New Reality Seeds

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Lovecraft-3

I like it, though if they're disenfranchised with the materialist, industrialized world, their quiet arbitrage business and now patent operation seem uncharacteristic. What are they doing with their wealth?

[AlexanderHowl]

The Mythos Society is attempting to create a divergence from the history of Homeline by accelerating technological progress at twice the rate of Homeline, meaning that the technology is equivalent to 1975 Homeline instead of 1960 Homeline. When possible, they find the creator in their timeline and fund him or her in exchange for 50% ownership (as well as using the stolen patents from Homeline to 'advise' the creators to take productive paths).

In addition, they have used their magic and wealth to create a divergence by supporting liberal Republicans. They cursed Nixon with a debilitating illness in 1958 so that Rockefeller will get the Republican nomination for the 1960 election. They expect Rockefeller to win, allowing the US to avoid the escalation of the Vietnam War that would likely occur in 1961 under Kennedy, 1965 under Johnson, and in 1969 under Nixon. Without the ruinous expense of the Vietnam War (in lives and treasure), they expect that the US will avoid the economic troubles of the 1970s, as well as much of the civil strife of the late-60s and early-70s.

[Phil Masters]

So from Infinity’s point of view, this is a suspiciously-accelerated-tech timeline, with enough specific red flags that they’d be looking for out-time involvement (possibly Centrum, but it doesn’t look like their style). Oh yes, and a footnote; a couple of geek-popular pulp writers seem to have survived long past their original death dates.

If the latter seeming trivium gets noticed early enough, the timeline might well get the name you’ve given it, and of course it gives the timeline niche economic significance on Homeline, but it’d be the tech meddling that the I-Cops would want to investigate. Tracing that back to Howard & Howard & co. shouldn’t be too hard; those people may be smart, but they aren’t trained in tradecraft, and the imported stuff would be glaringly obvious to someone from Homeline. One suspects that our writer friends will soon find a bunch of large gentleman in dark suits sitting in their lounges, proposing a chat.

(“It’s too late for us to stop what you’ve started, and dropping you in Coventry would get us all sorts of complaints from the White Star Publishing division. But we suggest that you listen to our suggestions from now on. Or you can tell us to shove off, and we can accidentally let something slip to our contacts in the Cabal. You of all people should know how jealous and flaky high-powered wizards can be.”)

[AlexanderHowl]

I wonder if Centrum would figure out the cause first because of their better grasp of paratronics and what would happen if they did? While they prefer Anglo-French domination, I imagine that they would be sympathetic to the stabilizing efforts of the Mythos Society and the technocratic regime that they are trying to establish in the US. I wonder if they might even form a gentleman's agreement with the Mythos Society to help prevent Homeline from interfering in the timeline in exchange for occassional magical assistance against Homeline in other timelines.

[PTTG]

The Mythos Society as an organization has an interesting amount of power for a dozen science fiction authors. I do enjoy it.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by PTTG

The Mythos Society as an organization has an interesting amount of power for a dozen science fiction authors. I do enjoy it.

I don't think the Cabal would be thrilled by that much boat rocking.

[AlexanderHowl]

As long as the Mythos Society keeps their ritual magic practices a secret, I do not know if the Cabal would mind. Now, they might try to recruit them, but I do not know if they would be terribly concerned if the Mythos Society refused recruitment as long as the Mythos Society kept their mouth shut about their true capabilities. After all, it is not like anyone would think that pulp fiction writers were really practicing magic in 1960.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by johndallman

If the Germans of this world control the Caspian and the Volga, they can use that route into Russia, and then use the railway routes from there back to Germany. But it's easier to take the oil by barge to Sevastopol or Odessa on the Black Sea and use the railway from there back to Europe.

Wouldn't both the Danube and the railway be heavily targeted by Allied bombers? Or can British/American bombers not reach there (without a USSR base)?

Maybe bombers would be sent out of British Mesopotamia, to focus on the Caucasuses directly?

That would play into...

Originally Posted by Apollonian

If they're worried about Nazi Germany replacing Russia as their great threat across the Black Sea, they might let the Allies take some liberties - nothing like allowing warships through the Bosphorous, but perhaps looking the other way at special ops or raiding to cripple the oil barges.

On the other hand, Turkey might throw its hand in with the Axis. While it probably won't contribute a lot of firepower, it turns the Black Sea and maybe the Eastern Med into an Axis lake; no problem with oil supply there, since you can ship it to the Balkans, Italy, maybe even Marseille.

Of course, both the Allies and Axis are going to be keenly aware of these possibilities, so Ankara and Istanbul are going to be very interesting places to set an espionage game...

The position of Turkey. I think the government would try to remain strictly neutral, uphold every official aspect of that - that was of importance to Hitler, who didn't interfere in Turkey because it was so officially neutral. But Istanbul would be full of spies & intrigue.

But Britain flying bombing raids through Turkish and/or Persian airspace could muck things up. Of course, maybe the Nazis are flying raids on British Mesopotamia and Persian Gulf.


Nazi control of Caucasus would also have an effect on Persia and French Syria.

Would Nazi Germany attempt to land on & outright control French Syria? That would threaten British Middle East (and its oil). Maybe Nazis could offer Turkey Syria and northern Mesopotamia (now Kurdistan, which post-Ottoman Turkey had claimed after WWI) to Turkey if it joined the Axis.

The Shah of Persia had flirted with Nazi Germany pre-war, to balance against British & Russian influence. That had been stopped when the war broke out, but with USSR beat and Britain stretched, and Nazis reaching the Persian border in the Caucasus, might get reignited. Persian oil could go up the same route as Caucasus oil.


If it's only late 1942 on this parallel, probably a lot of the possibilities just haven't had time to happen yet. Turkey and Persia are still flirting with the Axis, French Syria hasn't yet been seized by Nazis or British, etc.

[adm]

In 1942, there are no planes capable of safely bombing the Danube area with enough bombs to be worth the effort. You would need to wait for B-29s and B-32s to get there, say mid 1944.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I wonder if Centrum would figure out the cause first because of their better grasp of paratronics and what would happen if they did? While they prefer Anglo-French domination, I imagine that they would be sympathetic to the stabilizing efforts of the Mythos Society and the technocratic regime that they are trying to establish in the US. I wonder if they might even form a gentleman's agreement with the Mythos Society to help prevent Homeline from interfering in the timeline in exchange for occassional magical assistance against Homeline in other timelines.

I think Centrum would be too freaked out by Mythos magic (and general Centrum paranoia).

The world is also on Quantum 7 - could reach Quantum 8!

Indeed, Centran paranoia could fuel worry that the Mythos Society could team up with Infinity and reach the Centrum homeworld. With Interworld hating magic and Secundus, they would likely believe a team-up outside of likelihood (kind of like I-Cops suspecting a team-up of hated Nazis & Centrum outside of likelihood).


If Centrum can figure out that Mythos Society is behind the changes, and magical, Interworld could sanction outright assassination. It's a small group that wouldn't expect such a threat, and their magic can't match Centran high-tech.

And if I-Cops discovered such a plot, would they try to stop it? It might be morally questionable to turn a blind eye, and the Mythos Society seems to have good intentions, but protecting The Secret is #1 priority.