Some little notes:
Prologue and Errata
- The resources outlined in the Prologue won't really be used or accessed for quite some time, or at least until Britain reaches the necessary level of advancement. At that point, they will have an effect something like the second stage of the Saturn V
- As mentioned, there is a great deal of symbolism involved with the choice of the number 12 (Disciples, 12 Peers, a literal 'man for all seasons' and more), but at the same time there will be a fair amount of crossover in their specialisations
- Mention of a Dark having Risen is a literary hat-tip to the 1970s series by Susan Cooper, as well as providing some (at this point unspecified) hint as to a future Big Bad that necessitates a last desperate attempt at time travel and trying to do things differently. Details on this won't come out until much, much later in the story, but its mention early on serves to ground all of the advantage and changes in an equally great challenge
- As alluded to on the side, the nature of their travel through the worlds both opened a 'door' for them to go through, and created quite the 'energy signature' that certain entities, creatures and ...things... could not help but notice. This will serve as a further curve ball/spanner in the works, as well as provide both some interim problems/adversaries and, perhaps, a means for some other countries to be able to reply in some ways...
Chapter 1
- Browning labelling his thoroughly modern automobile as a 2069 Land Rover hints that the marque has been superceded by some other name
- His reflection that he has something in his 'pocketses' is perhaps a hint, or perhaps a red herring, or perhaps something in between
- The Wilberforce Oak is a delicate bit of foreshadowing: https://moremoth.blogspot.com/2016/05/w ... ak_12.html
- There is a bit of a suggestion that Browning's appearance and manner has been slightly adjusted to fit in with Pitt's general preferences for his favourites, as well as there being some little unnatural influences upon his persuasiveness
- The rather nice book by Mr. Baines is available here for perusal: https://archive.org/details/historyofwarsoff01bainuoft
- Some of the wording in Browning's opening spiel to Mr. Pitt is a bit inspired by the opening monologue to the 1995 power metal album Ayreon - The Final Experiment
- 1794 is a fulcrum, certainly, and whilst sound arguments could be made for 1789, June 1791 or 1792, the year I chose fitted in to the Goldilocks zone primarily for storytelling purposes. Go a bit further back, and there might be a tendency to avoid some changes; go a bit further forward, and many trends and problems would already be locked in
- Pitt thinking more about his legacy than simply extending his life is a bit of a hint that the 'downtime' British will not be entirely manipulated
Chapter 2
- One of the first things that Steele sees is a dodo trying to escape to the great outdoors. That will definitely not be the last of the interesting animals at Bletchley, with the very large deer being another hint
- There is a Hills Hoist clothes line outside, which is a suggestion that a lot of the tools and offerings will be delightfully mundane. Not every part of a story or of life is about small arms calibres or building ships
- Bletchley's librarian is named in honour of the YouTuber Lindybeige, but like all the other namesakes, is not actually that person
- Just having very accurate maps will not only save work, but make for more efficient development and exploration
- A whole lot more on the crops and seeds will be detailed, along with the animals being GMed and bred to rather different sizes, yields and characteristics than what is typically available in the 1790s; one particular seed is for non-carcinogenic tobacco
- The offhand mention of 'Babbage' was both a pun and a little fourth wall breaking as to the future for the audience
- There are rather more rifles and other weapons than what has been initially displayed
Chapter 3
- There is sufficient gold and diamonds to change a lot of choices and compromises, and, in concert with future knowledge and medicine, is the first stage of the figurative Saturn V
- Reverse money laundering is a curious idea
- Unfortunately for Mr. Steele, the hour of dinner would continue to get later and later as time goes by
- A nice offhand reference to a handful of 'Super 3D Printers' will surely not be mentioned again
- The kitchen staff at Bletchley are lead by a Heston Oliver, Gordon Floyd and Delia Lawson. If nothing else, the banter and repartee would be quite amusing
- The dishes presented, all a la francaise (with distinct courses a la Russe not yet having raised their head in Western cuisine), include a version of lobster thermidor, prawn cocktails, fried chicken in a mock KFC bucket, meat fruits, a pizza with pineapple amongst other toppings, some sort of barbecued ribs and brisket, and a rather spicy bolognese dish
- The Army will most likely have to take a creditable loss in the Netherlands in order to learn the lessons needed for later victories
- Boney gets to meet Richard Sharpe and an M203
- The general plan is to build rifled muskets, some actual rifles for the relevant regiments, and, in a piece of irony, 12 pounder Napoleons
- Hornblower's naval briefing is fairly straightforward, and the path towards beating up on the French Navy hopefully clear
Chapter 4
- France is the enemy today, but as time goes by, their potential threat decreases. There are a limited number of areas where Britain and France can clash in the generation *after* any war is won; one idea I am dabbling, as a somewhat distant possibility, is a grouping of Alsace, Lorraine and the Saar as a buffer state
