[center][h1]The World Turn'd Up-Side Down[/h1][/center]

Saved in perpetuity for a dear friend. You will be missed.

[hider=Captain Archibald Wakefield]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/4fZSpaB.jpg[/img]
[i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQjaXH49SM]Roll me merry drums, march away
Soldier's glory lives in story
His laurels are green when his locks are gray
Then hurrah! For the life of a soldier!.[/url][/i]

[h3][color=FF0000]Captain Archibald Wakefield[/color][/h3]
[b]Twenty-Eight Years of Age
Born on June Twenty Second in the Year of Our Lord 1836[/b][/center]

Born as the second son to a moderately wealthy mercantile family in St Albans, Archibald Wakefield was in some ways always destined to a life of military service. It was exceedingly unlikely, in the light of his older brother, to inherit any of the family's considerable wealth. Sent to a public school in London, he earned modest marks in his work but ultimately was unfulfilled by the paperwork and the tedium and thwarted his father's dream of having his second son go off to be a governmental clerk.

After graduating from school, and unwilling to go to another, he petitioned his father to attend the Addiscombe Military Seminary, where cadets trained to become officers in the Honourable East India Company Presidency Armies. His father, silently happy to shuffle the disappointing son away to the far-flung Indian Subcontinent, pulled some strings and called in favors to have his son enrolled.

Entering as a General Service Cadet - almost certainly destined to lead infantry Sepoys - Archibald excelled in the arts of War but was only mediocre in learning the requisite languages of Hindustani, Latin, and French. But his mediocrity was more than made up for in his extraordinary ability to lead men.

He graduated with honors in 1850 and was immediately posted to Bengal Army and assigned to the 1st Bengal European Fusiliers as an Ensign. While universally disliked by the native troops for his lack of knowledge in the local language, culture, and customs and for drilling them intensely, he was respected and admired by the British officers for his ability to lead those same soldiers. He was, within five years of his posting, meritoriously promoted to Lieutenant. An unheard of feat in the regular British Army, where most officers were forced to buy their postings, but a relatively common thing in the Presidency Armies.

His trial-by-fire came in the year 1857, when the Indian Sepoys rose up against British rule. He distinguished himself in brutal combat, relentlessly leading the Bengali soldiers against their kinsmen. The drilling that he had put them through paid off as they faced down the enemy on the field of battle. It is during this campaign that Lieutenant Archibald Wakefield met the man who would forever change his life: Lieutenant Ridgewell Abercrombie, an American who had left behind his estate and his fortune for adventure. They became fast friends, comrades forged by the fires of war, and spent many nights discussing their future in the Army, and their life back home.

The two comrades, both of the same regiment, were present at one of the last battles of the Rebellion. As the Bengal Army assaulted the Sepoy-held city of Lucknow, Ridgewell was struck and killed by a Sepoy bullet. As the man lay dying in Archibald's arms, Ridgewell promised him that all would be well. And with the last breath he took, Archibald rose to his feet and led the Bengalis against the fortifications of the Sepoys.

And in that struggle, the Presidency armies won.

Archibald was awarded the Victoria Cross, a medal issued in the Crimean War by the Queen and given to men who distinguished themselves in valor and bravery in the field, and the Indian Mutiny Medal for his service against the Sepoys, and even promoted to the rank of Captain. But the most startling would be when he was read the last will and testament of Lieutenant Ridgewell Abercrombie.

The man had left everything to him. His estate in the Americas, the fortune of his family. Even his trinkets that the man had taken to collecting from India. It was all left to him.

In 1858, in the direct aftermath of the Mutiny, as the East India Company was dissolved and the Presidency armies folded into the Indian Army, the newly-promoted Captain chose to leave the service of the Indian Army while retaining his rank and position in the Army. Now an officer-without-orders and without a Regiment, he was on half-pay. But it didn't matter. He booked the first steamer to the Dominion of North America to sort out the business that had been forked upon him by a man that he had only known for a few years, but felt as though he had known a lifetime.[/hider]

[hider=Dominion of North America]
[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/FAKE_Grand_Union_Flag.png[/img]
[i]My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.[/i]

[h1][color=FF0000]THE DOMINION OF NORTH AMERICA[/color][/h1][/center]

The Dominion of North America finds its origins in the Dominion Act of 1789, signed by representatives of the Thirteen Colonies, Upper and Lower Canada, and the British Government. It formally recognized the North American colonies as a sovereign nation under the rule of the British Crown, and granted it some leeway in self-governance with the Americans had so desired and had fought a small-scale insurgency for from 1775-1789. The American Insurrection, as it has come to be known, forced the hand of the British Government to properly recognize the status of their farflung colonies across the waves. 

The Dominion of North America is nominally ruled by Queen Victoria, as Queen of North America, but is in practice governed by the Viceroy and Governor-General (colloquially just Viceroy) of North America. The Dominion has a limited form of self-government, which translates to non-interference of Westminster into the internal running of the Dominion (a practice seen emulated in the Dominions of Australasia and South Africa, and turned violently on its head in the British Raj, especially in the aftermath of the Sepoy Mutiny.)

United under Union Flag, the Dominion pushed its borders westward until colliding with the Pacific Ocean and, to the southwest, the Mexican Empire. A tenuous peace exists along the Mexican Border, which threatened to flare up into open warfare after the Commonwealth of Texas, founded mainly by British colonists, broke away from the Mexican State. It remains to be seen whether this peace will survive, or whether the two Empires will collide.

When slavery was abolished throughout the Empire in 1828, many of the former slaves were offered by the British Government to move to their possessions in West Africa, in order to consolidate their claims in the region, in return for free land and freedom of movement. Most of the slaves took this opportunity, and moved en masse. This great flocking from the South has led to economic downturn in the region which has been struck even harder by the discovery of cheaper and hardier cotton in Egypt. From the deep South, whispers of another Insurrection begin to spread and coalesce into a murmur.

