In other news, there's a character in the Rubyverse you as blog readers don't know about, since he was created in the fleshed-out version of my notes: the most powerful Grandmaster-tiered Blood Mastery, the only one surpassing Richard and Miranda, he was hailed in his glory days as easily a candidate for eighth grandmaster. I fleshed out what he did and why he's not actually a grandmaster.
...But what I was actually coming to talk about is an old story idea of mine, one with an alternate history. Basically, it's a world in which some of the greatest empires in history never fell, with one or two cases of a new empire that never existed. I'm not sure what it was before, but in the current version, it looks something like: Mongoloa spans basically all of Asia, having--be it through conquest or alliance--swept across the land.
Their Khan set up a stable empire, with politics and economy that held together even as the world around them changed. The greatest rival to the Mongol Hordes is an unfallen Roman Empire, spanning pretty much their peak level of power. They also got this through a combination of conquest and alliances. (I do need to research these things, though.)
They managed to survive the factors that caused their historic collapse, holding a strong military and a power-house economy. They have not, however, expanded to control all of Europe. (Again, I need to look up what their historical coverage was so I see how far their boarders go.)
Barbaric tribes kept them at bay, and eventually, united at least on the southern ends under the German empire, which grew into an industrial power-house. Then, we get into the new world: penetrated by Scandinavians, they created alliances with the Indian tribes, and the Iroquois Nation merged with them, effectively creating democracy in America. They eventually spread across the whole of North America, largely by alliance, but also a little bit by conquest, uniting as a single nation once petty tribal disputes were overcome. To the South, the Aztec empire eventually joined with them, once a combination of invasion from the Romans (who the Scandinavians weren't too fond of) and disease began cutting into their forces, leaving them in need of help.
Not sure about the more southern parts of America, presumably also joining the Scandinavian-Iroquois-Aztec supernation, but it happens. They have good sea trade going on, but their main strength is in their cultural exchange, with ideas having been traded and combined to find the best of both worlds.
Totally unrealistic world, but in my defense, I haven't done my homework, yet. I could flesh it out and make it more realistic if I did some actual research.