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Old 05-23-2013, 06:34 AM   #41
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Default Re: Five Earths, All in a Row

Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
Thanks. It was already going to run long, and if I'd put in the blow-by-blow of things from Cranston's perspective, I'd have been writing all night. I also think this way evokes the reader's imagination (or at least, that's what I was trying for...), and may make it more dramatic.

It also demonstrates that the world isn't brightly four-colored, just because it has supers in it. Some of those pulp-magazine characters would have looked like psychopaths (heck, some of them were psychopaths) to those who stumbled across the aftermath of their "adventures."
Oh, yes. This is a Wold Newton Earth, after all, as much as it is a comic book Earth, and a real Earth.

On another note, the promised Creative Writing thread now exists. I hope you'll post your excellent story, there, and anyone else with a story in this setting will, as well.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 05-23-2013, 09:56 PM   #42
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The update is here, as promised:

NOTE: The 'Lanterns' of Earth Prime are mostly on a fairly low power tier, relatively few of them being even as dangerous as a WWI light tank... that flies at around twice a normal human's running pace, and has a flight ceiling of 'I can't breathe at a higher altitude'. The Green Lantern of Dieselpunk Earth is on another level entirely, being roughly as powerful as Superman and Doctor Fate, but there's only one of him.

On another note, the reason I'm not using 'OTL-Earth' anymore, is that the modern Earth in this setting is not OTL Earth, as OTL means 'Our Time Line', and that Earth grows less like our own every day. Instead, 'Earth Prime', 'Earth One', 'Infopunk Earth', or 'Inp-Earth' will be used. While there is no official in-universe name that everyone accepts, many politicians, some scientists, and some news services on Inp-Earth use 'Earth One' for modern Earth, Earth Two for WWII Earth, and so on as they get younger. The other Earths don't all agree on this.

I would have preferred to have March finalized before posting, but then, I was hoping to have March finalized in February. I said I'd update, and here it is.


Additions to earlier parts:


March 3: Instructions for a 'techbane' spell called Hexus are posted to the internet. This is surprising mainly because it's a bit difficult for a Dresden-style spellcaster to use a computer (you generally need someone who uses a different style to shield your computer, or you need to be very, very calm while using it). The existence of this and similar spells is a large factor in the interest so many governments and corporations have in the development of 'anti-magical' or 'anti-psionic' defences.

March 4: In Infopunk Iran, the 'mutant' rat problem reaches the point that ten sniper teams are sent to hunt them (from Real Life, but weird enough to belong here; they're probably weirder and more threatening in this timeline, though).

March 5: A group of four glowing, spindle-shaped objects enter the Dieselpunk Earth-Moon system on a vector from the Mars of that world, pass through, and continue on separate courses for each of the other Earths, traveling at an average speed of around four light-seconds per hour. Maser flashes from Dp-Luna indicate that these are high-speed scout vessels of a design common to the more advanced Martian races: the Ice Warriors, the Changing Martians, and the Mysterons (each has variations, but the Lunarians aren't sure which is which), and that they travel by 'compressing and stretching the cosmic tapestry,' a process which allows very high apparent speeds and great maneouverability, and leaves them at rest relative to the largest mass near anything they collide with. Four light-seconds per hour appears to be their cruising speed, and the highest pseudovelocity the Lunarians have seen them use is nine light-seconds per hour, for about seven minutes. As each scout enters the 'portal' it's aiming for, it comes to an immediate dead stop relative to that Earth, starts and stops a few times at various speeds (and not the same ones in every dimension), makes a partial orbit around that Earth, and slowly accelerates to something other than normal cruising speed (to various degrees), on a course for the Mars of that timeline.

March 6: Advanced Idea Mechanics founded, in Dp-USA. The Frank family is among the more than a hundred Jews smuggled out of Amsterdam to the UK on this date, by the newly-reformed 'Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' (Special Operations Executive). Young Anne is rather startled to learn that there are many millions of people on another planet who know her through a diary she hasn't even been given, yet. Speculation in the press that tight-beam masers are used to supply the Dp-Earth Allies with intelligence in a way the Germans cannot intercept are refuted when it's pointed out that at a range of about 26 light-seconds, the beam would be too wide to remain unnoticed (which is not necessarily true).

March 8: First confirmed Drop-Bear attack, in Inp-Australia. In Dp-Sunnydale, California, having been tipped off by observers on Inp-Earth who were also BtVS fans, the FBI, assisted by Dr. Fate, arrests Mayor Richard Wilkins II (who as it turns out, is also Mayor Richard Wilkins I), for electoral fraud, negligence in office, and general corruption, among other things.

