Precious

Albino Alligators	In the Gorean month of En'Kara, an exquisite sale was made at the great market city of Corcyrus - seven rare albino alligators. Ligurious paid the counter-earth smuggers in Double-Weight Gold Tarn Disks. En route to their new owner, the Tatrix, Sheila, the alligators broke lost and escaped into the Vosk River. The current whereabouts of the alligators – and also Ligurious – is uncertain, although they are presumed to be at liberty in the southwest of Ar.
Missing

On the other side of the sun, law enforcement officers in Brazil continued to investigate the other side of the transaction - the disappearance of the mammals from a university zoo in the western state of Mato Grosso. Their theory – which was close to the truth - was that they may have been stolen to be sold abroad. The animals, said by officials to be worth around $10,000 (£5,070) each, have no skin pigment and their eyes are a distinctive pink. Most of albino alligators born in the wild do not survive because their skin colour makes them vulnerable to attack. They were last seen when they were fed on New Year's Eve, but they were missing when a zoo official went to feed them again on Wednesday morning. Police say there was no sign of a break-in at the zoo which contains more than 800 animals spread across 11 hectares (27 acres) hectares of parkland. The alligators were said to be young with an average age of around two years, and only one albino alligator is now left at the zoo. Police say the rarity of the alligator will make the investigation difficult as the people involved in the illegal trading of such rare species are very secretive. The apparent theft also highlights a wider problem. Animal rights activists say Brazil accounts for 10% of the world's illegal trade in animals, mainly parrots and other birds, which are often sold in Europe and the United States. Or further afield, shall we say. In their contentions with Priest-Kings, Kurii, savage denizens of the Steel Worlds, concealed within the asteroid belt, have frequently had recourse to human allies, and subversion. In accord with such projects, Kurii have occasionally sought to place and support congenial administrations in key cities. One such city is Corcyrus. Corcyrus is ruled by a beautiful woman, the cruel, arrogant, much-hated Sheila, an agent of Kurii.

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In 1477, Charles the Bold is the victor of the Battle of Nancy, sustaining the Duchy of Burgundy which persists to this day as a polity inside the European Union.

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In 4288, Shehzaada Khurram, venerated Indian governor for the Chinese Empire, was born in Agra. His patronage was responsible for the creation of the finest art and architecture to grace southeast Asia. The Taj Mahal, his greatest achievement, is almost as impressive a palace as the Forbidden City, itself.

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Balrog	In 1916, combat tension combined with an over-active imagination amplified by the experience of the Battle of the Somme had traumatised Second Lieutenant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, eleventh battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. "Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud, he smote the the Bridge [of Khazad-Dum] before him. The bridge cracked. Right at the Balrog's feet it broke. With a terrible cry, the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it feel it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled around the wizad's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasping vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss".
Tolkiens Phantasm

Inside a military field hospital Tolkien fought a mental battle to defeat the phantasmagoric projections of the Somme. A battle, he would both win, and lose, and win again. Like Kurt Vonnegut fifty years later, Tolkien's need for expression sought out escapist literature, and his own fight was portrayed in this animated scene from the Mines of Moria. And also later, when he finally defeated the Balrog in the well of the Abyss.

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In 1994, former Speaker of the House Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neill dies at his home in Boston. O’Neill had a short reign at the top of the House’s hierarchy after being elected to the position in 1977. He feuded with the newly elected President Carter, and was notoriously unhelpful in passing the Democratic president’s agenda. He was replaced in the next election cycle by Texas Representative Barbara Jordan, who was much more willing to stand up for the party’s values.

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Nelson Mandela	“Believe”, Nelson once said to me, “you must always believe.” ”I believe the time has come.” ~ Samson Zola. In Laura Resnick's dystopia, years of civil war had torn apart the dream of a Rainbow nation. Samson Zola prepared to assassinate the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Even though he loved him like a father, he saw the need to return South Africa to its people.
Alternate Tyrant

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Stephen R. Donaldson	In 1968, Stephen Reeder Donaldson languished in Vietnam. By inclination a conscientious objector, he had been compelled to serve in the armed forces. Much later, and after dropping out of his Ph.D. program and moving to New Jersey in order to write fiction, Donaldson made his publishing debut with the first "Covenant" trilogy in 1977. That enabled him to move to a healthier climate. He now lives in New Mexico. Donaldson's two year compulsory military duty would be the deep undercurrent of his escapist fantasy writing. In “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever”, the protagonist was a leper struggled with disempowerment in a Land he did not really believe in.
Unbeliever

