Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[Flyndaran]

The words or phrases that replace such obscenities could have cultural significance.

My family would sometimes use the distorted curses of a Johnny Dangerously character. Fargin' ice hole, bastiges, etc.
Imagine a world where such things are common.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

It's very subtle but it would drive PCs nuts. In many real world cultures, notably a large number of Native American cultures, it is massively rude to look someone in the eyes. Picture a world where that was the overwhelming norm.

Now, for most Americans, someone who won't look you in the eyes isn't to be trusted. A person who can never look you in the eyes is rarely trusted or respected. The PCs, even if they know better, will be severely disoriented. Meanwhile, the locals will wonder "Who are these weirdos?" Exactly the question the PCs don't want asked.

[Flyndaran]

As someone that has great difficulty looking people in the eyes, I've found ways of faking it. Stare at noses, or mouths.

More confusing for PCs would be if the rule varied. Just learning "never do this" or "always do this" is much easier than "do this in this situation but not that one", etc.

Always looking adults in the eyes but never children would be a bit odd, I think.

[PTTG]

"Really it's very simple. There's three respectful gestures (not counting the accent gestures), and two disrespectful ones... oh, plus the modifier phrases, but those only apply on holidays and with family, so don't worry about those. The respectful gestures are hand contact, eye contact, and anticipatory favors (i.e., holding open a door). The first two apply to everyone, the second only to people who don't need any physical assistance. DO NOT automatically aid someone whom you judge would need the help until they ask; for instance, don't give up your seat for a pregnant woman unless she asks you to (to do so implies that the handicap, whatever it is, is obvious). If someone doesn't appear handicapped, by all means hold doors, offer seats, and so on, as those actions are considered courteous. Where was I? Oh yes, the disrespectful gestures are avoiding physical contact and avoiding eye contact, and they must be avoided unless the object of the gesture is half your social status or below, or twice yours or above, excepting people of the other sex. All these rules are reversed at night for people you aren't directly related to.

Don't be offended by verbal insults, as these can be terms of endearment. A popular storytelling element is praise of a child leading to the child being captured by a evil supernatural creature. On the other hand, if the insult is scatological, it is sincere, and should be met with an equivalent one lest you lose face (even if the original insult came from a social superior).

These rules only apply within the lower classes of the society. This book summarizes the high-class rules, but in short, avoid high society entirely on weekends and holidays and otherwise keep your face covered with a veil and pretend to be grieving, which gives you some leeway as long as you follow the lower-class rules. Oh, and don't eat citrus before meeting royalty. Ever."

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

"Really it's very simple. There's three respectful gestures (not counting the accent gestures), and two disrespectful ones... oh, plus the modifier phrases, but those only apply on holidays and with family, so don't worry about those. The respectful gestures are hand contact, eye contact, and anticipatory favors (i.e., holding open a door). The first two apply to everyone, the second only to people who don't need any physical assistance. DO NOT automatically aid someone whom you judge would need the help until they ask; for instance, don't give up your seat for a pregnant woman unless she asks you to (to do so implies that the handicap, whatever it is, is obvious). If someone doesn't appear handicapped, by all means hold doors, offer seats, and so on, as those actions are considered courteous. Where was I? Oh yes, the disrespectful gestures are avoiding physical contact and avoiding eye contact, and they must be avoided unless the object of the gesture is half your social status or below, or twice yours or above, excepting people of the other sex. All these rules are reversed at night for people you aren't directly related to.

Don't be offended by verbal insults, as these can be terms of endearment. A popular storytelling element is praise of a child leading to the child being captured by a evil supernatural creature. On the other hand, if the insult is scatological, it is sincere, and should be met with an equivalent one lest you lose face (even if the original insult came from a social superior).

These rules only apply within the lower classes of the society. This book summarizes the high-class rules, but in short, avoid high society entirely on weekends and holidays and otherwise keep your face covered with a veil and pretend to be grieving, which gives you some leeway as long as you follow the lower-class rules. Oh, and don't eat citrus before meeting royalty. Ever."