March 9: Inp-USA launches its first interplanetary fire mission, a retaliatory strike againse Nazi Germany. ETA of the missile is June 13. PLACEHOLDER (Black Lantern Ring toys vanishing; reactions; government has lots of other things to worry about, intelligence & military services concerned but don't admit it, to avoid public panic over what may be only a super-prank)

March 13: The Martian scout in the Infopunk timeline reaches Inp-Mars, and begins its survey of the planet.

March 14: The scout in the Earth Five/Fantasy timeline returns, and begins what appears to be an orbital survey of Fa-Earth.

March 15: In the Vatican City of Earth Prime, Pope Innocent XIV takes office. His choice of papal name comes from his desire to 'restore innocence' to the Church; among other things, it is his intention to seek the resignation and, where possible and necessary, prosecution of those in the Church who have 'deeply betrayed the trust of those in their care'. This strong stance is said to be of great surprise even to some of those who elected him, and to popes on the other Earths who become aware of it.

March 16: The scout surveying Earth Five appears to have finished its work, and returns to the Earth Two system. As before, it comes to a dead stop upon crossing the portal, then zooms off to Mars Two, at its normal cruising speed. The scout surveying Mars One breaks orbit, and begins its return to Earth One.

March 17: A fairly small particle spray (though larger than the house and dragon produced) is detected in Earth Prime orbit, on the vector from Dp-Earth. The operational detection stations narrow down the location fast enough that the satellites are able to focus in time to see an older man in a labcoat and a suit that was out-dated even in 1941, silently screaming and struggling as he suffocates in the vacuum of space. His remains are carefully monitored, as military and intelligence personnel begin making new plans, and in a few cases, having a bit of a panic (as they have no way to know that the three light-second 'barrier/gate' is as close as teleportation can get you). DARPA is ordered to begin serious work on teleportation, as are the R&D services of other governments; many Trekkers, Gaters, and Schlockers do likewise, with much tinier budgets. It is made more dificult due to the paradigms they are working with, which include the belief that matter transmission involved breaking up that matter into it's component particles (whether molecules, atoms, or even smaller particles), and reassembling them at the destination. This tends to result in test objects being dissociated into said particles, or at best, being somewhat... rearranged. Unfortunately, the DARPA scientists assigned to Project November are mostly using the same paradigm.

March 19: The International Astronomical Union gathers online for the first of a series of emergency meetings, intended to replace the current definition of a planet, due to 'strong reactions to the current designation of Pluto, particularly given that an exception was made for Neptune.' Rumour has it that many members of the IAU were personally visited by the Roman goddess Proserpina (Persepone, in Greek), to inform them that her husband Pluto, god of the dead, is not a dwarf by any measure, nor is he minor, and that they ought to remove such insults from their way of naming things in the Heavens, before he chooses to take notice, and smites them in great wrath.

March 21: On Dp-Earth, James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes, a few days after his 17th birthday, applies to join the Army - which is very difficult, due to his youthful appearance. He is eventually recruited by the Military Intelligence Division, where his mastery of linguistics and disguise are greatly appreciated. Also on Dp-Earth, American businessman Andrew Ryan first has the glimmer of an idea that might become the under-sea city of Rapture. On Earth Prime, a rampage by an apparent 'Red Lantern' ends when a cop with a Sinestro Corps ring cuts off the finger that the perpetrator's ring is on. This results in the Red Lantern's death, as the ring had already rendered his heart unusable. Paramount Pictures and CBS make substantial donations to the IAU. In the UK, Scotland's devolved Government announces that a referendum on Scottish independence will be held on 18 September, 2014. Reactions off-planet are decidedly mixed, although the governments of Dp-Germany and the USSR come out strongly in favor of it, and of similar movements in Dp- and Stp-Scotland. Alex Salmond's reaction to this 'support' is... not printable.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 05-23-2013, 09:58 PM   #43
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March 24: The Stp-Earth Papal expedition arrives in orbit of Clockpunk Earth. After a few hours of checks, the astronef Sanctus Christopherus enters the atmosphere, splashing down around half past one in the afternoon, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Italia, just a bit west of (and easily visible from) the port of Ostia (which is in rather better shape than one might have expected from OTL history). In the Dp-UK, the seven greatest mystery guilds of the British Isles agree that while they dislike or despise each other, the Nazis are just that much more offensive, for various reasons. The Grand Masters of the seven styles (though not all of them use the same term for 'highest-ranking member') make an appointment to see King George, to renew the guilds' long-lapsed oaths to the Crown, and offer their services in the War, and in dragging the other mystery guilds into it. The Martian scout in the Earth One timeline reaches Earth One, and begins a survey, ignoring all attempts at communication.

