Since that happened, who replaces Russia in this part? Maybe China since they can be taken seriously as a rival to the US even if the people in power sacrificed their country’s future for more power. And are they also one of Crete’s trading partners?
@JBento is gonna love that I bet.
It’s still going to be Russia, I’m just going to have to swap some historical stuff. For example, I’ll have this guy actually pull off his reforms instead of being sacked, and maybe some superhero shenanigans which slightly strengthen Russia from the unsalvageable mess of corruption it is irl.
It’s basically scrapped out of my plans for the military, though (those plans weren’t for an actual war with the West, I can confirm). Even if I’ll try and twist things so it isn’t a disaster, I have serious doubts I could make a reader actually ‘fear’ a Russian army for the foreseeable future.
Yes, most of the world by necessity trades with China, but China’s relationship with Crete is… complicated. On one hand, China was the only ‘big boy power’ who supported Crete carving its sphere of influence in the Mediterranean (through the defense treaties and economic flexing) despite American and Soviet meddling, but on the other, Crete’s grown to be an actual problem for China’s own designs in the region. As you may know, irl China has invested quite a bit in infrastructure and other projects in the Mediterranean, specifically the Balkans. For example, in real life, Greece’s largest port, one of the largest in Europe, is owned by China. In AToH, that’s not the case. Crete owns it.
Nowadays, the US is mostly fine with Crete being its own thing. It serves as a nice counterbalance to Turkey, which means Turkey isn’t always throwing a tantrum about leaving NATO, and it’s part of the EFTA and has taken over supporting Greece, which is seen ‘favorably’ in the EU. This all means that Crete is seen more as the… say, always-traveling, rich, bachelor uncle of the European family, instead of some anomality that they all see with distrust (at least for now).
Which means that, essentially, this is China in regards to Crete:
Sounds almost as if Crete was like North Korea but far more stable and less "mad man with nuclear weapons"ish in the Mediterranean.
And in regards to the Russian army and your concerns with it, I’m just spitballing here but you probably could consider them threatening nuclear weapons like Putin has but in AToH, it’d be taken seriously because the current nuclear weapons that any country has irl is most likely stronger than the atomic bombs dropped in Japan and the previous Seeker did save alot of people from it. And you do have a plot point that the current Seeker is broken. If not nuclear weapons, then they could add superpowered people to the army which I’m sure everyone in the world would prefer to avoid at all costs.
Not too far off from what the goal is, yeah. Crete’s a fully independent actor in the world, and while that has caused everyone headaches at different points in history, the US and Western Europe have taken their migraine pills in the modern era, so they’re mostly cordial as of now.
Until, uh… the whole terrorists in the name of Crete’s founder thing.
That’s kind of annoying, I think.
Oh, something I think I should note, now that we’re speaking of Crete for a second.
‘Blitz Queen’ is the more popular and global name for Crete’s hero-queen.
But blitz is a german word. In Crete, the Queen’s moniker is more associated with the sun, which is why the day of the nation’s founding is celebrated as the ‘Day of the Sun’.
Not a bad idea, and while I definitely appreciate hearing your thoughts, let’s just say that…
For the conflict that is coming, nukes and the like are more or less entirely off the table. The important metrics are going to be the number of men, equipment, and economic power.
Funny thing about that…
If you believe Crete, the current Russian president is already grooming their successor.
She happens to not only be powered, but to also be a military officer with an active command.
I already can see a legal paradox right there somehow. What if she straight up commits a war crime in a place where she has diplomatic immunity? Does someone step in immediately or do they have to wait until war crime charges are brought forth? If she does have it anyway.
This is good potential for conspiracy theories in the future. Time to take out my tinfoil hat for this one.
I mean, I’ve already gone on record that between Gloria and Stratton I find Stratton the LESS objectionable of the two, considering that while what we know of Stratton indicates that he would probably willingly endanger innocent civilians for good press Gloria ALREADY HAS.
No, seriously, what does the Speaker of the House look like, just in case these something happens to these two?
The House is currently controlled by the Revolutionary Party. The speaker is a woman named Linda Thompson.
She’s your average moderate liberal. Big on women’s rights, but ‘let’s not rock the boat too much’ when it comes to other social progress stuff like universal healthcare and the like. She’d probably be a return to the Obama years, more or less. She has a daughter around Ignis’s age.
