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  1. Miranda Brawner

    Planning an optimistic timeline, where the world slowly gets better starting from the POD

    Hi, everyone. I've been thinking about writing a timeline where things get better from the POD onward. The world gradually gets its act together and sets out on the right moral path, with justice gradually prevailing over injustice. It won't happen overnight, though, and there will be resistance...
  2. Miranda Brawner

    Alternate Proverbs

    A thread where you can post proverbs or sayings that you think up. In some other timeline, they might be well-known quotes, maybe even clichés. You can give context if you want, or you can let the proverb speak for itself. Also, feel free to comment on and discuss the sayings that others have...
  3. Miranda Brawner

    What if each member of parliament could veto all the others, but only once in their lifetime?

    The title says it all. Suppose a country has a law saying that all members of a legislature have the power to veto any law proposed by that legislature. This would mean that all decisions have to be unanimous, except for the fact that each person can only veto one bill in their lifetime. So, if...
  4. Miranda Brawner

    "Alliances of Equals" in history and AH

    In world diplomacy, both in the past and today, a lot of so-called alliances will use inspirational rhetoric about how all members of the alliance are equal, but it's clear that they really consist of one, or maybe two, nations dictating most of the terms. The rest of the members of the alliance...
  5. Miranda Brawner

    What if a mad king claimed to be Satan or the Antichrist?

    The title says it all. What if an absolute monarch, already securely in power, woke up one day and announced to everyone around them, "I am Satan! Fear me!" You can replace "Satan" with "the Antichrist" or any other religious figure who is considered evil or antagonistic. So what happens next...
  6. Miranda Brawner

    What if a legislature had empty seats based on voter turnout?

    Suppose we have a Parliament that grants seats to each party proportional to the votes they receive. The number of seats given to each party is based on the total number of eligible voters, not the number of people who actually voted. That means that if 1/4 of eligible voters did not vote, the...
  7. Miranda Brawner

    How far would you have to go back to prevent the following words from existing?

    How plausible would it be for societies around the world to reach a present day technology level without the following words, or words with near-identical meanings, existing in any language? And how far back would the POD have to be? Religion Science Technology Education Athletics Economics...
  8. Miranda Brawner

    Best historical examples of extremely complicated political agendas, a.k.a. "4-D Chess"?

    So, as I've been listening to Mike Duncan's history podcasts, I've noticed that at least twice he's used the popular metaphor of "playing 4-D chess" (or with some other number higher than 4) to describe having a intricate political agenda. Both times, however, he's used the metaphor to point out...
  9. Miranda Brawner

    Writing Contest 1 (Letter of the Law) Voting Thread

    Thank you to everyone who participated in the first writing contest. It is now time to vote for a winner. You can view the entries here. The poll will close after three days. For discussion on the contest in general, see the main thread.
  10. Miranda Brawner

    Writing Contest: Main Thread

    This thread is for general discussion about the writing contest. There will be a contest every two weeks, with the due date Monday at noon UTC. Extensions can be offered in exceptional circumstances. Voting will begin when the contest closes, and will be open for three full days. Once the poll...
  11. Miranda Brawner

    Writing Contest 1: The Letter of the Law

    Welcome to the first edition of the writing contest. All contest entries must take place within an alternate world, a future world, or a fantasy world, and must be written from the point of view of someone within that world. Entries can be in any language. All entries must be turned in by UTC...
  12. Miranda Brawner

    Honor and Respect Reborn: Planning Thread

    Hi everyone. A few months ago, I started working on a timeline called Honor and Respect (which you can read here). The main gimmick was that the world was dominated by ideologies that most people would find bizzare. I'm thinking about redoing that timeline, with several major changes. First, the...
  13. Miranda Brawner

    ᛗᛇᛊᛏ populus ᚺᚹᚨ ᚁᚑᚇᚐᚔᚏᚔᚋ ᚹᛁᚦ ᛊᛖᛟ māteria ᛇᛏ ᛖᚨᛚᛚ... (An Alternate English Orthography)

    There have been many proposals for spelling and vocabulary reform of the English language, but few have been this radical! What if we took a little inspiration from the Japanese writing system which combines multiple scripts into one? By this, I mean that we divide English words into the...
  14. Miranda Brawner

    What would it take for someone to be accepted by the majority of Christians as the second coming?

    Many people have claimed to be Jesus returned to earth, but none so far have managed to convince the majority of Christians to support them. What might help one of these Messiah claimants to gain widespread acceptance?
  15. Miranda Brawner

    Which of these ideologies sounds the most plausible?

    Hi everyone. How plausible do these ideologies sound? I tried to come up with a slogan that will encapsulate each ideology. The general theme is that they combine something left wing with something right wing. Have any of these (or something close to them) been implemented in real life? If not...
  16. Miranda Brawner

    What would the right wing look like if it had not embraced nationalism.

    Since at least the 1930s, nationalism has been one of the core beliefs of right wing politics, perhaps the number one belief. It is hard to imagine what a modern right wing party would look like without at least a little racism. But what if the conservatives of the 1700s and 1800s decided that...
  17. Miranda Brawner

    A technologically advanced world with no large states. What POD, if any, could make this happen?

    Is there any plausible way for separatism to overpower imperialism and universalism to such an extent that small states become the norm, and stay the norm even as the world industrializes? For this challenge, there should be no state with more than 1/500 of the world population. So Chad or...
  18. Miranda Brawner

    Race and Racism in Alternate Timelines

    Hi everyone. I know that race and racism in alternate timelines is a difficult topic to discuss, but I think it's one that's worth exploring, and I think this board is mature enough to handle it. So, I was reading over this Wikipedia page that gives a brief overview on how concepts of race used...
  19. Miranda Brawner

    Concerning the Fall of Western Rome

    This is not an alternate history question, but a question about actual history. To the average Western European, how important was the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD? Was it an epic social and technological collapse, or just one of many regime changes? Or something in between? I can...
  20. Miranda Brawner

    The Revolutionary Color Scheme!

    Pixels of the world, unite! The Revolution is here! We must boldly go where no color scheme has gone before!
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