Byrd Man

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

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Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Time for some Native Alliance

Name: Pontiac

Place: Michigan

Bio: Like many Native-Americans, little is known of the early life on Pontiac. Pontiac was born in an Ottawa village outside the location of Fort Detroit between the years 1712 and 1725. Pontiac was raised as a member of the Ottawa tribe by parents who were either Ojibwa or Miami Indian. For most of his child-hood life he was raised near Fort Detroit.

After his child-hood Pontiac came to prominence among his people when it 1747 he led his people as a war chief in alliance with the French against an uprising of the Huron people. The alliance between Ottawa and the French held strong after, and Pontiac partook in battles against the English in the North American front of the Seven Years war; the French and Indian War in the Americas. Here Pontiac grew to acclaim among his people as a warrior as he fought successive skirmishes and battles against the British, such as the French victory over the Braddock expedition.

It wasn't until 1765 that Pontiac drew public attention among a broader audience when a British frontier soldier met Pontiac in the midst of the war. It was from this encounter that the soldier wrote a play about the formidable and charismatic leader which became the root of his awareness among the British colonists in later years, and among the rest of the colonies.

Though while Pontiac had garnered a significant reputation on the battlefield during the French and Indian War, his best is yet to come.

With the conclusion of the war and cessation of former French lands to the British the formerly French-allied tribes were thrown into disarray as French presence in the Ohio Valley and Michigan disappeared as Upper Lousiana was ceded to British authority. The initial sweep of colonists into the native forests was bad enough, but when the winters began to become longer, and the summers colder it began getting worse.

Over short summers more and more of the British arrived on American shores. While initial diplomacy suggested the British would not infringe on native lands, the burdens became heavy as the flood gates opened unleashing many hundreds of British frontiersmen onto Native American land. And as the winter grew colder the prevalence of distance natives did grow as well as new hunters merged south in seek of warmer lands ahead of the ice-shields that grew from the northern reaches of Canada.

In these times as they grow dire and the world steeps itself in the confusion of changing times Pontiac reaches out to Guyasuta...
______________

Name: Guyasuta

Place: Michigan-Ohio

Bio: Born in western New York around the year 1725, Guyasuta is a prominent Seneca was chief. Having once met and lead a young George Washington to Fort Le Boeuf in the build up to the Seven Years war Guyasuta chose not to in the end ally with the encroaching British powers and allied with the French in the ensuing war. Playing a part in the battle that ended the Braddock expedition he crossed paths with leaders like Pontiac, and like the young Ottawa war chief came to acclaim among Indian warriors, though not to the degrees as Pontiac.

Much respected by his people he held an important place in Seneca leadership and was looked to for guidance by the Seneca people when beyond all expectations more and more British settlers sailed across the great ocean to settle the Americas, greatly displacing the Seneca tribe along with others. As the scope of British settlement grew and the Seneca were pushed from their land they fled west into the Ohio valley, and deeper still.

With the additional stress of the tired northern tribes straying south to avoid the deepening freeze and migrating game in Canada, Guyasuta and his people were faced with the double threat of not only European refugees filling up land, but migrating refugee Native Americans.

And it was when Pontiac called for him, he responded.

@Dinh AaronMk

Hell yes. I almost did something with the tribes, but I don't think I could do them justice.

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Grits and Groceries is a good spot. I always think of it as the place with the big fucking chicken out front.

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Burgoyne is gonna be based out of Ninety Six? Heh. I live about thirty-five miles away from there. They were always one of our big rivals when I played football. My hometown was part of the old Ninety-Six District.

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Just one more.

Name: Major George Washington

Place: The West

Bio:

George Washington was born in 1732 to a Virginia planter family. While wealthy, the Washingtons were still several steps below the First Families of Virginia. As a young man he surveyed the Shenandoah Valley for the Fairfax family and gained enough political clout to become a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia. As a social striver stuck in the middle class, Washington yearned for a full commission to the British Army to improve his standing in the world.

