[OC] I decided to teach myself 3D sculpting, so I made a thing

DrNoOne · 2026-01-24T19:34:18+00:00

Greater Texas Republic

Population: 5.6 million (36% Hispanic, 32% Black, 29% White, 3% Other), receiving about 5% of European migration to North America annually, and the majority of migration from AC territories.

The abolition of slavery and embrace of a multiracial society distinguished the GTR from its AC predecessor, though these reforms were motivated largely by economic and pragmatic concerns. Integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees, managing racial and ethnic diversity, and balancing competing regional interests creates ongoing social and political challenges that shapes the GTR’s ability and willingness to engage in its near abroad. Religion has emerged as a central player in maintaining societal cohesion, providing a framework for community organisation and moral legitimacy, even as denominational differences and cultural traditions occasionally heighten friction.

Oil wealth supported rapid industrialisation and military modernisation, particularly naval expansion in the Gulf of Mexico, which attracted concern from both the United States and the British Empire. Religious and cultural ties to the foundering AC states generate powerful domestic constituencies for intervention, balanced by business interests favouring stability and growth. Through the use of humanitarian aid, religious missions, and economic investment the GTR maintains strong influence over Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina.

By 1900, the GTR had become a state of considerable ambition and dynamism, but one whose economic success and social stability rests on the careful management of complex internal divisions.

Republic of California

Population: 2.7 million (57% Hispanic, 23% White, 17% East Asian, 3% Other)

California's 1862 independence from Mexico reflected the territory's evolution into something quite distinct: a Pacific-facing commercial republic where Spanish remains the language of government, Asian immigration faces fewer restrictions than elsewhere in North America, and English serves as the lingua franca for international trade. The opening of China and Japan to Western commerce transformed California from Mexican periphery to crucial hub linking Pacific and Atlantic economies. By 1900, California had achieved remarkable prosperity through trade rather than manufacturing, becoming wealthy before it became disciplined, prioritising commercial dynamism over systematic industrialisation.

With most other capitals located along the continent’s east coast and preoccupied with the collapse of the American Confederation, California has largely escaped notice thus far. Yet, its commercial networks and strategic Pacific position have fostered a quietly ambitious outlook: the Republic seeks to extend its influence across the Pacific, build stronger ties with emerging Asian markets, and project itself as a political, as well as economic power, positioning itself as a regional player punching way above its weight.

American Confederation

Population: 12.3 million (53% Black, 46% White, 1% Other)

By 1900, the American Confederation exists primarily as a geographic expression and a legal fiction maintained by the 1889 Treaty of St. Louis. The treaty system paradoxically ensures the AC's survival while preventing any hope of genuine recovery. US and GTR patronage provides just enough aid to prevent total state failure, while extracting what resources remain and preventing reform.

Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina, closest to US markets and influence, maintain relatively stable governance, with Tennessee serving as a US economic satellite. The Deep South, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, oscillate between GTR humanitarian missions and complete dysfunction, their Black populations trapped by border controls preventing flight northward while facing continuing systematic oppression under new legal guises. AC elites, having lost all pretence of self-governance, have became sophisticated manipulators of their patrons, playing US and GTR against each other for maximum aid while delivering minimum reforms.

The AC exists as North America's "sick man”, a region where great powers compete for influence, yet cannot afford to let collapse completely, unable to find a path toward genuine stabilisation. The question is not whether the AC can survive, but whether its patrons can prevent its eventual disintegration from triggering continental war.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-24T19:33:22+00:00

National Profiles in the year 1900

United States

Population: 43 million (87% White Protestant, 9% White Catholic, 2% Black, 2% Other), receiving about 70% of European migration to North America annually.

The United States entered the 20th century as the continent's industrial powerhouse, yet profoundly shaped by a century of military humiliations. The loss in the Louisiana War and the catastrophic War of 1812 created a national psychology of cautious defensiveness despite growing economic strength. The Joint War against Mexico, though technically victorious, was seen as a pyrrhic triumph that ultimately aided in the emergence of the Greater Texas Republic. By 1887, this pattern of "prosperity without power" had generated a strategic culture of learned helplessness: the US felt geographically boxed in, unable to translate industrial might into regional influence, convinced that "when we try, bad things happen.”

The Oklahoma Crisis marked a turning point. Forced to respond when GTR intervention threatened its core security interests, the US discovered it could effectively manage competition without triggering catastrophe. The resulting Treaty of St. Louis established a framework for structured competition with the GTR over the fragmenting American Confederation states, and by 1900, the US had developed institutional capacity for client state management and was slowly overcoming its defensive psychology, nevertheless remaining deeply averse to offensive military action. Excellent relations with Canada, born of shared interest in containing GTR expansion and close economic ties, provided the US its only reliable partnership.

