New Reality Seeds

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The two candidates for a grain crop in Australia were both at the extreme end of the spectrum of
plants with edible seeds in several ways

Of course that's subject to radical change on short notice - none of the possible ancestors of maize for example have seeds anything like its modern form. So if you [wanted] an Australian neolithic revolution, it wouldn't be hard to justify one even with no changes at all.

And here, well, any time you change the climate, geography, or resources of a place you don't just alter the way humans see it. The plants and animals that are able to colonize it, and the selective pressures on the ones evolving there, change too. You're looking at several million years of divergence even if you went with volcanos everywhere, if only to keep the impact on the rest of the world negligible - you need a [lot] of volcanos to resurface even a small nation sized area, and they'll need to be spaced out over a fairly long time to avoid snowball Earth or global acid rain. Several 10s of millions if you are moving the continent around. That's plenty of time for pretty major biological changes.

[Astromancer]

Albion

Albion is a Q6 Low Mana parallel were Britain has had a political revolution. Basically, Victoria Princess of Wales was found dead. Poison was presumed. Her uncle Ernst Augustus was a likely suspect. As Victoria was dead, and King William was on his death bed, Ernst Augustus proclaimed himself king. Outrage led to riots and the remaining members of the House of Hanover were chased out of the nation.

After several riots and multiple events that made Peterloo (look it up on Wikipedia, link later) look like Sunday School Picnics, Britain became a democracy in the year 1838.

It's now 1840 in this parallel. Homeline wants this Britain to stay a democratic republic. The Cabal wants to get Ernst Augustus or another Hanoverian on the throne, or at least a Stewart. Mainly because Centrum feels that a monarchical Britain will be more focused on empire and imperial expansion. The Cabal just wants to keep the other two fighting.

Yes, another dirty ticks and espionage campaign. But the setting is the Britain of Charles Dickens. Mind you the setting could go steampunk in a few years if the PCs play their cards right.

[Astromancer]

Grensback-4

Grensback-4 is a Q6, Low/Normal Mana world 80%/20%, which is beginning to go through a major change. The local year is 1928, the world is mainly TL6, with exceptions. Airship technology seems to be at TL6+3! Other limited areas of technology seem to be similarly advanced in narrow fields. Battery technology is at TL6+3, but power generation is mainly at TL6. Although some narrow fields of power generation tech are higher, like Ocean Thermal power generation which is at TL6+2.

These scattered bits of high tech all run back to an inventor. These inventors tend to follow a sort of mad scientist script, except sometimes they can market their inventions instead of being killed by them.

Europe, especially in the Carpathians and the Alps, seems to be infested with these Mad Scientists.

Basically, this is just Earth 1928, but the Spark from Girl Genius has been recently added. No Spark is older than thirty seven years. A large group would have been conceived within a month of Mary Kelly's murder by Jack the Ripper. A coincidence that points to Cabal interface.

Still, what is their plan? Sparks are more common in Europe, but Sparks are everywhere on this Earth and in all ethnic groups. They tend to be most prominent in societies we're they can get technological educations. Sparks tend to be attracted to any field that has glamour and excitement. So the depth of their influence will be limited for a while.

One major exception is an Irish American woman living in California who has discovered a way to synthesize several high temperature superconductors. But even Kathleen Houlihan hasn't gotten to figuring out how to use her new materials.

Homeline, Centrum, and the Cabal, are all looking to recruit these Mad Boys and Girls.

Note: You can either play pulp action Sparks in a setting like the Hollywood films that made the Mad Scientist a trope, or you can bring Sparks into your infinite worlds campaign.

Note: By high-temperature superconductors I mean these superconductors are functional in Earth like environments. So these superconductors would function anywhere on Earth. By this parallel's 1960s they'll be mixing them into asphalt so cars can float over the highways.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Albion

Albion is a Q6 Low Mana parallel were Britain has had a political revolution. Basically, Victoria Princess of Wales was found dead. Poison was presumed. Her uncle Ernst Augustus was a likely suspect. As Victoria was dead, and King William was on his death bed, Ernst Augustus proclaimed himself king. Outrage led to riots and the remaining members of the House of Hanover were chased out of the nation.

Not exactly a minor point, but you seem to have misidentified two of the principals involved. Queen Victoria was Princess Royal, but never Princess of Wales. Victoria, Princess of Wales (1868-1935) was one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, being the younger sister of King George V. And Queen Victoria's uncle who was though to be plotting her murder was known in the UK as King Ernest Augustus of Hanover (1771-1851), rather than by the German form, Ernst Augustus. Anyone looking up Ernst Augustus of Hanover is likely to be directed to his descendant, Prince Ernst-Augustus V (b. 1954 - present), the current head of the House of Hanover.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Not exactly a minor point, but you seem to have misidentified two of the principals involved. Queen Victoria was Princess Royal, but never Princess of Wales. Victoria, Princess of Wales (1868-1935) was one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, being the younger sister of King George V. And Queen Victoria's uncle who was though to be plotting her murder was known in the UK as King Ernest Augustus of Hanover (1771-1851), rather than by the German form, Ernst Augustus. Anyone looking up Ernst Augustus of Hanover is likely to be directed to his descendant, Prince Ernst-Augustus V (b. 1954 - present), the current head of the House of Hanover.

