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Old 02-20-2018, 03:35 PM   #3181
TGLS
 
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Originally Posted by fchase8 View Post
If Centrum could just get Henry VIII a viable heir (cure the supposed syphillis that he reportedly secretly had), could prevent the divorce and England on the Catholic side.
Actually, I think it is now believed that Henry VIII was Kell Positive instead of syphilitic. The solution would instead be to sterilize Henry VIII and impregnate Catherine with random men instead in order to avoid the divorce.
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:12 PM   #3182
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It would have been easy enough, you would just need the sperms donors to resemble Henry. Of course, if the opportunity presented itself, it would be better to save Henry's older brother, Prince Arthur, who was by all accounts a much more noble and polite fellow than Henry. King Arthur would have likely kept to Catholicism.
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Old 02-21-2018, 01:38 AM   #3183
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The point I started with was Centrum dealing with a knowledge deficit. Still, Catholism in the 15th century was internationalist a trait Centrum admires. They were also rationalist but disinclined to a scientific revolution. Something also pleasing to Centrum.
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Old 02-22-2018, 04:01 PM   #3184
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Actually, I think it is now believed that Henry VIII was Kell Positive instead of syphilitic. The solution would instead be to sterilize Henry VIII and impregnate Catherine with random men instead in order to avoid the divorce.
That'd totally be a plot that Centrum would be fine with, but Infinity never would. The whole 'secretly impregnate' idea strikes too much of rape.

And what if Infinity found out what happened, after the impregnation but still early in the pregnancy? Would aborting a pregnancy be something Infinity would be okay with?
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Old 02-22-2018, 04:09 PM   #3185
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Of course, if the opportunity presented itself, it would be better to save Henry's older brother, Prince Arthur, who was by all accounts a much more noble and polite fellow than Henry. King Arthur would have likely kept to Catholicism.
Arthur's survival was the divergence point in Kingsley Amis' The Alteration, where Arthur & Catherine of Aragon have a son, Stephen, who defeats a rebellion by Henry and England remains Catholic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alteration

In The Alteration, there is even a novel mentioned, The Man In the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, where Stephen was never born and England left the Catholic Church.
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Old 02-22-2018, 04:24 PM   #3186
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Delaware-1

In Delaware-1 (a Q7 world), the Lenape (also known as the Delaware Indians) rescued a Martian who crashed off the coast of what is New Jersey on Homeline during a scientific scouting mission in 1000 AD. With their help, the Martian constructed a primitive radio device and managed to communicate with a survey spacecraft that rescued her. In exchange for their assistance, the Martian Empress established a trading mission in the territory of the Lenape, allowing the Lenape to trade Earth goods for Martian technology. The Lenape conquered the entirety of North America over the next five centuries and easily repulsed the European invasion thanks to Martian medicine. It is now 1750 AD and Homeline and Centrum are both carefully exploring the timeline of Delaware-1, where Martian psychic priestesses consort with the elites of the Lenape Empire.
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Old 02-22-2018, 08:41 PM   #3187
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Uber KWEL AlexanderHowl. Radically non-Western with interesting game hooks.
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Old 02-22-2018, 09:20 PM   #3188
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Thank you. I think that the setting would be challenging for both Centrum and Homeline because of the Lenape culture and the Martian culture. It is also very dangerous for them because of the TL9+ technology level of the Martians combined with the existence of psionics.

The real question would be how would Centrum and Homeline proceed? I imagine that Homeline would like to bury the location of the timeline, but I do not think that they would want Centrum to have exclusive access to the timeline. In addition, the national governments of Homeline might want to help their national equivalents.

For example, if the expansion of the European powers was stymied by the Lenape Empire, the European powers would have lacked the gold and silver of the New World to fuel their imperial expansion, meaning that they would have lacked the ability to expand throughout Asia during the 16th through 18th centuries, and they would have not a large demand for slaves from Africa, meaning that they would not have disrupted the African Empires.

The Ottoman Empire would have been stronger relative to the European powers, meaning that it could have probably expanded during the 16th and 17th century without Spanish silver and gold paying for arms and mercenaries against the Ottomans. The Ottomans might have actually conquered Rome, forcing the Pope to flee, and would have threatened Spain. With the loss of Rome, the Catholic Church might have shattered, as it would have also faced pressure from the Protestant Reformation. While I doubt that the Ottomans would have conquered Europe, the European Christian powers would have been facing a very capable enemy that controlled half of the Mediterranean.
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Old 02-23-2018, 03:42 PM   #3189
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The Ottoman Empire would have been stronger relative to the European powers, meaning that it could have probably expanded during the 16th and 17th century without Spanish silver and gold paying for arms and mercenaries against the Ottomans. The Ottomans might have actually conquered Rome, forcing the Pope to flee, and would have threatened Spain. With the loss of Rome, the Catholic Church might have shattered, as it would have also faced pressure from the Protestant Reformation. While I doubt that the Ottomans would have conquered Europe, the European Christian powers would have been facing a very capable enemy that controlled half of the Mediterranean.
There is, of course, a decent chance (far from a certainty, though) that this would cause a bit of a backlash, with the Catholic and possibly some Protestant powers setting aside their differences for the moment to push back against the Ottomans. The 16th century in this timeline looks to be pretty bloody in Europe, and the 17th, as well (not that OTL was all that peaceful).

Of course, the Lenape Empire repelling military invasions does not mean that they would be hostile to trade expeditions, so I wonder how much, if any, Martian tech will end up in Europe.
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Old 02-23-2018, 06:42 PM   #3190
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Well, I imagine that the British and the French would be open to trade. If nothing else, I imagine that Martian materials could make for some very fine weapons and armor. Other than that, you might have some limited access to Martian medicine, which would mean that the world would be TL4/5 with TL10 imports.
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