Reaching for the Sky

**Reaching For the Sky: A History of the World From the War of the Worlds to Mankind’s Entrance Into the Galactic Community**

**by Jodie Arthur, PhD**​

## **Introduction**

The human story has been ongoing for thousands of years. From the dawn of the First Civilization over 14,000 years ago, mankind has gravitated towards forming nations. Many nations, such as Greece, Rome, Atlantis, Sumeria, Shambhalla, China, Mongolia, Persia and Egypt, established mighty empires that would stand for centuries if not millennia. Heroic figures like Gilgamesh, Heracles, Beowulf, Siegfried and Sun Wukong echoed throughout history, informing future figures as well as fictional archetypes. These empires laid the groundwork for all of future civilization. The wonders they built, the cities they established and the cultures that were created continued to influence the world long after they collapsed. But collapse they all did. Regardless of their heroes, wonders and stories, every society would ultimately fade. The remnants and Atlantis sank beneath the waves. The Persians, Egyptians and Greeks found themselves conquered by Rome, which in turn was sacked by Barbarians and other conquered groups they had never fully pacified. China was subjugated and its subjugators soon fragmented. Every empire ends, this is an inevitability of history.

Technology and magic usage too fluctuated as these events progressed. Some civilizations advanced beyond their peers. Primitive vehicles, unique forms of energy, early flying craft, alien-derived technology (including ancient robotics, holograms and transports) and many other advances were all made by ancient societies. And as they crumbled to pieces, these advances were lost. Magic remained largely a constant, remaining presence as it evolved from the ancient use of the Force to the primitive “bending” of the Mu Civilization’s era to the more sophisticated practice of wizards like Merlin, tutor of Camelot’s great king Arthur, and John Uskglass, the first Sorcerer Supreme and mentor of the four founders of the first wizarding academy. However, as history marched on, practitioners of the craft would go from being respected members of the community(As they were in the days fo Middle Earth) to distrusted (as they were in the Hyborean Age) to outright reviled (as they would come to be following the fall of Rome and the rise of the Christian faith in Europe). These processes were part of the continual march of human development and, for better or worse, set the stage for the creation of the modern world.

The beginning of the modern world can be said to have begun with the discovery of America. This sparked the beginning of the Age of Exploration. Over the course of this period, European powers began to establish colonies. Explorers like Jose de Silvestra and Lemuel Gulliver set out to discover new lands and locations around the globe. Ambitious conquerors like Hernan Cortes and Cutler Beckett sought to expand their nation’s power and influence over sought lands, building up colonies across the globe. Even as more and more territory was gobbled up by imperial powers, the seeds of the end of the imperial order were planted. The ideas of John Locke would inspire the first colonial breakaway from their motherland in North America, as the members of 13 British colonies along the East Coast steadily grew less satisfied with rule by Britain. Ultimately, the upstart colonies would go on to gain independence, aided by the assistance of foreign powers and a period of instability in the Atlantic Ocean driven by “the Alteration,” which weakened Britain’s ability to send troops to America. The US, while in its early days threatened with outright collapse or reconquest by Britain, would ultimately survive into the next century.

Once the world entered 19th century, nations gained wealth as they built themselves up into imperial juggernauts. Nations like France, Britain and Russia carved out impressive empires—Britain’s in particular, stretching from the Draka colony of southern Africa to Australia, was widely considered the greatest the world had ever seen. By 1898, European nations had claimed control of all of Africa (outside of the nations of Ligeria, Zamunda and Wakanda), the Indian subcontinent, most of southeast Asia and most Pacific islands. The United States of America also greatly expanded—first into neighboring areas like the short-lived Arkansas Confederacy, later further and further west. Intrepid figures in the vein of Alvin Miller (founder of the Mormon faith) and Natty Bumppo helped the US ultimately stretch from coast to coast. Granted, there were low points for many nations—the British Troubles in the early 19th century saw much of the country infected by Solanum, many powers lost ground in the Napoleonic Wars following the disease-induced reduction of the world’s dragon population and America nearly split into two countries over the issue of slavery—but the period overall saw the growth of great powers occur unhindered. Technology drastically improved, as the steam engine, Maturinism and genetics all took off. The great inventors Frank Reade, Jack Wright, William Hattison and Tom Swift produced extremely useful machines that revolutionized daily life. All of these inventors built off of the steam engine that made railroads, steamboats and so many other new forms of technology possible. The advent of Maturinist theories surrounding evolution and the melding of this theory with genetics by Charles Darwin allowed for the beginning of bioengineering. Scientists like Dr. Alphonse Moreau began developing genetic splicing techniques. These discoveries also encouraged the rise of paleontology and investigations to seek out hypothesized “lost worlds” that would be discovered by the end of the century, though neither would survive long into the 20th. This improved technology led to the weakening of the power of magic. The advent of photography had marked the beginning of this decline but overall, these technological and scientific advances were seen as marking a continued ascendency of mankind.

This lasted until the Mollusc invasion of 1898. Alien incursions on Earth were not new—the earliest documented invasions occurred at the hands of the “precursor” races of Goa’uld and Ancients, during the Hyborian Age, the Silurians are known to have visited the Earth during the Mesozoic era, Japan had been occupied by the Amanto during the late Edo period and there was a short-lived invasion scare prompted by the discovery of the ultimately harmless vespertillo-homo on the Moon in the 1840’s. However, the Mollusc invasion was the first direct incursion by aliens onto modern day Earth. Several million people worldwide would be killed outright by the invaders and others died from biological weapons utilized by the British to defeat the invasion. The hold of many colonial powers was weakened-for instance, British-ruled India successfully gained independence, while the United States nearly lost control of the Philippines and actually did lose the floating city-state of Columbia following the Boxer Rebellion and experienced two black nationalist uprisings, as well as a short-lived invasion attempt by China. France and Germany also experienced major uprisings against their rule in their African territorial holdings that ultimately were mostly suppressed. There was another major blow to humanity after the Mollusc invasion that was primarily psychological. Most major world powers had, up until this point, regarded technology as forever marching forward. However, the invasion, in the words of Janos Bartok, showed “we have quite a way to go, both technologically and morally.”

### **References-Introduction**

Jodie Arthur-Joe’s descendent from the Time Warp Trio

Shambhala-Mystical Buddhist civilization

Gilgamesh-The first hero from the Epic of Gilgamesh

Heracles-Greek name of Hercules

Siegfried-Legendary Norse hero

Sun Wukong-Chinese hero from Journey to the West

Atlantis-Legendary civilization that was destroyed by flooding

Bending-From Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra

Merlin-Overused wizard from Arthurian legend

John Uskglass-The Raven King from Jonathan Strange and Ms. Norrell

Sorcerer Supreme-Supreme magic user from Marvel Comics

Four founders-The founders of Hogwarts from Harry Potter

Hyborean Age-Ancient era where Conan the Barbarian was from

Jose de Silvestra-From King Solomon’s Mine

Lemuel Gulliver-From Gulliver’s Travels

Hernan Cortes-Real life figure, based mainly on his Road to El Dorado incarnation

Cutler Beckett-Main villain of the second and third Pirates of the Carribbean films

The Alteration-From Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which causes the eponymous sea monsters to appear

Draka colony-From SM Stirling’s Domination series

Ligeria-Country from the Canadian series InSecurity. Our Liberia analogue

Zamunda-The country the main character in Coming to America originates from.

Wakanda-From Marvel comics. Mostly based on the MCU version

Arkansas Confederacy-The Native American nation from the Trails of Glory alternate history series

Alvin Miller-Protagonist of the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card

Natty Bumpo-Lead character of the Leatherstocking Tales

British Troubles-Not the ones involving Ireland from real life, but rather the zombie outbreak in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Solanum-Zombie virus name from The Zombie Survival Guide. The “original” zombie virus as variants will develop over time

Dragon population-Refers to how dragons were used to fight the Napoleonic War in Temeraire

Maturinism-Alternate Darwinism, named for Stephen Maturin of the Aubrey Maturin series

Genetics-Developed by Charles Darwin here, as was the case in the backstory of Leviathan

Frank Reade, Jack Wright, William Hattison, Tom Swift-Reade, Wright and Swift are all from their own separate series. Hattison is an Edison stand-in from The Conspiracy of Millionaires (translated from French).

Alphonse Moureau-The titular character from The Island of Doctor Moureau

Hypothesized “lost worlds”-Refers both to Maple White Land from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle and the inhabitants of the hollow Earth from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Mollusc invasion-The Martian invasion from War of the Worlds. Its name reflects the fact the invaders are not in fact Martians and is taken from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Goa’uld-The creators of the Stargate who like to imitate gods

Ancients-The Assassin’s Creed precursor race

Silurians-Reptilian race from Doctor Who

Japan occupied by the Amanto race-The setting of the manga Gintama, where a corrupt Shogun surrenders to the aforementioned aliens to further his own hold on power and limit the power of samurai

Vespertillo-homo-The “Man-bats” from the Great Moon Hoax of the 1840’s.

Biological weapons-How the British defeat the invasion in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

India gained independence-Taken from the events depicted in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches

Columbia-The floating city where Bioshock: Infinite takes places

Two black nationalist uprisings-One is from Simon Grigg’s novel Imperium, the other is from The Year 1899

Invasion attempt by China-From A Short and Truthful History of the Taking of California and Oregon by the Chinese in the Year 1899

Janos Bartok-Nikola Tesla stand-in from the TV series Legendary

## **No Man’s Land**

The aftermath of the Mollusc invasion saw technology advance further by a drastic amount. Increased interest in space exploration prompted many powers to start rudimentary space programs. The first breakthroughs were accomplished by a coalition of earth nations including Queen Victoria of Great Britain, President Mark Kimbley of the US, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Emperor Mutsuhito of Japan. This expedition to mars was essentially a counter invasion led by American inventor WiIliam Hattison and Servian electrical engineer Janos Bartok, rivals who had buried the hatchet to put an end to this supposed menace from Mars. For this purpose British scientist Sewlyn Cavor shared his element of Cavorite, a material capable of negating gravity. Because of the feelings of the time, a sense of Mankind united against a common enemy, Cavor shared his invention with not only the British, but the US, Germany, Russia, Japan and Osterlich-Zubrowka as well, the first forays into space were launched. This technology, coupled with already-present advances was hoped to be what would allow mankind to achieve utopia. It was believed once Mankind's common enemy was defeated, that envisioned utopia would be soon follow.

However, much of the technological investment was directed towards military preparedness. The British and their allies worked to further bioengineering skills, which led to the creation of unique war beasts and earned the Entente the moniker of “Maturinist” powers. Meanwhile, Germany and its allies went down the route of increasing engineering capabilities, creating automatons and dreadnaughts. The nexus of these devices ultimately paved the way for the Central Powers to be dubbed “Clanker” powers. Some countries, such as the United States and Ottoman Empire, chose to embrace hybrid approaches.

The advancement in the name of military preparedness was, as it turns out, completely unnecessary. The Molluscs, not being native to Mars, had long since lost their foothold on the Red Planet thanks to resistance from native species like the Sorns and Barsoomians. When Hattison's forces arrived on mars with their new advancements of space suits and early laser guns based on the design for the Martian heat ray. The retaliatory strike by Hattison largely victimized species uninvolved in the initial invasion. It was the belief a much-feared second invasion would never materialize. Rather than admit that, however, most world powers focused their efforts on saber-rattling with Earthbound nations. The much-hoped for global brotherhood that would emerge post-invasion never truly materialized. Instead, the world’s great powers continued to arm themselves and stand off against each other. Fortunately the first of these such conflicts was not a war but a rivalry. An early space race soon began between longtime rivals of France and Britain. France, lacking any Cavorite of its own) used an old method pioneered by the Baltimore Columbiad in the 1860's, which consisted of launching a capsule from a massive cannon. While rudimentary, this method would prove successful but fail to reach the Moon before the British.

The first Englishmen would walk on the Moon in 1901, just three years after the Mollusc invasion. Sewlyn Cavor was among them. It was on this trip Earth would make contact with an alien civilization, in the form of the native insect like Selenites, who lagged behind Earth technologically. While peaceful at first, the Selenites turned on the humans as they learned more of their race. The party fled but Sewlyn Cavor was left behind. Rather than face death by being torn apart by the Selenites, Cavor chose to step out into the lunar surface and freeze to death. Later that same year, The French Expedition occurred. The Astronauts reportedly hallucinated as they took off, claiming to see their capsule be launched in the eye of a giant face on the Moon, while hugely unlikely, this image would inspire a film by early french cinema director George Méliès. The French astronauts also encountered the Selenites but were able to escape with no casualties and return to Earth safely.

The first 20th century conflict to erupt would be the same year as the Moon landing. The Kaiser’s Germany, envious of US holdings in the Pacific and failing to obtain them in a deal, launched a daring offensive against the United States, claiming the New York area and crossing into Coonecticut. In a stroke of bad luck, President Mark Kimbley, a business-friendly president whose reelection provoked riots from anarchists and socialists, was ultimately assassinated shortly after the German attack commenced but before news of it had spread, leading to Kimbley's vice President Heeza Liar to take over. Liar recruited several Generals he had known from fighting in the Spanish American war, namely the island of Tropico. The first battle was a Naval German Victory and let the American fleet scattered. The US was supplied by the United Kingdom. Once the shock of the attack wore off, the US began to fight back effectively, sinking German U Boats, which negated what was otherwise a stalemate on land. The war however, was unpopular in Germany, enough that radical nationalists (perhaps an anticipation of the future Hynkel regime to come) managed to overthrow the Kaiser and replace him his son Wilhelm III as a puppet ruler. The new government sued for peace, ending the war of 1901. However, this would prove to be only the first conflict of the new century and far from the bloodiest.

   In 1907, a vengeful Germany (having temporarily merged with Osterlich-Zubrowka) launched an aerial attack on the United States, provoking the so-called “War in the Air.” Their reason for doing wa sofficially stated as a fear of US military power. The US after all had been the leading force in the Mars invasion. However, many were still bitter over the Cease fire that ended the war of 1901 and believed they could have won had it not been for Germany's own inner turmoil.

Many scholars have argued that this “War in the Air” should be counted as the opening salvo of the First World War. The argument is the conflict was concentrated as being between the Maturinists/Entente and the Clankers/Central Powers. However, these arguments miss key differences between the two conflicts. The War in the Air featured the involvement of the United States—indeed, it was the first nation to be attacked, whereas the First World War saw the US stay out as long as it could (aided by the isolationism of President David Israels, who pushed for a rapid return to normalcy and then Woodrow Winthrop). Additionally, Japan and China, during this conflict, fought the United States alongside the Central Powers. When the First World War itself broke out, Japan and China worked with Britain and France against the Germans. The full spectrum of this debate is beyond the scope of this book.

The important highlights of the War in the Air are as follows. German Prince Karl Albert, author and leader of the plan who shared many ideals with the former Kaiser Wilhelm II, launched the fleet. He ran across an englishman, Bert Smallways in a hot air balloon that discovered the fleet while travelling in a hot air balloon. He was captured and forced to witness the German's assault with the intent that he would translate for the Germans. The Germans demanded an end to the US "Martin Doctrine". Introduced in 1823 by President Benjamin Martin which protected South American nations, claiming that any attack on them would get the US involved. the Germans wished to facilitate their imperial intentions in the region. The US refused and war commenced.

Unknown to the Germans, another faction joined the conflict: the Confederation of East Asia. Japan had annexed China and turned it into a puppet state to make it appear as though the two had joined sides. They attacked the US from the West with their own imperial intentions, destroying the city of San Francisco. The US was left facing a way on two fronts. As witnessed by Smallways, the German Dreadnoughts bombed New York City, forcing the mayor to surrender at the insistence of President Heeza Liar. However, rebel movements would continue in the city for sometime and be met with fierce carpet bombing strikes down Broadway. An American force managed to cripple the Germans and force their crash in Labrador, Canada. As part of Prince Albert's plan, another German attack would commence at Niagara falls but this was met by the Japanese forces and a battle broke out which saw the Japanese victorious. Bert Smallways became stranded on a small island with Prince Albert, whom he fought and killed. He was then able to secure a small one man flying craft and ride it to New York. the Germans were now leaderless and agreed to a truce with the US to beat back the Japanese. A tragic connotation at this time was the reports of lynching of Chinese Americans by racist members of the population alongside the lynching of Blacks.

Bert had taken the plans of the Butteridge Machine, plans created by an early innovator in the field on innovation who had died early in the war. He had them on his when he was on the Hot Air Balloon, having known Butteridge. He then brought these plans to President Liar. The plans were copied and also sent to America's European. The tide of the war began to turn in North America, even more so when the Floating city of Columbia, who had seceded from the US, agreed to declare war on the Asian confederation, though fueled largely by its own prejudice.

In Europe, Germany had bypassed several European nations, deeming them not a threat and hoping to deal with them after America had been conquered. However, the alarmed United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy pooled their aerial resources into a single strong force, passed through Swiss airspace after destroyed that country's own flying machines, and devastated the cities of Bombhurst and Berlin. The Germans mobilised a counter-attack which destroyed London and Paris, they also mounted an invasion of England, taking half of London at their peak before ultimately being pushed out of the British Isles, but then, as in America, the feuding Europeans were faced with an enormous attack from the Asian confederation.

The anxieties surrounding the Mollusc invasion had been largely shed. In England, the British government had kept a single Mollusc alive, one who had improvised his tripod into an air proof chamber to protect from the Bioweapons which killed the rest of his kind. The Mollusc, nicknamed Humpty, had helped progress England technology wise. Spymaster Mycroft Holmes had been replaced in 1910 by the much more corrupt Davenport Spry, the new head began to plan an invasion of Germany and then invade the pacified Mars as a propaganda tool, 1910 being the 12th anniversary of the Mollusc invasion. These plans never materialized as the war did not end in a swift British victory but continued and the Mollusc was murdered by Sherlock Holmes, who had been tipped off about the actions in the lab by his brother Mycroft and promptly snuck into the facility to murder the creature. Once the Great War ended, the plans were put on hold indefinitely.

The Asiatic fleet had attacked a combined Anglo-Indian aerial force, captured the Burmese airfields, Australia, and the Pacific islands. They then struck westwards, capturing the Middle East and South Africa and starting to build airships at Cairo, Damascus and Johannesburg. Moving further northwards, they soon reached Armenia and then defeated the German forces in the Battle of the Carpathians before attacking Western Europe.

