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Old 09-04-2014, 04:03 PM   #471
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Originally Posted by combatmedic View Post
Jem-1

Current year 2010 AD.
Based on Pohl's Jem? I remember Freeps, Peeps and Oilies, and I remember I like it when I read it in high school, but thats about all I remember :)

Or with the hologram tech and 80s look are you recreating the world of Jem and the Holograms?
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Old 09-04-2014, 04:43 PM   #472
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Romanov-9:

Interesting world. A couple of issues:

Why is the US conflict restricted to the south? is that the only place martial law was declared? Why aren't the other states up in arms?
Was Wallace behind the military coup, or was it against him? what is congress doing now?
I assume the unrest in the US is due to immigration by Russian revolutionaries. could you connect those dots a little more firmly?
How in the blazes in Korea democratic in a world where two of the big three democracies (UK, France, and USA) aren't? and where it won't be democratic for another two centuries in our time line?
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Old 09-04-2014, 07:34 PM   #473
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Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
Romanov-9:

Interesting world. A couple of issues:

Why is the US conflict restricted to the south? is that the only place martial law was declared? Why aren't the other states up in arms?
Was Wallace behind the military coup, or was it against him? what is congress doing now?
I assume the unrest in the US is due to immigration by Russian revolutionaries. could you connect those dots a little more firmly?
How in the blazes in Korea democratic in a world where two of the big three democracies (UK, France, and USA) aren't? and where it won't be democratic for another two centuries in our time line?

KOREA


Korea was a constitutional monarchy in OTL, before the Japanese murdered Queen Min in 1910 and then annexed the country.

But I ought to clarify those notes.
''Becomes'' is a vague word. I'll add to it.
You can flip back to see the whole thing, but in essence:
Queen Min survives (in Russia)
Japanese invade and occupy, but with less success than in OTL
Russians offer limited support to Korean rebels but don't commit major forces, tensions rise between Russia and Japan
In WW2, Russians help liberate Korea. Monarchy restored there.
No Korean War, no North/South division

Things continue to develop and by the 1950s Korea is effectively a democratic state with a hereditary head of state and an elected legislature.
The monarch holds more power than in the present day UK or Japan. Think more like Liechtenstein.


USA:

The code for USA should read representative democracy/oligarchy. I'll fix that. Oligarchy is a subtype in GURPS Campaigns. There are regular elections, but the PPP always seems to win. It's become in effect a one party authoritarian democratic state, like Mexico was for a long time in OTL.

The political conflict isn't restricted to the South. In other parts of the country it takes on the form of civil unrest, protests, sporadic acts of armed resistance. But in the South it's an undeclared war, with armed factions shooting at one another and at gov't forces.
It might spread.

Martial law hasn't been declared in many other places, except during brief emergencies.

A sizable number of Americans approve of the government. They like that it is doing so much to help workers, small farmers, the poor, the elderly, the sick, and so on. It has poured a lot of money into education, infrastructure, healthcare, jobs training programs, and so on. With no Cold War (not yet, but the other powers are wary of the US and have begun making trouble for it), there's more butter to go around. Still plenty of guns, but a lot of those aimed inward, at ''UnAmerican" types.
Many newspapers, unions, and churches support the ruling party.

Note on the post-Wallace Cabinet/military deal
The Executive Branch came under the control of a cabal of minsters and officers. It wasn't an obvious, bloody-handed takeover with dead Congressmen littering the floor of the Capitol. Rumors flew in the papers, but things seemed to be working, and there was still a war to be won...

Now- Congress does what it does best: talk.
Select committees do hold a lot of power, but these remain under PPP control.
Lots of gerrymandering, lots of stuffing the ballot box, and lots of use of federal laws to stifle opposition.

Foreign radicals:

I haven't decided which ones would become most prominent, but many of the ex-Russian socialists and radicals integrated into American life. Many joined unions and political associations. They acted to undermine and destabilize the American political system, using slander, blackmail, incitement to riot, false ''news'' stories designed to stir up trouble, arson, racketeering, murder.
During the Depression they began to gain real political power through alliances with American left wing politicians ( including both naïve idealists and cynical opportunists).
The most intelligent and presentable of the Reds entered politics while the less intelligent and cruder types served as goons.





These people have since formed a strong base of support for the PPP.

Native born Americans make up the majority of PPP members and a good three quarters of the bosses/oligarchs. But a sizable minority had parents born in the Russian Empire.

Party Secretary Alinsky? :()
Maybe so.









FRANCE

The military coup is actually not all that strange. France is already on its fifth republic, in OTL. The Fourth Republic failed in 1958.
The Gaullist regime in this ATL uses republican forms. I call it a dictatorship in the code because that's what it really is.



