International News, 1915

[The Rock Doctor]

25 January 1915:  Singapore

Visiting seamen in this bustling port note running into a great number of Ottoman sailors.  While most are tight-lipped in the presence of officers or petty officers, a few individuals confide that the ship is here for a while - perhaps months.

[maddox]

May - june 1915


Several fishermen and tramp freighters make reports of a large warship cruising along the West african coast, but only seen at dusk, or at night.

July, during a night without moonlight Iberian fishermen trawling around the approaches of the Girbraltar strait report seeing a large warship steaming at high speed towards the strait .

[miketr]

International News: Indian Subcontinent
Bharat

Reports that major protests disrupted multiple cities across the Indian Subcontinent have been received.  The protesters were largely students and young urban workers.  Events in the Bharat capital of Poona were typical it seems. 

Starting on the morning of October 14th, groups of protesters assembled at major universities in the city; Poona College, College of Engineering, Deccan College, Poona Vidhyarthi Griha's College and B. J. Medical College. A notable exception was that Fergusson College had no protest group assemble.  At first the protest leaders gave speeches on the evils of foreigners corrupting Hindu society.  A book burning of foreign books and writings occurred at several of the schools.  Then the demonstrators left the schools and spread out a cross the capital.  Police largely contented themselves with keeping an eye on the protesters and were unwilling it seams to directly confront them.
   
As the protesters marched foreign owned shops and those selling obviously foreign made goods were attacked and looted.  A number of foreigners were attacked and beaten.  As word spread of the attacks on foreigners; many fled to the diplomatic delegations in and around the city.  Those that arrived carried word of assault, robbery, several reports of rape and murder. 

Soon groups of protesters began to assemble at the Aga Khan Palace and Fergusson College.  The Aga Khan Palace had been built in 1892 by Prince Aga Khan III a Muslim Imam and major leader of Bharat Muslims.  The aim behind the construction of the Aga Khan Palace was to provide employment to the people of the nearby areas, who were hit by famine.  Fergusson College was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society and at that time was first privately governed college in Bharat. It was named after James Fergusson a notable within the administration of Bombay, who donated a princely sum of Rs 1,200.  Fergusson was a Normann adventure that came to reside for a time Bombay and because of his administrative skills was hired like many foreigners to help aid Bharat civil service.     

As the size of the mobs outside the Palace and College grew they became more violent and created bonfires and threw rocks.  Soon the police greatly out numbered and with no sign of military units withdrew.  The protesters then stormed the Palace and College; large fires broke within the complexes and by night fall both were engulfed by flames.

Reports were also received of attacks on Christian converts within Poola but details are lacking.  No statement was by the Maharaja's government beyond a general request for calm and a return to order.

Similar reports have been received from Bhopal, Bombay and Hyderabad

Murshidabad Capital of Bengal

Reports have been received that on or around the 14th of October a major riot broke out in Monghyr.  Monghyr is a small industrial city on the Ganges noted for its iron manufactures, sword smiths and a rifle armory.  The exact nature of the riot is unclear but local Hindus along with some of the small communities of Buddhists and Jains it seams attacked properties belonging to the minority but ruling Muslims.  Also reports of attacks on Christian converts and some foreigners have been received.   

The Nawab of Bengal has ordered the army to restore order in Monghyr at once.


OK'd by mods...

[ledeper]

Just one small comment:
Jainism don't ever use violence or force of any kind,even killing a bug is a sin!
I have seen Jainism monks in India with covers on the mouth and nose so they don't invert ably swallow insect,and with small broom sweeping the ground before so they wont step on a insects or any other living being ;)

[miketr]

One of the Ten Commandments for Jews and Christians is to not kill we see how well thats worked over the years.  But yes devout Jain's wouldn't commit such actions but one who was only a nominal Jain worshiper or a young adult or otherwise not that commited might.  Also Buddhists are typically not big on violence but not in absolute terms.  Some really interesting stuff is to read on the studies of the Mob Mindset members of Mobs will do things far outside of social norm when part of a mob.

[Borys]

Some really interesting stuff is to read on the studies of the Mob Mindset members of Mobs will do things far outside of social norm when part of a mob.