Several other threats emerged. the nations damaged in the war suffered great economic downturn, referred to as The Panic of 1910. What came next was a plague known as the Purple death. Its origins were then unknown but it would much later be discovered to had been a bio weapon from the planet Mongo. These factors all occurring within the span of five years from 1907 to 1911, led to all sides searching for a peaceful solution.

The importance of the War in the Air is difficult to overstate. The conflict devastated both sides in an extremely short span of time. However, in the process, air strikes devastated enough of the globe that no power was prepared to push for total victory. A cease-fire agreement was signed in Beckindale in 1910. In the aftermath, almost every power worked to rebuild quickly. The power of aerial warfare was a lesson no country would forget. In the words of one James Bigglesworth, “Give a man a machine gun and he can kill a dozen troops. Give a man a Sopwith Camel and he can kill thousands.” The defeated countries agreed to make reparations. The Germans rebuilt New York into a Metropolis like that of Berlin. The Japanese rebuilt San Francisco, which already had great amounts of damage left over from the earthquake of 1906. A large number of Japanese Americans came to reside in the city and it was renamed San Fransokyo.

There was initially optimism the sheer horror of the conflict would decrease the chances of another one. However, the powder keg of international alliances remained. The power of the monarchs in many countries meant it was extremely easy to provoke a conflict. It could sometimes reach absurd lengths-in 1912, for instance, a conflict nearly erupted between China and Osterlich-Zubrowka due to the Osterlich count’s daughter abandoning a marriage to China’s prince. While no war ended up occurring, it was clear the tensions would not be fading any time soon.

The ultimate beginning of the First World War occurred when Osterlich archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Lutha by a Servian. In the aftermath of this event, fighting broke out across Europe. Germany invaded Belgium. as part of an attempt to push into France. Fighting also broke out between the Germans and Russians in Arztotska. Fighting across Europe was hellish, with trench warfare proving a grueling affair. Thousands of men died over mere feet on the field of battle. “Wonder weapons” such as the *Leviathan*airship failed to decisively turn the tide, as did the ace pilots such as the British James Biggles or the German Hans von Hammer(who's main enemy was weirdly a white Toon Beagle flying a dog house). Even countries on the peripheral of the war were not spared fighting, as the Ottoman Empire found itself targeted for invasion by the British and French. With the help of Englishman Napoleon Meek, the Ottoman hold over the Middle East rapidly unraveled.

One country that largely was escaping the carnage of war was the United States. President Heeza Liar had exceeded his term limits and attempted to place a close friend of his John Norton, known nowadays for his niece being the wife of newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane, to replace him in the role of President from 1909 to 1913. Liar then ran again hoping to win, only for the republican nominee to be split in two between himself and Norton. This led the least popular David Israels to become the first jewish President with only 12% of the vote. The outcome of the election along with American anti semitism and his handling of foreign affairs led to demands that Israels be impeached. Israels repealed this attempt but would die shortly afterwards. His vice President, Woodrow Winthrop took over and even win an election on his own in 1916.

The powerful nation had enough of war after the War in the Air and, while President Woodrow Winthrop was sympathetic to the Maturinists, he rejected intervention due to the anti-interventionist sentiments prevalent in America at the time. Winthrop instead preferred to focus on expanding the Progressive Era’s efforts to combat corruption, emulating the long-time populist Matthew Harrison Brady, who had ran three times for President only to be defeated by Fleming and then by Heeza Liar. After all, President Liar’s famous trust-busting and regulation couldn’t go unmatched by the Democratic Party—that had been the downfall of the Israels administration. For this reason, Winthrop pushed for legislation to create the Federal Reserve system and enabling the collection of a federal income tax via the 16th amendment. He was able to achieve reelection promising to keep the US out of the war. However, this was one promise Winthrop would prove unable to fulfill. The German sinking of the RMS Veritania and the near sinking of the USS ProPatria are commonly credited as turning points for US involvement in the First World War. While these were crucial factors, it is important to note the importance of two events in the US decision to intervene. The first is the Zimmerman Telegram. The threat of Germany aiding Mexico in achieving a Reconquista, especially with Mexican revolutionaries like El Guapo still being recent memories, proved too much for America to ignore. Over the protests of a small minority of Americans (disproportionately socialist figures such as Tommy Hinds, Ernest Evergard and Hosea Blackford, who would be imprisoned for their antiwar stances). The official entrance occurred when the Leviathan airship crew discovered a German Super weapon intended for use against America which they fortunately destroyed. Following this the US would enter the conflict on the Entente side.

    The US entry was welcomed greatly by the Entente, who had recently experienced a major blow to their success: the Russian Revolution. Socialist revolutionaries, led by Vladmir Lenin and Pasha Antipov, launched an uprising against the Tsar. Ultimately, these rebels were able to successfully seize control of Moscow, killing the Tsar and most of his family (although the young Princess Anastasia managed to escape to Switzerland). With the risk of socialist takeover, the Tsardom was forced to make peace with the Central Powers. This effort did not save the Tsar’s government and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had achieved control of the whole of the former Russian Empire by the early 1920’s. German forces for a time seemed to have the upper hand, even managing to seize control of much of New England and New York in the last two years of the conflict. However, the US repelled this invasion Germany also faced trouble at home as it would deal with an uprising. A soldier named Steve Trevor crashed onto the long lost island of Themyscira. He would return by boat and bring with her Diana Princess of Themyscira, a demigod. Diana believed the god Ares was responsible for the war and would battle him. Despite the cost of Steve Trevor's life, Diana slayed the God and the fog of war was lifted. The internal conflict, the death of Ares and the assistance of America and the beleaguered European powers helped bring about an Entente victory.

The subsequent Treaty of Versailles sought to place blame for the war on the Central Powers. Harsh reparation measures were demanded of the countries. Two members of the Central Powers—the Ottoman Empire and Osterlich-Zubrowka—were outright dissolved. The Ottoman Empire would be conquered by the Draka and its Middle Eastern holdings, which would be allocated to the British and French. The British gained control of Mandates in Khemed(including the location of Israel, Khemed and Jordan), Qumar and Qurac(including the location of Qumran). France meanwhile received control of Bialya and Ulgia. Meanwhile, Osterlich-Zubrowka was dissolved into various component states-Osterlich, Zubrowka, Meccania, Freedonia, Sylvania, and Ixania. Germany, while maintaining territorial integrity (save for granting independence to Arztotska), was subject to heavy reparations and arms restrictions. Meanwhile, the costs of the war for the world proved to be staggering. Millions of people died in the conflict. Most world powers agreed that steps needed to be taken to prevent any further conflict. To that end, President Winthrop proposed the creation of what he called the League of Nations, which would act as a global peacekeeper. While well-intentioned, the organization ultimately would prove to be largely toothless and ultimately a failure as far as peacekeeping goes. However, its ideals and charter would serve as a model for the United World Organization, a more successful global peacekeeping organization. For now, though, the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations would govern the postwar period. Given the flaws of these two things, another war was practically inevitable—and indeed would occur almost exactly two decades after the peace treaty was signed.

### **References-No Man's Land**

Baltimore Columbiad-early space explorers from Jule's Verne's From the Earth to the Moon

Cavorite-The element created by Selwyn Cavor used in space travel in From Earth to the Moon

Osterlich-Zubrowka-Our replacement for Austria-Hungary. Osterlich(the Austria analogue) is from Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, while Zubrowka (the Hungary replacement) is from Grand Budapest Hotel

Maturinist powers-Refers to the label for the Entente in the Leviathan series

Clanker-The technology-based term used for the Central Powers in Leviathan

Sorns-Alien race inhabiting Mars from Out Of the Silent Planet

Barsoomians-Martians from John Carter of Mars

William Hattison- Edison stand in from The Conspiracy of Millionaires

Janos Bartok- Nikola Tesla stand in from the TV Show Legendary

Hattison Expedition- A reference to the War of the Worlds sequel book Edison's Conquest of Mars.

French Expedition- From George Melies' A Trip to the Moon.

German invasion of 1901-Refers to the genre of invasion literature, specifically meant to be an allusion to the novel 1901

Heeza Liar-A cartoon parody of Theodore Roosevelt, replaces him here.

Mark Kimbley- our analogue to William McKinley (the last Civil War veteran elected president)

Riots from socialist and anarchist groups-Refers to the story The Last President which depicts this occurring in the aftermath of the 1900 election

Tropico-Cuba stand in from the video game of the same name.

War in the Air-Conflict from the HG Wells novel of the same name. Less apocalyptic than depicted in the source materiel

David Israels-The first Jewish President from The Impeachment of David Israels

Benjamin Martin- The protagonist of the film The Patriot, replaces James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine thus becomes the Martin Doctrine.

Bombhurst-the name of a royal family in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, replaces the Hasburg monarchy and therefore the city of Hasburg, named after them, is named Bombhurst instead.

Germans Taking half of London-Refers to the events of The Invasion of 1910.

Davenport Spry-Character from the War of the Worlds sequel Scarlet Traces, the intended Mars invasion does not happen here because of the ongoing war and Germany's invasion in 1910.

The Purple Death- a combination of two diseases of the same name. One from The War in the Air and one from the Flash Gordon serial the Purple Death from Outer Space.

Beckindale-Former name of Emmerdale from the soap opera of the same name

James Bigglesworth-Biggles from the works of the same name

San FransokyoSan Francisco rebuilt with Japanese assistance in Big Hero Six

Daughter abandoning marriage to China’s prince-Refers to the events of Land of Smiles

Lutha-Country from the novel the Mad King

Servia- Our Serbia stand-in from A Princess of Servia.

Arztotska-Country where the video game Papers Please is set. Replaces Poland.

Leviathan airship-The titular Darwinist weapon from Leviathan

Hans Von Hammer-Enemy Ace, a character from DC Comics. Based off and replaces Manfred Von Rochtofen,the Red Baron.

White Toon Beagle-Snoopy from Peanuts. He's shown to have many battles with the red baron. real and imagined.

Napoleon Meek-Character based off of T.E. Lawrence from the play Too Good to Be True. Visually he resembles Peter O'Toole's portrayal from Lawrence of Arabia

John Norton-Only mentioned President from Citizen Kane

Woodrow Winthrop-President Winthrop from The Repairer of Reputations. His first name is not given but I chose Woodrow to keep the initials WW, as Winthrop replaces Woodrow Wilson here. Woodrow is also a nod to the SImpsons episode Bart the Lover in which Bart creates a fake identity named Woodrow after Woodrow Wilson

Matthew Harrison Brady-Three-time failed presidential candidate a la William Jennings Bryan from the play/film Inherit The Wind

RMS Veritania-Ship from the film The Little American. Replaces the Lusitania.

USS ProPatria-Fictional ship from the pacifist film Civilization. Somewhat similar to the Lusitania, but with the exception that the count who was tasked with sinking it chose to sink his own vessel instead

El Guapo-The main villain of the film Three Amigos! An analogue to Pancho Villa (who he was loosely based on)

Tommy Hinds-Socialist activist from Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle

Ernest Evergard-Socialist activist from Jack London’s novel The Iron Heel

Hosea Blackford-Socialist politician from Harry Turtledove’s Southern Victory series

Pasha Antipov-Russian revolutionary from Doctor Zhivago

Princess Anastasia escaped-Refers both to the common theories that Anastasia escaped as well as the animated film Anastasia where she does

Germans seized New England-Allusion to the four-part series Uncle Sam’s Boys at the Invasion of the United States

Steve Trevor, Diana Prince-The events of the Wonder Woman Film

Draka-From The Domination of the Draka.

Khemed-Palestine stand in from the Adventures of Tintin

Qumar-Country from The West Wing.

Qurac-Country from DC Comics, Replaces Iraq.

Qumran-Arab country from Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. Replaces Kuwait

Bialya-Fictional Arab country from DC Comics. Replaces Syria

Ulgia-Arab country from the show Noir. Replaces Lebanon

Meccania-From Meccania the Super-State.

Freedonia, Sylvania-Both from Duck Soup.

Ixania-From the novel The Dark Frontier.

United World Organization-UN stand-in from the 1960’s Batman series

## **Interlude: Piercing the Veil**

*1928*

In the space between Demensions resided a great tower, massive enough to be considered a castle in its own right. Its most famous occupant was the Sorcerer Supreme Yen Sid. Never referred to simply as Sid, always by full name for he condoned respect. Yen Sid was one of the pupils of the famous wizard Merlin. He was not the only one but he was respected by his peers and feared by those who had turned to evil. The only one among the group he disliked was Balthazar Blake.

As Sorcerer Supreme, a title held by his master, Sid seemed mostly concerned with preserving stories. His tower resided in a void were floated worlds built solely to repeat the events of a story already told. The Wizard had even forbidden travel between worlds for the purpose of preserving each world's cycle, but this had become more and more difficult due to outside interference. A force known as the Darkness was threatening this pocket of reality. Yen Sid's solution, he hoped, was a talking cartoon Mouse.

Mickey Mouse made his way up the long stair case. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, almost literally given his toon nature meant a heart shaped hole was nearly poking out. He was not exactly as "Toon" as some of the others and his physical abilities were limited. He told himself he shouldn’t be this nervous—after all, this was the day he had long hoped for, to reach over the course of his apprenticeship. He’d had the occasional misstep along the way, namely the incident with the brooms...and the time he accidentally nearly destroyed a new world Master Yen Sid was creating by spilling paint thinner on it, which he seemed to have gotten away with as Yen Sid blamed something called The Phantom Blot for its destruction, but luckily his teacher was extremely patient. He had learned the fundamentals of the magical arts—how it relied on a shared energy that bound together all living things, how it had certain rules one needed to follow, how to channel it through certain instruments, how Magic like the species of the universe had evolved from moving objects to reality warping, and he had become a diligent pupil—after all, when one trains under the Sorcerer Supreme, one can hardly afford to slack off, right? But now, he couldn’t help but be nervous as Yen Sid led him to the top of the castle they resided in.

Yen Sid stopped just before the cracked window. He didn’t even glance back at Mickey before speaking to him.

“You’ve done well you know. Quite possibly the greatest pupil I’ve ever had.”

Yen Sid's voice was deep and commanding, but also intimidating. Mickey had never seen his master smile. He had a stern face with large eyebrows and glaring eyes which intimidated the Mouse.

“A-Ah Gee…that means a lot coming from you, sir.”

“There is no need to be so formal, Mickey.” Mouse could hear the annoyance. “You could go to Veritas or Balamb Garden if you wanted to refer to your mentors as “sir” all the time.”

“I’m sorry s-“ Mouse caught himself.

“Though I probably would'a gone to Ilvermorny if you hadn’t taken me in.”

“I did you a favor then.” Yen Sid stated.

Mickey's species was still "New" at least to humans and the discovery that some of them could use magic had resulted in a lot of beaucratic paperwork for the Magical Congress of the United States. They wanted to keep their existence hidden but didn't know if the Toons could be trusted with such a big secret. Fortunately, it seemed Magic inclined Toons were quite few, cushioning the process.

“I presume you know what we’re doing here?” Sid asked.

“Well yeah. You’ve been talking about retirement for a year now.”

“Indeed I have. There’s been so much I haven’t gotten around to doing yet. Merlin has told me Bermuda is a lovely place to visit. But I didn’t want to leave until I found someone who could take my place. I’d thought I’d found it before, but…” He shook his head sadly. “…Facilier rejected me, he prefers the voodoo arts and the teachings of Baron Samedi. However…” Yen Sid turned to face the Mouse. “I think you might have what it takes.”

Mouse swallowed, a little lump appearing in his throat before going down to his stomach. He’d expected this, but to hear it was a whole other matter. “T-Thank you, but I assume there's some kind of final test right?”

“Not in the strictest sense, actually. You're help keeping Chernabog sealed in Bald Mountain was proof enough that your magical skills are great.” Yen Sid’s face was halfway between pride and—what was that emotion? Fear? Regret?

Mickey had learned how to use the Keyblade. An ancient weapon used to seal away lands from the darkness. It also worked well as a stunted blade but could kill evil creatures as if it were sharp. He found it weird that it was both a key and a sword. Maybe it was a key that when you used it on evil beings it unlocked their deaths.

“What do I have to do?” Mickey asked.

“As you know, being the Sorcerer Supreme entails that you face threats beyond that anyone else faces. We don’t involve ourselves in fights against just any dark magic or petty tyrants or the “wonders” of science.” Yen Sid strolled away from the window to the other one. “We face entities beyond this world—beyond comprehension sometimes. Some are driven insane merely by exposure to them. Now, as a Toon, you are immune to this effect. Toons live in insanity.” Yen Sid breathed in again. “But even so, these things are horrors. I need to be sure you can handle exposure to these entities. Understand?”

Mouse couldn’t really misunderstand—but then again, Mickey did sometimes not pay attention to Yen Sid when he was speaking.

“I do.”

“What we are going to do tonight, Michael…”

This was one of the few times Yen Sid used his true name, which he only did in the most serious situations.

“…is give you a glance beyond this world. You will see the sort of threats you will have to face if you take my place. And if, at any time, what you see proves to be overwhelming, tell me. Don’t worry about disappointing me or anyone else. You have already accomplished so much.”

Mickey swallowed. Yen Sid reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “We will not begin until you are ready.”

Mouse stood in place for what felt like an eternity, but in hindsight was likely only a couple of minutes. “OK, I think I’m as ready as I’m going to get.”

He laughed in only the way he did nervously. Difficult to describe but easy to imitate.

“Alright. You shall see what lies beyond.” Yen Sid waved his arms in the familiar pattern for projection and seconds later, Mouse's spirit was hurtled out of his body.

Mickey recognized what was happening. He was astral projecting. His body was safely back where he left it while his spirit traveled. wherever it travelled.

The initial exposure wasn’t too bad. Mouse found himself drifting through a land with a strange red sky, if it could even be called that. He spotted something, a yellow triangle that turned to face him. It appeared to be 2D but not like he was. Though he appeared as a toon he still had a 3D body. this appeared to be a flat plane bent into a triangle. It also had a long top hat and a bow tie, which appeared to be flat on its body. It had almost stick figure black arms and legs. it appeared to have fingers. Deep in the center of the shape was a single eye. Mickey recognized the figure as looking a lot like the eye of Providence on American Money, the symbol of the Illuminati, a group he knew about but never fought.

"Hi!" the creature responded in a high pitched masculine voice with a strange effect over it. The triangle got very close, too close. It put its hand over Mickey's shoulder like they were old friends. The mouse looked at the arm to see if it was touching him, which shouldn't have been possible.

"Names Bill Cypher."

The entity then began to speak rapidly. As it spoke it began to rapidly conjure things with its other hand.

"Cosmic Tyrant."

