New Reality Seeds

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

It's likely that in such a situation, the states would surrender individually (as the Confederacy gave it's compnents a lot of leeway), with the states with the least fighting willing to keep fighting longest. Sure, it's more inconvenient than the whole South surrendering at once, but it would "officially" end the war.

Mind you, the ones who hold out longest - because they had the least damage - would probably be the main source of Fire-Eater Terrorists and their funding and training.

[PTTG]

Around 1987, a moderately contagious disease spreads around the planet via air travel.

Victims lose 2-4 IQ, gain Bad Temper and Bestial, and oddly enough have increased resistance to blood loss and injury. This is largely due to dramatically slowed brain metabolism. It is similar to Tuberculosis in infectiousness.

Unlike many other worldlines with similar phenomenon, society treats the disease as a health tragedy. Victims are treated humanely and usually put into safe homes for the remainder of their natural lives.

In the first months, there was some panic and hysteria, but that faded to it just being a fact of life. By 1996, treatments were developed allowing for mostly symptom-free life, although those with existing symptoms are out of luck.

It's now 2002, and society is still trying to deal with the chaos.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Around 1987, a moderately contagious disease spreads around the planet via air travel.

Victims lose 2-4 IQ, gain Bad Temper and Bestial, and oddly enough have increased resistance to blood loss and injury. This is largely due to dramatically slowed brain metabolism. It is similar to Tuberculosis in infectiousness.

Unlike many other worldlines with similar phenomenon, society treats the disease as a health tragedy. Victims are treated humanely and usually put into safe homes for the remainder of their natural lives.

In the first months, there was some panic and hysteria, but that faded to it just being a fact of life. By 1996, treatments were developed allowing for mostly symptom-free life, although those with existing symptoms are out of luck.

It's now 2002, and society is still trying to deal with the chaos.

This could be a world where the USA has Canadian-style national health care but we've only just begun to get the internet.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The USA is still racked by terrorism in the year 1895.

I don't think that works without much greater changes than you could pull of by killing a few leaders. Terrorism on any substantial scale really requires at least passive agreement of a lot of the local population, if not active support. There's a reason why you can have endemic IRA terrorism in Northern Ireland and yet strikes even as close as London are rare and failure prone, or that ETA rarely operates far outside the Basque Country, or that despite the much better attention payoff, Al Qaida has mounted thousands of operations in Iraq these last decades and like 5 in the US.

The assassinations are side issues here, if there were enough people willing to do this, and enough popular support for their cause to pull it off, it wouldn't *matter* if the CSA government surrendered or not, these guys aren't going to give up just because some lily-livered traitors tell them to.

Edit: For the Infinite Worlds setting it also has one of those issues that come up occasionally in that people forget that isn't really a *time travel* setting. If the change point is 31 years ago, well OK it's not clearly stated how long Centrum has had crossworld travel, so I suppose it's *possible* they were running some sort of experiment, but Infinity has only known about them for a decade. And if they've been meddling in stuff for more than 30 years, they really should have a handle on things like the language issue by now.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by malloyd

I don't think that works without much greater changes than you could pull of by killing a few leaders. Terrorism on any substantial scale really requires at least passive agreement of a lot of the local population, if not active support. There's a reason why you can have endemic IRA terrorism in Northern Ireland and yet strikes even as close as London are rare and failure prone, or that ETA rarely operates far outside the Basque Country, or that despite the much better attention payoff, Al Qaida has mounted thousands of operations in Iraq these last decades and like 5 in the US.

The assassinations are side issues here, if there were enough people willing to do this, and enough popular support for their cause to pull it off, it wouldn't *matter* if the CSA government surrendered or not, these guys aren't going to give up just because some lily-livered traitors tell them to.

Edit: For the Infinite Worlds setting it also has one of those issues that come up occasionally in that people forget that isn't really a *time travel* setting. If the change point is 31 years ago, well OK it's not clearly stated how long Centrum has had crossworld travel, so I suppose it's *possible* they were running some sort of experiment, but Infinity has only known about them for a decade. And if they've been meddling in stuff for more than 30 years, they really should have a handle on things like the language issue by now.

The Southern Fire-Eaters were always a problem and the simple fact that the Civil War ended relatively cleanly was a narrow thing. By the way, the America of the 1890s was racked with terrorism. Most of it was directed by White Supremacists against Black Folks and Native Americans, also some at the labor movement. The main difference in my setting is that a much wider field of targets and a wider area of the nation attacked.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

By the way, the America of the 1890s was racked with terrorism. Most of it was directed by White Supremacists against Black Folks and Native Americans, also some at the labor movement. The main difference in my setting is that a much wider field of targets and a wider area of the nation attacked.