March 26: The Martian scout in the Steampunk timeline returns to Stp-Earth, and begins a survey. Attempts to communicate with it are unsuccessful. On Inp-Earth, the result of the IAU meetings began on March 19 is published online: a new system, based loosely on that published in Star Trek: Star Charts (they seem to have been in a great hurry), though several letters are left unused for future expansion, or have slightly different definitions. Under the new system, Sol has eleven planets, counting Pluto. The Martian scout ends its survey of Earth One, PLACEHOLDER

March 28: The Martian scout in the Steampunk timeline finishes its survey, and returns to the Earth Two universe.

New Material:

March 30: A number of old, famous people on Earth One have been reporting improved health and 'feeling younger' since the first Dp-Earth probe arrived. Also, some older or better-known actors and actresses seem to be gaining powers consistent with their more famous roles (though greatly toned down, in the more powerful cases). This is demonstrated quite strongly when a Neo-Nazi attempts to assassinate Sir Christopher Lee, and is rendered unconscious by bolts of force lightning. Interestingly, despite the use of 'The Dark Side', his personality seems unchanged. Even Jedi and other psychics feel that he's still very much himself, not Dooku, nor Saruman, nor Dracula. Lee, Sir Ian McKellen, and Ian McDiarmid are officially hired by UNIT for part-time research work.

April 1: In Infopunk Britain, a newpaper called The Sun reports the crowning of a new King o' the Cats, witnessed by a reporter for The Sun, Queen Elizabeth II, and Ambassador Brigith mírchArthur ('mírch' means 'daughter of'; it seems to have been 'merch' in Old Welsh, but she's from about 300 years too early for Old Welsh to exist). Also in The Sun, a young couple reports having been chased out of a graveyard by a weeping angel statue, though what they were doing in a graveyard at night is left to the readers' imaginations. In orbit of Clp-Earth, the last Martian scout begins it's survey of the planet, starting with the debris ring, from which it takes a few small samples.

April 3: A civilian-owned, refurbished, and modified F-104 Starfighter is launched from Japan. The highly unusual design includes a crude fusion impulse engine, using a pair of enhanced polywells for power, and somewhat based on a partially lithium-fueled engine that NASA is working on. This is not the only innovation on it, which is proven when the old fighter leaves the atmosphere, makes three orbits of the Earth, and re-enters the atmosphere (protected by an endothermic force field, which took longer to make than any other component of the spaceplane, being a new creation, rather than modified and enhanced off-the-shelf technology), requesting landing clearance at Vandenberg Space Force Base (which is eagerly granted). Step-by-step instructions for the upgrades are made available online, in Japanese and fairly understandable 'Engrish'. The pilot, Kurita Omiko, applies for and recieves a job at Lockheed-Martin, as do some of her team. The rest, unskilled in Engrish, much less English, are hired by the Japanese equivalent of DARPA. The most flight-worthy (which in this context mainly means 'the airframe can still take the load') of the retired F-104s under US government control are ordered transferred to DARPA and LockMart for testing and possible upgrade (start with what already worked, before trying it on other vehicles). Other governments in possession of F-104s begin to do likewise (as do some that have other fighters, with varying degrees of success).

April 4: The Martian scout at Clp-Earth appears to have finished its work, for it returns home. On Stp-Earth, Congressman Jesse Woodson James (D-Mo.) files suit against various Inp- and Dp-Earth filmmakers, authors, and publishing houses, for defamation of character.

April 5: At Dartmouth College, on Inp-Earth, Dr. Paul Vincent says "Gee, that's funny," and vanishes, along with his lab bench, and the equipment thereon. A particle spray is detected, centred on that location, but is markedly different from those of arriving spacecraft, seeming somewhat 'inverted'. Also on Inp-Earth, all bearers of the surname 'Spock' (an old and respected English family, sometimes found in the colonies) have developed Vulcanoid characteristics by this date. In many cases, this is limited to pointed ears, upswept eybrows, and an increased ability to control the expression of emotion (though 'ability' is not the same as 'desire, or 'necessity'), but quite a few also report increased strength, touch telepathy, and so forth - none of them have hearts where their livers should be, though. NYC's 'vigilante problem' makes the international news, when the Russian ambassador is saved from an assassination attempt by a minor Chechen faction by a 'Batgirl' (Steph Brown version, w/ gas mask) and a 'Spider-Man' (Miles Morales costume, but an adult). The superheroes could not be reached for comment. General William L. Shelton, USSF Chief of Staff, breaks ground for the United States Space Force Academy campus, by San Francisco Bay.

