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News of Earth-Wall (TW03 or "Turkworld"), from the notes of the Chancellor Wyatt:
(1 Mar) There's a diagram of how likely each Canadian province is to secede. If Ontario seceded, wouldn't it have to secede from itself? ... On Earth-Wall the Dominion of Canada is a Great Power on the map, but it's pretty loosely governed. At Confederation time, the Maritimes signed up with New England to form Atlantica. Cascadia and the Great Spirit Alliance are in theory Dominion, but in reality they plus Rupert's Land are Hudson Bay Company. And that's lots of prime Wall Builder territory.
(2 Mar) There's a reality TV show about gladiator academy on Malta. Their wives and children stay with the Jewish community... Antique weapons are making a comeback on Earth-Wall, since Chancellor Wyatt brought Tyrmj over to train the Sultan's personal guards. Tyrmj came from MW01, Mage World 1. They kick ass just with swords and arrows, never mind the battle mages.
(12 Mar) The Sultan has a Women's Fast Artillery force... Historically, Turkey was usually progressive when compared with the rest of the Islamic world. That's one reason Arabs hated them. Another is, Turks ruled Arabs. They still do there. On Earth-Wall, the Great Satan is the Ottoman Empire.
(11 Apr) The Gaza rebellion is trying to contact a fleet of international peacekeepers from Australia and New Zealand. Together they design an alliance flag, then sail for the U.S. by way of Panama. There the heirs of the Ottoman Empire camp out in tents at state fairs... And by the way, Turkey owns the northern half of Australia. Politics as usual on the Sultan's world.
(13 Apr) There's a remake of the "Dixie" game, with separate maps each player can select for his core territories, plus expansion as far as Nebraska. Can you say, overkill? ... But the American Civil War rematch of 1931 is quite a hot topic on Earth-Wall.
(26 Apr) The King of England is leaving town during his son's royal wedding to avoid the tourists... King Charles is a loyal minion of the Sultan-Emperor Hope Springs VII, and England is a loyal realm as long as they still get their royal spectacles.
(23 Jun) A map shows how the inland Columbia River has more development than all around it. On Earth-Wall, Cascadia and the Hudson Bay Company don't believe in "pristine".
(9 Oct) There are Turkish customs kiosks at ferry terminals in the Pacific Northwest. Turks have Hawaii, and they hate Russians, so they've assimilated Russian America! Alaska, that is.
... So much for the state of the world. But there's one other situation going on...
(24 May) Scott Stiles has gone to ground at the tip of Bayonne, New Bosnia, with two magic were-bees. His fellow invaders are captives inside the Meadowlands stadium.
They're all not from around Turkworld. Mr. Stiles (or is his proper title SS for Scott Stiles or Super-Savior?) was undoubtedly briefed; in America it's a Confederate Victory Scenario where the U.S. only goes as far west as Denver. But he'll lack latest information unless he goes out to find it.
As a cult leader, "SS" probably has his own stockpile of transportable wealth. And he's probably smart enough to stuff some beeswax in his cheeks to change his appearance - assuming his magic bees don't just cast a spell to change his appearance for him. So he could conceivably go incognito and bribe people to keep his secret. Of course, that behavior could be conspicuous...
The Sultan assures me his beekeepers have plans to capture the bees. But I'd have to guess how...
- Smoke. Earth bees can always be repelled with it, and even slightly sedated as long as it's cool smoke. Beekeepers have smokers for this stuff, featuring damp greenery. My, that would be an awfully convenient form of Kryptonite if it worked.
- Propolis extract, from a hormone Earth bees produce. But uh oh, these are alien space bees!
- Massed defecation flights. "Yellow rain" can often be mistaken for biological warfare... Well, that's how bees can strike against us. But biological samples should be readily available from their feeding grounds. That could at least be useful for getting their DNA to synthesize propolis.
- Ficam dust is an insecticide against beehives, known to my world. But soap flakes would probably be more universally practical. And these Turks are nothing if not practical.
- Bees are sluggish at night. And this is still spring. It's near the New York City coastline so it's not proper New England coolness, but coldness and small colony size could still be a factor. Besides, magic bees might conceivably get power from the Sun, so are less powerful at night.
- People can also just hose water onto bees to kill them... Huh? That seems awfully easy. However, drowning is often an effective weapon. It might even work against monster bees, if one should increase the scale.
- Colony Collapse Disorder and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus both have potential. Could be from mites, weather patterns, cell tower radiation, pesticide, poor nutrition, stress, or especially infectious agents... which gets us back to all those other methods.
- It should be noted that Earth honeybees die after they sting. These bees don't. Neither do bumblebees or wasps. Maybe they could... but only if they were disfigured to have barbed stingers.
- Mad honey. There's a legend of ancient troops offering Rhododendron honey to their enemies, which on consumption drops the blood pressure dramatically. Rhododendrons are poisonous to humans but not to bees! Poinsettias probably fall in the same category. That doesn't really help control bees, but perhaps they could get to Mr. Stiles that way. Some sugar extract in the Staten Island Botanical Garden could help direct the bees to what the Sultan wants them to eat.
Supposedly in Turkish, bal means "honey" and kan means "blood". I suspect people are going to remark on this Balkanized America and make comparisons to the Land of Blood and Honey.
But the Sultan is also conducting super-soldier experiments. And he would never ask one of his soldiers to undergo what he would not himself. Uh oh, look out for the Super-Sultan!
*My analysts say, this is a standard Rebellion Quest Scenario. They claim to identify the patterns of inter-universal power drama. They have a point. The Congress of Ordered Realities has almost only that, so they've had a chance to refine their trade. So, they predict further episodic stages:
(Episode, designate The Land of Coins and Diners - see newbosnia2.txt)
(Episode, designate The Land of Smoke and Soapflakes - see newbosnia3.txt)
(Episode, designate The Land of Guns and Women - see newbosnia4.txt)
(Episode, designate The Land of Plans and Castles - see newbosnia5.txt)
(Episode, designate The Land of Blood and Honey - see newbosnia6.txt)
(Episode, designate The Land of Thud and Blunder - see newbosnia7.txt)
(Episode, oh I hope it's the last one, designate The Land of Might and Castles)
America rises up on evidence of a Turkish crackdown upon American heroes. The Super-Savior says, come to the Meadowlands for trial by combat! The Super-Sultan accepts! ...Aw, dammit.
Episodic analysts say, the Sultan must lose. As sensible as he usually is, superpowers will give him a total Evil Emperor vibe. That dumbshit.
But what does that mean? Just freedom for some anti-Turkish prisoners for now. Including (maybe) the Sentinel, a conduit to cosmic force. Turks will now have more opponents. Those dumbshits.
(10 Oct) Scott Stiles has been proclaimed Frederick V, Emperor of Prussia, Defender of Christendom, and so on. I guess he's not going home.
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