And, just between us, if she gets to the big chair, Ignis is leaving the country, and the League collapses.
Now this is interesting. Care to share how the events are connected?
I did.
Remember how Ignis has intimacy issues?
We’ll get the exact specifics eventually (to Ignis’s great chagrin, and the poor cutlery in Forlorn/Seeker’s hands at the time), in chapter 7.
Isn’t the League going to collapse regardless of what happens in the story? I mean we got a walking nuclear bomb that has PTSD, a guy that always gets drunk and isn’t even a true Seeker in a sense, a heiress to a weapons company that I probably could see some fuckery happen behind the scenes then there’s… well Nova and Aki.
If that was enough to make a multi-million dollars backed organization collapse, there wouldn’t be a single corporation or government left in the world.
That’s why I’m keeping an eye on Gloria. He clearly has something in mind for the MC and Lat, kind of like wanting them both to be loyal to him like how Dark Star is loyal to Stratton. He already proved that he’s willing to sacrifice people and possibly his morals to get what he wants. If the League is going to collapse, I’d bet good money on Gloria having something to do with it.
I mean, you’ll never find a president not willing to sacrifice both of those (cause you simply won’t ever reach that spot if you don’t) so it’s not directly indicating that he has bad intention per say.
The fact that you can still do atrocities without any bad attention is very much relevant, just as it is for the league, and I guess it’ll be up to each MCs to judge the situation for themselves
How it happens matters quite a bit. If the US fires League members, then that’s just the US “not needing the services” and proving it has power over it.
If the members just dip, saying “fuck y’all”, then that’s an embarrassment. The US doesn’t have its house in order.
The League, as it is designed, does not work for the purpose that the US wants it to. Its members care more for each other than the directives of the government, at least two of its three leading members have absolutely no allegiance to the country, and the government doesn’t have any way to actually hold it accountable. You can’t cut their funding- Ignis can pay for all its expenses out of pocket. You can’t threaten it with force (which is the basis of a modern government), since they are beyond anything the US could bring to the table. You can’t rely on the fear of a greater enemy to keep them united- Seeker, Forlorn and Ignis could realistically declare war on the entire western world and never have to fear for their lives.
So far, this hasn’t been a problem. The US has been peaceful, and there haven’t been any global crises that test this relationship.
That isn’t going to be the case anymore, which will lay the problem bare.
@Dragomer is right, though. Institutions don’t just collapse, especially if there are interests in keeping it in place.
That means that the League will have to be reformed, so it actually serves the aims of an imperial power as it is supposed to.
As long as there’s popular and political support, the League will remain a thing.
Whether it’ll keep its current members, though… That isn’t so assured.
Squadron Supreme has entered the chat
I haven’t heard of that one…
immediately finds Hyperion as one of the founding members on Wiki
Oh no, fuck that shit. I’m out.
To be fair, its not that far from the CIA problem that was mostly solved by a lot of collusion that kind binded every branch of government into the same sticky mess that force them all to help each other out unless they want their own bullshit to blow up in their faces.
It’s just a lot harder bind an organisation in that way when its staffed by like 7 people who thus have a lot tighter control on their own activities.
So the Balance of Power can still stabilize itself in a way that doesn’t rock the boat too hard.
Hey, Hyperion isn’t really that bad of a guy, at least compared to the shit everyone kept pulling on him. Dude was literally raised in a Truman show situation.
Hyperion has been mostly a straight up villian in most of his comic appearances but I’ll give you the point that he was a good guy at a point.
But at least it’s not like Sentry which is actually 100x worse.
Squadron Supreme is its own universe where he’s this world’s somewhat deranged Superman tho IIRC.
Entirely true, but the problem comes at that last portion. There needs to be something that can force the League’s hand, or at least there needs to be something which will go poorly for them if they separate from the government.
As of right now, the US government doesn’t have that ‘something’.
But that’s not to say they won’t have it by the final chapters…
Maybe not quite to that level, but there is going to be an interest in a more subservient group, yes.
Although that’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering what your own group will be like. Iris and Victoria are both coming to the forefront in the next book, and… well, Iris has a quicker tongue than she has a brain, and Victoria…
Well, if Victoria had been the one there, let’s just say Japan would be doing the opposite of praising the Seekers.