- Spain is very much the least of the Great Powers, but even shorn of most of her colonies, without the damage of the Napoleonic invasion, they may come out well ahead of their historical position
- They don't have extensive forces outside of Spain, so that sniping at various colonies, with the right forces and plans, has a better than even possibility of relative success
- Turning Austria in a different direction than that of Lombardy and Venetia is something of a potential idea aimed at preventing a clash with a renewed France over Northern Italy; having Austria gain and chew up Servia in the early 1800s would lead to 'interesting' changes
- Small Prussia can be manipulated into being a British ally on London's terms; if they gain the Rhineland, then some sort of North German Confederation is fairly inevitable, and Berlin will be able to make a play for a unified Germany from there in a similar fashion to our history. Given that logic, for what its worth, Browning & Co are recommending at least trying a slightly different path
- Russia is the prospective big bad/main strategic rival, based on the general pattern of British foreign policy in the 19th century, the inevitable clash of Russian autocracy and perceived British liberalism, the preconceptions that The Twelve bring with them from the future and the basic mathematics of power; additionally, a story without an opponent that can at least provide a reasonable response can become pretty flat
- Keeping Germany and Italy as plural entities has some attractions from the point of view of a future informed Britain
- Sweden and Denmark are small enough to need friends and large enough, relatively speaking, at this point to still be useful chums. It would be interesting to see an independent Norway emerge a century early
- Portugal is the old ally, and if propped up and supported, provides a useful friend for the short and medium term; acquiring some of her islands is a distant possibility
- "There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch." The silly words of Nigel Powers out of the way, once the particular circumstances of the current war are over (including sniping the most attractive Dutch bits and pieces around the world), there isn't a lot of difference between Britain and the Netherlands, particularly if a strong buffer state can be maintained. It is unclear as to whether the future Belgium and the Netherlands proper could remain united in the long run, but it may be something that is at the very least explored
- The Ottomans don't have a lot of cards in their hand, nor the soon to be partially independent Egyptians for that matter. This isn't to say that the Turks will be completely cut loose soon, but there won't be quite the same degree of long term support. Whenever a Greek War of Independence breaks out, it is likely to see a bit more direct support in order to have the subsequent state firmly end up in the British corner
- The situation of the USA is that it is a young, relatively low population and moderately wealthy country with some limited industry and a predominantly agricultural and commercial economy. There isn't any immediate trigger for or need for conflict, and there is the epitome of there being far bigger fish to fry, but at the same time, there is full knowledge of the future
- Note the somewhat subjective rendering of future history, including a downplaying of any US Civil War and the curious mention of Canada being taken over by the USA at some point in the 21st century; the last is a slight hat tip towards events in the Fallout universe, but at this time, I'll say that the world that The Twelve are from is not that of Fallout. Not exactly, at least...
- The basic position being recommended is "Be prepared, but if it comes to war, deal them a defeat so substantial that it has a lasting effect on the relative positions of the countries, whilst knocking some sense into them." The trouble with this, as Steele points out, is that it relies upon the schoolboy knocked to the ground (America) reacting in exactly the way predicted
- On paper, someone might get the idea that a Revolutionary War rematch might be a good idea, but this won't be directly encouraged; whilst it is possible to defeat the infant USA if Britain wasn't engaged in a war elsewhere, this would come with a whole lot of costs and problems
- The USA of 1794 is not yet close to that of 1812 in even terms
- Aiming to open China without the need for opium will be a hard sell, as modern and future attitudes to drugs are going to be different from the prevailing thinking of the 1790s; that said, the idea of the opium trade was not something given universal moral carte blanche
- Not having the economic need for it as a primary trade good will be a useful argument; it is possible that, at some future point, it might take a new and rather more powerful embassy + fleet to get a different response from China
- Japan and Korea are fairly far down the priority and pecking order at this point, whilst Siam might find herself facing a different strategic situation in the Far East such that her status as one of the states who avoided colonisation might potentially change, at some point
- Persia is similarly not on the top rung of importance, but won't be completely neglected. The Sauds in the depths of Arabia will likely have a different fate
- Aubrey touches briefly upon India and the putative future Dominions, but some aspects will also be covered by Doctor Savage when he discussed exploration