Mud?" His leper's caution quivered. "I need soap, not more dirt." "This is hurtloam," repeated Lena. "It is for healing." She stepped closer and thrust the mud toward him. He thought he could see tiny gleams of gold in it. He stared at it blankly, shocked by the idea of putting mud in his cuts. ~“Golden Boy”

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In 1986, the Asimov Plan came close to failure because of the arrival of an agent of the random, Mikhal Gorbachev. Asimov had not forseen that an individual could arise who would be both committed to the interregnum's political philosophy, yet a gambler who was prepared to risk all to save the future. The agent of the random was eventually lured to his south russian dachi in August 1991 to destroy the Second Foundation. However, in so doing, he left his main fleet, which was turned against him by Second Foundation agents in his absence, thus ending his rule.

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In 1781, American rebel Benedict Arnold sacks the city of Richmond, in one last act of defiance before fleeing to Canada. With the American revolution largely at an end, Arnold and his revolutionary comrades felt that a statement had to be made against those who capitulated so quickly to the British. General Arnold, of course, was an instrumental figure in the fight for Canadian independence.

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In 1953, the side-splitting slapstick comedy En Attendant Godot by the playwright Samuel Beckett, made its debut in Paris. Widely regarded as Beckett’s masterpiece, it has been translated and filmed in several languages, delighting audiences around the world.

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In 1781, Thomas Gainsborough completed his masterpiece The Two Georges, depicting King George III and General George Washington's historic agreement which established the British North American Union. The Sons of Liberty considered Washington a turncoat. Two hundred and fifteen years later they would succeeed in snatching this symbol of national unity just before the arrival of King Charles III's visit to the State capital of Victoria.

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The Wrath Of Wellington

July 17th, 2007

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The Announcement

Apologies From The Alternate Historian: sorry about missing yesterday's post, and many thanks to Steve for stepping up. Pets – they can be a source of great joy and great frustration, if you know what I mean. Much like children, except you can't depend on them to care for you in your frail old age.
Come to think of it, you can't really depend on your children to do that, either... Anyway, on with our regularly scheduled TIAH!

Marvin looked at her a little non-plussed. “So, it's probably just an automatic thing, right? I mean, you send something like that out here, naturally you want it to signal back home if it finds something important.”
“Right,” she said, walking with him over to the food table and lowering her voice so the others wouldn't hear. “My whole team thinks it's just an automatic signal, triggered by the radio waves we've been hitting the probe with. They figure that if the thing can still send a signal forward after this long, then of course it's got the power to send a signal home, to all its long-dead builders, letting them know it found somebody else.” She made sure the reporter and the cameraman were occupied, which they were – they were interviewing Monica. “But, what if the builders aren't long-dead, Marv?”
“Three million years is a long time, Andi.”
She dipped a celery stick into some ranch dressing and munched it. “That could be a wrong figure.”
“I thought you all agreed that was how long it took to get here from that Wolf place.”
She nodded. “Based on its current speed and trajectory. But, what if it slowed down once it approached our system? I mean, it's barely going mach 3 right now, and that's awful slow. Our probes are all traveling in excess of 15000 miles an hour. In 3 million years they'll have traveled ten times the distance this thing has. The probe's been in our system for years, and we only just noticed it because it suddenly turned on its radio.”
“Look, Andi,” Marvin said, rubbing her shoulder. “Even if its only been a few thousand years instead of a few million, it's not like this is gonna be Independence Day, right?” He smiled broadly, and she returned the smile. “You're a hard-nosed scientist. Remember when we had that argument after we saw War of the Worlds? Alien invasion just doesn't make sense.”
“If you're that advanced, you can just repair the planet you're on,” she said, quoting herself. “You're right. Sorry, Marv. I'll try to let go of all the shop talk.”
“Well, don't let it go too much,” Marvin said, pointing at the reporter. “Don't want him to get itching for something else to say about you.”

