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Old 09-25-2018, 07:45 AM   #3661
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Then you would get a civil war and external actors would invoke a war to reestablish peace by destroying the aggressor, just like if a nation refused to honor the terms of a duel. In this world, civil wars end up destroying any side that refuses a duel, so even internal conflicts tend to be settled by duels. Of course, each side would use outside mediators for negotiations, and there are traditional rules about legitimate conditions of peace. For example, a victor could request that the loser adopt one of their deities into the loser's pantheon, but they could not request the removal of a deity from the loser's pantheon.
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Old 09-25-2018, 03:05 PM   #3662
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Try this idea,

Because of the cultural fashions of the Romantic period, the leading intellectuals of England were terrified of the idea of the people of India becoming "Brown Englishmen." This wasn't a racist thing, it was meant to preserve and respect Indian culture. It Backfired and became a way to justify racism and racial exclusion. It also, even when well intended and polite, insulted the most capable and intelligent people of India. Who went on to found independence movements.

In this Q6 world, the British Romantics saw India as Greece to Britain's Rome. Faddish cultural copying was the norm. Many poor British Aristocrats married into the families of wealthy Rajas. Educated Indians were welcomed into British society. Sanskrit and Urdu joined Greek and Latin in British schools, the Mahabharata and the Vedas have joined the Illiad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, and the Homeric Hymns, in the standard syllabus.

The local year is 1895. London is different. This is the world of Sherlock Holmes with a good dose of hot curry. Centrum sees the British Empire of this world as likely to survive. Homeline sees a problem the Centrum folks are ignoring. The Sultan of Turkey has cut a deal with the Germans.

In our world, the Ottoman rulers wanted rail lines to move troops about quickly. They also insisted that these railroads should be too far inland to bomb from gunboats. This inadvertently made such lines incredibly expensive and slow to build. This was mainly because of the need to go through the Taurus mountains, which are made of some of the toughest granite on the Earth.

On this world, the Sultan accepted the idea of a coastal rail line to finance the tunnels through the Tarrus range. Thus the Germans have a rail line built from Berlin to Basra on the Persian Gulf. The Shah of Persia likes the idea of a line through central Iran to British India. The Tsar of Russia hates the idea. World War I is likely to come early on this planet. And the Berlin to Basra rail line means the Turco-German alliance is far more of a threat.
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Old 09-28-2018, 09:54 AM   #3663
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Try this one...

Alexander, in this world, recovered from his fever in Babylon. After he was back on his feet Alexander proclaimed that he had seen the problem that prevented his conquest of India. Basically, he needed a stronger backup and logistics. In order to conquer India and the lands to its east, he needed to make his present Empire strong and well run.

Alexander focused his attention and drive on building up his Empire's strength and cohesion. He did this for twenty years. Then he proclaimed himself ready.

The local year in this Q4 world is 190AD, but no one of importance uses the Julian calendar. Alexander XII has conquered Nanyue with help from the locals. They preferred autonomy under Greek rule to direct Chinese rule. The Han are not well pleased.

Alexander XII looks like his Javanese mother but he is proudly Grecco-Persian in culture. He is delighted to have the chance to conquer China. Meanwhile, China is determined to turn back the Greek tide.

The Cabal seems very interested in the world. Its highly distinctive Grecco-Indian magical systems seem to fascinate them. The Indonesian and other Southeast Asian mystic systems also get their study. China's occult secrets seem to be a holy grail for the cabalists. Homeline's researchers need to know what the Cabalists are seeking.

Worse news, a part of the Chronobahn goes through the local Caucasus mountains. It has to be assumed that Reich-5 has agents here. What are they up to?
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Old 09-28-2018, 10:44 AM   #3664
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
The local year in this Q4 world is 190AD, but no one of importance uses the Julian calendar.
To be fair, no one in our timeline used AD in 190.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
Worse news, a part of the Chronobahn goes through the local Caucasus mountains. It has to be assumed that Reich-5 has agents here. What are they up to?
Well, the Alexander's empire is dominated by Greeks (Aryan enough) and Persians (Literally where the word Aryan comes from). Almost certainly they are intriguing to take over the Alexandrian Empire, and then probably wipe out the Jews (assuming Alexander's successors reverted to Persian tradition, they're probably living comfortably in the Palestine).
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Old 09-28-2018, 11:16 AM   #3665
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Whenever Astromancer posts, I expect thoughtful historical deviations leading to flavorful alternates. These two are no exception!
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Old 09-28-2018, 12:25 PM   #3666
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Whenever Astromancer posts, I expect thoughtful historical deviations leading to flavorful alternates. These two are no exception!
You make me blush. I like that!
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Old 09-30-2018, 12:47 AM   #3667
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Friendly times are over! Now, how about some timelines that diverge during the 13th and 14th centuries? Change the way that European powers subjugate the globe. Here's some thoughts:

