New Reality Seeds

[TGLS]

Having read the twitter thread, apparently the answer is: "The allies all decided to go home, got mad at each other, didn't bother dealing with a bunch of ex-Fascists moving to Spain and taking over the country, who promptly spread out across Western Europe."

[johndallman]

Where did Aggressor get its economic resources from? Germany was wrecked, Italy lacked them before the war, Spain was not recovered from the Spanish Civil War.

France is between Spain and the rest of Europe. While the country was badly damaged during WWII, they had substantial capital on-hand in the post-WWII years because they'd managed to move their gold reserves to North Africa before the Germans got them, and preserved them there until the post-war period. The French would not be the slightest bit interested in a new fascism breaking out all round them, and have the means to prevent it, via further wars if necessary.

[TGLS]

The Sucker Skerry are two superficially similar worlds, and one can be directed to either world randomly.

Sucker-1

On this world, everyone has Gullibility, Honesty, and Truthfulness. The Infinity Patrol must prevent hordes of Swagmen from "borrowing" everything from state treasuries to their children, while also not revealing the secret. This is harder than they think.

Sucker-2

On this world, everyone has Bloodlust (Liars Only), Callous, and Detect (Deceit). The Infinity Patrol must prevent hordes of Swagmen who think they're headed to Sucker-1 from blowing the secret on badly thought out con-games.

[ajardoor]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Where did Aggressor get its economic resources from? Germany was wrecked, Italy lacked them before the war, Spain was not recovered from the Spanish Civil War.

France is between Spain and the rest of Europe. While the country was badly damaged during WWII, they had substantial capital on-hand in the post-WWII years because they'd managed to move their gold reserves to North Africa before the Germans got them, and preserved them there until the post-war period. The French would not be the slightest bit interested in a new fascism breaking out all round them, and have the means to prevent it, via further wars if necessary.

IIRC, the Aggressor got covert funding from both the Soviets and the Europeans. Apparently, they carefully sucked up to them in back room deals, sponged off a big sack of bribes and aid, then turned on them when the wanna-be patrons got distracted by other issues?

This might explain why the Soviets are not stepping in as hard as they could; Aggressor soaked them, and now the USSR is depleted because they put all their eggs in one basket that betrayed them. Aggressor conned them by pitching itself as stay-behind network or puppet regime to the superpowers?

[PTTG]

A truck carrying a load of oil by-product, bound for New Jersey, got extremely lost on November 12th, 1867. Somehow ending up in downtown Washington, the very poorly-trained driver not only managed to get the vehicle stuck while turning around, but even managed to spill the flammable, toxic contents into the street directly upwind of the capital building. When the fluid inevitably caught fire, the thick black smoke soon suffused the congress then in-session. Immediately faced with watering eyes and horrid coughing, most of the senate departed, but a few stalwarts argued that a little smoke never hurt anyone, and remained. The oil burned for hours, refusing efforts to extinguish it, and blackening buildings for blocks while the congress continued bickering.

In the end, two senators were among those terminally poisoned by the smoke, among hundreds of firefighters, workers, and citizens. The chambers remained somewhat stained with the smoke despite vigorous cleaning efforts, and the acrid scent never left the halls entirely.

Perhaps as a direct result, the Congress would reliably oppose further oil-based industrial efforts, as well as truck cargo, for generations. Instead, the United States devoted itself fully to a massive program of hydroelectric plants and coal-fired electricity. Overhead wires became the essential method of propelling cargo in American cities, and electric train lines crisscrossing the continent. As easily construct-able dams began to become scarce, wind turbines and concentrating solar power took over. The effort took decades.

The US’ disinterest in oil had flagged her colonial ambitions; the Spanish-American War ended in the independence of the Philippines (Puerto Rico would become a state in 1910). As a result, the USA was, if anything, more isolationist than in OTL. Nonetheless, she had plentiful crude oil which the Europeans were desperate for; the USA saw its first true oil boom over the course of the Great War, but being a novice at it and with few foreign clients able to spare skilled technicians, a number of widely-publicized accidents resulted in oil gaining an even blacker name in the US. The Great War had little support among the American people. It ended in 1916, with the British and French realizing that a knockout blow was simply impossible. Concessions were made which were largely seen as economic surrender to the Germans.

A bitter and reactionary England tightens its grip on the colonies, while the never-particularly-stable France purges its military amid working-class revolt. Germany turns to the east, after a pause to reconstruct its shattered military and engage in economic plunder. The USA is locked out of the German trade cartel, too friendly to the Allies to be welcome, but sees the time is right to cease looking back to Europe, but instead to look farther east...

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Immediately faced with watering eyes and horrid coughing, most of the senate departed, but a few stalwarts argued that a little smoke never hurt anyone, and remained.

Why though? If everyone else left, they wouldn't be able to get anything done.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by PTTG

A truck carrying a load of oil by-product, bound for New Jersey, got extremely lost on November 12th, 1867.

A bit more background to this alternate history would help. It sounds as if internal combustion engine trucks have been created decades early, which implies the oil industry was more advanced too.

[PTTG]

You caught me. I wrote it with a later date and went back and moved it back without really considering it.

I think it can be read as "horse cart" without much change. Oil was being refined as early as the 1860s.

As for congressmen making pointlessly self-destructive rhetorical gestures? I leave that for the public to judge.

[David Johnston2]

Jurassic parallels are so named because they have dinosaurs not because they are necessarily actually in the Jurassic. They're named after the movies which were filled with Cretaceous dinos after all.

Jurassic-1 is possibly an echo but such a remote one that the patrol isn't worried about any impact messing with it will have on Homeline's stability. And yes, the local period is the Cretaceous much to the annoyance of palaeontologists everywhere. It is of course a major tourist destination.

Jurassic-2 was originally thought to be a myth parallel since it had primitive humans living alongside dinosaurs (albeit feathered dinosaurs), but further investigation determined that the humans had been bane stormed in.

Jurassic-3 is some kind of myth parallel. A Europe much like the historical is beginning to colonize a New World that never had human occupants but does have dinosaur-like creatures although none of them are precisely the species discovered from Homeline's past.

Jurassic-4 is another possible echo but it actually is in the apparent Jurassic era.

Jurassic-5 is a world in the 19th century that actually has no native dinosaurs, but has discovered a portal to Jurassic 6 and has been importing dinosaurs from there to European zoos

Jurassic-6 is an apparent Earth-sized pocket universe in the shape of a hollow sphere, probably artificial in nature containing a wide selection of dinosaurs.

Jurassic-7 is a world in which the final extinction of large dinosaurs is currently happening.

Jurassic-8 is a world that has intelligent technologically advanced dinosaurs but the local date has been determined to be shortly before the dinosaur-killer asteroid arrived.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Jurassic-8 is a world that has intelligent technologically advanced dinosaurs but the local date has been determined to be shortly before the dinosaur-killer asteroid arrived.

Infinity (or just the PCs) should have some ethical questions, there.