Addendum-


The best time for subversives to gain that much power in the States might be the 1930s. The trick is to not do it the same way Reich 5 does.
I may tinker with the States.

Even with four decades of Red infiltrators working their evil on the country, it does seem like a lot more people would wake up and resist.
Maybe I should expand that? Full on civil war, with the epicenter being the South, but risings in the Midwest and the West as well?
I don't want the whole timeline entry to just be about how messed up the States are, though.


Russia could use a good deal more detail.
Perhaps, with the Tsar's son slain as an infant, Rasptuin never gains influence with the Empress (by healing/treating the boy). That seems logical.
But if he doesn't gain so much influence at court, what of him? He's too fun to just drop.
Russian political history without the two revolutions in 1917 gets hard to call, at least for me.
I have a better sense of the possible economic development ( impressive potential, if somebody gets the infrastructure built to connect far flung provinces).

Last edited by combatmedic; 09-05-2014 at 06:42 AM.
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Old 09-04-2014, 09:22 PM   #474
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Originally Posted by Drifter View Post
Based on Pohl's Jem? I remember Freeps, Peeps and Oilies, and I remember I like it when I read it in high school, but thats about all I remember :)

Or with the hologram tech and 80s look are you recreating the world of Jem and the Holograms?
Yep.

Truly, truly, truly outrageous.

:)

It's an "80s never ended, but just got more 80s" timeline, with a side helping of cyberprep.

Last edited by combatmedic; 09-04-2014 at 09:27 PM.
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Old 09-04-2014, 11:32 PM   #475
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Yep.

Truly, truly, truly outrageous.

:)

It's an "80s never ended, but just got more 80s" timeline, with a side helping of cyberprep.
Wow.

Now I'm trying to come up with a reason to have a talking dog and a van of meddling kids roaming the country, exposing cases of fraud. Sounds more like a Horror campaign though...
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Old 09-05-2014, 01:34 AM   #476
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Wazir
Current year:1077 A.D.
POD
927 A.D. Qarmatians pillage Baghdad and slay the Caliph
Current events:
 The Qarmatians are busy with the conquest of the Muslim world. Their armies employ advanced weapons.
 The Byzantines snatch back Anatolia and Syria, bringing them closer to war with Qarmatia.
 The Veiled Wazir of Kufa directs a cabal of alchemists and artificers, creating new elixirs and machines.
 Refugees fleeing east add to the Muslim communities in China and increase East—West trade and exchange of ideas.
 The Son of Heaven dispatches agents to learn how the Qar-Ma barbarians have obtained the new fire weapons.
 Infinity investigates Kufa and the Veiled Wazir, but thus far agents haven’t been very successful in getting close.

Great Powers:
 Qarmatia (theocracy CR 4, CR 5 for those not adhering to the state religion)
 Byzantine Empire (dictatorship CR 3)
 China (feudal (meritocratic) CR 4)

TL: 3 in most of the civilized world, with anachronisms radiating from the labs and workshops of Kufa.
SECRET- the Veiled Wazir is a deranged Maulesel Jumper with previous experience on Nostradamus. He stole a suitcase full of technical papers for bootstrapping low tech cultures and fled sideways in time, determined to create his very own Reich.

Last edited by combatmedic; 09-05-2014 at 05:32 AM.
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Old 09-05-2014, 05:58 AM   #477
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Celtic-3

In this world Grace O'Malley was blown off course by a powerful storm in 1550. She makes landfall in the area of what becomes New York City in most worlds. She likes the look of the land and decides to set up a base camp.

By 1560 Manannan (Grace named the base after an figure in Irish myth) is a thriving village. Friendly relations with the local tribes are maintained with tact, guile, and charm. Intermarriage is commonplace and welcomed.

The English find out about Manannan in 1590, which in this world sets up the famous meeting with Elizabeth in 1593.

Durring the 17th century large numbers of Irish people, especially Gealic speakers, leave Ireland for the new lands in the West by sailing for the port of Manannan. The Irish settle the Hudson valley and then spread down the Appalachians and spreading out through the great lakes. Widespread intermarriage with Native Americans occurs.

The local year is 1812. The Brittish want to reabsorb the USA or at least make them perminantly subordenent. The USA wants to expand Westward. The whole political set up is far more complecated. Many of the "Wild Irish" and "Indians" are citizens. Congress has a multiracial make-up. But the terms and structure of the government is under wild debate.

More later....
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Old 09-05-2014, 06:23 AM   #478
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Celtic-3

In this world Grace O'Malley was blown off course by a powerful storm in 1550. She makes landfall in the area of what becomes New York City in most worlds. She likes the look of the land and decides to set up a base camp.

By 1560 Manannan (Grace named the base after an figure in Irish myth) is a thriving village. Friendly relations with the local tribes are maintained with tact, guile, and charm. Intermarriage is commonplace and welcomed.

