Spirit of the West
Brandon I
Bran made his way to the south study. It wasn't initially meant for the role but since Kathleen's inheritance, she had repurposed one of the old living rooms into an office even closer to the barracks.
He saw that brother-in-law of his was already waiting with his dear sister. The boy was young, about two-thirds Bran's own age. Kathleen was almost old enough to be Gabriel's mother. The thought made Bran's stomach turn slightly less than the notion his stone-cold sister would marry at all.
Gabriel "the Czexan", so-called as he's presumably the only Czexan this far north. Akin to the biblical namesake he's admittedly fair. The young man isn't much use apart from combat, which is a strong reason Kathleen would choose him of all men to be her husband. Useful, martially talented, young, impressionable and thousands of miles from any established allies.
Kathleen herself was sitting behind her desk with two seats opposite of her, one occupied by Gabriel and the second vacant for Bran. How gratuitous of her. She spared Bran a flat glance before return her attention to her paperwork.
"Your thoughts on President Caesar's children?", asked Bran, sitting down.
"Wait, what? They're the President's children? As in, they're of the current First Family?", said Gabriel, looking to his in-law.
"Who did you think they were then?", asked Bran, giving Gavriel the look that said he was a dullard and should know it.
"I don't know. All I was told about them was that the brother knows you and the sister were collecting him. Hopefully, she'll take him off our hands and I can resume my post.", said Gabriel. Of course, that was at the forefront of his mind. He had been pouty for as long as Bran was visiting, the reason being the aforementioned son of the President.
Apparently having Guilherme's pack of dogs replace the household garrison he had been in command of, didn't make Gabriel a happy soldier. Bran didn't find the situation appealing for a different reason. He couldn't stand the sound of Guilhermes' malamutes. All-day and night it was a cacophony of howls and barks. Whether it be to one another or anyone passing by. He couldn't even draw close the curtains because they were smart enough to recognise that a person had done that.
The sooner Guilherme was gone from the manor the better. Or better yet, Bran himself leaving would be the most ideal. He would have done so sooner, if not for Guilherme. Kathleen urged Bran to stay to keep an eye on Guilherme. After seeing what had become of his friend, Bran had to admit that he would agree with Kathleen for the first time in years.
"So our Californian Guest's sister is also the girl who left you at the altar?", asked Gabriel, everything in his mind seeming to finally connect.
"Firstly, she's not just some girl. She's a woman several years our elder and a distinguished member of the Agency. Keep that in mind when we're with company, Gabriel.", sighed Bran.
"Secondly, why do people keep saying that? Are the journalists spreading rumours about me or something?", asked Bran.
"Ha! As if the journos would waste their time with you of all people. No brother, not at all. It just makes for a more dramatic retelling of events. It's simpler to understand as well. The civilians love it.", poked Kath.
"So, what really happened between you two then?", asked Gabriel. Bran could applaud Garbriel's willingness to learn but would have preferred if the boy directed those efforts outside his personal life. For a moment he wanted to tell Gabriel where he should shove his questions up but he stopped himself. The next moment, Bran decided to answer the question on the condition it was the last, but he held back again.
It didn't do well to hold onto anger, so he let it go. Bran would have preferred to not have gotten mad in the first place, but he kept in mind what he was taught. That all things, emotions included were temporary. He swiftly resigned himself and with a sigh and continued answering his brother-in-law's questions.
"Let me see, where to start?", began Bran. He composed his thoughts for a moment, finding a way to phrase it in a manner even Gabriel could understand. "Yes, she was my fiancé. Yes, she left me but it wasn't during the wedding. There wasn't even a wedding, to begin with.", he said.
"We would have been too young to wed, I was 15 and she was 18. I didn't even want the engagement in the first place.", he continued. That's what he's been telling himself for the past decade or so. He occasionally laments a future that could have been, but he has no one to confide in such thoughts. He certainly wasn't going to open himself to his sister and her husband of all people.
"She made her intentions public, that she was to enrol in the Crimson League.", added Kathleen. "Bran was to enrol in the Ivy League with her. But then, my dear brother let his emotions best him and he enrolled in the Azure League in defiance."
"Excuse me?", interjected Bran. But his sister continued regardless.
"The whole arrangement was conceived by the previous General of the Maritimes, our father."
"General Jean made this engagement? I've heard stories but nothing of this.", said Gabriel, slack-jawed. At times, Bran found himself annoyed with Gabriel but having known the man for a few years left Bran knowing a bit about him. Gabriel kept to the hierarchy of the military beyond what Bran considered normal.
