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Such a heartfelt, closure-bringing update! ...right up until Wilhelm's segment. That's worrying.
Did you really think I was going to leave this update without addressing the elephant in the room? Or rather, the Worm in the room?
I figured the Worm would make an appearance. After all, you can’t just title this story “ouroborus” and use the quote “what was, shall be” and not expect the Worm to show up.
Edit: I’ve tried to get a link to the original discussion so you can check to see what I mean, but for some reason I can’t seem to get the link to work, so if you need to see clarification and lore reminders I’ll just quote the discussion instead. In the meantime, you can check the discussion from pages #129 &128 for the Roman stance on Irreligion.
I don’t even know how to embed links to individual specific posts on mobile, so if I do need to do that I’ll have switch away from a mobile device to a computer for a bit. So I’m wondering how do I embed a link to an individual post on mobile?
If that’s the case, what headcanon do you have for the end game crises, like the Unbidden or the Prytheon Scourge? I can see the Unbidden being a multiversal threat, but I’m so sure about the Sourge, unless they are fleeing from a greater threat across the multiverse (it’s canon to Stellaris lore that the Scourge are themselves refugees trying to escape a greater threat casing them), maybe it would have something to do with the Worm? Also, where would the End of the Cycle event fit in all this? Maybe it would be event that would signal the termination of a universe?
I see. So if there’s a “New Atheism” movement (through to keep more consent with the lore discussion @spendabuck had with you about Roman Religion many pages ago, it should be a New Deism movement instead) what would Christopher Hitchens be like here? I understand if you don’t want any more direct analogues for specific figures from OTL, but I imagine someone like Hitchens should be a moderate Agnostic (or even Cultural Christian) that would be opposed to any and all forms of religions extremism, particularly from Mexicayaotl and the Religious Right.
Edit: I’ve tried to get a link to the original discussion so you can check to see what I mean, but for some reason I can’t seem to get the link to work, so if you need to see clarification and lore reminders I’ll just quote the discussion instead. In the meantime, you can check the discussion from pages #129 &128 for the Roman stance on Irreligion.
I don’t even know how to embed links to individual specific posts on mobile, so if I do need to do that I’ll have switch away from a mobile device to a computer for a bit. So I’m wondering how do I embed a link to an individual post on mobile?
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To be honest, maybe Ouroboros gave it away immediately.I figured the Worm would make an appearance. After all, you can’t just title this story “ouroborus” and use the quote “what was, shall be” and not expect the Worm to show up.
I haven't set anything in stone yet. I'm thinking of keeping the Scourge's canon as it is in vanilla, but maybe there will be hints this is not the first time they visited our galaxy (which may break canon). Again, I haven't decided on anything yet since I'm now working on the next story arc, this is just an idea I had a while ago. As for the Unbidden, they also keep a similar canon, but I want them to be the same group of Unbidden that attacked the Annionaverse. Ideally I'd have them attack after the point in time in which they attacked the Annionaverse, so I can throw in some references there. I'm not going to do the End of the Cycle and won't let any other empire do it (am still thinking about disabling the psionics branches altogether), so I haven't come up with any ideas about it. The Shroud will still be involved, even if I don't go psionic, but I'm still working on ideas.
I don't know about Christopher Hitchens, but he'd probably be a moderate agnostic as you say.
I don't know how to link on mobile, because I can never get this website to work on mobile. The scrolling doesn't even work so I can't do anything.
Two in One, Part 1
Arcadia Cafe and Bar, Downtown Konstanstadt - June 26, 2011, 6:00 PM
Erich didn’t touch his steak or tea much. He wasn’t that hungry at the moment. He was more focused on the old man sitting across from him. Schulz eagerly dug into his gyro, washing it down with some ice water.
“So, tell me again,” Schulz said, “I’m your boss on your side?”
“You were,” Erich said.
“What did I do?” Schulz said. “What was my job?”
“Mostly paperwork,” Erich said.
“Seriously?” Schulz said. “It’s the Athanatoi. I would’ve thought I’d be doing cool spy stuff, like your daughter said.”
“Angie tends to exaggerate what she does in her career,” Erich said, “And the Athanatoi isn’t the same as the terrorists you know here.”
“Of course,” Schulz said.
“Where did things change?” Erich said.
“What did you mean?” Schulz said.
“Why are you a taxi driver?” Erich said. “The other you was a bureaucrat, a high-ranking one. And I’m, well, still alive. Why did the other me die?”