100% agreement. I was a football fan in my teens.
Borys

[P3D]

I'd note that Bharat at creation was perceived to have much less Muslims that the respective OTL territories.
The presence of a unified Hindu state stopped the Mughals and limited European influence - so the amount of Christian converts should be minimal.

[miketr]

I asked the mods for guidance on India and was in effect told it was a blank slate.  So I created a back history for the Mughals, two of the three colonial enclaves and gave some minor suggestions for the third.  Next week I will have the detailed history of Bharat and slightly less detailed ones for Bengal and Burma ready; the later is a Maratha descended state.  I also wrote up the background of whats at work here.  As an aside I invested a great deal of time in this and would be.... displeased to have it flushed at this point.  Let me post them in the main forum in a minute.

The rough template for this story line is the Boxer Rebellion.  What people do in response to this is up to them.  I am looking for something to do, not necessarily as Iberia but of course I intend for Iberia to react to said events and have something of a goal in mind for Iberia in this.  I have also expected from the begining that others might attempt to prevent said goal from being realized.

As to Hindu vs. Christian... The success of the Monotheistic Abrahamic religions speak for themselves; they are Black Death / Small Pox to competing Polytheistic Religions even the most successful non Abrahamic religion, Buddhism, is loosing ground to it.  Remove the English Raj and excellent chance that much of northern / central India would have been converted to Islam.  The absence of Islam would make the path easier not hard as it removes a successful and dynamic competitor.   

Michael

[P3D]

India was divided along religious lines - Mughal being Muslim and Bharat being Hindu, now do we need another revision (and significant change) of Nverse history?

Besides, I cannot see a good analogy with the Boxer rebellion. There's much less foreign involvement in Bharat than in 1890's China, and that 20 years is significant in the economic development of Bharat.

[miketr]

India was divided along religious lines - Mughal being Muslim and Bharat being Hindu, now do we need another revision (and significant change) of Nverse history?

Besides, I cannot see a good analogy with the Boxer rebellion. There's much less foreign involvement in Bharat than in 1890's China, and that 20 years is significant in the economic development of Bharat.

P3D with great respect WHAT HISTORY?  Show me where it is written anyplace in the current forum?  I asked the active mod team of Maddox and The Rock Doctor and was told there was nothing and that I could move forward with a story idea. 

See my post in the general forum back on December 19th for when I started working on this.  They never said anything was written down or set already and since I rejoined the game / the reboot from N2 nothing of note has happend in the area.  I made clear I would be making a public back history for the area and Maddox and Rocky left me too it. I gave them a rough idea what I wanted to do go with things and as things were fleshed out pulled in Ledeper and Sachmle to as its an area where they are active with colonies.  Ledeper thought it was neat but didn't want it to be used an excuse for a carving up of Bharat and my response was that wasn't my objective but I have zero control over what other people do once events take a life of their own.  Sachmle thought it would be great as he had imperial dreams of colonial expansion. 

Also P3D the Boxer Rebellion reference wasn't a perfect reference but a general one; a xenophobic response to outside cultural pressure and there is a fairly big such pressure in the game with 3 colonies in the area. 

If you have a beef with this and where its going (which I haven't made clear yet) please talk to Maddox and The Rock Doctor. Or better yet they can sound off on this in public and people who have objections to something going on in the area as players and not nations can have it out.  I have already invested a great deal of my time in this and if all I am going to get for my efforts is this...

Michael

Michael

[Borys]

India was divided along religious lines - Mughal being Muslim and Bharat being Hindu, now do we need another revision (and significant change) of Nverse history?

I don't think it changes anything in the main timeline, i.e. what the PCs did (or did not).
Borys

[ctwaterman]

India was divided along religious lines - Mughal being Muslim and Bharat being Hindu, now do we need another revision (and significant change) of Nverse history?

Besides, I cannot see a good analogy with the Boxer rebellion. There's much less foreign involvement in Bharat than in 1890's China, and that 20 years is significant in the economic development of Bharat.

