Re: Russia in Ill Bethisad

>From: Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...>
>
>  --- Mat McVeagh wrote:
>
> > If you look on the page
> > http://www.geocities.com/elemtilas/ill_bethisad/minor_countries.htm it
>goes
> > into Russia and China a bit. Personally I don't 'believe' what they say
> > about Russia - the idea of Red (Great) Square being filled with Russian
> > Buddhist fanatics chanting "Nam myoho renge kyo!" may be funny but it's
>not
> > at all realistic :) - but I can certainly swallow the defeat of the
> > Communist forces in China.
>
>I agree. IMO this is probably the weakest part of the whole, otherwise
>extremely interesting and enjoyable, alternate universe Ill Bethisad.
>Russia
>definitely deserves a better treatment. The idea (what would have happened
>if
>Russia had lost the war with Japan in 1905) is good, but should be worked
>out
>differently, because this is completely unrealistic, indeed.
>
>Jan
LOL - thing is, Russia *did* lose that war anyway. I've just been reading
about it in a book about the Japanese secret services. But it didn't become
all Nipponified or Buddhist. There is no chance of that - most of Siberia
and certainly all of European Russia was heavily under the influence of
white, Christian and western or quasi-western tendencies.

And I repeat what I put in another post - it would be even more interesting
- for me at least - if Russia did not have such a huge advance into Siberia
beginning in the 16th century. Maybe a little later, but with enough time
for other things to develop there (Tatars, Mongols, Chinese, Manchus,
Japanese). That territory was not Russia and had nothing to do with Russia
until they conquered it then, much like Europe's conquest of the Americas.
They hadn't even overcome the Tatar khanate of Kazan until shortly before
the conquest of Siberia.

Mat


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