You have schooled me. But how do you like the idea?

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

You have schooled me. But how do you like the idea?

The idea seems workable enough but I'm always dubious of major societal changes like a shift to republicanism being that easy, and yes, I do think it's glossing over difficulties. First and foremost, agitation for republicanism, even when there's a major historical agitation for it doesn't seem to have enough momentum to really get anywhere. I would suppose that, at best, perhaps a third of the voting citizenry would be for republicanism. Part of it is that there are a number of historical horrible examples for the UK to draw on as counters to such a movement, the Rump Parliament and Cromwell's Protectorate spring immediately to mind, and there's revolutionary France. Even the United States wouldn't be a shining example. It would serve as a "well, you could successfully bumble along with a republican style of government", but there wouldn't be a basis for replacing the House of Lords with a Senate. A UK parliament would probably be unicameral, and go for a President as head of state and a Prime Minister as head of government rather than folding the two together. And the existence of the Lords is the reason such a drastic societal change has such a hard time gaining traction. Although it's faded a lot in the last century plus, it's very much an article of faith that your social betters really are better than you. "Breeding will tell" and the enlisted men defeating the officers in a game of rugby doesn't change that the officers give orders and the enlisted obey because the officers are "better than them" as well as their having a commission from the monarch "who reposes trust in" the officer being commissioned to raise and command the men of his unit.

Second, there's the effect on the then colonies of the UK. The Patriotes of Lower Canada might have welcomed a republic. Although they weren't the majority within their colony, they were a sizable minority and would have been more concerned about keeping their French rights (largely the laws concerning land and religious toleration). On the other hand the rebels of the Republic of Canada in Upper Canada numbered just forty-eight and were able to fort up on Hen Island in the middle of the Niagara River in the winter of 1838, so a UK republic isn't going to be popular in much of Upper Canada. Other colonies will have their concerns as well. The UK may decide to let most of its colonies go if they don't accept republicanism rather than fight to keep them, as long as India, Ceylon, and perhaps Burma, remain under UK economic control, which will almost certainly mean political control.

One of the faults commonly seen in alternate histories is that empires have additional concerns beyond those regarding problems at home, and problems at home don't always get priority if there are issues elsewhere in the empire. It seems to be especially overlooked when the alternate history is generated from a nation with little experience as part of an empire.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Basically, Victoria Princess of Wales was found dead. Poison was presumed. Her uncle Ernst Augustus was a likely suspect. As Victoria was dead, and King William was on his death bed, Ernst Augustus proclaimed himself king. Outrage led to riots and the remaining members of the House of Hanover were chased out of the nation.

Her correct title was Princess Victoria of Kent.

Ernest Augustus would be unlikely to be fool enough to try to seize the throne while William IV was still alive. That's simply treason, and since he would inherit the throne anyway, simply waiting is all he needs to do.

If he inherits, he was a strong candidate for the most unpopular man in England, so riots are a definite possibility. His unpopularity was personal, so there would be a strong case for Parliament finding an excuse to pack him off to Hannover and install Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, who is the next in line and very much unlike Ernest. Parliament has the power to do this, as was already established at the time.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by johndallman

If he inherits, he was a strong candidate for the most unpopular man in England, so riots are a definite possibility. His unpopularity was personal, so there would be a strong case for Parliament finding an excuse to pack him off to Hannover and install Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, who is the next in line and very much unlike Ernest. Parliament has the power to do this, as was already established at the time.

Or they could just try him for treason and have him executed. Not the first time after all, and with an arguably stronger case. This is quite a late point in history for an unpopular English monarch to successfully keep his throne, and actually a fairly reasonable point for Britain to go republican, what with the 1838 People's Charter and the start of the Chartist movement.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Or they could just try him for treason and have him executed. Not the first time after all, and with an arguably stronger case. This is quite a late point in history for an unpopular English monarch to successfully keep his throne, and actually a fairly reasonable point for Britain to go republican, what with the 1838 People's Charter and the start of the Chartist movement.

Agreed, further with Augustus Frederick having no legitimate children or legitimate grandchildren, the death of King Augustus Frederick in 1843 might have a similar effect.

Perhaps the struggle might be between Centrum wanting a stable monarchy, which might best ditch the House of Hanover, opposed to Cabalists wanting a Republican form of government for mystical reasons. Look at what Ken Hite says about Blake's mythology and go from there. Meanwhile Homeline might just want to keep the parallel out of both their clutches.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

One of the faults commonly seen in alternate histories is that empires have additional concerns beyond those regarding problems at home, and problems at home don't always get priority if there are issues elsewhere in the empire. It seems to be especially overlooked when the alternate history is generated from a nation with little experience as part of an empire.

I'm not that convinced it matters all that much though. France after all went through several changes in governments in the 19th and early 20th century without it doing much to their empire.

I suppose the real rule is whoever most of the army is willing to take orders from can call themselves whatever they want - President, King, Emperor, First Consul, Chairman of the Provisional Government - doesn't matter right?