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Old 11-10-2017, 02:09 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Changing History

In the Infinite Worlds setting, there are hypothetically an infinite number of Echoes of Homeline (of which only a couple of hundred which have been discovered). What part of history would you want to change and why? What effects would you predict would occur?

My change would be to seduce and marry Johanna Hiedler (the maternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler) in 1848 before she married Johann Pölz (the maternal grandfather of Adolf Hitler) and immigrate to Canada with her. Without Johanna Hiedler in Austria, Klara Pölz is not born and, with Klara Pölz, Adolf Hitler is not born. Of course, the Echo would probably not diverge for decades, possibly not until 1919 when Adolf Hitler started to come to public attention, but that just means that by the time that anyone figures out that the Echo will shift, it will be far too late to stop that shift from happening.

Of course, the obvious effects will start to occur in 1919, when Adolf Hitler would have returned to Munich. Without Hitler, Eckart would not have had a charismatic and sympathetic military veteran to transform the Thule Society into the Nazi Party. Without the Nazi Party, the Socialists would have probably taken over Germany during the Great Depression.

The Socialists of Germany would have probably assisted the Socialists of Spain against Franco. That would have brought them into conflict with the fascist regimes, which would have them into conflict with the other fascist regimes in Europe (Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, etc). By 1939, I imagine that France, Russia, and the UK would be wondering if they should declare war against a Socialist Germany that was destroying the fascists states of Europe.
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Old 11-10-2017, 02:14 PM   #2
whswhs
 
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Default Re: Changing History

I wouldn't consider changing history. Too much risk of grandfather paradox.
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Old 11-10-2017, 02:37 PM   #3
talonthehand
 
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Default Re: Changing History

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I wouldn't consider changing history. Too much risk of grandfather paradox.
Not too likely given the variety of time travel in Infinite Worlds - your world still happened, you're "just" messing with an alternate reality. Negating your own existence, or going All You Zombies, seems much less likely.
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Old 11-10-2017, 04:09 PM   #4
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Changing History

Then it would not really be changing history. It would be influencing another world making assumptions based on your history.
I know it's a shorthand for screwing with very close parallels, but this is Gurps where that definition assumption is not necessarily true.
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Old 11-10-2017, 04:42 PM   #5
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Changing History

It is changing history though because you are targeting an Echo. Echos will follow the history of Homeline until they diverge. When we are talking about changing history, we are talking about changing the historical trajectory of an Echo and transforming it into a parallel.
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Old 11-10-2017, 04:43 PM   #6
sir_pudding
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Default Re: Changing History

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
My change would be to seduce and marry Johanna Hiedler
Maybe she just isn't into you...

At any rate I wouldn't mess with echoes, because I wouldn't want trouble with Patrol, unless I worked for Interworld in which case I would change the things they told me to change.
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Old 11-10-2017, 04:49 PM   #7
robkelk
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Default Re: Changing History

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
My change would be to seduce and marry Johanna Hiedler (the maternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler) in 1848 before she married Johann Pölz (the maternal grandfather of Adolf Hitler) and immigrate to Canada with her.
And if this is a world with high inertia, Hitler becomes the worst Canadian to ever exist...
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Old 11-10-2017, 04:52 PM   #8
sir_pudding
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Default Re: Changing History

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And if this is a world with high inertia, Hitler becomes the worst Canadian to ever exist...
Elderly Prime Minister Hitler plus Gerald Bull leads to the the worst Canada ever.
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Old 11-10-2017, 05:38 PM   #9
RyanW
 
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Default Re: Changing History

Just before one of the critical speeches Hitler gave during the early part of his rise to power, secretly slip him a powerful, fast-acting laxative.
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Old 11-10-2017, 05:51 PM   #10
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Changing History

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And if this is a world with high inertia, Hitler becomes the worst Canadian to ever exist...
After Hitler orchestrates the Canadian Anschluss of the United States, the Hortonite menace threatens to overwhelm the free world until he is finally defeated by a combination of British intelligence, German production, and Soviet blood.
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