"I couldn't have imagined General Jean would have exercised control over you as... my own father had.", said Gabriel. Bran didn't miss the resent Gabriel had for an arranged marriage. Bran hadn't felt the same but could understand those that would. Gabriel thankfully placed the blame solely on his own father and bore no animosity to House Absolu. That may change the more he hears about General Jean. For him to hear that the former Absolu patriarch had the same intentions for Bran must have come as a shock to Gabriel. This must have been the first he had heard of this side of the previous General.
"Father always intended for me to be his heir...", said Bran.
"But his plans fell apart. Or at least one of his plans.", continued Kath. "He carefully orchestrated this since well before we were born, possibly even when he was our great grandmother's heir. He wanted Bran to be the next General of the Maritimes. Father couldn't be satisfied with that alone, he would have had Bran be the next President.", said Kathleen, still bitter.
"It's to be expected that a General would groom their children to inherit their own positions, but father had wished more for our house, more for his son. It was perfect, we garnered much political capital with the Constitutionalists, not to mention backing from our own party, the Greens."
Kathleen made a sweeping gesture to the wall behind them. Along with his academic achievements were photographs of Bran, brown-nosing with and to members of the Green Party.
"Our position close the Capital, our heritage, our moderate stance in politics and my aggressive posturing in the senate gained us many sure votes within both houses.
"Bran was already pre-enrolled in the Ivy League but... as you can see.", Kath continued.
Bran's Civil Sciences Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate were defiantly displayed. It was a surprise to Bran that Kathleen hadn't taken them down. She's redecorated much of fathers old arrangements.
"Lastly he already was engaged to the Presidents daughter, a correspondent to the President's eldest son and best friends with the President's youngest son. If not for the fact Father had maintained the outward appearance of a simple and content man, our efforts would have been sabotaged from without rather than from within.", she finished, looking pointedly at Bran.
"Are you resentful to her? She did, as you described it, cost your father everything.", asked Gabriel.
"Everything? No, she hardly did that. Bran was the one who ended Father's plans of our family's ascendence to Presidency.", said Kathleen pointedly.
"What? What did I do?", asked Bran innocently.
"Your Wolfsblood got the better you. You aggravated our allies in the Senate and locked us to our little corner of a state.", stated Kathleen.
"Wolfsblood my ass. I followed my heart as much as you and anyone else in our family has.", bite back Bran.
"What happened?", asked Gabriel.
"I'm surprised you don't know, given how you already knew the second most controversial gossip about me.", said Bran.
"Bran got himself involved with fundamentalists.", started Kathleen. Bran rolled his eyes at that. His sister was being derivative as usual.
"They are not fundamentalists! A traditionalist is a more accurate term.", defended Bran.
"I'm lost here. What? Who was Bran involved with?", asked Gabriel.
"The Green Peace.", stated Kathleen.
"They're fundamentalists? I've been under the assumption they were under the purview of the Green Party? I've been addressing you as Keeper for years. I didn't know it had a stigma to it.", said Gabriel.
"Of course they're not fundamentalists. My sister just loves to exaggerate the situation.", corrected Bran.
"Well do explain before I rethink how it is that I should be treating you.", said Gabriel.
"Very well. The Green Peace was the last vestige of the Old Gaians to resist the Americanist Revolution. The most zealous of the old faithful had all congregated into a single warband."
"It was only just as recently as this century, the Green Peace had entered the Green Party in an official capacity. The few remaining Gaian Purists had fled either west to New Russia or south to the Andes.", he explained.
"I didn't 'fall in' with the Green Peace, I volunteered for the group. I saw merit in the old traditions. I simply participated in the practice of the older, more esoteric rituals."
"Superstitious posturing. You wasted our party grant money on scrap iron.", said Kathleen.
"It was well within my rights. A grant given by the Green Party should be given to a Green purpose.", defended Bran.
"Why would you need scrap iron?", asked Gabriel, visibly confused.
"We seeded the coast with iron to allow algae blooms.", explained Bran. They could give Bran those looks, they weren't there months later to see the results.
"It was a fucking waste of time and effort is what it was. You also made us look like idiots to all our peers in the State. It took me all that month suppressing rumours."
"Look, if you don't actually want to support our party you're free to join any other you wish.", said Bran.
"You know that's not possible. No one would trust us if we did so. The other Parties would only accept after a generation and only if we grovel at their feet for that time, all the while we send our children away to them. If we changed our minds and returned to the Green Party as the prodigal child, the same would happen. 'Traitor' being branded onto our House isn't what I want my legacy to be.", said Kathleen. Bran took a moment to consider his sisters' words but the conversation would have been interrupted anyway.