“Did you fight in Lindi?” Schulz said.
“What’s a Lindi?” Erich said.
“A place in Africa where we fought a long war against communism which we shouldn’t have fought in the first place,” Schulz said.
“We had a war like that,” Erich said, “It was fought in Siam.”
“My brother protested the war,” Schulz said, “He burned his draft card. But me, you, and Mark, we signed up, enlisted right out of high school.”
“On our side, you protested the war,” Erich said, “Your brother was my commanding officer.”
“So we doing regular patrols on the Niger River,” Schulz said.
“We were ordered to take this old Buddhist temple up the Chao Praya River,” Erich said, “The enemy was encamped there with a large weapons cache we were supposed to destroy.”
“The Malians ambushed our boat,” Schulz said, “They were everywhere.”
“Karl ambushed our helicopters,” Erich said, “We couldn’t see them, but they could see us. They knew we were coming.”
“They hit the engine,” Schulz said, “We were dead in the water.”
“They shot us out of the sky,” Erich said, “Your brother died instantly.”
“Mark was shot in the leg,” Schulz said, “Your gun jammed.”
“I was disoriented by the crash,” Erich said, “Mark was shot right in front of me. The boy who killed him was probably just ten or something. I had to shoot him.”
“You jumped off the boat and repaired the engine,” Schulz said, “You were shot several times.”
“Director Frank saved us,” Erich said, “Led us to safety.”
“You saved us,” Schulz said, “You got our boat out of there. But you bled out.”
Erich leaned back in his chair, processing what Schulz had just said.
“Where was I buried?” Erich asked.
“The Imperial War Heroes Cemetery in Vienna,” Schulz said, “Full honors. And me?”
“Next to your brother,” Erich said, “Mitte National Cemetery in Berlin. Full honors.”
“Looks like we have a lot in common,” Schulz said, “We ended up the same, did we?”
“Only you’re a taxi driver and I’m not,” Erich said.
“There aren’t many opportunities for veterans today,” Schulz said, “Our pensions barely cover our expenses. My job barely supports me and my brother.”
“What about Mark?” Erich said.
“Mark?” Schulz said. “He’s doing fine. Lives in his son’s home a few blocks down from me.”
“Can I visit him?” Erich said. “And your brother?”
“Doesn’t this, like, break a lot of rules?” Schulz said. “I can’t imagine how hard it was getting this conversation approved.”
“I’ll figure something out,” Erich said, “Just see if they can talk.”
Schulz thought for a moment.
“I’ll think about it,” he said.
Rural Westphalia, the Reich
A truck driver piloted his big rig through the evening on an unlit, undivided two-lane highway. Alert and singing along with the music on the CD he selected, the electronics in the vehicle suddenly went haywire and shorted out. All complex systems in the tractor ceased to function, and he coasted to a stop. In front of the big rig, a handful of passenger vehicles seemed to have suffered the same fate. As he hopped out of the cab, loose metal objects inside levitated briefly and then fell to the ground. Confused, he approached the other stranded motorists, all trying to figure out what was going on.
“Yeah, I can’t explain it…”
“Another one here, just stopped working…”
“Oh yeah, just the lights went out, and then…just stopped…”
“Hey, check it out! Do you see that?”
“What is that? Over there.”
“We got another…”
“What the hell?” the truck driver said.
A commercial jetliner passed overhead, dangerously low, and then slammed into the forest several miles away, the fireball climbing into the night sky. Everybody gasped. Then their engines restarted and lights came back on.
9:00 PM
The team got out of their vehicles and approached Kurtz and his agents on the rural highway. Diana got out her phone.
“I’ll get Walter online,” she said.
“Welcome to Westphalia,” Kurtz said.
“Thanks,” Angela said, “What brings us here?”
“Romanwings Flight 591 was passing overhead when a disturbance occurred mid-flight,” Kurtz said, “It appears their electrical and hydraulic systems failed.”
Diana put down her phone. “I can't seem to reach him.”
“Any survivors?” Anders asked.
“None,” Kurtz said, “ITSB is currently working the crash site about two miles south of here.”
Diana made another call. “Walter?”
“But we think whatever caused the crash originated in this location,” Kurtz said.
“On what basis?” Diana said.
“Approximately three hours ago, every vehicle on this specific stretch of highway inexplicably lost power for several minutes,” Kurtz said.
