The Peshawar Lancers

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The Peshawar Lancers is an alternate history adventure novel by S. M. Stirling, with its point of divergence set in 1878. It was published in 2002, and was a Sidewise Award nominee for best long-form alternate history.

Stirling also wrote a novella, Shikari in Galveston, set in the same background but taking place a generation earlier. It was published in the collection Worlds That Weren't.

Contents 1 Plot introduction 2 The Angrezi Raj 3 The rest of the world 4 Plot

[edit] Plot introduction

The story details a world where central Europe and the North Atlantic was struck by a particularly dense and heavy meteor shower (the Fall) in 1878, causing the collapse of civilization in Europe and North America. In order to survive, the British Empire under the leadership of Queen Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli had to employ the Royal Navy and whichever ships it could muster to transport as much of its population and culture as possible to the colonies in India.

The book is set in the year 2025 (though the technological and cultural level is approximately beginning of the 20th century or earlier), after the world has finally recovered and the political geography is completely different from our own. The British Raj, centered in its former colonies of India, South Africa, and Australia is again the most powerful nation on Earth. Its rivals are the Caliphate of Damascus, the now-combined China and Japan, and the surviving remnants of the Russian Empire in central Asia.

Athelstane King (the name is taken from Talbot Mundy's hero in his novel King of the Khyber Rifles) is an officer of the Peshawar Lancers, an outfit that guards the northern borders of the Raj, and he becomes involved along with some friends in an adventure filled with political Intrigue, chases, escapes, swashbuckling, and an exploration of a world that seems to be forever trapped in the Victorian era. The novel features damsels in distress, noble savages, and all the attitudes of British colonialism commonly found in the works of Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider Haggard, serving simultaneously as homage and satire. The novel also features some fantasy elements, with future-foretelling mediums used by an apocalyptic Russian death cult.

[edit] The Angrezi Raj

In AD 2025, the British Empire (known as the Angrezi Raj), is the most powerful nation in the world. The King-Emperor rules over almost half of mankind. The Raj is divided into several Viceroyalties:

Viceroyalty of India 

The location where the British government was evacuated to after the Fall (along with 1.5 million refugees), India suffered from drought, famine, and a Second Mutiny in which millions of desperate, starving Indians rose against the British after hearing rumors of food being shipped back to Britain. However, it was put down by the 1890s. The Second Mutiny also solidified the government's relationship with the loyal groups in India, such as the Ghurka, Sikhs, Rajputs, and Jats.

By 2025, the Viceroyalty of India is home to some 130 million people, and includes what would have become the nations of India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and half of Thailand. Nepal is a client kingdom. Delhi is the capital of the Empire.

Viceroyalty of the Cape 

The Viceroyalty of the Cape was the destination of some 500,000 British refugees after the Fall. By 2025, the Cape is a staunchly conservative Viceroyalty (the center of the Tories), and also has a nascent nationalistic movement to break away from the Raj. It includes what would have become the nations of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Malawi, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and portions of Kenya. It is home to some 40 million people.

Viceroyalty of Australia 

The Viceroyalty of Australia became the home of some one million British refugees after the Fall. By 2025, Australia is staunchly liberal, and is often at odds with the Cape. Australia is the center of the Whig Party (the Party of Athelstane and Cassandra King). Australia includes what would have become the nations of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea (along with the Indonesian portion), and various Pacific islands. It is home to some 20 million people.

Other possessions 

The Angrezi Raj also includes the protectorates of Madagascar and the Batavian Republic (Under the control of the descendants of Dutch refugees from the Fall), territories such as Britain (recolonized starting in the early 20th century), and various outposts around the world. The Empire also claims all of North America, but rules little politically.

[edit] The rest of the world

In 2025, the world is divided into several empires. The USA was destroyed during the Fall, with only a few city states in California and Texas surviving. The other major powers in the world of the Peshawar Lancers include:

The Empire of Dai-Nippon 

Dai-Nippon (the Empire of the Dragon Throne) consists of a Japanese ruled China, and is the Raj's main rival. The capital is Beijing (still known as Peking). Colonies exist as far away as Alaska. Skirmishes do occur between the Raj and Dai-Nippon, with at least two conflicts having being waged over Siam. Akahito is the Emperor of Dai-Nippon in 2025.

The Caliphate of Damascus 

Formed after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during the Fall, the Caliphate stretches from Persia to Hungary. Although not nearly as advanced as the Raj or Dai-Nippon, the Caliphate represents a daunting threat to any potential invader. Skirmishes with France-outre-Mere have resulted in the loss of Sicily, and skirmishes with the Raj have resulted in the loss of Zanzibar, Bahrain, and Aden. Slavery is common in the Caliphate.

