Most Dystopic Alternate History.com Timeline

Zoidberg12

On this website that is Alternate History.com, there a number of timelines have been written which are, for all intents and purposes, dystopias. These are worlds were things in history, all based one or many PODs, have gone from bad to worse in ways that are almost beyond what most would consider imaginable. These timelines include, but are not limited too;

For All Time by President Chester A. Arthur
A World of Laughter by statichaos
Fear and Loathing on the Gumbo Trail/Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears by Drew
We'll Meet Again by 037771
The Anglo-American/Nazi War by Calbear
What Madness is This? by Napoleon 53 and Ziodberg12 (I myself wrote some guest chapters and did some editing/compiling)

There may be others, but these are the ones I know off the top of my head.

Anyways, my question is, which of these timelines, or any others on this website, do you feel is or are the most dystopic?
 
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Woolly Mammoth

Anglo/American-Nazi War is certainly dystopia for Germany and arguably the rest of the world depending upon how highly you value genuine national sovereignty. That isn't even counting how it turns out for Occupied Europe during the actual war stages.
 

Zoidberg12

Xhavnak said:
Anglo/American-Nazi War is certainly dystopia for Germany and arguably the rest of the world depending upon how highly you value genuine national sovereignty. That isn't even counting how it turns out for Occupied Europe during the actual war stages.
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I can't believe I forgot that one! I've only read the first few parts of it though. Still, might as well add it to the list.
 

John Fredrick Parker

Donor
Well, OP lists a couple of Nazi wins (no surprise there), and a couple where things go wrong early in American history. Those are good and all, but I think special praise has to be given to World of Laughter and the Fear and Loathing TLs which manage to show just how horribly wrong the US could have gone even after we became a world power; it really is more effective, showing the kind of dark potential America had in even our most recent history.
 

The Uchronian

Zoidberg12 said:
On this website that is Alternate History.com, there a number of timelines have been written which are, for all intents and purposes, dystopias. These are worlds were things in history, all based one or many PODs, have gone from bad to worse in ways that are almost beyond what most would consider imaginable. These timelines include, but are not limited too;

For All Time by President Chester A. Arthur
A World of Laughter by statichaos
Fear and Loathing on the Gumbo Trail/Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears by Drew
We'll Meet Again by 037771
The Anglo-American/Nazi War by Calbear
What Madness is This? by Napoleon 53 and Ziodberg12 (I myself wrote some guest chapters and did some editing/compiling)

There may be others, but these are the ones I know off the top of my head.

Anyways, my question is, which of these timelines, or any others on this website, do you feel is or are the most dystopic?
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All of these are pretty much on the top of the list(*especially* FaT and WMiT), though I'd personally argue that both DoD and Protect & Survive do come fairly close as well, and possibly the original Cuban Missile War TL, too, along with that.
 
The Director

The Director

Banned
If we're counting ASB TLs, then rvbomally's stuff wins this thread always. I mean just look at these:

Ad Astra Per Aspera: A Modern History

Vivere Militare Est

Plus you've got Decades Of Darkness, which was good enough that it got a section of the site devoted to it.

Edit:
CaliBoy1990 said:
All of these are pretty much on the top of the list(*especially* FaT and WMiT), though I'd personally argue that both DoD and Protect & Survive do come fairly close as well, and possibly the original Cuban Missile War TL, too, along with that.
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Ah, how did I forget Protect and Survive?
 

January First-of-May

For All Time, IIRC, is just straight "what if everything went wrong" taken up to six. I think at some point the US president is a guy who IOTL became a serial killer. I'd definitely put it somewhere close to the top (not sure if it really beats AWOLAWOT).
I seem to recall reading about some TL with a POD in the 18th century (or maybe early 19th) where nuclear war ended up being common... I think it was listed as an example of a particularly horrible AH setting. Don't remember what it was specifically (but, if that narrows it down, it must've been written before 2010).
 

Octosteel

January First-of-May said:
For All Time, IIRC, is just straight "what if everything went wrong" taken up to six. I think at some point the US president is a guy who IOTL became a serial killer. I'd definitely put it somewhere close to the top (not sure if it really beats AWOLAWOT).
I seem to recall reading about some TL with a POD in the 18th century (or maybe early 19th) where nuclear war ended up being common... I think it was listed as an example of a particularly horrible AH setting. Don't remember what it was specifically (but, if that narrows it down, it must've been written before 2010).
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It was Jim Jones who was a cult leader IOTL. Personally, I felt For All Time was just kind of stupid. It wasn't particularly interesting to have everything go bad. I like stories like Icarus Falls which, while a dystopia, has a narrative style which is interesting to follow along with good things occurring as well.
 
Emperor Norton I

Emperor Norton I

I began to think that the problem with really dystopian timelines is that the people in that world have to think God is screwing with them at a certain point. Because he is, given the writer. A lot can go to hell in a hand-basket, but people still have to live some type of normal life at the end of the day. I don't think that's taken into account as much as it should be.
 

John Fredrick Parker

Donor
Emperor Norton I said:
I began to think that the problem with really dystopian timelines is that the people in that world have to think God is screwing with them at a certain point. Because he is, given the writer. A lot can go to hell in a hand-basket, but people still have to live some type of normal life at the end of the day. I don't think that's taken into account as much as it should be.
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Some TLs might run into this problem, but I think many of the discussed examples are fairly realistic in this respect, showing how bad things can appear normal or predetermined to people living in them.
 

ThePest179

Banned
I read AWoLAWoT, and I have to say that while it was nightmarish, it was still better than virtually any TL which has a massive nuclear conflict in the setting, like Protect and Survive and the Cuban Missile War. It also (to my knowledge) didn't destroy China (and killed hundreds of millions as a result), which both Icarus Falls and Fear, Loathing, and Gumbo did.

That said, it had George Lincoln Rockwell as a serious contender for President. The same Rockwell who founded the American Nazi Party IOTL. :eek:

spookyscaryskeletons said:
What Madness is This? is pretty much the top dystopia for me.
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Care to explain?

EDIT: Nevermind. Found it. :eek:
 
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Emote Control

Emote Control

What about my own Terminator Timeline Expanded? That has a nuclear war, followed by a three-decade biological/conventional war, that wipes out five and a half billion people. Plus it has institutionalized dogfights and child abuse. Granted it's ASB, but still it's plenty dystopic.
 

Expat

ThePest179 said:
any TL which has a massive nuclear conflict in the setting
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Yeah, I gotta agree. Well, there's the question: is it better for billions to continuously suffer, or for billions to be beyond suffering? Horrible question.:(

Taking it to the Swiftian conclusion, wouldn't the worst TL be the one where life never developed on Earth?

Gonna go cry in a corner now...
 

sdrucker

Banned
Emote Control said:
What about my own Terminator Timeline Expanded? That has a nuclear war, followed by a three-decade biological/conventional war, that wipes out five and a half billion people. Plus it has institutionalized dogfights and child abuse. Granted it's ASB, but still it's plenty dystopic.
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I vote for you. Your timeline is both fascinating and extremely disturbing to someone that's a parent of a young child. Admitted the dehumanization that the human Coalition has had to adapt a result of the pressure of Skynet is a logical reaction for survival's sake, though. And this is coming from someone that was an SM Stirling fan from Under the Yoke on, so I don't mind reading a good dystopia.

Having said that, keep up the good work!
 
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