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Had to send my reply by PM as I wrote too long a reply for a visitor message. Apparently they cannot be over 5000 characters.

Churchill getting killed by that taxi comes up a lot in alternate history. Gate fanfic sounds an interesting military story, NTHT is a much, much better show. An initial motive for intervention would be to prevent NTHT warlords opening new gates anywhere in the world. If it then becomes clear that they no longer have this ability, purely humanitarian motives for remaining on the other side may rapidly get shouted down by anti-war parties. I'm sure the NTHT world has run out of oil, that far in the future, so not much motivation there.

The rescue of kidnapped Japanese in Gate (in a work I can't but primarily see as a JSDF puff-piece) struck me as rather trite, considering that Japan still hasn't recovered all the abductees from North Korea, and we've been helpless to recover the Chibok girls. I imagine your fanfic could deal with the difficulty of recovering abduction victims more realistically, by having antagonists with slightly more brains.

I completely overlooked the agreeing to peace talks with regard to Burns, but you're right, he was there- I barely noticed it since it was such a short scene in the episode. I believe at some point in the 20s, Churchill was hit by a car during a visit to New York- I believe that was the injury that caused him to walk with a cane. Now this isn't the first time this has been used as a device in an alternate history, but perhaps in the world of Izetta, the accident was fatal, leaving Burns to take his place.

Of course a lot of this alternate history will probably remain headcanon beyond maybe a reference or two to it, at least in the story, or really collection of side stories I have planned so far. Still, an interesting idea to discuss.

Not sure how interested you'll be in my other fanfic project I'm working on, but it's essentially a crossover between Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There and Now and Then, Here and There- essentially taking the Gate concept, but replacing the cliche medieval fantasy, or should I say conventional isekai anime world, with one from a grimdark "proto-isekai" (I say proto-isekai as NTHT aired in 2000, well before the boom in isekai anime, and lacks any of the features of a normal isekai) anime featuring a world which is a post-apocalyptic hellhole where child soldiers, murder, genocide, rape, famine, disease, etc are facts of every day life. Essentially the storyline involves both Itami and an adult version of the protagonist of NTHT, Shuzo Mazutani, who, after a warlord in the world of NTHT tries and fails to invade, and Japan counter-invades, is essentially enlisted as an interpreter by the JSDF in the paralell world. Obviously none of the Special Region characters in Gate will appear, and much of the lighter-hearted comedic moments will be gone. Also, as the world of NTHT has guns and armored vehicles, the JSDF will not have such an easy time (but they will still have some advantage as the other world weapons look like they are held together, in some cases literally ,with duct tape). Basically, the early battles will be relatively easy victories for the JSDF, but it will soon devolve into a protracted counter-insurgency campaign like Iraq in real life. Also, if the politician characters from Gate make an appearance, the "strawman" politicians will be replaced with one with more realistic platforms- i.e. Mizuki Kohara (the woman from the Diet in Gate) will, instead of a strawman (or straw-woman, I guess) anti-military person who will use any excuse to criticize the JSDF, will simply have an anti-war platform.

Sounds straightforward enough. I had that colourless civilian with the brown beard involved in Eylstatd's war councils pegged as the prime minister. After Burns agreed to peace talks with Germania in ep11 I can no longer think of him as Winston Churchill.

I think a number of conservatives including Hindenburg and Van Papen considered bringing the Kaiser back, though others, including Hitler, despised the Kaiser for failing to win WWI. Possibly Otto argued with Wilhelm and got exiled before the war was lost and/or fought in WWI with distinction? Good to work all this background out, and be selective about what you include in the story to help it along.

Just realized you replied in your own comments section!

And yeah, I do intend to do that, of course it may be a bit before I complete it, having to work around stuff I'm writing for university and another fanfic project I'm working on.

Also, with regard to some other details about the big picture, I have some headcanons about the government of Eylstadt and the pre-war history of Germania, also the presence and absence of historical figures.