April 7?: PLACEHOLDER (Time-Warner/DC, scared of Nekron, worried about lack of visible government response, founds GL- and JL-related NGOs - mostly SAR and other disaster relief, but also private investigation and bonded security, with required classes for any branch)

<probably a different day> A second attempt is made on the Russian ambassador's life (well, the life of his body-double), this time by what appears to be a shapeshifting clay-golem, which later admits to being 'in it for the money', and a guy in a Rhino suit. PLACEHOLDER <Batman, Daredevil, Spider-Men, Lanterns?>

April 10: As a publicity stunt on Infopunk Earth, Robert Downey, Jr. and Troy Hurtubise (and several less well-known, very well-paid, and very nerdy engineers, mostly off-screen) build a suit of working Mark I Iron Man armour, in a cave, with a box of scraps (well, more of a large crate of carefully selected scraps, and a few more crates of tools). The armour is capable of keeping the operator fairly comfortable in the Nevada desert for twenty-four hours of operation (though Downey is only in the suit for about three hours of filming, before handing it over to an Army Ranger for the full twenty-four), before needing replacement of food and water stocks, and is eventually shown to be able to work for a week (much to the shock of the Ranger testing it, and other Army personnel) without needing any maintenance that the operator cannot provide in the field, mainly thanks to the multi-mini-polywell 'Arc' reactor in the chestplate (and redundant mini-polywells elswhere). It cannot fly, and is technically unarmed, but the enhanced strength is close to peak human limits, though with greater endurance, the speed is about equal to what an Army Ranger could make in the same terrain (though he'd make less noise without it), and the armour plating is highly resistant to bullets. The engineers are immediately hired by DARPA, to work on the next model of the suit.
__________________
Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 05-23-2013, 09:58 PM   #44
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I still really hate the character limit.



April 11: Disney/Marvel announces plans to create Avengers and X-Men Academies. Not to be outdone, DC announces their intention to creat a few Titans Academies. The stated purpose of these schools is to educate the children in the safe, ethical, and legal use of their powers, keep the kids in school until they're eighteen, and more importantly, keep them from going out and getting themselves and other people killed (or more cynically, to keep them from ending up dead on the news, in costumes from the comics those companies publish). Of course, telling the kids that they're going to have to wait years before they can go out and 'be superheroes' doesn't exactly endear the idea to them, regardless of how the parents feel. Near Cape Canaveral, FL, President Obama breaks ground for the Space University. On Stp-Earth, the first section of the Russian Empire's heavy astronef is launched to the space station Pyotr Velikiy. It will arrive at the station on April 14th.

April 13: On Inp-Earth, Ed Greenwood becomes a Chosen of Mystra (and Mystryl, and Midnight, but all three treated as one goddess) around this date. A small number of other Forgotten Realms fans also become Chosen by her, but only Greenwood is Chosen by all three Aspects. None of them are more than a small fraction as powerful as the Chosen in the books, of course. US President Obama orders all surviving OV-100 class Space Shuttles (OV-101 Enterprise, OV-103 Discovery, OV-104 Atlantis, and OV-105 Endeavour) returned to active duty, and flown to Vandenberg and other suitable locations, for refitting. While technically part of NASA and the USSF's Space Exploration Command (a.k.a. Star Fleet Command, among other nicknames), for the duration of the war, the OV-100 class (and the subsequent OV-200 class, to be designed from lessons learned from the upgraded OV-100s) will be on temporary assignment to the USSF Space Assault Command, or SAC. To help pay for the retrofits, special 'Shuttle Bonds' are issued by the government. More general war bonds are prediced, and a number of advertising companies are already preparing commercials for them; some comic and magazine companies have already dusted off the ones they used in the 1940s, with or without updates. USSF PR personnel begin reviewing the records of USSF officers and other ranks with names similar to those of Star Trek characters (whether their superiors will listen to their advice on this, or not).

April 14: One of Infopunk-Earth's nascent mages begins serious work on codifying the rough equivalent of the Transmutation School in D&D parlance. Tellingly, some of his "talismans of power" (reusable material components) include his lucky dice in a small leatherette dice bag, and a small purple unicorn figurine.

