March 9: Inp-USA launches its first interplanetary fire mission, a retaliatory strike against Nazi Germany. Estimated time of arrival of the missile is June 13. Also on Earth One, much discussion is made online, and the the boardrooms of Time-Warner and DC Comics, about the way Black Lantern Ring toys have begun vanishing, first from peoples' homes, and sometimes even from stores; occasionally, they are witnessed to fly off, but mostly, they disappear when no-one's looking. Combined with the number of people gaining working Power Rings, albeit rather weak ones, it paints a potentially scary picture.
March 10: One of Dp-Japan's submarine oil prospecting boats discovers petroleum near the Senkaku Isles. Dp-Japanese PM Konoe orders drilling operations to begin as soon as possible, using designs relayed by radio from Inp-Japanese civilians; in support, the Imperial Japanese Navy is ordered to begin the construction of bases on those islands best suited to it. (Daqing oil field, mentioned in one of the first messages from Inp-Japan (along with information on better methods of refining the thick crude there), has a higher priority at the moment, but doesn't make the news on Inp-Earth like the Senkaku Isles do.) The Russian Federation launches its first interplanetary fire mission, also striking at Nazi Germany. The ETA is June 17.
March 12: On the 'forward' side of Inp-Earth's three light-second bubble, a small particle spray occurs, so faint as to be almost undetectable. Almost. While radar and infrared telescopes pointed at the area detect nothing, optical scopes observe something fantastic (once it slows down enough to be clearly seen): a gold and silver dragon larger than a C-130, flying through space, apparently by occasionally flapping its wings. Below the dragon is a bronze arch, with crossbars clutched in the great creature's front and rear talons. The arch carries a great bronze dish, upon which sits a magnificent
roundhouse of the finest woods, ivory, and well-polished stone and bronze, not gaudy, but likely far more beautiful than any such structure was in our history. (OOC: No particulate matter is transferred, but it will be some time before people in-story realize this.)
March 13: The dragon and dwelling enter Inp-Earth's atmosphere, heading toward Britain, and more specifically, London. As they approach
Hyde Park, a hill rises to meet the house (at a rate of about seven inches per second), in the clearing a little east of The Long Water. As the house touches down at the crest of the hill, the bronze dish and arch seem to collapse into themselves. A bronze fence grows three feet high at the base of the new hill, as the dragon seems to shrink to the size of an elephant, and gently dives into The Long Water, splashing around for a while. The people who exit the house are dressed quite finely, despite the over all look of their clothing being evocative of Ancient Britain. All are quite comely, and have pointed ears. The most beautiful woman among them approaches the fence, and attempts to speak to the British police and military personnel who by that point have arrived. After trying one incomprehensible language after another, the dragon sticks its head out, snickers, and says 'Lingua Latina.' Luckily, one of the officers remembers enough of his time at Oxford to establish a dialogue: The woman is named Brigith, and she is the daughter of Imperator Ambrosius Aurelianus Romanorum, known more properly as Arthur, High King of the Britons. Her mother is the High Elf Indeg, the eldest of the king's three principle concubines, and a daughter of the King of the High Elves of The Isles. Her father and maternal grandfather have empowered her to speak for them to the Queen of this Britannia, as her brother and sisters have been sent to the other Britanniae (the missions to Stp-Earth and Clp-Earth haven't arrived yet, but the one on Dp-Earth is on it's way down, being escorted by a great flock of RAF fighters). The dragon, Dyfnallt, is only sticking around long enough to move the embassy, if requested, and then he needs to go back and get the embassy for the next Earth over (Clockpunk Earth). The Martian scout in the Infopunk timeline reaches Inp-Mars, and begins its survey of the planet.
(For those who are wondering, Brigith and her siblings are a non-standard type of half-elf, being the children of a spirit who was not possessing anyone at the time, and thus being spirits, themselves (which is how they can survive unprotected in the vacuum of space). They are 'half-elves' only socially, and in being more psychologically human than most elves are. The staff and guards of the embassy are mostly half-fey of various kinds. On another note, I sadly lack the skill to write the epic tale of how Arthur got the King of Elfland's daughter as his first concubine, but Brigith is perfectly willing to tell it, in the grand style of ancient British bards (save that she'll be speaking it in Latin).)
