W_L

Thanks for loving this humble bard's flight of whimsy

The fair folk is another name used by English literature to describe the fae species from the fantasy genre.

Time is finite or infinite depending on your point of view

Very true in both this story and actual history. The Protestant-Catholic wars of the 16th century were a major tug-of-war, during the mid-16th century when counter-reformation began to coalesce it was far less clear that Protestants states could actually survive, especially against a unified Catholic coalition.

That's why the short stories set in this universe exist Writing it from just Eli's perspective would lack this important aspect to the universe. However, if I interrupt the flow of Eli's narrative for world-building then it stops the flow of e main plot. That is why I bifurcated the main story and related side-stories. Not sure if readers are following both the wider narrative in the short stories and the main plot from this story.

Thanks Chris

The Nazca Lines in Peru remain an enigma as the geoglyphs were made by a pre-industrial civilization for view from the sky, but they did not have any form of air travel as far as we know

By the autumn of 1557, we were finally ready to make a move. My forces had swelled to two times their original size in 1553 with a combined force of around 38,000 men and women, serving in my armed forces. I had 84 tracked armored vehicles, 26 of which I would classify as medium tanks were built on a chassis similar to the famous T-34 tank with its sloping armor and 76.2-millimeter gun. Another 32 tanks were built with lighter armor and a smaller caliber 37-millimeter gun using Soviet and Czech

Chapter 23 This is a big chapter when it comes to the results of the long plot threads. Military equipment is now being fully deployed by Eli and Robert. A lot of covert industrialization has been happening as I mentioned in prior chapters, funded by gold stowed away from the national treasury due to the clerical issue of coinage. A shadow economy developed in Western English areas where Eli has direct oversight. Recruitment for troops has also been building for quite some time, via the short stories like "Quid Hoc" you heard that the basic training camps were already filled to the brim. Officer and advanced training facilities at Seahawk base and Plymouth Base were also mentioned in the last short story. That is what allows a 48,000 combined arms force to exist. As for equipment, Eli does not have an airforce, due to several factors, such as the need for specialized training, maintenance, and problematic reconnaissance from Imperial aircraft. However, the deficit of air power was made up of major pieces of equipment: tracked armored vehicles, 8.8 cm Anti-air/Artillery guns, communication and radar equipment to coordinate, and finally 20th warships. The naval and communication equipment is based on British designs during WWII. The tanks are based on easily produced soviet designs such as T-34 medium tank, T-80 Light tank, and Czech 38t light tank. The artilley and anti-air guns are based on German designs, which had multi-functionality. What many people might overlook in all of the military equipment though is the inclusion of a simple new wagon design, based on the US Conestoga wagons, which could carry 12,000 pounds. Even with four years of preparation, Eli could not create a fully mechanized military force, so a heavy load-bearing wagon was needed to transport mortars, artillery, and munitions across the various battlefields. As for the Coup de grace on what Eli was building with the 3 stolen cores (they have 4 in total, but the 4th is special due its connection with Robert/Eli), HMS Dreadnaught has been launched. Most people will not know what HMS Dreadnaught was, but they do know the name signifies the power of a battleship above the rest. England historically began to rule the Oceans in history during Elizabeth's era, so Eli's timeline will have similar themes. A warship armed with a smaller railgun that can fire 200 miles and deliver 500 tons of TNT explosive power is technically possible and was tested by US navy in 2010s, but the railgun power requirement was too steep to be a useful weapon, along with recharge time. The cores would essentially solve that issue. However, unlike the sky fortress, the railgun barrel is too short with the limited space of the battleship, so it cannot achieve nuclear weapons level of power without Eli or Robert playing with physics. The Imperial Sky fortress can unleash at maximum output 3x at 150 megatons of TNT to what the Pluton gun can unleash in one-shot, but 50 megatons is more than enough to take out most major cities. This week's law of Power is 29th law, “Plan all the way to the end”, which is epitomized by the years of preparation that Eli used to build a military and infrastructure that could rival and defeat his opponents. Eli also made allies along the way such as John Knox in Scotland and William Parr, Earl of Northhampton, who supported the effort through their own independent uprisings and providing crucial support. John Knox's rebellion held off 50,000 French troops in Scotland, while William Parr secured the second largest city of Norwich, which had already developed favorable impression of Duke Eli's effort from the Kett's Rebellion campaign. Notes: 1. In real history, Mary's second false pregnancy was made public in the autumn of 1557 2. The real HMS Dreadnaught never saw battle and was scrapped, despite being considered the pinnacle of a modern waship when it was launched at the start of the 20th century. 3. Henry Percy is famous for being a conspirator against Elizabeth I, so it's not odd for him to control some of Mary's army.

