Setting Sail for Salé
I couldn't resist the pun, sorry guys. So this kind of marks the end of the Barbary Arc, if we want to call it that.
Unfortunately, they couldn't refill their bunkers with coal at Gibraltar, but they did manage to get normal supplies, like water and food, including that classic staple of hardtack. It was a traditional naval ration, along with salted pork, but of the two hardtack was the worst by far, less like bread and more like a brick, to the point that it was practically inedible without dipping it in liquid or cooking it first.
They did have some other supplies on hand, like orange juice to fend off the scurvy, but a majority of the sailor's diet was composed of hardtack and salted pork. It definitely wasn't appetizing, even if Lelouch ate it to demonstrate solidarity with the men, and he was very anxious to try out canning. Relatively fresh Italian tomatoes, Tunisian dates, or the like would be a remarkable change of pace from eating what was basically a rock made of flour and water. Of course, Lelouch wasn't going to shorten the campaign just because he didn't like the food, but simple changes like that could raise the men's spirits.
Of course, there were a number of flaws with canning- including having to use a hammer and chisel to open the things- but Lelouch was optimistic, and certainly wasn't going to pass up on new technology, even if it didn't have the direct martial applications of exploding shell guns or the like.
Now they sailed for Salé and Rabat; the two cities were on either side of the river Bou Regreg, almost like the cities of Buda and Pest on the shores of the Danube- the cities weren't unified, but they shared a river. Salé also had a piratical history, and was actually the headquarters of a short lived piratical state- the Republic of Salé- which participated in Barbary piracy and the slave trade before it was subsumed into the Sultanate of Morocco. Funnily enough, the pirate republic was a beast of Europe's making, founded by Moriscos expelled from Spain- of course, the piratical state had been gone for nearly a century and a half, but the proud tradition of piracy was carried on in North Africa.
So they sailed for Salé and Rabat, although there was a fairly good chance that the Sultan may not have been there. Cities like Fez, Meknes, or Marrakesh were a critical part of the Moroccan state but were also far inland- it could take weeks of riding to inform the Sultan and for him to ride to Rabat, but they were well stocked and could wait things out.
Lord Ashford had already started to sail towards England proper, hugging the coast of Spain with the intent to make a grand tour of it- stick close to the coast of Spain, swing by Lisbon in Portugal, impress the French at Gascony, all the way up to Brittany. From there it was a simple sail across the open sea to Scilly or Cornwall in southwestern England, and then they would show off the ship until reaching London, where the excitement would hopefully reach a boiling point. Hopefully, it would be an excellent start for the Italo-Britannian trade and would serve to show off the might of the Italian Viceroyalty.
The ship would come bearing wine and Italian glass, which was fine enough, but they would also be bringing news of Lelouch's misadventures in Africa. Better to have someone like Ashford spinning the story in his favor then having it reach the Emperor's ear in some other way.
They had hopes of reaching Salé around the 12th or 13th of October, and so far the campaign was quite short; a bit more than a fortnight had passed since they first set sail, and while their wait with Morocco could definitely make the trip stretch, he was hopeful they would be home before the year was over.
Eventually, Lord Stadtfeld decided to set sail, with hopes of reaching Italy within a month or maybe two, depending on the weather. The Cape's weather was notoriously brutal, and it was furious enough to sink ships, so they decided to wait until conditions were right.
Clovis made sure to give them a "heartfelt" goodbye, and gave them no shortage of gifts before they set off, like wines and candied fruits, but neither really compared to a full lion's coat, with a thick mane. Apparently, the coat was from a man killer in Clovis' menagerie, a particularly mercurial beast that they had tried to tame to little effect. It was one of several animals that had killed their tenders, both Boer and native Khoisan, which was one of many reasons behind the Viceroy's lack of popularity with most of the Cape Colony's population. Kallen couldn't imagine decorating a household with the coat of a confirmed man killer, but her father accepted it with glee, or perhaps he was just excited about any gift from the Viceroy.
The Viceroy had insisted upon dragging Kallen to his menagerie before, a splendid complex of gardens and enclosed faux-wilderness where lions and zebras rested in the hot sun. It was actually impressive, and in some ways downright scientific- they kept great lists of lineages and selectively bred the animals- it would have productive if they were breeding better livestock or the like, but instead all these resources were wasted on practically useless animals: trying to breed domesticable zebras or easygoing lions.
