Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Err, it had no missiles. As a Project 941 "Foxtrot", it was armed only with torpedoes. Do you mean its nuclear torpedoes?

Possible explanations ...

1) Experimental externally-carried missiles (being experimental, they obviously goofed).

2) That's what they want you to think!

3) PTTG doesn't know much about Soviet subs.

For realism, I'd pick #3. For adventure possibilities, I'd pick #1 (for the possibility that other Soviet relics also have nukes) or #2 (just so the GM would be justified in making any changes he wants or needs).

[PTTG]

Actually I read the wikipedia page and when it said "nuclear-tipped torpedoes," I presumed that the editor had made a mistake, since it seemed absurd to have an underwater nuclear projectile -- the sub would have no reasonable way to get an OK to launch them or coordinate their strikes.

Turns out that's kind of what happened IRL, so more fool me.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by PTTG

. . . the sub would have no reasonable way to get an OK to launch them or coordinate their strikes.

The idea was that if a war is underway, a sub captain doesn't need permission to blow up an enemy fleet or harbour.

[Astromancer]

This parallel is rarely visited. You can only enter alone or as a pair. Whoever touches anying on this parallel first, or shows up alone, finds themselves in a narrative. The story is always realistic to the degree that nothing that couldn't possibly happen would happen. It is possible for wildly unlikely things to happen though. The narrative will always be a story that terrifies the person stuck in the narrative.

The reason for the terror can change. Myself, if I landed here I might find myself in a version of the Ormalu Clock, a tale of loss and paranoia. Someone else might land in a tale of humiliation. A third person might land in a story of moral failure and loss of self-respect. Whatever hurts worse.

The primary person caught in the narrative never dies. If someone is with them, that person gets no guarantees.

[PTTG]

A twisted form of Itertia rules Abiographica. Historical figures live lives largely similar to their pre-ordained Homeline ones, but totally unhooked in time and order. A young Winston Churchill is presently alive, as is Razia Sultana, the President of India. In contrast, Elon Musk was an ancient astronomer and merchant.

Homeline wants some answers, and believes they can learn about the (presumable) intelligence that created this odd world by seeing what it considers important parts of someone's biography, and what parts can change to fit the time the person is born in.

The present year is 2005, and nobody born after that year in Homline history was sent into the past, though new historical figures keep being born.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by PTTG

The present year is 2005, and nobody born before that year was sent into the past, though new historical figures keep being born.

Do you mean "after that year"?

[PTTG]

Bit of a typo there. All the shuffled historical figures were born between ~1000CE and 2005CE.

Of course, for real-world reasons, that's because we don't know who's going to become a historical figure going forward, but to homeline it's just another part of the mystery.

[PTTG]

Necco is strictly speaking designated Simmel-1, but everyone calls it Necco for the bizzare nature of its local economy. The world apparently diverged in 1847, but probably changed some time long before that.

With the invention and distribution of Hub Wafers to Union troops in the civil war, a kind of black market emerged. The coinlike shape and lightness, combined with a lack of other hard-wearing sweets, resulted in soldiers trading the candies for other commodities.

By the war's end, the trend had caught on in the civilian world, and the by-then named Necco Wafers took on a status as an auxiliary currency. In the 1920s, the monetary collapse lead to the more widespread adoption of the edible coinage. The trend inexplicably extended around the world, with countries adopting edible currency for a number of reasons.

Due to the quick degradation of such materials, money does not last very long. Everyone has a story about a child eating a week's wages in one sitting, or a spilled glass of water melting it into a sticky mess. Most people keep their money in an account until it's needed, at which point it's disbursed in confectionary form long enough to last the day, then returned.

Perhaps the currency's global acceptance may have something to do with this enforced, closed-loop banking practice. Yet that doesn't explain why, in the present year of 1959, banking organizations around the world are attempting to manufacture a charge or credit card printed on a chocolate bar. Perhaps, now, people only accept currency in relation to how edible it is?

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Captain Caveman

Astronomy fixes the date at 15,504 BCE (Mesolithic Age, during the Oldest Dryas Stadial). The weather is very very cold, megafauna still wander the world. Cro-Magnon and Homo Sapiens compete, the first wars are being fought with stone and wood.

But there are ... differences.

This "caveman world" is also a world of what are commonly known as "Charles Atlas Superpowers", specifically cinematic martial arts. Spiritual magic also exists.

Tribes and clans are built around venerable masters who teach the secrets of martial arts and ki manipulation to their select champions. The least caveman knows arts equal to Judo and Karate. Tribal and clan champions are leaping over mammoths, shattering boulders with their bare fists, and hurling firey bursts of roaring willpower at each other.

Shamans can see the future and can empower themselves with spirits. They usually use martial arts styles based on animals. Some help their fellow man, others give in to dark temptations and turn on humanity.

Some animals somehow get ki-powers or shamanic empowerment, becoming monsters. These tend to endanger the small human communities. Those with powerful martial artists and shamans are more likely to survive.

The societies that have evolved are dissimilar to the ones that archaeologists have deduced existed on Homeline. Sociologists are curious as to how the societes will evolve with superhuman abilities being a factor in survival. Even whether higher civilizations can evolve is a hotly debated question.

[Flyndaran]

I loved that cartoon growing up and think this setting would make for some fun gaming.
That said, Cro-Magnons were modern rather than archaic homo sapiens.