Chapter 28

FYI, I'll be heading on vacation soon, so I might be a bit spotty for a few weeks in terms of posting new chapters.

An homage to the Field of Cloth of Gold is what I consider this chapter to be, where we see a bit more of the sophistication that commercial applications of technology have brought into existence by this point. These are luxuries without modern manufacturing or shipping would only be possible for world leaders that had nation-level resources. Like the historic meeting between King Henry VIII and Francis I in 1520, it's not unheard of to have dinner party meetings out in the open by rivals like this.

I also wanted to give folks a geopolitical map of the world as it exist in my universe in 1563, Habsburg Empire is massive multi-continental titan, Ming China has moved its territory into Central Asia, Japan has occupied Korean Peninsula, India has occupied southeast Asia, and Russia is at a similar size to Warsaw Pact USSR. There's also a lot of animosity hinted in this chapter between these future factions.

Interesting thing that readers may miss, but the place where the Cores were discovered in our timeline was revealed in this chapter, it's Luna aka the Moon. As of right now, US, China, Russia, India, and Japan are the 5 nations that have landed on the Moon. It's why I chose them to represent the five time travelling factions in my novel, since the prerequisite would be the "Cores". Also, private space launch firms like SpaceX and Blue Horizons are sort of the forerunners for Corporate Consortium competing with the big nations to gain resources like the Cores. The 2nd Moon Race in my universe has much bigger rewards than just bragging rights or a stepping stone to Martian Conquest as some might desire, especially with the discovery of unknown possibly alien technology.

This week's law of power is 20th law of Power, "Do Not Commit to Anyone", it essentially means to leave your options and your opponents' options open. Eli in this chapter did not side with any major faction from the future, rather choosing to retain autonomy. It's an example of practicality and creating opportunities.

Notes:

1. Alexander Farnese is considered a major European master of Warfare in the 16th century. He was one of the shining stars in history among the Spanish/Habsburg Counter reformation against Protestant powers. Shrewd and tactical, but sadly being a bastard grandson of Charles V meant he had a ceiling on his position, compared to his cousin, King Philip II, who was legitimate heir. 

2. One of the goods mentioned in this chapter used for display of national power is "Bone China", which is an English porcelain product that gained immense fame in the 19th century as a competing product against Chinese made Paste Porcelain. The reason is due to the incorporation of animal bones into the creation of the material creating a beautiful finish that could serve as templates for artistic designs.