Vive La Francewank

Save France, save the world.

Read it here.

Written by User:Analytical Engine Vive la Francewank is one of a series of Alternate History timelines in the so-called "Strangerverse", and hosted on Alternate History Dot Com.

The basic premise is that a time traveller from the future has gone back in time to 1617, and gives king Louis XIII a mission : Unite the world under French rule to save it by preventing an apocalyptic war from happening in 2258.

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Historical characters who appear or are referenced in the timeline:

• Blase Pascal
• Charles I of England and Scotland
• Louis XIII of France
• Marin Mersenne
• Pierre de Fermat
• René Descartes
• Cardinal Richelieu

• • And a host of others...

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This Alternate History timelime provides examples of :

• A Child Shall Lead Them/Regent for Life: Following the French victory in the Alt-War of the Spanish Succession, this is (mostly) the case in the Italian/Flemish domains.
• Alien Space Bats
• Alternative Character Interpretation: King Louis XIII is cured of his madness before it even starts. Descartes discovers much of what Sir Isaac Newton did in OTL, but a generation earlier
• Alternate History Wank: Exactly What It Says on the Tin
• Anti-Villain: Cardinal Richelieu. Yes, that one...
• Applied Phlebotinum: The various gifts the Stranger grants to the king
• Authority Equals Asskicking / Warrior Prince: This happened a lot during the 17th and 18th centuries.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning
• Badass Army: With an unfair tech advantage, the French Army is deffinitely one. Ironically, so is the English army...
• Balkanise Me: Russia has been partitioned up by its neighbours.
• Bilingual Bonus: Many things are refered to in French, with an appropriate footnote.
• Butt Monkey: Russia. Poor, poor Russia...
• English Civil War: Rather shorter due to Charles I getting a cannonball to the chest.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Arranged Marriages were a common part of diplomacy during this period.
• Historical Domain Character: Louis XIII being the main one.
• Hundred-Percent Adoration Rating: Lampshaded. France has had rather less civil unreast, though that was more due to charisma enhancement...
• Hypno Trinket: The rings.
• King Bob the Nth: Well, it is Bourbon France after all. They weren't big on originality when it came to names...
• L Etat Cest Moi: Played with. the alternatate Louis XIV is anything but the Sun King though
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Subverted, massively.
• People's Republic of Tyranny: Federation of People's Republics and the Italian People's Republic
• Poles With Poleaxes: Poland is kicking some serious arse in TTL.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The French kings at least try to be this.
• Royally Screwed-Up: With the alternate equivalent to Charles II of Spain, no less.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The kings are head of the Order, not to mention the Absolute Monarchs of France
• Secret Circle of Secrets: Subverted. The Order of St. Denis are good guys, for a given value of good.
• Shown Their Work: As evidenced by the copious footnotes, sometimes covering almost half of a given post's word count.
• Succession Crisis: Russia. More recently, the War of the Spanish Succession.
• Take Over the World: This is the basic premise of the timeline. Indeed, the eventual goal is for an Un ordre mondial.
• Time Travel
• The Federation: How the Federation of People's Republics sees itself.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Bureaucratized: Subverted. The revolution in the Federation of People's Republics was started thanks to many of its supporters being entrenched in the existing bureaucracy
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized
• The Wise Prince: Played with, since the king has a considerable benefit of hindsight.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: One of the core beliefs of the Federation of People's Republics.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Charles I of England/Scotland.