The English find out about Manannan in 1590, which in this up the famous meeting with Elizabeth in 1593.

Durring the 17th century large numbers of Irish people, especially Gealic speakers, leave Ireland for the new lands in the West by sailing for the port of Manannan. The Irish settle the Hudson valley and then spread down the Appalachians and spreading out through the great lakes. Widespread intermarriage with Native Americans occurs.

The local year is 1812. The Brittish want to reabsorb the USA or at least make them perminantly subordenent. The USA wants to expand Westward. The whole political set up is far more complecated. Many of the "Wild Irish" and "Indians" are citizens. Congress has a multiracial make-up. But the terms and structure of the government is under wild debate.

More later....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VqEtpOdhTE



I am curious about Colonial history.

What role do the Dutch play in to the history in what becomes New York in OTL? Cut out entirely? Present as traders and some settlers but not as rulers?


Did the Puritans and Pilgrims still settle in New England? If so, were they hostile to Irish?
That seems likely, as the Irish would be mainly Roman Catholics.

If Highland Scots settle in Georgia as in OTL, they may get on well with the Irish. They've got a common language, despite some drift.


The Irish seem likely to spread Catholicism to the Indians.
This may affect French interest in the Upper Midwest/Old Northwest.

Is Québec still under British rule, of have the Brits lost it (or parts of it) in the War of Independence?

Congress has a multiracial makeup-- which races? Gaels, Whites, Indians, Métis ?
Or are blacks part of this too?

Is slavery a big deal? Only in certain states?

I'm guessing it would still exist, given that none of the major factors related to its development have changed. But it's hard to say.

ABOUT EUROPE: What happens in France? Revolution? Something else?

Wild Guesses:
Indians (Indians belonging to tribes friendly to the States, that is) look like they will get a better deal in this alt USA.
The significant anti-Catholic feelings present in OTL might be enhanced, with many Protestant British-Americans fearing the Wild Irish and Red Indian Papists of the interior. On the other hand, the increased Catholic representation in politics should help shield the Irish and other Catholics from unfair treatment, at least in the areas where they are numerous and influential.
It looks as if your electorate is more diverse racially and religiously than in OTL. That may raise tensions, but it could also promote pluralism.

I like that you have set the date early in the new republic's history, 1812.
Can a war with Albion be far off?
Hmmm....













QUESTION ABOUT A TIMELINE I'M WORKING ON-


I'm not satisfied with Romanov. It has a great POD (in my not so humble opinion) and the early events make sense. But I think I lose the thread a bit in the 1930s.

I want to rework it.

Parts of it feel lazy or forced to me.

Key stuff:

Russia avoids the revolutions and goes on to become an economic powerhouse with the Romanovs still on the throne.

USA swings hard to the left, with foreign born Reds and anarchists involved in subversion.

The USA and Russia have soured on one another. North and South Japan...

France enters a phase of strongman rule; foreign policy aligns them with Russia out of convenience-- but can they be trusted? The French may have sided with the KKK in the deep South (ironic, being foreign and in many cases Catholics, though often secular). De Gaulle might only be doing it to weaken and divide the Americans so he can have a free hand in other parts of the world.

The UK

I think maybe I'll refrain from the usual Evil Brits. Maybe the Labour Gov't. has seen what's going on in America and, fearing for the future of progressive movements, has decided to offer advice and help to the pro-democracy/multiracial resistance factions in Dixie?
Too corny, or good?
I don't want this just be simplistic LEFT= EVIL timeline. The Bolshies are evil because that's really what they were like; nasty, horrid gangsters.

China?
Without the Soviets supporting Mao, I think he may still be a warlord.
Russia may be in the process of getting itself involved in Chinese troubles, but with an eye towards snatching up western slices of territory, not towards creating an ideologically united Chinese republic as a client/ally.
The KMT probably rules a state in the southeast.

Last edited by combatmedic; 09-05-2014 at 07:14 AM.
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Old 09-05-2014, 06:58 AM   #479
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Is Québec still under British rule, of have the Brits lost it (or parts of it) in the War of Independence?
The Irish colonization of Manannan will have changed the political dynamics. More native allies for the Irish (possible, not actually stated in the writeup) means fewer native allies for the British, which means fewer fighters on the British side for the French and Indian Wars, which means a better chance France wins or stalemates that war and keeps Nouvelle France.
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Old 09-05-2014, 07:05 AM   #480
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The Irish colonization of Manannan will have changed the political dynamics. More native allies for the Irish (possible, not actually stated in the writeup) means fewer native allies for the British, which means fewer fighters on the British side for the French and Indian Wars, which means a better chance France wins or stalemates that war and keeps Nouvelle France.
Yeah, I tend to agree.
The Catholic connection will likely benefit France.
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