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Old 01-09-2018, 06:43 AM   #3111
malloyd
 
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
Interestingly messy to run games in, but not the place for a relaxing vacation (and seems rather stressful to live in).
No more than the actual 16th century. A slightly different set of dynastic fights among the princes probably doesn't make much difference for the masses at this point - it's early for really strong nationalism, and nobody has invented levy en masse or total war yet.

I think it's mostly only interesting because the era was so heavily romanticized by those coming nationalisms - and of course in Infinite Worlds Centrum has a really *severe* case of romantic English nationalism, though they'd deny that vigorously.
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Old 01-09-2018, 07:51 AM   #3112
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

I'm not posting the full world, because it big and all the kinks aren't out of it yet, but the essential idea is that instead of Islam conquering the Sassanids and truncating the Byzantines, it conquers the Byzantines and truncates the Sassanids. The center of islam moves towards the Mediterranean, and europe ends up mostly islamicized. Arab Traders look as much to the west as to the east, and an Iranian state in one form or another survives.

I was planning on using this world once it hits the industrial age, but the basic seed is pretty simple.
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Old 01-10-2018, 04:06 PM   #3113
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Adolph Hitler's obsession with superweapons is instead turned to espionage, a field neglected by the NAZI leadership in our timeline.

This is bad news for the Allies. Good intel fed to u-boat commanders could cripple shipping. Well-supported (non-double-agent) infiltrators could sabotage and terrorize US production.

They'd still get trounced by the USSR -- unless they manage to, I don't know, assassinate Stalin and start a civil war.
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Old 01-14-2018, 01:58 PM   #3114
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Try this idea...

Hurrem Sultan Aka Roxelana, is one of those important people most folks know nothing about. She accidentally stopped the Ottoman Empire from conquering Europe, or at least extending it's influence.

In 1536 she arranged the death of Pagali Ibrahim Pasha so that she could get his job for her son-in-law. This was a first step to making certain one of her children would succeed to the throne. Between any of her sons and the throne was Sehzade Mustafa the most competent of Suleiman the Magnificent's sons. With Ibrahim Pasha out of the way, it was easy for Roxelana to convince Suleiman that Mustafa was a threat.

The upshot of Roxelana's intrigues was that Selim II aka "The Sot" became the Sultan after Suleiman. Selim was a simple disaster, his heirs weren't able to do anything to seriously clean up his mess either.

In this Q6 world Roxelana dies in the year 1534. When Sulieman dies in 1566, it's Mustafa who takes the throne. Mustafa rules until 1584. He makes a point of building up the Ottoman state in the Balkans and improving the capassity of the Turks to project force. He massively improves the roads in this area so that in future attacks on Vienna the Turkish aemies could move quickly and bring their best siege guns to bear. In 1588, in the same year that the Spanish Armada is crushed by the weather, Mehmed, Mustafa's eldest son captures Vienna.

In this world the Holy Roman Empire is on the Ropes. All of Europe is terrified of the Turks. The PCs could be diplomats working to build a Grand Allience of the European states. Given the Habsburg family has made themselves hates throughout Europe, and the religious questions of the day, this will be a brutal mess.

Centrum doesn't really know whom to back on this world. The Turks look like they could be world rulers fairly easily. But could they be reworked into what Centrum wants? Not even England looks like a good bet in this world.

The Cabal has decided on an attempt to unify Italy and work toward a revived Roman Imperium in this world. They've chosen to play a long game. First step unify Italy, and a war of survival should do that.

Homeline realy wants to be hands off. However Turkey, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy, all feel they've got a stake in this world's politics.
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Old 01-15-2018, 01:33 AM   #3115
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Homeline realy wants to be hands off. However Turkey, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy, all feel they've got a stake in this world's politics.
Probably Hungary and Romania, as well (and likely others).
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Old 01-15-2018, 12:48 PM   #3116
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This world reminds me of an earlier GURPS Alternate Earths' Ottoman-1 (Q6, 1766), where the Turks took Vienna in 1529 and marched on Rome & The Rhine; now an Anglo-Spanish alliance is moving on weak Turkish France & Germany.

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Centrum doesn't really know whom to back on this world. The Turks look like they could be world rulers fairly easily. But could they be reworked into what Centrum wants? Not even England looks like a good bet in this world.
Centrum probably wouldn't have a great deal of interest in this world, just because it's relatively low-tech, and even Interworld is stretched on Quantum 6. It would probably be mostly limited to making trouble for Infinity.

