed in the old lore. I could say that Friedrich and his allies trained there and learned leadership under Lothar Udo II. Brandenburg an der Havel is designated as the capital of the restored Nordmark until Saint Wilhelmina founds Berlin as a new capital free from the power politics of Constantinople and the HRE centers of power, yet still accessible due to its location on important trade routes. I don’t know, I’m just writing stuff down to hash it out.
The Reich’s flag comes from Friedrich combining the coat of arms of the OTL Hohenzollerns with a Byzantine double-headed eagle to create his own personal coat of arms, which becomes the imperial standard. The Seljuks also make use of the double-headed eagle as in OTL.
Nordenland uses the raven banner I’ve occasionally used here before, since I found that similar motifs were used by Harald. The specific design I used is a reconstruction, but it’s the most usable one I got.
- 2
Looked a little more into the status of written Old Norse, and it appeared literacy in the runic alphabet was relatively widespread among both commoners and the nobility, though use of parchment was primarily the domain of Christian clergy. To flesh out the scenario a little more, I'll have Harald Hardrada adopt the printing press that Wilhelm brought back in time, then use it to standardize the runic alphabet (somewhere between Younger Futhark and the medieval runes). Then he codifies the Norse religion and rituals in a holy book, which is sort of like the Hávamál (name pending). Taking a little out of the "Norse Islam" from old lore, this holy book acts similar to the Qur'an in its significance for society (not in content, though they are both written in poetic form). It standardizes the Norse language, both the spoken and written form, and encourages further literary innovations. Norse society begins writing down laws and religious rites in text instead of keeping them in memory and transmitting them by voice. Printing presses in Oslo and other major cities are used to produce more copies of the holy texts, which standardize the religion further and tie it closely with the monarchy and the priestly class, so literacy is accompanied by support for the monarchy and spread of the "reformed" religion.
- 2
Fair enough. On a slightly related note, given what happened to the Temple of Huitzilopochtli and the Brandenburg and Potsdam Palaces (at least in old lore if you decide to retcon that), wouldn't that mean the UVR would end up demolising the Temple of Uppsala? I'm gonna say no since that would be too radical a decision for the Norse to accept and we talked about the UVR supporting Ragnarokers against the monarchial-capitalist occupation zones.
So Adolf Doris and Eva Jessica would be the last two children to the right in the first image below. On that note, given how many children Saint Wilhelmina had and some of her grandson's illegitimate children trying to usurp the throne IIRC, how would the Reich go about preventing successions disputes without resorting to Ottoman style fratricide or Anniona incest?
So Fredrich now being born out of wedlock would be like GOT's Jon Snow or Kingdom of Heaven's depiction of Balian of Ibelin (I'm aware the historical Balian was a legitimate noble of Jerusalem just to be clear) in this case.
Speaking of William, I think I have a new idea for France. Since we prolong Otto III's reign at the expense of Henrich II, the later never gets the chance to meet Robert the Pios to normalize relations with France and drop Carolingian era claims to it, putting France firmly in the Papal camp, especially when William comes back from his failed English campaign, despite Philip I's conflict with the Pope.
I take it the Reich's reworked flag would be this Hohenzollern coat of arms with the Byzantine double-headed eagle imposed on it. Maybe changing the colors from black and yellow to gold and red, or gold and purple, would work better.
- 1
Yep, the Temple of Uppsala is razed to the ground and the sacred tree cut down and burned to symbolize the triumph of UVR atheism over religion. However, seeds and other samples of the tree are preserved elsewhere alongside groves grown from its seeds outside Uppsala. I imagine that the destruction of the temple and the sacred tree are the inciting incident that radicalizes the Ragnarokers into open warfare. Though I also imagine the Ragnarokers as something of a big tent, including many left-wing factions that interpret Ragnarok in terms of class struggle and make rationalizations for the destruction of the temple to justify their continued alliance with the UVR.
Yes, that should be Adolf Doris and Eva Jessica.
I forgot to mention it in last night's post, but Friedrich would have made use of looser succession laws regarding illegitimate children to claim the imperial title in Germany. Friedrich the Glorious would codify primogeniture to allow Wilhelmina to succeed to the throne in the absence of male heirs. Finally, Wilhelmina codifies the succession rights of illegitimate heirs by putting them far down the line after legitimate heirs, primarily to prevent another Kirill from taking advantage of her father's primogeniture laws and attempting to usurp the throne. A codified succession law goes a long way towards preventing succession disputes in both the German and Greek halves of the empire. The Germans would still initially have their elections, but they become a formality and are gradually phased out over Wilhelmina's long reign. The Greeks would still see incidents where popular generals or politicians attempt to usurp the throne with the support of some troops, but Wilhelmina's strengthening of legal institutions and full codification of the succession laws creates a growing mentality that the emperor can only be proclaimed by law, not the army. It helps that Wilhelmina is a capable and popular military leader in her own right and reigned for so long, thus entrenching that mentality over the decades.
