Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[PTTG]

In Swift, A Modest Proposal became a reality shard due to a stray ozmic current. As a result, those that read a native copy of the text while on this worldline are, for a time, extremely credulous, and tend to accept the ideas presented without any critical thought. Though the effects fade upon departing the worldline, history here took a sharp turn...

Of course, to our eyes the text is an obvious satire, but in this world those qualities are ignored, and it is the general idea of society that the poor be paid handsomely in order to provide their children as literal chattel to the wealthy. It seems that the effects of the text are slightly transmissable through speech; even illiterate peasants that have grown up in this society accept it as a way of life and will offer up a portion of their children for the elite.

The current date is 1903, and the practice is common and accepted. There are, of course, peasants who sell their children and then renege on the deal, but that is considered a moderately serious case of fraud more than anything else.

The consumption of child-meat (enfant in proper circles) has resulted in substantially lower fertility rates; about half of all children are sold off for food, and so the population of Britannia (and those parts of the world that were influenced by it, or received copies of A Modest Proposal) grew much more slowly. However, Kuru is a major concern....

[Ottriman]

I'd think those that don't eat their kids will come out on top in this worldline. But then again, global communications are a thing and it's a memetic hazard soooo, this could turn very dark very fast.

My next worldline

Eros 1

This is the first in a series of worlds where relationships and sex work differently somehow. In this one the whole world seems to run on "Porn Logic", meaning that people often look like porn stars and highly fetishistic sex happens all the time. This sex can bend or occasionally even break the limits of biology as we know it.

This is well understood and considered normal by everyone living there, though outside of sex and relationships their opinions mirror OTL.

Eros 2

This is the second of the Eros series, this one is a bit less sexy than Eros 1. Eros 2 runs on "Romantic Comedy Logic" meaning not just the movies, but also other types of trashy romance/comedies. For example in this worlds Japan, harems form around the plainest people spontaneously.

Romance is often unresolved for a long time, but when it isn't marriages tend to be extremely happy and last for life.

[Flyndaran]

Not so much Kuru, a New Guinean disease, but possibly other communicable prions like you know, "mad cow disease"?
Though why? Diseases don't suddenly pop up when a potential vector develops. Cannibalism abounds in human history and not every culture dealt with prions specifically.

Sadly, there is no such thing as a universally understood satire. (Poe's law after all.)

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by PTTG

In Swift, A Modest Proposal became a reality shard due to a stray ozmic current.

I’d like to think that this was Swift-1. There’s got to be a name for timelines with certain flying islands, little people, giants, and talking horses...

[Flyndaran]

Laputa, Lilliput, Brobdignad, Houyhnhnm... wouldn't seem more fitting?

[tanksoldier]

Haven’t read the whole thread but it reminds me of Heinlein’s “Number of the Beast”... depending on what axis of reality you travelled on you’d find yourself in universes which had differences from our own Prime universe.

There was a universe where the only observed difference was the lack of the letter J in the English alphabet.

There was an axis where all the imaginary universes could be found, including Oz.

[PTTG]

Mana levels on this timeline are based on a series of astronomical cycles. The most notable is that it is usually above Normal at night, and usually below Normal during the day. Lunar cycles, the zodiac, and the occasional shooting star also influence the mana level and its affect.

At least once a month there's an extended period of No Mana -- possibly all day on the summer solstice, with no more than Trace overnight. Several hours of the winter solstice's night, however, are likely Very High with Wild effects.

The magic-using culture of this world is alien and strange.

[Ottriman]

Dauntless

In this timeline, there is a strange behavioral difference found in humanity. No one is afraid, it is the equivalent to everyone having the Unfazeable advantage. The end result is a society with different views on conflict and force. Since no one gets frightened, fights are much more serious as the parties involved are very likely to kill each other.

With violence far more likely to be extreme when it occurs, societies have developed laws, customs and institutions of peace. They often work to control and minimize anger or other hostile behavior, or occasionally encourage it against the right targets.

Current Technology is a strange mixture of old, modern and futuristic technologies. For example fusion power is abundant and miniaturized, cybernetics are abundant as well. However jets are brand new, no one has developed nuclear weapons and computers are mostly big text-only work devices.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Ottriman

Dauntless

In this timeline, there is a strange behavioral difference found in humanity. No one is afraid, it is the equivalent to everyone having the Unfazeable advantage. The end result is a society with different views on conflict and force. Since no one gets frightened, fights are much more serious as the parties involved are very likely to kill each other.

With violence far more likely to be extreme when it occurs, societies have developed laws, customs and institutions of peace. They often work to control and minimize anger or other hostile behavior, or occasionally encourage it against the right targets.

Current Technology is a strange mixture of old, modern and futuristic technologies. For example fusion power is abundant and miniaturized, cybernetics are abundant as well. However jets are brand new, no one has developed nuclear weapons and computers are mostly big text-only work devices.

Losing the capacity for fear means anger isn't much of an issue either. The emotions are rather entangled with each other.

[TGLS]

Heck, Unfazeable stops you from showing strong emotions to begin with.