Sure, and the labor movement ones were even symptoms of a relatively serious threat, both to the US and most other nations, even if fairly few of them actually fell to Communist revolutions. But note that both the socialist/communists and the black suppression (which actually I think was just starting up around then more than having been an ongoing thing) enjoyed that widespread public support. And they became issues around then as a consequence of the decade long global economic depression lasting until 1898 or so, not because of any lingering aftereffects of the Civil War.

And notice that neither of them were that terrible a threat to democracy. At least not from the *government* side, much as some of the right might have liked it to be, the risk of demogogues riding the popular wave of socialism into power was certainly real enough.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

This is a Myth Parallel or maybe a near Myth. This is a world highly similar to LotR but not the same. The Geography is similar, but not the same. Tolkien's Elvish languages can be used to talk to the local elves, but the lore and poetry will confuse them. There was a Dark Lord, his Ring into which he had put his soul was destroyed by a Halfling throwing it into a volcano, but not that much like the book.

Note: There was a lot more magic in this world. Humans, Dwarves, Halflings, and Orcs, use GURPS Magic. Elves and similar beings used Realm Magic. Now that the Dark Lord is dead, humans are able to learn magic far more easily without risk of being enslaved to the Dark Lord.

It is now 150 years after the destruction of the Ring. All of those who were connected with the events of that quest are either dead or have left this world. There are no more ships that can sail to that furthest West of the Elves.

Elves and Dwarves are fading in numbers. Their death rates are very low but their birth rates are far lower. Orcs are less than they were (use standard GURPS Orcs) although a few, the Ringblessed, are still born that are stronger and more cunning than normal (all stats at 12 for a minimum except PER 15) but they don't breed true. Halflings are slowly growing in numbers and human numbers are growing quickly. The Tech Level has gone from 3 to 4 printing is becoming common, roads are rapidly improving.

Dragons, Orcs, Trolls, and those Humans that Worshiped the Dark Lord as their god aren't happy. This new society has no place for them. Wizards with cannons were an especial shock to Dragons. Generally their last shock.

Meanwhile, Western humanity's growing numbers and wide distribution is beginning to cause the rule of the kings to break down. Many new settlements, especially in the Western Wilds, know little of the Kings and see officials more rarely than they see dragons or elves. These places are simply forming as small informal republics.

This Q4 world (30% Low Manna/65% Normal Manna/5% High Manna) is moving toward war. Homeline likes importing King's Foil and similar herbs from here and doesn't want the Cabal enslaving these people. Meanwhile, Midwinter Aton (a renegade Cabal faction) seeks to restore the Dark Lord and learn all his secrets. The Cabal is terrified of a Sauron equivalent (basically an evil archangel with extra powers) loose in the multiverse.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

This is a Myth Parallel or maybe a near Myth. This is a world highly similar to LotR but not the same. The Geography is similar, but not the same. Tolkien's Elvish languages can be used to talk to the local elves, but the lore and poetry will confuse them. There was a Dark Lord, his Ring into which he had put his soul was destroyed by a Halfling throwing it into a volcano, but not that much like the book.

What do we call this one? Tolkein-3?


I like it. The decline of the kings is a nice touch. Probably the result of wilderness traditionally ravaged by orcs being suddenly free to be settled. Middle earth has a LOT of wilderness.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by ericthered

What do we call this one? Tolkein-3?


I like it. The decline of the kings is a nice touch. Probably the result of wilderness traditionally ravaged by orcs being suddenly free to be settled. Middle earth has a LOT of wilderness.

You read me well. The people of Middle Earth needed their kings for defense and got little else from them. The economy was very underdeveloped and technology was retrograde. With technology and magic spreading and the common people well able to look after themselves the Kings are in long term trouble.

[PTTG]

Neptune worldlines are those that are completely ordinary, yet have very little dry land. Most Neptune worlds, including Neptune-1, have ordinary, albeit divergent, geology.

Neptune-1 is used as a crosstime fishing ground and multipurpose ocean. Often known as Ohio's Ocean.

Neptune-7 is topographically identical to Homeline, with sea levels raised 2000 feet, leaving a few chains above water. Sediment and erosion indicate that the sea level rose over a few centuries circa 5000 BCE, suggesting it may be "weird" somehow, but nothing is in evidence.

Neptune-9 is remarkably shallow and even, with few places more than a hundred meters deeper or shallower than the global sea level average of 500 meters. There's no volcanic activity.