It conjured a little mini universe which it quickly crushed with the same hand. Mickey cringed when he though he heard what sounded like countless tiny screams for a second. He didn't even notice that it made a physical sound when something like a galaxy shouldn't have.

"Herald of Chaos."

Cypher reached into the air with a now empty hand. The Universe or its remains were gone. He then pulled out of thin air a large canvas screen. On it was a wheel with symbols that Mickey immediately and instinctively tried to memorize. His magic training had relied quite a bit on memorizing such things. It was a wheel with a drawing of Cypher in the middle. Unfortunately Bill pulled it and it went up and vanished into nothing but he caught a glimpse of a few things such as a pair of glasses, a stitched heart, a shooting star, a llama, a hand, a star, a tree, and a question mark before it disappeared.

"Source of all things that are incomprehensible to the feeble mind."

This one and final line told Mickey all he needed to know. This being was lying. As powerful as Cosmic beings are they tended to boast about things they most likely didn't do or are capable of. It's easier to believe, but Mickey didn't because he knew that such as boast couldn't be possible.

Mickey pulled away from Cypher's hand over his shoulder trying his best to push but instead found himself shifting through the hand over his shoulder. From his new position he saw that Cypher appeared to be a Toon though one that seemed "cleaner". Not in the sense of dirt but his physical appearance seemed less "grainy". Mickey understood the nature of his existence and that he was not born so much as made and he felt Cypher was something similar but he seemed more "refined". It seemed impossible that human hands had drawn him.

"Hey wait a minute. I don't remember making a deal with you. Wanna change that?"

Cypher extended his hand, which seemed to burst into blue fire. Mickey shook his head nervously.

"Are you sure? I could get you anything. Money. Power. the Universe.."

His eyeball shifting showing a dollar sign, a clenched fist and a galaxy in that order.

Mickey had some reality warping of his own if limited. He took out a big cigar from seemingly behind his back, bent over slightly and lit it with the blue flames from Cypher's hand, the tip began to burn, made an excited or exaggerated happy expression and then put it to his mouth. He flashed a large set of White perfect clenched teeth and inserted the Cigar between them. He took a puff of smoke which emerged in the shape of the "NO". As a Toon, speech was still limited but he'd get it eventually. He had no trouble contacting with Yen Sid through a type of magically telepathy.

Cypher shrugged.

"Fine. Your funeral".

He suddenly flew at Mickey at a speed that caught him off guard. He also grew to the point where his eye was bigger than Mickey, turned black and his eye was now inverted, the entire eye was black with a white slit. His limbs were also white. Mickey dropped the cigar in panic. He was sent flying back before regaining his footing. Cypher raised his hand to snap his fingers than stopped.

"Hang on a second."

He shifted back to the yellow smaller triangle. He rubbed the area below his eye like there was a chin there.

"If I kill you here, then in a meta way I won't exist. I mean yeah we both exist now but from a certain point of view, our stories haven't happened yet...dammit!

He seemed now angry and turned to point at Mickey.

"You're no fun if I can't kill you get out of here!"

Mickey felt something pull him back and he let out a few shrieks as he was yanked backwards. A strange coded message appeared along with the same Wheel with Cypher in its center, then everything went black.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Mickey awoke on a grassy field. He looked up to see a white gloved hand being offered to him. He looked up first. The creature offering it to him was recognizably a cat. It face was a bit off. it's cheeks were more pronounced. It seemed to be White with black around its sides. He was holding a blue umbrella.

On its neck was a large red bow and on its head was a long flopping white and red striped hat.

"Hi there" it said in a tone that seemed warm and friendly. With a free hand he grabbed his hat and lifted it. Underneath was a smaller identical clone of him, which lifted its own hat to reveal a smaller cat and once more for a final time. He put his hat back down.

Micky tried to shake the hand while smiling his best Toony smile but his hand simply went through. The Cat frowned.

"Oh my" he said in a voice of concern. The cat then attempted to poke Mickey with his umbrella. It went through him.

"Seems you're not all there."

The Cat seemed to have an idea.

"I know! I'll get you something to eat"

Mickey began to back away, not wanting to trust the cat. He didn't seem predatory. Rather he seemed actually friendly. Mickey turned to look at his new environment and saw strange trees. They were multicolored, and had tufts of hair on their tops.

"Oh the places you'll go" said the cat, walking up to Mickey. "But I think you've been to a lot of places haven't you?"

Mickey turned sharply. "How do you know that?"

He didn't so much say the words as they appeared in the sky after he thought them.

" How do I know that?" the feline bowed. "Why I'm the cat in the Hat. There's no doubt about that."

Mickey bought this. He seemed like just another Toon.

"What is this place?" Mouse asked.

"Well it can be anywhere. It can be on a speck, or the hairs on a neck."

"It could be on a snake or inside a snowflake."

This seemed like nonsense but Mickey thought about the possibility of a demension that was unstable, constantly changing size and shape. With Cypher he was given a peak at a future enemy, an enemy which he might have helped create. What was the lesson here? Mickey looked down at the landscape and saw humans, a lot of children with few adults, maybe they had a baby boom. He saw baby baskets carried by strangely shaped umbrellas. This wasn't odd for him. It was a strange practice among both humans and Toons but sometimes a hospital would need to keep the baby and they would have storks deliver the infant when it was confirmed healthy. To Toons this was more common since someone hadn't invented anything to kill them yet.

"What are those?"

"Why those are Pumbersellas".

One of the baby baskets landed next to the cat. He took the Pumbersella and offered it to Mickey.

"These things pass through all sorts of worlds. Maybe they'll work for you".

Mickey reached out his hand and to his surprise, grabbed the handle He let out an excited yelp.

"Well I should get going, be seeing you around."

He held up and opened his own umbrella, grabbed the baby basket with his free hand and took off into the sky. Mickey wondered if the cat had ever met his friend Mary. The Mouse held up his Pumbersella and took off. He was flying. The strangely named yet familiar object took him into the sky and into the clouds. Soon he was floating with no idea where he was going. Then as he pierced the thin sheet of the clouds, he was something. A large stone structure with several angled pillars supporting it. He recognized it and knew that without realizing it, he was in a new demension. The structure before him was known as the Dark Tower.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

The Dark Tower was highly majestic site, how it pieced the heavens. It was also more important than it seemed. It's destruction could mean the end of the Multiverse. The downside is the interior of the tower, if one ever reached it had an odd effect whoever entered. Mickey was aware of one who's destiny was connected to the tower. Childe Roland. Roland had a complicated history, the son of King Arthur, he journeyed to the tower in his youth and it would haunt him. Every time he reached it he would be sent back, his journey undone only to start again. These last few times he was sent to other worlds and given false memories. He was Roland Deschain, until his amnesiac form was stranded on the Mundane world, at which point he took simply to being referred to as the Man with no Name, until he gave himself a name, William Munny. After that his trail went cold. Yen Sid kept tabs on him because he had a destiny with the Tower, what that was Mickey didn't know.

The tower seemed to have what were in essence, support beams, angled narrow columns keeping it up. Mickey feared what would happen if they were destroyed. His fears were heightened when he saw above a field of demons, seemingly endless, acting like wild animals ready to tear apart him and the world below like Piranhas.

His location shifted again but this time to a dark circular chamber. He turned to see a throne of human Skulls and at the top was a figure in a hooded red Cloak. Mickey recognized this one though they never met. This was the Crimson King, or the Scarlet King. He could have also been called the Red King as the last person to use that title was a now deceased King of Wonderland. Regardless of his name his intent was the same, conquest of the earth Mickey now partly called home. He had a rival, the Yellow King, who was even more rarely seen but appeared to enjoy driving people insane through various means, even driving them to commit murder.Two Kings fighting over the doorway to our world.

Suddenly everything faded to dark and the area filled with strange green unreadable constantly shirting symbols. They cleared and Mickey stood in a strange void filled with strange shapes. He had no fear, mostly confusion. What he was looking at was incomprehensible to him, and the Mouse was just as incomprehensible to it.

"You need not worry about this one." A voice said. It was that of his master. Mickey wondered why he didn't speak up but then he realized he had done a good job of keeping up on his own. "This one has not made any contact with humans because it realizes they would not be able to understand each other"

"Then why bring me here?" The Mouse asked.

"Because maybe someday that might change" Yen Sid responded.

And so the Journey truly seemed to picked up speed.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

He was not prepared for the next threat. A strange effect that engulfed everything around him. It moved like a torrent of wave. The same face repeated. It looked like a screaming distorted face in a crimson spiral. Strangely, the spiral patterns seemed to connect to make the repeating pattern of a fetus.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Then there was a large greyish creature with a massive mouth filled with endless rows of sharp teeth. On its head sat one spiral eye with two lines crossing over it. It had arms, its back had spikes and it had ten massive tails.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Next he was in a dark area, even the ground seemed to be dark. Black flakes floated through the air like ash. He seemed to be in the middle of a thunderstorm. Mickey turned and before him was what he recognized as a Mind Flayer. They and the ruins of their society were feared across the multiverse, not only for sharing a facial resemblance to Cthulhu with their facial tendrils but also for the fact they ate brains. There seemed to be several dressed in black outfits, some appeared to be priests from the Mouse's guess. The gathering seemed to be some form of ritual. Most likely for a dark purpose. They were not the only creatures. Brains with legs hopped around like frogs. there were several mind flayers, one of them picked up one of the Brain Frog creatures and raised it to his mouth, tendrils extending to envelop it. Mickey looked away, not wanting to seeing what he realized was the Mind Flayer eating. He turned away and saw several of the Mind Flayers grabbing their heads in pain. Soon they all did. he looked around confused as his mind was fine, then again he wasn't really there.

Finally he noticed another creature. A Demogorgon, it had tendrils for arms and two baboon heads that were roaring. It also seemed in pain but then something began to happen to it. The Demogorgon fell forward on its back, Its skin began to fall off. It tendrils also fell off and were replaced but emerged with arms covered in a mucus. He had fingers now. Its head was much rounder. It lifted it up slowly and then opened like a horrifying flower. Inside were bright red gums and the flaps or "Petals" were filled with teeth.

Mickey looked back to the Mindflyers to see if they had mutated and indeed they had but no individually. He saw a massive amount of them gathering together, wriggling like works in a massive pile. Yet this pile defied gravity. They seemed to be coming together to form a shape, like that of a giant spider. It went up to the sky. red Lightning flashed and Mickey saw the creatures massive body. Whatever ritual the Mindlflayers were doing, in whatever reality they were in, it appeared to have succeeded.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Mickey then changed to another location, though he barely recognized he had done so. The area he was in looked as if it was underwater and now he really was. He stood before a large ancient gate. Something pulled him towards it and he saw the Dreamer himself, Cthulhu. Even having seen sculptures of him he was still terrifying to behold in person, massive, curled up in his batlike wings with tendrils. Many people believed the Old One ability to induce insanity was from sight alone and Mickey believed it, but in actuality it appeared to be a secretion of a pheromone, that Mickey, not being there shouldn't have felt, but yet he was still horrified.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

The next glimpse was short and for that the Mouse was grateful. Below him was a reddish field with many living shadows that were constantly moving. The sky was also red. Red Lightning and red skies were never a good sign.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Mickey found himself standing on a briny beach on a foggy and altogether unpleasant looking day. Yen Sid was beside him.

"This next beast can be controlled" He said. "with this."

He held out a statue that seemed to be made of obsidian. It appeared to be an instrument, but it was shaped like a seahorse. "Play it".

Mouse held it to his mouth and did indeed played it, He had played both musical instruments and animals before but never musical instruments shaped like animals, though he had played animals shaped like musical instruments. He tried to play turkey in the straw but the sound that came out was a strange buzzing. Mickey looked into the water while continuing to play. He saw a black shape moving under the water. it slithered but seemed to be in a question mark shape.

"That is the Bombinating Beast, also known as the Great Unknown though I dislike its second name. There is fare more to the unknown than a mere sea monster. I discovered that it can be kept under your power as long as it is fed."

He tossed a piece meat into the water. It did not come up for air. He then turned to Mickey. "I show you this because I wanted you to see that some of these creatures could become your allies, should you choose this path."

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Mickey was now in a white space. He turned this time to see a massive gate made of black stone. There was a pattern on it. It appeared to be the tree of life but something was different about it. The tree seemed bigger and fatter. Mickey squinted and saw the shape of many animals within the trunk. The gate opened like massive doors. Mickey turned to see someone. It appeared as a pure white figure with a black outline that was strangely pulsating like a black flame. What disturbed Mickey was the figure was in his own shape with his distinctive circular ears. It felt like it was staring at him but had no eyes. Then it grew a mouth. A Creepy smile with an unnatural row of white teeth.

"My, my, you're not supposed to be here."

Its voice seemed to reverberate. It scared the Mouse.

"You've committed no crimes against Alchemy. Although...Magic does sometime require an equivalent exchange, though some have found a way to cheat it. Take you for instance. Your toon nature means you can to some extent create things. Not as much as other toons but still. You did create a cigar a few dimensions ago."

Mickey was freaked out by that.

"Because your toonstuff is virtually limitless, even if you can't access that much power, it allows your magic to be quite strong. So even you are subject to the laws of Equivalent Exchange."

Mouse thought he knew where they was going.

The Gate behind him began to slowly open. The stone door creaked loudly as it scrapped the ground.Inside there was a darkness. It reminded Mickey of another large door that darkness resided behind. One massive eye awoke. Several tendrils emerged like ribbons with tiny hands. They wrapped around him and began pulling him in. He tried to grab at the white ground if it could even be called that. His toonstuff was used somewhat to pull the floor like rug but a chunk of it was torn off. Mickey was flung back into the dark and the gate shut on him, leaving him in pitch black.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Mickey lit a match summoned through toonstuff. He was in darkness now and began to walk. He found that he was in a forest. On a tree was a piece of paper. He read the Words "Don't look or it takes you" written in black. Mickey was glad for the warning. After walking through the forest he turned to see a faceless figure in a white suit and let out a yell, suddenly static enveloped his entire sight as if he was pressed against a TV. It didn't take him to where he feared. Instead he appeared in a new location. A Park with children playing. It was black and white, which was nothing new to the Mouse. The sight of children playing made him happy before he realized something sinister was likely about to happen and in his astral form he would likely not be able to do a thing about it.

His fears where confirmed where behind the children playing was the figure in the suit with a blank face. Mickey panicked and ran towards the children. He passed through several but he kept going. The Slender figure seemed to be floating towards a child. Then Mickey shifted somewhere else. He stopped in place, tears forming in his eyes. This was what terrified him the most, more than any of the things he could encounter, the fact that he couldn't save someone.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

The next deities he could not quite see, but he conceived them as a quartet of gods so vast they could not escape the realm they resided in and were forced to utilize heralds.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

And finally, he was in space, looking at a massive wriggling thing. it had tentacles but that was about all Mickey could do to describe it. He knew this one too and it was the worst one of all for though it did nothing, It was the dreamer at the center of everything, Azathoth. If it was was awoken all of existence would be destroyed.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Mickey tried to steel himself, remain as firm as possible. And yet he couldn’t. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. He began screaming. In fact, this was the first time a sound had ever came out of his mouth. He could speak.

And just like that he was back, stumbling before Yen Sid, who sought to help him regain balance.

“I-I can’t. These things—these *horrors—*they’re too much.”

Yen Sid sighed. “I thought as much. Do not feel ashamed. Merlin himself would flinch before them. But of course, this means the end of your apprenticeship.”

Had Mouse heard this before tonight, he would have broken down in tears. But now, after seeing what he had witnessed—he felt a profound relief. A weight lifting off his shoulders.

“What do I do now, then?”

“Well, what is it you’ve always wanted to do and never have?”

Mouse paused and raised a finger to his mouth in confusion. Then he came up with an idea, indicated by an illuminating lightbulb appearing over his head

There was one dream he’d always had, but he didn’t think he’d achieve it.

“I’ve always liked the idea of show business. Going into entertainment. I’d love to perform. But it's not like anyone would hire someone like me for that.”

"Not in this Universe."

This was not said as if it was an insult, but rather as a fact.

Yen Sid stroked his beard in thought. After a short pause, he replied. “Mickey, there is no use in saying you *cannot.*Instead, say you *will.*The odds this can happen are far higher than you might expect.” At this, Yen Sid’s eyes twinkled.

Micky perked up and suddenly became full of energy.

“Alright, point me towards the nearest audition and I’ll show up.”

Yen Sid chuckled slightly. “I don’t know where such a thing is, but I have a suggestion: your dreams most likely will lead you to America.”

“America?” Mickey had sometimes considered moving to America, as he heard toons had it better over there than in Europe.

“Maybe I will.”

“Well, wherever you end up, I wish you the best of success…” Yen Sid suddenly wrapped his arms around Mouse. “…and I will miss you, Mickey.”

Mouse hugged back. “I will miss you too, sir.”

And with that Mouse opened an exit back to his home. He waved once more to Yen Sid before he stepped through back to his life.

### **References**

Sorcerer Supreme-The world’s top magic practitioner in the Marvel universe (both comics and MCU).

Yen Sid-The wizard teaching Mickey in the Fantasia segment “The Magician’s Apprentice.”

Merlin-Famous Wizard originally from Arthurian Legend

Balthazar Blake- The wizard from the live action adaptation of the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Mickey Mouse-A young Mickey Mouse, who here is a Moreau sapien/toon.

Nearly destroyed a world-refers to the prologue of the video game Epic Mickey

Shared energy binding all living things-The way the Force from Star Wars works. Magic explained this way can be said to be an offshoot of the Force and its uses.

Veritas-Wizarding school depicted in the Magic University series.

Balamb Garden-Site from the Final Fantasy franchise where you can train in magic.

Ilvermorny-American wizarding School from Harry Potter

Merlin-Originally from Arthurian legend. Has been portrayed in so many ways. Him recommending Bermuda is specifically a nod to the Disney version of The Sword in the Stone, but that should not be interpreted as meaning that version takes precedence.

Facilier-Dr. Facilier, the main villain of The Princess and the Frog

Baron Samedi-a figure in Haitian Voodoo.

Chernabog, Bald Mountain-from the Fantasia segment “Night on Bald Mountain.”

Bill Cypher-From Gravity Falls.

The Cat in the Hat-Dr.Seuss's creation. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen gets credit for the idea of the Cat being an eldritch horror though less so here.

Snowflake, Speck-references Whoville's location in a snowflake from adaptations of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Speck refers to Horton Hears a Who.

