New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by mr beer

The US doesn't exist in a vacuum and slavery is considered morally reprehensible in every nation on Earth. Every Western nation eliminated it* a long time ago. It's difficult to imagine a world that looks like ours except the US still has slaves.

*official slavery, I know criminals still practice it.

Actually in several culturally reactionary societies slavery is winked at. The drive to end slavery came out of the European reactions to the American and French revolutions and was given a major push by Britain's need to maintain its self image as "the land of the free."

Preserving slavery in America wouldn't be hard if the rest of the world didn't care. Our present view of slavery is a noble and beautiful anomaly in world history. Any major change before 1750AD could extend the life of slavery as a respectable institution. Ugly as that thought is.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

A USA were slavery couldn't be ended because only property rights count and human rights are an abstraction at best moves the whole of Earth in another direction. Who settles in America counts.

Sweden abolished slavery in 1335 (though admittedly practiced it in Swedish Caribbean colonies anyway) and human rights look to me to be a French idea. Slavery is one of those things that comes and goes in various places throughout history (I believe the first really major polity to abolish it outright was Qin China, ca 230 BC, it returned when they collapsed into the Eighteen Kingdoms period). What's unusual about right now is that the vast majority of places happen to have agreed at the same time.

Who controls North America does matter (because it has a *lot* of resources, so anybody holding a big slice of it come the Agricultural or Industrial Revolution gets to be a Great Power), but I think Americans overestimate their importance to history as a whole.

[AlexanderHowl]

The USA was important during the 20th century, much like the UK during the 19th century, France during the 18th century, China during the 17th century, or Spain during the 16th century. The superpower changes with each century, and it often happens unexpectedly. The USA lost its superpower status because of its failures in Afghanistan and Iraq, though there is no nation to replace it yet. It could be the EU, China, India, or someone else. Who knows? Perhaps Canada, Indonesia, or Kenya will become the next superpower.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The USA was important during the 20th century, much like the UK during the 19th century, France during the 18th century, China during the 17th century, or Spain during the 16th century. The superpower changes with each century, and it often happens unexpectedly. The USA lost its superpower status because of its failures in Afghanistan and Iraq, though there is no nation to replace it yet. It could be the EU, China, India, or someone else. Who knows? Perhaps Canada, Indonesia, or Kenya will become the next superpower.

Actually the USA is still a superpower. Each of the powers you listed had bigger and more costly losses than either Vietnam or Afghanistan.

[adm]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Actually the USA is still a superpower. Each of the powers you listed had bigger and more costly losses than either Vietnam or Afghanistan.

The USA is currently a Superpower in decline. It's still early enough we may reverse that decline, or we may not.

China firmly plans on being the next apex world power, if they can hold everything together. Without changes, no one else appears poised to replace both the USA and China. Russia wants to, but lacks a solid base to build on, and Europe can barely keep Europe's ducks in a row. No one else is currently close enough to give it a decent shot.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by adm

The USA is currently a Superpower in decline. It's still early enough we may reverse that decline, or we may not.

China firmly plans on being the next apex world power, if they can hold everything together. Without changes, no one else appears poised to replace both the USA and China. Russia wants to, but lacks a solid base to build on, and Europe can barely keep Europe's ducks in a row. No one else is currently close enough to give it a decent shot.

Yes China has by far the most potential to replace the USA. However, China has its own serious problems. The USA is more likely to overcome our issues than China is to even face its issues. One advantage of being a democracy is that your problems get talked about. Many Chinese people are unaware of many of China's problems because the government wants them to be.

Yes China has vast potential and may actualize it. The USA may fall apart. But then maybe Nigeria surprises everybody and becomes the next superpower. It is far from impossible. Just not very likely.

[Astromancer]

Centrum is aware of how things turned out on a parallel they control on quantum seven. It's called Britannia-3 by Homeline. James II is replaced by his nephew James because a certain Rebellion won.

So, they've decided to try it again. On the whole, if it really was just replacing James Stuart with James Scott, instead of Willem van Orange, Homeline wouldn't care. The problem is that Homeline is aware that James Scott has been replaced by a demon animated homunculus. Both Cabal contacts and Homeline affiliated mages report that a rogue Cabal faction is trying to take over England in a plot to control all Englands everywhere and all English speakers too.

The Cabal assures Homeline the plot can't work. Still, if the plot is carried out, the damage to hundreds of parallels can't be predicted. Or at least the nature of the damage can't be predicted, the fact is a certainty.

So the PCs, while working with allies they don't trust, must sort between the multiple styles of conspirators that infest the Stuart court to find the ones that are a threat to the multiverse rather than simply to themselves and others.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Centrum is aware of how things turned out on a parallel they control on quantum seven. It's called Britannia-3 by Homeline. James II is replaced by his nephew James because a certain Rebellion won.

So, they've decided to try it again. On the whole, if it really was just replacing James Stuart with James Scott, instead of Willem van Orange, Homeline wouldn't care. The problem is that Homeline is aware that James Scott has been replaced by a demon animated homunculus. Both Cabal contacts and Homeline affiliated mages report that a rogue Cabal faction is trying to take over England in a plot to control all Englands everywhere and all English speakers too.

The Cabal assures Homeline the plot can't work. Still, if the plot is carried out, the damage to hundreds of parallels can't be predicted. Or at least the nature of the damage can't be predicted, the fact is a certainty.

So the PCs, while working with allies they don't trust, must sort between the multiple styles of conspirators that infest the Stuart court to find the ones that are a threat to the multiverse rather than simply to themselves and others.

Is Centrum attempting to replicate what happened on Britannia-3 on an echo?

And I presume that Centrum is unaware of James Scott's demonism? Revealing it to Centrum would be the best way to get that magic-phobic power to flip sides.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by fchase8

Is Centrum attempting to replicate what happened on Britannia-3 on an echo?

And I presume that Centrum is unaware of James Scott's demonism? Revealing it to Centrum would be the best way to get that magic-phobic power to flip sides.

Yes. Centrum sees Britainia-3 as a very good, for them, world. However, Centrum doesn't do trust or win-win senarios. They won't listen about James Scott. And if they would listen, some of their agents are possessed. Magic phobes don't generally have good mystic defenses.

[Astromancer]

One of the great history generating mysteries of the middle ages was the Medieval Warm Period. Why this climate pattern happened is unknown. Equally, why it stopped, and stopped with such a brutal weather event as nearly a year of hard rains in Northern Europe, is unknown. However, Centrum knows weather. We're shown this in a vignette of Grant being rained out at Vicksburg.

Either ending the Medieval Warm Period early or keeping it in place longer would bring massive changes to world history. In Europe alone the Medieval Warm Period coincides with the rise of feudalism. The end of the Medieval Warm Period seems to start the decay and collapse of feudalism. If the climatic effects of the Medieval Warm Period were vital to feudalism, and I've read authors who made solid arguments that way, any plot needing to either weaken or strengthen feudalism could focus on weather control.