In 1754, Colonel Washington was charged with a mission to build a fort and hold off French expansion in the Ohio territory. The young and ambitious Lieutenant Colonel instead set off a global powderkeg. The Battle of Fort Necessity would be the spark that would ignite the Seven Years' War. After a disastrous expedition underneath the command of General Edward Braddock, Washington returned to Virginia and became a full colonel and commander-in-chief of the Virginia militia. In 1759, Washington married wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis. The marriage raised Washington's place in the social order and he entered the pinnacle of Virginia society.

But then the cold came. The changing weather would alter the tobacco planter class in Virginia. As Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, began to go into a financial tailspin due to the poor turnout of the crop. As the situation worsened in Europe, Washington and Martha sold their land to the Fairfax family and moved south along with scores of others seeking to flee from the cold.

In South Carolina Washington finally received what he had sought for so long. With the British Army in desperate need of capable officers, Washington was granted a commission as a captain in army. He was quickly promoted to major and shipped out west towards the French border. Washington and his men are currently stationed at Fort Fredrick just east of the Mississippi River. Fort Fredrick and the nearby settlement of Georgetown are filled with British settlers seeking farm land, French fur traders selling their wares, and people with seedy connections looking to find their fortune.

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Byrd's Characters

Hercules Mulligan

Name: Hercules Mulligan

Place: New York City

Bio:

Hercules Mulligan was born in 1740 in Ireland. Six years later, his family moved to America and settled in the colony of New York. The young Mulligan studied at King's College in Manhattan. After school, Mulligan opened his own business -- a tailor's shop -- that caters to wealthy members of colonial New York. In the influx of immigrants from Europe, Mulligan has found his business booming as many agents of the crown settle into New York.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, Mulligan is in fact a member of the Sons of Liberty and the New York Committee of Correspondence, two very important organizations that sought to unite the colonies in their struggle for greater representation and less taxes from the British crown. Now, with the changing weather and the refugee crisis the situation is immensely changed, although the Sons of Liberty and the CofC stick to their goals and Mulligan continues to assist them wherever possible.

Sir Thomas Bennett

Name: Sir Thomas Bennett

Place: South Carolina

Bio:

Born in 1729, Thomas Bennett came from a prominent English merchant family. Thomas' father had relocated to America to run the family's business in Virginia. The Bennett family thrived for most of Thomas' childhood, but bad investments by his father bankrupted their family business and turned the elder Bennett into an alcoholic. In 1732, he committed suicide and left Thomas responsible for his mother and three siblings. Thomas, along with his brother and two sisters, worked for the wealthy gentry of the Virginia tidewater area to make money to support themselves. Thomas was still a boy when he learned the easy ways to cater to the ruling elite of Virginia society.

At the age of eighteen he began reading law under the tutelage of Victor Randolph, one of the top lawyers in Virginia. In 1754, twenty-five year old Thomas struck out for himself as a lawyer. He soon used his connections with the first families of Virginia to get work. By the time he turned thirty, Bennett was perhaps even more well known that his mentor Randolph.

In 1760, Bennett was employed by the mighty Fairfax Family to handle a sensitive matter. Lord Fairfax's youngest son had become involved with a woman of ill character and had fathered a child with said woman. For a fee, Bennett used his connections in the state to have the woman and child quietly sent west to the Piedmont Region and a lonely planter who had longed for his own family. For this service, Lord Fairfax honored Bennett by pulling strings in England and granting him a knighthood.

Now in 1770, as the entire world has been turned upside down, the now wealthy and successful Sir Thomas finds himself in South Carolina just outside Charles Town. With the influx of wealthy nobles, there are to be many in need of his discreet talents.

George Fucking Washington

Name: Lt. Colonel George Washington

Place: The West

Bio:

George Washington was born in 1732 to a Virginia planter family. While wealthy, the Washingtons were still several steps below the First Families of Virginia. As a young man he surveyed the Shenandoah Valley for the Fairfax family and gained enough political clout to become a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia. As a social striver stuck in the middle class, Washington yearned for a full commission to the British Army to improve his standing in the world.

