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Old 10-25-2020, 11:01 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

Which historical personalities would you save from dying an early death in the Echoes? I think it would be interesting to save the life of Jimi Hendrix and see how he would have continued to impact music and culture. I do not think it would have a major impact on history, though the consequences of even minor changes can have profound impacts.

For example, Jimi Hendricks survives his brush with death in 1970 and continues to improve his skills as a musician and singer, eventually becoming the most popular rock musician in the world by the late 70s. In 1976, he lends his support to Teddy Kennedy, resulting in Kennedy winning the primary against Carter (who becomes his running mate) and the general election against Reagan (who ends up losing due to an energized youth vote). Kennedy closes the Iranian Embassy out of an abundance of caution during the Iranian Revolution and avoids the hostage crisis.

With the Kennedy charm and without the hostage crisis experienced by Carter, Kennedy wins reelection in 1980. In 1984, Jimi Hendrix decides to run for the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party and, due to his continued popularity (and the goodwill accumulated from over a decade of working with the Democratic Party), he wins the nomination battle against VP Carter. He easily defeats Bush in the general election and becomes the first African American president in US history (after surviving three attempts on his life).

After winning reelection in 1988, President Hendrix is seen as instrumental in the end of the Cold War in 1990, though he is faulted for avoiding taking any action during the Iraq invasion of Kuwait that leads to the West Asian War of 1991-1995. When he leaves office after the election of John McCain in 1993, he is considered one of the better Presidents in US history, as he avoided any military conflicts during his term of office. President McCain, while more aggressive that President Hendrix, only uses the military to stop the genocides of Bosnia, Kosavo, and Rwanda, further repairing the reputation of the US military.
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Old 10-26-2020, 02:37 AM   #2
Plane
 
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

Judith Barsi (perhaps some Don Bluth sequels would've turned out better)

Heather O'Rourke and Dominique Dunn (Poltergeist 4!)

Sawyer Sweeten (could've perhaps starred in an Everybody Loves Raymond sequel, hopefully without a laugh track)

Rob Knox (could've appeared in Deathly Hallows!)

Anton Yelchin (could've been in more of the Star Trek films)

Lee Thompson Young (could've been in the Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths as an alternate Cyborg)

Brittany Murphy (so Pink couldn't take her job as Gloria Penguin in Happy Feet 2)

Madison Wright Morris (J Madison Wright) could've had a longer career if not for heart thing

Bridgette Anderson (intervene to stop heroin addition, extend acting career)
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Old 10-26-2020, 07:10 AM   #3
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

What counts as "young"? And by modern standards, or the standards of the time?

Beethoven, who did more for modern (Western) music than anyone since J.S. Bach, died at age 56, which is young by modern standards (maybe even by the standards of the 1820s). His impact on music, had he lived another decade, would have been great - some of his greatest works were composed in the last five years of his life (Missa Solemnis, Ninth Symphony).

And of course, still thinking just of music, Mozart died at age 35. For that matter, what about composers who were lost in WW1, e.g. George Butterworth, who died at age 31 in the Battle of the Somme; who knows what they would have produced?

Weaving a useful adventure around the above is more difficult - though Beethoven (who was deaf, and had a "difficult personality") could be fun to see the PCs deal with.
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Old 10-26-2020, 07:19 AM   #4
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

James Clerk Maxwell, who was one of the greatest physicists of the 19th century, died at 48. It would be interesting to see what he could have done if he had lived to a ripe old age. Maybe we could have had Special Relativity much sooner.
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Old 10-28-2020, 10:45 AM   #5
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Which historical personalities would you save from dying an early death in the Echoes?
For those who don't know what "Echoes" are, "An echo is an alternate Earth apparently identical to Homeline at some earlier point in its history." --GURPS Infinite Worlds, p. 85. Homeline, in turn, is an Earth very similar to our own.
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Old 10-28-2020, 10:54 AM   #6
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

Leaving the arts and sciences aside for a moment... There are a few names that might or might not be a good idea, but would certainly be interesting. Henry V of England, for example, is probably high on Centrum's "save" list, because uniting England and France at that date would probably suit them nicely. And saving Alexander the Great would just have dramatic effects, whatever. Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales could hardly have made a worse king than his kid brother Charles. Certain radical first century Galilean hill-preachers, on the other hand, are probably off-limits to everyone, just in case.
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Old 10-28-2020, 11:12 AM   #7
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

Saving Prince Arthur of Wales (Henry VII's first son) would have interesting consequences.
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Old 10-28-2020, 11:52 AM   #8
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

While Pericles couldn't be said to have died young, he died of an easily (to timeline-travellers) curable disease while there was still work to do that his successors were manifestly not up to doing. If going for the political rather than the artistic/scholarly angle, he seems a likely choice.
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Old 10-28-2020, 04:31 PM   #9
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Saving Prince Arthur of Wales (Henry VII's first son) would have interesting consequences.
As might saving Henry VIII's Great Bastard Henry Fitzroy. Or, for that matter Henry V who, like Pericles above, didn't die that young, but could have been fixed fairly easily and could have had significant consequences.
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Old 10-28-2020, 05:09 PM   #10
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: Saving the lives of people who died young [Infinite Worlds]

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Saving Prince Arthur of Wales (Henry VII's first son) would have interesting consequences.
Oh, yeah, him too. Heirs apparent who popped their clogs early are actually pretty common.

Not sure what saving Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, would get you. Almost certainly not Jack the Ripper on the British throne, and possibly just a mild-mannered liberal there.
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