Kallen couldn't speak Dutch, but from what she gathered the native Boers were stifling under Britannian control, at least in most ways. Both Britannians and Boers were united in a disdain for the native Khoisan people, but the Boers felt increasing unhappy with Britannian oversteps. Dutch was still an official language in the region, but she had heard rumors of Clovis planning to change the official language of the colony; because of course, the Viceroy couldn't bring himself to learn the language of a majority of his people!
Would the Viceroy of Italy be so grating? She hoped not, but maybe if she was lucky she wouldn't have to meet the man. It was the same thing in all the Britannian settlements she had been to: a bunch of high and mighty Britannians in their ivory towers who didn't care for the people below them. Thankfully, they hadn't spent as much time in the other Britannian settlements like Calcutta or Jakarta, and they were just stops to resupply, which was a relief. Britannian high society was incredibly grating, and this was especially true for the Viceroys.
Regardless, when the weather cleared, they sailed out for Italy, with a potential stop on one of the European trading posts that dotted the coast of Africa: they were called factories, although they weren't related to the types of factories they had in Britannia proper, great centers of mass production.
The cities of Rabat and Salé were as beautiful as the rest of the cities dotting the Barbary coast, all tremendous arches and beautiful carvings. Of course, some of the impact of the city was lost when viewed by telescope, but Lelouch managed. They sailed up to the mouth of the river, and while the people of the city had noticed their presence they hadn't gone on the attack- a good sign.
They exchanged messages with the citizens of the city by dinghy, and sure enough, the Sultan of Morocco was away on business, in the city of Fes, deep inland. After some discussion, they sent a message to the Sultan with a rider, calling him to the city as soon as was reasonable; of course, that didn't mean it would be soon, and it might take him days to ride over. The Sultan was responsible to no man, and he could take his sweet time to ride to Rabat.
Lelouch was curious about the Moroccans in many ways, but one area of interest was cryptography- making communications secure. Of course, for something as simple as a summons, there wasn't a real reason to keep it secret, and the only important thing about it was verifying that it was real, something that could be accomplished with say, a seal. Even so, there were times when greater secrecy was needed, when the furor of war forced greater security. Lelouch had to admit that it was something he should adopt himself- he hadn't put any plans against Britannia onto paper, but if things ever reached a point where large scale planning was needed, just writing in Italian wasn't going to be enough.
Cryptography had evolved since the days of Caesar's basic cipher, where letters were simply moved around, and Lelouch knew that it was a delicate business. All it took for the greatest cipher to be cracked open was one person getting the key- the means used to decipher the code- and all the steps taken were for naught. The ideal code should be impossible to break through normally, but should be easy, or at least reasonable, with the proper means.
The ancient Greeks used something as simple as a plain old rod to encrypt their messages, called a scytale. It was a remarkably simple process- take a long strip of paper and wrap it around a rod of a specified diameter, then write your message on the paper down the length of the rod. Unravel the paper and voila, you have a long strip of utter nonsense that needs to be wrapped around a rod of the same diameter in order to make sense.
Of course, the method of encryption kind of implied what was going on- what else were you going to do with a long strip of paper? So you wanted some mode of encryption that could be applied to a normal letter, so that the only way to tell that something was up was if you opened the letter and saw it was full of gibberish.
Ideally, you could make some sort of machine or device that could be used to encrypt and decrypt text without messing with the actual paper the letter was written on. Lelouch may not have been as devoted an inventor as Lloyd Asplund, but he had quite a bit of waiting to do- who knew what he could come up with, given time?
After some days of waiting, Lelouch hadn't come up with much, and he decided to have a discussion with the men on his ship. They were working on the turret- not to fire on the city, of course, but just for maintenance purposes- when he had the beginning of an idea.
The turret was basically just a cannon on a rotating base, and from above it might have looked a little like a clock, although it only had one arm. A clock was divided into a number of sections, each one meaning something- 1, 2, 3, etc.- where each little slice of the clock had its own distinctive meaning; maybe there was something to storing information on cylinders or disks.
Not necessarily something like the scytale, but maybe the disks could be used for some other reason? Etch the sides of a disk with letters or numbers, and you might be able to do something with that. Collect a bunch of disks- dozens, maybe?- and write all the letters of the alphabet in unique order on the disk's sides. Put the disks on an axle or something, and then spell out your message on one row. After that, you could take any other row of your choice and use that as your encrypted message. Once the message was received, you would recreate the code on your own set and find the actual message.