“Well, it could just be radio interference,” Angela said, “Are there any high-frequency radio towers around?”
“None,” Kurtz said, “That wouldn't explain some of the stranger events described by witnesses. Objects suspended in midair…"
“Walter, are you getting this?” Diana said. “Can you hear me? Walter…"
Walter appeared from behind her. “For God's sake, lower your decibels!”
Everybody stared at Walter.
“You're here, in person,” Diana said.
“I thought it was a nice day for a drive,” Walter said, “Well, let's get started, shall we?”
Anna and Olga appeared from their car and walked over to them.
“Well done convincing him to leave the lab,” Angela said.
“Don't look at me,” Anna said, “This was her idea.”
“No, it was his,” Olga said.
“He finally got over the board vote, did he?” Anders said.
“Appears so,” Anna said.
Walter pulled a hubcap off a car.
“Look at this,” he said.
“Walter, what are you doing?” Anders said. “This car belongs to someone.”
“Just watch.” Walter threw the hubcap at another car, and it stuck to the side.
“It's magnetized,” Angela said.
“As I suspected,” Walter said, “I didn't think those levitating effects the witnesses described were the result of a change in gravity. On the contrary, it seems for a brief moment, the electromagnetic force in this area was increased dramatically.”
“Which is why all of the cars' electrical systems failed... and probably the plane's as well,” Anders said.
“And it was strong enough to leave a residual magnetic force in all metal objects in the vicinity,” Walter said, pulling on the stuck hubcap in vain.
“Do you have any idea what caused it?” Kurtz said.
“No,” Walter said, “Not yet. I'll need to take some samples before I can develop a proper theory. Um, but I will require some of the plane's wreckage and the black box.”
“Go ahead and collect whatever evidence you need here,” Kurtz said, “Agent Frank and I will coordinate with ITSB to take custody of the wreckage and the bodies.”
“I’ll see you soon,” Diana said.
She and Kurtz walked away.
“While they're collecting the samples, just down the road, I saw a sign for a place that serves delicious homemade rhubarb pie,” Walter said, “Who's hungry?”
Westenfeld - 9:30 PM
Angela drove past the “Welcome to Westenfeld” sign and into the dark and sleepy town. As advertised several miles up the road, the pie shop was open for business. It appeared to be the only one in town.
“‘The Best in Westenfeld’,” Walter read, “You see?”
Anders checked her phone. “Frak.”
“What's up?” Anna said.
“I can’t get a signal,” Anders said, looking at a payphone, “I’ll try that payphone, see if I can get an update from Di. We may have to get the rhubarb to go.”
“Alright,” Anna said, “We'll meet you in there.”
“Sure,” Anders said.
He headed to the payphone.
“You guys want anything?” Anna asked.
“I’m good,” Angela said, “I’ll wait here.”
“I’m not hungry,” Olga said.
“Suits you,” Anna said.
She and Walter entered the shop. The owner, a large man with a modest beard, smiled when he noticed them.
“Come on in out of the heat,” he said, “Have a seat at the counter. What can I get for you?”
Walter and Anna sat at the counter.
“Your largest slice of rhubarb pie and coffee, please,” Walter said.
“Alright,” the owner said, "And for you, ma’am?”
“Just the bathroom,” Anna said.
The owner pointed down the hall. “Uh, it's in the back there, first door on your right.”
“Thanks,” Anna said, heading down the hall.
“So where you folks from?” the owner said, pouring a cup of coffee.
“Strasburg,” Walter said.
“Ah, it's a lovely city,” the owner said, “Got an uncle out there. Your first time in Westphalia?”
“Are we in Westphalia?” Walter said. "I had no idea."
“What, you folks lost?” the owner said.
“Not that I'm aware of,” Walter said.
“Well, how does a man drive from Strasburg to Westphalia and not even know he's there?” the owner said.
“Oh, I'm not allowed to drive,” Walter said, “I haven't renewed my license since I got out of the mental institution. My daughter drives.”
The owner looked at him, waiting for a punch line. Then he realized there was none coming and laughed anyways.
“You know what?” he said. “I like you. Pie's on the house.”
“Oh, thank you,” Walter said.
Outside, Anders found his way to the payphone. He tried the phone, but it was inoperative. Angela noticed one of the cars on the curb was open and unattended. Olga checked her watch. Back inside, Anna left the bathroom and headed back up the hall to the counter, but she stopped when she heard a groan coming from the pantry. At the counter, the owner clutched his head, as if in slight discomfort.