Warfare is part of my universe, but it's not just big flashy battles like the one you are about to witness in Chapter 23. A lot of preparation went into the outcome through tactical training like this. I wanted to show readers what goes into success isn't just equipment; though I love military equipment, the officer corp is important. Interesting note for military vets: Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall is home to a real UK military training base, Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, also known as HMS Seahawk.

Frances Howard had known that this was unlike any challenge she'd ever faced. While she had received basic training in firearms and hand-to-hand combat from various individuals, including members of Duke Eli's bodyguards, it could not prepare her for this next stage. She found herself at the Training Base Seahawk on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall, England, where Duke Eli's Army and Navy trained to become the new model armed forces of England. She promised herself that she would succeed in her

You'll see in the next chapter We're around that point in history for the transition of power.

Thanks, Chris, it was fun to write. I love the caper and the background I added to it.

Aren't those just fluffers Straight or Gay, it's not always a given someone will perform in front of a camera

September 25th, 1555 has no positive meaning to the people in this timeline, but it was a seminal date in history in my timeline. Within my history, it marked the Peace of Augsburg, a watershed peace agreement that would set new standards for centuries to come. The consequence of this peace treaty between incessant numerically inferior Protestant forces and exhausted numerically superior Catholic forces marked the end of medieval institutions and concepts. In its place, two major cornerstones of

Chapter 22 A lot happened between the Autumn of 1555 and 1556, but I began with what didn't happen for a reason. The Peace of Augsburg is considered by some Historians to be the point, when the Medieval History in Europe ended and the modern Era began. Concepts of "Self-Rule" began to grow with the latin doctrine in the peace treaty, Cuius regio, Euius religio” meaning “To Whose land, To Whom Religion”. Essentially, this is the basis for everything we take for granted in the modern world. Religious freedom became Free Speech, Free Association, and Free Expression later, but this was the first spark and concession. The old concept of Unitary Monarchs and Faith died. However, due to the presence of future intervention and a weapon that can deal 20 Kiloton of TNT worth of explosive power, this event did not occur. Eli is in a precarious situation, knowing about the firepower that he has to face, while not having the resources to deal with them. There's also the problem of a united front in England that poses risks for his operations. So an elaborate caper had to occur using both his and Robert's abilities with the catalyst of a Golden Cross. Interesting note, "7" is considered a "divine" number in Medieval Christianity and some denominations of Christians still view 7 as a holy number. That is why Eli specified the Cross to have dimensions based on 7. As for the historical accounting trick Eli and Robert used to cover themselves and offer a Gold Cross to Mary as bait to steal the even more important blue orbs, I hope those with history background appreciate the trick. I am not sure if anyone other than authors like @Mark Arbour would appreciate the nuance of introducing the "Great Debasement" of English Coinage in my story, but it's actually true as to what happened to English economy. Due to the re-allocation of gold and size of coins within England, there was a period in Mary's reign that saw a lot of economic instability and issues. Due to the lack of standard for gold within coins and size of coins, you could essentially manipulate gold if you had access to the main gold mines of England in Cornwall and Wales, which Eli by the nature of his proximity and ducal authority did. In addition, other metals such as copper and silver were also debased in England due to the varying standards of metas within coins. As for the final point, Mary's Progrom against non-English people in her realm. It didn't happen in history, but one can understand why. After Eli's trick and her hatred toward Scotland for the purported theft, she began to blame the issues of her political failures on the ethnic minorities in her realm. As Wales did not gain recognition as equal to English due to Mary's reversal of Henry VIII's laws on Wales, fears of Scottish minority in northern England rebelling, and the constant fighting with Irish clans, it is easy to see why she went in that direction. The worst outcome happened to the Irish population, while English settlement and brutal campaigns are historical in Ireland, the inclusion of modern weapons and knowledge made this far worse. Essentially, in that area, she was conducting ethnic cleansing, aka Genocide. As you know from the connected short story, Charles V or the modern person in his body has no issue with the use of such a tactic for ultimate victory. This week's law of Power is 37th law, "Create compelling spectacles.", which can be applied as a means of distraction to acquire something far more valuable. Eli implemented thi technique with the Gold Cross, which on the surface appeared quite valuable and priceless, but Gold is just material that can be easily manufactured or mined. In contrast, the blue orbs are an advanced technology that can have many applications including creating military weapons that are on par with nuclear weapons of mass drestruction. Notes: 1. William Petow is a historical Cardinal, who did not successfully take over Reginald Pole's job and eventually died in a monastery. A little known historic character that I just threw in there for my story. 2. As for the duality reference to Hindu Gods, Indian readers or Hindu follower if there are any, know I am referencing two of the three principle Gods of Hinduism: Brahma (Creator) and Shiva (Destroyer). Interesting note for Hindu readers, I did take inspiration on the head displacing and reappearance of Mary's 1st baby with the Ganesha origin story. FYI: Eli having some Shiva tendency is paralleled with the mastery of Time as well. Just in case folks want more parallels while the main conflicts are within Christianity, non-Christian elements are affecting things too. 3. With Mary of Guise losing influence and a french army in Scotland as it did historically, Scotland isn't going to be happy place for long. Despite the long friendship of Scotland and France, the occupation by French forces in the 16th century did sour relations and brought rebellion, especially when there was no royal connection.