Wilhelmina and her scholars use the Epanagoge, specifically the sections written by Ecumenical Patriarch Photios I to argue that the emperor is still subject to his own laws, and thus all emperors must obey the law of primogeniture as set by both her and her father (admittedly I got this from a summary of that specific passage in Age of Miracles since I don't have access to the text itself right now). Photios' philosophy is significantly patronized by Saint Wilhelmina's court and is one contributing factor towards humanism becoming entrenched in Roman culture. His argument against the filoque clause in The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit (though technically this came before the filoque clause was added in the west) is put into the canon of the Latin rite as part of the Mending of the Schism.
Yes, though I drew more from OTL William the Conqueror. Many of his closest allies were very similar to what I envisioned for Friedrich's friends. His father arranged for his mother to marry one of his knights so she was set for life, and her sons with those knights became among William's most trusted companions (at least until 1066). Her brother, William's uncle, was also said (but take it with a grain of salt) to have sheltered him among the peasantry during challenges to his rule, similar to my initial idea for Werner as a father figure.
Good idea, didn't notice that. Robert the Pious would rely more heavily on the Papacy with a more hostile HRE on his border and his own rule at home not fully established. That would lead to a fracturing of France between papal, imperial, and Norman factions (since the Normans also challenged French authority at times). I could see William and Robert Guiscard's rivalry with the king of France, either over regional politics or who is the better/higher ranking papal ally, ultimately fracturing the papal alliance. Maybe they pull a Manzikert at Cannae and withdraw their forces to let the king and his troops get annihilated, giving Friedrich and Alexios the victory.
It works because there are some theories suggesting that the Byzantine double-headed eagle motif began under the Komnenoi (though the reasoning and actual use are still debated), so Alexios could suggest using an eagle with two heads, instead of a single headed eagle like both empires used at the time, to symbolize the merging of east and west. I'll use the black and white for the Hohenzollern coat of arms in the background, then put an eagle over it. Probably the Byzantine style since the HRE style won't emerge for another few centuries.
- 2
Now I'm feeling a little embarrassed. I think I might have asked a stupid question lol.
I guess I just had one of those moments myself because for some reason I though that the UVR had the OTL Balkan Region (I swear it was not intentional).
The more I think about it I can see Turkistan being similar to Spain and it having a Spanish Civil War type of conflict in were expeditionary forces from Iran, the Raj, and UVR all fighting for control with the Fascist side wining. Then take some inspiration from Austria and have Turkistan reorganize into a Federal State of Turkistan (similar to what Austria was like from 1934–1938 of OTL) then have TTL's Engelbert Dollfuss/Franco character is assassinated an replaced with a pro-Raj leader who allows Turkistan to be annexed by the Raj like Austria was to Germany during the Anschluss?
As for the Polish-Soviet war parallel you could combine it and the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts of which Khalkhin Gol being the most famous into one event?
Makes me wonder about the insurgency in southern Rusia and if it will still play a part. Also would something like the Guerrilla war in the Baltic states still happen?
One idea for the ground that the Temple of Uppsala could be that the UVR could plan on building something like OTL's Palace of the Soviets (or some other Soviet construction project that was never built) but in TTL planning on it is halted by WWII and the stand in for Trotsky is similar to Stalin in that they losses interest in the project after the war?
So since the Committee used Wilhelmina to legitimize some of their policies then can't our modern Wilhelmina use this law to claim the throne in the current part of the story?
Speaking of buildings. I know that in the past we talked about how the Chinese Tulou and Haudenosaunee Long House could be the bases of pre-industrial skyscrapers and apartment buildings respectively. Another idea that for some pre-Industrial Cities could come from Shibam in Yemen in how despite most of the buildings made out of mud it has gained the nicknames of "Manhattan of the Desert" and "Chicago of the Desert"?
- 1
I see, so I take it Ida would have some parallels to Matilda to Flanders as well as Matilda of Tuscany, especially since both Matilda's had rumors of infidelity.
