New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

In this latest timeline, Britain and Japan are both naval power, but I'd expect racism on both sides to slow down cooperation. Once hostilities start, there's a lot of distance between the two of them, too.

Not saying that cooperation won't happen, but it won't be easy or smooth.

You're solid here. Although both navies were pinnacles of professionalism. So the US navy is still in a world of hurt.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by a humble lich

That was my initial thought as well, but the distance between them isn't actually that much. Specifically, Japan is pretty close to Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. the UK had a lot of interests in that art of the world, which could lead to more cooperation between the two. Also remember that the UK and Japan were fairly close allies until the 20's in our world.

I would worry in this timeline is that the UK wouldn't have a large enough land force to occupy the continent. This could lead to a similar environment to the Napoleonic wars where both sides were at a stalemate.

Still, with France and Germany in one theatre, the US and Canada in another, and China alone, naval power is scary useful.

I'm assuming that Stalin will sit back and let the "Imperialist Powers" destroy each other. The Cold War will be scarier on thisvworld. Russia is not really going to be involved in WWII. So they'll be fresh for conflict when it's over.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Simpson-2

Edward VIII succeeds George V. His brother George VI's line was extinguished circa 1930.

The Commonwealth Realm splits up. Prince Henry becomes King Henry IX of Australia and New Zealand. George, Duke of Kent becomes King George VI of the Union of South Africa and Princess Mary becomes Queen Mary III of Canada.

The family presents a mostly united front to the rest of the world but there are tensions and Edward VIII is hard put to keep a "first-among-equals" position.

This is fun. But post links to articles were we can read up on these people and find out who they are.

[Astromancer]

Stargate

At first Stargate was simply seen as an odd echo. The world is mainly the same as Homeline in the year 1560. The only really big change is that an unusually bright asteroid seems to have been captured by the Earth"s gravity. The red moon ( as the asteroid is called) seems to have been captured around the time of the King Scorpion in Egypt .

There have been religious and cultural changes because of the second moon. And some changes that may be linked to the moon but the link can't be proved. (In this world Jesus has an Aunt Shani ( carmine-colored) who helps Mary and Jesus in Christian legend. Shani is almost as culturally important in Stargate's history as Mary.) Still the changes don't seem to add up to that much. The world was counted a weird parallel until the astronomers looked at the asteroid and then the original moon.

The Red Moon has clearly been artificially altered. There seem to be patches of red glass all over its surface. Meanwhile, the moon proper, called the White Moon on this parallel, has obvious artificial structures. They seem to be bases built by aliens.

The race is now on. Both Centrum and Homeline are doing what it takes to explore the Moon bases and the red moon!

Meanwhile, don't annoy the locals or get caught.

[Astromancer]

Last night (Aug, 4th) I watched The Absent Minded Professor. What a lovely basis for a parallel. Flubber would be a massive game changer even if only the anti-gravity function worked. Diverge after the end of the first film. Have Betsy Carlisle, Professor Ned Brainard's wife, handle the business end of things. Flubber based Anti-gavity and power generation are commonplace by 1970. Of course the Russians (after several nervous breakdowns) figure out the formula.

Basically, this is a Golden Age Sci Fi setting. It's a lot more Danny Dunn and Miss Pickerell than Heinlein or Van Vogt.

Besides the film mentioned here, Disney did Son of Flubber, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, The Monkey's Uncle, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now you see him, now you don't, and The Strongest Man in the World, all involving science gone wacky at Medfield College. All could be mined for plot hooks.

If Flubber, or any of the crazy science works off parallel, it could be a game changer in the Homeline/Centrum struggle.

[doctorevilbrain]

What is an aunt Shani?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

What is an aunt Shani?

I was suggesting that a second moon would seriously effect religion and mythology. And it would. To be wild and daring, but not I hope offensive, I gave Jesus and Aunt who was an important figure in that world's Christian Mythology (Mary the mother of Jesus is a minor figure in the Bible but a major figure in Christian lore and devotion). As the moon was red, I looked up a Hebrew female name that meant red. Shani means Carmine Colored, a deep red.

I hope you aren't annoyed. I reworked the entry for clarity.

[Astromancer]

Try this idea...

In superhero comic books, villains are always threatening to destroy the world or at least mess it up badly. How likely is it they'd never succeed?

Just a few years after the new age of Super Heroes is started, (I'll use DC I know it better), Vandal Savage and Per Degaton launch an attack on the world. They restore the conditions of the Older Dryas weathing the world in ice. Well the new Justice Society smashes their gang. But the Villains manage to trap the Specter and themselves in an alternate dimension, a universe without time. Before any of the heroes can act, Per Degaton's machine fuses out into a pool of molten metal. The world is locked in a new Ice Age.

It's now the year 1960. California, the American Southwest, Florida, and Hawaii are the main centers of what is left of the USA. The surviving Canadians moved south and joined the USA. Except for Southern Texas, most of the rest of the USA is tundra.

The Government of France Outre Mere Rules North Africa west of Egypt. The area now has regular rains and is a fertile grassland. The collapse of the Central Asian Summer High Pressure System ended the Indian Ocean Monsoon System turning India, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam into deserts.

