Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[Flyndaran]

That would require them to know that myths were once real which sounds kind of meta to me.
I admit a world of people that want to cease to exist in that particular fashion certainly fits as weird.

[PTTG]

Let's turn it around! Perhaps it's an extremely unstable worldline where once someone has sufficient legend built up around them, a small reality quake brings them into existence. Note that the whole legend doesn't become true; just the person, their rough place in history, and their personality. The world is stubbornly no-mana and generally mundane, with quite high inertia.

This can be retroactive. Most intriguingly, one of the leading experts of "retrohistory" is Dr. Elizabeth Smith, well-known for breaking through the bias and prejudice of early-20th-century academia to reveal her breakhrough insights into the legend phenomenon, providing a compelling proof that figures were being added to history after the fact.

Homeline is debating whether she was simply a minor figure in most histories and only became known due to the fact that this world had exactly the phenomenon she was suited to discover, or if she herself was fictionalized into existence by the natives.

Either way, there are projects to create living legends with great brilliance to be allies, or perhaps to mythicalize a new leader into existence for a rival power and thereby make him or her a weak ruler. These efforts almost always fail, since making a legend by brute force is nigh impossible.

[(E)]

Making a reality quake a bit more subtle, rather than a quake effecting history or a physical part of the world how about a reality "ripple" that effects all sentients neurological structures or psyches. For example a world develops into a traditional TL 9 society with a few minor divergences from the norm then one day every body decides that living like a barbarian is the thing to do. Alternately they may all develope an aversion to mass produced products and a sudden improvement in technical ability, resulting in a world of bespoke technology.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Let's turn it around! Perhaps it's an extremely unstable worldline where once someone has sufficient legend built up around them, a small reality quake brings them into existence. Note that the whole legend doesn't become true; just the person, their rough place in history, and their personality. The world is stubbornly no-mana and generally mundane, with quite high inertia.

This can be retroactive. Most intriguingly, one of the leading experts of "retrohistory" is Dr. Elizabeth Smith, well-known for breaking through the bias and prejudice of early-20th-century academia to reveal her breakhrough insights into the legend phenomenon, providing a compelling proof that figures were being added to history after the fact.

Homeline is debating whether she was simply a minor figure in most histories and only became known due to the fact that this world had exactly the phenomenon she was suited to discover, or if she herself was fictionalized into existence by the natives.

Either way, there are projects to create living legends with great brilliance to be allies, or perhaps to mythicalize a new leader into existence for a rival power and thereby make him or her a weak ruler. These efforts almost always fail, since making a legend by brute force is nigh impossible.

The USA, with Hollywood in tow, and the American people seeing themselves as wanting all the world's people to live in Freedom, would be well placed to win. All they'd have to do is to dream up Mythic Heroes to lead their foes to justice and freedom. Once the locals got that America was wishing them heroes to save them and make their lives better, on their own terms, they'd be on board.

I could see a big AntiFreedom coalition to fight Myths of Justice, Freedom, Fairness, and Dignity.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The USA, with Hollywood in tow, and the American people seeing themselves as wanting all the world's people to live in Freedom, would be well placed to win. All they'd have to do is to dream up Mythic Heroes to lead their foes to justice and freedom. Once the locals got that America was wishing them heroes to save them and make their lives better, on their own terms, they'd be on board.

I could see a big AntiFreedom coalition to fight Myths of Justice, Freedom, Fairness, and Dignity.

I think the values of the AntiFreedom mythmakers would be...

Honor opposed to Dignity. They are generally opposed ideas.

Order opposed to Freedom. Those hostile to Freedom always dismiss freedom as a path to chaos.

Those that reject Freedom often stress Duty and Loyalty and tend to ignore Justice and Fairness.

So Duty, Order, Loyalty, and Honor versus Justice, Freedom, Fairness, and Dignity.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by (E)

Making a reality quake a bit more subtle, rather than a quake effecting history or a physical part of the world how about a reality "ripple" that effects all sentients neurological structures or psyches. For example a world develops into a traditional TL 9 society with a few minor divergences from the norm then one day every body decides that living like a barbarian is the thing to do. Alternately they may all develope an aversion to mass produced products and a sudden improvement in technical ability, resulting in a world of bespoke technology.

Cross-timers would have the unenviable problem of determining if it's a purely local change, potentially infectious meme complex, or combination of the two.

[PTTG]

At first, homeline thought this worldline just had oddly uniform holiday traditions, but nope, this worldline (our own, of course,) actually has a real Father Christmas. His connections to Saint Nicolas (aka Sinterklaas or Santa Claus), Kris Kringle, and associated beings such as Elves and Krampuses are unknown; he is largely known by the local names used by homeline, but his behavior is the uniform.

It seems that this personification or holiday spirit (nobody from Infinity has gotten a close enough look to determine; he may simply be a powerful mage,) travels around the world thanks to a powerful slow-time effect he is able to create, albeit only one night a year.

His granting of gifts to well-behaved children has remained the same, though over the course of history his exact parameters have changed, as has his appearance and associates.

Though he is shrouded in mystery, he is certainly real; video records his presence in homes around the world, the presents he delivers are real and permanent (apparently, he purchases the items in small batches leading up to the holiday season), and he has performed non-gift acts as well, such as transporting people and imparting meaningful life lessons.