“Hey, looks like we got you some coffee,” he said, “How’s your evening going?”
“Excellent,” Walter said, "And yours?”
“Just fine,” the owner said, “So what can I get for you?”
“Pardon?” Walter said.
“What do you want to order?” the owner said.
“But... but I ordered a moment ago,” Walter said.
“This is my busiest shift,” the owner said, “Do you want to order or not?”
“But I did,” Walter said, “I ordered rhubarb pie. And you even said it was on the house.”
The owner glared at him. “Are you trying to steal food?”
“No, of course not,” Walter said.
“Nobody steals from me,” the owner said, “Not you, not Georg, nobody. You hear me, old man?”
“I hear you,” Walter said, "I hear you perfectly well.”
“Oh,” the owner said, suddenly upbeat instead of enraged, “Still got to get you that pie. Must've forgot. I'm sorry about that.”
Anna opened the door to the pantry and found a dead woman hung from the ceiling. Lying on the floor was a badly injured man bleeding from his arm.
“Please…” he gasped.
At the counter, the owner handed Walter a slice of rhubarb pie.
“And there you go,” he said, “Anything else I can get for you?”
“No,” Walter said, “Thank you very much.”
“You're very welcome,” the owner said, “Wait a minute.”
He grabbed a knife and lunged at Walter, but Olga shot him in the head. He fell to the floor. Anna, Anders, and Angela rushed to the counter and surrounded Walter.
“I'm okay!” Anna said.
“What happened?” Anders said.
“I don't know, but there's a guy in the back room,” Anna said, “I think the cook attacked him. He's pretty beat up.”
Walter looked at the dead owner. He reached down and checked his intact right eye, finding it had two irises. Angela rushed to the pantry and checked the injured man.
“Pulse pressure's weak,” she said, “Probably as a result of the puncture in the arm. An inch more to the right, it would've hit his brachial artery.”
Anders looked up from behind the counter. “I just found another body behind the counter.”
“What are we thinking, serial killer?” Olga said.
“I don't know,” Anders said, “I mean, I think there's something off about this entire town.”
“Meaning what?” Anna said.
“The whole place is deserted,” Anders said, “I can't get a cell signal. The phone lines are down.”
“Do I take that to mean we can't call for an ambulance?” Angela said.
“What, you can't treat him here?” Anna said.
“Well, he's lost too much blood,” Angela said, “Unless he is administered fluid, resuscitation, and a blood transfusion immediately, he may not make it.”
“Well, the nearest hospital is twenty miles away,” Anders said.
Angela wrapped a rag around the man’s arm.
“Then let’s move,” she said, “Grab his feet.”
Anders, Anna, and Olga helped Angela carry the man out of the pantry and to their car, while Walter quickly finished his rhubarb pie and ran after them.
9:45 PM
Anna drove as fast as she could down the road. The “Leaving Westenfeld” sign passed them and disappeared into the fog. In the back, Angela attended to the man’s wounds. He groaned and opened his eyes.
“Where am I?” he said.
“You've sustained some injuries,” Angela said, “We're going to get you to a hospital.”
“No,” the man said, “No, we can't leave. We, we can't leave.”
“You're going to be alright,” Angela said, “Stay with us. What's your name?”
“Georg Hermann,” the man said.
They passed the “Welcome to Westenfeld” sign and headed into town.
“Wait, what?” Anna said. “Did you see that?”
“Yeah, you must've gotten turned around someplace,” Anders said, “You just got to stay on the main road. It takes you right back to the highway.”
“I thought I did,” Anna said.
They turned around and drove back the way they came, but they passed the sign again.
“What the hell is going on here?” Anna said.
“That's not possible,” Olga said.
“We can't leave,” Georg said, “We can't leave. We can't leave.”
“I think our friend's right,” Walter said, "We're trapped here.”
I was wondering what the major points of divergence were for China in this world? I believe the the few that I know of are the Jin and Song dynasty’s escaping the Mongols and going to North America and Australia establishing the Empires of Fusang and Penglai respectively, the Ming Dynasty specifically Zheng He’s voyages, and the final one I believe you said in a previous question on China I had you said China experienced something like the Meiji Restoration in 1868. I was also wondering if you based the Sinosphere off of the Anglosphere in that both Fusang and Penglai are historically linked to China and still cooperate together in political, diplomatic and military capacities similarly to the cooperation between the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? Finally I wanted to know if before you end of this part of the campaign if you plan on doing a summary of China's history in this world?
