Catalog of the Weird Parallels

PTTG · 07-30-2024, 06:11 PM

In Shatter-1, a psionic anomaly has resulted in the abrupt breakdown of what cliodynamists are calling 'cohortostatic inertia.' People of all walks of life very suddenly stopped considering themselves part of any organization that extended past the regional borders of their home nation; indeed, the very concept no longer made sense in anything but the abstract. (VERY suddenly, as going by by what historical records are available, it occurred instantly at midnight GMT on January 1, 2019,) Essentially, all treaties became null and void in letter and spirit in an instant.

While for some people, that meant very little, for organizations such as NATO, no-one, not even the administrators of said organizations, believed in them having meaning. Worse, negotiating new treaties of that type proved extremely difficult, as while people could imagine the utility, concepts such as national reputation or credibility went into flux; trust simply didn't exist anymore.

Fortunately, humans are remarkably resilient to psionic stress. Yes, trust didn't exist past borders, but mutual self-interest did. National 'hostages' became the norm, with in some cases thousands of people being exchanged between countries with mutual interests; these 'hostages' were generally set up in exclaves specifically for them. It turns out that, even lacking international cooperation, people will actively seek ways to avoid killing each other and potentially dying while doing so.

Not all conflicts were so rosy, of course. Several large new conflicts did emerge as external peacekeeping forces didn't so much mutiny as just... cease to have a mission. Every already-extant hotspot became a full on war, and several very strange border conflicts erupted between previously stable nations. So far, MAD has functioned as anticipated, and no nuclear wars have broken out, even between nuclear-armed nations already fighting one another, as of ten years on (local date 2029).

Shatter-1 was considered a one-off paratemporal disaster for many years, until studies within the worldline picked up signs that it was part of a skerry, conflicting with earlier reports. These pointed to a worrying trend...

Shatter-2 broke down at a much lower level, with individual national subdivisions renouncing all ties. At 0:00, 1/1/2022 local time, the change made all provinces, territories, American states, and other administrative regions essentially independent of one another, and broke apart national and transnational organizations to consist only of those who actually lived in those regions.

Again, the population took this in stride, as is normal for psionic ontology failures of this type, and the ensuing wave of fresh conflicts was bizarre. Existing conflicts actually largely ceased, as many of them exist only on the national level. For instance, 98% of the occupying forces in the region formerly known as Ukraine simply turned around and went home, as the Komi Republic or Krasnoyrask Krai has no particular interest in Kharkiv Oblast. And while some 60% of defenders also retreated, the rump of the conflict was nonetheless quite one-sided, even lacking outside help.

Conversely, many small hostilities bloomed wherever neighboring regions had strongly conflicting interests, including between some American states. Nonetheless, these border conflicts were often extremely lopsided and brief. Hunger drove a number of these strikes, as many subregions are dependent on food imports. Within five years, regions were establishing strange workarounds, such as the formation of "regional co-defense commerce zones," which by all accounts are just federalization by another name.

Shatter-3's divergence dates to the start of 2023. Once is a freak coincidence, twice is a sign of some connection, but three identical new years day events suggests something alarming about powerful intelligent agents at work. Furthermore, the impacts were again seemingly more refined, this time breaking down all cohortostatic inertia extending over regions larger than a city. Furthermore, most (though not all) people forgot that larger structures ever existed, and look back on historical records of such as being nostalgic fantasy or simply outdated and old-fashioned.

This occurred only two years ago, by homeline time, and scouts report that while there's little information about the larger world, their survey of a small region in upper Michigan was cut short by an encounter with TL(8-1) Saul Ste. Mariean Expeditionary Forces gathering technology and salvageable vehicles. As their conveyor was camouflaged as a semi-trailer, they departed in a hurry.

Shatter-4 is unique in that it involves both breakdown and reconstruction; it is also the newest, having precipitated into the skerry only hours ago (And thus, most of what follows is as of yet unknown to homeline). A new pattern of roughly circular territories has appeared. Each is approximately 335000 km2 in area and 650 km wide; Each is home to roughly 20 million people. These regions are distorted and slightly smaller in densely populated coastal land, and tend to be larger in less fertile areas. A few regions, notably Antarctica and fully barren, uninhabited desert, are unassigned, as are oceans.

The result is that while mineral wealth and industrial capacity vary, each region is at least in theory self-sufficient in terms of food. Due to the cohortostatic disruption, people find it perfectly rational to perceive themselves as a citizen of their home region, even if most of that region was only yesterday within a rival nation. People with multiple homes feel aligned to their 'freshest' home. They might not like the nation they are in, but the change is strongly protected by a psionic normalization force.

Unlike the previous shatter worlds, the new regions are not simple subdivisions of old nations, and so face a complicated political adjustment. Something strange is happening in these initial days, and prominent personalities are arising to the forefront of political discussions. If the agent responsible for these increasingly severe disasters is still active, this may be a good opportunity to investigate while coordination is still weak and evidence is fresh.