Shifting Universe-Meant to explain how characters who should be small (characters from stories set in the aforementioned Snowflake and Speck) interact while being the same size as other character like the Cat in the Hat(who is shown to be big around the same size as normal humans.

Pumbersellas-Specifically how babies are delivered in the live action Grinch movie.

Cat's kid-Canonically The Cat in the Hat has two kittens, Young Cat and Sister Cat. Young Cat would be the most likely in the basket.

The Dark Tower, Roland Deschain-From Stephen King's the Dark Tower series.

Roland's childhood-refers to the poem and story "Childe Roland" which inspired the Dark Tower series.

The Man with No Name-From Sergio Leone's a Fistful of Dollar's film trilogy. Played by Clint Eastwood.

William Munny-retired Cowboy character from The Unforgiven. Also played by Clint Eastwood.

The Crimson King-The villain of several Stephen King stories including Dark Tower.

The Scarlet King-Villain from the SCP Foundation website and universe(where people submit their own ideas for SCPs or dangerous paranormal objects that need to be contained and see if they are approved). shows up in several SCP Foundation entries. Among others, the King himself is an SCP-001 proposal, SCP-231-7 is subject to horror to keep her from birthing his spawn and SCP-2317 is implied to be him as part of the ruse to prevent panic surrounding its true nature.

The Red King-The character of that name from the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass.

The yellow king-the eponymous King in Yellow from the universe of the same name, a major influence on HP Lovecraft. The Yellow King is also a deity worshipped by the Serial killer and main villain of the First season of True Detective, hence why its mentioned the King can drive people to murder.

Incorporeal lifeform-The Cloud Canopy Domain from the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. So alien and incomprehensible even the Data Overmind (a similar entity that created Yuki to observe the world) is confused by it.

Crimson spiral-Giygas from Earthbound.

Ten tailed Beast-The Ten-Tails energy being from Naruto. Immensely powerful and horrifying.

Mind Flayer, Demogorgon-creatures from Mythology, used in Dungeons and Dragons, but popularized in the show Stranger Things. What we are seeing here is a mutation from their appearance from the former to the latter.

Cthulhu-from the eponymous Mythos. Because you can’t go around showing off the eldritch horrors of the world and not include him.

Living shadows-The Shadows from Babylon 5.

Beastly bombinator-The Bombinating Beast, an entity very similar to Cthulhu depicted in All the Wrong Questions, a prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Grinner before a gate-The entity known as the Truth, standing before the Gate of Truth, from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Slender Man-Good ol’ Slendy. Mostly the version from the Slender video game and Marble Hornets/Tribe Twelve/other classic Slenderblogs rather than the more humorous offshoots or the film

Quartet of gods-The Chaos Gods from Warhammer 40K. Not nearly as powerful at the moment, but one day the grim darkness of the far future will better enable them to act.

Azathoth-Cthluhlu mythos

Go into acting-A nod to the fact that this story is set before the first Steamboat Willie cartoon came out. Mickey will ultimately go on to become a famous toon in America alongside our Disney analogue who will be revealed soon.

Arztotska-Country where the Papers Please video game is set. Replaces Poland.

## **The Roaring Twenties**

If the 1920’s can be said to have had a motto, it was best articulated by businessman Oliver Warbucks: “The business of people is business and the business of government is to mind its own business.” The postwar economy encouraged a major boom, at least among the victors of the conflict. The stock market was drastically rising. New consumer goods like the automobile was on the rise. While the automobile had existed for sometime, it would be in the 1920's that Eugene Morgan and his company Morgan Motors would form an industry around the product. Advancments such as the Automobile and refrigerators were becoming increasingly available to the average person and it seemed like the good times would never end. The 1920's would mark the beginning of a trend of American Presidents with short terms. Winthrop, who had won the 1916 election after succeeding David Israels, lost the 1920 election. His last act would be an odd one, introducing the Suicide Chambers, sometimes called Euthanization chambers, and later called Suicide Booths to the public. Winthrop's death shortly after his loss, led to Nathan Whipple, nicknamed "Shagpole" because of a rumor of Whipple once having danced around about a pole, to become President, which lasted until the newly elected President: republican Rufus Kane, took office. The period was consumed by a new goal: consumption. This even extended to the point that many Americans were prepared to overlook the issues of the decade-inequality, the corruption of Rufus Kane’s administration (as revealed in the Sunday Papers) and its allies like treasurer(and secret bootlegger)Enoch Thompson. Kane would lose his role as President not through impeachment, but by losing a bout with pneumonia. His equally corrupt would be successor, Willis Markham faired no better and ingested a bottle of Poison, by which point the Democrats emerged once more victorious in the 1924 election and placed Phillip Dru as President. His Presidency(and the entire reason he had ran, was to prevent a second American Civil War, which was threatening to brew thanks to figures like Jake Featherston calling for an overthrow of the White House given the last three corrupt Presidents. This War was averted thanks to Dru, but the the surprise of many, he would step down once the crisis was averted rather than running for reelection. Emergency elections were held and Republican John P. Wintergreen emerged victorious. Wintergreen promised to marry a French beauty pageant winner only to immediately relent on his promise. He would be booted from the Republican ticket for the 1928 election but would run independently.

The League of Nations grew increasingly incompetent as a result of so much support coming from the now fractured America, but continued to operate, funding the creation of what would become the SCP Foundation. Cultural developments proved to be remarkable. Cabaret shows and musicals proved extremely popular. Many novels (including many written by American expatriates in France) gained enormous popularity and would come to be regarded as literary classics in subsequent years. The rising middle class was able to partake in these forms of entertainments, as well as less highbrow forms such as the Barnum & Carlyle’s Circus. The biggest cultural advancement of the 1920’s would be in cinema. In 1927, the film *The Jazz Singer* would be released by the studio Warriner Brothers. The film starred Jackie Rabinowitz as Al Jolson and was a semi autobiographical story following his childhood dream of becoming an actor and ending with him performing on stage for the world, though this is tarnished now by the main character(and the actor play him)'s use of blackface, something not controversial at the time.

The studio Monumental pictures had been experimenting with "Talking pictures" or giving film sound but they now had proof of concept from their biggest rival. They then set about turning their film *The Dueling Cavalier* into *The Dancing Cavalier* at the suggestions of the starsand made it into a musical. Their biggest star Don Lockwood, who's fame was so great he was often chased by fans who took pieces of his clothes as souvenirs, was a great singer and had just finished *Royal Rascals* for them, a film about feuding members of the royal family. Lockwood was known for romances and barely tolerated the studio's leading lady Lina Lamont. The Dueling Cavalier's plot remained unchanged. Lockwood played the film's hero, the titular cavalier, based on the real life Laughing Cavalier: Sir Percy Blake and the Scarlet Pimpernel but not wearing a mask. The film chronicled the love between him and Lamont's character, interspersed with scenes of action as Lockwood battle dastardly villains with the third act having Lamont's character be kidnapped and The Cavalier rushing to rescue her. Despite a very troubled shoot filled with both technical problems and the acting and singing inability of Lina Lamont previously masked by the silent film format, the film was a hit(and in the process pioneered the art of "dubbing" by having singer Kathy Selden voice over Lamont's performance). It was also the first film musical and is largely falsely sited as the first "Talkie" due the *The Jazz Singer* not aging as well given its use of Blackface. Kathy Selden and the film's star Don Lockwood soon made another film *Singin' in the Rain,* which was written around a song Lockwood conceivedwhile walking home one day. They would be married soon after as well.

This sparked a revolution in filmmaking, as Vinewood began to shift to almost-entirely nonsilent films from the silent ones more prevalent in the earlier decades. Some silent film stars such as George Valentin, Archie Maplin, and Lina Lamont had difficulty in this new world of talking pictures, problems such as how they sounded as they spoke began to arise.

An eagerness for discovery regained hold in this decade as well and many adventurous souls became active. Egyptology became popular once again for first time since the 1880's, with archaeologists such as Emily Sands, Rick Carmahan and Henry Jones, Sr. searching mummies and artifacts in the desert country. While there were hiccups (often in the form of mysterious disappearances and deaths that lined up with rumored curses), many tombs were uncovered and artifacts acquired for display, such as those of Tutankhamen, Ramses, Ozymandias and Nephren-ka. The recovered artifacts heavily influenced popular culture in this period, so did the unrecovered ones.

This period was also one of the first to see advances for women and minority groups. The United States, just before the beginning of the 1920’s, had passed the 19th Amendment, allowing women the right to vote. Similar efforts in Britain were undertaken, with feminist figures like Edith Ellyn successfully lobbying for voting rights. These advances weren’t restricted to the political sphere, as the rising “flapper” culture and increasing role of the automobile enabled women a greater deal of autonomy. African-Americans also made great strides in this time. While the segregationist policies of the South remained in place, may African-Americans would move up north. Up north, black figures were able to engage in the pursuit of artistic expression in ways they were often prevented from doing in the southern states. The so-called “Gotham Renaissance” saw black authors like Janie Crawford and Sandy Rogers produce poetry and literature reflective of their life experiences. While blocked off from the full opportunities available to whites, people of color were able to make advances.

    The groups able to advance the most during this period was the Moreau sapiens and Toon populations. The creations of Dr. Alphonse Moreau had, during the period following their creation, been subject to hostility from many people but many had done well for themselves and others. Another group. Toons, had only recently come into the world through a portal to their own Universe, in what became known as Toon Town. They largely kept to areas where portals arrived and so did not alter human society beyond a small patch of land, which Marvin Acme immediately swooped in and claimed ownership of, gaining a near monopoly on Toons. The origins of Toons are unknown but it is believed that they were created through strange magic, as their bodies appear to have similar qualities to ink. Charles Dingo introduced Mickey Mouse to the world in 1928 and he became a star. Many others attempted to find a way to copy Charles's success, and would so so for the fifty years and beyond. For now we will focus on the rivals of Dingo as they appeared in this decade. The first major studio to oppose Dingo was headed by Walt Fleishman, head of Fleishman studios, which in the coming decade would produce shorts starring toons such as Betty Boop, Koko the Clown and Popeye.

Another up in comer was Itchy and Scratchy studios. The character of Itchy was technically created in 1919 by Chester Lampwick in the lost short *Manhattan Madness* "The Father of Cartoon Violence", but Roger Meyers Sr, plagiarized Itchy and formed Itchy and Scratchy studios in 1921, sitting on the property until introducing Scratchy in the 1928 film *That Happy Cat*. Meyers Sr was not an animator himself and it showed. In 7 years he completed only a 14 second film showing Scratchy walking that naturally bombed. He resorted to plagiarism once more with *Steamboat Itchy* which recycled the Scratchy character and ended with Itchy brutally murdering Scratchy. This was a hit (animation had yet to acquire the "For Kids" label it would get so this was viewed as for adults). In the coming years, many men would attempt to imitate Dingo's success. Others like Roy Brisby and Joey Drew would dive into the darker aspects of Dingo's work and attempt to achieve immortality. Some would find success such as animator Milt Appleday and Roy Brisby, who created one and only one character, Bizzy Bee, which he proceeded to milk the massive success of.

The Toons soon expanded outward, The Billionaire Toon Scrooge McDuck took up residence on the state of Calisota, which bordered California. Most were kept down by laws that were simply segregation laws that were used to target non-whites, reworked for Toons. These laws had been introduced by Winthrop to appeal Southerners he was a part of. As a result, many Toons would live in groups, such as in Moreau sapiens-dominated states like Nacumera and the Kingdom of Celestville (later incorporated into Monrassa), or establish cities like Possum Springs, Elwood City, Maple Town and Busytown. Dozens of Toons would move to Vinewood and America would find themselves captivated by toons. Rival studios soon picked up on the entertainment value of toons, allowing other entertainers such as Bugs Bunny to achieve fame. While discrimination would remain an issue, Toons became far more accepted after their breakthroughs into the entertainment industry.

    Despite these promising indicators, warning signs for the Second World War were present. Italy elected Benzino Napaloni to power in the year 1922. Napaloni would prove to be Europe’s first fascist dictator. He had a vision of a second Roman empire and longed for more territory than the mere colonies of Karbomya and Zanj, which ultimately drove him to invade the African nation of Ishmaelia in the 1930’s. Germany had rebuilt itself under the leadership of Joh Frederson, who along with inventor Karl Rotwang, transformed the massive city of Berlin into a Metropolis, which they had also done to New York as part of atonement for the city's destruction in the Airship wars. Those on the top lived blissful lives, unaware of the suffering of the workers below them. Freder, Joh Frederson's son, witnessed a group of workers led by a woman named Maria and after watching the worker's struggle and die would join them in their cause. frederson approached Rotwang for a plan to destroy the workers, he provided it in the form of his creation, an automaton which Rotwang gave the physical appearance of Maria to discredit her. She led the workers in a rebellion, only for them to tun on her and burn her, revealing her to be the robotic imposter. Freder would takeover as the leader of Germany. However, there was another figure, Adenoid Hynkel, that would make his first forays into electoral politics by leading the rebellion. While he remained a fringe figure in this decade, Hynkel’s fanatical hatred for the Jews, the British, the communists and others gained him a cult following, especially in his native Tomania in the south of Germany. Rounding out the future Axis Powers, Japan saw an increasingly belligerent military gain influence, even as the country moved towards democratic systems of government. Additional cracks were present in the wizarding world. While largely a secret from most people, the wizarding world was actively engaged in a conflict during this period. The wizard Gellert Grindelwald sought to gain influence over non-wizards, believing them in need of guidance from more “enlightened” wizards. To that end, Grindelwald seized control of the Ministries of Magic in most of Eastern Europe. He found a willing ally in Peter Rastov Rasputin, a former advisor to the Tsars before betraying them and encouraging the Russian Revolution. Rasputin offered a partnership to Antipov, who had taken over after Vladimir Lenin's death on behalf of Grindelwald, but the proud Antipov refused. As punishment, Rastov cursed him, leading to Antipov’s death. This sparked a power struggle between Omar Bender and Josef Besstrashny which was ultimately won by the latter figure.

    There were other downsides in this generally prosperous period. Crime rose greatly in the United States in the 1920’s. This can be blamed on the Prohibition of alcohol imposed by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Prohibition failed in its goal of stamping out alcohol abuse. Instead, it merely encouraged the rise of criminal bootleggers. The likes of Nick Diamond, “Snake Eyes” Johnson and Tony Camonte ensured the continued flow of alcohol to Americans seeking it. Efforts by law enforcement to stymie their activity bred violence in major cities from Detroit to Gotham and most of these criminals would not be caught until after the repeal of Prohibiton, others would meet bloody ends at the hands of either personal feuds or Detectives such as Richard "Dick" Tracy. By all accounts, it was a dismal failure. Additionally, the celebrity culture that cropped up in this period (increased by the role of media outlets run by men like Charles Foster Kane) often could be stifling or have other negative consequences. For instance, the famous Roxie Hart murder case only ended with a not guilty verdict due to a major public relations and media manipulation campaign. On the economic side, it became a common myth that achieving wealth would fulfill all of your dreams. The tragic nature of this belief was best highlighted in Nicholas Carraway’s autobiographical novel *The Great Gatsby.*Based on his friendship with the deceased Jay Gatsby, Carraway’s book paints a picture of a man who sought wealth to fulfill his dream of being with the woman he loves. Instead, he ended up failing to win her love and ultimately died as a result of his efforts to woo her. The book provides a good illustration of the emptiness of the prosperity for many Americans (as well as British). And then of course, there’s what happened in 1929.

### **References-The Roaring Twenties**

Oliver Warbucks-Businessman who adopts Annie in Little Orphan Annie as well as the musical adaptation thereof

Morgan Motors-Automobile company named after Eugene Morgan from The Magnificent Ambersons

Nathan Whipple- Ex President from A Cool Million.

Rufus Kane-President from the 1930’s radio series The Life of Mary Marlin. Basically replaces Harding, only with more adultery (he propositions the main character on the radio show at one point)

Sunday Papers-From the film There Will Be Blood

Enoch Thompson-Nucky Thompson, treasurer of Atlantic City who moonlights as a bootlegger in the series Boardwalk Empire

Willis Markham-President from the book of the same name

Phillip Dru-From Phillip Dru: Administrator

John P. Wintergreen-President from the musical Of Thee I Sing. The events described here are part of the plot of the musical

Barnum and Carlyle’s-Barnum and Bailey’s replacement based off the events of The Greatest Showman

Warriner Brothers- A reference to the stand in for Jack Warner seen in a Broadway Melody. Warner Brothers thus becomes Warriner Brothers.

Monumental Pictures- Film studio From Singin in the Rain. I chose to make it my stand in for Paramount pictures because of name similarity.

The Dancing Cavalier-Film from Singin' in the Rain. The film called Singin in the Rain' in universe is also from the film as a poster for a movie called that is seen at the end of the film.

The Jazz Singer- Mentioned in Singin' in the Rain. The first actual film to have sound. It does feature Blackface as it is about a performer who uses it. The performer Jackie Rabinowitz replaced his inspiration Al Jolson.

The Laughing Cavalier-The sequel to the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

Vinewood-Hollywood stand-in from Grand Theft Auto

George Valentin- Protagonist from the film the Artist

Archie Maplin-Charlie Chaplin stand in from Doctor Who comics

Emily Sands-Archaeologist from Egyptology, who mysteriously vanishes shortly after entering a newly discovered tomb

Evelyn Carmahan-Archaeologist from The Mummy films. Brendan Frasier's character in those films wasn't an archeologsit.

Henry Jones, Sr.-Indiana Jones’ father

Ozymandias-From the incomplete poem Ozymandias

Nephren-ka-False identity assumed by Nyarlathotep in the Cthulhu Mythos

Edith Ellyn-Women’s suffrage advocate in the film Suffragette. Stand in for Edith Garrud and Edith New.

Gotham Renaissance-Harlem Renaissance stand-in named for Batman’s Gotham City

Janie Crawford-Semi-autobiographical character in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Crawford replaces Hurston.

Sandy Rogers-From the novel Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes

Moureau sapiens-Name for anthropomorphic animals in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Marvin Acme- From Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Charles Dingo-A parody of Walt Disney from iCarly. Replaces him here

Walt Fleishman-From The carton The Real Ghostbusters combined Walt Disney and the Fletcher brothers, replaces the latter. Turning Fletcher Studios into Fleishman studios.

Itchy and Scratchy- Taken from the backstory of the Simpsons.

Roy Brisby, Bizzy Bee- From Venture Brothers

Joey Drew- From Bendy and the Ink Machine

Milt Appleday- deceased animator from the show Out of Jimmy's Head.

