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TGLS · 10-26-2019, 09:04 AM

And now to contradict canon:

Melos, 2027 Quantum 7

Melian history diverged in the late 1960s. The Cultural Revolution in China spiraled completely out of control. The Red Guards turned against the Communist Party entirely, declaring that capitalist-roaders inside the party had subverted Mao's will. This was apparently persuasive, as elements of the PLA joined with the Red Guards, starting a brief civil war.

By 1970, the Red Guards had seized control over all of China and began what foreigners called the "Permanent Revolution". Mao was taken effectively prisoner while remaining head of state and government, at least in theory. The Red Guard led communist party focused primarily on ideological correctness, beyond all realism and reason.

Nixon never went to China in this world, instead travelling to Taiwan to reassure American treaty commitments. In 1972, when North Vietnam entered into peace talks with the United States, the Chinese launched a punitive expedition against Hanoi. While this did not stop the peace talks, it was enough to inspire a retreat for the North Vietnamese Army, giving the South Vietnamese a badly needed respite.

Chinese aggression frightened its neighbours. India stepped up its nuclear programme, and South East Asian nations rallied around their superpower patrons. Pakistan and North Korea were the few nations that were relatively calm in the wake of a more active China. Russia and America experienced warming relations, as they cooperated to contain China.

In 1979, a few years after the death of Mao, the Chinese invaded India, citing unresolved territorial claims and atrocities in the Naxalite insurgency. Early victories by the Chinese provoked the Indians into deploying tactical nuclear weapons against the Chinese. The Chinese escalated, and responded with strategic attacks on Indian cities. The Indian response was limited to the interior of southern China.

While the Sino-Indian war raged, the UN did little but castigate the whole affair. It wasn’t set up to deal with rogue nations waging war. After the nukes started flying, there was more hand wringing and castigating. However, the war had global effects quickly. The mass firestorms injected soot into the stratosphere, which in turn, caused a nuclear winter.

The nuclear winter had several knock on effects that would carry over into the next few decades. Famine broke out all over the world. Some governments, like the Carter Administration, were given a degree of stability through a rally around the flag effect. Others, like the Argentine Junta or the Shah, were given a push and collapsed. In the wake of the crisis, border wars broke out to distract from the climate catastrophe, and chaos generally reigned. The cold war basically ended, as both Russia and America cooperated to minimize the humanitarian tragedy.

Thirty years later, the climate crisis was largely resolved, but the great power conflict was subdued. Between the necessity to contain China and the fears of what a large nuclear war could cause managed to temper aggression. Power games and competition remained but full scale war became completely unthinkable.
Gorbachev did come to power in the 1980s, but his reforms were limited because of the harsher winters demanding more governmental control, not less, and because Xiaopism didn’t provide a working model from Gorbachev to emulate. However, going more slowly kept the Soviet experiment alive, while bringing in necessary reforms to ensure future progress. Other members of the Soviet bloc emulated the Soviet Union.

In the east, the threat of China was terrifying all countries. North and South Korea were at warmest relations, as they feared Chinese blitzkrieg conquering the whole country in about five months, similar to how the Korean War played out. In Vietnam, relations are cooler, and heavy Soviet arms shipments keep the communist regime in Tonkin secure against China. The southern regime in Cochinchina has made major strides economically, and has stabilized. Lawless Annam separates the two of them, and unification is off the menu.

In 2013, Centrum discovered Melos. They had mixed feelings about a world where the great powers were apparently scared straight from total war, but didn’t all unite under one banner. The same date as Centrum was also of great concern, as it indicated that the world could build conveyors. China was considered exceptionally problematic, with their mix of brazen nationalism and irrational continuation of the class struggle being a major destabilizing influence. Replacing China’s leadership was the key move that Centrum would begin with, but difficulties finding Chinese speakers and the discovery of Homeline put this on the backburner.

In 2023, Homeline discovered Melos. They too saw the necessity of replacing the Chinese regime, and they had no trouble finding Chinese speakers, in fact the Survey Team had two. Unfortunately, Centrum was also finally ready to move ahead with their coup. Both Centrum and Homeline worked at cross purposes from each other, disrupting each other’s plans as much as helping each other’s plans. At the end of the day, China ended up with an odd power sharing agreement between Centran-backed Technocrats, old-line Marxists, and Homeline-backed Liberal Democrats.

Unfortunately, local CIA and KGB agents on the prowl in China managed to capture Infinity and Centran agents, and get a very good look at a conveyor leaving. The cat was out of the bag as far as the Secret was concerned. Homeline decided explaining everything and politely asking for their agents back was the best move. When they got a Centran back too, they repatriated him to Centrum as a token of goodwill.

Both sides now knew that the other side knew about Melos. Both sides were concerned that this would be used to build projectors to interfere with Q8 or Q5 respectively. The decision of Centran top-brass and Homeline low-level grunts was to declare Melos neutral ground. They would keep tabs on any projectors that happen to be built on Melos. Everyone could trade there freely. They would reveal the Secret here, but forbid the locals from building their own Parachronics.

Four years going, Melos has had severe contortions. The Soviets have learned of their fate on Homeline, and grew paranoid. The locals have realized how far behind they are relative to Homeline and Centrum that they realize the need to get their act together, quick. Homeline and Centrum can finally talk to each other, but it’s less constructive and more bickering.

