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Old 06-24-2013, 07:53 PM   #68
Prince Charon
 
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Default Re: Five Earths, All in a Row

April 11: Disney/Marvel announces plans to create Avengers and X-Men Academies. Not to be outdone, DC announces their intention to create a few Titans Academies (which include the same sort of classes that you need to be a field agent in one of the League or Lantern NGOs, once you're old enough). One selling point for the Titans Academies, at least to some adults, is that they're not 'segregated', in the sense that they don't care whether you self-identify as a 'mutant' or not (of course, comics fans know that's not the point: Avengers fans want to go to one, X-Men fans want to go to the other, fans of both pick one). The stated purpose of these schools is to educate the children in the safe, ethical, and legal use of their powers, keep the kids in school until they're eighteen, and more importantly, keep them from going out and getting themselves and other people killed (or more cynically, to keep them from ending up dead on the news, in costumes from the comics those companies publish). Of course, telling the kids that they're going to have to wait years before they can go out and 'be superheroes' doesn't exactly endear the idea to them, regardless of how the parents feel. Near Cape Canaveral, FL, President Obama breaks ground for the Space University. On Stp-Earth, the first section of the Russian Empire's heavy astronef Pyotr Velikiy is launched to their space station. It will arrive at the station on April 14th. Pope Clement XV announces that all new expeditions to the other Papacies, including a second, larger expedition to the Renaissance Earth, will be delayed until after the war, due to the need to build up resources for them, and the costs of the war.

April 13: On Inp-Earth, Ed Greenwood becomes a Chosen of Mystra (and Mystryl, and Midnight, but all three treated as one goddess) around this date. A small number of other Forgotten Realms fans also become Chosen by her, but only Greenwood is Chosen by all three Aspects. None of them are more than a small fraction as powerful as the Chosen in the books, of course. US President Obama orders all surviving OV-100 class Space Shuttles (OV-101 Enterprise, OV-103 Discovery, OV-104 Atlantis, and OV-105 Endeavour) returned to active duty, and flown to Vandenberg and other suitable locations, for refitting. While technically part of NASA and the USSF's Space Exploration Command (a.k.a. Star Fleet Command, among other nicknames), for the duration of the war, the OV-100 class (and the subsequent OV-200 class, to be designed from lessons learned from the upgraded OV-100s) will be on temporary assignment to the USSF Space Assault Command, or SAC. To help pay for the retrofits, special 'Shuttle Bonds' are issued by the government. More general war bonds are predicted, and a number of advertising companies are already preparing commercials for them; some comic and magazine companies have simply dusted off the ones they used in the 1940s, with or without updates. USSF PR personnel begin reviewing the records of USSF officers and other ranks with names similar to those of Star Trek characters (whether their superiors will listen to their advice on this, or not).

April 14: One of Infopunk-Earth's nascent mages begins serious work on codifying the rough equivalent of the Transmutation School in D&D parlance. Tellingly, some of his "talismans of power" (reusable material components) include his lucky dice in a small leatherette dice bag, and a small purple unicorn figurine. In an interview at Sea World, scientists admit to having made repeated telepathic contact with various dolphins, and confirmed that they really don't want to talk to them. They also recommend that all 'Swim with the Dolphins' activities be cancelled, for the safety of the swimmers. Disney/Marvel establishes Avengers and X-Men NGOs. Cooperation with other NGOs and government organizations is explicitly part of their training, and cross-training with local League and Lantern teams is scheduled in areas where both are present, as company policy.

April 16: The Kingdom of Hawai'i opens Earth Three's first audio-broadcast radio station, transmitting news, music, and radioplays throughout the Hawai'ian Islands. The first broadcast is a plea from King Kamehameha VI, in both English and Olelo Hawai'i, to the USAs of the 'Future Earths', to free 'the captive peoples' of their worlds' respective Hawai'is, and 'allow them to choose their own, legitimate governments, be they Kingdom, Republic, or any other'. It is not received well in either America, though many anti-colonialist organizations on both worlds seize upon it as a cause, generally without bothering to ask the 'captive peoples' how they feel about it.