A knock on the door alerted the three to the arrival of a fourth. Kathleen bade them enter.
"General, Sargent, Keeper, good evening.", greeted Anastasia. They returned her words in turn.
"Please, have a seat.", offered Kathleen. There was only one seat left anyway.
"I'd rather stand up, thank you.", responded Anastasia. Bran smirked at that. It was a small nick at Kathleens power over the situation.
"In what condition did my brother find himself when he came into your household?", Anastasia began. She seemed to get straight to her point. Bran could feel the air tickling like a light rain. It seems Anastasia still isn't afraid of 'showing off'. Bran observed that Gabriel, although gripping his seat, had held back from defending Kathleen. It seems his sister rightly instilled much confidence in Gabriel of her own power. Good.
"More or less the same condition that you found him in.", Kathleen said as a matter of fact. Stone-faced and steel hearted against the growing aura of Agent Anasia. Why wouldn't she really? Anastasia has a... sordid reputation for leaving a mess during her 'investigations' but Kathleen had the most dangerous Stand in the whole State.
"More or less? Did you neglect the health of the Presidents son?", said Anasia. Her voice kept even but her hair rising in the air beguiled her true emotions. That was all well in good but Bran knew that this was as far as Anasia was going to go. This 'fight' was unusual. The Upper Class do tend to trade barbs but hardly display their power so openly. Many, himself included, frowned upon such childishness.
"Now hold on here. Neglect? If anyone's been neglecting your brother none are more guilty of such than he is. The most he interacted with anyone was his initial introductions. We haven't seen him leave his guest quarters this whole time. The only sign that we know he's been eating was the cutlery he's left outside his door.", explained Bran, breaking the stalemate. At first, him 'standing up' to the growing threat of Anasia seemed foolhardy but true to his suspicions the display was only that, a display. His former fiance regarded him with a considerate look, dropping her neutral face and her ethereal power. She couldn't have done much really, not with three opponents in their own home and it seems she knew that.
"Hm. I suspected as much. I hoped there was a simple explanation as to why my brother had fashioned himself into a Californian Guru. My apologies.", she said. Perhaps madness just flowed through every Maxon's veins. Their most famous and infamous member having been nicknamed 'Funny' should have clued him in.
"He's still not joining us then? Not even with his sister present?", said Gabriel.
"No, he's staying in his quarters. Which is apparently the new normal for him.", said Anasia. Such an arrangement was fine for the three. They were used to such.
"I suppose a thank you is owed.", said Anasia. Before he could even begin to guess how she would thank them, she continued.
"What do you know about the Five Eyes?", she asked.
"The what?", asked Gabriel. Bran was just as clueless but Kathleen seemed to quirk an eye. Had he missed something?
"Hmm. What do you know about NATO, the United Nations, or the European Union?" asked Anasia.
"They were pre-Event nations?", asked Gabriel. Bran of course knew as well, if Gabriel knew then he knew too at the very least.
"Well, yes and no. NATO was an alliance led by America. The United Nations acted like how the Concert of the Americas works today. And the European Union was the equivalent United States... but on Europe.", explained Anasia. This was a cause for more confusion rather than revelation.
"What do long-dead Empires and alliances have to do with anything?", asked Bran.
"Recently, there was an expedition sent east. The Masonic Blockade was lifted but only for a small fleet. A few thousand men were sent to find what they could.", said Anasia. Bran had to double-take at that.
"Come again? How have we not heard of this ourselves then? Hell, how have the papers not heard about this?", asked Kathleen, echoing Bran's own thoughts.
"The Agency has been keeping this classified until we've heard any report back from the expedition. Colonel McCormick sent word back a month ago. The Agency declassified the operation and is now on a need to know basis.", said Anasia. That explains some but not all.
"So, we're in 'need to know' then?", asked Kathleen.
"Hah. Consider this a thank you present, please accept it, not as public servants or members of the Senate but as friends to the Maxon Estate. It's for keeping my brother safe.", she said. Bran nor his sister weren't born yesterday though. This was a heads up at most. If this knowledge was now on a 'need to know' basis, it was only a matter of time everyone in the country without wax in their ears would find out too.
"So the Feds want to find old friends? Isn't that a bit too wishful on the odds those pre-Event entities still even exist?", said Bran. That didn't quite make sense, why would they lift the Blockade only for that?
"You're right in part, they do want to find old friends. But how unlikely is it that those governments survived? America certainly lasted for millennia.", posed Anasia.
