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Arjay | by |
| Rick Sutcliffe | ||
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The Timestream: Hibernia (Ortho) |
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Also known as "Greater Ireland", or, to scholars as "Ortho Earth". The last earth to form before 2000 in a division with Prime called the "Great Nexus" or "Long Nexus" starting when Pilate decided (on Ortho) not to wash his hands, and concluding when Brian Boru survived Clontarf to establish an enduring kingdom.
In the late eighteenth century, after Hibernia had her information revolution and made the transition to the Fourth phase of Civilization, her society became morally relativistic, her church leaders corrupt, and her population turned away from the Lord of Heaven and the Holy Books. Nuclear and biological warfare reduced the population an order of magnitude and induced genetic damage that keeps it low to this day. Society had all but collapsed when the Metans provided the technology that permitted timestream travel.
The consequence of discovering that the Holy Book's account of the division of the worlds and the visions of the "other" Jerusalemites' (Hibernia's counterparts) crucifying the Christ were historically accurate was a widespread revival--the only one ever precipitated by Church leaders. Ortho and Para formed a Federation under Tara's kings presiding over a Council, and many forms of technology were banned, including nucleics, biologicals, and guns. Tara's fractious Irish continued their many wars, but fought them with hand-wielded weapons.
At this time a new dynasty came to the throne in possession of three of the royal swords, but records of the day were destroyed, and the king officially had no surname, no lands or money of his own, and his power was severely limited. This same family held the throne until 1941, when the other nobles, led by disgruntled former First Lord Callahan MacCarthy, led a coup and banned the royal family from the throne for sixty years.
The 1920's also saw another important Christian revival, sometimes termed "The Children's Crusade," though actually led by Princess Elizabeth with assistance from her brother, High King James III.
The devastating Three Worlds' War saw openly racist clans MacCarthy and Monde advocate the total destruction of both Germany and Japan. This was narrowly averted when three of the exiled royal cousins rose to prominent military leadership in the European theatre, and in a brilliant series of manoeuvres, defeated the Kaiser and brought the war with Germany to a close.
Shortly after, a MacCarthy scheme to frame Japan as a user of nuclear weapons failed, and Japan surrendered on similar terms to those negotiated with Germany. Only afterwards was it revealed that the American use of atomics on Prime had caused a sympathetic shockwave through the timestream that all but destroyed two of Ortho's Japanese cities.
The MacCarthys and their allies in Clans Monde and Campbell continued to play a prominent role in Tara's politics after the coup, and began hunting down and destroying the royals in the 1960's. It is widely believed this was the real purpose of the battle of Glenmorgan in 1977. By the end of the century, MacCarthy and Monde controlled the court, the army, and the church, and Hibernia was on the verge of another moral, religious, and political disaster.
This time, the Lord of Heaven did not intervene to cause a nexus (at least not of Hibernia) nor did the Metans become involved except peripherally, for their council had become depleted and was fully preoccupied with matters on Prime. Rather, a new group of champions of the light of God's glory was raised up from the very royal family the MacCarthys had thought obliterated.
