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Old 10-13-2014, 06:43 AM   #611
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
At least for the British, that's unlikely. The British Empire was creaking between the wars, as the subject countries had seen the hard time that the British had had during WWI, making their power seem less absolute. The Westminster Declaration had laid the foundations for independence and the Commonwealth, and the Indians were learning to argue their case for independence on British terms, to which the British had no good answer.

During WWII, the British had looked vulnerable again, and the USA had done serious damage to the ideas of Empire. This wasn't through actions planned to have that effect, but by providing an example of a people who were richer and more powerful than the British, yet did things differently. Being British was clearly not the only path to success.

With no Soviet Union, the subject countries have no need to be defended from that threat, removing a reason to keep the British around, and an isolationist USA is not going to stop selling abroad - that's far too profitable - so it will carry on being a counter-example to the need for British "guidance."
Some good points on the condition of the British Empire; however, without the USSR funding anyone willing to say that they are Communist revolutionaries, the dissolution of the various Colonial Empires may slow way down. If that happens, and people see how badly several of them make out on their own, there may be a greater effort to either stay with their respective empires if they gain greater autonomy, or a better structured exit strategy.

I suppose the big question would be how much help the U.S.A. (either public, or private) would be willing to give some of the rebellious colonies, vs. turning a blind eye to some strong arm tactics by colonial powers in the name of greater stability. I think the big determinate on this would be how U.S. public opinion is affected by the post war effort, are there a lot of news reports of starving children that Britain and France gain good PR from helping, or our there news reels of them machine gunning rioting protestors?
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:20 AM   #612
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Centrum would want to keep the USA out of the decolonialsation game. They like/prefer colonial empires.

Homeline would be divided. France would want to keep the French Empire alive. China and Russia would have their own agendas which would be a general pain. The USA would probably want to defend the USA and the UK might want to ally with them to protect each others homelands and help the Icops keep the peace. Mainly motivated by the benefits hoped for from magical and alchemical research.

The Cabal would want to keep the lid on so that they could gain benefits with reduced effort. Why summon demons to seize what you can buy with a Dinner's Club Card?

Different groups From Merlin-1 would want to further their agendas.

Since this place is in Q6, and I haven't said it's secret. Independent agents might want to get rich here in several ways. Mainly introducing some useful technology a few years early. White Out anyone?
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Old 10-14-2014, 03:41 PM   #613
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This is less of a reality seed and more of an observation. Most of the worlds that people have come up with involving either world war (Mainly WWI) and a lack of American involvement seem to suggest that the logical conclusion is that the Entente/Allies lose because of it. I think that it's fair to say that this is a rather American-centric assumption. (Americans coming in on the side of the Germans in either war is another matter)

First of all you've got to consider one of the major reasons for the Entente/Allies winning in both wars. They were drawing from a much larger, and much wider supply of resources. The Germans only had what they could gather from within their own territory, and the territory of their allies. This is somewhat less of an issue in WWI with the help of the Ottomans and their Empire, but the increased resources already mattered less. Before the US ever got involved in the first world war the battle lines were already rather fixed what with the whole trench warfare thing. Even if the Entente get nothing from the US, they can still draw from pretty much the whole rest of the world when it comes to resources. I think it's fair to say that Britain and France have enough influence from their colonial empires to counter anything that the Ottomans can exert. In such a timeline India as one of Britain's colonies may garner some new respect for itself. Just as the first world war marked the beginning of Canada truly separating from Britain, this could be the same for India.

Second, I doubt that the US ever will supply nothing to the Entente powers (Again, excepting cases where they support the Germans). It's not just a question of the US government deciding not to help, they also need to prohibit enterprising businesses from doing it on their own. It's certainly possible that the Germans may be the ones receiving merchandise from American businessmen, but I doubt it. The Entente is both easier to get to and likely considered the "safe" choice politically. To try to get to the Ottomans or Germany the merchant ships would need to spend a lot of time sailing past the Entente navy, and I doubt that undelivered merchandise gets paid for. Even an isolationist US would (and did) favour the Entente, to have them go for the Germans would require a larger political upset, on top of a desire to stay uninvolved.
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Old 10-16-2014, 06:03 AM   #614
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I agree that it was possible for either side to have won without the American involvement in the 1914-1919 war.