Scrooge McDuck-One of the wealthiest characters in fiction from Duck Tales! among other things

Nacumera-Island home to intelligent dog-soldiers in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville

Celestville-Kingdom ruled by Babar the Elephant

Toon Town-Setting of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Possum Springs-Setting of the video game Night in the Woods

Elwood City-Hometown of Arthur from the children’s books and cartoons of the same name

Maple Town-Setting of the slice-of-life anime series of the same name

Busytown-From various children’s books by Richard Scarry

Los Santos-Los Angeles stand-in from GTA, along with Angel Grove from the Power Rangers.

Bugs Bunny-From Looney Toons

Benzino Napaloni-From The Great Dictator. Parody of Mussolini

Karbomya- A better translation of "Carbombya" from transformers: The Animated Series. Replaces Libya

Zanj- A Standin fo Somalia from The Coup

Ishmaelia-Stand in for Ethiopia from Scoop.

Adenoid Hynkel-Chaplin’s parody of Hitler from The Great Dictator

Gellert Grindelwald-Dark wizard from the Harry Potter series.

Peter Rastov-Rastov the Mad Monk from A Night in the Lonesome October. Peter has been added as a first name (which isn’t given in the book). Replaces Rasputin, taking cues from his depictions in Anastasia and Hellboy, among others

Omar Bender-Character from several Russian novels, including The Little Golden Calf

Josef Besstrashny-Surname literally translates to “Fearless Leader,” the name of the Soviet leader in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Our Stalin replacement

Nick Diamond-Capone-inspired gangster from Gabriel Over the White House

“Snake Eyes” Johnson-Gangster declared Public Enemy Number One in the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes

Tony Camonte-Gangster from the original Scarface film

Charles Foster Kane-From Citizen Kane

Roxie Hart murder case-Refers to the events of the musical Chicago

Nicholas Carraway-Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby. The one thing taken from the most recent film adaptation is that Carraway goes on to write about this experience

## **Interlude: Der Fuhrer's Place**

*Office of the Chancellor*

*Berlin, Germany*

*1934*

“The Fuhrer is ready for you.” The blonde secretary said to the trio of men waiting to meet with the nation’s new leader. Sure enough, the man soon enough entered the room. All three immediately popped out of their seats.

“Sieg Heil!” Adenoid Hynkel merely raised his hand slightly in acknowledgement.

“Good day, gentlemen. Please, come in.” The three men did not hesitate to comply. As they entered the office, Hynkel gestured the locations he wanted each of them to sit. This put Garbitsch in the middle, Vogel on his left and Schmidt on the right.

“Now, I’m sure you know why I brought you here. We are on the cusp of restoring Germany to glory—making up for the humiliation of the Great War and building a thousand-year empire. This is, thankfully, something we all know is our duty to accomplish.”
“Indeed.” Garbitsch chimed in. “The only difficulty lies merely in how to best bring about this new order of ours.”
“Yes.” Hynkel turned to Vogel. “I am given to understand that you have a proposal in mind?”
“Yes, my Fuhrer.” Vogel said. “The Aryan mind is naturally gifted at the sciences. I have been talking to Strasse, Merkwurdgliebe, Richter, Totenkopf—the proposals they have made are fascinating. Sending our men to the moon—to the depths of the Earth—building mechanical marvels the likes of which the world have never seen—THESE are what will make an empire to rival that of Rome.” Vogel paused to catch his breath. “And that is just in the realm of physics and machines. With the right biological research, we could go even further. Engineer the perfect master race—I am already in correspondence with some Drakan academics about the prospect. I have also acquired some biological samples that I believe could lead us to reverse extinction.”

“Play God you mean.” Garbitsch grumbled.

“If God intended for us to not act, he would not have made it so possible.” Schmidt responded. “The scientific marvels Vogel has highlighted are indeed impressive and should be pursued. But he errs in neglecting the more esoteric aspects.”

Vogel glared at Schmidt. “You have been speaking with Toht too often, Herr Schmidt. It is not a reasonable allocation of resources to send men across the globe to dig for trinkets in the desert.”

“The things we seek are hardly trinkets, my Fuhrer. They are powerful and could help ensure we reach our fullest glory.”

“I have seen your proposals, Johann.” Hynkel said. “I must say, Vogel makes a valid point. It is extremely unlikely that all of these artifacts exist.”

“That is why we shall only pursue the most likely ones, my Fuhrer. And let’s not forget we already know some of my proposals will get results. I and Herr Kemmler are the ones who arranged your meeting with Herr Grindelwald after all.” Schmidt said this last part with a bit of smugness.

“I question some of the elements of your proposal, Herr Schmidt.” Garbitsch chimed in. “For instance, your proposed Order 666…it seems like this could easily foment unrest if we are not careful. We have no way of knowing if this Tsalal city you speak of even exists, let alone if we can find it. And this Haiti expedition you have pitched might have no payoff.”

“I can understand these concerns, gentlemen, but with all due respect…” Schmidt practically spat “…we know other nations are gaining ground in this area. The British uncovered the gateway to the stars six years ago. If we delay in acting…who knows what else they might find? And further, we have reason to believe there is a cache of these sorts of objects that is owned by Semites.”

“Really?” Hynkel asked, intrigued.

“My Fuhrer, this is patently absurd!” Vogel yelled. “He simply wants you to indulge his faith in myths! Even were such a cache to exist, there could not possibly be anything of value in there. The Semite is, after all, inferior.”

“Inferior, yes.” Garbitsch said thoughtfully. “But they can exploit the master race. Who’s to say they could not have stolen some tech from Atlantis or Mu and hid it for themselves as the empires collapsed. We know they have a history of betrayal.”

Hynkel paused, considering what everyone had to say. After a few minutes he spoke again.

“Schmidt, you understand that if your efforts fail, I will not hesitate to cut off your organizations—I don’t care how important you consider them.” Hynkel turned to Vogel. “The same goes for you, Vogel. And I don’t want any unnecessary friction. It’s bad enough dealing with the debates over letting women into the SS or Heussman’s architectural programs.”

“Yes, my Fuhrer.” Vogel and Schmidt proclaimed at the same time.

“Very well. You are all dismissed. Except for you, Garbitsch, I would like you to stay a bit longer. Herring’ll be joining us shortly.” The other two men saluted Hynkel and chimed “Heil Hynkel” before exiting the room, leaving Garbitsch alone with the Fuhrer.

“You know I do not trust Herr Schmidt at all.”

“You have good reason not to, Joseph. That man is more dedicated to his dead gods and wild fantasies than he is to the Reich itself. He will only be loyal so long as we give him a chance to honor those gods.”

“How far are we willing to go for a fanatic like him?”

“Not very. I don’t believe his “sacrifices” to the Aesir will yield any results. But so long as it encourages him to cooperate with our ultimate solution to the Untermensch…” Hynkel shrugged. “We can work with it.”

“Very well, my Fuhrer.” Garbitsch said. “I hope this belief is not misplaced.”

“Myself as well.” At this moment, Herring strode into the room.

“Heil Hynkel!” He shouted enthusiastically as he raised his arm up to salute.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Georg.” Hynkel said. “Have a seat. We have much to discuss.”

### **References-Der Fuhrer's Place**

Adenoid Hynkel-Adolf Hitler stand-in portrayed by Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator. Here he’s replaced Hitler in history.

Garbitsch-Goebbels stand-in also from The Great Dictator.

Vogel-Dieter Vogel, the “Surgeon of Birkenau” from the 2010 version of The Debt. Based largely on Josef Mengele.

Strasse-Wilhelm Strasse, mad Nazi scientist from the latest generation of Wolfenstein games. Takes on a role that is essentially a mix between Reinhard Heydrich and Werner Heisenberg.

Merkwurdgliebe-German translation of the word “Strangelove.” This is the titular character from Doctor Strangelove before the events of the film. More or less an analogue of Werner Von Braun.

Richter-An ancestor of Doctor Richter from the 2012 film Iron Sky.

Totenkopf-Nazi scientist from the film The Rocketeer. Here he has been composited with another Nazi Scientist named Totenkopf from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Men to the Moon-Nod to both the previously mentioned Iron Sky and Robert A. Heinlein’s 1946 novel Rocket Ship Galileo.

Depths of the Earth-Refers to hunting down *vril*from The Coming Race in the Earth’s interior, which occurred in real life. Here, of course, the stuff (and entities) actually exist so this is less ludicrous. It's also mentioned in the comic series Atomic Robo.

Mechanical marvels-The robots created by Strasse in the Wolfenstein games

Engineer a master race-Foreshadowing of attempts to create superhumans. Among other things, this effort will create the titular superhumans from Uber.

Draka-While they don’t rule a huge empire, the Draka are still authoritarian and extremely racist, even if they are in less of a position to invade Eurasia. For this reason, they’ll play along with the Nazis…for now.

Reverse extinction-The success of this leads to the backstory of the video game Dino D-Day. Nazi dinosaurs with guns mounted on them=even more hellish invasion

Schmidt-Johann Schmidt, better known as the Red Skull from Marvel Comics. He’s pretty much his MCU version here.

Toht-The German archaeologist Indiana Jones goes up against in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Dig for trinkets-An echo of a line Schmidt (ironically) says in the Captain America film. After 6 years of little results, even he’s become burnt out on the hunt for occult artifacts.

Herr Kemmler-Heinrich Kemmler, infamous dark wizard from The Dresden Files. He is also in this continuity an analogue to Heinrich Himmler (fitting given Himmler’s real-life occultist leanings)

Herr Grindelwald-Gellert Grindelwald, dark wizard from the Harry Potter books. It’s implied he had some kind of connection to Nazi Germany given that his power collapsed the same year theirs did.

Order 666-A plan to create an army of Nazi vampires. Originally from the Hellsing anime series.

Tsalal city-The Tsalal are a violent group of people inhabiting Antarctica in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe. The city in question isn’t anything from that work, but rather refers to the Elder Things city depicted in At the Mountains of Madness.

Haiti expedition-Reference to a book called Nazis vs. Zombies, which centers on a trip by several Nazis seeking to utilize voodoo zombies to serve the Reich. Given the voodoo zombies’ behavior is more consistent with later Romero-esque versions it does not end well for them.

Gateway to the stars-Refers to the Stargate device from the franchise of the same time.

Cache of objects-Refers to the supertechnology hidden by a secret order of Jews in Wolfenstein: The New Order.

Atlantis, Mu-Both theorized ancient civilizations. Atlantis exists in this continuity and, to simplify things as much as possible, there are two modern Atlantises remaining: one a hybrid of the versions depicted in Marvel and DC Comics and one that is the version depicted in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Mu is primarily taken from the Cthulhu Mythos.

Women in the SS-Allusion to Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS. In real life, the SS did not admit women into its ranks.

Heussman’s projects-Martin Heussman, Hitler’s chief engineer in The Man in the High Castle Amazon series. A stand-in for Albert Speer in this world.

Herring-Goering stand-in from The Great Dictator. Georg is his first name as a reversal of Hermann Goering’s initials.

Sacrifices to the Aesir-The effort carried out by Nazi Germany that enables their victory in the alternate history story Thor Meets Captain America (which has no connection to Marvel despite the title). It was described by the author as the most plausible path to victory for the Nazis.

## **It Can't Happen Here**

The day that would later be known as Black Tuesday began as a normal day. By the end of it, though, the stock market would plummet to depths it had never known before. Businessmen would throw themselves to their deaths. Bank runs would ensue as people sought to withdraw their savings, only for said banks to fail to have enough cash on hand to satisfy their demands. Unemployment skyrocketed rapidly, reaching as high as 25% in the United States. Things would prove even worse in some other parts of the world. Germany experienced hyperinflation that made it nearly impossible to pay off war debts. Famine ran rampant throughout the Soviet Union and millions of people died, especially in peripheral Soviet republics such as Sokovia and the Ukraine. The causes of the Great Depression remain the subject of some debate. The general consensus holds that it was caused by the laissez-faire policies of the Kane and Wintergreen, and President Judd Hammond’s hands-off response (which lasted until a mysterious change of attitude occurred in 1931) exacerbated the economic crisis. This line of thinking is disputed by some schools of thought-many conservatives, Galtists and propertarians argue it was the policies of the Federal Reserve and Hammond’s attempted recovery efforts that made the Depression such—but Hammond was most often blamed for not doing enough rather than doing too much. Slums, commonly dubbed “Hammondvilles,” cropped up around the country.

The crisis ultimately became global due to the role of international trade in most world powers’ economies. As the economy went south, many countries sought leaders who promised they could address the growing crisis. The rise of Rufus T. Firefly in Freedonia and Moe Hailstone in Moronika could be traced to their claims that they could solve the economic problems. Firefly became the head of Freedonia during the threat of war with neighboring Sylvania, however he would not only end the war, but also bribe assassins sent after him into switching sides. He would then be forced to flee to America with his new allies and assume multiple identities. Moe Hailstone and two of his cohorts had been working odd jobs until they were handpicked to run Moronika by corrupt munitions manufacturers. An attempt to overthrow the three was thwarted when they ran into a Lion's cage and put their clothes onto them, making it appear as though they were eaten. The Three then returned to take control of the country. An attempt to assassinate them would prove successful.

In the Soviet Union, Besstrashny used to the crisis to solidify his hold on the country. By blaming capitalism and Benderist sabotage, Besstrashny justified his increasing stranglehold and proposed a “Five Year Plan” that would both help the economy and modernize the country. The United States’ voters chose to oust President Hammond in favor of Democrat Peter J. Varney. Varney had been hired as an impersonator for an uncharismatic Presidential candidate, Theodore K.Blair. He ended up usurping the role and winning himself. Varney, despite being a political novice and having risen to prominence impersonating a different candidate, proved an adroit public speaker and promised a “New Deal” that would revive the United States. Most darkly, Germany elected Adenoid Hynkel’s Nazi Party to power in 1933, replacing Freder Frederson. Hynkel utilized false-flag tactics to make himself into the dictator of Germany rather rapidly.

Meanwhile, in the United States, things managed to get better. President Varney’s New Deal programs appeared to be successful in alleviating poverty. His repeal of Prohibition and ramping up of the role of the Federal Bureau of Regulation helped reduce the nation’s crime rate. Resettlement camps such as Camp Weedpatch worked to help resettle those displaced by the Dust Bowl and, while not always having enough to support people in need, Varney’s efforts provided significant relief. These successes enabled Varney to address non-economic issues, such as authorizing J.Arthur Grover's raid of the Innsmouth raid that led to the establishment of the secretive Delta Green organization to deal with occultist activity upon the discovery of the town's inhabitants being Human-fish men hybrids. The success of Varney’s programs nevertheless failed to stave off more demagogic approaches to the nation’s economic woes. Radical liberal governor Willie Stark had quite a large nationwide following thanks to his demagogue methods while on the other end of the political spectrum, Winnemac’s Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip and his Corpo movement sought to convince Americans of the merits of Hynkel and Napaloni’s policies. Varney’s New Deal ensured neither movement garnered the traction necessary to threaten American democracy. Stark’s movement largely fizzled out after his assassination while Windrip’s movement would do worrisomely well—absorbing the remnants of Stark’s group including the infamous Bishop Peter Prang as well as former President “Shagpole” Whipple’s National Revolutionary Party (Whipple having been a “caretaker president” between Winthrop and Kane), ultimately winning the 1936 election outright. However, while Windrip would implement an authoritarian regime, it proved short-lived, as mass unrest and rebellion led to his regime’s collapse within two years of taking office and it was ultimately decided none of the regime’s leadership would count officially as presidents, Windrip being relegated to a “half-president” and those who plotted their own ascension not even being listed as more than footnotes on a footnote. Windrip would be succeeded by Harold Goosie, who himself would be forced to deal with the discovery of a “de-racialization” process that could turn blacks into white. Goosie served largely as a placeholder until being succeeded by nonpartisan Craig Stanley, who would counter resurgent fascism at a cost of heightening isolationism (even refusing to intervene against a Nazi expedition to a mysterious Yucatan pyramid seeking paranormal secrets, although the expedition ended in total loss).

It was the rise of Hynkel that was perhaps the darkest part of the Great Depression. Hynkel had obvious scapegoats for the problems faced by the people of Germany in this period: the communists in the Soviet Union, the British and French who had tried to keep Germany down with humiliating treaties and, most importantly, the Jews who had stabbed Germany in the back. These claims were completely unfounded, as many Jews had actively helped the German war effort in both the War in the Air and the First World War. However, Hynkel sought to blame them for the woes being experienced by Germans. The Jews of Germany gained a brief respite when a Jewish doppleganger of Hynkel managed to briefly take his place and impersonate him. The ruse ultimately was exposed quickly, but many Jews took advantage of the temporary relaxation of anti-Semitic laws to escape Germany, including the doppleganger himself, who ultimately made it to America only to end up a vagrant. However, overall, the Nazis’ hold over Germany remained firm.

Japan similarly began making worrisome moves. Japan’s military became increasingly prominent in power in the 1930’s. In 1931, Imperial Japanese officers blew up a railway carriage belonging to Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin. By impersonating Chinese soldiers, Japan gained the pretext they needed to invade Manchuria. The invasion caused a temporary truce in the Chinese Civil War (in which the US-backed government forces which included men like Chen Zhen were fighting Peng Tsing-Tse’s communist forces) as both sides sought to push out the invaders. Japan’s invasion of China saw numerous atrocities committed against Chinese civilians. Among the most notorious were the human experimentation carried out by Shiro Hagakure’s Unit 731 and the Rape of Nanking, infamous due to the Japanese Commander Ida Osamu’s demands for refugees to provide the invading troops with “comfort women.” Japan’s atrocities aroused the ire of the United States and sanctions were soon put in place on Japan. In the middle of the decade, Nazi Germany, Napaloni’s Italy and Imperial Japan signed the Pact of Steel. This agreement is the point at which the Axis Powers were officially formed. While other powers would join the Axis—including Meccannia, Zubrowka and Grindelwald’s wizarding Europe—these three fascist states would form the alliance’s core. United by shared imperial visions and little else, the Axis Powers longed to dominate the globe. Even if they put up the pretense for now of diplomacy, in practice they all deeply longed to rule the world. Germany initially took small steps-annexing Osterlich after a plebiscite, driving many people to flee across the Alps into Switzerland. Enabled by British and French leaders desperate to avoid a war, Germany began gradually rearming. To further German war aims, Hynkel organized the SS Paranormal Division to seek out paranormal objects and entities, including samples of the Solanum virus, the Ark of the Covenant and a rumored gateway leading to outer space. Successes during this period would prove to be mixed at best.

