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The Alexandrine Empire

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I made a thing.

The point where this timeline diverged from our may very well have been when a butterfly was crushed beneath a horse’s hoof out on the steppe… The precise moment of divergence is unclear. What is clear is that the Huns came down on the Romans much harder, sacking Rome in 451 and breaking the Western Empire all the way to the Pyrenees. This angrier Hunnic Empire proved just as ephemeral, though, and as it vanished the Roman world was left wide open to an even more devastating Germanic incursion. A coalition of Ostrogoths, Gepids, and Alans sacked Constantinople in 484, shattering the Eastern Empire and leaving a power vacuum which the Sasanian Persians quickly exploited.

The Roman lands descended into chaos. History happened.

By the year AD 700, parts of the old Roman Empire have stabilized, and in others enduring state authorities are once again taking root. Much of former Roman Europe (save Hispania and southernmost Italia) is still on the front lines of migratory invasions – the Germanic peoples have mostly settled down, but now the Slavs are coming down in greater numbers than in OTL, and there are Turkic and Uralic peoples hot on their tails. Christianity is weaker, and in Europe the Arian (or “Gothic”) Christians clash with trinitarian Chalcedonians for power. But on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, a new order has taken shape.

The Ægyptian or “Alexandrine” Empire dominates much of the Mediterranean world, stretching from Mauretania to Syria; it also holds dominion over parts of Greece and Italia, as well as several Mediterranean islands. Though thoroughly Ægyptian in character – the chief language of government and religion alike is what we would call Coptic, and the officially sanctioned branch of Christianity is the Miaphysite doctrine of Alexandria (called “Alexandrine” Christianity these days - the Church is headed by the Primate of Alexandria, who styles himself a Pope) – the Empire considers itself a Roman successor state, and styles the city of Alexandria a Third Rome (though the locals still prefer to call it “Rhakōte”). The Emperor is both Basileios of the Romans and Erro of the Ægyptians, the government and administration work on Eastern Roman models, and while the *Coptic language is growing in literary and cultural prestige, Greek still remains an important language of administration and culture (and Latin still commands respec, though it is less important to the Empire). The Ægyptians see it as their duty to enforce Miaphysitism throughout the Roman and Christian worlds, and since its inception in the 5th Century the Alexandrine Empire has campaigned aggressively to take back Roman territory lost to the Persians in the East and the Germanic Vandals in the West. The Empire has “restored” the Metropolitans in Antioch and Rome (or, more accurately, installed Metropolitans subordinate to the Alexandrine Pope), and converted much of Italia, North Africa, Arabia, and parts of Spain and Gaul to the Alexandrine doctrine. Through the Alexandrine Church, the Empire’s influence extends as well to East Africa, where Alexandrine Metropolitans sit in Dongola and Axum – though Makouria remains firmly independent and Axum (or Æthiopia) is a great empire in its own right, having brought Christianity (and also quite a bit of violent conquest) to South Arabia.

The chief rivals of the Alexandrine Emperors are the Sasanian Shahs of Ērān & Anērān ("Iran & Not-Iran"). This highly cultured and sophisticated Persian Empire grew considerably after Constantinople fell – very nearly conquering Ægyptos and Alexandria itself – but in the last century has gone into decline and lost considerable ground and influence to the Alexandrine Christian realms of the Ægyptians, Æthiopians, and Ghassanid Arabs. That said, the Sasanian Empire is not weak – the Shahanshahs have held onto their conquests in the Caucasus and Asia Minor and have even expanded their borders to the Indus, though the dream of Achaemenid frontiers remains elusive… They may have bitten off a bit more of "Not-Iran" than they can digest comfortably. The Sasanian Empire is officially Zoroastrian, though many other religions are tolerated. Miaphysite Christians sometimes have a hard time of it, being the Empire’s enemies of late, but Nestorians and Gnostics are welcome – some even hold positions of authority in the Sasanian Government, and the Nestorian Patriarch of the East is an honoured vassal. Many Chalcedonian Greeks also prefer to live under the rule of the infidel Persians rather than the heretical Ægyptians. Jews live and worship freely in the Empire, as do Buddhists and Hindus, and Manichaeans have a stronger presence than in our world (especially in Central Asia). The Empire also hosts a substantial community of Mandaeans, and the Turks and Caspian Magyars often recruited as mercenaries bring their own gods to the already pluralistic and multicultural army regiments.