10-26-2019, 09:04 AM	#4408
TGLS Join Date: Jan 2014	Re: New Reality Seeds And now to contradict canon: Melos, 2027 Quantum 7 Melian history diverged in the late 1960s. The Cultural Revolution in China spiraled completely out of control. The Red Guards turned against the Communist Party entirely, declaring that capitalist-roaders inside the party had subverted Mao's will. This was apparently persuasive, as elements of the PLA joined with the Red Guards, starting a brief civil war. By 1970, the Red Guards had seized control over all of China and began what foreigners called the "Permanent Revolution". Mao was taken effectively prisoner while remaining head of state and government, at least in theory. The Red Guard led communist party focused primarily on ideological correctness, beyond all realism and reason. Nixon never went to China in this world, instead travelling to Taiwan to reassure American treaty commitments. In 1972, when North Vietnam entered into peace talks with the United States, the Chinese launched a punitive expedition against Hanoi. While this did not stop the peace talks, it was enough to inspire a retreat for the North Vietnamese Army, giving the South Vietnamese a badly needed respite. Chinese aggression frightened its neighbours. India stepped up its nuclear programme, and South East Asian nations rallied around their superpower patrons. Pakistan and North Korea were the few nations that were relatively calm in the wake of a more active China. Russia and America experienced warming relations, as they cooperated to contain China. In 1979, a few years after the death of Mao, the Chinese invaded India, citing unresolved territorial claims and atrocities in the Naxalite insurgency. Early victories by the Chinese provoked the Indians into deploying tactical nuclear weapons against the Chinese. The Chinese escalated, and responded with strategic attacks on Indian cities. The Indian response was limited to the interior of southern China. While the Sino-Indian war raged, the UN did little but castigate the whole affair. It wasn’t set up to deal with rogue nations waging war. After the nukes started flying, there was more hand wringing and castigating. However, the war had global effects quickly. The mass firestorms injected soot into the stratosphere, which in turn, caused a nuclear winter. The nuclear winter had several knock on effects that would carry over into the next few decades. Famine broke out all over the world. Some governments, like the Carter Administration, were given a degree of stability through a rally around the flag effect. Others, like the Argentine Junta or the Shah, were given a push and collapsed. In the wake of the crisis, border wars broke out to distract from the climate catastrophe, and chaos generally reigned. The cold war basically ended, as both Russia and America cooperated to minimize the humanitarian tragedy. Thirty years later, the climate crisis was largely resolved, but the great power conflict was subdued. Between the necessity to contain China and the fears of what a large nuclear war could cause managed to temper aggression. Power games and competition remained but full scale war became completely unthinkable. Gorbachev did come to power in the 1980s, but his reforms were limited because of the harsher winters demanding more governmental control, not less, and because Xiaopism didn’t provide a working model from Gorbachev to emulate. However, going more slowly kept the Soviet experiment alive, while bringing in necessary reforms to ensure future progress. Other members of the Soviet bloc emulated the Soviet Union. In the east, the threat of China was terrifying all countries. North and South Korea were at warmest relations, as they feared Chinese blitzkrieg conquering the whole country in about five months, similar to how the Korean War played out. In Vietnam, relations are cooler, and heavy Soviet arms shipments keep the communist regime in Tonkin secure against China. The southern regime in Cochinchina has made major strides economically, and has stabilized. Lawless Annam separates the two of them, and unification is off the menu. In 2013, Centrum discovered Melos. They had mixed feelings about a world where the great powers were apparently scared straight from total war, but didn’t all unite under one banner. The same date as Centrum was also of great concern, as it indicated that the world could build conveyors. China was considered exceptionally problematic, with their mix of brazen nationalism and irrational continuation of the class struggle being a major destabilizing influence. Replacing China’s leadership was the key move that Centrum would begin with, but difficulties finding Chinese speakers and the discovery of Homeline put this on the backburner. In 2023, Homeline discovered Melos. They too saw the necessity of replacing the Chinese regime, and they had no trouble finding Chinese speakers, in fact the Survey Team had two. Unfortunately, Centrum was also finally ready to move ahead with their coup. Both Centrum and Homeline worked at cross purposes from each other, disrupting each other’s plans as much as helping each other’s plans. At the end of the day, China ended up with an odd power sharing agreement between Centran-backed Technocrats, old-line Marxists, and Homeline-backed Liberal Democrats. Unfortunately, local CIA and KGB agents on the prowl in China managed to capture Infinity and Centran agents, and get a very good look at a conveyor leaving. The cat was out of the bag as far as the Secret was concerned. Homeline decided explaining everything and politely asking for their agents back was the best move. When they got a Centran back too, they repatriated him to Centrum as a token of goodwill. Both sides now knew that the other side knew about Melos. Both sides were concerned that this would be used to build projectors to interfere with Q8 or Q5 respectively. The decision of Centran top-brass and Homeline low-level grunts was to declare Melos neutral ground. They would keep tabs on any projectors that happen to be built on Melos. Everyone could trade there freely. They would reveal the Secret here, but forbid the locals from building their own Parachronics. Four years going, Melos has had severe contortions. The Soviets have learned of their fate on Homeline, and grew paranoid. The locals have realized how far behind they are relative to Homeline and Centrum that they realize the need to get their act together, quick. Homeline and Centrum can finally talk to each other, but it’s less constructive and more bickering.