Technically, China only went through one point of divergence with a slightly different Mongol Empire steamrolling the Song and Jin and their courts managing to escape. But lately I've been toying with a new theory about points of divergence, mostly with respect to the Cybrex being the last canon precursors (with the implication that all Stellaris games have a point of divergence there), the ancient humans, their fall, and the split of the Hohenzollern and Anniona universes. There can be multiple points of divergence, but they can affect different parts of the galaxy/Earth. So the Cybrex point of divergence affects the civilizations that spawn in the galaxy on game start but not necessarily Earth history, which has its own points of divergence (in our case the Annionas rising to power instead of the Hohenzollerns centuries earlier). So in the context of China's history, since the Song and Jin exiles didn't make contact with the mainland for centuries and the mainland was relatively insulated from events elsewhere in Eurasia, history on the mainland remained very similar until the next point of divergence in the Ming emperors digging up old records and hearing rumors of the escape and not annihilation of the Song and Jin courts and deciding to look for them, leading to contact with the exiled empires and the Reich. The "Meiji Restoration" was more of a parallel than a point of divergence, since it's not really diverging from anything and it wouldn't make sense for China to suffer the Century of Humiliation without the underlying causes (British industrialization and imperialism, the Qing Dynasty's stagnation).
Sorry if I went on a tangent, but I just wanted to write that down and not forget to tell you about it later. To answer your other questions, the Sinosphere is a lot like the Anglosphere, only more tightly tied together in the Tianxia Alliance. In the 2020s chapters, there will be a "revival" of the Tianxia Alliance as China forms new alliances with its neighbors and stops blindly following the Reich into its overseas shenanigans (due to what will happen there in Chapter 455). I probably won't do a summary of China's history, because it's way too long and I already covered far more than necessary for this megacampaign. Remember that "Origins of Modernity" segment in EUIV about the Austronesian expansions through Maritime Southeast Asia...long before there even was a China? All to establish context for Penglai and the Tran Dynasty? Yeah...if I were to do another summary of China's history, I would have to restrain myself from starting even further back in the (alleged) Xia Dynasty and the aboriginal settlement of Australia/Penglai.
How else will you know they're so nice?
- 1
This new arc has some 'Hotel California' vibe to it. Though with supernatural and paranormal shenanigans involved me thinks
Since you said
It got me wondering what happened to Japan in this world? I know that Japan was being invaded by both Korea and Manchuria by 1600 and did not become independent again until 1950. I also wanted to know since Japan seemed to be a parallel to modern day Korea I was wondering how close the parallels are, like is "North Japan" so poor due to corruption that if you looked at a map of the Japanese Islands at night there would be no lights at all on, douse North Japan have the largest standing army, also is South Japan a modern industrial powerhouse, and is there something similar to the Korean Demilitarized Zone between the two Japan's?
And less social commentary on drug abuse in Hollywood. But then again Walter sort of fits that.This new arc has some 'Hotel California' vibe to it. Though with supernatural and paranormal shenanigans involved me thinks
I was aiming more at an India-Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship instead of Korea (which was supposed to be the UPM). North Japan would be slightly more industrialized and militarized since it's the Shogunate, while South Japan is more rural and traditional but catching up, and Ainu Mosir is most welcoming of foreign investment. There are border skirmishes sort of like the Kashmir situation. All countries have Roman and Chinese troops stationed in them, with the Romans mostly in North Japan and the Chinese in South Japan.
Two in One, Part 2
Constable’s office - 10:00 PM
Anna stopped in front of the abandoned building, and they got out, Anna and Angela carrying Georg up the steps while Anders and Olga checked the dark lobby with flashlights.
“Hello?” Anders said. “Athanatoi. Anyone here?”
“Put him down here, Anna,” Angela said, “His pulse is dropping. We need to start the blood transfusion immediately.”
They set Georg down on a table.
“With what, Angie?” Anna said.
“Uh, see if you can find a first-aid kit,” Angela said, "There might be an IV drip.”
“I'm O Negative, so I can donate,” Walter said.
While Anna went off in search for a first-aid kit, Anders checked behind the reception desk.
“Okay, the phones are out here too,” he said.
“Walter, why can't we leave?” Olga said. “Do you think it has to do with the highway?"
“I'm not sure,” Walter said, “I've seen this once before.”
“Where?” Angela said.