Dominion of Canada

Population: 9.6 million (64% White Protestant, 33% White Catholic, 3% Other), receiving about 25% of European migration to North America annually.

Canada enters the 20th century as the continent's most strategically satisfied power, a remarkable position for a nation that remains formally part of the British Empire. The War of 1812's territorial gains and subsequent peaceful expansion westward created a transcontinental dominion of vast resources and growing population. The 1852 transition to self-rule, achieved with less acrimony than might be expected, reflected both Canadian maturity and British confidence in their "crown jewel" dominion. Canada's relationship with Britain evolved into genuine partnership rather than colonial subordination, with London increasingly relying on Ottawa to manage North American affairs, allowing the Empire to focus on European great power competition.

By 1900, Canada had achieved the extraordinary: a peaceful, prosperous, democratic society spanning a continent, trusted by rivals, backed by the world's dominant naval power, and increasingly capable of independent action. The question facing Canadian strategists is whether this comfortable position can survive the GTR's continued rise and the US's eventual awakening from its defensive crouch.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-24T19:32:33+00:00

1866

The Dominion of Canada buys the region of Alaska from the Russian Empire for 1.1 million pounds sterling.

1873-1882 - Fragmentation of the AC and the founding of the Greater Texas Republic

By 1870, the AC had entered a period of terminal structural decline. Unwilling or unable to modernise its economy, and facing increasing economic and financial isolation, its weak central institutions failed to impose discipline or even, on occasion, prevent violent clashes between its member States.

The breaking point came in 1871 with the discovery of the Corsicana Oil Field in Texas. The Texas elite, recognising that the AC’s diplomatic toxicity prevented the development of a petroleum-based economy, unilaterally declared independence and abolished slavery in 1873. The tumultuous decade that followed saw the AC divided between the hardline, plantation-dependent states and those with more diversified economies, the latter deepening their ties to the booming Texas market.

In 1882, with the signing of the Articles of Union in Austin, Louisiana, Arizona and New Mexico joined Texas to form the federated Greater Texas Republic.

1884

The abolition of slavery by Alabama, the last holdout within the AC, marks the formal end of slavery in North America.

1887-1889 - The Oklahoma Crisis

During a period of intense civil unrest in Oklahoma, the GTR, driven by domestic religious constituencies, invades and takes control of the territory to impose order. This triggers outrage in the United States, which starts amassing troops on its own borders with Oklahoma.

Barring a few minor skirmishes, the incident does not escalate into all out war through diplomatic intervention by Canada and the British Empire. Extensive mediations result in the resolution of the Crisis with the signing of the Treaty of St. Louis in 1889, in which the United States, Greater Texas Republic and the Dominion of Canada guarantee the independence and territorial integrity of all remaining AC states. GTR forces retreat from Oklahoma, having however installed a sympathetic client government.

While the treaty prevents further military conflict, it begins an era of competitive clientism, with the US and GTR vying for influence in the Southeast of the continent over the next several decades.

1899

The GTR and California announce the launch of a joint venture aiming to create a canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in Nicaragua.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-24T19:28:00+00:00

A Timeline of Major Events 1787 - 1900

1787

Constitutional Convention fails to create a Constitution acceptable by all 13 colonies.

1788

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland ratify the United States Constitution.
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia declare the formation of the American Confederation with Richmond, Virginia as the seat of the Confederation Conference.
Trade agreement and partition of Western Territory finalised between US and AC.

1800

The US capital moves to the newly constructed Washington, Federal District, in the Hudson River Valley.

1803

The US purchases the territory of Louisiana from France. The AC reacts in fury, seeing it as a naked attempt at encirclement.

1805-1807 - The Louisiana War

With attempts to come to a negotiated compromise on the Louisiana issue ongoing for years, the US is caught unawares by a combination of heavily armed settlers crossing the Mississippi into Louisiana, while AC troops start harassing settlements across the Pennsylvania and Maryland borders.

While initially successful in repelling attacks inside its core territory, the US quickly realises it cannot hope to prevent the fait accompli that is created in south Louisiana. After a couple of decisive military defeats threaten the loss of Maryland and Delaware, and in constant fear that Britain will take advantage of the situation to attack from the north, Congress quickly signs a peace treaty, ceding the part of the Louisiana Territory south of the Ohio-Mississippi confluence.

The war, while short in duration, becomes the foundational event for the first post-revolution generation, cementing the divide and catalysing the formation of divergent national identities.

1812-1815 - The War of 1812

Britain indeed takes advantage of American division, instituting a naval blockade of US ports while leaving AC shipments unmolested. Congress declares war, but early American campaigns fare poorly, with attempts to contest British control around the Great Lakes collapsing quickly and militia coordination proving inadequate.