A cooler rainier Australia wasn't doing well with its agriculture, but Rex Tyler led an effort to develop new types of fertilizer and new systems of fertilization and made Australia the planetary grain basket.

Most of the surviving populations of Europe that didn't go to North Africa went to Latin America. The Japanese and Koreans, desperate for survival fled either to Latin America or the Philippines.

Hitler marched the Germany armies into Russia to crush the Red Army. No news came back from the east, only the howling of the icy winds. What Germans could, fled Germany as they would a vampire's tomb.

After years of poverty and chaos the world is beginning to heal. Trade and industry are beginning to perform in normal ways. The USA is still a Democracy. Dr. Fate healed FDR to make sure America had a leader for the crisis, not believing it would be permanent. FDR lead the nation until 1956 when he was finally allowed to step down. America is a Democratic Socialist State with a strong market sector.

The British Empire has multiple restrictions on the franchise, but a higher proportion of the people of the Empire can vote than English men in 1860. The rights and needs of working people are better respected than they were in 1920's England and civil liberties are better than they were in Homeline's UK in 1990.

Most of Latin America is some kind or other of an Oligarchy. Africa is mainly colonized with only Liberia and Ethiopia independent. Liberia is a functioning democracy with problems they are working on productively. Ethiopia is an fairly archaic Empire and claim to prefer going their own way. The Philippines is an Oligarchic Republic but far better off than it was in Homeline's 1960's.

This is a low manna world with small areas of Very High Manna. The Tech level is seven with super technology. The main source of supertech is Ted Knight's Cosmic Ray Rods. They supply almost all of the electric power, and everything that can be is electrified, and also powers most vehicles. There are also sea surface cities across most of the pacific. These are American installations built to house refugees during the crisis, and have since become spacious and comfortable. They are now working on being beautiful as well.

Per Degaton's machine not only brought back ice age climate conditions but also many ice age animals. Some of these animals are amazingly deadly.

The world is still in turmoil. Supers are still most common in America but they are all over the world now. Hitler and Stalin may have gone missing for nearly two decades but their ideas appeal to many people around the globe, some of these are supers in their own right. The would be heirs of the dictators seek to rule the world. Can you stop them?

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

Zhongguo-8

In this world in the 17th century a high ranking member of the Manchu court experienced the sudden loss of his parents and other older relatives in a boating accident. In Homeline and most other histories the accident never happened.

The young man was at one of China's ports with his eldest brother, who took him along to help him with his depression over the loss of so many family members. There they met westerners, Dutch merchants, one of whom was a young man who'd lost his parents in a similar accident.

The young Dutch Merchant and his uncle explained to the older brother the similarity and that the Uncle had taken the young man on the voyage with him to help him get over his grief. They suggested travel for the younger brother. The older brother, pulling strings at court, got an assignment for himself and his younger brother to travel to Europe (had their parents still been alive, this would have been forbidden by Confucian precedent).

While the two brothers were in Europe they learned a great deal about canals and coal. These subjects were interesting to the brothers because they owned land in some of China's best coalfields and they couldn't get the coal they could mine to profitable markets. The changes the westerners had made to ancient Chinese lock designs could be used to get around the rapids that blocked market access for the brother's coal mines.

With help from their court connections they soon built locks that allowed them to sell massive amounts of cheap coal throughout China. This made the brothers rich. It also showed that the vile western barbarians knew things about tools and equipment. Nothing as good as China of course, but different enough to be a source of profit for a clever man.

The local year in this Q6 parallel is 1855. China is almost as economically developed as Europe. Because Chinese instructors insist on conformity to tradition China is a little behind Europe technologically, but the problem is recognized and spoken of in those terms in China. Groups of intellectuals are working on how to teach the sciences in China without preventing creative thought and questioning.

In spite of early trouble in understanding each others rules, the Chinese have stable diplomatic relationships with Western nations. There is an Opium trade, but it is handled within traditional Chinese rules and norms. Thus there was no destructive epidemic of abuse nor an Opium war. This China isn't likely to be going through a period of humiliation.

Centrum is unhappy. Without the humiliation of China, Centrum fears the British Empire might be weaker. (Homeline Brits seen it differently). The idea of a world where Asia may never be subordinated to the West strikes them as just wrong.

Homeline likes this world and assumes that the culture of this China will be more vibrant and lively. Meaning lots of profitable art works to market on Homeline.

The Cabal is licking its chops. Zhongguo-8 is a low manna world with areas of higher manna here and there. This looks like a China they can strip mine for mystic knowledge and get scads of recruits from. But only if they can keep Centrum from causing trouble. Maybe, if they manipulate Centrum's paranoid attitude toward Homeline, they can tie Homeline up in knots.

Basically, spy missions in a slightly steampunk 19th century China. Martial Arts, magic, steam tech, spies, daggers, stolen artworks, and what have you.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Zhongguo-8
...Basically, spy missions in a slightly steampunk 19th century China. Martial Arts, magic, steam tech, spies, daggers, stolen artworks, and what have you.

That sounds like fun!