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What more is there to develop about the Antikythera device?
Egypt and India are already filled with densely populated agriculturalists. They'd assimilate the Austronesian migrants.
What PoDs Would Create An Unrecognizable World?
- Thread starter Zyobot
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- before 1900 pod pre-1900
I am a believer in that geography makes destiny a lot of the times, and I feel it would be hard to get a world that is completely unrecognizable from a post-1000 CE POD. Prior to that, the easiest ones would be no Judaism, or simply no Christianity and no Islam. Of course, humans will still do human things, and though language is probably the most easily changed, culture and lifestyles of people are hard to change.
Probably the biggest post-1000 POD would be no Mongol Empire. That would be huge.
Probably the biggest post-1000 POD would be no Mongol Empire. That would be huge.
The problem with ridiculously early PoD's (and many of these can be considered ASB) is the sheer amount of speculation that is required for, well, everything.
Extinct languages we have no idea of will become major, which screws you over because you don't know any names for people or locations for example. Heck, getting such resources on existing but small languages is downright impossible today
Extinct languages we have no idea of will become major, which screws you over because you don't know any names for people or locations for example. Heck, getting such resources on existing but small languages is downright impossible today
And include yet that we know very few about many cmaller cultures or even bigger ones like Indus CUlutre where about we can't even read their texts. And antoher issues is that we should yet analyze their cultural development and even how their last names would look like. For example Egyptians never developed such things but if you go far enough that they woudl begin develope surnames you have big rpoblems to think how these would work out. And if you are making Maya TL there is really actual knowledge about their history, culture and names. We just know too few about any clutture which have not writing or we can't read their texts.
PODs which could create an unrecognizable world post-1 CE could include Constantine the Great losing at the Milvian Bridge or deciding to adopt Manichaeism or formalization of the Sol Invictus cult instead of Christianity. The Manichaeans rolling all 20s in general is a possible way to create a largely unrecognizable world to ours with a POD post-1 CE.
Considering Carthage IIRC had relatively little interest in the Eastern Mediterranean, the former could lead to the latter.
I read Adrian Tchaikosky's Doors of Eden, which featured an alt Neanderthal world where they had wiped out all other human species, however still can't function in super large groups. They're technologically advanced, strong, but still have gaps in what they can and can't do. There are no cities and a more evenly distributed population.
I've also played with the idea of a world where 98% of everyone is on the Autism scale and that is the norm. They are doing better because they are less able to buy into demogoges, false advertising, and group think.
I kind of am doing this myself with a timeline where earth sound retrograde, or the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Results in different local climates, global sea levels and greenery distribution, fauna evolving and even different sized ice caps and a large cyaenobacteria increase (which may increase oxygen levels). For the most part, ‘west coasts’ become cooler and wetter than otl whereas ‘east coasts’ become hotter and drier, though exceptions exist either way.
Worldbuilding civilisations and history has been pretty hard, I’ll admit, especially if you resist the temptation to plagiarise RL.
Worldbuilding civilisations and history has been pretty hard, I’ll admit, especially if you resist the temptation to plagiarise RL.
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture had settlements that housed tens of thousands of people between 4000 B.C and 3500 B.C, Maydanets was probably the biggest and reached almost 50 thousand inhabitants. It also seems like they had some type of state apparatus, but it is unclear how sophisticated it was. If they are able to form a kingdom, create a writing system and expand they are in position to:
1 - Block the western path of the Indo-Europeans
2 - Be the first craddle of civilization at the same time or even predating Uruk.
3 - By expanding and exporting their culture they could become the predecessors of what would be in the future the European family of languages and cultures.
1 - Block the western path of the Indo-Europeans
2 - Be the first craddle of civilization at the same time or even predating Uruk.
3 - By expanding and exporting their culture they could become the predecessors of what would be in the future the European family of languages and cultures.
England winning the hundred years war and effectively becoming part of France. France uniting early and getting England for free just for good measure would make it by far the biggest player in Europe, most likely taking over the whole continent. A united Europe would not be very different to the other three large Eurasian civilisations (Islam, India, China) so humanity would likely end up stuck in the middle ages.