The Dominion of North America's most recent acquisitions are the Alaskan Peninsula, seized from the Russians in the wake of the Crimean War, and the Kingdom of Hawaii, which became a protectorate under the Dominion after threats from German gunboats forced the Queen to relinquish her independence. It is the largest entity in the Americas, possesses all of the former British colonies of the Caribbean.[/hider]

Basically, if you look up the border of the United States prior to the Mexican-American War and after the Texan Independence, this is basically what you're looking at here. Now add Canada, Alaska, and the British islands in the Caribbean, you have the Dominion. The Commonwealth of Texas is a Republic existing [url=https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0653/6595/products/emory_map_BLUE_Product_shot.png?v=1528259232]along these lines[/url]. Texas is pretty much ethnically British since the Mexicans got expelled, but they aren't willing to become part of the Empire as they represent more of what we would identify the American people as. But the British are willing to keep them as a buffer state between the Mexicans and their Dominion. The Mexican Border is the 42nd Parallel. This was, in real history, agreed upon with the Spanish Empire by the Adams-Onis Treaty with the United States. We can assume a similar treaty was formulated by the British Empire with the Spanish, and kept in place with the turnover to Mexican rule.

[hider=Flags of the British Empire, circa 1858]
[b]THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE DOMINION OF NORTH AMERICA[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/FAKE_Grand_Union_Flag.png[/img]

[b]THE DOMINION OF AUSTRALASIA[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Australian_Federation_Flag.svg/1024px-Australian_Federation_Flag.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE INDIAN EMPIRE (also known as THE BRITISH RAJ)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/British_Raj_Red_Ensign.svg/1024px-British_Raj_Red_Ensign.svg.png[/img]
*in our timeline, they didn't adopt this flag until 1880, but we'll pretend as though vexillologists are more prominent in the British Government in this timeline!

[b]THE DOMINION OF SOUTH AFRICA[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Red_Ensign_of_South_Africa_%281910%E2%80%931912%29.svg/1024px-Red_Ensign_of_South_Africa_%281910%E2%80%931912%29.svg.png[/img]
*in our timeline, South Africa wasn't incorporated as a Dominion until the early 20th century, but I think there would be some after-effects of the Dominion Act in America, which would make incorporation as a Dominion for the South Africans more likely.
[/hider]

[hider=The major American Indian Crown Protectorates]
[b]THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY (HAUDENOSAUNEE)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Flag_of_the_Iroquois_Confederacy.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Iroquois_Confederacy.svg.png[/img]
Located on reserved territory along the Lake Erie in upper New York Province.

[b]THE LAKOTA NATION (LAKȞÓTA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Pine_Ridge_Flag.svg/1024px-Pine_Ridge_Flag.svg.png[/img]
Located on reserved territory in the north of Midwest Territory*
(*- think around-abouts the Dakotas)

[b]THE ESKIMO NATION (ᓄᓇᕗᑦ /NUNAVUT)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Flag_of_Nunavut.svg/1024px-Flag_of_Nunavut.svg.png[/img]
Located on reserved territory in the far north of the Canadian Provinces and the Alaskan Territory*
(*-spread out along the arctic regions.)

[/hider]

[hider=The Great Confrontation]
[center][img]https://7yearswarproject.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/5/5/14552756/694796713_orig.jpg?443[/img]
[i]"We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France."[/i]

[h2][b][color=DAA520]The Great Confrontation[/color][/b][/h2][/center]

The ancient rivalry between the Crowns of Britain and France stretch back to the medieval age of Knights, when the English King Henry attempted to claim the French Crown for his own, setting off a hundred-year-long war in the French countryside which forever altered the relations between the two peoples. Not only did it end in utter ruin for the English, who saw their continental holdings fall away to the French, but it saw the two peoples' realize their potential as a folk. Both the French and the English peoples were mobilized as never seen before.

The unsteady and oft-hostile relationship, dubbed by scholars and diplomats as 'The Great Confrontation,' has led to outbreaks of War, the latest of which occurred nearly a century ago across the world. The Seven Years' War saw the British eclipse the French in military power, ejecting them entirely from the North American and Indian continents and regaling the French to a solely Continental power. When the American Insurrection occurred in 1775, the Kingdom of France sought to aid the rebellious colonists in whatever way possible - short of actual and open warfare.

The Royal Navy intercepted many French merchant ships bound for Insurrectionist-aligned port cities, seizing them in open defiance of the French Crown which was powerless to stop it. Strong words fell upon deaf ears as the British continued to turn back, and even capturing French merchant vessels which were suspected of aiding the Insurrection. But it was all in vain for the French, as the Dominion Act of 1789 solidified the relationship of the cousins across the waves and forever thwarted French ambition in the New World.

Instead, the French turned elsewhere. Their machinations in the Lowlands ended with the acquisition of the Austrian Netherlands following a popular uprising in 1815, followed by an alliance with the Republic of the United Provinces the year later. The French would say that this alliance was that of sister-nations, seeking a new way in the World. The British would say that this was an alliance made under threat of French arms. In Spain, the French acquired another ally as they supported the Infante Carlos' bid for the throne in the Carlist War.

It is even rumored that the French are behind Italian unification schemes, with the intent to put the Bourbon Sicilian King Ferdinand II on the throne of a united Italian Empire. But resistance to these plans are found in the still-resilient Papal States and the Kingdom of Savoy, which have put aside past problems to combat the upstart Sicilians. The French Crown, unwilling to openly oppose the Pope, make their Italian unification plans in the shadows.

The British have responded in kind, by setting in place an attempt to unify the Scandinavian Kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway into one unified Kingdom, to combat French influence in the far North. The British Government has also thrown its support in with the Prussian Alliance in the German Confederation, the tenuous union of the German Folk after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire following the Revolution of 1848. The weakened-but-still strong Austrian Empire, robbed off the Crown of St. Stephen by Hungarian revolutionaries, has found a fast ally with France, who seeks to oppose a Protestant-led Germany at all costs.