However the Nazis had already taken most of Europe and the Japanese were going gangbusters in the Pacific in the early 1940's. Without the USA the Uk, though punching well above their weight, would have been worn down. The key element in a Nazi defeat without American involvement would be the USSR. But lets remember, America shipped them vital goods throughout the war, goods they badly needed. We Americans supplied the boots the Red Army marched in and most of the field rations the Red Army ate. We sent them more tractors than they had produced up to that time.

Remove the USA from WWII, or let Hitler win the Battle of the Atlantic, and the USSR is at a brutal added disadvantage. Enough to bring the USSR down? I can't say. But it would have made the contest far closer.
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Old 10-17-2014, 03:34 PM   #615
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another world rolled up using a combination of the far parallel generator from IW and the history generator from Fantasy world building. I'm not sure what to call it: the divergence point would call it a caliph, but it has very little islamic influence left. It didn't have any thoughts in mind when it was rolled, but the central feature is the human experimentation. As for why I used west africa, it was 1) what I rolled and 2) a good candidate for taking over the wrecked core of an middle east apocalypse, much as the middle east would be a good candidate for taking over the wrecked core of a US-USSR-China apocalypse in the 1970's.

Comments are very welcome-- I'm not quite sure if I like how this turned out.

-------------------------------------------------
While the point of divergence looks quite similar to caliph (an arab printing press and an oil based industrial revolution), Islam fell from power in 1327 when it annihilated itself in a nuclear exchange known as 'The day of fire'. The resulting nuclear winter and civil collapse ended Islam but not civilization. 50 years later a state from West Africa known as Kano launched a campaign of world conquest, completing it in 30 years.

The Kanoans are deeply sceptical of religion, and their ruling philosophy ranges from frank exploitation and conquest to something akin to noblesse oblige. Various superstitions among the lower classes are ignored, though Monotheism is illegal. The current Emperor of Kano is the cautious head of a state whose real power lies in the hands of the military who built it. The military is a hereditary class that became more and more exclusive as it conquered more. Physical Fitness is highly valued, though scientific and technical aptitude can make up for it -- the research and infantry arms of the military are the largest, and have a growing rivalry. 13 governors run the economic affairs of the world, and have almost as much authority as the emperor (who is becoming more and more of an indolent figurehead). Competition is fierce, and there is a distinct willingness to demote those who do not perform well. The advent of genetic engineering is creating ripples through the military society though. Genegeneered soldiers and police perform better on average than baseline humans and better yet allow the upper class a degree of freedom from the traditional military. Violence has broken out several times, and the gangs are just as opposed to the new soldiers as the warrior class-- they're harder to impersonate, perceived as more resistant to corruption, and they just might be more effective.

The World is low TL9, (Low TL8 at Day of Fire). The internet is very centralized and under the control of the empire, and surveillance tech is advanced. Nuclear power is the standard. Transportation is not highly automated. Space activities are presently limited, but one of the governors has a space elevator on his list of things to do, and the materials technology just might make it worth it.

Cybernetics and Genegeneering are limited to augmenting senses and simple physical modifications. Cybernetics is mostly used to replace limbs, armour the body, augment senses, or occasionally to create functional battle-suits (which cannot be taken off). The suits and limbs are both plagued by power requirements, and regular technology can replicate most of the other things cybernetics can be used for. Cybernetics tends to be easy to detect, which also limits its usefulness. Common Genegeneering additions include generally improved senses, seeing in more colors (expanded spectrum), hearing higher and lower pitches, dramatically better smell, bones and skin substantially tougher than human normal, better pain tolerance, and removal of genetic diseases. Cloning of specific individuals is also practised. The goal of many programs is a mentally better human as well as a physical, but so far success has been extremely limited. The best results so far has been in cloning savants. 3 in 4 of these clones is brain damaged, and all of them have the savant like qualities of the original, but the savants can be useful in their chosen fields. Other changes have been discovered, but none come off better than Aspergers syndrome -- which is intentionally added as an 'genetic enhancement' in some cases.
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Old 10-19-2014, 02:15 PM   #616
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Try this idea...