Despite the ongoing rise of fascism and economic hardship, many people continued to participate in greater cultural pursuits. While access to such things was much more limited due to the Depression, many people continued to attend movies or shows of various sorts. People who could afford to continued to flock to the horror films starring Byron Orlock or Lorne Chumley, the flamboyant star vehicles of Lylah Clare or Mavis Arden, the styling of Archie Maplin(who made a film parodying Hynkel titled The Great Opressor) or the comedic duo of Morton and Hayes. America also began making forays into animation alongside the exploits of their Toon actors. Dingo helped bankroll the animation studio of Joey Drew, which produced widely popular cartoons depicting characters like Bendy and Cuphead(Drew seemed to have a strange obsession with Demons and the devil as such characters appear in his works) which earned enormous popularity before Drew’s mysterious disappearance along with much of his early cast and crew. In Germany, cabaret shows were extremely popular at the beginning of the decade. However, once Hynkel came to power, these shows were clamped down upon—the involvement of Jewish and gay figures in cabaret made them a target and by the end of the decade, most such clubs were shut down and those that weren't were twisted into supporting Nazi ideologies. Entertainment in most Axis nations—as well as in the Soviet Union and the Domination of the Draka—largely focused on serving as propaganda for the ruling regime rather than primarily aiming to be entertainment. Entertainment at times put audiences at risk—the 1933 Kong incident in Metropolis was the biggest example, as a large ape captured from the elusive Skull Island was brought over for display by prominent producer Carl Denham only to escape and rampage through the city before being killed by the military.

The 1930’s saw at least one major new positive development: the rise of superheroes. While costumed vigilantes were not a new concept (the 19th century saw the likes of El Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernal capture public imagination and this century had seen the Green Hornet and the Shadow gain notability, inspiring the pulp novels of Orwin Battler among others) this period saw a spike in those individuals qualifying as metahumans taking up the fight for justice. The earliest known metahumans were marginal figures such as Hugo " Hercules" Danner(though the famed Lord Greystoke was rumored to also have be a metahuman), but the first metahuman to gain fame as a costumed vigilante came from a surprising country of origin: Japan. An archaeological team stumbled awakened an Atlantean-descended hero known as the ŌgonBat (Golden Bat), a skeletal figure possessing the ability to fly and owning a primitive mecha. While the Ōgon Bat would be the first modern superhero, he would not be alone for long, as similar metahumans emerged around the globe in the coming years. Many of them, such as mysterious Batman, American adventurer Clark Savage, Jr., the unusually strong sailor Popeye and the Metropolis vigilante dubbed “the Lobster”, would go on to become national icons, inspiring some members of the public to create similar, but fictional heroes such as the Escapist. Others like John Wainwright would pursue a more separatist tack, perhaps anticipating the later Genoshan regime of Erik Lensherr. While embraced by many world leaders (given the general popularity, they couldn’t afford to do otherwise), many leaders had concerns about these new metahumans. These superheroes often could not be controlled (for instance, the Ōgon Bat regularly refused efforts by the Japanese government to convince him to participate in the fighting in China) and there was always a fear that should any of these heroes would turn evil, there would be no recourse—as demonstrated by the actions of the first man to embrace the name “Superman,” William Dunn, who sought to exert control over the world before his powers wore off. The second person to call himself "Superman" was fortunately a Hero, even thwarting an attempted invasion of America by the Molluscs, which was quickly covered up as a hoax when the Red Lectroids brainwashed then radio personality John Hannaford into claiming such on the radio. There were also military concerns to consider—Hynkel’s Germany and Besstrashny’s Soviet Union did not have as many superheroes as western powers did. For all of these reasons, most governments came to an obvious conclusion: rather than wait for superheroes to appear, was it possible to *make*one? The goal of answering this question led to many secret super-soldier programs being launched, though they would only bear fruit in the middle of the world’s coming conflagration.

### **References-It Can't Happen here**

Sokovia-Eastern European state from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Judd Hammond-President from Gabriel Over the White House. Unlike in that film, he doesn’t get to make himself a permanent dictator here and becomes this world’s Hoover

Galtists-Alt-name for Objectivists. Named after John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, who will be more relevant later.

Propertarians-Alt-name for libertarians from L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach

Rufus T. Firefly-From Duck Soup. The mention of him taking multiple identities is an in universe justification for all the different identities of the Marx Brothers throughout their films.

Moe Hailstone-Moe Howard's character from the film You Nazty Spy! while the Marx Brothers adventures take place after this point, the Three Stooges adventures happened before this point, as they were handpicked while working as Window washers to run the country.

Peter J. Varney-Snake-oil salesman turned stand-in for uncharismatic presidential candidate in the film The Phantom President. Ends up confessing the deception, but wins anyway (at least in this world)

Federal Bureau of Regulation-FBI analogue from the film The President’s Analyst

Camp Weedpatch-Real location, but also the setting of part of The Grapes of Wrath

J. Arthur Grover-stand in for J.Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, from Captain America Comics.

Innsmouth raid-Raid launched at the end of A Shadow Over Innsmouth against the Deep Ones

Delta Green-From the tabletop game of the same name, an anti-Mythos organization operating in secret within the US government

Willie Stark-Roman a clef of Huey Long. Originally from All the King’s Men

Winnemac-Fictional Midwestern state from the works of Sinclair Lewis. Does not replace any other states

Buzz Windrip, Corpo-Main villains of Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here

Whipple’s National Revolutionary Party-From the novel A Cool Million. Uses the death of Lemuel Pitkins to recruit for their movement

De-racialization, Harold Goosie-Both are from the novel Black No More

Craig Stanley-President in the film The President Vanishes, a peacenik who has to avoid fascist plotters

Mysterious pyramid in the Yucatan-The setting of the video game Pathways Into Darkness—the Nazi expedition is part of the game’s backstory

Jewish doppleganger-Refers to the events of the film The Great Dictator

Blew up a railway carriage-Real event, but also refers to events depicted in Night Raid 1931

Chen Zhen- A former martial artist famously played by Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury, also played by Donnie Yen in Legend of the Fist(a prequel). In this timeline he is captured and rescued by Britt Reid(grandson of the Lone Ranger, John Reid), they then go onto become the heroes the Green Hornet and Kato. He will then retire, return to China and become the Chen Zhen seen in Fist of Fury.

Peng Tsin-Tse-Our Mao Zedong analogue. From the film The Shoes of the Fisherman

Shiro Hagakure-Grandfather of the main characters in the Apocalypse Zero manga/anime series. Based heavily on Shiro Ishii and replaces him here.

Ida Osamu-Commander of Japanese forces attacking Nanking in the film City of Life and Death

Flee across the Alps-Nod to the events of The Sound of Music, which has been pointed out as being geographically inaccurate as going that way would only take the Von Trapps into Bavaria and Hitler's vacation home. Fortunately, in this universe they escape(helped by the fact that the events of the Great Dictator distract mean Hynkel is replaced by the Jewish Barber look alike long enough for them to escape).

SS Paranormal Division-From the Wolfenstein games

Ark of the Covenant-Refers to the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark

Rumored gateway to outer space-Allusion to the Stargate device

Byron Orlock-Boris Karloff-esque horror film actor (played by the man himself) in the film Targets

Lorne Chumley-Pastiche of Lon Chaney, Jr. from Scooby Doo.

Lylah Clare-A flamboyant movie star who dies in an accident in the 1940’s. From the film The Legend of Lylah Clare

Mavis Arden-Movie star engaged to a politician from Go West Young Man

Archie Maplin- Our Charlie Chaplin Analogue from Doctor Who comics. Charlie Chaplin's character Chuck Calvero from 1952's Limelight was rejected as a candidate as his film is set in 1914, the same year Chaplin made his first film and he is clearly an older man. He also dies in that film, leaving him unable to serve the Chaplin role.

Morton and Hayes-Abbott and Costello-esque comedic duo from the series of the same name

Joey Drew-The Disney-esque animator behind Sillyvision Studios in the video game Bendy and the Ink Machine. Bendy of course is also in that game. His mysterious disappearance refers to the creation of the Ink Machine and everything that follows

Cuphead-The main character of the video game of the same name. Here he’s one of Dingo and Drew’s flagship characters.

Cabaret shows-Refers to the way the Nazis treated the Kit Kat Club in the musical Cabaret

1933 Kong incident-Refers to the events of the original/Peter Jackson King Kong films. We’re going to say the first film’s plot with the Jackson film’s appearances to get the best of both worlds

Metropolis-DC Comics’ home of Superman. One of the stand-ins for New York City (alongside Gotham)

El Zorro-Hero of the Zorro works

Scarlet Pimpernal-From the story of the same name

Green Hornet, The Shadow-Popular pulp heroes

Orwin Battler-Fictional pulp author from the webcomic Lovecraft Is Missing

Hugo Hercules-From the comic strip of the same name. Depicted a young boy capable of remarkable physical feats

Hugo Danner-The superhuman lead character of the novel Gladiator

Lord Greystoke-Real name of Tarzan from the stories of the same name

The Golden Bat-From the works of the same name

Clark Savage, Jr.-Doc Savage, from the works of the same name

Unusually strong sailor Popeye-Popeye the Sailor from the works of the same name

The Lobster-Lobster Johnson, vigilante superhero from the Hellboy comics

First man to embrace the name “Superman”-Not Clark Kent, but William Dunn from Reign of the Superman

John Wainwright-British metahuman who founds a colony of metahumans in Odd John

Inspire the creation of the Escapist-The fictional superhero created by Sam Clay and Josef Kavalier in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Genosha, Erik Lensherr-Genosha is a fictional nation from Marvel Comics ruled by Magneto (Lensherr being his real name). This version is based mostly on the one from X-Men: The Animated Series

Mollusc invasion of America,hoax- refers to the infamous war of the Worlds hoax, which was not a hoax here.

Red Lectroids-Aliens from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th demension who brainwashed Orson Wells into claiming that War of the Worlds was a hoax.

John Hannaford- Director from the Orson Welle's The Other Side of the Wind. A film about a Director who died before finishing his final movie, forcing the film to be cobbled together in parts, which is exactly what happen to Orson Welles and the film itself. Replacing Orson Welles here.

## **Our Struggle**

In hindsight, the Second World War was likely inevitable. Hynkel’s Nazi ideology lent itself well to conquest and left little room for peaceful coexistence. However, at this point in time, Hynkel did understand it would be best to avoid a two-front war. To this end, a nonaggression pact with signed with the Soviets. Besstrashny and Hynkel essentially agreed to split their mutual neighbor Arztotska down the middle and to not launch wars against each other. With that arranged, Hynkel launched the initial invasion of Arztotska in 1939, quickly earning the ire of the British and French. The two nations, having exhausted options for appeasement, declared war on Germany shortly thereafter. It proved too late for Arztotska’s independence, but the fighting soon was underway. It did not take long for the tide to seemingly turn in favor of the Axis. By invading the ostensibly neutral country of Belgium, Germany in essence bypassed France’s main defensive line. By 1940, Germany, Italy and the other Axis powers had largely secured control of continental Europe. The nations of France, Norway, Denmark, Osterlich, Belgium, Ixania, the Netherlands, Greece and almost all of Europe(excluding countries such as Transylvania which contained Creatures Hynkel knew to leave well enough alone) had been successfully occupied. The surrender of France left only a weakened resistance headed by Philippe Gerbier continuing the fight against the German occupiers. The one bright spot for Britain was they continued to resist, with thousands of troops being successfully evacuated from Dunkirk to coastal British cities like Walmington-on-Sea. The British coast quickly became the new front line of the war.

In the wake of the war’s outbreak, Britain demanded new leadership. The incompetent Davenport Spry had longtime plans for a conquest of Mars, plans which ended in his own death in a retaliatory strike from the planet's inhabitants. This allowed the outspoken Rupert Catskill. Catskill, while only having been in politics for a short period, had been a staunch opponent of appeasement towards Hynkel and accurately predicted that he would not honor the Munich Agreement handing over Germanic portions of Ixania to Germany. Catskill’s oratory skills helped maintain British support for the war, even in the face of some Nazi sympathizers like Lord Horatio Bohun arguing for a peace with Germany and England's own rising fascist parties of Ingsoc and Roderick Spode's Black Shorts party. Instead, Britain stood by Catskill (who famously vowed to “fight them in the fields and streets if they ever set jackboot on our shore”), even as the Germans relentlessly hammered the British Isles with air raid after air raid. Nevertheless, the land of Brutus, Arthur and Gloriana refused to give up.

Meanwhile, Japan continued to advance in East Asia. France’s colonies of Sarkhan, Laos and Vietmahl were seized by the Imperial Japanese Army and the offensive in China continued. The British Navy continued to fight to defend their colonies in Kuala Rokat, Cape Suzette, Madripoor and New Guinea, with help from Australia. However, Japan soon found itself facing a major problem: supply shortages. An oil embargo was placed on Japan by the newly inaugurated administration of Stephen Wayne, the former Secretary of State citing Japan’s mistreatment of Chinese civilians. Japan, fearing becoming overstretched, planned to seize the oil present in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Panau). However, to get there, they would need to bypass the American-held Philippines. The war also continued on in the magic front as well. Grindelwald and his main lieutenants—Merasmus, Oliver Haddo and Rasputin—continued to terrorize Europe. The Storm Wizards would clash with opposing factions of the magical world throughout World War II. The conflict (sometimes called the Seventh Occult War) was in many ways a separate conflict from World War II proper (although it intersected at times, with the likes of Merasmus and Haddo aiding Johann Schmidt’s HYDRA group in their hunt for occult artifacts). However, Grindelwald’s alliance of convenience with Hynkel placed him in the crosshairs not only of the entirety of the wizarding world outside his control, but also with the British government (high-ranking members of which were aware of Grindelwald’s activities).

Besstrashny, while no fan of Hynkel, did not think the German a threat. The nonaggression treaty between the Soviets and Germany seemed to Besstrashny sufficient to guarantee peace. With Hynkel’s forces continuing to hammer Britain in both Europe and North Africa, Besstrashny was positive there would be no threat from the Axis. For this reason, Besstrashny chose to focus on other affairs, such as the ongoing conflict with Finland and pacifying unrest. It came as a major surprise to Besstrashny when Germany, in 1941, launched Operation Barbarossa. The offensive caught the USSR by surprise and German forces rapidly overwhelmed Soviet-occupied Arztotska and the republics of Sokovia, Belgravia and Klopstokia. Besstrashny was extremely furious at the Germans for their betrayal and at many Soviet military leaders for failing to be aware of these developments. Nevertheless, Besstrashny rapidly mobilized forces to push back against the invaders. Soviet production was shifted towards a wartime footing-fortunately, Besstrashny’s Five Year Plan had successfully built up a powerful industrial base. Russia’s first superhero, known as Starfire(who would later decide to change his name to Red Star to avoid confusion with another superhero by that name), was used in combat for the first time. While he inflicted severe damage on invading Germans, it did not prove enough to turn the tide of the conflict, especially once Germany deployed their newly created superhero, Albrecht Krieger, better known as Captain Nazi. The two superheroes fought on several occasions, but said fights inevitably ended in stalemates. While Superheroes had fought each other before, the first known instance being between the Atlantean Namor and the android Human Torch, this marked the first time where two metahumans faced each other on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, another major world power was about to enter the conflict. President Wayne was sympathetic to the Allied Powers (and held very negative views of Hynkel, largely owing to a 1938 German raid seeking to obtain a rocket pack that was barely short of an act of war) but was unable to justify to the American public intervention into the wider war. Opponents of the Wayne administration argued that the US entering the war would not serve the national interest. While Wayne triumphed over Corpoist aviator Ted Scott in 1940, he did so narrowly and only by promising to stay out. The desire to stay out was only exacerbated by that year’s attack on Metropolis by Atlantean forces led by Namor the Sub-Mariner, who would once more fight against the vigilante Jim Hammond, the Human Torch. However, as it turns out, fate had other plans. Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States on December 7th, 1941. The attack led to Japan successfully occupying the Philippine Islands, pushing out US forces under the command of General Harry Howell, who was forced to evacuate the archipelago and, under the command of Admiral Isoruku Takano, damaged the US fleet based in Pearl Harbor, Alola. This proved to be enough to justify the US going to war with Japan, with even strong isolationists like Senator Orrin Knox and Noah Grace voting in favor of this defensive action. There was no guarantee a US-Japanese war would necessarily extend to involvement in Europe. However, Hynkel chose to honor the Axis agreements with Japan and thus the US was now a participant in the Second World War.

In the aftermath of these events, the Allies began to regain ground. The clash in Africa led by General Ernst Joachim Eugen Rommel’s forces turned in the Allies’ favor once US troops (under the command of General George S. Patton, Abner Dowling and David “Dad” Kamperhaufe) arrived. Allied forces were able to push the Axis forces out of Karbomyia. Soviet forces managed to stave off a German takeover of Moscow and prevented the Germans from taking the crucial cities of Antipovgrad and Besstrashnygrad in bloody battles. Axis supers like Krieger and the Golden Bat found themselves having to face metahumans from all three Allied Powers. The US assembled the “Justice Society of America” to fight in the conflict. Consisting of Diana Prince, Billy Batson, Steve Rogers, Jim Hammond, Atomic Robo and several others, the JSA fought numerous engagements against the Axis, especially against nefarious organizations like Johann Schmidt’s HYDRA. These exploits would go on to inspire the heroes of various comic books published by companies like Weird Comics, Inc., and fictional superteams like the Tomorrow Syndicate. In the Pacific Theatre, the US and Japan engaged in numerous naval battles. The US strategy was an island-hopping campaign. US forces would invade island after island, first liberating Lilliput (whose natives had been forced to abandon the island by the war, relocating worldwide to become the secretive “Borrower” culture), then then Banoi Archipelago, then New Guinea, then Panau and so on until an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands could be mounted. While the campaign progressed slowly, slowly Japan continued to lose ground. The war against Japan continued despite regular risks of kamikaze attacks (that at times would destroy ships like the USS Caine) and defiant Japanese leaders promising to fight to the last. Atrocities targeted towards prisoners of war were common and oftentimes necessitating US raids to liberate prison camps such as the one in Cabanatuan. Things went little better for Japan on the Chinese front, with Peng’s PLA successfully liberating much of China.