While still far from fruition, these plans represent the dividing of Europe into two separate power blocs. Only time will tell what will happen in the future.
[/hider]

[hider=Nations of the Americas]
[b]THE DOMINION OF NORTH AMERICA[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/FAKE_Grand_Union_Flag.png[/img]

[b]THE COMMONWEALTH OF TEXAS[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Brown%27s_Flag_of_Independence.svg/1024px-Brown%27s_Flag_of_Independence.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE MEXICAN EMPIRE (IMPERIO MEXICANO)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Bandera_del_Primer_Imperio_Mexicano.svg/1024px-Bandera_del_Primer_Imperio_Mexicano.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF CENTRAL AMERICA (REPÚBLICA FEDERAL DE CENTROAMÉRICA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Flag_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Central_America.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Central_America.svg.png[/img]

[b]GREATER COLUMBIA (GRAN COLOMBIA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Flag_of_the_Gran_Colombia_%281820-1821%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Gran_Colombia_%281820-1821%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]PERU-BOLIVIAN CONFEDERATION (CONFEDERACIÓN PERÚ-BOLIVIANA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Flag_of_the_Peru-Bolivian_Confederation.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Peru-Bolivian_Confederation.svg.png[/img]

[b]PATAGONIAN CONFEDERATION (CONFEDERACIÓN PATAGÓNICA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Flag_of_Argentina_%281840%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_Argentina_%281840%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]UNITED KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL, BRAZIL, AND THE ALGARVES (REINO UNIDO DE PORTUGAL, BRASIL E ALGARVES)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_of_Portugal%2C_Brazil%2C_and_Algarves.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_of_Portugal%2C_Brazil%2C_and_Algarves.svg.png[/img]
* - Brazil is a constituent Kingdom in this Union, so while technically not an 'American' nation, still belongs here.

[/hider]

[hider=The American Insurrection]
[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Battle_of_Guiliford_Courthouse_15_March_1781.jpg/800px-Battle_of_Guiliford_Courthouse_15_March_1781.jpg[/img]
[i]"Not a place upon Earth might be so happy as America."[/i]

[h3][b][color=4169E1]The American Insurrection[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

Tensions in British America began to heat up in the wake of the Seven Years' War, which saw the British Crown levy a series of taxes upon the Colonies in response to the great debt incurred during the War. In the 1760s and up until 1775, there were numerous outbreaks of riots and protests in the Thirteen Colonies, including the Philadelphia Riot, where insurrectionists raided the town garrison's armory and take to the streets, unleashing a fortnight of anarchy upon the port city.

The final straw which set off the American Insurrection was in 1773, when the terrorist group the [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] led an attack against HMS [i]Halifax[/i], moored in the Boston Harbor. The terrorists seized control of the schooner and bombarded other Royal Navy warships and East India Company merchantmen in protest of the taxes levied on the colonies. In response to this aggression, the British Crown passed the [i]Coercive Acts[/i], authorizing the deployment of British regiments in the Thirteen Colonies to restore order. 

As the first regiments landed in New York and Boston in 1775, insurrectionist militias were waiting for them and assaulted them as they were disembarking. The twin battles of New York and Boston were won by the British Army, sending the militias into the countryside. Throughout the Thirteen Colonies, sympathetic bands of insurrectionists raised their banners in rebellion against the Crown. While the Canadian colonies were loyal to the Crown, many of the colonies in the middle America were hostile to British rule.

Thus began the American Insurrection, which consisted of eight years of intense guerilla warfare in the countryside of the colonies. The British consolidated their control in the major cities and from whence they based their operations out of. What little organized set-piece battles there were, the British won without contest, but the majority of the fighting consisted of low-level anti-insurgency operations throughout the inner territories of the colonies.

Attempts by the French and the Spanish to indirectly aid the American Insurrectionists failed to gain any traction as the Royal Navy intercepted their aid attempts, outright capturing some vessels which were known to be dealing arms and ammunition to the fledgling Insurrectionists. With foreign aid out of the question, it was only a matter of time before the British dealt a defeating blow. Concentrating their efforts in the North, where Insurrectionist sympathy was the strongest, the British Army flushed out many of the rebels and captured or killed most of their leadership.

The final confrontation in the Insurrection was in 1788, at the Virginian city of Yorktown, the last bastion of organized Insurrectionist activity. A British army under the command of General The Marquess Cornwallis surrounded and captured the rebel General George Washington, who was once a war hero of great acclaim from the Seven Years' War, with his army. After a brutal ten-day fight, Washington and his army of Insurrectionists laid down their arms to the sound of Cornwallis' military band playing 'Rule Britannia.'

The surrender of the last of the Insurrectionists was greeted on both sides of the Atlantic as the beginning of a new era. Parliament, tired and strained from eight years of insurgency, was willing to compromise with the surviving Insurrectionist leadership. Led by General Washington, the Insurrectionists were offered and agreed to terms that would be formalized in the Dominion Act of 1789. With the passage of the Act, all surviving members of the Insurrectionist armies and militias were granted full pardons, and the disparate system of American colonies - stretching from Canada to the Caribbean - were organized into a unified Dominion, which would be granted a limited form of Home Rule. The British Government still exercised ultimate authority over the Dominion Government, as well as control over military, commerce, and foreign affairs, but the Americans were entitled a greater deal of freedom than had been enjoyed prior to the Insurrection.

In the decades since the end of the Insurrection, the Dominion Act has led to similar outcomes in the Australian and South African colonies. It has also led to the strengthening of ties with the Anglo-Saxon cousins across the Oceans, although under the surface tensions still simmer, especially in the American South and Caribbean following the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1828 and the transportation of the vast majority of African former slaves to the British West Africa.
[/hider]

[hider=The Commonwealth of Texas]
[center][img]https://digitalalabama.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/battle-of-the-alamo-painting-battle-of-the-alamo-painting-michelle-art.jpg[/img]
[i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LArGlfEVYqM]We'll play the banjo gaily
And we'll sing the songs of yore
And the yellow Rose of Texas
shall be mine forever more[/url][/i]

[h3][b][color=CD5C5C]The Commonwealth of Texas[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

The Commonwealth of Texas finds its beginning in the tidal wave of American frontiersmen flooding into the Mexican Northern Territories following the Frontier Act of 1810, passed by the Parliament of North America, which opened the entirety of the West to colonization. These colonists, believing in what has been romantically deemed "a Manifest Destiny," flooded not only the British-controlled Midwest, Columbia, and Regina Territories, but also into the Mexican Empire.

