New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Silverland

In this Q6 Low Mana parallel Great Britain's navy captured Argentina after a clumsy French invasion. The locals, sick of the Spanish monarchy took the side of the French revolutionary fleet. Britain kept control of Buenos Aires. Between 1750 and 1850, Britain rarely let go of an important port captured in war.

After the defeat of Napoleon Spain, realizing that they had lost all of South America, and that the British would no more return Argentina than they would Gibraltar, sold Argentina to Britain. Spain was deeply insulted, but they figured the cash was better than nothing.

Were the Irish went to America, and the English working classes and poor went to Australia, the Welsh got Argentina. It worked after a fashion. By 1857 English was more common in daily speech than Spanish and multiple areas of Argentina were Welsh speaking.

The Dominion of Argentina was more independent in its actions than Australia or Canada. Still they were largely loyal.

The wheat of Argentina went to Britain in WWI. Argentinian troops fought for Britain throughout WWII. But after the war they were friendly mainly with America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. And they focused on industrial development.

This alternate Argentina provided no refuge to Nazis. Not having a Peronist economic policy, this Argentina is as economically developed as many European countries. This has also led to far greater economic development of the rest of South America.

Centrum wants to control this Argentina. Meanwhile, the existence of this Argentina is deeply offensive to Homeline Argentine people. This requires the ICOPS to stay busy keeping two sets of people from spilling the beans on the Secret.

Meanwhile, the Cabal is flying under the radar. They are busy all over South America. What are they looking for? And why are they getting Miguel Serrano to help them look for flying Sorcerers?

( That last isn't a typo) ;-)

[Astromancer]

Stewart-7

In this Q6 Low Mana parallel Mary II of England had a healthy son. Thus the crown of England was joined to the Stadholder of the Netherlands. Creating an Anglo-Dutch superstate.

The child was christened Arthur, and after William III death became King Arthur of England, Scotland, and Ireland. As well as Stadholder of the Netherlands. The Nine Years War and the War of Spanish Succession tracked pretty much the same basic courses as in Homeline's history. But as Arthur matured he worked on making his realms stable and prosperous. He encouraged settlement in America, personally paying to help many poor British and Irish people settle there, while also encouraging many continental Europeans to settle as well.

Both Arthur and his eldest son, Arthur II, encouraged wide franchises in the American colonies. Arthur plainly stated that he meant to make America a poultice to drawl "democratical poisons" out of Europe.

The local year is 1765. The population of the British colonies in America is seven millions. Pennsylvania has been allowed to both abolish the Slave Trade and slavery itself. Both initiatives pushed by one Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia. New York is agitating to build a canal to link the Hudson with the Great Lakes. Absurd, but it might keep them busy.

More later

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Stewart-7

In this Q6 Low Mana parallel Mary II of England had a healthy son. Thus the crown of England was joined to the Stadholder of the Netherlands. Creating an Anglo-Dutch superstate.

The child was christened Arthur, and after William III death became King Arthur of England, Scotland, and Ireland. As well as Stadholder of the Netherlands. The Nine Years War and the War of Spanish Succession tracked pretty much the same basic courses as in Homeline's history. But as Arthur matured he worked on making his realms stable and prosperous. He encouraged settlement in America, personally paying to help many poor British and Irish people settle there, while also encouraging many continental Europeans to settle as well.

Both Arthur and his eldest son, Arthur II, encouraged wide franchises in the American colonies. Arthur plainly stated that he meant to make America a poultice to drawl "democratical poisons" out of Europe.

The local year is 1765. The population of the British colonies in America is seven millions. Pennsylvania has been allowed to both abolish the Slave Trade and slavery itself. Both initiatives pushed by one Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia. New York is agitating to build a canal to link the Hudson with the Great Lakes. Absurd, but it might keep them busy.

More later

I had once come up with a worldline Orange, where the Dutch were even more successful in the war of independence, liberating all of the Low Countries. William of Orange ascended to the British throne in the 'Glorious Union', and he & Mary had children, cementing the Anglo-Dutch Empire.

There was later an independent 'New American Union' of states like New England & New Sweden - and, most importantly, the dynamic city of New Amsterdam.

[fchase8]

I did a GURPS Infinite Worlds write-up of Dixie-3, as featured in both Infinite Worlds & GURPS Alternate Earths.

Here's the Infinite Worlds blurb on Dixie-3 (minus the Dixie-2 mentions):

Dixie-3 (Q6, current year 1937) diverges at Gettysburg. Both the CSA and U.S. are poor, corrupt satellites of European powers. High TL6.

[fchase8]

Dixie-3, 1937

Current Affairs: European powers dominate the world, with poor, corrupt American satellites.
Divergence Point: 1863; A costly win for Lee at Gettysburg.
Major Civilizations: Western (multipolar), Japanese (empire)
Great Powers: British Empire (limited representative democracy, CR4, CR5 in colonies), German Empire (dictatorship, CR4, CR5 in colonies), French Empire (limited representative democracy, CR4, CR5 in colonies), Russian Empire (dictatorship, CR5), Japanese Empire (dictatorship, CR4, CR5 in colonies), United States of America (oligarchy, CR4), Confederate States of America (oligarchy, CR4, CR5 for non-whites)
Worldline Data:
TL: 6 (high)
Quantum: 6 Mana Level: none
Infinite Class: P8 Centrum Zone: Orange

While General Robert E. Lee was victorious at Gettysburg, it took much to achieve it, and he couldn’t deliver his hoped-for follow-up blow. However, it also prevented any Union advance; Lee may have cursed Richmond for diverting resources to lift the siege of Vicksburg, but that probably saved the Confederacy.
And brought Abraham Lincoln’s defeat in the subsequent election. President George B. McClellan had swore to keep fighting, and for that he needed money - as did the CSA. They looked to rich Europe, whose gold kept the war going until 1867, when draft & race riots forced both exhausted parties to sue for peace.

