New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

That could be interesting. Straight TL5, or split, with some areas being TL5, and others being still TL4?

Let's try early TL5 but advanced in some areas. An industrialising England would have a galvanizing effect on the rest of Europe. France and the Dutch would both focus on technological espionage and alliance with Britain. Spain and the Hapsburgh lands might be terrified.

Suppose Pope Pius XII dies in 1942 or thereabouts, and the Axis powers decide controlling Papal succession is worth the trouble? I could see this resulting in a modern schism, albeit not necessarily a long one, as the cardinals from the Allied nations (who might not even have been allowed in) would probably be pressured to elect a different Pope, and the neutral nations with cardinals might decide that neither 'captive' Pope serve the interests of the Church.

After the war, the Churches might reunite, but then again, they might not, particularly if the neutral and Allied Popes won't agree on who is more legitimate (though I think they'll both agree that the Axis Pope isn't).

Vactican II might be right out the door. The early 20th century debates on rather or not Catholcism is compatible with democracy would be kept alive. This might mean Nixon wins in 1960.

[Astromancer]

While reading Norwhich's history of the Mediterranean I came across the fact that the French and their Spanish allies, durring the Wars of the American Revolution, planed an invaision of England. Spain's desire to attack British colonies and sieze terratory cancelled the plan. However, the plan had a great deal going from it.

A successful invasion of England in 1778 or 79 would have probably led to Britain's immediate surrender. In our history, France and Spain wanted all of North America West of the Alleghenys to be part of Mexico. This was mainly because the French assumed they could get it from the Spanish later on. Britain gave the young USA the land between the Alleghenys and the Mississippi for similar reasons. In a world where Britain was invaded, France and Spain get their way.

Many of Britain's colonies would be stripped from her, because of the leverage that having troops in London would give France and Spain. So both the USA and the UK would be much weaker nations in the late 18th century. The wars and intrigues this would set up would be nasty indeed. Note: there would be little chance of a US/UK allience in this world.

[Astromancer]

Last night I watched a documentary on the Stizkrieg or Phoney war. Their were several interesting bits.

Try this fact. A French army invaded southern Germany durring the invasion of Poland. If they had decided to throw all they had into it, German armies would have had to pull out of Poland and rush south. Given that Stalin wasn't one to miss a chance to grab land and power, and besides most scholars agree he meant to betray Hitler later anyway, the Red Army might have plunged on through Poland toward Berlin. This could lead to a WWII with Hitler out early and a Red Army blitzkrieg taking all of Europe. We know that Stalin had ordered many contengency plans for something like this, so it isn't totally unreal. It is a very different and nasty WWII. There would probably be as many civilian deaths or more, just less ethnic targeting.

A less grim alternative might involve the Allies not ignoring the information that an attack was coming though the Ardennes. Picture the Nazis being forced to attack the Maginot Line head on. An interesting alternative.

[Astromancer]

While reading that history of the Mediterranean I've mentioned before, I came upon an interesting possibility. What if King Ferdinand VII had had a healthy, long-lived, and practical, son by one of his earlier wives? The Carlist wars would never occur. The same progressive forces would still be present in Spain. With a stable monarchy and a stable monarch that favored policies that promoted stability and ecconomic growth, Spain might get to the 20th century as a power, if not a major one. Similarly, such a king would tend to except constitutionalism and at least some democracy as a vaccine against revolution if nothing else.

Thus in 1941 you'd have a stable democratic Spain that like France and Poland before it would get steamrollered in a Blitzkreig. Protugal and Gibraltar would be taken too. These would not win the war for Hitler, but it would prolong the struggle by several years. A nasty varrient WWII is highly likely.

[Astromancer]

Once more with Norwich's book dear friends. Churchill had two plans he cooked up on the day he thought out the Gallipoli invasion.

Plan A), the one Churchill liked best, was an invasion of Schleswig-Holstein. A direct invasion of Germany with the high probability of Denmark joining the Allies and British domination of the Baltic would have allowed an Anglo-Russian Invasion to land 90 miles from Berlin. This senario leads to a raddically different post war world.