An earth-shattering weapon will cause a lot of stuff to fall. -------------- I felt like a little more lore helps enrich the bigger story, adds to why and how certain things happen within this universe. In reality, if you have a semi-modern military force fighting against medieval opponents, it would be a one-sided war. However, we've seen in these tie-in stories that the war was actually more dynamic due to guerilla tactics, far exceeding the standards of this era. In my universe, nothing happens in a vacuum. The Chinese faction that I mentioned in the main storyline in chapter 21 plays an active intelligence role, offering knowledge such as Chairman Mao's famous book "On Guerilla Warfare", which by the way 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene quoted as well. As for historic links between wars of religion and Asia: Feel free to look up the Goa Inquisition was conducted by the Catholic Church Keep an eye out on Asia, because these future factions are not just locked into European affairs alone. Most people have the misconception that the Reformation and Wars of Religion only affected European History, but they had far bigger effects across the world. As both Spain and Portugal were ruled under the Habsburg Dynasty at this time, their territories are all open game.

Maurice, Duke and Elector of Saxony, had been mulling over the latest message from the Imperial envoy of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a final demand for the surrender of his Schmalkaldic League, consisting of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire's component regions. The emperor and his ally Pope Peter II had significant advantages in terms of advanced equipment such as horseless iron carriages, flying machines that could circumvent city walls and drop bombs, cannons

We need more versatile authors around here to satisfy ceiling-pushers and bottom-dwellers.

Aye, it's been a while since I've made that top list. It's very hard to maintain a top author spot for your stories. After my passion project is over in 26 weeks, I should probably write modern fiction again. Readership in some genres is rarer than others.

