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Old 02-23-2020, 12:58 PM   #4611
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Srinivasa Ramanujan's health was much improved thanks to his grandfather retaining his clerkship and therefore allowing for better nutrition and sanitation in the mathematician's childhood.

As a result, Ramanujan lives to be 95, and remains active up until the last few days of his life. Pure mathematics is advanced in this 1990s worldline, and is presently verging on what we might call TL9 pure math. Exactly what that looks like is up to the GM, but may include secret transcendental math that unlocks a new form of cosmology, or simply much more powerful computers with the fairly crude hardware of the time. Alternatively, it could simply be a beautiful new system of mathematics with little practical effect, but a substantial cultural effect as Ramunujan's strong Hinduism suffused into intellectual society.
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Old 02-23-2020, 03:08 PM   #4612
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Is maize really that advantageous? From what I remember of reading Jared Diamond, it seemed less useful than Old World grains. Some upgraded wheat varieties might seem like a better bet.
Maize is advantageous within limits. As Second Century Rome had not gone through the Arab Agricultural Revolution, they'd realize impressive benefits. Africa would realize bigger ones in the long run. And don't forget, I gave Rome the silk industry in this scenario. That vastly benefits trade.
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Old 02-24-2020, 09:16 AM   #4613
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Try this one...

In this Q4 world history remains unchanged until the until the 535 event. Soon after these events the local manna level rises to Normal manna with isolated areas of high manna. A Welsh bard, who maintained much of the old druidic knowledge, discovers a series of medical charms. When the 537 plague (which in Homeline history shattered the Celtic cities but seemed to by-pass the rural areas, leaving the Anglo-Saxons in charge of Britain) it's a non-event. This makes magic completely okay/God approves in the Celtic lands.

This world is slowly learning magic. The Bards are working with the monks to commit all remaining druid knowledge to paper. Bards, Brehons, Monks, and Poets (all of whom are serious scholars in this culture) are trying to work out magic as a practical art. By the local present, 565 AD, spells that are equivalents to the Plant, Weather, and Healing Colleges are fairly well known. Spells of Illusion are well developed too, but not the Creation half of the College of Illusion and Creation.

The Cabal is hungry to gain influence on this world. Homeline wants in on the ground floor of learning magic in this world. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Saxons are trying to learn magic too. Fire and Air magics seem to be what they're good at, but not all that good. Rome is uncertain about all this magic, they feel it weakens their political power and thus the ability to protect their congregations from tyrants and marauders. On the other hand, Celtic healers and crop magics are very useful for feeding the congregations and buying off tyrants and marauders. The Emperor in Constantinople is going through similar calculations and has the advantage of the Eastern Church's good relations with the Celtic Abbots and Bishops.
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Old 02-25-2020, 03:37 AM   #4614
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Try this one...

Richard III at one time sought to wed Mary of Burgundy. He didn't get her in our history but in this world he did. With the vast resources of his wife's estate, Richard could brush off challengers. His pragmatic programs like publishing the laws in the local language and the like slowly won him respectability. Mary (who died in Homeline history because of a hunting accident) has several children by Richard. This leaves the Hapaburghs, the Valois, and the Trastámaras, less than happy. A strong England and a Strong independent Burgundy threatens all their plans.

Centurm loves the match seeing it as a way to bring this Q6 Low Manna world into its orbit. Thus Homeline is backing France, Spain, and the Empire.
Centrum would love this world - it's basically a second shot at Centrum's no-White-Ship divergence into an Anglo-French Empire. Indeed, that could overcome Centrum's disinterest in such non-advanced worlds.

To say nothing of a world with mana (albeit low), which would normally put Centrum off - but probably Interworld has no idea that this world has any mana at all.

The irony would be that usually Infinity tries to support good governance like what has come out of England and the Low Countries, as opposed to the more centralizing autocracies of France, Spain, and Austria (Homeline wags say that Infinity has a pro-Protestant, anti-Catholic bias). But in this case, it's reversed.

Last edited by fchase8; 03-11-2020 at 10:00 AM.
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Old 02-26-2020, 01:28 PM   #4615
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TimeGhost Army: French Civil War in 1937 triggered by French support for the Republican side in Spain.
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Old 02-26-2020, 02:04 PM   #4616
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TimeGhost Army: French Civil War in 1937 triggered by French support for the Republican side in Spain.
I haven't seen the video yet but it should be good.
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Old 02-26-2020, 02:29 PM   #4617
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Quite rough, but here we go.

Jade Serpent 1:

The Chinese Warring States period ends circa 300 B.C., when the non-Chinese state of Yue, (who had achieved a Personal Union over their allied state of Chu in South China) manages to achieve a loose hegemony over the remaining Warring States and claims the Mandate of Heaven.

Unlike Homeline's Han Dynasty, the Yue rulers (who take the name Li for their dynasty) favor a much more maritime, commercial policy than their Confucian equivalents. Centred on the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Li Dynasty pursues a policy of aggressive mercenary recruitment in the last years of the Warring States, employing specialists from as far away as Japan and Malaya to bolster their own manpower.

The Li Dynasty favours a rather decentralized approach to ruling interior China. The Li maintain direct control over the river valleys and the coasts, while the "Lords of Rice and Millet" (basically, Warring-States-era governors whose families are allowed to remain in power in exchange for tribute and political subordination) rule according to local customs in the interior.

