Vive La Francewank

Save France, save the world.

Written by User:Analytical Engine Vive la Francewank is one of a series of Alternate History timelines in the so-called "Strangerverse", and hosted on AlternateHistory.com.

The basic premise is that a time traveller from the future has gone back in time to 1617, and gives king Louis XIII a mission : Unite the world under French rule to save it by preventing an apocalyptic war from happening in 2258.

Tropes used in Vive La Francewank include:

A Child Shall Lead Them/Regent for Life: Following the French victory in the Alt-War of the Spanish Succession, this is (mostly) the case in the Italian/Flemish domains.
Alien Space Bats
Alternative Character Interpretation: King Louis XIII is cured of his madness before it even starts. Descartes discovers much of what Sir Isaac Newton did in OTL, but a generation earlier
Alternate History Wank: Exactly What It Says on the Tin
Anti-Villain: Cardinal Richelieu. Yes, that one...
Applied Phlebotinum: The various gifts the Stranger grants to the king
Authority Equals Asskicking / Warrior Prince: This happened a lot during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Awesome Moment of Crowning
Badass Army: With an unfair tech advantage, the French Army is deffinitely one. Ironically, so is the English army...
Balkanise Me: Russia has been partitioned up by its neighbours.
Bilingual Bonus: Many things are refered to in French, with an appropriate footnote.
Butt Monkey: Russia. Poor, poor Russia...
English Civil War: Rather shorter due to Charles I getting a cannonball to the chest.
Everything's Better with Princesses: Arranged Marriages were a common part of diplomacy during this period.
Historical Domain Character:
- Louis XIII being the main one.
- Blase Pascal
- Charles I of England and Scotland
- Louis XIII of France
- Marin Mersenne
- Pierre de Fermat
- René Descartes
- Cardinal Richelieu
- And a host of others...
100% Adoration Rating: Lampshaded. France has had rather less civil unreast, though that was more due to charisma enhancement...
Hypno Trinket: The rings.
King Bob the Nth: Well, it is Bourbon France after all. They weren't big on originality when it came to names...
L'État, c'est moi: Played with. the alternatate Louis XIV is anything but the Sun King though
Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Subverted, massively.
People's Republic of Tyranny: Federation of People's Republics and the Italian People's Republic
Poles With Poleaxes: Poland is kicking some serious arse in TTL.
Reasonable Authority Figure: The French kings at least try to be this.
Royally Screwed-Up: With the alternate equivalent to Charles II of Spain, no less.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: The kings are head of the Order, not to mention the Absolute Monarchs of France
Secret Circle of Secrets: Subverted. The Order of St. Denis are good guys, for a given value of good.
Shown Their Work: As evidenced by the copious footnotes, sometimes covering almost half of a given post's word count.
Succession Crisis: Russia. More recently, the War of the Spanish Succession.
Take Over the World: This is the basic premise of the timeline. Indeed, the eventual goal is for an Un ordre mondial.
Time Travel
The Federation: How the Federation of People's Republics sees itself.
The Revolution Will Not Be Bureaucratized: Subverted. The revolution in the Federation of People's Republics was started thanks to many of its supporters being entrenched in the existing bureaucracy
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized
The Wise Prince: Played with, since the king has a considerable benefit of hindsight.
Utopia Justifies the Means: One of the core beliefs of the Federation of People's Republics.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Charles I of England/Scotland.