Tensions between the Texans, who were predominantly Anglo-Saxon and other Western European folks, and the native Mexican rule were always hostile. While initially welcoming what would become the Texas, as they saw them as a boost to the buckling economy of the Northern Territories, relations quickly soured as the Texans brought with them their slaves and their British culture. The culture, the Mexicans could overlook in hopes of gradual assimilation, but slavery - which the Mexican Empire had outlawed upon its independence from Spain - was abhorrent to all levels of Mexico's society.

They finally came to a head in 1836, when the Mexican Emperor, facing increasing instability at home, launched a military punitive expedition into Texas to restore order in what they believed to be lawless territory. Led by Samuel Houston, the Texans, who had enjoyed autonomy and non-interference from the Imperial Government, responded by declaring unilateral independence and declaring war against the Mexican Empire.

The first battles of the War ended in utter ruin for the Texan Revolutionaries, but the Battle of San Antonio (known to the Texans as St. Anthony, later renamed to this after the War) was a turning point. A 300-man garrison, led by frontiersmen like William Travis and David Crockett, repelled a force of 2000 Mexicans until a larger relief column could arrive. The General Santa Anna, who had razed many Texan farms and set the countryside ablaze, was captured and summarily executed. 

After the Battle of San Antonio, the British lent their support to the Texan cause, sending them shipments of arms as well as "military observers" in the form of British officers, who trained the rag-tag Texan Army in the art of warfare. By the next year, the Mexican Army was in full retreat and the Emperor, having no other choice, sued for peace. 

The Treaty of Dallas, mediated by Britain, saw the Mexican Empire formally recognize Texas as an independent nation as well as officially the Anglo-Mexican Border that was established by the Stewart-Onis Treaty with the Kingdom of Spain in 1819. It also provided for the transportation and relocation of Mexican settlers and American Indian tribes within Texan borders. The Treaty did not, however, stipulate that the British should prohibit migration to Mexicans Northern Territories nor did it establish provisions for the newly-established Commonwealth of Texas to be a neutral state.

And so the Commonwealth exists in a precarious balance between two larger powers, caught in a tug of war. But it remains a free and independent state, the only Anglo-Saxon republic in the world. It represents, in some ways, the longing of the Insurrectionists, and it has become an oasis to flock to for those who still hold Insurrectionist sympathies. An aristocratic, slave-owning society, it is a dark reflection of the British Empire. 

While it serves the purpose of the British to keep the Commonwealth of Texas as a buffer between them and the Mexicans, it presents a long-term threat as a rallying point for Insurrectionists, who hold Texas as an example of their ideal society.
[/hider]

[hider=The German Confederation]
[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Maerz1848_berlin.jpg/765px-Maerz1848_berlin.jpg[/img]
[i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9DD-DnyuTI]What is the German’s fatherland?
So name the great land to me already!
As far as the German tongue sounds
And singing to God in Heaven songs:
That shall it be, shall it be!
That, brave German, call that yours![/url][/i]

[h3][b][color=DAA520]The German Confederation[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

The confederation of the German Kings and Princes finds its origin in the Revolutions of 1848 that wracked the Holy Roman Empire in the wake of nationalist fervor. Felt most strongly in the Austrian Empire and the southern German states, the 1848 'Springtime of Nations' saw the dissolution of the ancient Holy Roman Emperor, the independence of the Kingdom of Hungary, and the formation of the German Confederation.

Primarily a Prussian machination, the Austrians were in no position to protest this loose union of the German states having only barely made it out of 1848 with the Bohemia intact. The Prussian Kingdom, which had made it out of the year relatively unscathed as compared to the former great Austria, humbled the Hapsburg throne with its proposal of a union.

And so the Austrian Emperor, the Prussian King, and the countless kings and princes of the former Holy Roman Empire congregated in the city of Leipzig to sign the 'Act of Confederation,' which bound the German states together in a more centralized form than what they had experienced under the HRE. A power-sharing agreement, with Prussia leading the Northern Germans and the Austrians leading the Southern Germans, was agreed upon where the Prussians would represent the North and the Austrians the South.

The Confederation is barely a decade old and already is showing the signs of strain.

Even with a successful military campaign to liberate Schleswig-Holstein from the Danish in 1851, the Prussians and the Austrians, the Protestants and the Catholics, are beginning to feel the weight of the Confederation upon their shoulders, and are already looking towards the final showdown which will surely come. The end result will be a unified Germany, but who will rule it depends on who will show their might on the battlefield.

The North Germans find support with the British Empire, united in not only folk-spirit but in religion, and can count upon them should the need arise. But the Austrians, who represent the last vestige of the old Middle-Europe, look to the French, the Daughter of the Church, for aid and assistance against the Protestant Bloc, and find France a willing and eager friend to counter British influence wherever it may arise.

In 1858, all the knowing eyes look to Germany with a certain degree of apprehension and dread. It has been a century since a major war has ravaged Europe, and it is starting to look as though another will erupt in the same place where it had started in 1756.
[/hider]

[hider=The Crimean War]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/9ZrNjVE.png[/img]
[i]Theirs not to make reply,
theirs not to reason why,
theirs but to do and die.[/i]

[h3][b][color=DC143C]The Crimean War[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

The Crimean War, otherwise known as the Eastern Crisis and romantically as 'The Last Crusade', began in 1853 over the rights of the Christians who lived within the Holy Land. The Russians, attempting to force their influence over the decaying Ottoman Empire, the 'Sick Man of Europe,' sent a gunboat flotilla towards the Dardanelles to force a settlement with the Sublime Porte over the rights of the Eastern Orthodoxy to Jerusalem. 