In 1754, Colonel Washington was charged with a mission to build a fort and hold off French expansion in the Ohio territory. The young and ambitious Lieutenant Colonel instead set off a global powderkeg. The Battle of Fort Necessity would be the spark that would ignite the Seven Years' War. After a disastrous expedition underneath the command of General Edward Braddock, Washington returned to Virginia and became a full colonel and commander-in-chief of the Virginia militia. In 1759, Washington married wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis. The marriage raised Washington's place in the social order and he entered the pinnacle of Virginia society.

But then the cold came. The changing weather would alter the tobacco planter class in Virginia. As Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, began to go into a financial tailspin due to the poor turnout of the crop. As the situation worsened in Europe, Washington and Martha sold their land to the Fairfax family and moved south along with scores of others seeking to flee from the cold.

In South Carolina Washington finally received what he had sought for so long. With the British Army in desperate need of capable officers, Washington was granted a commission as a captain in army. He was quickly promoted to major and shipped out west towards the French border. Washington and his men are currently stationed at Fort Fredrick in the outskirts of civilization. Fort Fredrick and the nearby settlement of Georgetown are filled with British settlers seeking farm land, French fur traders selling their wares, and people with seedy connections looking to find their fortune.

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Name: Hercules Mulligan

Place: New York City

Bio:

Hercules Mulligan was born in 1740 in Ireland. Six years later, his family moved to America and settled in the colony of New York. The young Mulligan studied at King's College in Manhattan. After school, Mulligan opened his own business -- a tailor's shop -- that caters to wealthy members of colonial New York. In the influx of immigrants from Europe, Mulligan has found his business booming as many agents of the crown settle into New York.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, Mulligan is in fact a member of the Sons of Liberty and the New York Committee of Correspondence, two very important organizations that sought to unite the colonies in their struggle for greater representation and less taxes from the British crown. Now, with the changing weather and the refugee crisis the situation is immensely changed, although the Sons of Liberty and the CofC stick to their goals and Mulligan continues to assist them wherever possible.

And

Name: Sir Thomas Bennett

Place: South Carolina

Bio:

Born in 1729, Thomas Bennett came from a prominent English merchant family. Thomas' father had relocated to America to run the family's business in Virginia. The Bennett family thrived for most of Thomas' childhood, but bad investments by his father bankrupted their family business and turned the elder Bennett into an alcoholic. In 1732, he committed suicide and left Thomas responsible for his mother and three siblings. Thomas, along with his brother and two sisters, worked for the wealthy gentry of the Virginia tidewater area to make money to support themselves. Thomas was still a boy when he learned the easy ways to cater to the ruling elite of Virginia society.

At the age of eighteen he began reading law under the tutelage of Victor Randolph, one of the top lawyers in Virginia. In 1754, twenty-five year old Thomas struck out for himself as a lawyer. He soon used his connections with the first families of Virginia to get work. By the time he turned thirty, Bennett was perhaps even more well known that his mentor Randolph.

In 1760, Bennett was employed by the mighty Fairfax Family to handle a sensitive matter. Lord Fairfax's youngest son had become involved with a woman of ill character and had fathered a child with said woman. For a fee, Bennett used his connections in the state to have the woman and child quietly sent west to the Piedmont Region and a lonely planter who had longed for his own family. For this service, Lord Fairfax honored Bennett by pulling strings in England and granting him a knighthood.

Now in 1770, as the entire world has been turned upside down, the now wealthy and successful Sir Thomas finds himself in South Carolina just outside Charles Town. With the influx of wealthy nobles, there are to be many in need of his discreet talents.

Winter Came on Forever: An 18th Century Alt-History

Give me some time to get my eggs in order.

@Dinh AaronMk

What he said.

18th Century Ice Age

News got me like:

18th Century Ice Age

Working on the Hamilton thing. Did we ever get a hard date for the game's start?