Inspired by these sites:
http://users.erols.om/mwhite28/medvam/index.htm
http://feudalamerica.blogspot.com
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=132965
Just try developing a few new civilizations, countries, and that sort of stuff. Here’s by contribution:
The Republic of California (AKA California Free State)
Totemic Symbol: Orange
Government: Limited Democracy
Religion: Non-Denominational Church
Capital: Santa Barbara
Ruler: President-Governor-General Cho VII
The California Free State was formed during the Great Crisis and the decline and fall of the Empire. Its then governor Arnold I proclaimed Marshal Law and declared himself President. In the great civil war and epidemic that followed Arnold I defeated the Colombians led by the forces of General Cho the First. When Arnold I died General Cho I succeeded him and officially titled the position of head of state as President-Governor-General. Since then the Seven Good Presidents have followed all capable, kind, and conscientious with the exception of Cho IV the Depraved who went insane at the age of seventy-seven and whose son General Cho V had to rule as regent until the General Cho IV’s death two years later. Throughout its two and a half centuries of existence California has expanded in all directions conquering the sinful city of Lazveigas, occupying southern Oregon with the help of the agnostics who were being oppressed by the Buddhist Samurai, the deserts of Arizona, conquered Baja, and has even fought the heretical Mormons in the mountains of Utah. During the reign of President-Governor-General Mung Beans II contact with the United States was reestablished and the Non-Denominational Church established in California. With the amalgamation of the major Protestant sects it has since been the major religion of California crushing a Scientologist plot that briefly seized Los Angeles fifty years ago. The Catholic Church and all other religions except Mormonism and Scientologists are tolerated in California and the Catholic Church has many followers as that of the Non-Denominational Church. Indeed Los Angeles is the site of the Cardinal of the West adhering to all the Catholics west of the Mississippi and north of Mexico City.
California is divided into states and counties. The states and its capitals are:
Imperial City: Santa Barbara
Los Angeles: Los Angeles
San Diego: San Diego
Baja: Tijuana
Sierra Nevada: Bishop
El Camino Real: San Luis Obispo
Central: Bakersfield
San Francisco: San Francisco
Redwood: Eureka
The cities of California are surprisingly large with Los Angeles and Santa Barbara both exceeding a quarter of a million people and seven other cities with over fifty thousand. The city of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego are the Western hub of the North American trade routes that span the Rocky Mountain outposts at Phoenix, Tucson, and other lonely places on the El Paso Trail that spans to New Orleans and from their northward to Chicago, Columbus, Washington, New York, and Boston. Trade materials from North America are then placed on ships that are sent to Californian outposts in Hawaii and then on to the Empire of Korea and the Chinese People’s Republics. As a result California is very prosperous, far more so then any other North American state. As a result high culture is very developed with a majority of the population literate. Especially notable is its literary tradition. The Chronicles of Cho V is widely considered the finest literary work since the Collapse. The Universities at Los Angeles and Berkeley receive several hundred students throughout North America and the world every year rivaling Harvard and Yale in the New England League.
Also the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Francisco are the economic powerhorses of the continent exceeding in production any other cities in the world. Major industries include iron, weapons, chainmail, medicine, pottery, and other crafts. Labour unions still exist in the cities but are amalgamated into the Craftworkers Union possibly the most powerful political bloc in California exceeding the influence of the Reunification Society (an organization demanding that California reunited the North American continent), the Bear Society (an organization of military officers and bureaucrats), and the Non Denominational Church.
The government of California is a limited democracy modeled on that of the United States. The head of state is the President-Governor-General who has always been from the Cho family line since the death of Arnold I. The ruling party since then has been the Republican-Democratic Party who has carried on policies of Progress, Unity, and Prosperity. Other parties include the Catholic Party, the Socialist-Green Party, and the Libertarian Party. Freedoms in the Bill of Rights are guaranteed unless it advocates overthrow of the government. The government’s most powerful departments are War (overseeing the military), Agriculture (organizing all the farms and food production), and Commerce (organizing the merchants).
The military of California is very large with 400,000 standing troops and as many as 1,500,000 in wartime. Indeed all young men physically capable are drafted into the armies between the ages of eighteen and twenty one. The armies are heavily offensive oriented with large fortresses on the frontiers. It is mainly infantry with thousands of talented crossbowmen which make the backbone of the California army. It’s cavalry are mainly strike teams rather then the heavy knights of the East. The navies of California are also highly powerful being the largest in the world and utilizing California Fire, a flammable liquid that makes the Californian navy invincible.
The Empire of Korea
Totemic Symbol: Tiger
Government: Constitutional Monarchy
Religion: Various: United Protestant Church, Roman Catholic Church, Buddhism
Capital: Seoul
Ruler: Emperor Yi-Hyung-Sun
The Korean Empire is one of the great powers of the new mediaeval world and easily the superpower of East Asia. The Korean Empire is a vast entity stretching from the Aleutian Islands to Beijing. The Korean Empire currently encompasses the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, the former Russian Far East, Shandong Peninsula, a large area of China proper, Kyushu, and the Aleutians. It also has recently occupied Formosa and Hainan to crush the pirates there and gain control of its lucrative trade routes.
The Korean Empire’s history is a long one stretching to the first days of the Crisis. In the Crisis a legendry band of military generals seized control of the government and reunited Korea destroying the Juche heresy in East Asian Crusade. As China fell into civil war between various factions the Korean Empire stepped in and conquered Manchuria and soon its banners rose over the ruins of Beijing where the Forbidden City became a retreat for the Korean Emperor. As Japan too fell into civil war Korea occupied Kyushu and the rest of Japan became a puppet state resulting in a large scale migration to the Americas especially the Pacific Northwest where the Japanese thrived.
The Korean Empire is as mentioned above very large and expansionistic. Its political philosophy is militaristic meritocracy dominated by the military officers. There are many dissenting scholars of course but most have been excluded from public life and even jailed. Indeed the vast majority of its heroes: Yi Sun Shin, Kang Gam Chan, Park Chung Hee are military heroes.Thanks to its footholds in the Pacific Korea profits greatly from trade routes. Indeed this has enabled Seoul the capital of Korea to be the largest city in East Asia and the largest in the world behind New York and Boston.
The Korean army and navy are very large and maintained by conscription. Those who are career soldiers have the best chance to get ahead in life as they become part of the Grand Assembly consisting almost entirely of military officers with a few token civilians thrown in. It is the Grand Assembly that chooses the emperor which much like in ancient Poland is elected. At any rate the Korean military numbers usually at 500,000 men and at wartimes as large as 2,000,000, the latter number was reached during the wars of conquest against the Chinese warlords. Korea has learned its lessons from barbarian invasions in its previous mediaeval age and keeps watch for any sort of nomadic tribe organizing military capability as Korea’s agents spy on potential enemies from California to Samarakand.