The decisive turning point in the war came with the implementation of Operation Blackbeard, more commonly known as the D-Day invasion. Devised by General Kamperhaufe, the invasion struck the beaches of Normandy. Even the German use of cloned dinosaurs failed to halt the Allied advance into France as they were defeated by many extremely competent US Soldiers. Simultaneously, an offensive into Italy successfully removed Napaloni from power and the dictator himself would ultimately be hung in Rome by antifascist partisans. With the liberation of France creeping closer, the Nazis began to lose ground in the East as well. Soviet counteroffensives pushed into the Ukraine and Sokovia and soon were on the way to Berlin. Along the way, Besstrashny occupied the nations of Zubrowka, Meccania, Arztotska, Laurania and Ruritania. At the Tehran Conference of 1943, Besstrashny, Catskill and newly inaugurated President Mike Thingmaker (a communist sympathizer) met to discuss the postwar status of Europe. The talks sought to establish what the postwar world would be like and ended with optimism on Thingmaker and Catskill’s part thanks to Besstrashny agreeing to hold free elections in Eastern Europe postwar—an agreement Besstrashny had no intention of honoring.

It was in Eastern Europe that the horrors of the Holocaust would also be unearthed. Hynkel’s fervent antisemitism had driven Nazi leaders to open up horrendous death camps. In theory, some of these camps were “merely” work camps, used to help provide for the war effort by producing the equipment required by the likes of Martin Heussman and Josef Merkwürdigliebe for their weapons projects (both of whom would survive the war and successfully avoid imprisonment or execution by claiming not to be aware of the genocide). In practice, the largely Jewish prisoners would be starved and brutalized before ultimately being executed. There were even fates worse than simple execution present in these concentration camps. For instance, prisoners could be selected for the horrendous medical experiments of Dieter Vogel. By the end of the war, 6 million people met their demise in these death camps including 2 million jews Ultimately, the desire to avoid a repeat of this tragedy prompted the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

By the end of 1944, the writing was clearly on the wall. Hynkel (who was briefly thought to have been assassinated by a group of American Jewish soldiers earlier in the year in a Paris movie theatre) was going to be removed from power. All of the last-minute supersoldier unveilings (the results of which proved no match for the JSA), efforts to kidnap Catskill, offers of a separate peace with the Western Allies (stymied by the leaking of these proposals by Soviet spy Maxim Isaev) and attempts to utilize the wonder weapons of Wilhelm Strasse could only prolong the inevitable. Hynkel seemingly understood this—as Allied forces inched closer and closer to Berlin, he reportedly became increasingly unhinged. Rants directed at his supporters were extremely common—he often claimed Germany had let him down, sought to order individuals whom were dead or had surrendered around, accused several of his generals of having completely ruined any chance of victory through “antics.” In the end, Hynkel would meet his demise not in front of an Allied war crimes tribunal like many of his fellow Nazis but from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Berlin bunker. Following this, Germany’s government (provisionally led by Colonel Wilhelm Klink) surrendered unconditionally.

While this formally ended the war with Germany, in reality “VE Day” was not the complete end to the war in Europe. HYDRA continued to fight under the leadership of Schmidt and, following his death, Wilhelm Strasse. Schmidt attempted to utilize nuclear weapons on various major American cities; however, his efforts were thwarted by Captain America: Steve Rogers, who became frozen in the Atlantic Ocean rather than allow the strike to occur successfully. However, another portion of the Nazi nuclear program (dubbed the Kassen Secret and hidden in occupied Ixania) was able to launch a retaliatory strike on Britain, destroying the city of Colchester. This event, occurring shortly after the war’s theoretical end, led Britain to kick Catskill out of power in favor of the Labour Party. And of course, Grindelwald’s forces were barely affected by the German surrender (though Merasmus, sensing the writing on the wall, abandoned the cause) and only collapsed when British wizard Albus Dumbledore dueled and killed Grindelwald. Ultimately, Strasse’s continued terror campaign in occupied German would be the only lasting continuation of the conflict and in the end, these efforts did not stop the victorious Allies from beginning to rebuild or condemning many war criminals to death or imprisonment.

The war in Japan continued to prove difficult to end. President Thingmaker would lead the country to victory over Germany, but Japan remained defiant. He initially believed he would have no choice but to launch an invasion of Japan and managed to convince Besstrashny to aid the US, thanks in part to Thingmaker’s own pro-communist sympathies. Soviet forces would ultimately play a key role in liberating the Hun Chiu Peninsula from Japan. However, the continued refusal of Japan to surrender (largely out of a belief that the Emperor Yoshiro was a living god and Japan would inevitably be able to triumph) remained a key issue. However, Thingmaker was spared from having to preside over a large-scale invasion of Japan with the successful completion of the Metropolis Project. Originally proposed by a group of scientists (Jacob Barnhardt, Howard Stark,Franklin Peabody, Clark Savage Jr, the turncoat Dr. Merkwürdigliebe and a very young Dr. Emmet Brown) and headed by Josef Osterman and Robert Wittenheimer, the project had the goal of creating a nuclear device. A test of the device in the deserts of Nevada proved to be successful and Thingmaker decided it would be necessary to drop the devices on Japan. The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen over Titipu and Niihama as the targets. Jonathan Moss, the pilot who dropped the first bomb, described the resulting explosion as “simultaneously the most beautiful and horrendous thing I have ever seen.” The morality of using nuclear weapons on Japan remains hotly debated to this day, but ultimately it achieved the results. Japan subsequently surrendered to the United States and the Second World War came to an end.

### **References-Our Struggle**

Philippe Gerbier-French resistance leader from the film Army of Shadows. Base on Jean Cavaillès.

Evacuation from Dunkirk-Refers to both the historical “Miracle at Dunkirk” and the film Dunkirk based on this event

Walmington-on-Sea-Setting of the comedy series Dad’s Army

Davenport Spry-Spymaster turned Prime Minister from the comic Scarlet Traces

Rupert Catskill-Character created as a parody of Churchill from HG Wells’ novel Men Like Gods. Our Churchill analogue

Lord Horatio Bohun-From Wells’ novel The Holy Terror. Based off of Oswald Mosley (although also resembling popular depiction of Lord Halifax. Here he replaces Lord Halifax).

Ingsoc- Fascist Party from 1984.

Roderick Spode-A Stand in for Oswald Mosley from the Jeeves series.

Brutus, Arthur and Gloriana-Brutus is the semi-mythical founder of Britain in Historia Regum Britannie. Arthur is of course King Arthur and Gloriana is the titular character from The Faerie Queen whose reign replaced Queen Elizabeth I’s in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and in this world.

Sarkhan-Country from the novel The Ugly American. Based off of Vietnam and replaces it here.

Vietmahl-Country from Destroy All Humans. Despite the name, does not replace Vietnam, but rather Cambodia.

Kuala Rokat-Far eastern country from the Mission Impossible TV series. Replaces Malaysia

Cape Suzette-The setting of the animated series TaleSpin. Somewhat an analogue to Singapore.

Madripoor- A Stand in for Singapore from Marvel Comics.

Stephen Wayne-Secretary of State turned presidential nominee in the 1937 film First Lady

Panau-Island nation from Just Cause. Replaces Indonesia

Merasmus-Wizard from the video game Team Fortress 2

Oliver Haddo-Aleister Crowley inspired magician from the novel The Magicians. Not quite the mastermind from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Storm Wizards-Name of Grindelwald’s followers

Seventh Occult War-Name for conflict during the Second World War that helped lead to the creation of the Global Occult Coalition in the SCP Foundation universe

Belgravia-Fictional Eastern European country from the TV series NCIS

Klopstokia-Fictional country from the film Million Dollar Legs

Starfire-Soviet superhero from DC Comics

Albrecht Krieger/Captain Nazi-A Fawcett/DC Comics supervillain

1938 German raid-The raid depicted in the film The Rocketeer

Harry Howell-General with Washington connections from the musical Kiss Me Kate

Isoruku Takano-Isoruku Yamamato’s original name, which he keeps using in the alternate history anime series Deep Blue Fleet. The events of said anime still play out but Isoruku is sent to an alternate Earth: Earth X.

Alola-Stand in for Hawaii from Pokemon.

Ted Scott-Hero of Ted Scott Flying Stories, inspired heavily by Charles Lindbergh. Him being a Corpoist sympathizer on the Republican ticket in 1940 is based on Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America

Namor attacks, clash with Jim Hammond-Part of 1940’s-era Marvel Comics, where Namor attacks New York. Hammond is the first Human Torch

Orrin Knox-Robert Taft stand in from Advise and Consent

Noah Grace-Isolationist president of the United States in Resistance: Fall of Man. Doesn’t get that role in this universe

Ernst Joachim Eugen Rommel-A stand in for Nazi General Erwin Rommel from the manga Strike Witches. Replaces him here. He is seen as the token good teammate of the Nazis, disagreeing with them on many things but being too competent to fire. Irving Morrel from Timeline-191 is also a Rommel stand in but he is American. We can assume he's Rommel if he was born in America.

George S.Patton- Real individual but here based on his portrayal in the film Patton by George C.Scott, which plays up his insanity and gives him a more intimidating gravelly voice.

Abner G. Dowling-General also from Timeline-191.

David “Dad” Kamperhaufe-World War II General turned president in the novel Death of a Politician. Is our replacement for Dwight D. Eisenhower (at least in terms of military career). In this timeline he loses the election.

Many competent soldiers- refers to the many First Person Shooter games set on D-Day, and how the player characters in those games are generally more competent at killing than real life soldiers.

Justice Society of America-Justice League predecessor from DC Comics

Lineup-Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) and Billy Batson (Captain Marvel) are DC. Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Jim Hammond (the original android Human Torch) are from Marvel (specifically this is 2/3 of the Invaders lineup). Atomic Robo is from the comics of the same name

Weird Comics, Inc.-Fictional comics company from the fake history book Simply Weird

Tomorrow Syndicate-Fictional superteam from Alan Moore’s parody/homage to early Marvel comics 1963. Here its in its "Golden Age" phase but it will eventually become the Marvel Comics stand in.

Lilliput-Island from Gulliver’s Travels. Inhabited by tiny people

Becoming the “Borrower” culture-Refers to the anime The secret life of Arrietty, which has a diminutive race that lives in secret among humans

Banoi Archipelago-Archipelago where the video game Dead Island is set

USS Caine-Fictional naval vessel from The Caine Mutiny, whose captain is relieved by the crew due to mental instability and is damaged to the point of being scrapped by a kamikaze attack near Okinawa at the end

Cabatuan-Real life POW camp, which acted as the setting of Back to Bataan and The Great Raid

Operation Blackbeard-Name originally used to refer to the Confederate invasion of the US in Timeline-191, now refers to D-Day

German use of cloned dinosaurs-The strategy of Germany in the video game Dino D-Day

Laurania-Fictional country from Winston Churchill’s novel Savrola

Martin Heussman-Engineer from the Amazon version of The Man in the High Castle. Very similar to Albert Speer and replaces him here.

Josef Merkwürdigliebe-The original name of Dr. Josef Strangelove from the film Dr. Strangelove

Dieter Vogel-German war criminal from the film The Debt. Based on (and replaced) Josef Mengele

death of 2 million jews-not the 6 million as in our timeline due to the events of The Yiddish Policemen's Union. An alternate history novel in which land in Alaska is given to the jewish people by America, resulting in less deaths as Jews flee there.

Assassinated by Jewish soldiers-Refers to the plot of Inglorious Basterds. Turns out here the Hynkel they got was a body double (perhaps provided by Grindelwald)

Last-minute supersoldier unveilings-Refers to the comic book Uber, where Germany unleashes superhumans in the last days of the war. Here, the Allies have more, better metahumans already to no sell them

Attempts to kidnap Catskill-Refers to the Churchill kidnapping plot from the film The Eagle Has Landed

Maxim Isaev-Russia’s most iconic spy character from the miniseries Seventeen Moments of Spring

Wilhelm Strasse-Main villain of Wolfenstein: The New Order. His “wonder weapons” are the machines from that game

Ruined any chance of victory through “antics”-Allusion to the common tropes of Downfall parodies on YouTube, where most of the time Hitler blames his problems on Fegelein’s antics

Colonel Wilhelm Klink-POW Camp leader from the series Hogan’s Heroes.

Rogers crashed in the Atlantic-Refers to the ending of Captain America: The First Avenger and the comics.

The Kassen Secret-This and the surrounding events are from the novel The Dark Frontier

Colchester nuking-Refers to one of the events in the backstory of 1984

Mike Thingmaker-Fictional communist president of the United States from Mess Mend

Emperor Yoshiro-Emperor from the video game Command and Conquer: Red Alert

Jacob Barnhardt, Howard Stark, Franklin Peabody-Barnhardt is an Einstein-esque scientist from The Day the Earth Stood Still, Howard Stark is Tony Stark’s father and Franklin Peabody is meant to be Dr. Peabody from Peabody’s Improbably History

Emmet Brown-From Back to the Future.

Josef Osterman-Father of Jon Osterman, the future Dr.Manhattan from Watchmen. Here, he was so crushed by guilt he concealed his involvement and became a watchmaker. He's our stand in for J.Robert Oppenheimer. I was going to have Jon Osterman himself as there were so many parallels and a poignant irony but it didn't fit timeline wise.

Robert Whittenheimer-The grandfather of the main character from The Last West, worked on the Atomic Bomb, which in that Universe failed, likely based on Oppenheimer

Titipu-Fictional Japanese town from The Mikado. Here replaces Hiroshima

Niihama-Fictional Japanese city from Ghost in the Shell. Replaces Nagasaki

Jonathan Moss-Pilot from Timeline-191. His career took a similar direction in this world. He replaces Paul Tibbets.

## **Interlude: Your's Truly**

*June 3rd, 1922*

To Brisco-

I am writing in response to your earlier correspondence regarding your up-and-coming organization. While I of course am in full support of the aims of this group, given my current age I must decline your offer to participate directly. Instead, I will use this letter as a means to convey information about entities I have encountered over the years, in the hopes that it may be useful in ensuring your foundation can be successful in its mission in the coming years.

My main claim to notability in our circle is of course my encounters with the vile Wallachian vampire known as Vlad Dracula Tepes. Understandably given the nature of this monster, there is some confusion about my encounters with him. I have faced off against Dracula on several occasions. The most notable instance was in the 1890’s, one of the few instances where I worked alongside a group of individuals (including the now legendary Wilhelmina Harker). However, members of my family has also had encounters with Dracula on other additional occasions. The first such occasion was in 1887, where Gabriel Van Helsing, after having encountered Dr.Henry Jekyll during his exile in France, encountered him operating alongside a Frankenstein family monster and a were-wolf. Gabriel's encounter then seemingly ended in his demise, which is what made his arrival in Britain all the more shocking and terrifying. Since then, I have concluded Dracula cannot be killed permanently—I encountered him once more in this century alongside a few proteges from the Council. My family is not the only one to do so, going back generations, the Belmont clan witnessed the transformation of Mathias Cronqvist into Count Dracula and has spent many centuries battling him. Cronqvist appears to have been cursed so that his castle will disappear and reappear every century or so, limiting the danger he poses. Cronqvist was briefly dissuaded from his hatred of humanity when he fell in love and took a wife, only for her death to spurn the return of his wrath.

Cronqvist wished to continue his wrath beyond his curse. He chose a Wallachian named Vlad Tepes to continue his crusade. Tepes was evidently well like as a ruler before he was turned by drinking Vampire's blood, turning after his wive's death. Tepes used his vampiric powers to destroy the Turks and then attempted to destroy himself and his vampire followers with sunlight only to survive and be forever changed into a creature of darkness, his former nation being occupied by the cruel Vigo the Carpathian before his death. Now as a Vampire, Dracula was taken in by Rasalom, an entity claiming to be Satan but is speculated to have actually been a powerful sorcerer or perhaps a Time Lord, and taught at Scholomance, an academy for the dark arts. He would worship Satan but eventually turn against and even oppose him at times. The Now christened Count Dracula often remained in his former Castle, on rare occasions encountering travellers such as Solomon Kane. Over centuries Dracula soon began to desire world conquest. He proposed this to an assemblage of vampires but was refused. Most elder vampires preferred to exist in secret, while younger vampires normally were far less subtle in their rampages. The elder Vampires themselves would usually step in to kill these impulsive vampires if human forces do not do so already. Dracula knew if he was going to accomplish is goal, he would have to be discrete.

The Count began to attempt to spread Vampires loyal to him such as Baron Brakola in Mexico. He also briefly served as an advisor for King Louis XVI of France, sparking a rivalry with Count Cagliostro. He would also battle the vigilante Zorro in the early 1800's. These encounters perhaps motivated the Count into attempting to extend his own life in various ways. Similar to the Horcrux. Dracula would find a way to separate his being into multiple bodies.He has shown multiple faces, including that of a refined Zubrowkan gentleman with slick hair, that of an older man with grey heart shaped hair and a more animalistic english man visage. This process seemed to be far from perfect as it may have resulted in a more benevolent Count, who acted more heroic but has often been known to write fictional accounts of Dracula's actions. Another vampire perhaps connected to the count is the Nosferatu Count Orlock, who was destroyed in 1838. Orlock belongs to a more hideous breed of Vampire which have rat like features. Max Shreck, a similar breed of Vampire ironically played Orlock in the recent film *Nosferatu* though he did so under the pretense of being an intense method actor and was destroyed.

My most famous encounter with Dracula saw the Count be destroyed in Transylvania. He attempted to escape by turning into mist but we soon realized his deception and tracked him down to his resting place, wherein I finished him off with a stake. When other Draculas began to appear, and following the deaths of Lawrence Van Helsing and Abigail Van Helsing in sacrifices destroying these clones, I chose to accept Dracula's proposition of servitude. He took the name Alucard and continues to serve the Hellsing family. Alucard appears to be a common name of both Dracula's progeny and the clones. There have been signs that the soul clones can reform and break away from their Master as, one is a kindly old man who seemed to have been turned purely to raised Dracula's children while another has founded a Hotel for supernatural creatures. While I was able to eliminate Dracula once more, it is safe to say that the Vampire is unlikely to remain gone for long. Usage of weapons to target his heart seem to be the best method to at least temporarily eliminate him and holy symbols are capable of limiting his actions.

Of course, I would be remiss to fixate simply on one vampire, however powerful. The aforementioned necromantic homunculus is but one of several I have encountered. Their creation appears to be the hobbyhorse of numerous members of the Frankenstein family in Germany. They are not as predictable as vampires, as while I have encountered instances of violent temperament, others are fairly docile. It would therefore be prudent not to react too quickly with violence, as even the short-tempered instances can ultimately be reasoned with (even if they may demand brides). The first of such Monsters was created by Victor Frankenstein in the 18th century. It was neglected and soon murdered its creator's family, being chased by Victor to the Arctic, where Victor would perish but the Monster would be lost. It was later confirmed to have met and fell in love with the automaton Olimpia. The two did not always remain in the Artic and would venture out to travel.

