Hi, Bert!

Thanks for your thoughts.

"Miller, Bert" wrote:

I am not current with Quantum Destinies; I read parts 1-4 quite some time
ago, but nothing since.  Thus I may be missing info explained in the
stories.

You should read them.  They are very entertaining and quite good.

However, I was sufficiently intrigued with this short essay to offer
commentary.

Thanks!

The current Imperial line has been in power for almost four hundred
years, and is both the most successful and the most vigorous
seen.

I assume that Japanese history prior to ~1600 CE is unchanged?  Then
the Imperial Line hadn't actually ruled for over 600 years prior to
the current Imperial line taking power (ever since the Fujiwara seized
real power during the Heian period).  So I see little point to the
comparison, true though it obviously is.

The divergence point occurred approximately four hundred years ago.  It's
meant to be compliementary to the current Emperor.

It would be very like Japan for the Shogun's family to intermarry

with the Emperor's.  It would be very unlike Japan for the result
to be officially labeled as Nobunaga's line.  Fujiwara daughters
married to Emperors gave birth to Emperors, not Fujiwara.

Only a generation later, the Nobunaga Family
essentially became the Imperial Line, and the expansion of a unified
Japan really began.  Within three generations, the power of the
Shogunates was reabsorbed into the Emperor's hands.

Is it ever explained why the Nobunaga family's policies differed
so much from the (real) Tokugawa family's policies?

Jurai-Knight explained it to me one night.  By having unified Japan so much
earlier, they no longer were worried by either invaders or upstart Shoguns
carving out their own kingdoms.  They had the luxury and the need to expand.

Presumably
the same forces which led the Tokugawa into isolationism were
still operating.

Again, the sentences above don't read like the way any Japanese
person would explain the situation.  Why isn't it "intermarriage
with the Nobunaga Family revitalized the Imperial Line, and the
expansion... began" without a second sentence?

I goofed?  The then Emperor had no real choice in what happened.  Nobunaga
had unified Japan by himself.  The Emperor simply acknowledged the fact by
allowing the two families to be merged.  Because of his status as hero,
Nobunaga rose in stature at first rivalling and then passing that of the
Imperial founders.  Thus, the historical situation flip-flopped and it's seen
that the Emperor bowed to Nobunaga.

2. High Nobles - This is the class that contains the
descendants of the
pre-Imperial "Shogunate" nobility.

Does this mean all daimyos from the warring states period?
Or only the descendents of the pre-Tokugawa shogunate families?

The first, but only those families that held others in fief.

When the Empire was still expanding, many new
clans were formed when the younger children of these houses
were sent to
become the governors of newly conquered lands.

This raises an interesting question.  Spanish colonies recognized
a distinct status difference between people born in Spain, and
people of pure Spanish descent born overseas.  What happens to
the status of Japanese born overseas in the QD world?

It depends upon their heritage.  If they are full-blooded Japanese, nothing.
If they are from a heritage of Citizens acclained by deed, then they are
looked down upon when on the home islands.  Otherwise, there is no
discrimination.

 The second branch was added three
hundred years ago
in response to the pressure from the European Merchant
Companies.

Japan was expanding from 1600 CE to 1700 CE, but didn't have its
own zaibatsu yet by 1700?  Or did, but were ignored, while the
European equivalents (Dutch East Indies Company, etc) weren't?
The former appears to imply that Japan followed a Spanish colonial
model:  direct control, via a viceroy, for the purpose of religious
conversion and extraction of precious metals for shipment home.
Note that the latter policy led to the collapse of Spanish power
in Europe.  Why didn't Japan collapse, given such rampant inflation
at home?

As I see it, and Jurai-Knight can, of course, overrule me.  I saw more of a
Roman model  The Japanese come in and conquer.  They place a new nobility in
place to rule, but the day to day activities are left to the peoples.  The
difference is that the Imperial taxes and levies must be met.  The inflation
at home never occurred.

 The last group of nobility was
created a hundred and fifty years ago in response to the technological
superiority that the European monarchies held over the people of
Nippon.

Circa 1850, i.e. just after the inventions of the railroad and telegraph,
Japan noticed a "technological superiority"?  How?  Why?  If they'd
been expanding for 250 years, surely they'd have kept somewhat more
current than the real Japan did?

yes, they did.

Remember that China thought European inventions were amusing diversions
and nothing more up through about 1800.  Up until about then, European
inventions _were_ nothing more than amusing diversions.

The real Japan made the best guns in the world in 1600.  If, instead
of dropping into peaceful isolationism, Japan had embarked on warlike
expansionism, wouldn't they have still made the best guns in the world
in 1850?

Yes, they still made the best weapons in the world.  That is what allowed
them to keep their Empire intact when the Industrial Revolution swept through
the West.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the power of the European
nations quickly grew beyond what any other nation held in the world.  As
Japan realized this, they began their own.  It took them around 50 years of
competition before they got serious.

4. Citizen - The vast majority of the populace of the home islands are
Citizens.  There are also Citizens scattered throughout the
rest of the
Imperium.

This almost implies a Roman model?

Yes.

5. Civilian - A civilian is a member of the class that are fully
Nipponese, yet have lost their Citizenship in one way or
another.

I'm not sure I grasp how this category developed.  In real Japan,
only Ainu and Burakumin would appear to be candidates for this
category.  The ideology of real Japan is that all other Japanese
people are undifferentiable, but different from the rest of the
world.  Presumably, a divergent ideology of "responsibility to
the Empire" has to exist, and the enforcement of this ideology
has to take precedence over ideological attempts to assure the
Japanese people that they're all the same.  In the real world,
even in the run-up to WWII, homogenization took precedence.

Those were the groups I was referring to.  The Ainu and Burakumin have been
slowly squeezed from the home islands with the lure of full Citizenship.
Also, criminals lose their status as Citizens and become Civilians.

6. Freeman - Sometimes called the "Noble Peasants."  The euphemistic
phrase used for those that are either half-Nipponese or their
country is
considered to be closely tied to Nippon.  The Koreans fall into this
category.

Koreans are looked upon favorably by Japanese?  What a change!

They are acknowledged as the people from which the home islands were
colonized.

7. Peasant - Any of the conquered peoples of the Empire.
They are given
full educations and are encouraged to strive for Citizenship.

Since I haven't read QD recently/thoroughly, I'm not sure who
the other conquered people are, other than west coast native
Americans.  (Presumably, if the Japanese ever conquered European-
colonized areas, the Europeans would receive "honorary Japanese"
status.)  The implication is that the Japanese weren't impressed
by Aztec or Inca or Javanese achievements.

The Japanese Empire stretches from India throughout all of East Asia and the
Pacific Rim.  This includes Australia and the other Islands of Oceania.

8. Barbarian - Anyone from any part of the world not under the
enlightened rule of the Emperor.  Depending upon which empire
they come
from, they are granted either Civilian or Freeman status while they
journey within the empire.

Why isn't this "Freeman or Peasant" status?  Are the peasants of
other empires denied visas?

The diplomats of all other countries are allowed entry along with anyone who
can prove their usefullness to the Empire.  They do not allow the "tired and
poor" from around the world to enter.

The status of "Civilian" given to foreigners is mostly honorary.  They are
not allowed to carry any weapons, for instance.