“Brigadoon,” Walter said, “The musical. Magical town in the forest where no one can leave. Of course, that quaint Caledonian village was more hospitable than our present locale.”
“Come on, Walter,” Anders said.
“I haven't formed a hypothesis at the moment,” Walter said.
Anna returned with a small box. “Found an IV kit.”
“Good,” Angela said, rolling up Walter’s arm, “Put pressure here. Prepare two needles.”
Anna helped set up the transfusion, and blood flowed from Walter into Georg.
“We're not safe here,” Georg said, "This town... everyone's crazy. It started three nights ago. My sister woke us up. She was frantic. She was so scared. A man had broken into her house. I tried calling the constable, but the phones were down, so I went over. When I got there, I found... her husband in the bedroom... shot in the head... point-blank.”
“The intruder killed him?” Anna said.
“Not the intruder,” Georg said, “Her. She said she'd never seen him before in her life. They’d been married for eighteen years.”
“So the effects are amnesic?” Angela said.
“Not exactly,” Georg said, “She was delusional, she was talking about people she'd never met... things she'd never done... children she didn't have. It was as if she was... having memories, all of a sudden, from someone else's life."
“The symptoms you are describing, it resembles schizophrenia,” Walter said, “I know it well.”
“Except it wasn't just her,” Georg said, “It was everyone.”
“So how can an entire town turn schizophrenic overnight?” Olga said.
“A biological contagion?” Anna said. "Maybe a virus that affects the human brain?”
“No known virus can do something on this scale,” Angela said.
“A virus doesn't explain why we drive out one side of town and right in the other,” Anders said.
“Oh, this is something else,” Walter said, “What else can you tell us about the symptoms?”
“Most got sick right away,” Georg said, “Others took longer, hours or a day. But it always started the same way. First, confusion, forgetting things... tremors. Some of them became paranoid. Others turned violent.”
“Like our friend at the diner,” Anna said.
“A few of us who are immune are holed up at the High School, including my wife and daughter,” Georg said, “That’s why I went to the diner, to get them food. They need supplies. But what they need most of all is hope. Knowing the Athanatoi is here might give them that.”
“Alright, we need to find a way to contact Kurtz and let him know what's going on,” Angela said.
“I did find some radios out back,” Anna said.
“I could try to send out a signal, but I'm gonna need an elevated place with a clear line of sight and something to boost the power,” Olga said.
“There is an emergency generator at the High School,” Georg said.
June 27, 2011, 6:00 AM
Angela, Anders, and Olga regrouped in the lobby, where Walter and Olga put away the first-aid kit and prepared Georg for transport. They checked their guns.
“What do you think?” Angela said.
“I think we'll need a few things first,” Olga said.
They went to the weapons locker in the back, and Olga forced it open. Normally, police stations and constable’s offices carried only small arms and batons, but Westphalia, like many rural western Länder, had looser laws on what weapons the police could own. They found two shotguns and several travel-friendly boxes of ammunition inside. They divided the ammunition boxes among each other, while Angela and Olga took the shotguns, Anders took a second pistol, and Anna took the last pistol. They also put on kevlar vests, just in case.
“You know, there's a military base about fifty miles from here,” Anders said.
“You think the military’s involved in this?” Angela said.
“I mean, something of this magnitude, a whole town?” Anders said. "Perhaps it was a military experiment gone wrong, like our older cases. Like Sentinel.”
They walked back to the lobby, where Georg was now on his feet and Walter nervously looked out the window.
“Oh, uh, now, now, I don't consider myself to be a violent man... per se, but given the danger of our, uh, present predicament, I think it would be best if I had one of those,” Walter said, pointing to Angela’s shotgun.
Anna tossed him a canister of pepper spray.
“Really?” Walter said.
Anna turned the can around in Walter’s hand. “Don’t shoot yourself.”
“Oh,” Walter said.
“Georg, you ever use a gun?” Angela said.
“I'm a teacher,” Georg said, “This isn’t one of those eastern Länder.”
Angela motioned to Anders, who handed his second pistol to Georg.
“Red button is safety,” she said,” Alright, let’s go.”
They stepped out of the office and onto the street. It was morning now, and the sun was just illuminating the town. However, the sky was overcast, and she couldn’t see the sun or anything in the sky. For that matter, she couldn’t make out individual clouds either. Her attention was drawn back to the ground when she heard odd noise emanating from an alley. She and Olga aimed their shotguns at the alley.
