New Reality Seeds

[adm]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

There's an alternate timeline written up somewhere online where Walt is nominated by the GOP instead of Eisenhower (IIRC) and wins the presidency. It's not a very happy timeline... (I think it's called World of Laughter, World of Tears, or some such.)

This came to mind for me as well.

https://www.alternatehistory.com/for...-tears.113866/

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by zarawesome

instead of a world where Walt had a little more political clout, here's an alternative: Disney acquires dimensional travel, locates a world without humans, and builds it into Planet EPCOT. or Planet Disneyland. jesus

This could fit into Homeline/GURPS Infinite Worlds - Disney, losing tourists to Time Tours, Johnson's Rome, and other parachronic tourist operations, builds off-world theme parks.

One idea would be to put in on Lysander, the Anglo-American libertarian colony. It's got settlements along the California coast, perfect for a cross-world Disneyland. Low taxes to boot. Build another in Florida, even one on this world's Manhattan.

And build their own Disneytowns, EPCOTs, etc.

[PTTG]

Worlds with future visitors. These are products of banestorms, stormbombs, reality quakes, and who knows what else. Regardless, they are almost certainly not brigadoons, if only because they only "moved" once.

Worchester, MA c. 1967 -> 1667. Collected historical records point to a different cold war in Worchester's origin line, with a strong possibility that the USSR used storm bombs or an equivalent in a very abruptly brewed-up war. The current year is 1677, and the surviving townsfolk are celebrating the "Precentennial of the United States," whatever that means.

Vatican City, Rome, c. 2012 -> 1066. Unlike most densely populated victims, there was little upset after this region was relocated; the electricity even stayed on, thanks to backup generators. The social uproar, however, has only just begun.

Bata, Equatorial Guinea, c 2022 -> 1470. The immediate disruption following the transition lead to the highly educated and pro-democratic populous of the city spreading into the rural surrounds, bringing with them not only technological ideas, but also political ideology. As for the city, it went through several cycles of retreat and regrowth. Within a century, it was a major center of democracy and scientific thought even as the descendants of its future inhabitants studied the records and artifacts left behind to attempt to understand what had happened.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Worlds with future visitors. These are products of banestorms, stormbombs, reality quakes, and who knows what else. Regardless, they are almost certainly not brigadoons, if only because they only "moved" once.

I like these worlds, and proposed a few of them some time ago in another thread. A few more suggestions:

Mexico City 1920 -> 1100 AD. Current date is about a century later, after the terrible death toll and disruption brought on by about a million extra people (and modern diseases) appearing in the middle of a collapsing Toltec empire. Descendants of the survivors have mingled and new states have appeared in Mesoamerica. A few of those states are finally ready to send exploratory missions across the Atlantic and Pacific (modern shipyards, or even ports, not having been included in the translation). The rest of the Americas are still experiencing the pandemic-induced (and, let's be honest, conquest-induced) depopulation and disruption.

Rhodes (island of) 1450 -> 40 AD. The stronghold of the Knights Hospitaler has just appeared in the Roman Empire during the reign of Caligula and (in theory, at least) only a few years after the death and resurrection. An army of tough, highly competent holy warriors is about to have to deal with the realities of their religion's founding and a fully functional pagan empire... (and yes, they have guns. Or gonnes. And galleys.)

[David Johnston2]

Tidelock-1: Tidelock is a world where the moon is substantially larger and closer to Earth and Earth and the Moon are tide locked to each other. Days are 8 Homeline days long. Several distinct hominid types exist with technology that goes up to 5. They include the Sun Walkers, who are remarkably hardy and require only short naps, constantly migrating away from the the night, the Moon Children, who exist only on the side of the planet facing the moon and possess Magic Aptitude, the Night Stalkers, who retreat into underground burrows during the day but are stealthy hunters at night, and the Dreamers, who, blind in the ngith can place themselves in suspended animation allowing them to skip over nights, or far longer periods if they choose via their hibernation abiiity in which they age at crawl, and who know far more than they should.

Tidelock-2: Tidelock-2 is a world where, the Earth's rotation decelerated over the course of the period from 1750 to 1890 until it entered a state of tidelock with the Sun. During that same period the Moon receded and eventually broke away about 1820. The same deceleration effect was noted on all the other planets. Now most of the Eastern Hemisphere is in perpetual daylight although the terminator passes right through Japan. Tidelock-2 is a steampunk reality thanks to the discovery of the aether furnace, a heat engine that effectively provides clean power, as long as they have water to boil. The American colonies were abandoned by the Crown, but a small independent population of Americans still exists, having invented grow lights for their greenhouses.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Tidelock-2: Tidelock-2 is a world where, the Earth's rotation decelerated over the course of the period from 1750 to 1890 until it entered a state of tidelock with the Sun. During that same period the Moon receded and eventually broke away about 1820. The same deceleration effect was noted on all the other planets. Now most of the Eastern Hemisphere is in perpetual daylight although the terminator passes right through Japan. Tidelock-2 is a steampunk reality thanks to the discovery of the aether furnace, a heat engine that effectively provides clean power, as long as they have water to boil. The American colonies were abandoned by the Crown, but a small independent population of Americans still exists, having invented grow lights for their greenhouses.

Tidelock-2 would have some interesting weather patterns.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Tidelock-2: Tidelock-2 is a world where, the Earth's rotation decelerated over the course of the period from 1750 to 1890 until it entered a state of tidelock with the Sun. During that same period the Moon receded and eventually broke away about 1820. The same deceleration effect was noted on all the other planets. Now most of the Eastern Hemisphere is in perpetual daylight although the terminator passes right through Japan. Tidelock-2 is a steampunk reality thanks to the discovery of the aether furnace, a heat engine that effectively provides clean power, as long as they have water to boil. The American colonies were abandoned by the Crown, but a small independent population of Americans still exists, having invented grow lights for their greenhouses.

Land of the rising sun... that's got to have some peculiar cultural effects.

[David Johnston2]

Myriad: Myriad is a world where for unknown reasons starting in the 18th century it seemed to become impossible for nations to remain or stay consolidated as nations. As a result as of 1940 the world has fragmented into nearly 10,000 mostly autonomous national governments creating a world of enormous intrigue. Currently Kaiser Wilhelm IV of Prussia seems to be the latest to dream of consolidating a larger realm but few expect him to achieve any lasting success. Meanwhile Pennsylvania and New York are on the verge of war for no particularly good reason.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Myriad: Myriad is a world where for unknown reasons starting in the 18th century it seemed to become impossible for nations to remain or stay consolidated as nations. As a result as of 1940 the world has fragmented into nearly 10,000 mostly autonomous national governments creating a world of enormous intrigue. Currently Kaiser Wilhelm IV of Prussia seems to be the latest to dream of consolidating a larger realm but few expect him to achieve any lasting success. Meanwhile Pennsylvania and New York are on the verge of war for no particularly good reason.

Is this a world where larger states do form, by conquest or federation, they just fall apart quickly? Also, what's the upper limit on stable statehood?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Is this a world where larger states do form, by conquest or federation, they just fall apart quickly? Also, what's the upper limit on stable statehood?

Nations do conquer each other but never consolidate their gains or have the occupation last longer than 20 years. The most successful approach is actually creating hegemonies, "alliances" with one dominant partner but internally autonomous satellites. The largest two states in the world are New France (ruled by the French monarch in exile), and the shrunken Russian Empire, both of which are a bit larger than real world Quebec. There are a lot of republics, but republics seem to be particularly poor at avoiding balkanization.