You could even make it much harder to crack if you shuffled the order of the disks. Number them, maybe, and then keep the order you put the disks in a secret- then the enemy wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of the message, even if they managed to get their hands on a set of the disks.
Ideally, these disks would all be standardized, and they could even make a factory for them, print them like pamphlets even! As long as they kept the order they should be arranged in secret, all the disks in the world couldn't let you crack the code. Nevertheless, there was still some reason to keep the method close to their chests, just to make sure that it didn't spread to other countries, so it could be used against them.
Unsurprisingly, Russo was the first to spot the Sultan and his entourage, from the heights of his hot air balloon, and he communicated it as best he could by flag (unsurprisingly, they had not developed flag signals for the words Sultan or Morocco, but Russo managed).
It had been about ten days of waiting, and considering how far inland the Sultan was when they first arrived, he must have thought things were urgent. Of course, a threatening fleet menacing one of his cities was a completely reasonable thing to get upset about. After some time (probably spent talking with viziers or reviewing the situation with the ruler of the city) the Sultan sent out a messenger on a little dinghy.
Once again, one of Cornelia's officers translated between Arabic and English; Lelouch was very glad that Arabic was so widespread and Cornelia's officer was so fluent, or they wouldn't have gotten nearly as far.
"Britannians. The Sultan is curious to hear why you've arrived. You mentioned that you planned on negotiating a treaty, but the specifics…" The man had a gentle voice and mild attitude, which carried across even if his words were translated.
Lelouch smiled at the man and responded. "We wish for an end to Barbary piracy against Britannian shipping and free trade, but we are willing to make a deal. Industrial technology, the secrets of steam engines and factories… the Sultan may have heard of them?"
After a bit of back and forth and some clarification, the man sailed back to Salé, to begin their negotiations with the Sultan. Lelouch sighed and realized this might take a while if they had to talk through an intermediary, but there was no way Cornelia or Jeremiah were letting him walk into one of Rabat's forts unless absolutely necessary after Algiers.
The biggest obstacle in reaching an amicable agreement was honestly the slow process of ferrying messages back and forth, but neither party was too eager to get up close and personal. As it turned out, the Sultan of Morocco was something of a modernizer, and largely urged Barbary piracy to increase his incomes. He seemed interested in a potential alternative, although that may have been motivated by a fear of reprisals more than a faith in industrial technology.
They came to an agreement that was very similar to their arrangements with the lords of Algiers and Tunisia- an end to piracy against Britannian shipping and free trade in exchange for industrial support, and Morocco could definitely stand to benefit. Lelouch had to admit that he was satisfied when he sailed back home, and he was sure the Sultan of Morocco would make a good trading partner in the future, if not a full fledged ally.
Morocco was another rich land that was surprisingly fertile and grew cash crops like sugar; before the Iberians discovered the Americas, sugarcane growth was largely limited to the Arab world- which did include, for a time, areas like Sicily and Cyprus- and some small islands off the coast of Africa, the Canaries and the Madeiras. Sugar was big business, and tiny Caribbean islands could punch far above their weight economically thanks to the crop.
Sugar was popular, especially in tea, and those parts of Europe that were once under the continental system suffered withdrawal from sugar- and made it up with beets. The Prussians developed a way to get pure sugar from beets, and French rule meant the crop and its attached industry spread across Europe, in large part because Napoleon hated the idea of giving the British money. The sugar beet shared a strange sort of patrimony with the chicory root, which was used to substitute for coffee. Of course, once the continental system collapsed in on itself Europe went back to cane sugar, but it showed that it was possible to wean yourself off of cane sugar.
Even with potential friends- and trading partners- in Morocco and the Barbary coast, it was probably in Lelouch's best interest to encourage economic autarky, or self sufficiency, in Italy. That would probably raise a few questions- why exactly would Italy need to produce her own sugar if they're a part of the largest sugar producer in the world- but it would be good for them long term. Lelouch couldn't imagine amicable trade relations with Britannia even if they somehow managed to break free, at least in the short term.
Of course, sugar was a luxury item- a luxury people were very fond of, but a luxury nevertheless. Becoming independent when it came to production would be a lot more important in other areas, like arms. They had lead, iron, and wood to make guns and bullets, and their forests also handily covered the charcoal part of gunpowder, which was complemented by Sicilian sulfur. Saltpeter or nitre was another resource they were somewhat dependent on Britannia for- tremendous quantities of the stuff came from Britannian India, where it was so common ships used it as ballast. That was definitely a good thing, considering how gunpowder was three fourths saltpeter, but it presented a problem: Italy was either going to have to find some saltpeter, stockpile enough to win a war without arousing suspicion, or make their own in nitraries.