Plan B), the attack on Gallipoli, failed mainly because of four main factors. First, other than Churchill, no one really seemed to care about the plan. There was little if any real focus on things like providing the right supplies or seeing that equipment got to the Easten Mediterranean in tact. Second, the comanders at the scene were pretty slack. Several of them later admitted that attacks they broke off early would have broken the enemy line or defenses if they had only been maintained a short time longer. Third, no properly detailed maps of the area being invaded. The famous Anzac cove was just a couple of miles away from a cove thet was massively better for landing troops and had no cliffs to prevent quick movement across the area to be secured. Fourth, Kermal Mustafa (later Ataturk). Without Kermal Mustafa's actions the Trukish army would have completely colapsed serveral times.

The last three of these seem like the best targets for change. Keep the naval attack that used up all the Turkish ammo going for a short time longer. Have some Bristish Turcophile of the late 19th century create high quality maps of the area. Then let Churchill find them in time for the invasion. Or simply keep Kermal Mustafa on the far side of the Ottoman Empire durring the invasion.

Any of these would lead to A) the Ottoman state being out of the war. B) Bulgaria never joins on the side of the Central Powers. More likely, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania, all join the allied side. C) The Russian Revolution is either postponed or stoped dead in its tracks. D) An early surrender of Germany and no American involvement in the war.

From there, go where you like.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

While reading Norwhich's history of the Mediterranean I came across the fact that the French and their Spanish allies, durring the Wars of the American Revolution, planed an invaision of England. Spain's desire to attack British colonies and sieze terratory cancelled the plan. However, the plan had a great deal going from it.

A successful invasion of England in 1778 or 79 would have probably led to Britain's immediate surrender. In our history, France and Spain wanted all of North America West of the Alleghenys to be part of Mexico. This was mainly because the French assumed they could get it from the Spanish later on. Britain gave the young USA the land between the Alleghenys and the Mississippi for similar reasons. In a world where Britain was invaded, France and spain get their way.

Many of Britain's colonies would be stripped from her, because of the leverage that having troops in London would give France and Spain. So both the USA and the UK would be much weaker nations in the late 18th century. The wars and intrigues this would set up would be nasty indeed. Note: there would be little chance of a US/UK allience in this world.

I like this one if only it finally makes sense of why an Italian food is produced by a company called Franco-American. Well, not a lot of sense...

So the Revolutionary War ends a little early (1779 or 80) but the nascent republic is hemmed in. Spain is able to hold onto its Mexican holdings far longer, even if the Mexican territories become far more restive and violent than even in Homeline. When the Mexican Revolution finally does take place it is more of a patchwork of revolutions - Texas and California become independent nations, what we consider Mexico today is broken up into three separate nations.

The strain of holding onto England become too much for Spain and France. As the Spain Empire breaks up, so do the French holdings in North America. Louisiana and the Great Plains territories break off into their own nations.

All of North America is seething with wars, rumors of war, and intrigues. In Europe an Anglo-German Alliance stands against the, now ramshackle, Franco-Spanish forces. Mahmud II and his sons, ruling the Ottoman Empire, make far more extensive, and longer lasting reforms. By 1860 World War I is brewing.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Drifter

I like this one if only it finally makes sense of why an Italian food is produced by a company called Franco-American. Well, not a lot of sense...

Are corperate brand names ever a source of logic?

So the Revolutionary War ends a little early (1779 or 80) but the nascent republic is hemmed in. Spain is able to hold onto its Mexican holdings far longer, even if the Mexican territories become far more restive and violent than even in Homeline. When the Mexican Revolution finally does take place it is more of a patchwork of revolutions - Texas and California become independent nations, what we consider Mexico today is broken up into three separate nations.

This merely accelerates history. All of the Central American nations are parts of Mexico that broke away. The Quintana Roo tries several times to break away from Mexico. The last major atempt was in the 1930's. Britain supported the rebels and the USA supported the Mexican government. There are still places in the Quintana Roo were any English speaker is well advised to claim to be a Brit. Canadians, Aussie, and Kiwis too, are assumed to be just another type of Yankee.