The French, fearing not only persecution of the Catholics in the Holy Land but also of a Russian superpower, pledged support for the Ottoman Empire against the Russian threat. Even the British, who traditionally opposed the French on all matters, threw their weight in with the French to counter Ottoman influence in Egypt. The French Navy sent forth their own flotilla towards Constantinople, and the British dispatched the Mediterranean Station from their home in Gibraltar. 

The War began with the Russian naval forces engaging the Anglo-French forces in the harbor of Constantinople. Quickly routed from overwhelming firepower, the Russian Navy retreated into the Black Sea. With the first shots fired in this war, the forces of Europe mobilized against the Russian Empire. The Pope in Rome, who typically tended to his own affairs in the Italian Peninsula, called the entirety of Christendom - whether it be Protestant or Catholic - to arms in a Crusade against the heretical Orthodoxy, who he claimed to be seeking to exterminate the long-lasting Catholic pockets in the Ottoman territories. The Knights of Malta, long silent from the affairs of the world, opened their ports to the British Empire as the flood of men to Constantinople increased.

The Army of Our Lady of Victory, as it was named in the press, comprised of Norsemen, Italians, Hungarians, Germans, French, and Britons, landed in Crimea to initially little resistance from the Russians. However, as they marched to capture the port city of Sevastapol, the crusading army was quickly and rapidly attacked by Russian Army units, who had been laying in wait in the countryside around the city. They were forced to retreat to the beach-head, near Kerch, and it is where they made camp over the winter, facing dropping rations and plummeting morale as the Russian Navy interdicted convoys meant to relieve the force.

In the Caucasus, the Ottoman forces faced defeat after defeat at the hands of a superior-trained Russian Army. They were forced into the Pontic Alps where they put up a stubborn resistance against the Russians, who sought to make gains into Armenia. The only success in the first year of the War was the rapid seizure of Alyaska by North American forces, who expelled the native Russians in an act of barbarity suppressed by the British press.

As the situation in the Ottoman Empire looked grimmer and grimmer, the Greeks - known to the Ottomans and themselves as simply 'Romans' - rose up in open revolt across their peninsula and throughout their former homelands. What turned into a small insurgency soon boiled into a full insurgency against the Ottomans. The Greek revolutionaries fashioned themselves as oppressed Christians revolting against Islamic tyranny, and thus the crusading armies refused to intervene on the Ottomans' behalf.

The situation in the Crimea changed in mid-1855, with the destruction of the last of the Black Sea Fleet in the Battle of the Kerch Sea. With the sea lanes now free for convoys, the Army of Our Lady of Victory rapidly moved towards their original goal of Sevastapol. Facing heavy resistance at Inkerman and Balaclava, which saw the British contingent almost totally wiped out, the Army eventually reached the walls of Sevastapol and laid siege to her in January of 1856.

While the crusaders stood at the gates of Sevastapol, the Balkans was embroiled in an open revolt. The Greeks consolidated control in the Peloponnese, Thessalia, Macedonia, Crete and the other Aegean Islands, and were already making their way into Thrace and towards the holy city of Constantinople. The Hungarians, likewise, exploited the situation and moved to take control of Serbia and the Bosnian territories. The Bulgarians and Roumanians, long held under heel by the Sublime Porte, likewise rose up on the same grounds as the Greeks, and with little resistance left in the Balkans, proclaimed at the same time the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Principality of Roumania. 

The Army of Our Lady of Victory pierced the walls of Sevastapol in late February of 1856, after almost two months of an intense siege. The defenders, starved and almost out of ammunition, surrendered en masse to the European armies. With this brutal and humiliating defeat, the Russian Army reported numerous mutinies along the Pontic Front, and the Tsar was forced to come to terms with the European powers.

But the Greek had their own ideas, for at the same time the Tsar's dignitaries presented the representatives of Western Europe with his terms of peace, the Greek revolutionaries marched into Constantinople after the Greeks inside the city opened the gates to the army marching to relieve them. In the Hagia Sophia, after centuries of Muslim control, the Basileía Rhōmaíōna - the Roman Empire - was resurrected from the ashes of history, with Alexandros Ypslantis - the leader of the Greek Army - proclaimed as Basileus; Emperor of the Romans.

The Treaty of Vienna was signed in late 1856 and formally repudiated Russia's position in the Levant. It also recognized that the Alaskan Territory was now a constituent territory of the Dominion of North America, and made arrangements for monetary sums to be paid to the victors in compensation for lost treasure. It also established a British Protectorate in Egypt, and a French Protectorate in the Holy Land. The Treaty, however, made no mention of the events in the Balkans.

The situation had rapidly gotten out of hand, and while the Army of Our Lady of Victory returned to their homelands in laurels of triumph, the Ottoman forces were in no position to wage war against the Balkan nations. They refused to recognize the loss of their European territories, but were powerless to stop it as they were forced to consolidate their power in the Middle East. Their Empire appears to be on the ropes, and the Great Powers are already looking to divide up the pieces of the Ottoman pie.

At home, though a seemingly minor event to all except those in military circles, the grave defeats of the British Army forced the military establishment to make a series of reforms known to history as Peel Reforms, named after the Secretary of State for War. This formally, although it took some time to fully implement, discarded the numbered regiments scheme, instead localizing the units to home recruiting counties and territories. Regiments were amalgamated to form up to four battalion units, which would rotate on foreign overseas service for up to a year at a time. It also reduced the terms of enlisted service from 21 to 12 years, with only half of that spent with the regulars. With the absorption of the Indian armies after the dissolution of the East India Company, it proved a plan grounded in foresight. The Peel Reforms not only affected the units of Great Britain and Ireland proper, but throughout the Dominions as well.

In foreign affairs circles, the Balkan Question, as it has become known in the British Parliament, has been answered largely on the ground. The freshly-independent Principality of Serbia, with acquisitions in Kosovo and Bosnia, fell under the influence of the Crown of St. Stephen, as did the Principality of Roumania. The Bulgarians and the Romans , however, found an ally in none of the Great Powers, not Russia for it is weak, and not the rest of the Great Powers for fighting their Orthodox cousins, but in each other. The strongest power in the wake of the Balkan Revolutions, the Romans, having dealt with the Turkish settlers in their lands, seek to reclaim their Empire in what is called the 'Megali Idea' - The Great Idea. 