"America went through a dark age for half of that time.", she continued. "Yet, it nonetheless returned after all that time."
"It was enough of a dark age that our own historical records are incomplete, we know more about the politics of the European Middle Ages than the centuries before the Event. What if these descendants of past allies don't remember us in turn?", countered Kathleen.
"Then we forge friendships anew regardless.", stated Anasia.
"Awfully optimistic of you, isn't it?", said Bran.
"I don't think it to be so. Besides, finding America's allies was the initial goal. But as the saying goes, 'No plan survives beyond first contact' and Colonel MacCormick's return missives are testament to that.", said Anasia.
"What do you mean?", Kathleen asked, more apprehensive at Anasia's implication.
"Colonel Adam didn't find Europe.", stated Anasia. That was a strange thing to specify thought Bran.
"He found Africa?", asked Bran. It was only logical to think so.
"No, not even.", said Anasia. "The Old World seems to have been misplaced. He found a different continent, a new continent.", announced Anasia.
"No... Is it...?", trailed Bran.
"It is. I believe you two are already intimate with this knowledge.", she directed to the siblings. Oh, how true that was. The Absolus have passed down their own mythical origins, from parent to child for generations. Since the days of Brandon Eastborne.
"Westeros is what the natives call it. Communication went surprisingly smoothly, as the Westerosi seemed to speak a dialect identical to Ancient English.", explained Anasia.
His family had often spoken of the old country of Westeros. It was a land much like America when the Absolus first arrived, a land of rich farmlands biting tundra and scorched deserts. Westeros was a petty land divided into hundreds of small kingdoms, with the South being carved up by further eastern invaders. Brandon Eastborne's own grandfather was a scourge upon those invaders, the Hungry Wolf they called him.
The Eastborne's father left their kingdom in the hands of the heir and left Westeros for lands beyond the Sunset Sea. The father would never see the land that would bear his kin. The Eastborne and a fraction of his fleet left behind the Sunset Sea, although not unscathed. They bore witness to the unimaginable and horrid. The Border between the Atlantic and the Sunset was as tall as the Ocean was deep. Although not all the survivors witnessed the awe of it, they all felt it. Their bones twisted and contorted within their bodies and reformed in the same moment. Those that slept through the crossing had died in their sleep, smiling in their cots.
The crossing to America was a scarring and tepid endeavour. It left the hardest of men shocked for the rest of their lives. It was for this reason that the Absolus have barred any return or explorations of Westeros. For as long as the Absolus have ruled, from the short-lived rule of King Brandon II of the New North, to Counts and later Dukes under the Kingdom of Quebec and even later still as Colonels under the State of The Maritimes, the Abosolus have enforced this edict. They have bid as much favour as they could, that even the early Presidents heeded and established the Masonic Blockade. Until now at least.
"What? You're not pulling a wool over our eyes, are you? How could the Old World be lost, only to be replaced with something else? Are you sure your sailor didn't just get duped by the Redcoats?", questioned Gabriel. As if men could be tricked into believing a make-believe land just as they're witnessing the possible counterproof right before their eyes.
"I don't have reason to believe so. If this Colonel Adam is half then man Adam Senior was, then I'd doubt the success of such a deception.", said Kathleen.
"Regardless if you believe that the Old World had been replaced or not, it doesn't matter. Father is set to return to the Capital at the same time Colonel Adam returns.", said Anastasia.
"Expect a summit to be called from the Capital. With all the new traffic to and from this new continent, who knows what will happen?"
Bran expected nothing less than such. He could already see it with Kathleen. How would the Galvinists put it? Oh yes, 'gears were turning in her head'.
A/N:
I feel unsatisfied with myself with how few and far in between all my updates are. To be fair I have no one to blame but myself. Then again, I'm doing this for myself and I don't feel any obligations to other people.
I have no intentions to drop this story or put it on hiatus. But just in case either of those scenarios come to pass, I'll write my thoughts on where I intended this story to go.
I wanted to keep to the underlying theme of the Old Monarchy vs the New Democracies. Despite the Earth of this story having millennia of republican tradition, their democracies are relatively new in comparison to the monarchs of Planetos.
This democracy vs monarchy theme would have worked in tandem with a broader new vs old. Industry vs Feudalism. The American Colleges vs Citadel of Maesters.
I also wanted to explore the high contrasts of Liberal Democracy and Westerosi Feudalism. Liberal in the original sense of the word.
ryanngweiming: This Second America was founded in 2776, a thousand years to the day. The in-game requirements to reform it were met in 2761 but the President at the time kept the provisional government until the poetic date.