France-outre-mer 

Forged by French, Spanish, and various other refugees from Europe, France-outre-mer is quite friendly with the Raj, not least because of the constant threat of the Caliphate. Centered in Algiers, France is now in the process of reclaiming European France, and is in negotiations with the Raj to rebuild the Suez Canal. During the novel, King-Emperor John II arranges for his daughter Sita to marry the heir to the throne of France-outre-mer, leading to speculation of a possible union between the two empires. As of 2025, Napoleon VI is the Emperor of France-outre-mer.

The Russian Empire 

During the retreat southwards in 1880 from Kazan to central Asia, Grand Duke Nicolae, the de facto Czar, was told of a nun who was having visions of the future. Although cannibalism was rampant among the refugees, she had not been touched. When her dreams of the future, proved useful to him, Nicolae ordered her kept alive at any cost. The Russian élite turned away from God after seeing the destruction of the Fall, and turned to the worshiping Satan instead.

Centered in Samarkand, Russia is roundly feared and despised for its Satan worshiping, and ritualistic cannibalism used to terrorize the empire's Uzbek and Tajik subjects. Russia's Serpent Throne is kept afloat by the Sisterhood of True Dreamers, the descendants of the nun, and others like her. The males go mad from the dreams at puberty, so the females are the ones who are used. The Okhrana, Russia's secret police, proves to be a doubly-effective espionage agency with the Dreamers' help.

Bokhara is where the Cult of Malik Nous (the "Peacock Angel" worshipers) are headquartered. The priests have developed a cult based around the worship of Chernobog, after an old Slavic god of death. The extreme members of the cult desire to bring about the end of mankind. They are eager for another Fall to occur. These plotters are told that by killing the Raj's royal family, as well as Athelstane and Cassandra King, humanity will die, thus pleasing Chernobog.

The rest of the world 

Most of Europe, North America, and equatorial Africa is inhabited by cannibal tribes and bands. Smaller Empires includes Brazil (centered in Rio de Janiero) and kingdoms such as Egypt (eyed by the Caliphate, France-outre-mer, and the Angrezi Raj), and the Emirate of Afghanistan, which serves as a buffer between the Raj and Russia. Theocratic city states in California enjoy some independence by playing the Raj against Dai-Nippon.

[edit] Plot

It is October of 2025. It has been 148 years since a series of comet impacts rendered life in the northern hemishphere unbearable, forcing the great empires of Eurasia to move south to survive.

Athelstane King is an officer in the Peshawar Lancers, a cavalry and heavy infantry unit guarding the North-West Frontier province of the Viceroyalty of India, in the center of the Angrezi Raj. King, along with his Sikh daffadar (helper) Narayan Singh, is ordered to take some leave after an incurssion against some border raiders from the Emirate of Afghanistan. King comes from a well-to-do family, with a long tradition of service to the British Empire. King and Singh go to the officer's club near the city of Oxford (formerly Srinagar). King is especially eager to be with his Kashmiri mistress Hasamurti. While at the officer's club, he meets Imperial Political Services agent Sir Manfred Warburton, and an agent from distant France-outre-mer, Henri de Vascogne. Vascogne is in the Raj to lay the groundwork for an arranged marriage between King-Emperor John II's daughter Sita and the heir to the throne of France-outre-mer. Warburton arranges for King to meet him in Delhi in one week.

Meanwhile, trouble is brewing. Russian Okhrana agent Vladimir Obromovich Ignatieff and Sister of the True Dreamers Yasmini are on their way into the Raj to kill both Athelstane and his sister, Cassandra. On their way there, Yasmini dreams of literally being the Raj's sacred Mahatma Disraeli. Since she can dream of the future (as well as different outcomes), she is able to dream ways around the Imperial patrols.

At the same time, Cassandra Mary Effingham King, devoted Whig and brilliant scientist is on her way home to Oxford from Delhi. She is heavily involved on a Project to find ways to deflect another meteor, asteroid, or comet from impacting the earth.

Ignatieff, disguised as an unpious Muslim, makes a contract with Bengali separatists to kill Cassandra (which they very nearly do; they do kill one of the Raj's best physicists in the process, through). A group of armed Thuggee try to kill Athelstane King in the Peshawar officer's club, after killing Hasamurti. King decides to leave for Oxford in disguise, but on the train, he is nearly killed again by the Pathan assassin Ibrahim Khan, of the Dongala-Kel. When King confronts Khan over who hired him, he makes the connecection that a Russian has been sending the assassins. Khan, upon hearing this, swears vengeance at being misled to (most Muslims loathe Russia far more than the Raj). Khan becomes King's man.