An unsteady peace reigns in the Balkans and Anatolia, but for how long is anyone's guess.
[/hider]

[hider=The Powers of Europe]
[b]The Concert of Europe[/b]

[b]THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE (ROYAUME DE FRANCE)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Royal_Standard_of_the_King_of_France.svg/1024px-Royal_Standard_of_the_King_of_France.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION (DEUTSCHER BUND)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Flag_of_Germany_%28unoff%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_Germany_%28unoff%29.svg.png[/img]

[i]and its two major players...[/i]

[b]THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE (KAISERTUM ÖSTERREICH)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Flag_of_the_Habsburg_Monarchy.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Habsburg_Monarchy.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA (KÖNIGREICH PREUßEN)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Prussia_%281803-1892%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Prussia_%281803-1892%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE (РОССИЙСКАЯ ИМПЕРИЯ/ROSSIYSKAYA IMPERIYA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Flag_of_the_Russian_Empire_%28black-yellow-white%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Russian_Empire_%28black-yellow-white%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE KINGDOM OF HUNGARY (MAGYAR KIRÁLYSÁG)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Flag_of_Hungary_%281915-1918%3B_angels%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_Hungary_%281915-1918%3B_angels%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]The Backbenchers of Europe[/b]

[b]THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN (REINO DE ESPAÑA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Flag_of_Cross_of_Burgundy.svg/1024px-Flag_of_Cross_of_Burgundy.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE ROMAN EMPIRE (ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑ ῬΩΜΑΊΩΝ/BASILEÍA RHŌMAÍŌNA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Flag_of_the_Greek_Orthodox_Church.svg/800px-Flag_of_the_Greek_Orthodox_Church.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE REPUBLIC OF THE SEVEN UNITED NETHERLANDS (REPUBLIEK DER ZEVEN VERENIGDE NEDERLANDEN)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Prinsenvlag.svg/1024px-Prinsenvlag.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE STATE OF THE CHURCH (STATUS ECCLESIASTICUS/STATO DELLA CHIESA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Flag_of_the_Papal_States_%281825-1870%29.svg/800px-Flag_of_the_Papal_States_%281825-1870%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES (REGNO D’’E DOJE SICILIE/REGNU DÎ DUI SICILI)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_the_Two_Sicilies_%281816%29.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_the_Two_Sicilies_%281816%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE KINGDOM OF SARDINIA (REGNO DI SARDEGNA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Civil_Flag_and_Civil_Ensign_of_the_Kingdom_of_Sardinia_%281816-1848%29.svg/800px-Civil_Flag_and_Civil_Ensign_of_the_Kingdom_of_Sardinia_%281816-1848%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE UNITED KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL, BRAZIL, AND THE ALGARVES (REINO UNIDO DE PORTUGAL, BRASIL E ALGARVES)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_of_Portugal%2C_Brazil%2C_and_Algarves.svg/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_of_Portugal%2C_Brazil%2C_and_Algarves.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE SCANDINAVIAN EMPIRE (SKANDINAVISKA RIKET/SKANDINAVISKE RIKET/SKANDINAVISKE RIGE)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Flag_of_the_Kalmar_Union.svg/800px-Flag_of_the_Kalmar_Union.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE THIRD BULGARIAN EMPIRE (ТРЕТАТА БЪЛГАРСКА ИМПЕРИЯ/TRETATA BŬLGARSKA IMPERIYA)[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Flag_of_Bulgaria.svg/800px-Flag_of_Bulgaria.svg.png[/img]
[/hider]

[hider=The Abercrombie Manor]
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/9f/76/7f9f7637a29fcbe49b93025afbd45ff1.jpg[/img][/hider]

[hider=Military Units of the Dominion of North America]
[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Flag_of_the_British_Army.svg/710px-Flag_of_the_British_Army.svg.png[/img]
[i]"I only hope that when the enemy reads the list of their names, he trembles as I do."[/i][/center]

The Order of Precedence for the North American Army, following the Peel Reforms, is as follows:

The Viceroy's Horse Guards
The Queen's Own American Life Guards
The American Corps of Royal Engineers
The Royal Regiment of American Artillery
The Royal American Dragoons
The 1st American Hussars (The King's Own)
The 2nd American Hussars (The King's Own)
The 3rd American Hussars (The Queen's Own)
The 1st American Dragoons (The King's Own)
The 2nd American Dragoons
The 3rd American Dragoons
The 1st American Lancers
The 2nd American Lancers
The 3rd American Lancers (The Prince of Wales' Own)
The North American Frontier Mounted Troopers (The N.A.F.M.T, or the Mounties)
The Yeomanry (Note - There are countless yeomanry units, each found within the counties of the American Provinces)
The North American Guards
The North American Grenadier Guards
The Appalachian Guards
The Canadian Guards
The Caribbean Guards
The Royal Pennsylvania Regiment (The Queen's Own)
The Royal New York Regiment
The Ontario Regiment
The Royal New Jersey Regiment
The Royal Maryland Fusiliers
The Royal Ohio Fusiliers (The Queen's Own)
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
The Royal New England Fusiliers (The Duke of Merrimack's Own)
The Royal Virginia Regiment (The Duchess of Fairfax's Own)
The Royal Carolina Regiment 
The Maritime Provinces' Regiment
The Royal Georgia Regiment
Le Régiment Royal de Québec
The Royal Alabama Regiment
The Royal Wabash Regiment (Note - The Province of Wabash is Illinois, southeastern Iowa, and Indiana)
The Royal Tennessee Highlanders
The Royal Kentucky Borderers
The Royal Florida Regiment (Duke of the Keys' Own)
The Royal Williamania Regiment (Note - Williamania Province is Louisiana and Mississippi)
The Timberlands Highlanders (Note - The Province of the Timberlands is the combination of Arkansas and Missouri)
The Columbia Regiment (Note - The Province of Columbia is the combination of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia)
The Michiganlanders (The Michigan Regiment) 
The Royal North Woods Regiment (The Duke of the Woods' Own) (Note - The Province of the North Woods is Minnesota, northwestern Iowa, and Wisconsin)
The Royal Bermuda Regiment
The Royal Bahama Regiment
The Royal Jamaica Regiment
The Royal Regiment of the Antilles (The Duke of Barbados' Own)
The Royal Belize Regiment
The King's Own American Rangers
The American Light Infantry (The Queen's Own)
The American Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)
The Royal American Transport Corps
The Royal American Medical Corps
The Royal American Veterinary Corps
The Honourable Company of Philadelphia Guardsmen (Note - A mostly ceremonial unit that functions as a proto-special forces for the Dominion of North America)
[/hider]

