Re: New Reality Seeds
 

This sounds sort of like the backstory in Heinlein's posthumous first novel "For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs." In that Europe goes into a WWII that basically never ends and things degrade to a maybe 1700s tech level.

Meanwhile the USA turns into a theocracy, and then has a revolution that leads to the Social Credit Free Love semi-utopia. (Unfortunately the novel is mostly lectures about the last bit, with maybe 15% actual story.)

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Surely it's clearly Mohammad Beheshti, the actual second in command and quite popular with everybody except the Marxists.


Between said Marxists, the recently disbanded but still active State Security Bureau, and the intelligence services of Iraq, Israel and the United States, I don't see why anybody would assume that. There's no shortage of people who wanted him dead and might have resources to try. Note that the Iranian Marxists [did] successfully blow up Beheshti (and 4 cabinet ministers and a dozen other leaders of the Iranian Revolution) in 1981.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Rather than the unlikely Puritan-Quaker alliance (which even before I read the bit about them killing each other, struck me as problematic if the Puritans dislike magic and the Quakers embrace it), you could have it be that Puritans' strong faith and staunch refusal to use magic actually makes them rather resistant to it. That is, magic is most effective on those who are receptive to it, but Puritans have a degree of mental discipline (or sheer stubbornness, depending on who you're asking) that closes them off to it.

This does mean some limits to what magic can accomplish, of course, if you want to keep them competitive - many of the benefits to magic (things like growing more food, avoiding disease, etc) aren't things that Puritans having resistance to is going to help them keep up with the other groups.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I suppose, but such a quiet assassination might have Infinity going Zebras not Horses, especially if this is an echo.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I don't get that reference. If that's in Infinite Worlds, what page is it on?

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Here's another Iranian idea.

Afshar-2

Afshar-2 is a mainly low Mana Q4 world. It has a few areas of normal mana and some limited (the size of a large house at most) areas of high mana. Although the local time period is in the 1760s the areas of hightened mana correspond to a "usual suspects" pattern. Weirdly reflecting those areas associated with magic in 20th century American popular culture. However, the parallel is named for Nader Shah Afshar one of the last great Islamic conquerors of Southwest Asia in those parallels close to Homeline history.

In most parallels Nader Shah Afshar is killed by a conspiracy of his nobles in 1747. However, something seems to have shifted events. Nader Shah Afshar instead conquered Syria and the Levant. An Islamic Persian Empire extends to the Black, Mediterranean, and Red seas.

The Ottoman state is on the brink of collapse. The Egyptians and the Barbary coast states have declared independence. From Russia to Spain the European powers are sizing up a radically changed eastern Mediterranean.

Basically, espionage in a very Arabian Nights setting. The Cabal is very active on this parallel. Homeline wants to know what the Cabal is after and whether or not it's something Homeline could use themselves.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

If you mean "Zebras not Horses." It is a medical aphorism about not expecting the rare cause rather than the common cause.

"When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra."
- Professor Theodore Woodward in the 1940s.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

One complication that occurs to me is a scattering of normal and high mana sites around that aren't present on OTL (or Homeline) could change things a lot, particularly in this case. One of the things Khomeini actually [did] was formally curse people - warning Iranian troops and security forces that if they opposed the revolution Allah would bring misfortune upon them. If there's more functioning magic, there's a real possibility one of his opponents cursed him back.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

I just finished watching a YouTube video by US of Z and HistorysInfluence What if Napoleon Invaded the Ottoman Empire, or at least the title is something like that. It's a good campaign setting.

In this alternative History Napoleon doesn't invade Russia. Instead he uses diplomacy (and clearly got bunches of critical successes on his rolls) to get the Russians to join him in attacking the Ottoman state. Note: Russia was trying to conquer the Ottomans but Napoleon's invasion of Russia pulled them back.

Anyway picture a successful Franco-Russian invasion of Greece aided by Greek and Bulgarian revolts against the Turks. Now the cities of Adrianople (modern Edirne) and Constantinople are under siege by the Franco-Russian armies. The Brits are sending agents to aide the Turks and spy on the French and Russians.

Meanwhile, while the exotic Swashbuckling campaign is going on. Centrum has a plan. Let the French and Russians win. Britain, shut out of Europe would continue to deepen its control of Asia. If the Napoleonic Empire lasts until dies (which might not be 1821 if Centrum doctors decide to lengthen his life) maybe Britain would be far too entrenched in Asia to let go.

Homeline would be trying A) to discover Centrum plans, B) figure out what to do about them.

Re: New Reality Seeds
 

Here's a question for alternative historians. Britain was in many ways isolated from the continent of Europe for most of the 1789-1815 period. This both accelerated the growth of the British Empire, mainly because Britain needed to replace European trade with anything else, and it meant that the embryonic industrial revolution was largely unobserved by Europeans for more than a quarter of a century. Further, the cheap mass produced goods, cloth and thread especially, the British sold the world beyond Europe had few European competitors and a vital unassalible role in financing the government and the war effort. A world with a less violent French Revolution, or more to the point a less violent European response to the French Revolution might be a world were Britain was never as powerful as in our history. True or false?

What do you guys think about that analysis? Are Robbespierre and Napoleon two of the greatest forces promoting the Victorian British Empire? Would Centrum understand that kind of paradox?