Hi.
The title must give you a (historical) stroke, but let me explain real quick. I am a Pen & Paper-Creator and I do all my settings myself. Right now I’ve been working on a setting for a few weeks which is Alternate World/Scifi. In this setting, for scifi-ish-reasons, Norway pushed back against nazi-germany 1941 and proceeded to free country after country from them, taking europe over in a more peaceful manner. The story for my players will take place 2080 where europe is longby gone and is nowadays called the united northztalian empire, which is governed mainly by the northztalian empress from the so-called ‘Holy land’ Northztalia, which is norway.
Yeah, its wild. There are a lot of written-down details and points how all of this happened and what it did with the rest of the world, but lets spare you that for now.
Why I wanted this setting? I have a general fascination with scandinavia and norway in particular, along with its culture, language, nature, music, ecetera. Still, I’ve never been there and frankly am not too knowledgeable about the cultural details to pull something like this of in an even remotely authentic context. Which is fine, its Alternate world/Fantasy/Scifi, and I liked the idea of a scandinavian-led empire, but I think it cant hurt to get some general input from norwegians themselves.
In the last few weeks I was in the process of writing down every social and political aspect of the empire and the world I can think of, i.e. tolerance, love, money, status, government, internet etc. I realized however, that all those points are from my idealistic perspective and what I vaguely believe could be the norwegian way of things in such an utopic setting. So, again, there are some points in which your thoughts would strongly be appreciated:
* How do you think norwegian culture would do in all the other european countries? Where would it especially get into conflict initialy, where would it get interesting outcomes and, most importantly, what do you think are the absolute most important points of norwegian culture and society that said empire would then apply and influence to all of europe?
* While stories of xenophobia in norway are not unheard of, generally I perceive norwegians as warmhearted, open people. My idea of the empire in 2080 would consequentally be that its one of the most tolerant places in the world, with an underlined kindness and inclusion for topics as same-sex, non-caucasian people, LQBTQ+ ecetera. What do you think about that?
* This is kind of a broader question which I could also google but will include here when Im at it: Aside from elements like your national anthem, the norwegian mytholgy and such, what are cultural pieces extremely important to you, that represent norway in your opinion? Be it music, clothes, books, social aspects, fairy tale, whatever comes to mind.
* What are aspects of the norwegian military, police and government that could be of note or should be clear in such a norwegian empire setting? My idea for the empire is an extremely high living standard and a laidback, peaceful approach to most conflicts, yet they are the only power in the world which posseses Mechas, exo-suits and such in 2080, giving them a pretty dominant position. How could those rough ideas benefit from actual norwegian aspects?
* Lastly for now, even though I could go on for hours, what do you think how norwegians would perceive an empress which, in this setting, really and actually holds 90 % of the power over the entire empire in her hands? And by extension, being governed by royalty instead of full democracy? There are strong democratic aspects to Northztalia, as there are still tons of ministers, politicans etc. which get elected, but the absolute power lies with the empress. My – again, idealistic – idea is that the empress and the government is, in changing intensitiy from 1941 to 2080, extremely popular among especially the core-norwegian people but in the overwhelming rest of europe too. Reason being, Northztalia didn’t shit on european-countries cultures and replace them with norwegian like the nazis did, but preserved each culture and just added norwegian on top of it. Every ex-country is called a sub-state now, i.e. Northz-germany, Northz-italy and so forth. Empresses of Northztalia also tend to be philanthropes, resulting in the high living standard of the empire, and that there really arent many poor people for example. Northztalia is a rich empire and invests most of that in its people.
So, your ideas and any other thoughts regarding those points or the general setting would be, again, more than welcome. Im german by the way. I hope you dont take this setting and the questions as a disrespect against norway and your culture, for me this setting is supposed to be a love letter to it actually. I want to work essential norwegian elements in it and have a lot of fun with my players in this world.
Also, here is a world map for your interest. Its in german, but yk, the idea gets across.
[https://imgur.com/a/rULM2Zs](https://imgur.com/a/rULM2Zs)
Alsoalso, I realize this would maybe be better placed in r/worldbuilding, but I would be strongly greateful for authentic input.
Tusen takk!
**TL;DR:**
**Would appreciate input for an european empire in 2080 which is governed by norway entirely.**
by Staubaugen