The Li Dynasty places a great deal of emphasis on southern expansion, leaving the northern frontier to vassal buffer states while Yue armies push south along the coast of Vietnam. The capstone of the Li Dynasty's conquests is the establishment of a naval outpost at the Straits of Malacca, governorship of which eventually becomes the traditional "training ground" of the Crown Prince. Royal patronage goes out to navigators charting the Indian Ocean, and by 100 B.C., the sea routes from South China to Dravidian India are well-known and well-travelled.

This redirection of focus has unintended consequences on the development of the Eurasian Steppe: on the one hand, the Xiongnu Confederacy has, effectively, free reign to dominate the Mongolian Steppes and raid North China. On the other, the redirection of trade routes cuts off much of the luxury Silk Road commerce that Homeline's Xiongnu could expect to control. With (relatively) secure sealanes from Southeast Asia to the Near East, the overland trade through the Tarim Basin withers on the branch.

The steppes of Jade Serpent are a much rougher place than Homeline: without the moderating influence and concentrated income of long-distance trade, it is extremely difficult for any large-scale, militarily-powerful confederation to form.

The year is now circa 100 A.D. The Li Dynasty faces increasing instability, as ambitious, semi-autonomous vassals on the northern frontier carve out power bases at the expense of their fellows, backed by a large reservoir of discontented nomadic horsemen. It is increasingly difficult to keep the flow of tariffs and duties from the Southern Provinces flowing back to Yue proper, as tribal potentates among the hill folks of Southeast Asia siphon off the profit of trade through blackmail and piracy.

TL;DR: A world where China emerges out of the Warring States as a fairly decentralized, maritime power with a much stronger focus on expansion southwards, while neglecting dirrect expansion of the northern and western frontiers. The maritime trade from China to India, the Near East and beyond takes off earlier and stronger than OTL, leaving the steppes significantly more impoverished and brutal. The Li Dynasty looks to be less stable than their Han equivalents, while interconnecting East Asia to a much greater extent than OTL.
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Old 02-28-2020, 07:29 AM   #4618
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TShiggins posted something lovely that belongs on this board. First he quoted me...

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One good variant wood to have a triceratops- like dinosaur be discovered. Something halfway between an elephant and a rhino in size would do. These creatures are discovered to be delicious. Far better than reports of the flavor of the Galapagos Giant Turtles. Because these creatures are herbivores and grow very quickly they make good candidates for food herd beasts. Problem they're cantankerous as hell and like to wonder freely.

Hilarity ensues.
Then he gave us this.


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Better yet, also make them able to be domesticated (if pretty stupid and sometimes ill-tempered) and willing to take riders and act as draft animals.

Suddenly, much of the huge advantage held by Europeans disappears, because the American Indians had available to them a source of tremendous animal muscle power, for thousands of years.

Agriculture is far more advanced, widespread and productive (even though somewhat hamstrung by the north-south orientation of the topography of the New World, if Jared Diamond's hypothesis is used), and construction and mining, as well as military capabilities, increase tremendously.

Throw in some diseases that manage to jump from dino to humans, against which Europeans have no immunity, and the sudden contact between the two biomes unleashes chaos, worldwide.
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Old 02-29-2020, 03:58 PM   #4619
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Dargaron's post (which I like a lot) gets me asking, what if China, which is as vast as Europe plus North Africa, like the Roman empire simply never reformed? India was unified by the Brits, Mexico was put together by Spain, the USA was put together by people from another continent , and Canada and Australia were out together by the UK. China is definitely the odd one, in that the ancient inhabitants put their ancient empi back together by and for themselves. So worlds where China is a cluster of Independent nations would be highly logical.

The conflicts between these nations could easily be as dramatic and dangerous as those between European nations.
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Old 03-02-2020, 11:34 AM   #4620
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Try this one...

In the reign of George IV, a powerful maharajah sent his sons to the English court to learn British ways. Both the Duke of Clarence and St Andrews and Princess Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld were totally charmed by the young men. Princess Victoria raised her daughter Victoria the young Rajahs as Uncles. This lead to a radically different view of India. The idea promoted by the Early Victorians of Homeline that "the last thing we want is brown Englishmen" which was always an excuse for racial exclusion, never caught on. Indians could become fully equal members of the British Empire in a way that 18th century Americans never were allow to.

Subsequently, all the major players in the Indian Independence movement where fully co opted into the British Empire and there was no functional independence movement. The Anglo-Indian Empire is still a superpower in this Q6 world's 1970s. This creates multiple problems. The USA, which is also a democracy, rejects empire and imperialism. The Anglo-Indian Empire holds that Empire is a high and worthy calling. Russia and China smear both nations as empires. Third world nations have three blocks to sponge for foreign aid, but their are fewer such because the
British, French, and Portuguese empires are still standing.

Homeline favors America on this world because Centrum is gaining way to much power through controlling (if only partially) the Anglo-Indian Empire. The Cabal is simply scoring favors where it can. Meanwhile, deep in the halls of MI5 and MI6 someone has figured out the SECRET or had it told to them. These loyal servants of the Queen want to remove or limit Centrum's influence over their empire. Meanwhile, they are leery of Homeline, mainly because they have very negative views of America and see Homeline as extradimensional Americans. But they also see them as needed allies to fight Centrum and whatever these wacked out Wizards (the Cabal) are doing.
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