"Eddie"	"White man came across the sea Brought us pain and misery We killed his tribes we killed his creed Took his game for our own need We fought him hard we fought him well Out on the plains we gave him hell ~ Lyrics to Run to the Hills (Click Note to Play Video)
Iron Maiden Icon

British Heavy Metal band playing live on their "Eddie Rips the Long House" 2005 Tour of the Inter-tribal states on the Turtle Island. Ironically, members of the band were rebellious Etonians who had studied at the same school as the leaders of the failed imperial adventure to conquer America. The full lyrics are available at Dark World

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

Salisbury	"The Civil War was the last chance we [Great Britain] had of stopping them [the United States]." ~ Marquis of Salisbury
Prime Minister

Speaking in 1898 of the British Century to come by justifying British intervention on behalf of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. A widespread consensus of Victorian politicians agreed that a resurgent Britain would not have been possible if the Union had been permitted to defeat the South, creating a world hyper-power in North America. The history of this period is masterfully explored by Amanda Foreman in her classic opus The Trent Incident Leads to War which is available at Uchronia

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 2007, A. Breeg wrote ~ I feel that my search is now over. The person who contacted me from Romania has finally met me. Only now, eleven months later can I find the words to describe our meeting. And the contents of the journal. Finally I was given the answers I sought regarding my cousin Benjamin Breeg. I can hardly contain myself at the thought of sharing them..

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2009, TV networks ran episode eight of So What If?. General Augustus Pinochet refused to handover his friend Margaret Thatcher to face trial for war-crimes in Britain, isolating Chile within the Organisation of American States. Pleading ill-health, the Iron Lady died in exile in Santiago. Her son Mark returned to Britain to organise a counter-coup with Simon Mann and other mercenaries drawn from Old Etonians.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1967, British Minister of War Dennis Healey announced a decision to increase British troop levels in Singapore and Malaysia. East of Suez was a term used in British military and political discussions. It referred to Imperial interests beyond the European theatre (sometimes including, sometime excluding the Middle East). Strategically the empire military infrastructure was based upon sea lanes of communication through the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal and round the Cape to India and on to East Asia and Australia. With the post-war struggle to prevent a retreat from empire, starting with the Indian Emergency(1947), a gradual build up of the military presence "east of Suez" started. In 1967, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his Minister of War Denis Healey announced that British troops in major military bases in South East Asia (primarily in Malaysia, Singapore, and Aden) would be doubled by 1971. Edward Heath's government decided when it came to power in June 1970 to send further forces to augment a small political and military commitment to South East Asia through the Five Power Defence Arrangements.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1916, the Battle of the Somme headed towards an apocalyptic stalemate.
Battle of the Somme	The background was thus; Winston Churchill had struck a tremendous blow for the Allies with his stunning victory at the Battle of Gallipoli, achieved with the use of staggering quantities of gas which were released by the British Navy to overcome the Turkish defenders.
Promoted from the Admiralty to the position of Minister of War, when the French mutinied at Verdun, Churchill convinced the Cabinet to authorise a similar attack, Gallipoli on Land. Reluctance and xenophobia was widespread, after all, they would be releasing the gas at fellow Europeans, not the Turk who had stolen Constantinople from Christendom and threatened Western Civilization. German humanist sympathisers in the British Government warned the German High Command who prepared troops by supplying huge stocks of gas masks. However, the gas release was bungled, rendering the region of Picardie uninhabitable for twenty years.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1918, by order of the Bolshevik Party and carried out by Cheka, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers were murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. By feigning death, Princess Anastasia escaped to Paris where provided a detailed report of the tragedy. The western world was horrified ..	Romanovs
.. by a whole nest of vampires draining the Russian Royal Family of their blue blood in an act of indescribable violence. Calls for the War of Intervention in Russia started immediately. By cruel irony, the White Forces were soon dispatched to the city port of Arcangel.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Montreal 76	In 1976, controversy marked the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada when a Congolese-led block of 25 African nations boycotted the opening ceremony. In protest at a tour of South Africa by the All Blacks team earlier in the year, Congo's official Jean Claude Ganga led demands that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ..
.. bar the New Zealand team. The IOC was unable to resist the logic of these demands, and the New Zealand team departed the next day. The Commonwealth Games planned for Edmonton in 1978 were cancelled completely to the disgust of the provincial government which had planned for the event for many years and was seriously out of pocket.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1815, Napoleon surrendered to British forces at Windsor, Ontario. The contribution of New France to the North American conflict was over, as was the statehood of the Francophone nation.
The United States faced the wrath of Duke Arthur Wellesley alone, as Wellington turned the clock back to 1776.	Napoleon Bonaparte
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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