(From the introductionary text in the book)
The world of Technogrammaton in the year 2010 is a little ahead
of ours, but not by much. However its technology is far more
advanced due to the world being dominated by the might of a
2200 year old Islamic empire.
It is all due to the failure of a single horse in the year 306 CE. The horse in question was to bear a Roman noble called Constantine away from his lord Galerius. While Constantine was a promising officer, he was a little too promising and Galerius had made a point of keeping him and his father separate. Constantine was a virtual hostage in Galerius’ court. One night word came to Constantine that his life was in danger and he fled for his father’s court. He drove several horses to exhaustion, desperate to escape quickly as leaving was treason, and treason was death. Had he reached his father’s camp Constantine would have one day led the
Roman Empire.
He would have taken control of the western Empire and led a conquest of the east that would have made him absolute ruler of a new and stronger empire. He would have also converted to the tiny yet troublesome religion of Christianity, and eventually ordered Rome to adopt it as the state religion. He
would have formed the Nicean councils that ensured
disagreements in the Christian church were managed and settled,
so as to maintain unity in the faith. When Rome eventually fell the faith in this religion would have bound the peoples of Europe together and gave them a commonality they could use to repel the incursions from the east.
However, all this was not to be. On the night of his flight,
Constantine rode his third horse just a little too hard. It collapsed on him in full gallop and he was thrown. Landing badly he snapped his neck and died. This is where the story truly begins...