I also wonder if Fredrich would have parallels to the life of his other Norman rival in Robert Guiscard? If nothing else, I could see echoes of Robert's nephew Roger II appearing in the reign of Fredrich the Great and his successors through his tolerance and cosmopolitanism, as you mentioned previously Saint Wilhelmina would be similar to HRE emperor Frederick II.
Alternatively, you could put the coat of arms in the middle of this flag. I wonder if this could work? My other idea is putting the eagle over a flag using the colors of both the OTL German empire and modern Germany with purple added somewhere, taking inspiration from Fusang's flag. Maybe you're idea could be used for the replacement of the Cold War era war flag.
I'm pretty sure "Austria" was Paksthana in old lore, while Afghanistan and Turkestan were Czechoslovakia and Poland respectively, but I feel like the post WW1 Central Asia situation will be reworked, like China forcing the entire region together in a Yugoslavia like situation, like how that parallel was applied to the Bulbancha government/CSA and the UPRH.
On that note, I wonder how the HOI3 tags and national cabinets would be reworked? I assume both the Angeloi and Loyalist cabinets memebers would get renamed.
Last edited:
- 1
Don't give me any ideas.I guess I just had one of those moments myself because for some reason I though that the UVR had the OTL Balkan Region (I swear it was not intentional).
Turkestan was more of the Poland in that it was the first to be attacked in World War II, while the "Paksthana" (most likely will be deleted as explained below) was the "1938 Austria." I thinkI'll change it so that initially Turkestan has Afghanistan and the "Paksthana" parts, but it soon enters a civil war between Turks, Afghans, Indians, and equalists which draws in all of its neighbors. But then that would mean I have to get the Reich involved in the war some other way. Maybe I'll just have the Angeloi rebel first, then the rest of the Axis come to support the Angeloi.
Yes, they'll be entirely ditched, but I'll keep the names of some of the Indian ministers. Angeloi and Loyalist ministers will be renamed to original characters. "Franco" in particular will be more thoroughly Norse.
No, wouldn't really make sense to combine the two.
It should still be there.
Yeah, they could do that, since they did the same thing to Brandenburg Palace. On a side note, "Sanssouci Palace" (rename pending) would probably be built in Brandenburg an der Havel (on the site of an older castle that was destroyed by the Mexica), while Hohenzollern Castle in Hechingen would be the residence of the Zollerns (presumably raised to imperial immediacy too by the main branch).
Jerusalem used the illegitimacy argument to discredit the entire modern line of Hohenzollerns after they no longer had a use for Wilhelm Karl and his son, allowing them to deny Wilhelmina a claim and keep the throne empty so the committee can rule as permanent regents for an empty throne. At that point, the rule of law and the Augustinian Code have been thoroughly trampled, so any attempts to apply and enforce the law will fall on deaf ears. The only thing that could have put Wilhelmina on the throne was military force, which she didn't have. She can't do it now that the committee is gone, because people have a problem not with her but with the idea of monarchy in general.
Good ideas. I can see skyscraper-like architecture emerging in Fusang, especially in Hongzhou because of all of the mountains nearby and the abundance of really sturdy wood.
Yep. Maybe also Sikelgaita too if I have her commanding troops in battle, though she would be staying behind in Germany most of the time to watch over Friedrich's domains when he's off campaigning. The relationship between William/Matilda of Flanders and Friedrich/Ida would also have parallels, since both men would be fully devoted to their wives (William in OTL took no mistresses and had no illegitimate children, which was unusual for medieval kings), who in turn were powerful figures in their own right. Matilda of Tuscany would still have allegations of infidelity but from the papal side now, since I'm having her eventually align with the imperial faction because her legal husband remained a major papal ally.
No, I don't think so. Robert was a conqueror, not an administrator like Roger. From what Anna Komnena says of him, his record during sieges, and the words on his epigraph, he seemed like quite a ruthless and intimidating leader. While William had the same background as Friedirch, Robert would have the same military capabilities, but neither of them had Friedrich's tolerance and kindness.
While looking this up, I realized there could possibly be a time where Robert, his brother William Iron Arm, and Harald Hardrada
I suppose that works for the modern flag, putting the Zollern coat of arms in the middle over the chi-ro. For the medieval era, when it would be a coat of arms on a banner, it would be the eagle set over the Zollern coat of arms, to symbolize the imperial status of the Hohenzollerns and their reunification of the two empires. I don't think using the colors of the German Empire make sense, since those were based on Prussian and Hanseatic colors, while the modern German flag colors seem to have their roots in the liberal revolutions of the 1840s. Though I can see certain political movements adopting a tricolor (or 4-5 color flag) without the eagle and the Hohenzollern black and white.
- 2