March 14: The scout in the Earth Five/Fantasy Earth timeline returns, and begins what appears to be an orbital survey of Fa-Earth. The People's Republic of China launches its first interplanetary fire mission, aimed at Dp-Japan. Due to the strap-on solid rocket boosters on the first and second stages, it has an ETA on June 14, 11 hours after the American missile, despite being launched several days later.
March 15: The Russian ambassadorial astronef is launched, and is mated to its long-range booster. The Russian ambassador is
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, who hopes, among other things, to meet and court whichever of Putin's daughters will find him most attractive, as it's clear to the Tsar that Vladimir Putin is Tsar Vladimir IV in all but title. In the Vatican City of Earth Prime, Pope Innocent XIV takes office. His choice of papal name comes from his desire to 'restore innocence' to the Church; among other things, it is his intention to seek the resignation and, where possible and necessary, prosecution of those in the Church who have 'deeply betrayed the trust of those in their care'. This strong stance is said to be of great surprise to some of those who elected him, and to popes on the other Earths who become aware of it.
March 17: The Stp Allies sign the Treaty of Avallon, acceding to the Compact of Mainz. On Dp-Earth, Churchill and de Gaulle sign a similar treaty in London. The signatories of the Compact of Mainz begin declaring war on the Axis powers. For the moment, it is agreed that their assistance will flow primarily through the Scandinavian Federation's space program. A fairly small particle spray (though larger than the house and dragon produced) is detected in Earth Prime orbit, on the vector from Dp-Earth. The operational detection stations narrow down the location fast enough that the satellites are able to focus in time to see an older man in a labcoat and a suit that was out-dated even in 1941, silently screaming and struggling as he suffocates in the vacuum of space. His remains are carefully monitored, as military and intelligence personnel begin making new plans, and in a few cases, having a bit of a panic (as they have no way to know that the three light-second 'barrier/gate' is as close as teleportation can get you). DARPA is ordered to begin serious work on teleportation, as are the R&D services of other governments; many Trekkers, Gaters, and Schlockers do likewise, with much tinier budgets. It is made more dificult due to the paradigms they are working with, which include the belief that matter transmission involved breaking up that matter into it's component particles (whether molecules, atoms, or even smaller particles), and reassembling them at the destination. This tends to result in test objects being dissociated into said particles, or at best, being somewhat... rearranged. Unfortunately, the DARPA scientists assigned to Project November are mostly using the same paradigm.
March 18: In a small town in northern California (Inp-USA), the high school is the site of a very strange and violent incident, in which several students are killed and more injured, by a person wearing what appears to be riot armour and a black cape. The attacker, who called himself 'Darth Venger', is described as having a voice 'like an angry nerd trying to sound like Darth Vader', but his actions were far more intimidating: those security cameras that were working at the time show him cutting up doors, furniture, and people with a glowing red lightsabre, as well as apparently causing several students and one teacher to choke or fall back by gesturing at them, and throwing bolts of lightning from his off hand (which accounted for some of the non-functional cameras). The school's lock-down procedure prevented the victims from escaping the assailant, who seemed to focus on suspected bullies, only incidentally harming others. In the last classroom he attacked, he ordered several attractive female bullies, some forced to follow him from other classrooms, to strip, but seemed at a loss for what to do once they were naked. At that point, the security camera in the room was destroyed, and the assailant was himself assailed, by 'a Jedi Knight and some superheroes', according to witnesses. 'Darth Venger' was forced to flee, and the 'superheroes' vanished after attempting to pursue. The entire incident took less than twenty minutes, a significant proportion of which was spent in the last classroom. It is not known who leaked the security footage to the Internet, but several clips had 'gone viral' by the end of the day.