[fchase8]

To the Banker, the Spoils
Instead of a rebounding, victorious Union, the two nations emerged crippled and in debt to Europe. Presidential victories by Salmon P. Chase and Lee led to virtual one-party states, always tarring any opposition as aligned with the enemy. Berlin’s limited success in the Franco-Prussian War brought the founding of Germany (if not the fall of Napoleon III), and a new source of loans & influence in the Americas, as Europe spread its authority over all.
And that situation has remained, nearly three-quarters of a century since Gettysburg. The empires of London, Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere (including Tokyo, stretching to Alaska & Hawaii) balance against each other, but never tip into full-scale warfare. The bloody Crimean & American wars, and desultory U.S./CSA conflicts that have followed, proved the high cost of industrialized warfare - as well as the dangers of universal suffrage (despite protests and more).
Still, the great domains rub against each other, from their African colonies to Asian spheres of influence to American puppets. The last of those are in hock to Europe & their own monopolies, for the armies to constantly fight with each other, armies they can’t afford. And likely all still will be dragged into the inevitable European industrial war, when the shifting thrones finally come crashing down - hopefully before nukes appear…

Outworld Operations
Infinity is faced with two big issues: the push for democracy and threat of world war. From no universal suffrage in Europe to the political & economic monopolies of the Americas, not to mention all the colonies, Dixie-3 has stalled on the road to freedom. Agents support those working for a better world, while trying to keep it from veering into terrorism & revolution.
But the thornier task is the giant twentieth century world war that is coming - and some Homeliners say should come. For it might require the great thrones fighting each other for their empires to fall, and true democracy to arrive. And perhaps it would be better for the war to come soon, as scientists here are getting dangerously close to splitting the atom.
While thankfully lacking in much crosstime tourist appeal, Dixie-3 is another front in the dimensional war, developed and English-speaking. Interworld is naturally supporting the British Empire (little of Homeline’s American interest), with their own plans for a hierarchical London to come out on top of this world’s World War (and Centrum ruling from behind the scenes).

[Astromancer]

Aeolus-2

This Q6 Low Mana parallel was visited by either a world jumper or a time traveler, it's still undecided which. It looks as if the trip was involuntary and one way. But the traveler left his mark.

In most parallels like Homeline, windmills are generally invented in ninth century Persia. However the traveler built several windmills in Italy circa 250BCE. Watermills were actually uncommon in the Ancient Mediterranean basin because of lack of suitable streams to power the mill. Although some Roman watermills were truly spectacular. But sites suitable for windmills are far more common, especially near the coasts or high in the hills.

The technology of the windmill spread fairly quickly. Grinding grain was always a massive chore. Wherever people ate bread, they needed flour. Constant exposure to windmills led the Romans to explore mechanics. In most parallels mechanics weren't all that interesting to the practical Romans. But on Aeolus-2 windmills provided a useful source of energy to power machines. Which led to the Romans exploring Greek mechanical devices and reworking them for practical uses.

The present year equates to 120CE. Hadrian is on the throne. Rome is going through an economic boom. The use of windmills to power bellows has led to cheaper and better metals. The Gauls, who invented a mechanical reaper before Caesar even visited Gaul, have developed a wheeled plow and the horsecollar.
Grain production is booming. The northern plains, of what on Homeline is France, have become a new breadbasket. Britannia is quickly following suit.

The Tech Level isn't four, yet.

Centrum wants to take this world over and manage it. For the locals own good of course. Homeline and the Cabal want this world left alone to develop its own wonders. Besides, both Homeline and the Cabal find this world profitable to visit.

[Astromancer]

New Tortuga

This Q6 Low Mana parallel has recently diverged. Due to the "Nine Years War" being far more brutal and destabilizing than in Homeline's history, the Brethren of the Coast have undergone a change. They've become more organized and claimed land.

The land the Pirates have claimed is not found on Homeline or most similar parallels. It's a Wales sized island about 10° south of the equator and right on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. For some reason the Spanish ignored this island and the pirates set up shop. With it's excellent supplies of water, naval stores, game, arable land, it meets all the pirate's needs. Further bonus the island has several features that make it a natural fortress.

The Pirates always attracted rowdies and radicals. Now they have the opportunity to build their vision.

It's a twisted swashbuckler setting. The Utopian Pirate Republic versus the world. "Shiver me social structure!"

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

New Tortuga

The land the Pirates have claimed is not found on Homeline or most similar parallels. It's a Wales sized island about 10° south of the equator and right on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. For some reason the Spanish ignored this island and the pirates set up shop

You may want to move it a bit southeast. Look for James Cheshire's map of colonial trade routes and see that big south Atlantic triangle none of them go through? There's a reason St Helena was picked as the most isolated place in the world to stick Napoleon the second time, the prevaling winds make it *hard* to sail there from, well anywhere but especially Europe. At 10S on the ridge you're just a little south of Ascension Island, which isn't quite so isolated (though you do still need to cross the intertropical convergence (aka Equatorial doldroms), so it's not exactly convenient.

On the other hand, this cuts both ways, even for your location. It's inconveniently placed for a pirate haven [because] it is so far from, and has lousy winds to get to, anything worth stealing.

[Astromancer]

Australia-8

This Q6 Low Mana parallel seems to have had a highly similar history until the early modern period. However the divergence must have been a billion years ago. This world has nan alternate Australia. This "Australia" is larger than Homeline's Australia and further south. It's well watered soils are rich and fertile. It has a vast interior bay that brings seaports deep into its interior. Its vast rivers are deep and navigable.

More later I must go