[hider=The Government of the Dominion of North America]
[center][img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c25606e1-ca3b-4ef6-9c5f-2b82a9c347f1/d6o0vbx-d4b81c2a-0506-4e55-8dc9-536b5041026c.png/v1/fill/w_812,h_984,q_75,strp/an_american_monarchy___coat_of_arms_by_regicollis-d6o0vbx.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9jMjU2MDZlMS1jYTNiLTRlZjYtOWM1Zi0yYjgyYTljMzQ3ZjEvZDZvMHZieC1kNGI4MWMyYS0wNTA2LTRlNTUtOGRjOS01MzZiNTA0MTAyNmMucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTgxMiIsImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9OTg0In1dXX0.560aowGC-0kF4jU3N4XUgSr9P7K1H6h3EK5fk6O83RU[/img]
[i]"Sit Nomine Digna"
"May She Be Worthy of the Name"[/i]

[b][h3][color=FF0000]Her Majesty's Government of the Dominion of North America[/color][/h3][/b][/center]

The Dominion of North America is governed through a representative Parliament, which is divided up into two Houses. It is administered by the United Kingdom through the Viceroy and Governor-General of the Dominion of North America - or simply the Viceroy of America - who is appointed by the ruling monarch to serve as the representative of the British Government in the Dominion. The final say of all legislative actions is decided by the Viceroy, who is entitled a large degree of power although most tend to not exercise it. He also has the power to dissolve the American Parliament, an act which has never been done before.

The two houses of the American Parliament are the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is the lower house of Parliament, comprised of 250 Members of Parliament who are elected to four-year terms by the landowning men of the Dominion. These Members of Parliament do not have term limits but are rather limited by their constituents, who may vote them out during the elections that are held every four years. All bills originate within the House of Commons, where they are voted on and then passed up to the upper house. The upper house is the House of Lords, which is comprised of 100 hereditary peers from the Dominion. They have a great deal of influence over the day-to-day legislative actions, and if they veto or vote down a bill, it will not reach the Viceroy's desk.

The House of Commons, however, is what determines the actual executive government of the Dominion. From the ruling party, or from the coalition of parties that form the majority government, a cabinet of ministers is appointed, including the Prime Minister and various other positions. These executive ministers hold power only within the Dominion itself, and are ultimately subject to rulings that come from the Viceroy and the British Government in London.

There are numerous political parties in the Dominion of North America, but only a handful have any influence within the House of Commons. The following are currently the ones that occupy seats within the Parliament following the General Election of 1856:

[b]Her Majesty's Government[/b]
[i]The Conservative Party[/i]
Known colloquially as the Tories, the Conservative Party holds the majority of the seats within the Dominion, sitting comfortably at 140 seats in the House of Commons. The Party resembles greatly the policies and practices of their ideological cousins in Westminster. They support protectionism for the Dominion's manufacturing and industry, favoring an inter-Empire trade system with high tariffs for trading outside of the British Empire. They are also extremely critical of the tolerance of the American-Mexican Border, which they say was decided at a time when Anglo-Saxons did not live within the borders, and advocate for intervention in the Northern Territories as the Mexican Empire descends into another bout of anarchy. The Tories believe in the strengthening of ties with the British metropole and are highly supportive of the status quo. The Conservative Party is reluctant to grant social reforms except when under pressure, especially in the wake of the New York labor strikes in 1851. The Party is extremely popular in the Canadian Provinces (with the exception of Quebec), New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and the other northern Provinces.

[b]Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition[/b]
[i]The Liberal Party[/i]
Known colloquially as the Whigs, the Liberal Party represents the last stand of the Whigs in the Empire after the dissolution of their political group in the British Isles. They hold the next largest amount of seats, at 82, but are unable to form a coalition with any of the other opposition parties. This is due to their free-trade policies which most Americans view as stifling to the Empire, and indeed the Party's general outlook on the British Empire. They believe in lessening the ties with the British Empire, and more self-governance in the Americas, which is a revolutionary idea which many detractors say are sympathetic to the Insurrectionists. The Whigs are victims of this association and find their support mainly in the Southern Provinces and in the Caribbean.

[b]The Other Opposition[/b]
[i]The Land-and-Soil Party[/i]
This party, comprised of 15 MPs elected mainly from the Western Provinces that border the Midwest, Regina, and Alaskan Territories, represents the interest of the frontiersmen who have not yet yielded to the greater Dominion culture. Through this party, the settlers in the territories advocate for their accession to the Dominion as Provinces. Neither the Whigs or the Tories are willing to make this compromise, as both see it as a threat to their political situation. The Land-and-Soil Party are crossbenchers who tend to vote along the lines with the Tories on trade and defense.

[i]Parti Québécois (Party of the Quebeckers)[/i]
The Quebeckers hold around 7 seats in the House of Commons, all elected from the Province of Quebec. This single-issue party is totally committed to Quebec seceding from the Anglo-Saxon-dominated Dominion of North America and forming their own Dominion under the British Crown. Contrary to their forefathers, who fought against the British in the Seven Years' War, they are relatively loyal to the Crown but are against the dominant forces of the Dominion. They tend to vote with the Tories.