Nitraries had some problems of their own, though. In some cases it could take up to a year of maintenance for a farm to bear its deadly fruit, although he supposed there was some use for it, in getting rid of waste- you needed an awful lot of urine to keep the process going. However, Lelouch did not know all of Italy, especially all of its caves and caverns, where saltpeter could generate naturally. Back on dry land, it was perfectly possible to just walk over a deposit without realizing it.
Eventually, Schneizel had managed to convince the Regent of Russia that the Pasha situation was of critical importance, and the man agreed to send a mission to Istanbul, to discuss a potential solution with the Sultan. The Pasha's impending approach was worrying- winter might slow him down, but there was no way that Russia could send forces down to reinforce the Sultan in time.
However, something that was impossible for an army wasn't impossible for a small determined party, and after the ride of his life, Schneizel found himself in the Ottoman Empire, having left a trail of half dead horses behind him. He was nearly as exhausted as the horses he left behind- he knew full well that the old Tsar had died due to sickness brought on by hard riding, but he needed to talk to the Sultan. They drafted a man who could speak Turkish and just rode.
Schneizel might have enjoyed the landscape if he wasn't riding so quickly- unfortunately everything from Poland to Rumania to Bulgaria was a blur. The Tsar's ambassador tried to talk with Schneizel for the first few days, and even if he was poor conversation, it was better than the sheer overwhelming exhaustion that struck them later in their ride.
They eventually arrived in Istanbul proper, and fortunately the Sultan was still there. He let them stay long enough for them to rest up, and then invited them to talk. The Sultan provided them with laudanum- alcohol and opium mixed-, tea, and a special confection called, fittingly enough, Turkish delight.
"I suppose you are Russian diplomats, come to talk with me about the… Egyptian situation?"
The ambassador replied in the affirmative, murmuring "yes", before Schneizel responded.
"Well I am not Russian, but Britannian. My name is Schneizel el Britannia, ambassador to Russia from Britannia."
"And you speak for Britannia?"
"I do." Well, Schneizel may not be able to drive the country to war or anything like that, but he held sway and looked important, and a bit of saber rattling could help bring the Pasha to heel.
"That is… good to hear. Please, indulge in our hospitality. I am told your ride was hard. If you're worried about cholera, the laudanum helps fight the diarrhea." Of course, the Sultan didn't mention how addictive the substance was, although if he was somehow hoping to get Schneizel hooked, he could get all the opium a man would ever need from the East India Company.
"Thank you." Schneizel took a bit of delight, more out of a courtesy than anything else, and continued talking after a few moments of silence. "Do you know of the Pasha's whereabouts?"
The Sultan sighed. "As far as we know, he's resting at Ankara, and we're not sure if he will winter there or march to Istanbul."
Ankara. Good grief, that was more than halfway through Anatolia! Even by the most optimistic of estimates, the Russians wouldn't get down to Istanbul in time to reinforce the garrison, but they really didn't need to. The threat of a Russo-Turkish alliance could bring the Pasha to heel, although he was definitely in a position of strength.
"And what of your other lands? Can you pull reinforcements from your European holdings? What of Mespotamia?"
"Well..." The Sultan let out a long breath and sagged a little. "We're pulling what we can from the Balkans, but the disbanding of the Janissary corps has caused some military disorganization in the region. Not to mention the Barbary coast!"
Schneizel gulped. "The Barbary coast? Have they fallen in with the Egyptians?"
"No. They've remained neutral, for now at least. The real issue is your brother running around."
What? Schneizel schooled his expression and managed to keep his composure, but his mind was racing. What business did Lelouch have in the Maghreb? Well, Schneizel did have other brothers, but none of them would be remotely close to the area; unless his father sponsored an expedition for one of his other siblings? "I'm sorry, I have not heard of this before. News takes so long to get to St. Petersburg, after all."
"Your brother, the Sicilian-" That was a relief, at least. He didn't need to start contemplating what would happen if one of his other siblings started bumbling around in the Mediterranean. "-has been in conflict with the Barbary corsairs. He sunk a fleet off Tunis and set the docks of Tripoli alight."