Most citizens and society within America have adapted and changed. They are Americanists but they aren't the same Americanists from 2666. The Americanist government has subsumed and co-opted the different religions as syncretic cults or "Party". A new 'Pax Americana' in the same light as the 'Pax Romanum'. "All gods are one under the American Dream."
The majority of citizens worship the gods of their ancestors through the Americanist lens. Their old religions and religion-groupings influence their Party Affiliation, e.g. Gaians, Celts Green Party.
Atomicists, Aphites, Rust Cultists Progressive Party.
Consumerists Monetarists Economist Party.
Or in the case of the former Abrahamic Religions, they're in such a minority that former Jews, Muslims, Christians and LDS' have formed the Abrahamic Party.
Some areas with strong local cultures formed their own parties e.g. Texan Party, Californian Party, Florida Party Carrib Party.
Those that refuse to take part in this system aren't 'full citizens' then. Extra taxes are levied against them when they vote, i.e. the "Pole Tax".
Those that at this point refused to take part in the system were treated as second class citizens. The biggest minority of such were Christians, who wanted a "separation of church and state". These people over the generations either joined a party and the system as a whole or emigrated.
At the time of this story, the majority coalition's current leading party is the "Federalist Party". They started as an Occultist Syncretic Cult of Americanism. The Gallowglass of New England were the basis of America's reconquest of North America. The Yankee Gallowglass were like the Ottoman Mamluks, they kidnapped or accepted tributes of foreign boys to train and indoctrinate them into Federalism. People who didn't want to risk this Cultural/Religious genocide swore fealty to America instead.
House Iturbide are still around. Although Mexico is a rump state, whose provinces only pay lip service to Mexico City.
House Yudkow are still around but irrelevant in North America. The Empire of California is defunct, its de jure kingdoms are now states of America. The Yudkows rule a Celestial Empire-in-exile on Hawaii.
House Gable survive. They rule as Generals of Jefferson.
House Abbas are still around in Socal, gaining and losing the title of General of Socal now and then.
House Beaton are still around but they have been reduced to Colonels under the Absolus.
House DeWitt survive. They rule as Generals of Connecticut.
House Castel are still around and rule as Generals of Quebec. Quebec State is smaller than the Kingdom of Quebec, with land south of the Lawrence River conquered/given to Vermont and The Maritimes.
House Soady are alive but are landless. The Soadys survive as mercenaries.
Houses Littlepaige, Bagley, Gee and Royall are all still around. The HCC was dissolved and its kingdoms were further divided. At this point of the story, there is no de jure HCC, its lands are divided between the Commonwealths of the Thirteen, the Gulf and the Heartland.
House Waltney survived. They rule as Generals of Florida.
The Merchant Republic Houses of Wayne and Rothschild survive. The Rothschilds have moved to New Orleans while the Waynes stayed in New York.
House Bustamante are alive. They no longer rule the Caribbean Empire. Their highest title is Admirals of the East Indies.
Houses Salazar, Sulley, Leones and Alvarado survive and rule in Central and northern South America.
last admiral: I agree, the irony in the nobles petitioning Egg for more reform when they've been fighting against him this whole time, is palpable. The Americans being somewhat more approachable to the Westerosi, compared to the Free Cities and sharing a common language, the Westerosi would get swindled often enough before they'd get wise. Another point of high contrast is the anti-mercantile Lords of Westeros vs the Capitalists of Second America.
Right, I wouldn't have written it any other way, if I was going to write a 'Feudal-Modern in a decade' type fic, I would have sent a Spacefaring civilisation to Westeros. I'm going to take my time in letting Westeros thrash and gnaw in its growing pains. In this semi-barter society, you can imagine the thousands of Snake Oil salesmen peddling 'Wonders from America' and marketing 'American' as high-quality goods.
As for the non-existent middle class, I planned on using the newly ratified, yet to be built, American Green Zone in Kings Landing as a microcosm of Americans improving the lives of the Smallfolk. Hopefully, this is enough for Egg to accept the foreigners but it would also alienate them to the already growing anti-American faction in court, led by Lord Baratheon.
As for any new advisors in Eggs 'Meiji Restoration? Funny enough, Egg tried to be the Emperor Meiji of his time but the difference is the Meiji had all the power early on. Westeros is still very much a decentralised feudal kingdom. Egg needs to restructure the entire government to be as effective as Meiji. He's going to need a lot more than just 'advisors'. He'd need to centralise the state first.
I doubt the Senate would see much sense indirectly aiding a foreign sovereign. At most, they'd turn a blind eye to venture capitalists and private military companies setting up across the ocean.