April 17: On Dp-Earth, 12-year-old genius Alexander 'Lex' Luthor creates an advanced radio-computer, capable of easily accessing the internet of Infopunk Earth. A remote terminal for the device is given to his father, the criminal mad scientist Dr. Alexei Luthor, as a birthday present. On Inp-Earth, an early failure in Project November's teleportation experiments is adapted into a potentially long-ranged disintegration ray.

April 19: The astronef Myrmidon, carrying the embassy from Stp-Britain, arrives in Earth Prime orbit. After circling the planet twice, she enters the atmosphere, and glides down for a landing at London Heathrow Airport, chosen for the length of its runways. In Inp-Germany, Heinkel Flugzeugwerke is revived by a group of investors, including certain empowered relatives of Ernst Heinkel. Their medium-to-long-term plan is to manufacture the Space Jet vessels from the Perry Rhodan series.

April 21: On Dp-Earth and Inp-Earth, respectively, Robert A. Heinlein and J. Michael Straczynski announce that they are collaborating on a movie serial script, tentatively named Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy. Casting has barely begun, but both James Doohan and DeForest Kelley are already under contract as stars, and Gene Roddenberry has expressed interest in this adaptation of his late counterpart's work. Many visual effects will be done by computer on Inp-Earth, and transferred to Dp-Earth by the power of radio (Dp-Earth TVs are getting a lot better, thanks to information for Inp-Earth).

April 23: Lex Luthor joins several Inp-Earth internet forums (including this one, having stumbled across it on a Google-walk), and his impressionable young mind is somewhat warped by the experience.

April 27: Starship Enterprises, Ltd. is founded in California, by CBS, Paramount, and a large group of Star Trek fanclubs, for the purpose of manufacturing enhanced (enchanted) technology on a Star Trek theme. On Stp-Earth, US President Phelps breaks ground at Cape Canaveral for the William Cranch Bond Astronef Field (might need a better name).

April 29: Lex Luthor discovers the TV Tropes entry called Cut Lex Luthor A Check, and is deeply inspired, despite his father's insistence that the idea completely misses the point of his villainy.

April 30: The elder Luthor discovers the Evil Overlord List... and promptly discards it as the meaningless prattle of small-minded fools, like anything else that points out what he's doing wrong. The younger Lex holds a different opinion. On Earth Prime, Hanley Page Ltd. recieves permission to attempt a Starfighter refit on two of the surviving Victors.

May 4: On Inp-Earth, Disney/Lucasfilm founds a group of holding corporations, and some subsidiaries thereof: Republic Space Services (containing Corellian Engineering Corporation, Incom, SoroSuub, et cetra), Republic Automation (Cybot Galactica, Indudstrial Automaton, etc.), Republic Defense Industries (BlasTech, Taim & Bak, etc.), and Republic General Products (Fabritech, Novaldex, etc.), as well as endorsing the Jedi Church's attempts to become an official NGO. Star Wars fanclubs are informed of this in advance, allowing rapid recruitment of empowered ('Force-sensitive', according to corporate documents) engineers and other workers (in a few cases, whole fanclubs are recruited together, into the same subsidiary). The point seems to be a mix of 'good PR' (or the hope that such will develop), 'going with the flow,' and 'making a profit off of existing copyrights, since Star Wars fans were most likely going to make these things, anyway' (similar reasoning inspired the creation of Starship Enterprises, above).

May 16: The 'Valentine's Gift' (see February 14) arrives at Dp-Earth orbit, then makes a landing at a custom-built runway, a bit east of Blackpool. In Inp-China, a mysterious white ooze leaks from the middle of a street in Nanjing, China.

May 23: On Inp-Earth, DARPA begins 'back-burner' R&D for a hypothetical prototype battleplate. Conservative estimates project construction to begin before the end of the 21st century... on the Dp-Earth calender.

PLACEHOLDER

August 5: Childers-Robertson-Smythe study "On the Methodology of Thaumatological Didactics: A study of the art of magic leading to its evanescence into a science" is pre-published on various 'open access' websites (Childers is a parapsychologist and occasional hoaxbuster, Robertson is a psychology professor and empowered Negima fan, and Smythe is a more normal psychologist). An average of 800 hours of self study (when that works at all - more than half gave up partway through, and some had not developed powers by the time the study ended), 400 hours of classroom training, or 200 hours of intensive training with one teacher and one student, generally allow an unempowered person to develop the basic spellcasting power that many nerds and other outsiders gained instantly during the Probe Event. Those who still believed that the powers were a hoax, or could not bring themselves to believe it was possible for them to develop powers, uniformly failed to develop any.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

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-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 05-23-2013, 10:20 PM   #45
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Too much win.

