New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Kelly

This Q6 Low Mana parallel diverges in 1912 when Thomas Marshall's sense of humor got on Woodrow Wilson's nerves. Wilson decided not to choose Marshall for his running mate and instead chose one Francis Xavier Kelly. Kelly was also a popular progressive Democrat (his Homeline equivalent didn't get born because the ship that carried his father sank in a storm).

Kelly was better than Marshall at staying on Wilson's good side. It helped that were Marshall was an early supporter of WWI, Kelly, like most Irish Catholics, wanted America to stay out.

Kelly seems to have been very skillful in helping Wilson's legislative agenda. Homeline historians point out Wilson got more done in his first term in this parallel than Homeline. Substantially more by all accounts. Which made this parallel mainly interesting to academics. Then, shortly after his reelection, Wilson had a fatal stroke.

Centrum is up in arms. Having the USA sit out WWI would be a disaster. As would having a man with politics highly similar to Woodrow Wilson, but affable and charming, lead the American delegation in Paris in 1919.

Meanwhile, Homeline nations are getting into the act. France has got Russia and Britain lined up to demand action. A German victory in WWI would be unthinkable. If nothing else, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk would make Germany too dominant in Europe to challenge. Although it really doesn't effect either Homeline nation, pride is on the line.

On the other claw, Francis Xavier Kelly is unusual in this period for being anti racist. Although Kelly knows he can't get the reforms he wants, he's using the powers of his office to promote racial justice and civil rights. This parallel has gained many fans on Homeline for Kelly's shrewd and forceful actions.

Basically, it's an espionage game set in Washington DC at a time when Washington was a small southern town. The PCs and their opponents really lack a great deal of cover. This might seem odd, but Washington DC wasn't nearly as big a deal before WWII as it was afterwards. Many of the major monuments aren't built yet.

Centrum and several European factions want Kelly dead. Several American factions would fight to stop that. The ICOPs are in the middle.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Centrum and several European factions want Kelly dead.

I dunno; I think Centrum would be pretty fine with an anti-racist president who has the wherewithal to get the United States in the League of Nations. The trick is to get America in the war despite President Kelly, which is awfully tricky.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I dunno; I think Centrum would be pretty fine with an anti-racist president who has the wherewithal to get the United States in the League of Nations. The trick is to get America in the war despite President Kelly, which is awfully tricky.

I see your point. And it moves the espionage game out of Washington DC, which in period would be tricky to operate in.

[dcarson]

DC population 1910 331K, 1920 438K. So WW I seemed to cause a growth spurt chart. Not as much as WW II but almost as steep.

To get the US in the war maybe high tech forgeries to make the Zimmerman telegram look like just the start. And maybe sabotage some shipping. Which gets the PCs into how many shiploads of innocent people are you willing to sink.

[Astromancer]

Collapse-4

The Collapse parallels are worlds were society around the world collapses. There may be pockets of survival of civilization, but few of them.

Collapse-4 is a Q6 mainly Low Mana parallel that diverged from Homeline history during WWII. In early 1942 a new strain of Flu showed up in Southern China. It had a forty percent mortality rate and spread like a green field epidemic. Japan was slammed out of the war before June. New Zealand was able to quarantine but Australia took a brutal hit, as did India.

By summer of 1944, when the second strain of the South China flu hit Europe every European government collapsed except Ireland and Iceland. Both of which adopted strict quarantine.

The Americas weren't as badly hit, but only Canada and the United States are still functioning as nations by 1945.

The local year is 1992. The Anglo-American Union (the US and Canada) are functioning at TL6. There are small islands of TL7, mainly around universities and a few major cities. The AAU is trying to restart civilization. But between population collapse and paranoid fear of outsiders it's not easy.

The Cabal finds this parallel very useful. Isolated communities are very isolated. Privacy is the norm because people avoid other people. This makes this parallel a great place for magic training. Bonus, plague breeds superstition. It's easy to recruit on this parallel.

However, some independent operators from Homeline are helping the locals develop new vaccines and medicines. Not obnoxious in itself, but it could lead to changes that would make this parallel less profitable and useful.

They'll need to be stopped. But not to crudely. Further collapse is not in anybody's interest.

[PTTG]

I get it, I know what you like and what you're an expert in, but this one is a little on the nose.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

I get it, I know what you like and what you're an expert in, but this one is a little on the nose.

Yes the USA survives. But as the most isolated major state it makes sense. The AAU is an alliance. How close is your call.

The Cabal benefits from isolation in functioning societies. They'd want to inhibit rebuilding.

Most flu strains show up in China first. WWII would inhibit any attempt to stop the flu epidemics. Europe and Asia, being wartorn would take magnified hits.

Ireland and Iceland would be the most likely societies to survive in Europe because they are islands that feed themselves in period.

New Zealand is way isolated. Australia's isolation would be severely compromised by the war and relative closeness to China. Latin America in period had issues with public health.

Where are the big improbabilities? Also, I assume economic depression and radically slowed technology because so many times I get complaints about accelerated tech development when people suggest there should be regression.

And what was on the nose?

[Inky]

I assumed PTTG maybe meant it was an obvious coronavirus skit, but now I'm not sure! :-D Even if it is, "some of the magicians are real" sounds like a clever twist.

Astromancer normally likes Britain, so I'm guessing the reason they didn't make it in this one is that they really weren't self-sufficient enough to pull off a full quarantine in that era. Although Ireland and Iceland may have been the survivors just for numerical reasons, they could be interesting picks - they both have their own relatively well-preserved and distinctive traditions about magic, so they might be interesting wild cards. (Or settings, if a GM didn't want to set the game in the AAC). They also, of course, both have distinctive and sometimes unfriendly ecologies of fairy folk - the sidhe and alfar, respectively - if a GM wanted to go that way.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

And what was on the nose?

I assumed it was how much of an Astromancer timeline it was. "A horrible plague descends on the world and destroys everything but America and also Ireland, also also America is going to rebuild the world now!" is practically self parody of one of the patterns you fall back on.

It's not so much illogical, as it's convenient. A hyper virulent and deadly (a rare combo) plague breaks out where Americans are unlikely to frequent. The second strain breaks out just when armies are ready to march in and spread it around. The knock on effects wreck Latin America and Africa.

[Kymage]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Collapse-4

The Collapse parallels are worlds were society around the world collapses. There may be pockets of survival of civilization, but few of them.

By summer of 1944, when the second strain of the South China flu hit Europe every European government collapsed except Ireland and Iceland. Both of which adopted strict quarantine.

I'm a little surprised that the United Kingdom government didn't survive. I would have thought that they could have duplicated the quarantine of Ireland and Iceland.