[i]The Coalition of Providence[/i]
Like the Party of the Quebeckers, the Coalition of Providence is a single-issue party dedicated to seceding the Caribbean Provinces from the Dominion of North America and forming their own Dominion. With 4 members in the House of Commons, they are unlikely to make any gains towards this goal but still lobby for this. They tend to vote with the Whigs.

[i]The Red-Men's Party[/i]
The Red-Men's Party, comprised of two Members of Parliament, both from the Iroquois Confederacy Crown Protectorate, advocate for the independence of the American Indian Crown Protectorates from the Dominion of North America and direct rule from London. The hostile actions taken against the Seminole, Cherokee, and other tribes following brief outbreaks of war in the 1810s and 20s, which all resulted in the Indian Removal Act of 1828, prove to the supporters that the Dominion no longer supports them. They practice a policy of abstentionism, refusing to take their seats in the American Parliament.
[/hider]

[hider=The Honourable Company of Philadelphia Guardsmen]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XBx37an.png[/img]
[i]"Honi soit qui mal y pense"
"Shame be to him who thinks evil of it"[/i]

[b][h3][color=FF0000]The Honourable Company of Philadelphia Guardsmen[/color][/h3][/b][/center]

The Honourable Company of Philadelphia Guardsmen finds its origins in 1775, in the wake of the outbreak of the American Insurrection. A contingent of loyal Guardsmen in the rebel city held out in the Pennsylvania State House - now known as the Dominion House - against a mob of Insurrectionists who had seized control of the local armory. Men of American extraction, they fought a valiant fight against the Insurrectionists until regulars from the local garrison arrived to relieve them.

The contingent of Guardsmen were honored by King George III with the establishment of their own military corps via Royal Charter on July 4th, 1789, coinciding with the signing of the Dominion Act which took place in the same building where at the beginning of the Insurrection the Guardsmen repelled their siege and prevented the King's Colors from falling into the hands of the rebels. Through the Royal Charter, they were given the sole right to stand ceremonial guard duties at Dominion House and established them as a military force at the direct disposal of the Viceroy of America.

The Company has been deployed in many military operations, including assisting the Texans in their rebellion against the Mexicans and in anti-insurgent operations against the Western American Indian tribes in the expanse of the Dominion following the Frontier Act. Their often clandestine operations have earned them the sobriquet of the 'American Watch,' as they are said to stand watch over the entirety of the Dominion. It is unknown the exact number of Guardsmen at the disposal of the Company, but they recruit directly from the American Regiments and are typically led by Anglo-American officers. It is one of the few units in the Dominion which is almost entirely comprised of Americans.

Fiercely loyal to the Crown and nothing else, the Guardsmen are chosen for their patriotic stance on defending the Empire against all its enemies, making it almost impossible for neo-Insurrectionist sympathizers to find their way into the elite ranks of the Guardsmen. Their prominent place within the Dominion is shown in its own Coat of Arms, which features the heraldry draped with the Order of Philadelphia - the noble order of which is the patron of the Guardsmen.
[/hider]

[hider=The West African Crisis]
[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/NAM-1971-02-33-1-1.jpg/800px-NAM-1971-02-33-1-1.jpg[/img]
[i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnzaR1158UA]Bang upon the big drum, crash upon the cymbals
We'll sing as we go marching along boys, along
And although on this campaign
There's no whiskey or champagne
Still we'll keep our spirits going with a song, boys[/url][/i][/center]

The West African Crisis has its origins in the unresolved tensions following the Anglo-Ashantee War and with the introduction of the freed American slaves to the Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Guinea, Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast, and Nigerian Crown Colonies - incorporated in 1852 into the Crown Colony of British West Africa. The unresolved border tension along the Pra River Border, established in 1831 between the territories in the Gold Coast, led to outbreak of conflict along the river, as Ashantee tribesmen tested the British African Corps resolve.

The introduction of the freed slaves led to a greater expansion of British colonial power throughout the region, as they needed room to settle. Many tribes were forced to drive further and further inland as more freed Negroes settled within the colonies. These fleeing tribesmen found refuge within the Mandinka and Sokoto Empires, ancient enemies that found themselves facing down a greater and far superior foe in the British Empire.

The Crisis is agreed to have begun in 1856 with the outbreak of revolt within the territories of the former Gold Coast and Ivory Coast colonies, as displaced tribesmen rose up rather than to be forced into Mandinka Empire. This soon descended into chaos as tribesmen in the Oil Rivers rose up with the implicit assistance of the Sokoto. The African Corps, now comprised almost entirely of former slaves, were mobilized to defend the British imperial presence with varying degrees of effect. The final push towards outright crisis occurred when the fledgling Ashantee Kingdom mobilized for war a second time in thirty years, sending warbands across the Pra River and into British territory.

Within the former Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Guinea colonies, peace has reigned as the tribesmen and resettled Africans were able to coexist, but in the other former colonies a brutal guerilla war is being waged. Local Colonial Service officials and even Members of Parliament in Westminster are lobbying the Palmerston Government to send British troops into West Africa, where the situation is rapidly deteriorating, as the Sokoto and Mandinka Empires move to take advantage of the chaos.

The eyes of the Empire lay upon West Africa to prove whether the British Empire is ready to wage a total war against the two African kingdoms beyond the colony's borders.[/hider]

[hider=The States of the West African Crisis]
[b]THE CROWN COLONY OF BRITISH WEST AFRICA[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Flag_of_the_British_West_Africa_Settlements_%281870%E2%80%931888%29.svg/800px-Flag_of_the_British_West_Africa_Settlements_%281870%E2%80%931888%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE MANDINKA EMPIRE[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Flag_of_Mali_%281959-1961%29.svg/800px-Flag_of_Mali_%281959-1961%29.svg.png[/img]

[b]THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Flag_of_the_Sokoto_Caliphate.svg/600px-Flag_of_the_Sokoto_Caliphate.svg.png[/img]
[/hider]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deJDkU6qiGE]Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as Thou dwell'st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terror, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile,
And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee.
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.[/url]

Rest in Peace.