No peace can be created without sacrifice as the bloody reign of Mary truly began with the death of Thomas Howard, one of the last tethers to the old guard of Henry VIII’s court. Immediately following Thomas Howard’s death, Mary elevated his “grandson” Thomas to his grandfather’s position as 4th Duke of Norfolk, which was a boon for the young man at only eighteen to gain such a high position. In my history, he would conspire against Elizabeth and be put to death for his role in a coup attempt, s

Chapter 21 Somethings to mull about, England and offshoot cultures like United States have our democratic traditions based on principles established dating back to Magna Carta, at least in principle. In practice rather than theory or rhetoric, democracy can only function if the balance of power within a society can be exercised equally between various factions being represented. Monarchs and hereditary leaders in the past had more power than nobles (who served as bureaucrats and military officers) and commoners (farmers, traders, craftsmen, and soldiers) due to control over certain resources like wealth or individuals with influence or military force. When nobles grouped together had enough power to challenge the monarch, along with nobles loyal to him, to demand rights and protections from monarchs, the basis of English-oriented democratic traditions began. The reason why I gave everyone this history lesson is quite simple: Democracy is based on the exercise of collective power, so if the monarch possesses more power through a personal army or weapons equivalent to nuclear weapons, then there is no such thing as Democracy even if collective power exist below, all it does is create a collective workforce for the monarch. If that sounds familiar to the Soviet Union's policies under Joseph Stalin, then you are correct. In a medieval setting, it's even more easy to create collective workforces when monarchs have absolute advantages in power. People will prefer the "freedom" that is offered under one supreme leader and one order to independent elites throughout society. Rights to communal lands, free care at churches, and expansive holidays (holy days) vacations for the common man make the medieval model, a prototype of the Communist model, very appealing. As for the story mythology, I left a lot of new lore in here. There are 5 factions in total from the future: A western faction, a Chinese faction, a Russian faction, an Indian faction, and a Corporate Consortium Faction. The blue orbs that I mentioned in the short story Merlin's Crystal Cave has a major use among the factions as a piece of technology, it acts as a personal computer system and power source for advanced technologies. I had the idea of doing 5 factions just so we have various power players in the mix. Additionally, Eli's new power is an extension to his ability to work with information. People may think that knowledge is abstract power, but knowledge can also be physical power in itself. I was inspired by @Geron Kees use of hard science in his fantasy story. While Geron focused on classical physics as the basis of magic, I wanted to explore Quantum Entanglement in its physical form, what Einstein called "spooky" physics. You can't destroy matter or energy, but you can delay its appearance within a period in time, essentially entangling it to a future time. Expanding on that concept, I used the concept of "information particles" as the basis for Eli's new ability works, essentially he can delay information to make an object disappear temporarily. It's a power with a lot of issues. Finally, the card game at the end of the chapter. I liked Kakegurui as an anime and manga series. Most of its characters are bisexual, who love the thrill of risk-taking and gambling, so I took a game concept from that show and expanded it into something new. Levina Teerlinc is a real historical figure and the only female artist during that period of Tudor history. She was sent off to Spain by Elizabeth I in history, so I took the idea a bit further and made her an assassin. It's a fun little side-story for folks and Eli at this point is College-age at 22 years old. A lot of people at that age are playing drinking games. This week's law of power, 1st law, "Never Outshine the Master", it's a pretty simple law that a lot of people violate. Thomas Howard was overzealous with his actions and became a scapegoat when Mary needed to vent her anger. Another is Levina Teerlinc attempt to poison Eli, who had far better abilities to detect an use poisons to his advantage in the card game that basically ruined her chances of approaching him. Historical Notes: 1. Yes, in the 16th century, a deck of cards did consist of 58 cards. 14 ranks: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, knave, knight, queen, king with 4 suits and two fools/jokers. It's a little piece of small history that I just added in there to make it more authentic. 2. Levina Teerlinc was hired by Henry VIII as a royal painter, the only female royal painter. She was very closed to Mary I of England, she gave Mary a locket as a gift. As for being one of Henry VIII mistresses, it was a rumor that she was selected by Henry personally from Catherine Parr's group of female painters. 3. Thomas Howard would be put to death in 1572 of our history for his part in the Ridolfi plot to remove Elizabeth I from the throne and put Mary Queen of Scot on it, with the Pope's blessing. He would have been an eighteen year old at this point in time and very headstrong.