To the west of the Alexandrine Empire, the Amaziġ (Berber) peoples of Mauretania and the Atlas region have also adopted Christianity, but it was at the hands of Donatists. The “Mauretanian” Donatist Church has taken on a noticeable Amaziġ flavor, and has spread down desert trade routes via partially evangelized Tuaregs to the Kingdom of Ghana. The Ghanaian church is even more localized in character than its Mauretanian progenitor, and many of its rites and practices would seem quite alien to an Alexandrine bishop. Christianity is still spreading along the banks of the Dioliba (Niger) River; how far it will spread remains to be seen.

Across the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) – ruled by the African Romance and Alexandrine Christian Principality of Altava – lies Hispania. Save for the small Republic of Cartagena, which is Alexandrine, Hispania is a land of Arian Christianity brought by the Goths. The rule of the Visigoths (accompanied by the Suevi and Alans, who settled in western Hispania) was not as stable as in our world, and while Toledo and Tarragona are ruled by Visigothic princes, they are thoroughly Romance in character. The Gothic language remains prestigious, however, as it is by this point the language of Arian scripture. The Arian Ostrogoths still rule in the Kingdom of Ravenna, though their power has waned in the recent century under assault from pagan Slavs from the east and the Alexandrine Empire from the south.

Former Roman Gaul and the Balkans were hit hardest during the Migration Period. Gaul, for its part, is beginning to stabilize after the Alexandrine liberation of Massilia broke the power of the Arian Burgundians. The Frankish Kingdom of Neustria (more Germanic than in our world) and the Grand Principality of Aquitaine (Frankish ruling house, but heavily Latinized) don’t necessarily get along, but they are both Chalcedonian Christians and it pays to stick together when you share long borders with still half-barbarian Arian heretics and pagan Saxons with a penchant for scalping. The Balkans are a bit messier, but what else is new? The Arian Ostrogothic and Gepid principalities that once held shaky sovereignty over a patchwork of Chalcedonian Greek statelets were knocked down when the Avars came thundering into the region, wrapped in a swarm of angry Slavs. The Turkic Avars now rule a sizeable – though highly decentralized – realm from Constantinople (which is far from the Queen of Cities in this world) and, though accepting of Christianity, are themselves resolutely pagan. The Chalcedonian Greek principalities and bishoprics remain loyal to their pagan overlords mostly out of fear of the Alexandrines - like their brothers subordinate to the Sasanian Shah, they prefer the overlordship of a pagan to that of a heretic. However, the Avar realm will probably not survive much longer, given that the Bulgars are breathing down its neck and the army is now mostly Slavic. The Iazyges (or “Pannonian Alans”) to the north are an odd mix of pagan and syncretic Arian, and are also increasingly influenced by the Slavs as they continue to move in from the north and the east.

The pagan Slavs, for their part, are nearing the crest of their migrations. Having pushed the Germanic peoples a fair bit harder than in our world, many Slavic tribes are beginning to settle into their new homelands to get down to some state building, but that state building will likely occur on a foundation of Christian and Germanic plunder… And some Slavs aren't done migrating just yet.

On the British Isles, the tribal Celts of *Ireland and *Wales practice their own highly localized variant of Christianity, which they are proselytizing among their kin; but the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes remain firmly pagan and are continuing to push the Celts to the margins of the island… Though their own states are weaker than in our world and are showing no signs of consolidation any time soon…

Beyond the frontiers of the Sasanian Empire, history is proceeding more or less in step with OTL. The Tang Dynasty rules China with the Mandate of Heaven - they have cordial relations with the Sasanians and won't have to worry about An Lushan in TTL, so we'll see where that goes... Tibet is reaching new heights of imperial power, India is in flux, in Southeast Asia the great states of the Malays and Khmers are on the rise. Beneath the Eternal Blue Sky, the Turks are riding towards new horizons. But amid the thundering of hooves and the fluttering of the butterflies’ wings, who knows what tomorrow may bring?

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BadgingBadger's avatar
My bet is that, here, Attila won the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, breaking the back of rome and causing a much quicker collapse.