What revision are we seeing here I havent seen anything about this area in the Histories of Neverse heck most of the Histroy of Neverse is a big blank slate and If someone wants to spend the time and effort to draw on it... Im all for it.

Plus the Storyline is full of all sort of possible fun. ;D

[The Rock Doctor]

Everybody stay cool.

There aren't a lot of single-religion states in our world.  Probably won't be in Nverse, either.  There are going to be minorities of some kind as a result of immigration, missionaries, and border changes. 

Bharat is predominantly but not exclusively Hindu.  Mughal is predominantly but not necessarily entirely Muslim.  Bengal can be a mixed bag, frankly.

As to whether this scenario resembles a Boxer Rebellion and how a stronger Bharat will react, that can be debated as events progress.

[maddox]

India was divided along religious lines - Mughal being Muslim and Bharat being Hindu, now do we need another revision (and significant change) of Nverse history?

Besides, I cannot see a good analogy with the Boxer rebellion. There's much less foreign involvement in Bharat than in 1890's China, and that 20 years is significant in the economic development of Bharat.

As Mike TR remarks, what history?

In the Nverse II, India was French. A large purple stain on the map.

In the world history, as we agreed upon when starting up Nverse III, the Mughal and Bharat empires are just footnotes, asking to be fleshed out.
With me having a serious IRL workload and diminished time for the nverse, ,You P3D not being moderator anymore, a very silent Borys, and an ithekro in coma, Rocky was carrying the main load. ( All hail Rocky). So the fleshing out never happened.
MikeTR is fleshing out Bharat according to real history of the enviroments and the things already know in the Nverse III, so no real surprises should crop up.

What does change P3D?

[miketr]

International News: Indian Subcontinent
October 17th

Bharat

Bal Gangadhar Tilak local leader of the Hindu Reform Party in Bombay has called for a boycott of foreign made products in particular textiles.  Business' that sell foreign goods are also subject to the boycott. 

Within hours of the announcement groups of protesters, mostly students but also with craftsmen begin to march through the warehouse and market districts of the city.  Along the port area where with its collection of warehouses is where most foreign own business interests are located.  The protesters gathered outside of warehouses and prevented workers from attempting to unload ships at the docks.  The crowds shouted slogans like, "Out with foreigners!", "Buy Hindu goods!"  In the city itself as crowds marched through the market district they would stop by shops; those that were found to be selling foreign made goods were given the "suggestion" of stopping.  Those business and shop owners that agreed were given Hindu Reform posters to place in the windows; this to let people know the shop had agreed to join the boycott.  At the end of the day protesters assembled in the city center and made bon fires of from foreign made goods; there are reports that some of the burned goods were stolen from business that refused to cooperate.  That evening a number of shops without Hindu Reform Posters suffered from break-ins, thefts and vandalism. 

The only major reports of violence occurred at the docks that evening.  A number of foreign traders worried over events from earlier in the day and from the 14th had band together and armed themselves and employees.  So when groups of what the traders called looters and thieves attempted to break in to the warehouses they were meet by armed groups.  It appears that some of the protesters or thieves depending on your view point were also armed.   Shooting quickly broke out and the result was brief but sharp battle that left several dozen injured and a small number dead; mostly among the protesters.  Police cordoned off the docks in the morning.  Tilak released a statement calling the battle "The Bombay Massacre" and called for the business owners to be arrested for this despicable crime against peaceful protesters.     

Delhi, Mughal Empire

A number of Hindu Groups marched across the city calling for unification with the rest of the Hindu Nation.  Muslim counter demonstrators greatly outnumbering the Hindus clashed with the pro-Hindu group.  The police and army were on alert from reports in Bharat and from warnings from informer networkers.  Hundreds of police and troops on horse back quickly moved in and began mass arrests.

Murshidabad, Bengal
The Nawab of Bengal issued a statement that order has been restored in Bengal but until further notice the Hindu Reform Party and its propaganda is banned in Bengal.  The Nawab has said that he will demand that Poola explain why a number of Bharat Nationals were arrested within Bengal in what is described as key leadership roles organizing the riots and with stacks of material printed by publishers in Bharat.