April 17: On Dp-Earth, 12-year-old genius Alexander 'Lex' Luthor creates an advanced radio-computer, capable of easily accessing the internet of Infopunk Earth. A remote terminal for the device is given to his father, the criminal mad scientist Dr. Alexei Luthor, as a birthday present. On Inp-Earth, an early failure in Project November's teleportation experiments is adapted into a potentially long-ranged disintegration ray. During a round of 'horse trading' between the armed services, USAF 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron ("Phoenix Squadron") is redesignated 964th Space Flight Test Squadron, upon transfer to USSF Space Force Materiel Command. The move is widely criticized, as the only items actually transferred are the number, the nickname, and three of the best pilots.

April 19: The astronef Myrmidon, carrying the embassy from Stp-Britain, arrives in Earth One orbit. After circling the planet twice, she enters the atmosphere, and glides down for a landing at London Heathrow Airport, chosen for the length of its runways. In Inp-Germany, Heinkel Raumschiffwerke is founded by a group of investors, including a few empowered relatives of Ernst Heinkel. Their medium-to-long-term plan is to manufacture the Space Jet vessels from the Perry Rhodan series, starting with the HSJ-1 Gribbon (page from a fanfic used, because one of the Heinkels read it; listed FTL drive and some other components not present).

April 21: On Dp-Earth and Inp-Earth, respectively, Robert A. Heinlein and J. Michael Straczynski announce that they are collaborating on a movie serial script, tentatively named Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy. Casting has barely begun, but both James Doohan and DeForest Kelley are already under contract as stars, and Gene Roddenberry has expressed interest in this adaptation of his late counterpart's work. Many visual effects will be done by computer on Inp-Earth, and transferred to Dp-Earth by the power of radio (Dp-Earth TVs are getting a lot better, thanks to information for Inp-Earth).

April 23: Lex Luthor joins several Inp-Earth internet forums (including this one, having stumbled across it on a Google-walk), and his impressionable young mind is somewhat warped by the experience. On Inp-Earth, several enhanced F-104s begin test flights outside the atmosphere, including one successful delivery of a small satellite to LEO. A graduate student named Michelle Logan delivers a prop she built to DARPA, as it has become a working Portal Gun. Unfortunately, being a spontaneously enchanted item, Ms. Logan does not know how to duplicate it.

April 25: After several days of analysis, the numerous samples of Haversham's Sovereign Cognitive Enhancer brought by the Myrmidon are distributed to various scientists, pharmacists, and engineers in the UK, including several visiting from the Commonwealth nations and the US. About half of these luminaries are already enhanced, and the other half are not.

April 27: Starship Enterprises, Ltd. is founded in California, by CBS, Paramount, and a large group of Star Trek fanclubs, for the purpose of manufacturing enhanced (enchanted) technology on a Star Trek theme. On Stp-Earth, US President Phelps breaks ground at Cape Canaveral for the William Cranch Bond Rocket Field. The Stp-Russian ambassadorial astronef Aleksandr Nevskiy arrives in Inp-Earth orbit, and lands at Domodedovo International Airport outside Moscow.

April 29: Lex Luthor discovers the TV Tropes entry called Cut Lex Luthor A Check, and is deeply inspired, despite his father's insistence that the idea completely misses the point of his villainy. Dp-Germany launches Earth Two's first ballistic missile submarine. On Inp-Earth, 42 Commando Royal Marines is redesignated 42 Commando Royal Space Marines. On Stp-Earth, the second section of the Russian Empire's heavy astronef is launched to the space station.

April 30: The elder Luthor discovers the Evil Overlord List... and promptly discards it as the meaningless prattle of small-minded fools, like anything else that points out what he's doing wrong. The younger Lex holds a different opinion. Four B-52Gs are delivered to DARPA, to test whether the Japanese Starfigher upgrade can be adapted to larger aircraft.


Huh. Just two? That's good.

May should be finalized by July 1st or 2nd.
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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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