And Centrum would likely back England anyway. Interworld's tendency to back English-speakers has, at times, overriden other factors. Plus England would look like a relatively good bet, at least for a European, or just non-Turk. It's farthest from Turkey, just beat the Spanish, has the seas, the New World, industry and more to take hold of (like IRL).

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Homeline realy wants to be hands off. However Turkey, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy, all feel they've got a stake in this world's politics.
I always wondered how the Homeline E.U. handles differing European crosstime interests like these. Obviously states like U.K., France, and Germany all have their own crosstime capabilities, but does the E.U. just not get involved, or push its own plan (inevitable union of the continent)?

A good question would be whether Turkey has joined the E.U. on Homeline. The wealth & peace of the worldline would make it more likely than it is IRL, but it's not looking too likely IRL.

And perhaps discovering alternate worlds exacerbates cultural and national differences on Homeline. Though I do think U.K. wouldn't have voted for Brexit (or even really had a Brexit vote) in Homeline history.
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Old 01-15-2018, 05:09 PM   #3117
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Probably Hungary and Romania, as well (and likely others).
Good point. Most of the Balkan peoples have bitter memories of the Ottomans.
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Old 01-16-2018, 07:20 AM   #3118
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I always wondered how the Homeline E.U. handles differing European crosstime interests like these. Obviously states like U.K., France, and Germany all have their own crosstime capabilities, but does the E.U. just not get involved, or push its own plan (inevitable union of the continent)?
The EU has a big budget, but the UK, France, and Germany all have bigger national budgets, and unlike the EU, they spend substantially on defense and security. Most of the EU budget is spent on economic development and on propping up vital industries that would be unfeasible for one country alone*, and its hard to see how to turn that into outtime meddling. Arguably they could legislate some sort of policy for member nations to follow, but I suspect they'd have a hard time enforcing it. It could very well be a center for political agitation, but I don't see it having the capabilities to actually send people in to directly influence affairs outtime.

*Most industrialized nations consider a domestic food supply to be a matter of national security, and subsidize agriculture for that reason. Some other vitals categories (steel, energy) fit this policy as well. Europe found it more practical to do this as a whole.
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Old 01-16-2018, 12:15 PM   #3119
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Forgive my ignorance as usual, but why again is it likely that Homeline nations will be interfering in other worlds' societies to bring them in line with some nationalist ideal when some of these nations (not in the EU) don't even bother to make sure their own citizens have access to healthcare and other assistance to the poor despite being the wealthiest nation in the world?
It always seemed to be absurd that a near-future France would want to help French royalist outtime nations/empires , modern Germany that is ashamed of its imperial and warlike past wanting to help WWI or earlier reichs, or modern pacifist Japan wanting to support warlike Japanese worlds. Certainly there would always be nationalist groups who might send people or resources to try and steer things in certain directions, but as national policy it seems unlikely at best.

I can understand Centrum's desire to manipulate things if by doing so it moves these worlds further away from Homeline, but not simply the sake of being mustache-twirling baddies. Why does Homeline care again, especially Infinity? There are infinite worlds, so there are plenty of worlds for Homeline to plunder, Infinity's supposed goal is to protect The Secret, not keep worldline politics in lockstep with Homelines. Most reasonable people can get behind opposing Shikaku-Mon or Reich-5 but doesn't it seem more likely that power blocs like the EU would pressure Infinity to leave non-dangerous timelines to self-determination rather than "benevolent" imperialistic meddling? Isn't that what Centrum does - interfere with worldlines so they become more like Centrum's idea of ideal societies? What's Infinity's excuse? Shouldn't Infinity be more likely to be asked to police Homeliners going out and doing the same thing?
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I always wondered how the Homeline E.U. handles differing European crosstime interests like these. Obviously states like U.K., France, and Germany all have their own crosstime capabilities, but does the E.U. just not get involved, or push its own plan (inevitable union of the continent)?
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Old 01-16-2018, 01:06 PM   #3120
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

I think that "X country takes an interest in Y timeline" should usually be read as "A few important people in X country have a bee in their bonnet about Y timeline, and are making life unnecessarily difficult. Most of X's citizens don't give a fig for timeline Y." There are, after all, infinite worlds to take an interest in here...
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