I agree, sadly Ryan Murphy as creator of AHS didn't get any awards for that season. He's one of the few mainstream openly gay showrunners in Hollywood, who handles LGBT themes a lot in his work. AHS was great when he was showrunner (Current season without him called Delicate is just too on the nose for my taste), along with his older shoes like Glee (A show that a lot of LGBT American viewers have at least a passing knowledge). Still, I think he was heavy-handed with Jeffrey Dahmer's biopic series (Good if you like true crime and are weary of the random hookup scene).

Mary had gained power with overwhelming force, but her position was not secure. She also had many enemies near and far, the Protestant nobles across the country were unhappy with her religion. Her choice of husband in Reginald Pole had also alienated nobles from various parts of Mary’s realm, especially Wales. Mary and Pole introduced a radical reform to return church lands, held by country nobles created by Henry VIII, and reverse the Wales Acts of 1542 and 1543, which brought Welsh equal legal

Chapter 20 Reputation is very important to leaders, along with a public image. People want to believe in epic struggles, conspiracies, and concepts bigger than themselves. However, there's more complexities in belief than mere idealism. Some bad blood remained despite being a century separated from the War of the Roses, where competing York and Lancastrian lines fought for the throne, only to be won by the Tudor branch, a minor spiinoff of the Lancastrian line. One of the interesting things that Henry VIII did during his reign was establish the loyalists in Wales to equal standing to English with Acts in 1542 and 1543. However, many of the principles behind equality for Welsh were tied in with the new regime and religious system that Henry VIII established, so in history, Mary I never dared to completely reverse all of Henry's reforms. However, in my story, she went one step further having seized power through force and enforcing a stronger Conter-reformantion, similar to those in Europe. By doing this, the Welsh were losing their new rights, so they were susceptible to Eli's propaganda information war against Mary, the Catholic Church, and the Yorkist connection that would still be deeply ingrained. It's an interesting historical What-if situation, when counter-reform affects something that most people nowadays don't even consider as being just an afterthought, but once upon a time the Welsh were 2nd class citizens compared to English, too. Additionally, I brought up 2 famous historical figures in Thomas Crammer and Thomas Howard. Crammer is considered one of the quintessential martyrs of the English Reformation and Marian Purges. However, I wanted to showcase a push by Eli in this novel, a reformation within the reformation by establishing a "secular" martyr, someone willing to die for principles that could be useful for the kind of nation-state Eli would want to build. It's a push to establish check on the authority of monarchs and raise skepticism on the belief of orthodox religious thought. In addition, I also took inspiration for the Tongue reattachment surgery from Parallel World Pharmacy manga as most readers know I am a huge fan of Japanese/Korean/Chinese Anime/Manga/Manhwa, drawing much inspiration for this story based on that. Finally, Thomas Howard is a microcosm of Henry VIII in terms of his own life and choices. I took inspiration from the real historical figure and his complex history with his wife, Lady Stafford who did love Lord Neville, and mistress Bess. In history, Thomas Howard tried to divorce his wife, but was unsuccessful, so he just separated from her. There's no historical evidence for why he did that, but in my story, I just took the idea of the wife committing adultery and ran with it. It's a complex situation, since Thomas Howard's family fortune is tied with illegitimate bastards, he is dyng with a lot of regrets, similar to how Henry VIII was portrayed in The Tudors. For this week's law of power, 5th law, "So much depends on reputation, guard it with your life", if you do not protect you reputation, you may lose everything you possess due to public perception. Conspiracy theories and libellous claims can destroy individuals easily if you do not protect yourself, just as Eli is doing to Mary's cause along with Mary's own actions, alienating various nobles in her court. Notes: 1. Yes, in 1556, Thomas Crammer did attempt to save himself through recanting his Protestant beliefs, but in the end, when Mary wouldn't pardon him, he made a major speech against Catholic Church and English government in protest. He was burned to death immediately after his declaration. 2. Stephen Gardiner was Chancellor to Queen Mary as well as a Catholic Priest during this time, he served dual roles as Bishop and leader of the government during the Marian purges. 3. Interesting bit of surgical knowledge, you can reattach a severed tongue with modern surgery or even create a prosthetic tongue depending on how much damage was done. I took the concept and the abilities of Robert and Eli to create that scenario.