“What’s that?” Georg said.
A catatonic man wandered up the alley with a bloody doll in his hand. He walked past them without paying attention.
“We got to get out of this town,” Anna said.
Angela got in the car and tried the engine, but it didn’t start.
“Scheiße,” she cursed.
“It won't start,” Anders said, “The increase in electromagnetism that caused the cars to lose power on the highway must be present in this town too.”
“Well, it was working when we pulled in,” Olga said.
“Well, the effect must be intermittent,” Walter said, “We can wait, but we have no idea how long it will last.”
They walked up the street on foot. Angela and Olga walked in front, and Anders and Anna watched the back. Walter and Georg stayed in the middle.
“I see the resemblance,” Georg said.
“Pardon?” Walter said.
“Agent Hansen said their names were Humboldt, like yours,” Georg said, watching Anders and Anna monitor the street, “Your kids?”
“Yes,” Walter said.
Angela lowered her shotgun and slowed down, clutching her head.
“You alright?” Olga said.
“Yeah,” Angela said, “It's just my arm won't stop shaking. That's all.”
She suddenly felt dizzy and leaned against a store front to get her bearings.
“What's the matter?” Anders said.
“No, I'm okay,” Angela said, “It's just, I'm just a little bit dizzy.”
“You need some water?” Anna said.
“No,” Angela said, “I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like there was somebody else in my head. What’s happening to the townspeople, it might be happening to me.”
She handed her shotgun to Anders. “Take it before I go mad.”
I'm trying to find a page in this Megacampaign and would appreciate some help trying to find it. I do not know the name of the link but I do know it was about China and one of the headers under that link was called “Historical era”. I looked in every part of the campaign from “Uber Alles” part all the way to the “Fallen (to 1987)/Rising (from 1987) Phoenix” part and still could not find it. It looked like this if I remember correctly.
Historical era
Han Dynasty 202 BC – 220 AD
Jin 265 AD – 420 AD
Tang Dynasty 618 AD – 907 AD
Song Dynasty 960 AD – 1279 AD
Mongols Steamrole China 1205 AD – 1279 AD
Meiji Restoration 1868 AD
Historical era
Han Dynasty 202 BC – 220 AD
Jin 265 AD – 420 AD
Tang Dynasty 618 AD – 907 AD
Song Dynasty 960 AD – 1279 AD
Mongols Steamrole China 1205 AD – 1279 AD
Meiji Restoration 1868 AD
I'm ready for Walter to accidentally mace himself. I love him, but I'm ready for it.
Adding on to @GhostRider124’s points about China, in Vicky 2, didn’t leave some hints of evidence being found of Chinese influences on ancient Eimerican civilizations, like the Olmecs or Ancient/Classical Mayan, even before the Jin exodus to Fusang? Is that still canon, or the Chinese nationalists still the few people claiming Chinese influence on Eimerican civilizations besides Twantinsuyu?
I know you plan to only post summaries of Phase two of the MCU, but since you said you’d cover Guardians of the Galaxy in your cultural summaries and Thanos did appear there i’m wondering this; what do you think of OTL’s Infinity War’s characterizations of Thanos and how you would you develop him in TTL? I really liked Thanos in Infinity War like many fans did as well, I even consider his focus in Infinity War one of the reasons why I actually like Infinity War more overall than Endgame (through Endgame’s callbacks, climax and conclusion were amazing), so how much development would Thanos get in the Phase Two movies if he ever makes appearances in them? Also, perhaps Ultron would have more ties to Thanos in someway, maybe he could try to look for the Infinity Stones to go against Thanos and set out on his own vision (heh.) of bringing salvation to the universe. I also think Ultron should be a mix between Loki and Thanos’ plans and motivation, maybe he would want to become a benevolent ruler over earth and try to guide everyone into a bright new “age under his guidance (hence “Age of Ultron”) but would use very brutal means to do it? Just some thoughts I came up with.
I’m also wondering how you would characterize Darkseid in the DCCU? I think that Darkseid would have changes from his Comic version, much like how the MCU changed Thanos’ motivation from the comics to make him more sympathetic. Plus, I think making the overarching villain of the DCCU complex like Thanos would be a good idea. What are your thoughts?
I’ll try to elaborate more on my ideas for the main villains of these cinematic universes later on, but till then I hope you like the ideas I came up with.
