Nicomedia VII: Dusk and Dawn 2401-2435

Nicomedia VII: Dusk and Dawn 2401-2435 is a Lovian alternative history fiction novel by Percival E. Galahad. It narrates the history of the fictitious Empire of Nicomedia, after it fell in 2401. Dusk and Dawn is the seventh and reportedly last novel in the Nicomedia series. It is to be published in June 2010.

Style
Unlike the other Nicomedia novels, in Dusk and Dawn the events are experienced through a couple of civilian people. As a result thereof, Dusk and Dawn is more personal and intimate in style and content. Its literary style is less factual. Some theorists have noted influence from Émile Zola.

Story
In The Muslim Emperors, Norman of Nicomedia reigns unto the year 2401. It is only in Dusk and Dawn that it is revealed that he must have died. The novel's main characters however, the working-class Rothschild family, are nearly uninformed about the actual events that caused the Nicomedian emperor to resign.

The year 2401 sees two attempts to re-install an Emperor, first one of the Muhammedans, then the senior senator. Both attempts fail and the empire seems to crumble. All across the empire, workers unite and form small militias for their own protection against invading Shi'ites. In the meanwhile, Western superpowers threaten to invade the former empire "to re-install a Western, democratic government."

Ernest Rothschild is among the workers in the west coast region. While he struggles to give his two daughters and wife a decent life, Ernest is preparing to build an organized commune for workers. With the support of many co-workers, they manage to get both land and means. But then, Ernest faces a murder attempt by the remnants of the Nicomedian army, who fear a growing populist movement. His wife Lady urges him to quit and return home, but he refuses. In effect, he is killed when a bomb destroys the workers' bar.

Without the knowledge of her mother, the youngest daughter Ellie, aged 17, slips away from home and comes down to the commune. She lives with the workers and finds herself in a relationship with the charming yet troubled Aroldo. When the commune is finished in 2410, Ellie's sister and mother come over. In 2414, Aroldo is elected chairman for two years. He expands the commune's territory. All across the former Empire, communes and small republics had arisen and were growing to become military powers. In 2412, it comes to a first violent outbreak: the Nicomedian Workers Force based in the north attacks the west coast commune, now known as the Free Commune.

In the years that follow, some republics are absorbed by others, and a small number of them grows to dominate huge regions. By 2430, only four "countries" exist in present-day Turkey. When one of those installs a full democracy and thrives economically, it looks like the dawn of a new empire...