As far as Eylstadt is concerned, there hasn't been a lot said about the exact nature of the government, but, at least my fic will be assuming that it is some sort of constitutional monarchy, as an absolutist monarchy in Europe in 1940 seems unlikely- I'm giving the Germanians a pass because the monarch literally is a stand in for another dictator. Mind you, the only thing I'm basing that on is the fact that Muller seems to be involved with most of the actual running of the war, also there are a few unidentified people in at the table. In my headcanon, there is an an Elystadtian Parliament which gets hit along with the palace and the AA guns in Landsbruck during Sophie's guided V-1 attack, and have ascribed the ranks of "War Minister" to Muller and "Minister of Communications" to Elvira.

As for Germanian history: In the timeline World War I happened much as it did in real life, as did the Treaty of Versailles, and the downfall of the monarchy, however, a number of small changes (To be fair, I only did cursory research on post-WWI Germany, so I would not be able to come up with all of them, so I did a bit of handwaving) change the outcome of the postwar period. But, one change I have included is that during the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler, Goring, Hess, and several other high-ranking Nazis are killed in the firefight with police- plausible as Hitler and Goring actually wounded during the Putsch in reality. After this, an effective leader never emerges in the Nazi Party, which remain a minor third party. Instead, after the onset of the Great Depression and the growing discontent with the Weimar Republic, the reactionary monarchist "Grossdeutschland Party" (my fanfic alternate historical invention) led by a charismatic (again, fictional) nephew of the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II, Prince Otto, promises to restore the Germanian Empire to its glory days, and even go beyond that- to unify all Germanic people, avenge the Germanian defeat in WWI, and make Germania the dominant power on the world stage. While not racist like Hitler, the Grossdeutschland Party uses a similar "stab in the back myth", blaming Germania's defeat on the communists, socialists, and other political minorities. From then on, it goes similar to the rise of the Nazis in real life, with the Germanian people voting the Grossdeutschland Party into power, who restore the monarchy and crown Otto as Kaiser. After the Reichstag Fire of 1934, much like Hitler did in real life, Otto blames the fire on the communists and seizes absolute power, before arresting numerous communists and other political opponents and sending them to concentration camps.

As for other alternate historical conundrums, such as the changes in names of most of the countries, and the division of what is now the US into Atlanta and Louisiana, I'm not even going to touch those, at least not immediately. For all we know, Louisiana could simply be a poor choice for a Canada expy or something on the part of the writers. I'm also not going into how Churchill and De Gaulle were replaced by Burns and Benoit- although I have toyed with the idea that at some point their ancestors simply married different people, and that they are, genetically speaking, part the real-world version.

As for the use of historical figures, in my fanfic timeline/headcanon, while there are some new figures featured in the anime, and the anime is obviously trying to distance itself from real history, not surprising given the country of production. For instance, unless the last episode or a future second season contradict this, I am going to have FDR as the leader of Atlanta, though I'm unsure about whether or not have Stalin still be the leader of the Volga Federation, or whether to have Mensheviks win the Russian Revolution in this timeline and have the Federation be a more moderate socialist state. As for things more likely to come up in my fic, Rommel will still be a major Germanian Field Marshal.

Some an idea for potential Izetta fics- or really a set of one-shots rather than one coherent story in the works:

Admittedly this will probably be a set of scenes more focused more on a new Eylstadtian weapon battles and tactics than characterization, but here is an outline:

The main character is an officer (could make him anything from lieutenant to major) in the Eystadt Army's small armored division orders that the 37mm Puteaux cannons recovered from the destroyed FT-17s, as well as a few 20mm anti-tank rifles (i.e. the "standard issue" version of the rifle Izetta rides) be be fitted to a few Carden Loyd tankettes- a vehicle not seen in the anime, but was widely used by the pre-war Allies, so Elystadt having a few is plausible. As for the effectiveness of the Carden on mountain roads, I've heard conflicting stories- one Wikipedia article says it wasn't useful in mountainous terrain, another said it was used by Belgian mountain units. I'm just going to assume that it would work OK in Eylstadt/ the irl Tyrol given that the area is criss-crossed by narrow (some as little as two meters wide) mountain roads, both paved and gravel, that a narrow vehicle would be able to negotiate.