First, we'll step back a century more and say Pope Boniface VIII secures powerful temporal allies and a stream of wealth before his moves into placing the papistry above the kings of Europe. When he makes his move in the first years of the 1300s, he has the military backing and political will to first survive and then gradually strengthen what would eventually become a catholic theocratic empire of Europe. Such an organization would probably spend decades quashing rebellion (but on the other hand might have broad popular support if it can keep the peasantry convinced it's the real church and any rebellious kings are apostates). Once established, the empire would be quite stable and static, and may leave room for other powers to explore instead.

Stepping forward again: The Spanish Inquisition was quite heretical in its principles. Could a different set of circumstances cause it to sputter out before it began? What consequences could that have?

The 1400-1600 era sees the joining of Poland and Lithuania into a large, and somewhat wealthy nation with surprisingly broad religious liberty. It was considered an era of "Golden Liberty" by the nobility, but for the peasantry it was anything but, and saw widespread serfdom and slavery. What if we give the Sejm (Polish parliament) a tweak to enable greater economic liberty for the lower classes? This would be a hard change to make, as it would directly reduce the wealth of the nobles. But with that change, the nation as a whole could get much wealthier. If it happens early enough, then Poland could be a naval power going into the 1500s...

Tokhtamysh briefly reunited the Golden Horde around 1380. This didn't last, but he could have been more successful, or maybe the Horde could have avoided breaking up in 1359. They are unlikely to assist in the growth of the Renaissance, but they might drive conflict throughout Europe if they push into Poland and Lithuania and drive people to migrate westward

Last edited by PTTG; 09-30-2018 at 11:05 AM.
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Old 09-30-2018, 02:50 PM   #3668
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A Cabalist with an agenda of their own decided to help Federico da Montefeltro in two ways. First, they brought Greek and Latin works lost in most parallels to Urbino. There they became part of Federico's library and got distributed across Europe. Secondly, they cast fertility charms on Battista Sforza causing her to have strong healthy sons and to survive and thrive in spite of childbirth.

Whatever the Cabalist's long term plans were they got killed in an inter-Cabal struggle. But Europe was changed in several ways. First, Calculus was invented early, as several texts of Archimedes (including several unknown on Homeline before panchronomic travel), were made available through the library at Urbino. This moved the Tech Level forward. Several other scientific ideas that were first brought out by the Greeks but lost in most worlds were also rediscovered and made current at the same time the printing press was being introduced. The second major change was the defeat of Ceasre Bogia and the hiring of Machiavelli as an advisor to the Dukes.

In this Q6 world, the local year is 1510. Machiavelli has published Ill Stato(The State) and the Dukes of Urbino are leading a movement to form an Italian confederation. Italy is unifying in the early 16th century. The tech level is slightly advanced in this world many areas are more like the late 16th century. Other areas are as yet unchanged.

As wild as the events in Italy are, advances in steel making and watchsprings are beginning to change navigation. Henry VII had sent Cabot to Canada, now his son is sending followup expeditions. These are in part financed by the profits of the English steel and glass exports.
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Old 10-02-2018, 03:54 PM   #3669
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One of the most historically important weather events was the Medieval Climate Anomally(MCA). It is notable that Fedalism starts shortly after the MCA starts and disintegrates shortly after the Little Ice Age started.

This suggests that altering the MCA would massively alter Europe's history. Extend the MCA and Feudalism lasts longer which suppresses the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Exploration. End the MCA early and maybe the Cathars replace Protestantism as the opposition to the Papacy and its political allies. The Cathars have radically different values than the Protestants and it would mean a radically different Europe.
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Old 10-02-2018, 06:18 PM   #3670
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The MCA was important, but it was the agricultural advances during the High Medieval Age that allowed for the Protestant Reformation. Without those advances, the population of northern Europe would have died of mass starvation, even after the loss of life due to the Black Death, because the carrying capacity after the MCA was half as much as at the beginning of the MCA. Without the agricultural advances of the High Medieval Age, the Protestants would have starved, since they were primarily a northern European phenomenon.

If the MCA had ended early, northern Europe would have starved early, and the famines would have been even worse because the population of Europe would not have been reduced by the Black Death. If it had ended later, then the Protestant Reformation would have probably been more successful, as the agricultural productivity of northern Europe would have supported more people, meaning that the Catholic nations would have been endangered (while the reasons for the Protestant Reformation were many, one of the primary reasons was the capture of the Papacy by the Holy Roman Empire/Spain). At least, that is what my research into the topic suggests.
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