Grensbeck-7 in this Q6 world fusion power generation was discovered/invented in 1923! It seems to be a type of Polywell Fusion. Scientists are rechecking their facts bigtime! Electric power costs plumeted. The depression still hit hard, but rural electrification was quick and easy.

The local year is 1936. Most new ships are built with fusion powerplants. Fusion power plants are small enough to power Airships (the Hindenburg's schedule was changed in order to retrofit it with a much lighter and more powerful fusion engine thus the disaster never occured). Hitler at first disliked Fusion as Jewish science, so Germany is behind in it's recovery.

Meanwhile the USA is coming out of the depression at breakneck speed. The changed ecconomics of energy has convinced FDR to put his faith in the ideas of Keynes. Except in the Deep South (which, as in Homeline history, is rejecting the New Deal in it's Statehouses, even thought the people fully support it) America is more prosperous than in the 1920's. More importantly, outside of the Deep South, this prosperity is widespread all levels of society enjoying the benefits. In many ways this America is a TL7 society already.

France and Brazil have followed similar paths, Argentina, Canada, Australia, and many other nations are following the successful example. Meanwhile, Britain's elites are torn. A Keynesian world wouldn't have much use for social class hiearchies or traditional elites. The USSR embraced the new Fusion power system, but there are rumblings deep in the Soviet state. Have they moved too fast. Hitler's Germany, Italy and much of Eastern Europe is playing catch-up.

Meanwhile, Franco has a quandry. Hitler and Mussilini promised aid, but a self-confident France has promised trouble. Who does he choose to believe?

Centrum feels that if they can get the Nazis up to speed, this world will consume Homeline's time and attention all out of proportion to it's importance.

Homeline wants to push events in Britain toward an exceptence of Keynes' ideas and a vibrant UK able to ally with France and keep Hitler in check.

The Cabal wants certain archeological discoveries made by the Soviets and a nice stable colonial regime in Bagdad that will let independent scholars research in their libraries and archives. They also see a 1930's Hollywood as a great recruiting area ( as it would be in most histories with a high similarity to Homeline's
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Last edited by Astromancer; 10-20-2014 at 05:44 AM.
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Old 10-20-2014, 06:25 AM   #617
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<suddenly struck by an idea for Greensback... probably a TL 5 or 6/7 or 8 Gilded Age meets Retro SF> hmm...
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Old 10-21-2014, 06:04 AM   #618
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<suddenly struck by an idea for Greensback... probably a TL 5 or 6/7 or 8 Gilded Age meets Retro SF> hmm...
Sounds cool! Try to get Tesla to invent a Polywell Fusion system. To get people into space, try useing unobtainium to produce reactionless drives.
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Old 10-21-2014, 06:19 AM   #619
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Sounds cool! Try to get Tesla to invent a Polywell Fusion system. To get people into space, try useing unobtainium to produce reactionless drives.
Not magnetic propulsion shoving off using the earth's field?

Going from LEO to anywhere else might be a problem though.
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Old 10-21-2014, 09:42 AM   #620
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

My webcomic, HANNIBAL TESLA ADVENTURE MAGAZINE, is set in a Gernsbeck variant in which Nikola Tesla's son is a noted inventor/explorer after the Doc Savage school. I haven't done a whole lot of working out the differences, I've established that it has electric cars and autogyros, and that Hannibal Tesla worked with Robert Goddard to build the first Moon Rocket in 1929 and that Charles Lindbergh was the first man on the Moon. By 1935, an orbital space station has been established, as well as a couple of scientific bases on the Moon, using radium power plants to generate needed electricity.

The Nazis have not shown up yet in the comic, so I'm still thinking about where there tech level is. I want to use them in a future story involving a search for Ancient Vikings in western Minnesota, so I think they've been putting more research into occultism than in super-science. Then again, once the war against the Martians is over, the Germans might well come into possession of some interesting weapons...
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