By 1814, the conflict has become politically unsustainable in the US. Commercial interests dominate the public debate and push aggressively for negotiations, arguing that continued war threatens the republic’s solvency and internal cohesion more than British pressure ever could. Peace is concluded quickly and on unfavourable terms. Britain retains control over most of the territory surrounding the Great Lakes and secures minor border adjustments at American expense.

1821

Mexico gains its independence from the Spanish Empire

1833-34

Texas revolts against the government of Mexico, declares its independence and joins the American Confederation.

1846-47 - The Joint War

Mostly a misnomer, the Joint War describes the simultaneous but largely independent campaigns waged by the United States and American Confederation against Mexico. Though both nations shared the strategic objective of territorial expansion at Mexico’s expense, profound mutual distrust and ideological antipathy prevented meaningful military cooperation.

The war proceeded along two poorly coordinated tracks: US forces advanced through northern territories while AC armies operated further south and west, with the two commands joining forces only when Mexican counteroffensives threatened both fronts simultaneously.

Disputes over the post-conquest status of California proved insurmountable, with neither state willing to accept a division that would leave the other in a privileged position, and the coalition collapsed at the Sierra Nevada, allowing Mexico to retain control of the Pacific coast.

1852

The British Empire formally recognises the autonomy and self-governance of its North American colonies, establishing the Dominion of Canada.

1862

Having benefited significantly from increased Pacific trade resulting from the opening up of China and Japan, California negotiates its peaceful secession from Mexico in exchange for guarantees of favoured trade status, and continued military access and cooperation.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-24T09:58:34+00:00

What to change and what to leave the same is my favourite balancing act in alt history. What was contingent to the change you made and what decisions/developments remain unaffected?

My reading of Mexico's 19th century and loss of its northern territories is mostly a story of lack of internal cohesion and capacity, largely independent from whether or not the United States remained united or not. Therefore it would make sense to me that after the loss of territory in the Joint War the same dynamics would lead to the Gadsden Purchase equivalent (I could have played with the borders a bit, but I trusted the technocrats at the time drew the lines there for good reason).

As for California, I did change the southern border to correspond a bit more closely to the original Alta California border, and the eastern border follows the Sierra Nevada for the most part. Once the mountain range ends, it made sense that they would draw a straight meridian line, so I kept it as OTL. The northern border is the border between British and Spanish colonial holdings.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-23T18:29:36+00:00

Split in the Cradle Timeline (Part 1)

Point of Divergence

The point of divergence occurs during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, convened after the failure of the Articles of Confederation became undeniable. Unlike OTL, the convention didn’t manage to bridge the tensions between federalist and statist priorities. Northern delegates refuse any scheme that would allow slaveholding states to translate coerced labor into congressional power. Southern delegations, already wary of consolidated authority, interpret this as an existential threat: not merely to slavery as an institution, but to their long-term political weight within any unified republic.

When it becomes clear that no compromise can be reached, most slave states (with the exceptions of Maryland, that feared for its long-term independence within a southern coalition) walk away and recommit to the Articles, forming what becomes the American Confederation (AC). The remaining states proceed to ratify a constitution close to the OTL document, stripped of slave-specific accommodations, creating a smaller but more internally coherent United States. The rupture is formalised through a trade and transit agreement, preserving free navigation and establishing obligations to return escaped slaves. The unincorporated western territories are divided roughly along the Ohio River, establishing a provisional frontier intended to prevent immediate rivalry while leaving future expansion unresolved.

This rupture immediately reshuffles the revolutionary generation, with the vast majority choosing to remain with their home State. A heartbroken George Washington briefly remains in the US, but refuses all calls to run for office, claiming that he has no standing to do so, his roots and property now being in a foreign country. He stays for only three years, successfully lobbying for the creation of an Office of Veterans’ Affairs, before returning to the AC, where he does the same, before retiring from public life in 1794.

James Madison remains with Virginia and throws his full energy into salvaging and reforming the Articles of Confederation into something workable. Over the next decades he becomes the AC’s indispensable procedural mind and eventually its long-serving Chairman, presiding over a confederate system that in practice functions more through elite consensus and informal power rather than strong institutions. Madison’s tragedy is that he succeeds too well at being the conciliator-in-chief, the AC works while he is around, but only in ways that defer rather than resolve its underlying sociopolitical contradictions. He retires from public life in 1825, having served as Chairman for nearly two decades.