I know you plan to only post summaries of Phase two of the MCU, but since you said you’d cover Guardians of the Galaxy in your cultural summaries and Thanos did appear there i’m wondering this; what do you think of OTL’s Infinity War’s characterizations of Thanos and how you would you develop him in TTL? I really liked Thanos in Infinity War like many fans did as well, I even consider his focus in Infinity War one of the reasons why I actually like Infinity War more overall than Endgame (through Endgame’s callbacks, climax and conclusion were amazing), so how much development would Thanos get in the Phase Two movies if he ever makes appearances in them? Also, perhaps Ultron would have more ties to Thanos in someway, maybe he could try to look for the Infinity Stones to go against Thanos and set out on his own vision (heh.
) of bringing salvation to the universe. I also think Ultron should be a mix between Loki and Thanos’ plans and motivation, maybe he would want to become a benevolent ruler over earth and try to guide everyone into a bright new “age under his guidance (hence “Age of Ultron”) but would use very brutal means to do it? Just some thoughts I came up with.I’m also wondering how you would characterize Darkseid in the DCCU? I think that Darkseid would have changes from his Comic version, much like how the MCU changed Thanos’ motivation from the comics to make him more sympathetic. Plus, I think making the overarching villain of the DCCU complex like Thanos would be a good idea. What are your thoughts?
I’ll try to elaborate more on my ideas for the main villains of these cinematic universes later on, but till then I hope you like the ideas I came up with.
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Thanks. I was looking through the for lack of a better word extra chapters like “The Origins of Modernity” in "Uber Alles" and the “The World in 2000” chapters in “Fallen (to 1987)/Rising (from 1987) Phoenix”.
I'll leave them as implications for now, because that opens up a can of worms about pre-Columbian transoceanic contact I don't want to get into. Maybe the Chinese nationalists still promote this idea.
Actually, since the final product was about 99% the same as OTL, the only major difference being Peter Quill's mother dying in a Soviet missile strike, I might just drop the Guardians of the Galaxy summary. I'm going to drop Ant-Man as well because the only thing I changed was adding in an Agents of Shield/Agent Carter subplot. As for Thanos, the remaining summaries won't feature him at all (aside from some hints in Thor 2 and the post-credits scene of Age of Ultron), so I didn't do much characterization. By the way, I haven't seen Endgame yet, so I don't know the full scope of his character (the current noncanon "Endgame" summary is still just one line about the ThanoscopterI know you plan to only post summaries of Phase two of the MCU, but since you said you’d cover Guardians of the Galaxy in your cultural summaries and Thanos did appear there i’m wondering this; what do you think of OTL’s Infinity War’s characterizations of Thanos and how you would you develop him in TTL? I really liked Thanos in Infinity War like many fans did as well, I even consider his focus in Infinity War one of the reasons why I actually like Infinity War more overall than Endgame (through Endgame’s callbacks, climax and conclusion were amazing), so how much development would Thanos get in the Phase Two movies if he ever makes appearances in them? Also, perhaps Ultron would have more ties to Thanos in someway, maybe he could try to look for the Infinity Stones to go against Thanos and set out on his own vision (heh.
). I like your ideas about Ultron. He is actually introduced a couple movies earlier, in Iron Man 3 as one of Tony's AIs, but is improved with the help of Hank Pym to mirror his comics origin (I moved Ant-Man to right before Age of Ultron). Ultron begins his rampage by attacking random cities based on which nations committed the most atrocities and war crimes (the list skews heavily to the Reich for obvious reasons) and then targets Tony and the Avengers as being the worst war criminals. Everything escalates from there. This is part of Ultron's twisted logic that by eliminating the worst of humanity he can rule over the remains. As for searching for the Infinity Stones, he is unaware of the others and is focused on fighting the Avengers.
Honestly, I only focused on Phase 1 of the DCCU (Wonder Woman and Aquaman might be abandoned because the Aquaman summary is too short and the Wonder Woman summary is the same, only set in World War II and with even more historical characters dying anachronistically), with Phase 2 and 3 just lists of titles. Darkseid is indeed the Thanes-Like villain of the DCCU, and the New Gods are hinted at in Superman's prologue and the Flash and Green Lantern movie. I'm not sure about making him sympathetic, because my current draft of Justice League (based on Justice League: War) has him sending parademons to assimilate humans into an army. I haven't done much with Darkseid as I was focusing on character development for the Justice League.
Yeah, I thought I made those special updates outside of the regular numbered list, but they were just special chapters.