Schneizel was silent, contemplating what could possibly drive Lelouch to attack the Barbary corsairs. The most obvious reason, evidenced by the fight with the fleet, was as a preemptive strike (or possibly a reprisal?) for piracy. "He hasn't taken any land, has he?"
The Sultan shook his head. "No. It seems like he was just interested in negotiating treaties, for an end to piracy against Britannian shipping and free trade for Britannia as well."
Here Lelouch went again, doing something that was good for Britannia, although extremely concerning on other levels. Going out to chastise pirates and negotiate treaties all by himself- that was a concerningly proactive and independent thing for Lelouch to do. It also showed that Lelouch was capable of projecting power across the Mediterranean- possibly all the way to Algiers, although the Sultan hadn't mentioned that one yet.
"I hope he hasn't managed to inconvenience you?"
"I suspect he's exploiting the Pasha's revolt to engage the pirates while I am incapable of interfering…" the Sultan shrugged. "I was never fond of the corsairs' dependence on piracy. I suspected it would get them into trouble one day, trouble that I might be dragged into. I'm not going to publicize it, but I'm glad for it." He smiled. "And if any of the Beys loose control thanks to your brother's intervention, I'll have reason to bring them to heel more permanently."
"I suppose that is dependent on stopping the Pasha, and we should probably ride for Ankara soon." Schneizel was not looking forward to that, and he could see the Russian ambassador flinching as well. It definitely wasn't Saint Petersburg to Istanbul, but… more riding to Ankara, and that meant more riding back to Saint Petersburg.
The Italia followed the English coast fairly closely, just as they did while off France and Spain, although they didn't dock at any of the ports, and just rushed for London with haste, like they were trying to make up for their delays at Sicily.
Eventually they circled around Kent and began sailing up towards the Thames and London proper, threading the river as it got narrower and narrower. Things got slower sailing upriver, and Reuben almost wished they had one of those steam engines Lelouch was so fond of, but he supposed it let them showboat a little. They passed by little riverside towns on the way to London, and that was when they really started grabbing people's attention, the great iron flanks of the ship cutting through the muck of the Thames.
The city stunk just as much as it did the last time he had visited, complemented by a thick smog thanks to all the coal burned in factories. Many of the Italians in his crew were clearly uncomfortable: London was always a special experience, especially for the first time. The buildings were tall and packed close, and while Reuben never had the… pleasure of visiting the streets of London outside of the palace, he had heard rumors of how densely packed the people were.
They docked as near to the palace as they could possibly manage, and the royal residences were actually fairly close to the river Thames. The palace and the buildings around it formed a sprawling complex, and Ashford knew that they had many more splendid villas in the countryside, for those nobles and royals who found the stench of the common people too much to bear.
Despite the issues with London itself, the court was still centered there, and it remained one of the greatest centers of industry and commerce in the world. A perfect place to sell their goods, especially to the nobles that hung around the Imperial court. After some time spent negotiating and finagling, Ashford and his retinue eventually got their chance to present some of the goods to the Emperor himself; after all, what better way to sell to the nobles than convincing them to mimic the Emperor?
Charles was just as much of a presence as Ashford remembered, the metaphorical axle around which the spokes of the court turned. After Reuben and his party performed all the appropriate kowtowing, they approached the Emperor. "Your majesty."
"Lord Ashford. It has been many years since your last visit to the court. I have heard that you are associated with my son, Lelouch?" Of course, the Emperor knew full well how closely related the Ashfords were to Marianne and her offspring, and Ashford was here, in part, to encourage that association.
"Yes, your majesty. In fact, we come bearing gifts, the fruits of the conquest of Italy. Fine wines, none of that French swill, and beautiful glasswork from Venice herself." Of course, they had only brought the finest for the Emperor: vintages from good years and good orchards, and glass so intricate and well made it almost felt shameful to use them for eating. They had even gotten the glassworkers to make fine plates and cups decorated with the Britannian coat of arms, a beautiful lion and snake recreated in miniature, down to intricate detailing, tufts of golden fur and miniscule green scales. More classic coats of arms appeared as well- the harp of Ireland, the lions of England and Scotland, even the golden fleur-de-lises of France.
The Emperor accepted the gifts, but Ashford certainly wasn't expecting to somehow win the man over with baubles and drink. "We also bring news from Italy. Lelouch has launched an expedition against the pirates of the Barbary coast; he has already humbled Tripoli, Tunisia, and Algiers, and has likely brough Morocco to heel as well. Free trade and an end to piracy- no more corsairs menacing Britannian trade." Of course, this definitely wasn't a perfect record of what happened, but this trip was also intended to make sure that the first news the court heard about Lelouch's business was spun in his favor.
