New Reality Seeds

[GreatWyrmGold]

Silly world idea, use with caution.

In an alternate timeline, the USA decides not to drop atomic bombs on Japan, leading to the Japanese surrendering to the USSR and, subsequently, a closer relationship between Japan and the USSR than either has with the USA. This obviously has an effect on anime.

The young Japanese animation industry and older but still developing manga industry take cues from Soyuzdetmultfilm and Stalinism rather than Disney and Capitalism. Moreover, without the post-nuclear anxieties inflicted by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, many monumental works of Japanese pop culture simply do not exist. The end result is animatsi, a foul.corruption of everything otaku hold dear.

Yet with the power of Marx and animatsi on their side (and something something better grasp on East Asia if you're taking this seriously despite my warning), the Warsaw Pact spreads its reach over the entire globe. The world is divided into five tier 1 provinces centered around great Communist capitals—Moscow, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, and Montreal. There is still a capitalist underground, lead by CEO Ann Ryan, but it's losing its foothold in the world due to Pact action and its employees going on strike (surely a sign of quisling tendencies).

Worse, scientists in the Tokyo province have learned how to break the barriers between worlds, letting them recruit from any realm imagined by Stalin's culture machine and spread their mediocrity over the multiverse. The only solution is your team of anime-inspired heroes created by publisher scientific/paramilitary organization Shaeishu!

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

The Battle of the Somme is a vast bloodbath on almost all worlds that have a WWI. However, on this world the battle is a clear allied victory. The key difference looks like out time interference. In most WWIs, tanks are a brutal shock when they first show up at the Somme, but these early tanks were slow and fragile. The Germans soon learned to use artillery against them. However, in this Q6 low mana echo of Homeline, the tanks were much faster and tougher. Still TL6 tanks, but recognizably 1930s tanks.

Once the German line was broken the allies rushed forward. The Germans now in December 1916 have developed some counter tactics and are holding a new line only a mile or two from their border with France.

Basically, a hyped up WWI. In this WWI it feels like victory and defeat are possible through initiative, skill, and courage. Meanwhile, away from the front, Homeline wants to know if there has been out time interference. This will require spy missions to Britain, a nation with a long tradition of both espionage and counter-espionage.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

Ottoman-8

This world diverges at the Battle of Vienna. The Turks simply didn't make several rookie mistakes that Kara Mustafa Pasha insisted on (it's said his lover told him not to be a fool and listen to skilled advice). Austria fades as a power but the Ottomans, unwilling to have a major secondary center, made few other advances beyond Vienna.

Meanwhile, when Charles II of Spain died without heirs (or even going through puberty) there was only one heir. In one stroke Louis XIV became vastly more powerful. The Dutch get wiped out quickly. Now Louis is striving to conquer England.

Lucky for England, they have the better navy,

Basically, a TL4 reworking of WWII and Napoleonic tropes. England versus the deadliest realistic foe. All over Europe Protestants are fleeing to the British Isles or Britain's American Plantations.

Take any Swashbuckler trope you like and turn up the danger dials.

Note: This is a Q7 parallel. No Mana but psionics seem to be strong here. Centrum doesn't want a French world monarchy so they want to sabotage the French. A powerful group of Cabal Psis, and proudly French Psis, intend to stop them. Homeline simply wants both sides tied down here.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Note: This is a Q7 parallel. No Mana but psionics seem to be strong here. Centrum doesn't want a French world monarchy so they want to sabotage the French. A powerful group of Cabal Psis, and proudly French Psis, intend to stop them. Homeline simply wants both sides tied down here.

Centrum has backed French monarchies before - look at Bonaparte-4. After English, French is the closest language to Anglic.

Admittedly, the naval England would be a tempting power to support, but Interworld might see the die already cast here. It's seen a number of worlds where England fell to a continental power (like Bonaparte-4).

Perhaps Interworld is trying to set up a breakaway American state that can be its puppet. IW would have to deal with the apocalyptic religious leanings of the fleeing Protestants (shades of Aeolus' American Commonwealth), but would be on the ground floor to build a technocracy that could eventually surpass monarchical France.


If there's evidence of psis, that probably takes precedence over whoever rules Europe. Interworld (or possibly it's equivalent of ISWAT) has worked in the French Bourbon psi world of Cyrano, and is always after new psychics. But so is Infinity.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

The Spanish colonies in the Americas always had a problem in getting colonists. Many people wanted to go, but either the King of Spain or the Nobles of Castile simply stopped them. There was a campaign by several religious orders in the 17th century to allow the vast numbers of homeless and poor people to leave Spain for Mexico, Peru, and Brazil (which, because the Spanish Monarchy held Portugal until the Portuguese rebelled and reclaimed their independence, was controlled by the Spanish Crown). The elites in Latin America didn't want large numbers of people they lacked absolute control over swarming into the colonies and challenging their wealth and privileges. The Spanish Nobles and army feared a loss of potential recruits and servants. The Spanish king and the bureaucracy feared a massive reduction in the tax base. So nothing got done.