The Antikythera device is the first manual computer. If developed further, it could have led to earlier astronomical calculations, improved calendars, improvements in understanding physics, measuring devices like the odometer used by Romans could have happened earlier, earlier mechanical clocks, geared devices for improved animal power, a variety of things.
The boats would have expanded Egypt and Mesopotamia's reach allowing for greater trade and cultural contact, introducing new ideas and teachnology.
We would probably end up with a center-periphery model, in which the Anglo-French Empire would try to impose its supremacy on an unstable and fluid coalition of peripheral states that do not agree to submit to this Anglo-French Empire. Something more similar to the Roman Empire and the Border States than anything else.
On the other hand, it is doubtful that this meant eternal stagnation, since it would never become as big as China, and in any case, it would be vulnerable to disruptive forces (which was what ended the Islamic Empire divided into 30 different states) .
One thing that would surely never exist is the British concept of the "balance of powers", in any case the "balance of powers" would be all the others trying to contain Anglo-France
.
I thought of small-scale geological PoDs:
- The formation/consolidation of mountain ranges in places such as Rajasthan (Aravalli, but more extensive) and in northern Anhui-Jiangsu region (Huai Mountains).
- More surviving paleolakes and paleorivers.
- More visible continental fragments and microcontinents, as well as (slightly) larger versions of some OTL islands.
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From my Fall Of The Old World Order TL, long scrapped:
1870-1877: WW1.
1877-1880: Spanish Flu.
1880-1888: German Civil War.
1895-1900: Russian-Indian War.
1905-1910: WW2.
1910-1915: First Economic Depression.
1922-1924: Canadian Flu Outbreak.
1930-1935: Communist Uprisings.
1945-1950: WW3.
1950-1955: Second Economic Depression.
1964-1968: European Civil War.
1972: European Union Founded.
1972-1978: First Gulf War.
1985-1990: Second Gulf War.
1997-2000: Soviet-UK War.
2002-2004: Third Gulf War.
2008: US hackers launch missiles bombarding The Moon.
2008-2009: Moon debris rains down causing thousands of casualties.
1870-1877: WW1.
1877-1880: Spanish Flu.
1880-1888: German Civil War.
1895-1900: Russian-Indian War.
1905-1910: WW2.
1910-1915: First Economic Depression.
1922-1924: Canadian Flu Outbreak.
1930-1935: Communist Uprisings.
1945-1950: WW3.
1950-1955: Second Economic Depression.
1964-1968: European Civil War.
1972: European Union Founded.
1972-1978: First Gulf War.
1985-1990: Second Gulf War.
1997-2000: Soviet-UK War.
2002-2004: Third Gulf War.
2008: US hackers launch missiles bombarding The Moon.
2008-2009: Moon debris rains down causing thousands of casualties.
A better maintained Canal of the Pharaohs: the Canal of the Pharaohs was an ancient waterway that tried to do what the Suez Canal does today, connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. If this connection was maintained there could be more significant cross pollination between Europe and India
Stronger Baiyue Kingdoms prevent Sinization of OTL Southern China
It's hard to judge other changes as world changing due to how slow information moved, for instance if horses and chickens crossed to Bering Strait that would make the Americas unrecognizable but Europe and Asia would probably be pretty normal until Trans-Oceanic contact was established
Stronger Baiyue Kingdoms prevent Sinization of OTL Southern China
It's hard to judge other changes as world changing due to how slow information moved, for instance if horses and chickens crossed to Bering Strait that would make the Americas unrecognizable but Europe and Asia would probably be pretty normal until Trans-Oceanic contact was established
An even bleaker past 150 years than IOTL... that's... sort of impressive
India is able to Unite like China, either Under Ashoka or perhaps even under Buddha whose prophecy stated that he would either become a Great Philosopher or Unite Indian Subcontinent. This would change history of the world, as A Strong United India would have tremendously high potential and would be a force to reckon with
Eh the prophecy only said that he would either be a great ruler or a great philosopher. Nothing about uniting the subcontinent and nothing about even if he would be a conqueror. There have been multiple great monarchs who were not conquerors.