Re: New Reality Seeds
 

It's hard to imagine a more ethically one-sided Civil War than IRL, but making the Southerners into human-sacrificing bloodthirsty Satanists might do it.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Can I suggest a Theoi timeline or two in which gods act like, you know, gods? You know, like arrogant egocentric adulterous scumbags? None of this anachronistic kind-hearted far-sighted liberal nonsense?

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Go for it! The more razor tongued and scurrilous the better.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

???

You mean they weren't??

Theoi-11 diverges in 1455 at the First Battle of St Albans, the traditional first battle of the Wars of the Roses. At dawn before the first charge, the forms of Demon Lords Beelzebub and Asmodeus, towering over a hundred feet high, appeared. Asmodeus procalimed himself the patron of the House of York, and Beelzebub announced his patronage of the House of Lancaster. All noble and royal participants of both sides were granted health, superhuman strength, and black poison swords. The non-noble and non-royal participants were split between running away and trying to kill their former lords.

Those who ran spread the news that both sides of the conflict were damned souls, and the common folk and lesser nobles rose up in rebellion. This also caused problems in Scotland, France, and Burgundy, who had supported the two English factions.

A new force, the House of Tudor, arose (thirty years earlier than OTL), and Edmund Tudor became Edmund III of England. In order to avoid demonic entanglements, Edmund proclaimed the Schism of London, founding a seperate Church of England.

The year is 1515, Edmund's grandson Henry VII rules in England (not the same one as in OTL), Europe is in turmoil as the Schism of London has spread, causing so-called "Protestant" national churches to spring up everywhere. (There is no unified Protestant doctrine.) Witch hunts are popular, although there is no evidence (to outtimer eyes) of any actual witches. The Roman Holy See is very political, and a seperate Budapest Holy See is proclaiming crusades against the Protestants and the "Anti-Pope" (but they're less popular).

There are a few noble survivors of the Battle of St Albans, either trying to carve out their own empires or overthrow the Tudors. Most of them are active devil worshippers, but again there is no evidence of any supernatural forces.

Incidentally the battlefield at St Albans is a Very High Mana location, and in fact the only magically-active location on this Earth.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I dunno. If you need somebody to act like an egocentric adulterous scumbag in order to provide a change point, human leaders are capable of that. You really only [need] divine intervention for the alternates that require kind-hearted far-sighted leadership to produce.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Theoi-12 diverges in 410AD when Heracles and Romulus appear and drive the Visigoths off. The appearance of the son of Zeus and the deified founder of Rome has led to a revival of Faith in the Pagan gods and violence from and against Christians. Much of the violence from and against the Christians comes from Christian bishops denouncing the pagan gods as devils deluding the people. The Visigoths and similar groups are at present fearful of both being attacked by supernatural beings and being caught up in religious riots.

Whether or not this will be good for the Roman Empire's longevity is yet to be determined.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I take it Theoi-12 was discovered not long after the PoD? (An interesting alternative is that it was an historical echo discovered before the PoD, and someone from Infinity witnessed the change.)

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

As written, the first. However, your suggestion is more fun. Having events unfold in real time could be exciting.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Gordon-Rogers-2 seems to diverge after WWI. Science and technology seem to speed up after 1918. Slowly at first, TL7 is achieved in 1937. The USA and the UK both start WWII with jet fighters, jet bombers don't show up until 1944. Weirdly high historical inertia keeps WWII mainly similar but with a slightly more favorable outcome for the western allies.

The space race stars earlier and TL8^ is reached in 1960. Twenty years later, in 1980, TL9^ was reached. The faster technological development seems to have allowed the USSR to delay hitting the limits of command growth until 1975. The development of cheap fusion in the 1960s reduced the importance of oil and fossil fuels.

In many ways the local year, 1988, is a Raygun Gothic cold war spy setting. There have been moon bases since the 1960s and Mars settlements since 1975.

Note: Mars in this parallel is semihabitable with the ruins of ancient civilizations. No living Martians have been encountered and they seem to have practiced cremation or other means of destroying corpses. Similarly, they seem to have rejected depictions of their appearance. The buildings and artifacts suggest a largely humanlike form would have been the most likely.

Interactions with Martian artifacts have led to the discovery of repeatable ESP and other Psi phenomena. This has led to serious competition in Martian archeology.

Society in this parallel is lively and prosperous. As neither the Bretton Woods system has collapsed nor the Oil Shocks happened before oil was being replaced, the economy and social conditions more closely resemble the 1960s than post 1975 Homeline.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Could a Hollywood studio or the like sue Infinity for copyright infringement if Infinity named a timeline 'Waterworld' or the like?


To be fair, perhaps Waterworld didn't come out on Homeline. It was released in real life in 1995, which would be right around when Van Zandt went public with parachronics. Even if it did come out, it could have been quickly forgotten amid the discovery of other worlds.

Or maybe it became more celebrated, for being an 'alternate world' (though it actually is supposed to be set in the future), a rare Hollywood depiction of such at a time when alternate worlds would be all the rage.


I wonder how parachronics would effect Homeline pop culture. Would the bright timeline not become obsessed with post-apocalypses like our world? Or would Homeliners be more interested, as such worlds could now be found, a few even visited?

Certainly, Homeliners would be less interested in space, aliens, etc. Maybe also less interest in old comic book heroes.

And someone would have adapted The Man In the High Castle a lot sooner.