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#6641 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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The post war world may or may not be especially lively RPGing. But a highly similar but very distinctive WWII still has fun possibilities.
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#6642 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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In this Q6 low Mana parallel Louis XVI died in riding accident in November of 1781 leaving his son Louis Joseph as king of France before he was a month old. The Regency council was more or less stunned to see the state of things. As soon as the American War was over the council attempted serious reform. The Queen dowenger (Marie Antoinette) was furious. She was also powerless. The French seemed to enjoy seeing her put in her place.
The Regency Council, realizing it was reform or collapse, called the Estates General. Without either the king or the Queen to serve as a focus of fury, and 1785 not being 1789, reforms were passed. The Third Estate became a separate house with a hold on the purse strings and the deeply hated Taille was abolished and replaced with the Royal Double Dime (in theory the same amount, but gathered in a far less unfair and destructive manner). The local year is 1798. King Louis is a sickly teenager but he has sired a son by his pretty Italian wife. Although France is still on the edge the Revolution hasn't come yet. Basically, this is an interesting Swashbuckling set up. France could still spill over into Revolution but it hasn't...yet. The Cabal is enthusiastic about the vibrant Occult scene in Paris (long the Occult capital of Europe). Centrum is worried that the full glory of the British Empire requires a challenge like Napoleon. Meanwhile, without the isolation of Britain from the continent, industrial technology is spreading more readily into continental Europe and even the infant United States. Centrum wants that to stop. Meanwhile, Homeline wants to know who brought the Rosetta Stone to London? Several translations have already been printed. Whose plot is this?
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 01-09-2025 at 06:24 AM. |
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#6643 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Visitation-3
Visitation-3 is a low Mana Q6 parallel where a brutal reoccurrence of the Black Death occurred during "The Time of Troubles"(1598-1613). There was no House of Romanov afterwards, Russia more or less collapsed into clusters of waring statelets. Tiny, fragile, countries with mayfly existences. Sweden and Poland expanded into this vast empty space from the West. England and the Netherlands, sailing through the Northeast Passage started setting up trading posts in Siberia to buy furs. From the South, both Persia and the Ottoman State expanded northward. The Cossacks, the Tatars, the Circasians, the Chetchens, and many others pushed back to hold their lands and preserve their faiths. Basically, a "Wild East" for Swashbuckling "Westerns." This is a low Mana world but maybe not so low Mana in central Asia and Siberia. Remember Ken Hite's ideas about India Ultraterrestial. Who knows what wondrous strangeness could be found East of the Ural in the "Land East of Sunrise!"
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 01-11-2025 at 08:28 AM. |
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#6644 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Visitation-7
On this Q6 low Mana parallel a massive outbreak of plague in Germany in 1620 not long after The Battle of the White Mountain. Among those dying in the early stages of the plague was Wallenstein. In spite of their massive victory near Prague, the Habsburgs weren't able to follow up and crush the elector. Every time armies gathered in Germany the plague came roaring back. Both the Protestant and Catholic powers are paralyzed. Germany is largely depopulated. The local year is 1680. Louis XIV has gained the Holy Roman Imperial Crown. Louis is working to bring all of Germany into his power. Basically, you have a French Supervillian conquering the center of Europe. Military swashers.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 01-18-2025 at 08:16 AM. |
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#6645 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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How much of a supervillain is he if Germany's been depopulated? Sounds like a decent King trying to restore order to a disaster zone. Is the disease still around?
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#6646 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Louis has opportunities in this parallel he never had in ours.
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#6647 | |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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I still think that this is very much a situation where a good king rolls in to stabilize a chaotic situation. The electors have switched from nominating the Austrians to the French, which implies a collapse of Habsburg power, at least in Central Europe. In our timeline, the Ottomans rolled up to Vienna three years after the current date. I can't imagine that the depopulation of Central Europe is slowing them any. And I don't really know if you can call it "conquering". King Louis, perhaps unarguably the most powerful Christian ruler in Europe in this scenario, has been elected as Holy Roman Emperor to save Germany from their sorry state. This isn't a horrible thing in of itself. Of course, if he decides to not pursue a moderate religious policy in Germany, that might be a bad thing. Though one wonders if Poland or Sweden would have something to say about this.
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#6648 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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#6649 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Bohemia-1
The Bohemia worlds are parallels were a change in the history of the Czech people has a major effect on history. In Bohemia-1 the government of Czechoslovakia decided that it didn't trust Germany to stand by any agreement made in Munich in 1938. Because Chamberlain came back with a peace agreement most people think Chamberlain spent the whole conference appeasing Hitler. In fact Chamberlain blew his stack a couple of times and Hitler spent the whole conference mollifying Chamberlain and got what he wanted that way. In this Q6 low Mana parallel the Czech delegation saw how things were going and threw everything into a desperate gamble. In September of 1938 Czechoslovakia attacked Germany. The Czechs loudly announced that the Germans attacked first. Chamberlain, upon hearing the news, stormed out of the conference believing himself betrayed and used by Hitler. The Germans weren't prepared for the attack and all their plans were thrown into chaos. Chamberlain demanded a declaration of War. The French government jumped to declare war in order to head off a surprise attack. The Poles quickly started organizing their defense. Basically, WWII starting early in Europe (it had already started in Asia). Germany is on the back foot. But everyone is less prepared. This is another blend of Espionage and action. The PCs have a chance of preventing both the Holocaust and the Soviet conquest of Eastern Europe. Given how many people to this day are passionate about the events of WWII this would be a great setting for bringing in Homeline politics into ICops activity.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 01-25-2025 at 07:05 PM. |
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#6650 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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It's widely and solidly established that Richard Nixon got the South Vietnamese to crash the peace plan in order to foul up LBJ's attempt to end the Vietnam War before the end of his term. We have solidly authenticated audio tapes of Nixon planning to extend the Vietnam War for his political advantage.
So, picture a parallel were in August of 1968 Nixon is caught and exposed committing what would be called treason in any other nation on Earth. Humphrey wins the Election and American involvement in the Vietnam War ends seven years early. The knock on effects would be vast. Tens of thousands of young Working-Class Americans neither killed nor maimed. The inflationary stress of the war gone and the massive disruption and warping of the Breton Woods System delayed for at least a decade. Humphrey was enthusiastic about space and leaving the war would mean he'd need the space program for prestige. The whole career of Henry Kissenger would be radically altered. Exposing Nixon in 1968 could set up dozens of parallels. What ideas intrigue you?
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