Can't breathe!


*thud*
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Old 05-24-2013, 08:53 PM   #46
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I'll probably post another vignette, pretty soon. A guy at work who's very much into Japanese History had some ideas about how Imperial Japan on Dp-Earth might react to the rather... strident advice received from private Japanese citizens about how to conduct its foreign and military policy.

Also, what happens on Inp-Earth, when American citizens start to see speeches by unapologetic Dp-Earth Dixiecrats in response to the upsurge in Civil Rights activism, triggered by the knowledge of Barack Obama's presidency. Does southern conservatism suffer a brutal backlash? How do southerners react to some of the speeches by a young Strom Thurmond?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgH7WgtIU2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbU0lXeJbi4


Additionally, as Prince Charon continues his timeline, what happens when the packages dispatched by the Negro Commander-in-Chief of Inp-Earth's United States military arrive in Germany, and the Dixiecrats (and everybody else) start to grasp exactly why the United States is called the Inp-Earth's only remaining superpower.

Moreover, how does the Obama administration respond to requests by ambassadors from the other worlds for access to the history section of the Library of Congress?

Finally, the U.S. government on Inp-Earth knows something the rest of the Earth's do not. The Inp-Earth's mastery of information technology means the war on Dp-Earth will very likely end ahead of schedule, because the ability of the Inp-supporters means the Allies could very well turn the Axis powers into road-kill.

The United States National Security Agency on Inp-Earth will crack every code, every cypher, thought up by the Axis powers, within a day. The incredible resolution of Inp-Earth's optical technology means that, not only will the Allies have a steady feed of decrypted Axis radio traffic, they'll have constant reports of Axis troop movements that are only a few minutes behind real time.

The assistance of its Inp-Earth supporters will allow the Allied commanders to get inside the Axis decision-loop, and stay there until they render the Axis command-and-control structure utterly useless -- harmful, in fact, because the NSA, from across the solar system, will be able to tell the Allies how to hijack Axis radio communications at a time when it will do maximum possible damage.

Nobody on any of the other earths can possibly grasp the advantages offered by an information infrastructure of the magnitude enjoyed by Inp-Earth. The SIS and the guys at Bletchley Park may get enough of an inkling to become truly terrified of the capacity for masterful warfare at the command of NATO and Israel. I'd imagine Hitler and Tojo will struggle even more to understand the implications.

(But, does the Thule Society survive, and become a Fascistic terrorist organization capable surreal techno-magical violence? Does the rapid destruction of NAZI Germany trigger deep-seated resentment that results in covert assistance that makes HYDRA stronger than it otherwise would have been? And, if Japan doesn't get wiped out, do they maintain an East Asian empire based on the sort of unapologetic tyranny and oppression they've already displayed in Nanking?)

There are also some more prosaic concerns. Polio is still an active disease in much of Dp-Earth, while Stp-Earth and especially Cp-Earth (and probably Fa-Earth) continue to suffer epidemics of smallpox! I'd imagine the CDC on Inp-Earth will subject the ambassadors from those worlds to some pretty intensive medical examinations, before they let them anywhere near a civilian population.
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Old 05-25-2013, 05:08 AM   #47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
I'll probably post another vignette, pretty soon. A guy at work who's very much into Japanese History had some ideas about how Imperial Japan on Dp-Earth might react to the rather... strident advice received from private Japanese citizens about how to conduct its foreign and military policy.
Very badly, I suspect. OTOH, they're also getting much more diplomatically worded advice from the Inp-Japanese government, but it's of a less-than-palatable, 'let sleeping giants lie' variety (the fact that they're also getting scary warnings from some of their seers and priests is probably a bigger concern).