The strain of holding onto England become too much for Spain and France. As the Spain Empire breaks up, so do the French holdings in North America. Louisiana and the Great Plains territories break off into their own nations.

All of North America is seething with wars, rumors of war, and intrigues. In Europe an Anglo-German Alliance stands against the, now ramshackle, Franco-Spanish forces. Mahmud II and his sons, ruling the Ottoman Empire, make far more extensive, and longer lasting reforms. By 1860 World War I is brewing.

And what a poisonous brew it is. Clever stuff.

[Astromancer]

Since these are Reality seeds meant for the Infinate Worlds background, why not a reality seed based on out time interference?

Try this. Centrum agents working on a Q6 Echo in the early 1860's have killed either all of the major Irish nationalists or their mothers. A bitter World-Jumper (of profoundly Irish Nationalist sympathies) with high levels of Telepathy and Probability Alteration decides on vengence against Centrum. First he prevents an Assassination of Abe Lincoln and then he acts to alter The Battle of Hanover Court House. He basically knocks out George B. McClellan. He creates illusions that McClellan ordered several junior officers to attack agressively before he fainted.

In our history Lee bet (correctly) that McClellan wouldn't attack Richmond. In this world, the World-Jumper gets the Union Army to do just that. Richmond falls, Jeff Davis is captured, the World-Jumper causes Lee's horse to throw him and uses his luck-twisting powers to make sure the fall is a bad one for Lee.

The South is seriously wounded. Centrum's plans for a British World Imperim are thrown backwards. Still Homeline still has big problems.

A venegeful World-Jumper with major levels of telepathy and probability alteration, and minor abilities in healing and PK, is on the loose and bitter. Who he thinks needs to die, both in America and Britain is unknown. Meanwhile Centrum is throwing everything they've got into getting Britain to declare war on the USA in order to preserve the CSA. It's well known that France will join Brittain as Louis Napoleon wants to preserve his Mexican powergrab. Centrum will of course attempt to wreck both Russia and Prussia, in order to secure the future of their British Empire. Also Stonewall Jackson is looking for blood and vengence.

This world should keep the ICops very busy.

[PTTG]

September 26, 1983. Shortly after midnight. Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov is in the infirmary following an on-base accident. A less experienced technician is monitoring his station in his place within bunker Serpukhov-15.

Right at the moment that the PCs arrive in this otherwise identical historical echo, what seems to be an American minuteman missile appears on the sensor's display screen.

Someone familiar with the system might await confirmation. Someone more experienced might doubt the machine, might be confident enough to hold back. This young soldier, however, is not the same man as Petrov.

The PCs will have to be pretty high-power to discover, intercept, and stop the incoming nuclear war...

[Astromancer]

Try this idea. A psion, nonminally working for Centrum, decides to manipulate events in Britain in the mid 1940's. Instead of tossing out Britain's early lead in computers and computing, key figures in the government are mindcontroled into seeing computors as the absolute basis of Britain's security and prosperity. Instead of Alan Turing being driven to suicide, he's honnored and protected. The whole computer program is effectively TL8 by 1955. The Psion is tried of having to deal with Centrum, he doesn't want Britain ruled by an outside power. So he's trying to con/trick Centrum into exposing themselves to his world's spies.

Now the ICops don't mind trouble for Centrum, but they don't want the SECRET exposed on a world that might be able to achieve intertemporial travel.

The Psion's other plots.

A) Speed the fall of the USSR by aiding internal corruption.

B) Excelerate the Space Race and focus the USA on space exploration.

C) Eliminate key third world nationalists to slow down decolonization. Colonial empires must go, but he wants the going slow because he thinks it will put the ordinary people of the Third world in charge.

Assume the guy is a Briton from a future Britain that died with a whimper. He has seen hell worlds more bitter that anything Homeline has seen. This motivates him to do what he sees as right/just for this world. If that gets in either Centrum or Homeline's way...too bad.