UK Britain is much as we knew it in our own world, but with less of a successful history of Democracy. It is mired in Depression, but still the head of a world wide empire. It is ruled by King Edward VII (soon to abdicate), and the current Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, is the head of the Conservative Party. Ireland Ireland is entirely one country. There is no 'North Ireland' that remains in the United Kingdom. However, the Province of Ulster is home to a lingering guerilla warfare and is plagued by unrest that the government has been unable to suppress. Germany See Extended Writeup France France wallows in the depth of depression as well, but holds on to its colonies. It is still in the 'Third Republic', but is threatened by intensely nationalist groups inspired by the anger aroused by the devastation at the end of World War I, the lack of major gains from the resulting treaty, and the current depression. Belgium This nation has been a disaster area since the past war and has largely degenerated into anarchy. Think Lebanon in the seventies and eighties. The failure to resolve the Belgian situation has weakened the credibility of the League of Nations. Netherlands This nation seeks to remain isolationist, but is largely preoccupied with preventing Belgian anarchy from spilling over into itself. It is a very libertarian nation, and a nation that has made great advances in water related magic connected to maintaing the dyke system. It is more prosperous than many of its neighbors, which has aroused some jealousy. Switzerland: As isolationist as ever. Not much difference from 'real world' Norway and Sweden: Both of these states are constitutional monarchies, little changed from their real world equivalents. Finland This nation remains part of the Russian Empire in this world, though revolutionary movements do exist. They remain, however, largely ineffective. The Balkans: This region is largely at peace, though mired in depression and run by various petty military dictatorships. Russian Empire Russia is still hobbling along, though the depression in which Russia has become mired seems likely to force the Tsar to finally give in to pressures to give up more power to the Duma. To make matters worse, Trotsky is now on the loose in Russia again, and the Communists, aided by their 'German brethren' are starting to conduct a guerilla campaign against the government. New Byzantium After World War I, the Byzantine Empire was finally dismembered. The result was a revolution that overthrew the Emperor and elevated the group of reformers known as the 'young Byzantines', lead by the Reformer Michael . New Byzantium is a democracy. It incorporates most of Real world Turkey, as well as Macedonia and part of Cyprus, which remains disputed with Greece. In this world, Asia Minor remained a largely greek speaking area and is very greek in culture. Middle Eastern Mandates Most of the Ex-Byzantine holdings are divided into various mandates controlled by Byzantium's enemies from the war. Syria and Lebanon are controlled by France. Iraq and Palestine are controlled by the British. Egypt is technically a British protectorate, but a 'sovereign' nation. Persia is unstable, but retains its independence, narrowly. Japan See extended Writeup China The Chinese are, to say the least, not happy people, but then, who could blame them? Being pushed around by nearly every nation on Earth for the last hundred years would make anyone cranky. China remains theoretically an Empire, but the Emperors are little more than puppets with the Japanese government as the Puppetmaster. Chinese society remains unchanged at the level of the peasantry, except to change one set of masters for another, quite often, but city life increasingly resembles that of Japan and Europe. Many foreign citizens are protected by extraterritoriality agreements, especially the Japanese. In practice, the Empire is torn into warring districts controlled by warlords in the interior and by the Japanese in the coastal districts. While outside influence tended to reduce Japanese influence before the thirties, the Depression has left most of the European nations unable to do much more than waggle their fingers at the Japanese. Life goes on for the peasantry, who continue to farm, dress, and worship in their traditional ways. Indeed, many of them are untouched by the global depression, living the same lifestyle of subsistence farming they always have, though perhaps taxes have gotten a bit rougher and a bit more methodically collected. Tibet Tibet is currently a semi-autonomous warlord controlled region of China. It was conquered by the Chinese in the eighteenth century. To a large extent, it remains self governing and is under the spiritual leadership of the Dalai Lama, a buddhist religious leader. Tibet is noted for a large number of mystics and magi hidden aware, practicing obscure and sometimes dangerous arts. However, they are largely apolitical, and thus take no interest in who rules Tibet as long as they are left alone. India India is once again controlled by the British Crown after a period of mostly independent control by the British East India company. Unrest has been building however, and two movements, the so called Indian National Congress and Gandhi's passive resistance movement have been articulated the growing desire of India's people to throw off British control. The Dominion of North America See Extended Write up. New France This is a Parliamentary Republic, incorporating most of the territory which in Real World History became the Lousiana Purchase, plus part of the Old Northwest (Michigan, Indiana, Illinois). Its capital is Saint Louis. It is inhabited by a mix of settlers of French, Spanish, and British descent, along with a substantial minority of Indians. It is fully independent of France. It is currently torn by heavy ethnic conflict between the Indians, the French and Spanish, and the British. The British descent settlers and other more recent immigrants are coming to outnumber the other groups which have traditionally dominated the nation and now bitter conflicts are starting to erupt. The more northerly regions seem likely to secede in the future, possibly to join with the Dominion of North America. The Native Confederation This is a confederation of tribes similar to the Iroquois Confederacy, but on a larger scale. It incorporates most of what is British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and the Western United States in the Real world. However, Alaska remains under the control of the Russian Empire, and the eastern half of Texas forms the Republic of Texas. Basically, the member tribes are restrained from making war on each other, especially in times of outside threat, and various mechanisms exist to promote peace. The Confederation tends to be dominated by the native Shamans, and is growing in strength as the devastation wrought by European diseases has finally topped out and ceased to lay waste to the tribes. Their biggest problem is that they now face population pressure they cannot deal with except through war, but their neighbors are becoming more and more dangerous to deal with. Unless they can find a better way of Peace, the Republics of Mexico, Texas, and New France are likely to take measures to once again try to suppress the Confederation. The Republic of Mexico It's history is largely similar to that of the 'Real World', with a few quirks like Cortes defeating Montezuma in a sorceror's duel. Currently, the state is best described as a 'one party democracy', similar in some ways to Japan in the post World War II period in the 'RW'. The 'Republican Party' controls the state through a mixture of patronage, bribery, and the support of party-controlled unions. The party has succeeded in gaining the support of the unions through carrying out some basic social welfare programs and aiding the unions in their dealings with foreign manufacturers. Several industries, mainly in the production of coal and oil, and also the railroads and power companies, have been nationalized. This occurred in the wake of seven years of anarchic civil warfare from 1907 to 1914 when the old military dictator, General Zapotas, was overthrown. Africa: See extended writeup Oceania: See Extended Writeup