Of course, once they see what an atomic bomb can do, they may develop a different opinion, but that's for later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
Also, what happens on Inp-Earth, when American citizens start to see speeches by unapologetic Dp-Earth Dixiecrats in response to the upsurge in Civil Rights activism, triggered by the knowledge of Barack Obama's presidency. Does southern conservatism suffer a brutal backlash? How do southerners react to some of the speeches by a young Strom Thurmond?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgH7WgtIU2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbU0lXeJbi4
Not happily. Probably rather loudly, in a lot of cases.
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Additionally, as Prince Charon continues his timeline, what happens when the packages dispatched by the Negro Commander-in-Chief of Inp-Earth's United States military arrive in Germany, and the Dixiecrats (and everybody else) start to grasp exactly why the United States is called the Inp-Earth's only remaining superpower.
One of the issues that worries Inp-Earth political thinkers is the possibility that the people of Dp-Earth may decide that we're a bigger threat to their way of life than the Nazis.
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Moreover, how does the Obama administration respond to requests by ambassadors from the other worlds for access to the history section of the Library of Congress?
Decidedly mixed.
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Finally, the U.S. government on Inp-Earth knows something the rest of the Earth's do not. The Inp-Earth's mastery of information technology means the war on Dp-Earth will very likely end ahead of schedule, because the ability of the Inp-supporters means the Allies could very well turn the Axis powers into road-kill.
Oh, yes, certainly.
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The United States National Security Agency on Inp-Earth will crack every code, every cypher, thought up by the Axis powers, within a day. The incredible resolution of Inp-Earth's optical technology means that, not only will the Allies have a steady feed of decrypted Axis radio traffic, they'll have constant reports of Axis troop movements that are only a few minutes behind real time.
Unless the troops only move when that part of the world is facing away from Inp-Earth (though hiding when the world turns would be a bitch).
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The assistance of its Inp-Earth supporters will allow the Allied commanders to get inside the Axis decision-loop, and stay there until they render the Axis command-and-control structure utterly useless -- harmful, in fact, because the NSA, from across the solar system, will be able to tell the Allies how to hijack Axis radio communications at a time when it will do maximum possible damage.
True. OTOH, there are Axis sympathizers on Inp-Earth, they're just more limited in what they can do.
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Nobody on any of the other earths can possibly grasp the advantages offered by an information infrastructure of the magnitude enjoyed by Inp-Earth. The SIS and the guys at Bletchley Park may get enough of an inkling to become truly terrified of the capacity for masterful warfare at the command of NATO and Israel. I'd imagine Hitler and Tojo will struggle even more to understand the implications.
Oh yes. Mind you, there's no assurance that either will live to see the end of the war.
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(But, does the Thule Society survive, and become a Fascistic terrorist organization capable surreal techno-magical violence?
Almost certainly, though the size of the post-war organization is undetermined (probably quite small, at least at first).
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Does the rapid destruction of NAZI Germany trigger deep-seated resentment that results in covert assistance that makes HYDRA stronger than it otherwise would have been?
Possibly.
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And, if Japan doesn't get wiped out, do they maintain an East Asian empire based on the sort of unapologetic tyranny and oppression they've already displayed in Nanking?)
No, for reasons that will be seen later. On a potentially-related note, do you know what the phrase 'You may use the garden' means, in the context of a meeting with an Emperor or Shogun?
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There are also some more prosaic concerns. Polio is still an active disease in much of Dp-Earth, while Stp-Earth and especially Cp-Earth (and probably Fa-Earth) continue to suffer epidemics of smallpox! I'd imagine the CDC on Inp-Earth will subject the ambassadors from those worlds to some pretty intensive medical examinations, before they let them anywhere near a civilian population.
Oh, yes. Also vaccinations for illnesses that aren't so bad for us, but could be fatal for those on other Earths. It's a good thing that the ambassadors from Fa-Earth are all immaterial, no?
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Old 05-25-2013, 11:47 AM   #48
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Very badly, I suspect. OTOH, they're also getting much more diplomatically worded advice from the Inp-Japanese government, but it's of a less-than-palatable, 'let sleeping giants lie' variety (the fact that they're also getting scary warnings from some of their seers and priests is probably a bigger concern).
I look forward to seeing what they finally do.

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(SNIP)

One of the issues that worries Inp-Earth political thinkers is the possibility that the people of Dp-Earth may decide that we're a bigger threat to their way of life than the Nazis.
I jumped on that notion, right away, and to me that's one of the more fascinating aspects of this entire setting.

The periods in history you picked for Dp-Earth and Stp-Earth feature attitudes that many people in the world -- and very many people in the United States -- will find very upsetting. Some of those reasons for upset would be rather surprising.

What happens when people who want to use the word "racist" to describe the NAACP are confronted with the vast numbers of Dp-Earth Southerners who simply cannot accept the notion of racial equality? When they see an active and popular Klan, witness the creation of "White Defense Councils" and watch actual lynchings take place? What happens when people who romanticize the Civil War start to hear the opinions of those from Stp-Earth who genuinely believe blacks are the "Children of Ham" and ordained by God for lives of service to their betters, and thus unworthy of equality?

