New Reality Seeds

[jacobmuller]

This item is a bit of perverse irony - but I'm only mocking my own "culture".
Miso-1
Very close parallel to Homeline - just an added touch of misogyny.
Ye Most Ancient Order of the Collar.
Members wear a large white lace trimmed collar in the style favoured in late 17th century colonial America. Sometimes jokingly called the Cottoneers (cotton-ears).
They formed in 1790 in response to the growing unrest of the womenfolk and their seeking of excessive freedoms, and in particular in response to the formation of the Women's Institute for True Christian Homecraft.
Collar-men wanted a return to stricter, puritanical virtues, and sought reinstatement of witch trials.
A lot has changed, women have won the rights they sought, as in homeline. But equality in law doesn't mean equality in reality: women's pay is half that of men; 48% of the prison population is female - that's 41% more than homeline. And thd US of A is progressive.
The Collar-men have fortnightly local mini-marchs, from April to September (the routes favour pausing outside Women's associations to preach), with an Annual Grand Process at Salem in July, with reinenactments (dramatic interpretations of the original trials). It's touted as family fun - educational even. Come see how it should, er, Used to be...
CF Orange Order, Northern Ireland.

Homeline activity is minimal and consists of subtle political manipulation, eg financial aid, policy advice, as opposed to direct action.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

This item is a bit of perverse irony - but I'm only mocking my own "culture".

(SNIP)

I don't see the potential for enough of the fun sort of conflict that drives campaigns, to make up for the obnoxiousness of the social order.

What would the characters do, here?

[jacobmuller]

Stop it becoming Handmaid's Tale?
Recruitment of operatives to fight in more interesting lines?

[Astromancer]

Something interesting could be made of a world where the Kaiser had a focused target. The man couldn't stick to an idea. It was worse than ADHA. Had the Kaiser been able to simply stick to one plan he might have gotten some of the colonies he was after.

It would radically rewrite the world wars. The late 20th century would be unrecognizable.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Something interesting could be made of a world where the Kaiser had a focused target. The man couldn't stick to an idea. It was worse than ADHA. Had the Kaiser been able to simply stick to one plan he might have gotten some of the colonies he was after.

It would radically rewrite the world wars. The late 20th century would be unrecognizable.

I had an idea where Japan's Meiji Restoration never happened, and instead Germany conquered divided Japan after the slaughter of some Prussian arms dealers. This pushed Bismarck into accepting the idea of colonies, which gave his young Kaiser something to focus on (also the navy needed to support colonies), so Bismarck was never dismissed.

It's an even more imperialistic 1901, right after the deaths of Queen Victoria and Bismarck (who survived longer thanks to Centran intervention), and a massive WWI could come very quickly on Bismarck-5. But if Infinity tries to stop it, the racist empires will survive...

[Willy]

Maybe but sooner or later germany and GB would have gone to war in any case.

Basically GB was the old leading power in europe and germany the upcoming powerhouse, the problem was delayed because of close family ties between germany and GB. Once germany started to build a fleet many GB politicians were alarmed. Giving germany early a base in asia and the chance to dominate a part of this region, not to mention colonies in africa, it would ignite a war. Just take a look to the international reaction following the " Pantersprung nach Agadir" the german cheered the rest of the world was alarmed and invested in more weapons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadir_Crisis

Giving Japan to the Kaiser would raise the same reaction perhaps much stronger.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by fchase8

I had an idea where Japan's Meiji Restoration never happened, and instead Germany conquered divided Japan after the slaughter of some Prussian arms dealers.

This is going to be [hard]. Japan before the Meiji Restoration isn't at the Great Power level, but it's still a regional power on the other side of the world. Japan has about the same population as Germany, and about a third of its GDP. Japan didn't actually leap from medieval poverty to modern economy after 1868 (or 1854), it wasn't that far behind before then.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by malloyd

This is going to be [hard]. Japan before the Meiji Restoration isn't at the Great Power level, but it's still a regional power on the other side of the world. Japan has about the same population as Germany, and about a third of its GDP. Japan didn't actually leap from medieval poverty to modern economy after 1868 (or 1854), it wasn't that far behind before then.

I can see it happening if Germans get brought on to help one daimyo against his rivals and things snowball from there. It'd be more accidental/opportunistic colonization than full on conquest, but you could end up with an interesting divided Japan with lots of adventure opportunities.

edit to expand: Perhaps it works better if, instead of slaughtering some Prussian arms dealers, the Japanese embrace the Prussian system wholeheartedly, and invade Korea early with the assistance of Prussian advisors/mercenaries/adventurers. Payment issues arise and to settle the thing the Prussian crown is granted lands in Korea. Then there's a Japanese civil war over modernization (maybe a second one) and the Prussians step in on the winning side. End result for adventure time is a Japanese state that is very much a Prussian client, tensions with the Russians, and Prussian expansionism focused on China instead of Africa. Bismarck must be very busy. Still doesn't solve their naval problem, either...

[TGLS]

On Louverture (Q6, 1818), Napoleon decided to work with Toussaint Louverture rather than attempt to reconquer Haiti and reimpose slavery there. Napoleon avoided the loss of thousands of troops to combat and yellow fever, and the Haitian troops under Louverture helped rebuild the French Empire in America, securing the Louisiana territory against American settlers and peeling off Spanish colonies following the outbreak of the Peninsular War.

America, now more concerned with the large colonial rival to the west began edging towards the British, preventing the War of 1812. The British, however, were playing a double game, signing a secret treaty with the Haitians, allowing them to keep the French holdings in America in exchange for betraying Napoleon by denying him trade revenue and naval bases.

The year is 1818. Napoleon was defeated three years ago, and the great powers of Europe are tired of fighting. The Spanish have given up on their colonial empire. The United States eyes Haitian territory in Louisiana and Florida greedily, and facing an uncertain election, President Rufus King seems unlikely to choose peace in the event of a crisis. Any spark could set things off.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

I can see it happening if Germans get brought on to help one daimyo against his rivals and things snowball from there.

The Daimyo at this point were barely independent actors, and they hadn't engaged in actual clashes with each other or the Shogunate in 200 years. Japan's last few brushes with revolutionaries were peasant tax revolts, or lately what might be proto-middle class (and/or religious) dissidents taking advantage of peasant economic unrest, the last one of any note at all being in 1837. Good internal splits for a European power to capitalize on seem thin on the ground. Your best bet for allies are modernizers who'd be willing to work with European powers, but aren't eager to hand the country to them.