However, on this Q6 low mana world a highly charismatic Nun has become a campion of the cause of letting the poor Catholics of Spain emigrate to the Spanish King's American realms. The Cabal favors the Emigration Campaign. The Cabal hopes to use the large new Spanish population will give them cover to steal the secrets of the native cultures of this world's Latin America. Meanwhile, Centrum fears that a richer and more economically developed Latin America (the rigid hierarchy of Latin America's colonial society greatly slowed development in Latin America) would not be good for Britain. Homeline hopes that a fight between the Cabal and Centrum might allow their agents a chance to gain valuable insights into both organizations.

Basically, Swashbuckling espionage in Spain, Portugal, the Spanish Main, and the high seas.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

The Shroud Worlds

These three worlds are a tightly wound skerry. Because of it's odd configuration, the most easily accessible of the three worlds has been designated Shroud-Zero. It's an ordinary near-echo of Homeline, currently at 1999.

Shrouds 1 and 2 are accessible from Shroud-Zero (+5 to Parachronic Operations rolls to access from Shroud-Zero, -5 from other timelines). There are a number of natural connections between the three worlds, mostly unknown to the natives. They allow the worlds to be accessed in sequence - Zero-One-Two. Analysis indicates more worlds may be in the skerry.

The Shroud in the term "Shroud Worlds" is an interstellar dust cloud. It never showed in the skies of Shroud-Zero, but was first spotted by astronomers in the other two in 1939. Up to this point, all available evidence indicates that the three worlds had an identical history. After this point, they continued to follow identical paths except for this astronomical phenomenon until 1939.

The dust cloud first changed history in Shrouds 1 and 2 in 1947, when Polaris was blotted out. The stars of the northern hemisphere were gradually swallowed in darkness. Then in 1948, the solar system was enveloped in the cloud. For two years, the sun's output was cut by 80%, the moon was a red swirling mass (the cloud giving it a Very Thin atmosphere and wind storms), and Earth's biosphere suffered. Civilization fragmented and the population was reduced massively (due to the scale of the disaster, record-keeping was not a priority). These were "The Dark Years".

After two years, the cloud moved on, and within a year the stars of the southern hemisphere had reappeared. But it took a decade for the biosphere to recover, and glaciation had restarted during the Dark Years. Humanity's population was massively reduced, and civilization held on by a thread.

In the current year 1999, the world's population has grown to an estimated one billion in the civilized territories. But few nations touch each other, with wilderness separating them. The wilderness is full on unknown tribes, strange events, and relics of the previous civilization. Old maps (the few left) are unreliable, and the peoples of the region are largely savages. Contact between nations is a combination of shortwave radio and airship travel. Coastal cities find their bays now shallower with the glaciation and are less usable, so sea travel is minimal.

Shrouds 1 and 2 are close parallels to each other, almost identical. Most of the population have counterparts on both worlds. A sizble number have counterparts on Shroud-Zero. But Shroud 2 underwent massive mutation during the Dark Years, with only a fraction of the population still physically human. Shroud 2 talks about "The Twelve Races", the assorted forms the population has mutated into. (A traveler from Shroud-1 to Shroud-2 would find a parody of his own world, filled with inhuman creatures, one of which may be himself!) The wilderness and ocean are full of monsters, animals and people mutated during the Dark Years. How the two Shroud Worlds manage to remain close parallels is one of those things that drive cliodynamicists to do hard drugs.

Shroud-Zero is the same Tech Level as any echo at 1999, but 1 and 2 are TL 5+2, with slow development. Electronics is at a 1960's level, with vacuum tubes and transistors. The first satellite launch is scheduled for next year. The civilized regions can be considered Dieselpunk/Atomic Horror, while the uncivilized territories could be considered Cliffhangers/Post-Apocalypse.

In addition, Shrouds 1 and 2 have alien outposts on the Moon and Earth. They appear to be abandoned, but they also have a tendency to move when no one's looking. It's theorized that aliens had accompanied the dust cloud and set up outposts during the Dark Years. Both Infinity and the locals want to get a look at these "Lost Cities".


(The races of Shroud 2 haven't been filled in so the GMs can give it their own flavor.)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2

Analysis indicates more worlds may be in the skerry.

The Myth Parallels division of Parachronic Laboratories are pretty sure there's at least one more, where the gas cloud is sapient.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by johndallman

The Myth Parallels division of Parachronic Laboratories are pretty sure there's at least one more, where the gas cloud is sapient.

I remember that story! I haven't read it in about forty years though. Excellent stuff for it's day.

[thorr-kan]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Basically, Swashbuckling espionage in Spain, Portugal, the Spanish Main, and the high seas.

Zorro Meets the Three Musketeers!

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by thorr-kan

Zorro Meets the Three Musketeers!

Pretty much, but toss in the Manuscript Found in Saragossa and Aguirre the Wrath of God (but please remember the latter is a comedy, pitch black, but a comedy).