Also for das:
1. Whats the story with the Qing? How are they in terms of modernization and societal set up? How important is Siberia to them?
2. Am I correct in assuming the Golden Horde is not a industrialized nation and is largely agrarian?
3. What is the ethnic composition of the Argentine protectorate and how did it arise?
4. The Inca's I assume are quite fairly modernized yes?
5. What type of nation is New Albion exactly? And Oklahoma for that matter?
6. Are the British Isles considered to be part of Arcadia or colonies?
7. What is the status of Iberia within France?
8. In terms of technology what technological path is this world taking exactly? What is the pinnacle of technological development that's been reached so far? Does Europe lead technologically?
9. Is Ionia Islamic or Christian?
10. Are there stock exchanges yet?
1. Manchurian tribes developed mostly like in OTL up to a certain point, and created their state and started fighting with Ming China more or less on schedule. However, different political circumstances in China prevented the relatively quick OTL conquest, and the stronger Japan soon began to fight the Qing over Korea quite successfully, so in the end the Qing expansion was limited and delayed. Still, they managed to conquer most of China, but since it was a slower process the Sinification of the new rulers was this much slower and lesser as well; also, there was greater focus on dominating the steppe. Later on, and partly thanks to this change of focus, the Qing were driven out of central China by popular uprisings, but held on to the partly-barbarised north; still, since then it was rather weak and on the defensive. The society is fairly conservative (and sort of Confucian, actually) in most parts including Beijing and most of Manchuria, with a fairly entrenched nobility; the larger cities in the south and the east have seen the rise of a middle class and various innovations lately, and the government has began seeking foreign advice and assistance and industrialisation, mostly at the aforementioned cities and in the less developed north. The north has been a backwater until recently, ofcourse, fur trade aside, but it is picking up now due to population growth and migration and attempts at industrial development there.
2. Mostly, yes, though this is now changing in the western and central parts (the Ural Mountains and so on), mostly on the initiative of increasingly powerful local magnates and large Tverian industrialists.
3. An English colony, with a noticeable but not too large Celtic presence and a considerable later Flemish migration (local-born Anglo-Saxons are the predominant segment, though). Its history is not too notable; the English colonists just expanded, fought in local colonial wars, exterminated most natives except in the far south and briefly enjoyed de facto independence and industrial development in the 18th century; later became an Arcadian Protectorate.
4. Not at all, though it has been periodically trying to catch up and is doing so now. It has generally been enjoying a great degree of self-isolation for the last two centuries or so. Disenfrancised might actually know more about this and the above one since I remember telling him something to a similar effect, but that was long ago, so I don't remember exactly.
5. New Albion is a minor and reasonably corrupt little colonial republic with uncertain distribution of power within the government and between the centers. Oklahoma is a glorified tribal confederacy that has been slowly and unsurely evolving towards a more European sort of statehood (mostly the riverside regions, and even then not quite).
6. Not colonies, but distinct from the Mainland and governed by an appointed Regent, though his powers are limited by the local parliament.
7. Prefectures like all the others, with some minor democratic elements due to the nature of the initial French colonisation but also with strong authoritarian military power of the prefects above that; especially in Leon which has not been colonised but rather conquered during the Fifty Years War.
8. Slower than OTL development, with some breakthroughs in theoretical physics and steam-powered vehicles, but otherwise behind the "schedule". "Bessemer" steel might be considered a relatively recent pinnacle, as might true ironclads (steamers have been around for longer). Yes, Europe is in the lead.
9. Christian.
10. Yes, especially in Frankfurt, Alexandria and St. George (the capital of Arcadia, unless I already named it something else, which I don't seem to have done).
Playing IC is going to be almost impossible if we don't understand the history.