Reliable, sober homeline agents have spotted him, one time very briefly spoke with him, but since then he has avoided them. Last year, Homeline prepared a sting operation to find out more about this Santa. They failed to find him, but found six gift-wrapped lumps of coal in their conveyor, with the following note written on a card:

"Ho Ho Ho! Hiding in someone else's home is very naughty indeed! If you wanted to hear from me, you need merely write a letter... but you've all had very busy years and put little time to being kind to your fellow man, neanderthal, and yes, sentient robot, let alone writing a wish list!

But I will answer the question most burning in your minds; I am no elseworld threat. You'll find that very few parachronic terrors travel around once a year giving presents! Ho Ho Ho! Rest assured, Krampus, the rabbit, and I keep this world quite safe, and we have no plans of going elsewhere.

Come back next year after being forgiving, gentle and kind, (and go to bed on time!) and I will be happy to leave you a little token deserved by all good sentient beings. And yes, I know your favorite calibers.

Merry Christmas!
St. N."

[Astromancer]

This world has a strangely snarled time flow, each year at the stroke of midnight night on New Year's Eve the whole world finds itself in contact with a past year. People can freely move back and forth between the two years as if they were two parallel worlds and everyone from the later year (other than some categories the mentally handicapped and certain people who seem to be the World Jumper equivalent of "tone death" or Dyslexic) can jump between the two worlds.

Something strange happened in 2012, and this pattern began in 2013. The local year is 2025. So far all the years are from before 2012. Changes in the earlier year don't affect the later year. So in 2017/1865 when John Wilks Booth was cornered by a mob of angry people and thrashed to within an inch of his life, thus saving Lincoln, the past year changed but not 2017.

So far it has been 2013/1235, 2014/1789, 2015/1630, 2016/1968, 2017/1865, 2018/837, 2019/1890, 2020/550BCE, 2021/1815,2022/1931,2023/1519, 2024/535, 2025/1702.

When the year is over, people and objects from the later year return to the later year. People from the earlier year also return to their year, but most objects don't. They're still working out the rules governing which objects transfer and which don't. Copied information seems to stay put.

[Apollonian]

Balkanized-1 is a politically and psychologically weird parallel. Something about the parallel prevents people from forming large organizations - notably states. It's recent, too.

The change point is somewhen in the 18th century. Enlightenment literature in this history shows a much stronger bias toward individualism and denouncement of tyranny, and tyranny is defined rather broadly. Starting with the American Revolution, empires begin to fall apart. A number of new states are created in the New World, but no large ones form out of them. The 13 colonies largely go their own ways. Russia, China, and the Ottomans all experience successful internal revolts. By the late 19th century - the current date - the largest state in existence is the Texas Confederacy, which covers an area somewhat smaller than Homeline's Texas. The UK has split into several nations, vaguely resembling the old Heptarchy (Ireland and Scotland went their own way shortly after the AWI). France saw the Revolution kick off more-or-less on schedule and degenerate into provincial secession and rebellion.

Supernational organizations like the Catholic Church or the East India Company have managed to survive, but they too seem to have a more fractious bent. There are currently three popes. (It seems that the less coercive and more voluntary an organization is, the more successful it is.) Imperialism is dead, and indigenous peoples are in a marginally better situation than they were in our history. The inability of massive states to exert their will over settlers and natives has meant no planned exterminations and expropriations, but also no protections (however feeble those might have been). Several states in Western North America are dominated by natives, Africa is largely untouched by colonialism, and India has a vibrant patchwork of states that are a mix of native and creole.

In the course of a century, then, this timeline went from a pattern of consolidation to one of severe fragmentation. Civil and border conflicts are frequent, if not constant. Local TL is a late 6.

Homeline is very curious about this timeline; some parachronologists are theorizing that the effect will continue until polities stabilize at some level below nation-state, either city-state or village/tribe. Worryingly, the effect seems to be a bit contagious; long-term outtime residents begin to show the same sort of fiery independence after about a decade of residence. Unsurprisingly, this has proven a popular destination for those of a libertarian bent... and also a handy dimension for Swagmen. The Patrol keeps an eye on it as best they can, but the Secret seems fairly secure at the moment.

This timeline appears to have little magic and no secrets unavailable elsewhere, so the Cabal largely ignores it.

Centrum began infiltrating it and then threw up their hands in disgust and put it on the no go list. It's terribly antithetical to their philosophy and if it's contagious...

In a game, this setting mostly exists as scenery. It's a good spot to blow through, marvel at the liberty or anarchy, and then beat up escaping Nazis in. It does make a rather good refuge for cross-time fugitives of any sort.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

This world has a strangely snarled time flow, each year at the stroke of midnight night on New Year's Eve the whole world finds itself in contact with a past year. People can freely move back and forth between the two years as if they were two parallel worlds and everyone from the later year (other than some categories the mentally handicapped and certain people who seem to be the World Jumper equivalent of "tone death" or Dyslexic) can jump between the two worlds.
....

If the present won't change from alterations to the past, what makes it actual time travel? Wouldn't it make more sense as a strange skerry of parallels?