Athelstane returns to his home in the Vale of Kashmir: Rexin Manor. There, Narayan Singh's father, Ranjit, tells Athelstane the truth behind his father's death. When Athelstane was only four, his father, Eric was on a mission to the foothills of Afghanistan to investigate a smuggling operation. Warburton and the Ranjit Singh was also with him. However, they were led into an ambush, in which Eric was killed. The man who caused it, a self-proclaimed holy man from the Zagros mountains, had a seer. This confirms King's theory. He is sent by his mother to Delhi to find Elias bar-Binyamin, a Jewish financier whom the King family has a mutual debt (or tessera) with, to gain further information.

Cassandra, shaken by the death of her friend the physicist, is hired by the palace to play tutor to Sita, a somewhat typical spoiled princess. This is arranged by Sir Manfred to keep her safe. She meets her brother, the heir to the Lion Throne, Charles (who bears some similarities to his counterpart in our universe), and finds herself interested in him.

In Delhi, on his way to the bar-Binyamin residence, Athelstane is met in the streets by a small woman wearing a heavy Burka. It's Yasmini. She has deserted Ignatieff to help King. She warns him against going down an allyway, which turns out to be full of assassins from Dai-Nippon. The fight with the assassins spills over into Warburton's residence, where they are defeated. However, when they get there, Warburton has been critically injured by Ignatieff himself. Ignatieff has been joined by another IPS agent, Richard Allenby. Ignatieff and Allenby escape, and then Allenby uses his powers to summon the police. In order to help his friends escape, Narayan Singh stays behind to face the police. Allenby orders Singh taken to his own house for interrogation.

The group then makes their way to the bar-Binyamin residence. Elias proves to be extremely helpful. As Warburton recovers, Elias tells them the story of how Eric King went to Bokhara to save his son David from imprisonment. Yasmini reveals further details of the Sisterhood of True Dreamers, telling them of a terrible dream kept from the Czar himself. She tells them that if Athelstane and Cassandra King die, then somehow, the King-Emperor and his heir will die. There will be no union with France, and in time, the Empire will be torn assunder by a massive world war and separatist movemnts. Then, around a hundred years from the present, another asteroid impact will occur, leaving only the rats surviving.

The group, joined by David bar Elias, go to Allenby's residence to expose him as a traitor. Ibrihim Khan and Yasmini rescue Narayan Singh. Unknown to them, a second group, comprising of Cassandra, a detective, Henri de Vascogne, a French soldier from the embassy, Sita, and her Ghurka bodyguard are attempting to do the same thing. Both groups catch Allenby, Ignatieff, and a cult dedicated to worshiping Kali in the middle of a cannibal sacrifice. Sita's Ghurka bodyguard is killed defending them, and David bar Elias destroy's Allenby's home with a homemade explosive. Sita and her group is confronted by the King-Emperor himself. He is also making plans for a state visit to France-outre-mer on the Imperial air yacht, the Garuda.

To save the King-Emperor's life, Athelstane's group makes a secretive journey to Bombay, killing Allenby when he tries to kill them with aid from local Rapari tribesmen. As the Garuda prepares to take off (with Cassandra on board), Athelstane's group sneaks on.

On the ship, Ignatieff is also on board the ship, with aide from the captain, a "Kapenaar," (resident of the Cape Viceroyalty) who belongs to a radical Afrikaner terrorist group. He manages to take the King-Emperor hostage. He reveals that he has planted evidence that Dai-Nippon and the Caliphate have ordered to assassination, to trigger a major war. He blows himself up, killing himself and damaging the Garuda critically. Meanwhile, Athelstane manages to kill Ignatieff in a brutal sword duel, with help from Ibrihim Khan.

Unfortunately, the air yacht is now over a lawless portion of Afghanistan, infested with air pirates. They force the ship down. As the Ghurka guards hold off the raiders, Ibrihim Khan and Sir Manfred are sent to get help. Help does come, in the form of the Peshawar Lancers. The Lancers drive away the raiders, and allow Khan, who reveals himself to be a major prince, to return home with his promised reward pledged to him. The Lancers guide the survivors, including Cassandra, Athelstane, Henri (who has revealed himself as the Prince Imperial of France-outre-mer to Sita), and King-Emperor Charles III to safety. Charles later marries Cassandra, and Yasmini later marries Athelstane, who saved her from going mad from her dreams by ending her virginity. A brighter future now awaits the Angrezi Raj.