Ashford could hear murmuring spreading across the court as people reacted to the news that Lelouch was at it again. It wasn't quite the conquest of Italy, of course, but that was very hard to follow up. The Emperor himself remained as stoic as always, and Ashford couldn't begin to guess what the man was thinking. After a few moments of painful silence, the Emperor gave a nod of approval. "I am glad to see Lelouch remembers his station and continues to serve the Empire."
There wasn't a hint of gratitude in the man's voice, but other than occasional bouts of passion or choler, he was a difficult man to read. He may have been reciting court pleasantries, just to demonstrate that the crown appreciated services done for it, or he may have been genuinely proud, Ashford simply couldn't tell.
However, as the nobles of the court began to crowd around him, asking about the Italian wares he brought, he broke into a smile. His financial acumen was definitely greater than his ability to understand people's moods, even if the two were linked. Or perhaps the Emperor was just a special case.
Across the Atlantic, in the colonies, a collection of ships were under construction, which was not unusual by itself. Britannia needed many ships to run properly- it was, fundamentally, a naval empire after all- whether they were trade ships carrying cargoes from the Indies (both east and west), whalers in search of oil and ambergris, and of course, warships.
The ships being built were in the last category, frigates destined to fight against Britannia's enemies, but even as warships they were different from usual. Not just because they were frigates, ships designed for speed, but even then they were built different. A longer hull, deeper draft, and heavier guns than the average frigate, making it so it could outmatch any frigate in battle while being capable of fleeing from ships of the line which could potentially threaten it.
This unusual design was complemented by unusual materials, using southern live oak wood native to the crown colonies of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, along with more recent conquests like Florida and the Louisiane. Like the English yew trees which were processed into longbows during the Hundred Year's War, these trees had suddenly become a military concern, and the crown had taken an interest in them; preserving and replanting them for the purposes of war.
What made these oaks more valuable than usual was their density, and so dense were they that cannonballs would bounce right off the sides of ships made using them. Of course, Britannia could never give up such an incredible advantage, and as such a series of ships were commissioned making use of this property.
However, as close to completion as the ships were, they hadn't come up with names for them yet. The keel had long since been laid, planks put into place, tar and black paint applied, and even now the men were hammering on copper plating, to prevent wear, even though the live oak proved more resistant to that than most. Cannons were already being gathered, along with great, heavy rockets to make them as dangerous as ships could reasonably be.
The man in charge of the shipwrights working on the trio of ships was fond of old myths, of the ancient Celtic tales which still hung around in Britannian culture even if the pagan Gods had long since been replaced by the Anglican Church. When he looked upon those terrible ships, painted dark black, he couldn't help but think of an old Irish myth, the Morrigan. A goddess of war, of battle and death, who foretold doom in the form of a crow, and most notably, a goddess in three parts- Badb, Macha, and Anand… fitting names for a deadly trio.
Thanks to Wandering Guest for always driving me to think a little harder about my setting, and the conversation. Your reviews and PMs are always such a delight.
What do you guys think of the other stuff in the Code Geass-verse? Oz, Akito, etc? I haven't read any of them, I've only watched the show, but I've read fics with elements from said series. Of course, I would try to integrate those things smoothly and give context for show watchers if I did bring them in, but I'm not sure if I want to- the core of Code Geass is more than enough.
The cipher Lelouch developed here is called the Jefferson Disk- you can guess who invented the original in our timeline. It didn't really take off until some French dude named Bazeries adopted it around the turn of the 20th century. Was how Lelouch invented it interesting? This sort of mental processing is fun to write.
Holy shit I love state building so much. I don't know why sugar beets fascinate me, but they do for some reason. Next few chapters will focus on Italy, sibling relationships, and possibly the Turks. Fun stuff, I know.
The bit about the lion takes vague inspiration from the lions of Tsavo, who killed Indian workers on a British railway in Kenya. There's a movie about them, The Ghost and the Darkness, which I haven't seen. On the subject of historical movies, if you like the time period of my story, I implore you to watch Master and Commander. It's great and really immerses you in the time period.
The three ships at the end are definitely inspired by Master and Commander's Acheron, which itself takes cues from the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides". This is about as close to Gloucesters as we'll get.