Scarlet Seas, Crimson Banners

Scarlet Seas, Crimson Banners: An Illustrated Setting is an Alternate History timeline posted on Alternatehistory.com by Color Copycat of Damsels and Dirigibles fame. It can be found here.

Unlike that work, however, Scarlet Seas, Crimson Banners takes place far into the future of its timeline. Set largely on the planet of Shindai, in the Outer Rim fringes of human-settled space centuries following the "Dissolution Wars," it could be best described as part Mad Max, part Cold War analogy and especially part recreation of Afrikaner/Boer history In Space. As it progresses, however, more and more of the setting is revealed.


 * Alternate History: Albeit one set over a thousand years after its point of divergence.
 * Darkest Africa: Averted with Shindai itself, as it was settled by a Sino-Japanese conglomerate and whose natives (largely Chinese) constitute the majority of the population. Played with, however, with the Freeporters, who are described as a mix between the image of savage tribes from Subsaharan Africa and Space Pirates. So much so that the bitter enmity between the Bergers and Freeporters are described as being the ancient rivalry between the Afrikaners and Black Africans reborn.
 * Eagleland: The Texacor Battalion were originally an ICA military force that managed to survive largely intact upon landfall on Shindai during the end of the "Dissolution Wars." Over time, they've become a formidable country in their own right, retaining much of their ancient American heritage.
 * Earth-That-Was: It's not mentioned so far if Earth itself managed to survive in some manner following the "Dissolution Wars." But given how most if not all of the Outer Rim outside of Shindai is nothing but ruin and devastation, it's not a good sign.
 * For Want of a Nail: According to Word of God, the timeline diverged with an alternate outcome of the 1893 ZAR presidential election, in which Joubert's Progressives narrowly defeat the Krugerite faction of the Volksraad. As a result, the Boer Wars never occurred, the Afrikaners' independence was guaranteed and an increasingly altered version of history plays out, ultimately leading to the Bergers' arrival on Shindai.
 * Going Native: The Legionaar sub-group of the Bergers are descended from rogue French Foreign Legionnaires who over time assimilated into the Afrikaner-descended population. That said, however, they still retain the martial traditions and professionalism of their forefathers, making them among the most formidable military forces on Shindai. They even retain French as an indecipherable battle language.
 * Great Offscreen War: The "Dissolution Wars" that brought down interstellar civilization and which impact is still greatly felt six centuries on. The exact details remain vague for the most part, though from what's touched upon, it involved the French, the Interstellar Commerce Authority and the Combined People's Liberation Fleet.
 * History Repeats: By the setting's "present," Shindai is in the midst of a proper industrial revolution, with all that entails.
 * Meaningful Name: The Bergers' Ossewa-class heavy transports are not only named after the ox-wagons that carried their Boer ancestors through Africa but even resemble the old Afrikaner icon.
 * Mega Corp: There were apparently a number of these before the "Dissolution Wars," some of them even influential enough to set up space colonies and influence if not control several nations. The Djong-Kok, for instance, are descended from employees and executives working for a Sino-Japanese conglomerate. While the largely Afrikaner Bergers are descended from miners and staff in a frontier mining facility run by an Afrikaner corporation who had rebelled against their executive overlords.
 * The Remnant:
 * The Kommersant by the setting's "present," is descended from ICA survivors and stragglers that remained loyal to the "Fleet Commodore" in contrast to Texacor Battalion. Amongst themselves, they still formally call themselves the Provisional Interstellar Commerce Authority.
 * The People's Liberated Territories, forged from conquering a number of Djong-Kok lands north of the equator, are ruled by what remained of the Combined People's Liberation Fleet. While it's heavily implied that they still fancy themselves Communist (or what passes for it in this timeline), they've also taken up more than a few elements from Imperial China.
 * Desert Punk:
 * Downplayed with the Bergers, even in spite of their name being Afrikaans for "scavenger." Amidst their nomadic travels, the myriad republics comprising their confederation still make a living either trading valuable resources and artifacts left over from the "Dissolution Wars" or scavenging old wrecks and supply caches. At the same time, however, they maintain a fairly stable and high technological base, consciously remain civilized and make an effort to build something new rather than just looting the past.
 * Played straight, however, with the Freeporters. Over the centuries, they've regressed into brutal pirate tribals that prey on anyone trying to cross the equator or stumble upon their blighted "homeland" with either leftover plasma cutters or makeshift melee weapons.
 * Schizo-Tech: The "present time" on Shindai features a lot of this, partly as a consequence of the post-"Dissolution Wars" collapse, scavenging old wrecks and attempts to rebuild industrial society.
 * The Bergers utilize "Geweers" (heavily implied to be replicas of Gewehr rifles) as their standard firearms while many other peoples on Shindai utilize black-powder musketry for theirs. On the other hand, their vessels have magnetic weapons while their Legionaars have access to "auto-fusils."
 * The Texacor standard-issue gun is a black-powder musket rifle that could alternate between musselloading and breechloading configurations. It's also capable of firing hypervelocity, armor-piercing rounds.
 * Time Dilation/Year Outside, Hour Inside: Due to the sublight travel aboard the Springbok, the ship had been home to the ancestors of the Bergers and their first descendants for 81 years, by the time they arrived on Shindai some three centuries had already passed since the end of the "Dissolution Wars."