Still not as involved as getting through Thanksgiving Dinner in my second cousin's house!

[Astromancer]

What about the Near Myth parallels. Worlds of parody and/or revisionist retellings. Many of these would be disturbingly weird. The world where most of the fairy tale heroines are vampires. The world where Scheherazade is a bimbo from Brooklyn. The world where Hamlet speaks in 40s jive talk. Each of these worlds could send the PCs heads swimming.

[Flyndaran]

The latter seem too much like modern re-imaginings that have become their own sub-genre.
Fairy tales in different settings and eras is kind of oddly common now a days, I think.

But revisionist myths sound interesting. Switching villains for heroes would probably not be as hard as one would expect.

Dorothy as the hired assassin. Luke Skywalker as a terrorist attacking the legitimate government.

[PTTG]

A reality quake occurs in 960 CE / 3656, a period when Europe and China were both highly fractured. The quake replaces a colossal stretch of land with new ocean, connecting the Barents sea to the Caspian. Moscow is within sight of the new coastline, and more than half of Kazakhstan is gone. A major sea extends from this new ocean into the Tibetan plateau, complete with vast fjords. The major population centers of the region (such as they are,) are either moved to the new coast, or find themselves on generously-proportioned islands.

Finally, the newly coastal lands are fertile, and the ocean provides rain to much of the remains of northeast Asia. Something prevents widespread climactic shift beyond that -- yet another clue that this quake was somehow intentional.

As the two vast population centers of the world reunify and explore the rich belt of fertile land between them, they will soon contact each other in the newly habitable region between them. It is unlikely that this will end only with peaceful trade agreements...

Other interesting time periods:
160 CE (ROME VRS. HAN DYNASTY: FIGHT!)
1066 CE (China eats all of Europe one bite at a time)
610 CE (This all will probably change how Islam grows, I guess)
1966 CE (I'm going to say that the quake also removes all nuclear missiles, otherwise this gets messy)
1600 CE (Manchu dominance in China leads to a less extreme power disparity)

[AlexanderHowl]

In Fragment, an asteroid impact on the Moon on July 2nd, 1178 causes a massive shower of lunar and asteroid debris to fall upon the Earth over the next a week. A total of 10,000 fragments, an average of 100 meters in radius, fall to the Earth and the bombardment kills 50% of humanity directly and begins the Little Ice Age 150 years early, killing 50% of the survivors.

Explorers to the impact craters discover strange happenings as mana wells from the impact craters, creating wild mana surges. Within 1 km of the impact craters, the mana is very high, dropping to high within 10 km of the impact crater and normal within 100 km of the impact crater (the rest of the world is low mana). Any child born within the very high mana regions end up being mages, while 10% of the children born within high mana regions and 1% of the children born within normal mana regions are mages (0.1% for children born with low mana regions).

The wild mana regions twist and warp space and time, animal and plant, spawning monstrosities that cause massive problems to humanity as they recover. With the year being 1500, humanity has finally began to recover, but the world is much different than it was before that fateful day.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Celebrity

This world is rather upsetting to Infinity. They suspect that it's a joke perpetrated by some deity-level being at their expense.

Probes showed what appeared to be a near-parallel in the mid-1950's but with a conspicuously-higher standard of living. Otherwise it seemed normal.

Until the first agents were sent in and they were swarmed by autograph-seekers and paparazzi.

Every single parachronic traveler to this world is made as soon as he arrives. And often before then - some Infinity and Centrum agents who have never visited have fan clubs, with fan magazines describing their lives and exploits in terrifying detail. One investigator was horrified to find a photo-spread of himself during an exercise routine at his home.

Any traveler to celebrity will be taregted like a major media figure, with groupies and paparazzi and interview requests. They will know things that they have no way of knowing unless they actually visited Homeline, yet there is no other evidence of parachronic travel.

Celebrity is a headache of Security, but they are comforted in knowing that Centrum, Reich-5, and the Cabal are in the same boat. There's been talk of making Celebrity a neutral world for political negotiations.