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QuantumBranching — On Venus, they have a Rabbi. On Earth...

Published: 2014-04-17 08:42:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 9596; Favourites: 43; Downloads: 75
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Description No time for big projects, but here's a shorty...


Did a (largely self-imagined [1]) map of the Earth from William Tenn's "On Venus, Have we Got a Rabbi!", showing the Eleven Nations Terrestrial. The war with the clam-like Vegans forced unity on the squabbling powers of Terra, and a world government of sorts exists, the Council of Eleven Nations Terrestrial, concerned principally with military defense against further Vegan attacks and other possible alien menaces: the independent former colonies of Titan and Ganymede are closely allied. As part of the settlement spheres of influence were "frozen", which leads to constant low-level intrigue but no war as long as the Vegans stick around. Mars, Venus and some interstellar colonies are run by governors selected by the Council with the input of Titan and Ganymede, while other parts of this and other solar systems are run by various individual members of the Eleven Nations. There are some independent human colonies here and there among the stars, but Vegans and other threats means that most remain at least Council protectorates.

The war with the Vegans broke out as a result of the Vegans being rather susceptible to human religious memes, leading to somewhat distorted versions of Judaism and Islam being embraced by large portions of the Vegan species: rather naturally, war broke out when the Vegans in turn set to converting (by force) both the unconverted Vegans and humans who didn't follow their brand of religion. Indeed, by the current time the Vegans hold the view that both human Muslims and Jews follow the wrong version of their own religion, although the Neo-Ommayad/Umayyad Vegans don't get along quite as badly with human Muslims as the Dayanist Vegans (very few human Jews agree with the Vegans on their view that Moshe Dayan was the Messiah). 

As part of the peace settlement, the Vegans got the Holy land (they very nearly got the Muslim Holy Cities as well, but the Islamic powers were better able to make their case - with antimatter bombs, if needed - than the Jews, who had been mostly scattered again after the Interplanetary Crisis of the 24th century) [2]. No human beings are allowed in Israel - the last Muslims were kicked out some 50 years ago when the Omayyads declared all human versions of Islam heretical, and while theoretically, by converting to Dayanism, Jews can move there, the Vegan rules on circumcision tend to be rather lethal when applied to the human body.

The Vegan civil war (between Neo-Ommayads, Dayanists, traditional Animists, and the occasional Objectivists) continues, which is all to the good from the human viewpoint: if any one group managed to unify all of the Vegan worlds against earth, humanity would probably be screwed.

Switzerland is still around (it's in the story: look it up), still neutral, and their deepest diggings are now approaching the Mohorovicic Discontinuity.

Currently, things are tough on Jews, although the Interstellar Diasporah means that in spite of that there are more of them than ever before. They are tolerated in a few of the Eleven Nations, but the Vegans conspire against them (they would prefer that the heretical claimants to the Holy Land remain at least one interplanetary orbit away from Israel), and there is a widespread sense that the Vegan Conversions and the consequent Interstellar war is somehow their fault (and the Muslims fault, of course, but the Muslims have their own countries and are harder to push around). Still, there are reports, even in these uncertain times, that miracles may still happen...


[1] The only nations mentioned, aside from Israel and Switzerland, were Egypt-Libya, Uganda-Rhodesia, Argentina, and Brazil.

[2] Never Again is good in principle, but taking on Brazil _and_ Argentina at the same time, while everyone is busy with a shooting war over Mars? Oy.
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Comments: 9

Whiteshore1 [2016-08-28 13:39:02 +0000 UTC]

Did the Orthodox Russians who didn't convert migrate to the Ukraine?

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Todyo1798 [2015-08-20 18:55:52 +0000 UTC]

Man I always hate it when Scotland is somehow more resistant to Anglo rule than Ireland.  We're the ones that actually succeeded in fighting back ya know!  We didn't shit it at the final hurdle in one of the mildest independence referendums in human history!

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grisador [2015-05-19 14:51:59 +0000 UTC]

    --- This is amazing !

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Deltax10 [2014-04-30 21:09:24 +0000 UTC]

hi again, great map. why does Argentina control Peru and not Bolivia? Which of these nations would you consider plausible? Do you know where I could find this story online? how advanced is technology here? What is the Conquest? Are you planning on posting your Six States, Seven Cities map here?

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Tardis218 [2014-04-27 20:58:28 +0000 UTC]

What program do u use to make these?

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Menchvik [2014-04-25 02:22:41 +0000 UTC]

I think you should at least learn more about Asian geography... Some boundaries are in that shape for reasons...

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QuantumBranching In reply to Menchvik [2014-04-25 03:03:51 +0000 UTC]

If you have specific criticisms, make 'em. 

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Tuskin38 [2014-04-17 18:49:03 +0000 UTC]

I see Argentina finally got the Falklands... I mean Malvinas

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dsivis [2014-04-17 16:22:35 +0000 UTC]

I remember reading that story in an anthology of Jewish Science Fiction & Fantasy...now where did my copy of Volume 1 get off to...

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