I see a pretty serious outbreak of psychological difficulties, as the liberals on Inp-Earth point to the attitudes of Dp-Earth and Stp-Earth and say, "This is what the words really mean, and these are the attitudes conservatives truly possess."

(Now, that won't be true about the attitudes, most of the time, but the culture war in the Inp-United States will get even more intense. The slow appearance of magic will not help, either, when it starts to result in the manifestations of warped Aryan ideal physiology amongst white supremacists, and pseudo-Egyptian, Arabian-Nights-style, or Voudou abilities amongst black separatists. The Inp-Earth's Robert S. Mueller III, director of the FBI, will start his own X-Files.)

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(SNIP)

Unless the troops only move when that part of the world is facing away from Inp-Earth (though hiding when the world turns would be a bitch).
Logistically, that's crippling. The visibility of the troop movements, combined with the penetration of Axis communications, makes the Axis position untenable. Not that they'll want to accept that, of course, until British, French and American boots march through the radioactive dust of Berlin.


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(SNIP)

Almost certainly, though the size of the post-war organization is undetermined (probably quite small, at least at first).
I think the notion of HYDRA as the greatest terrorist threat in all five worlds has incredible dramatic appeal, both from the standpoint of story-telling, and as an RPG campaign seed. What happens if they decide to set up shop in, say, Cp-South Africa? Could the mineral wealth, there, become the basis of HYDRA's funding, and the political control become the seed of a Draka-style hegemony? :)

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(SNIP)

No, for reasons that will be seen later. On a potentially-related note, do you know what the phrase 'You may use the garden' means, in the context of a meeting with an Emperor or Shogun?

(SNIP)
No, actually, and my usually-serviceable Google-fu isn't helping.

I do know that Japanese gardens are considered havens of quiet reflection, away from the hurly-burly of the external world. So, is it a great honor to be invited into such a private place of repose, or is it a politely Japanese way to say that someone who has lost political power no longer need concern himself with the outside world?
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Old 05-26-2013, 06:24 AM   #49
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I think the notion of HYDRA as the greatest terrorist threat in all five worlds has incredible dramatic appeal, both from the standpoint of story-telling, and as an RPG campaign seed. What happens if they decide to set up shop in, say, Cp-South Africa? Could the mineral wealth, there, become the basis of HYDRA's funding, and the political control become the seed of a Draka-style hegemony? :)
Interesting possibility, given that there's nothing on Clp-Earth that could detect them befor they enter the atmosphere. They'd have to disguise who they were, of course, as Israel has telescopes, as well.
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No, actually, and my usually-serviceable Google-fu isn't helping.

I do know that Japanese gardens are considered havens of quiet reflection, away from the hurly-burly of the external world. So, is it a great honor to be invited into such a private place of repose, or is it a politely Japanese way to say that someone who has lost political power no longer need concern himself with the outside world?
The latter is pretty close, in a way. I was probably too coy about it, omitting the full phrase: 'You have disappointed me. You may use the garden.'

Sepukku is a ceremony that should be performed in contemplative surroundings. One is even expected to write a poem, first. Of course, some are too arrogant or cowardly to follow such a 'suggestion'. That's why Emperors have ninja.

On another note, some links that may be of interest to some, perhaps many, reading this:

For those interested in the food of the period, at least in regard to Britain and some connected regions, the BBC has a fairly useful and entertaining programme on the subject, called The Supersizers... (first series is 'Go...', second series is 'Eat...', pilot is 'Edwardian Supersize Me'). It's available on YouTube, but I'm only linking to part one of each episode, as the rest should be easy to find from there:

For Dieselpunk Britain, see The Supersizers Go... Wartime.

For Steampunk Britain, see The Supersizers Go... Victorian.

For Clockpunk Britain, see The Supersizers Go... Elizabethan.

For Fantasy Britannia (and Armorica and Aegyptus, but mainly Italia), see The Supersizers Eat... Ancient Rome, even if that one's set a few centuries early (also, I think they might have made a mistake with the garum, as that's supposed to take months to get 'good', and I'm not sure they prepared it that long; they may be using a different definition of 'pumpkin' than we're used to, as well).
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Old 05-26-2013, 10:35 AM   #50
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Okay, I found references to the Ice Warriors and the Mysterons, but what are the "Changing Martians"? Are those the Khaldanes and Rykors from Burroughs?
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