07-30-2024, 06:11 PM	#11
PTTG Join Date: Feb 2011	Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels In Shatter-1, a psionic anomaly has resulted in the abrupt breakdown of what cliodynamists are calling 'cohortostatic inertia.' People of all walks of life very suddenly stopped considering themselves part of any organization that extended past the regional borders of their home nation; indeed, the very concept no longer made sense in anything but the abstract. (VERY suddenly, as going by by what historical records are available, it occurred instantly at midnight GMT on January 1, 2019,) Essentially, all treaties became null and void in letter and spirit in an instant. While for some people, that meant very little, for organizations such as NATO, no-one, not even the administrators of said organizations, believed in them having meaning. Worse, negotiating new treaties of that type proved extremely difficult, as while people could imagine the utility, concepts such as national reputation or credibility went into flux; trust simply didn't exist anymore. Fortunately, humans are remarkably resilient to psionic stress. Yes, trust didn't exist past borders, but mutual self-interest did. National 'hostages' became the norm, with in some cases thousands of people being exchanged between countries with mutual interests; these 'hostages' were generally set up in exclaves specifically for them. It turns out that, even lacking international cooperation, people will actively seek ways to avoid killing each other and potentially dying while doing so. Not all conflicts were so rosy, of course. Several large new conflicts did emerge as external peacekeeping forces didn't so much mutiny as just... cease to have a mission. Every already-extant hotspot became a full on war, and several very strange border conflicts erupted between previously stable nations. So far, MAD has functioned as anticipated, and no nuclear wars have broken out, even between nuclear-armed nations already fighting one another, as of ten years on (local date 2029). Shatter-1 was considered a one-off paratemporal disaster for many years, until studies within the worldline picked up signs that it was part of a skerry, conflicting with earlier reports. These pointed to a worrying trend... Shatter-2 broke down at a much lower level, with individual national subdivisions renouncing all ties. At 0:00, 1/1/2022 local time, the change made all provinces, territories, American states, and other administrative regions essentially independent of one another, and broke apart national and transnational organizations to consist only of those who actually lived in those regions. Again, the population took this in stride, as is normal for psionic ontology failures of this type, and the ensuing wave of fresh conflicts was bizarre. Existing conflicts actually largely ceased, as many of them exist only on the national level. For instance, 98% of the occupying forces in the region formerly known as Ukraine simply turned around and went home, as the Komi Republic or Krasnoyrask Krai has no particular interest in Kharkiv Oblast. And while some 60% of defenders also retreated, the rump of the conflict was nonetheless quite one-sided, even lacking outside help. Conversely, many small hostilities bloomed wherever neighboring regions had strongly conflicting interests, including between some American states. Nonetheless, these border conflicts were often extremely lopsided and brief. Hunger drove a number of these strikes, as many subregions are dependent on food imports. Within five years, regions were establishing strange workarounds, such as the formation of "regional co-defense commerce zones," which by all accounts are just federalization by another name. Shatter-3's divergence dates to the start of 2023. Once is a freak coincidence, twice is a sign of some connection, but three identical new years day events suggests something alarming about powerful intelligent agents at work. Furthermore, the impacts were again seemingly more refined, this time breaking down all cohortostatic inertia extending over regions larger than a city. Furthermore, most (though not all) people forgot that larger structures ever existed, and look back on historical records of such as being nostalgic fantasy or simply outdated and old-fashioned. This occurred only two years ago, by homeline time, and scouts report that while there's little information about the larger world, their survey of a small region in upper Michigan was cut short by an encounter with TL(8-1) Saul Ste. Mariean Expeditionary Forces gathering technology and salvageable vehicles. As their conveyor was camouflaged as a semi-trailer, they departed in a hurry. Shatter-4 is unique in that it involves both breakdown and reconstruction; it is also the newest, having precipitated into the skerry only hours ago (And thus, most of what follows is as of yet unknown to homeline). A new pattern of roughly circular territories has appeared. Each is approximately 335000 km2 in area and 650 km wide; Each is home to roughly 20 million people. These regions are distorted and slightly smaller in densely populated coastal land, and tend to be larger in less fertile areas. A few regions, notably Antarctica and fully barren, uninhabited desert, are unassigned, as are oceans. The result is that while mineral wealth and industrial capacity vary, each region is at least in theory self-sufficient in terms of food. Due to the cohortostatic disruption, people find it perfectly rational to perceive themselves as a citizen of their home region, even if most of that region was only yesterday within a rival nation. People with multiple homes feel aligned to their 'freshest' home. They might not like the nation they are in, but the change is strongly protected by a psionic normalization force. Unlike the previous shatter worlds, the new regions are not simple subdivisions of old nations, and so face a complicated political adjustment. Something strange is happening in these initial days, and prominent personalities are arising to the forefront of political discussions. If the agent responsible for these increasingly severe disasters is still active, this may be a good opportunity to investigate while coordination is still weak and evidence is fresh.