Vive La Francewank
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Save France, save the world. |
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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.
Historical characters who appear or are referenced in the timeline:
- Blase Pascal
- Charles I of England and Scotland
- Louis XIII of France
- Marin Mersenne
- Pierre de Fermat
- René Descartes
- Cardinal Richelieu
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.
- 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 Etat Cest 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.