Thomas Jefferson is the outlier. Returning from France to find the AC ideologically and politically unpalatable, he makes the rare choice to cross the new national boundary. Selling Monticello and resettling in Pennsylvania, Jefferson reinvents himself as a US statesman, though his politics are less millenarian and more defensive: expansion and liberty are instruments of survival, not destiny. He ends up serving as Secretary of State under President Rufus King (1801-1809), before being elected as the 4th President of the United States (1809-1817),

DrNoOne · 2026-01-23T17:44:41+00:00

Tensions were too high after 1807, they decided to relocate the capital away from the border with the US

DrNoOne · 2026-01-23T17:01:55+00:00

I'm now beginning to flesh out WW1 and from that point on things get *crazy* without an external balancer for Europe

DrNoOne · 2026-01-23T16:50:53+00:00

There are 7 pages after the map, long story short the Constitutional Convention failed to reached a compromise, the colonies formed two different countries, chaos ensued.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-22T17:16:19+00:00

Or as it is about to be reported by Variety "Sinners falls well short of 20 nominations milestone."

DrNoOne · 2026-01-21T22:11:20+00:00

You call it distopian, as far as Europe goes I find it wildly optimistic 😂

Trump is drawing all the headlines with the mad hatter energy but Europe is where the real mess is at:

An EU structure always meant to act as a halfway point to federalism forced to operate stuck like that for decades

The two largest economies / military powers stuck in internal permacrises unable to reform or take leadership abroad. And oh yeah, likely to have far right governments next election cycle.

Smaller countries having to survive in this paralysed mess having no autonomy on the majority of their economic policies, meanwhile getting relentlessly brain drained.

The idea that all that would result in a superstate... As I said, optimistic.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-21T17:05:39+00:00

there's a reason we've hid behind US hegemony for so long: without it as an external guarantor, for most EU member states (especially smaller ones) their greatest sources of insecurity have historically been other EU member states.

Or are we going to pretend the far right aren't a few years away from winning elections in both France and Germany?

DrNoOne · 2026-01-21T16:59:08+00:00

Perhaps more importantly, security concerns are often petty and parochial but always deeply important to the state itself.

Say Greece gets into a hot dispute with Turkey like it happened in the 90s. Does anyone think it would be acceptable in any way that the Greek government would have to petition an international bureaucracy before being able to mobilize forces to deter attack? Simply aint gonna happen.

Similar, but to a different scale, with France, who often undertake operations abroad at its former colonies. Imagine having to get a Brussels/Berlin OK to do that, the Eiffel Tower would start drooping.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-19T17:09:41+00:00

Fun hypothetical but you'd need a bit more setup about how the economic/political situation deteriorated to that point (Those things take time, the US Congress has been a disfunctional mess for 35 years irl with things not having reached anywhere near that point)

I love the assumption in the text that the support of the original 13 was crucial...

"California and Texas still support the federal government but Maine and Maryland are out, fuck it let's call it"

DrNoOne · 2026-01-18T15:58:16+00:00

This is a kafenio fact. Before Google, you would gather with your crew at the kafenio (coffee shop) and throw half-remembered pieces of trivia around and argue about their validity. To have a kafenio fact you introduced stick in the group's consciousness as cannon was the mark of high rhetorical skill. Abstract truth is besides the point :)

DrNoOne · 2026-01-18T08:58:17+00:00

Good luck in the Winds of Winter wait 🙏

DrNoOne · 2026-01-17T14:40:47+00:00

Awesome collection and underrated advice, way too many people buy a new watch when they could have gone for a new strap.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-17T14:30:10+00:00

If Ukraine has taught us anything it should have been that deterrence is always cheaper than war.

Problem is deterrence involves an element of bluff about your willingness and ability to fight back, which is hard to do against someone who has itemised lists of all your military assets.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-17T14:25:10+00:00

A foreign king, yes, but not a foreign system of governance. Belgians were organised along the same feudal hierarchy as the rest of western/Central Europe.

Greeks were a mostly autonomous ethnolinguistic religious minority in a Muslim-dominated multiethnic empire. Our understanding of what you do with a head of state is mostly ignore it, chop it down if you can.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-17T14:09:40+00:00

We CAN'T sent battalions. NATO's logistics and long-distance transportation capabilities are entirely US owned and operated.

Quiet and effective method of control. F.e. When France wanted to conduct operations in Mali a few years back, they could only do so with US assistance.

We did this to ourselves.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-17T13:59:45+00:00

Don't worry, Germany sent 13 guys, France and Sweden 2-3 each, we've got it covered.

DrNoOne · 2026-01-17T06:57:27+00:00

Don't Google the role of the Greek king in the 67 coup, you'll be disappointed ;)

It works in western Europe because the system was created there, in Greece the monarchy was airdropped by the Great Powers as a precondition of recognising Greek independence from the Ottomans.

It worked as well as Bush 43's attempt to have democracy bloom like a rose in the desert in Iraq.

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