Essentially, the idea being that the area Eylstadt is based on is dotted by narrow mountain roads, both paved and gravel, so the idea being that the narrower Carden-Loyd would be able to drive on roads the Germanian Panzers couldn't. Essentially, the higher ups catch wind of the idea and decide to support it and contract the Einberger corporation to start converting Leichter Panzerjager Luchs ("Lynx" Light Tank Destroyer if I didn't murder the German language).

The Luchs itself would be a version with a better anti-tank gun than the Puteaux- perhaps either making the 20mm "Izetta special" standard, or a copy of the 47mm French... err Thermidorian... anti-tank gun as was used for the T-13 tank destroyer. Also, fitting with it's name, the Einberger-upgraded Luchs would be better equipped to move on snow, with broader treads (as seen in the M29 Weasel).

On another note, I am considering the designer of the Luchs to be related to- perhaps a second or third son of the Einberger Corporation owner who joined the military- plausible enough if he were either of noble ancestry or possibly simply in some sort of wave of Eylstadtian patriotism in response to the rise of the Germanians in the 1930s.

In either case, the scenes I was planning on writing involved an introduction scene of the Luchs, with at least Muller, and possibly, much to the designer's surprise, Fine and Izetta, making an appearance. With a possible photo opp idea from Elvera- i.e. Izetta hovering a few meters over a formation of them. Also some quote from Izetta herself, about how she can't win this alone, possibly leading to Fine speech about standing together etc.

The second scene would after Ep. 9, with a small unit of Luchs traversing mountain roads to attack German Panzers in the valley, then retreating into the cover of forested areas- concealing them from air attack, as part of a coordinated campaign with infantry and hidden artillery and mortar positions scattered throughout the mountains- the Germanians would rule the valley around Landsbruck and the Sellun corridor, but would not be able to dislodge the Eylstadtians- at least a fair number keep fighting after the fall of the capital- I'm assuming Fine escapes to somewhere in the mountains. Even if she doesn't and the anime shits all over this, this could be some sort of scene featuring a final pocket of resistance.

Yeah, I thought this one out a lot.

I also have an idea involving some of the last surviving Elystadtian fighter pilots making a final stand against the Luftwaffe as the paratroopers invade Landsbruck, possibly complete with one of them almost getting in a hit on Sophie, but her moving just as the pilot fires, meaning the bullets only graze her- but still having something similar to that "You bleed, therefore you are not a god" scene in 300 if you get what I'm talking about.

Also, the sort of mountainous guerrilla campaign would be also feature infantry using Molotov cocktails as per the Finns in the Winter War, as well as perhaps the improvised sticky bomb from Saving Private Ryan- explosives, a short time delay fuse, grease, and a sock.

Hmm, as mass-media specialist Elvera would probably be involved if Fine appears in a training program. I think she'd be useful for teasing the other girls and drawing out their worries. Fine might be get mildly frustrated that she wanted to be ready for practical action, rather than another media event. Being able to shoot someone attacking Izetta would certainly beat taking another pitchfork to the side. I think Izetta might do some training with the royal guard as well, so she doesn't get distracted in battle and crash into trees or anything.

If you can write some OC soldiers that we care about, and give it some wider relevance (they have to protect a magic-less Izetta, inspired to keep trying and protect the people by Fine and Izetta's example etc) the other idea could be good.

OK, if I get a lull in my schedule, I might discuss my Izetta idea. I also have some ideas for smaller "one-shot" Izetta fics. One idea involves Finé trying to convince Bianca to teach her how to use a gun, perhaps even having her appear at some sort of "Home Guard" type training program as another chance for a speech and photo op to cement her image as the strong leader.

Also, some ideas featuring normal Eylstadt soldiers. The one I have the best image of is a member of Eylstadt's small armored units, who comes up with the idea of arming Carden-Loyd tankettes (not shown in the anime, but widely exported in the pre-war, so plausible Eylstadt might have a few) with anti-tank rifles and light cannons (mostly the Puteaux 37mm- scavenged from the FT-17s destroyed at Coenenberg). The idea being to use the small tankettes on narrow mountain roads and in forests to ambush Germanian Panzers where they can't easily maneuver.

I should've said that I wouldn't mind discussing ideas if you find the time to write an Izetta fanfic like you said, and thanks for appreciating my little pastiche. It certainly wouldn't have to be long to be good.