Unfortunately, many scientists would attempt to replicate Frankenstein's success, even those within his own family. One member of the Frankenstein family created multiple monsters who would usually die quickly and would escape death multiple times. Maria Frankenstein ran afoul of the notorious outlaw Jesse James.

Unfortunately, werewolves are not nearly as friednly. Even the most well-intentioned individual who seeks to maintain their humanity (such as my late acquaintance Larry Talbot) will lose control during the lunar cycle and violently attack people. No matter who they may encounter, however close they may be, the poor souls afflicted by lycanthropy cannot control themselves. I have heard rumors of esoteric cures created by witches, advanced civilizations (Atlantis or Wakanda being common examples) or by long-gone scientists such as Jekyll (ironically enough given his own affliction—I have heard rumors of similarly afflicted souls as well, though never confirmed them for myself), Griffin or Moreau. I have to date not confirmed any such thing. I encourage further research but for now I can only recommend the containment of those afflicted who seek to minimize the harm they cause and the termination of any individual stricken by lycanthropy who refuses to take steps to ensure they do not run rampant. There are similar afflictions that exist as well, most notably the phenomenon of the wendigo, Fortunately this phenomenon is far rarer and requires those afflicted to commit cannibalism—the only active wendigo populations I know of are concentrated in the mines around Blackwood Mountain near the Canadian-US border, though vigilance is needed in case additional instances appear.

This is also a helpful method to segue into discussions on the living dead. There are a wide range of forms, including both those of a supernatural and more naturalistic bent. I’m sure you are aware of Dr. West’s disastrous experiments with the latter, but comparatively those he produced were tame. You mentioned having samples of Solanum already in your custody (the eighth object you acquired if I recall). Make sure to keep those samples contained, as once infected there is no cure for the virus. More supernatural sorts of undead can sometimes be cured—either through arcane ritual or simply defeating the necromancer responsible for reviving them—but some cannot. Deadites in particular are demonic in nature and can not only not be cured, but have a tendency to trick enemies into believing they are fine. It is important to remain vigilant. There are also some forms of undead that are resistant to most weaponry—for instance, the Children of Hydra’s Teeth, produced by planting the teeth of an ancient dragon (the Hydra itself) and praying to Greek goddess Hecate. These skeletal beings can be destroyed if broken apart. Weaponry imbued with some form of magical prowess—such as Excalibur, Nothung, Zangetsu or some other sword forged from celestial bronze—can be utilized in killing most powerful monsters. Acquisition of these weapons should be a top priority.

Your earlier correspondence also inquired about information related to the netherworld and spectral phenomenon. Unfortunately, I am nowhere close to an expert and would have to recommend you consult with Thomas Carnacki who is by far the most qualified living expert on these matters. Beyond recommending you contact him, I can offer only limited information. Quite a bit of reported spectral phenomenon—such as the Opera House phantom—are little more the hoaxes, with belief in such phenomenon being exploited by conmen and other men of ill repute to get away with their misdeeds. As far as genuine ghost activities, I have personally only encountered a handful in my lifetime. Some such phantoms are harmless—there is a child-aged ghost dwelling in a house in Gotham that wants little more than companionship, for instance. On the other hand, there are also more dangerous apparitions in existence. There are particularly high concentrations of more malevolent ghosts in older locations—the castles of Otranto and Elsinore I know to be quite haunted, for instance. Beyond these cases, I have no personal experience with ghosts or hauntings and know little about ending or containing them. Most hauntings are restricted to a single location, but this is not always the case—for instance, there have been numerous hauntings reported around Christmastime that appears to feature consistent phantoms but distinct individuals on each occasion. Carnacki has indicated to me that the current technological capacity possessed by any man currently on Earth is not capable of containing phantoms—though I believe that over time that will most likely change. In the meantime, the best course of action for your organization would likely be to contain houses known to be the locations of hauntings.

The world we live in is full of myriads of monsters, spirits and unexplainable phenomenon, which is why I’m so glad that you have taken the initiative to set up a group of this nature. Perhaps some others will follow in your footsteps in the years to come. In the meantime, even if I cannot assist you directly in this endeavor, I wish you and the other folks at the Foundation the best of luck. If you wish to discuss further information on phenomenon I have encountered over the course of my career or wish to gain my assistance in contacting other experts on supernatural phenomenon or for advice on the secure containment of any specimens, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Best wishes,

Abraham Van Helsing

### **References- Yours Truly**

Brisco-Brisco County, Jr. from The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

Your foundation-The SCP Foundation

Vlad Tepes Dracula-Obviously Dracula from Dracula. As to which one…well, as you see, it’s complicated

Wilhelmina Harker-Mina Harker, the lead female character in Dracula. Her status as now legendary refers to her role leading the titular group in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Gabriel Van Helsing 1887 encounter-Refers to the events of the film Van Helsing

Frankenstein Monster-This is the version from Van Helsing

Were-wolf-The Wolfman, in this case the one from Van Helsing

The Council-The Watcher’s Council from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You’ve probably guessed who this letter’s author is by now and he’s involved in the Watcher’s Council

Mathias Cronqvist, The Belmont Family- These events refer to the Castlevania series

Dracula taking a wife- A plot from Castlevania that was also adapted into the Netflix series

Vlad Tepes, a kind ruler- a depiction of the real figure seen in Tomb of Dracula and Dracula: untold

Drinking Blood after his wive's death-How Vlad becomes a Vampire in both Dracula: Untold and Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula

Vigo the Carpathian-Loosely Vlad the impaler inspired villain from Ghostbusters 2

Rasalom- the main villain of the Adversary Cycle

a Time Lord-a reference to Rasalom possibly being the same as "Rassilon" a time lord from Doctor Who sometimes depicted as an antagonist

Scholomance- Fabled Transylvanian magic school, appears in multiple works but is actually mentioned in Dracula

against Satan-An occasional depiction of Dracula such as in Tomb of Dracula and Penny Dreadful

Solomon Kane-Character from the Series of the same name, encounters Dracula twice in the comics series

Assemblage of Vampires-refers to the short story Red Rain which became the novel Anno Dracula

Killed by Elder Vampires- occasionally pops up in Vampire fiction where Elder Vampires kill younger impulsive Vampires after they commit very public attacks. 30 Days of Night and Dance in the Vampire Bund demonstrate this

Baron Brakola-the main antagonist of a 1965 film pitting him against famed Luchador El Santo

Count Cagliostro- real figure depicted as a magician in fiction. This event is based on a Tomb of Dracula arc

Zorro-based on the comic Dracula vs Zorro

Multiple faces-A concept taken from Anno Dracula, where Dracula continuously changes form between multiple depictions. It’s helpful to justify the numerous portrayals of Dracula over the years. Wold Newton also uses the concept of "Soul Clones" which is not dissimilar

Zubrowkan gentleman-This is meant to be Bela Lugosi’s Dracula. Lugosi is Hungarian American, Hungary being replaced by Zubrowka in this universe

Older man with grey hair-The version of Dracula from the 1992 Coppola film, with rather—interesting hair

Animalistic visage-Refers to the version from the Hammer Horror films played by Christopher Lee, starting with Horror of Dracula

benevolent Dracula- the Dracula from the Dracula Tapes, which makes Dracula a nicer guy, here its a case of "Unreliable narrator".

Count Orlok-The vampire depicted in the film Nosferatu

Max Shreck-refers to the film shadow of the Vampire, in which an actual vampire stars in Nosferatu

Alucard- the Vampire from the manga Hellsing. The reference to it being a common name is an allusion to Castelvania and Son of Dracula

Lawrence Van Helsing-Peter Cushing's Van Helsing from the Hammer Horror films

Abigail Van Helsing- a female Van Helsing from the 2020 BBC Dracula series

Old Man- Grampa Munster from the Munsters

Hotel-nod to Hotel Transylvania, which hasn't been founded yet

Frankenstein family-A reference to the numerous takes on Frankenstein. Here multiple versions of both the monster and the doctor exist—their creation runs in the family.

Demand a bride-Part of the plot of the book and also present in other works, including the film Bride of Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein-the original tale as told in Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Olimpia-clockwork android from the short story the Sandman. Her getting together with the Frankenstein monster is a nod to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where this happens

Multiple monsters-refers to the Victor Frankenstein from the Hammer Horror films, who creates a new monster every film

Maria, Jesse James-refers to the plot of Jesse James vs Frankenstein's Daughter

Larry Talbot-The titular character in the film The Wolfman

Wakanda- Marvel Comics’ Wakanda

Jekyll-Dr. Henry Jekyll, one half of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The rumors largely stem from his creation of Hyde and are baseless, as he couldn’t’ even control Hyde

Griffin-The titular character in The Invisible Man. Mostly based on his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen incarnation

Moreau-From The Island of Doctor Moreau

Wendigos in the mines of Blackwood Mountain-Refers to the backstory of the video game Until Dawn

Dr. West’s disastrous experiments-The experiments of Herbert West conducted in Herbert West: Re-Animator

Eighth object you encountered-Refers to the fact SCP-008 is a zombie virus

Deadites-The form of undead present in the Evil Dead franchise

Children of Hydra’s Teeth-The animate skeletons from the Jason and the Argonauts film

Excalibur-The sword wielded by King Arthur in Arthurian legend

Nothung-Magic sword from Der Ring des Nibelungen, a music drama by Richard Wagner

Zangetsu-A “soul-cutting sword” from Bleach

Celestial bronze-The materiel the sword Riptide is made of in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In that work it is needed to be able to kill monsters

Thomas Carnacki-Titular character in Carnacki the Ghost-Finder

Opera House phantom-The Phantom of the Opera from the works of the same name

Child-aged ghost-Casper the Friendly Ghost

Otranto-Haunted castle from The Castle of Otranto

Elsinore-The castle where Hamlet is set, now haunted by the spirits of the cast

Hauntings around Christmastime-Refers to the ghosts from A Christmas Carol and their tendency to appear to change the ways of numerous Scrooge-esque individuals years after the original book and adaptations thereof come from

Abraham Van Helsing-Van Helsing from Dracula.

## **The Weird War​**

The activities of Grindelwald and his faction have already been addressed in large part. However, as far as sorcery among the participants went, this was just the tip of the iceberg. The Nazi Thule Society was established to track down extraterrestrial and occult artifacts. Thule operatives in the 1930’s managed to track down the locations of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, although thanks to the interference of American archaeologist Henry Jones Jr, these items were never uncovered. What the Thule Society did manage to retrieve were numbers of documents outlining various forms of dark magic. The forms of dark magic that intrigued the Nazis the most were human sacrifices. The Nazis used this for two purposes, the first was the sacrifice of two beings from an alternate universe in a ritual that opened a portal to their original universe, which they codenamed: Shambhalla(funny enough there was an actual expedition to search for Shambhalla by the Nazis that was unsuccessful), where Alchemy was more commonplace. They then attempted to invade that universe but the portal was closed, ending the threat.

The Nazis intended to use human sacrifices for—rumors swirl that it was for either some kind of alchemic ritual or the binding of the Norse Pantheon—but what is clear is that the Nazis used these dark rituals as part of their justification for the Holocaust (the other justification, of course, being their ideological antisemitism). These Rituals were successful in enslaving most of the Norse Pantheon, with the exception of individuals such as Loki, who did not come from the pantheon but had instead been adopted into it, actually being the son of the Spartan Kratos. The Nazi ritualistic worship of the Norse Pantheon changed their appearance. Thor lost his red hair and beard and became a blonde hair blue eyed man. Most of the Norse pantheon was defeated when the inclusion of Diana of Themyscira into the war brought the Greek Gods into the war on the side of the allies.

The Nazis were also deeply interested in necromancy. HYDRA operatives were sent to Haiti to study native Voodoo rituals. These efforts allowed for some necromantic activities, most famously resurrecting knights of the Teutonic Order to fight on the Eastern Front. Additionally, these studies, coupled with Japanese research into the Solanum virus, paved the way for the creation of one of the most infamous bioweapons ever developed: Trioxin. A failed attempt at developing the means to control Solanum infectees based on the 1920’s research of deceased American scientist Herbert West, the virus in essence was a more virulent strain of Solanum. Trioxin would likely not have won the Nazis the war, but had it been released during the conflict, millions more lives would doubtlessly have been lost. Fortunately, by the time the Nazis had created enough of it to deploy, Germany was already on its last legs. A short-lived outbreak occurred at one of the sites developing Trioxin, but a multinational team consisting of both Allied and Axis soldiers including American Tank Dempsey, Russian Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki of Japan and German Edward Richtofen, united and managed to destroy the infected and a brief attempt to prepare it for usage during the D-Day invasion quickly went awry thanks to a group of American soldiers. Besides these efforts, the Nazis were also infatuated with vampirism and cooperated greatly with vampires in the hopes they could use armies of them against the allies. The vampire weaponization program, overseen by turned SS officer Alexander Vlado, was assisted by prominent vampires such as Alucard( A common moniker for both Dracula himself and his offspring. This Alucard appears to have been the latter). Many vampires, especially in this period, had a Nazi-esque attitude on racial matters and additionally were incentivized by promised the blood of the Reich’s enemies (which amounted to millions of people). Ultimately, the vampire weaponization efforts proved slow-going (stymied as well by the messy attempt at weaponizing female werewolves by the SS Paranormal Division, which forced vampiric forces to act to put down the rogue werewolves after Fu Manchu pretended to join the Nazis only to betray them) and failed to create sufficient quantities of vampires to ensure victory.

The Axis weren’t the only ones interested in magic and alien activity. The Hellsing Organization played a key role in combating supernatural threats developed by the Axis Powers in England. The Hellsing Organization, under the leadership of the Watcher’s Council and through the actions of their Slayers and Hunters, as well as a reformed soul clone of Dracula, also named Alucard, successfully prevented the Nazi organization Millennium from creating a vampiric army using the DNA of Mina Harker. Britain’s wizarding community was actively involved in the war effort, with one witch, Eglantine Price, playing a key role in preventing the success of Operation Sealion by repelling the Nazi forces with enchanted suits of armor. Meanwhile, the United States recruited “special talents” operatives into the Strategic Scientific Reserve and the Department of Occult Warfare (precursors to SHIELD and the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense respectively). These departments, overseen by “special advisor” to the president Nathaniel Cade, a vampire bounded to serve the Presidency, helped preempt any Axis breakthroughs on the use of magic front. In addition to “mere” magic, the US engaged in other unusual experiments, such as the famed Philadelphia experiment which is believed to have successfully caused temporal relocation and the ultimately failed Project Knickerbocker that sought to create what would later be dubbed *kaiju.*The Soviets, generally skeptical of magic, nevertheless advanced in understanding it thanks to the Durmstrang backed establishment of the Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry (later renamed the Scientific Universal Institute of Extraordinary Services). Under the direction of the enigmatic Professor Woland, Soviet research developed fundamental principles underlying the use of magic and contingencies to counter them. Soviet operatives, thanks to Woland’s advice, were able to seize most copies of many occult texts—including the infamous Necronomicon—before they could fall into German hands. A major partner of the Allies in their occult research was the SCP Foundation. First established in the 1920’s as an ad hoc group formed by the coming together of aging former US government agent Brisco County, Jr., several individuals formerly involved with the ancient Warehouse and Library systems, and the remnants of the Age of Piracy-era Brethren Court, the Foundation sought to contain anomalies. They regarded the willingness of the Germans to use anomalies in warfare as anathema to that mission. For that reason, the Foundation was willing to cooperate with the Allies throughout the conflict. Many artifacts that were acquired initially by the US, British or Soviet governments would find their way into the Foundation’s hands, thanks to the Foundation’s personnel possessing greater awareness of the nature of anomalous artifacts. However, the seeds for some of the most secretive parts of the Cold War rested in the ultimate conclusion of the Soviets and US that these anomalies certainly would make fine weaponry. The SCP Foundation had largely been formed around the same time as the League of Nations and had after the war began to gather members from across the world as members realized that in face of the artifacts and how dangerous they could be squabbles between countries paled in comparison.

It would be amiss to not address the (admittedly small) role of extraterrestrials in the conflict. Aliens within the Solar System generally were not affected by the conflict, as due to the much-reduced supply of Cavorite, most space travel had been reduced since the 1920’s. There were a few exceptions to this rule. For instance, there was American astronaut Flash Gordon’s role in preventing a collision with the xenoplanet Mongo, which he had battled before prior to the war's outbreak and the last-ditch Nazi moon landing, which in 1945 led to the establishment of two bases that allowed a few Nazis to flee amidst the ongoing defeat (though one would be destroyed within a year of the war’s end). Recovered alien technology was covertly utilized by both sides of the war. The conflict also earned humanity the attention of various alien races, especially given the use of nuclear weapons to end the war. The most notable alien activity to occur on Earth during this period was the 1942 invasion attempt. In this year, a race of reptilian aliens arrived, presumably with hostile intent. They landed in South America and Africa and quickly set about attempting to conquer. The South American invasion force came into contact with a group of superhumen led by Hugo Danner. The battle ended in the destruction of the aliens and the Superhumens, while Hugo Danner survived, his superpowered son Arnold Munroe, now a superhero, would defeat his evil father. One of these craft had the misfortune of landing in Arztotska near an encampment of Storm Wizards inhabited by Haddo and Merasmus at the time. The invaders had no knowledge of magic and were quickly dispatched by the wizards, though not without casualties (including possibly Haddo himself, although his body was never found). The other craft landed in the heart of the Domination of the Draka. The invasion was more or less successfully launched there, however, thanks to the losses elsewhere, the invaders found themselves forced to retreat quickly. Nevertheless, the damage brought about the government’s collapse, the loss of the territories in the north and reformation of the remnants into the apartheid Republic of Draka. Meanwhile, the invasion itself discouraged space exploration by many powers (who wrongly attributed the incursion to Mars, yet again). A second craft from the same alien race would attempt to land on Earth in 1960 but be destroyed immediately. The invasion is however notable in that most of the world's nations briefly put aside the war to deal with them, as briefly as it lasted. This would be repeated with the Neuroi invasion, which was defeated utilizing young witches equipped with advanced technology.

### **References-The Weird War**

Thule Society-Real group appearing in multiple works. More successful than their real life counterpart

Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail-Refers to the events of the first and third Indiana Jones films

Alchemic ritual-Refers to the events Fullmetal Alchemist, specifically the movie Conqueror of Shambhalla. I personally prefer Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which has a plot closer to the manga, but Conqueror of Shambhalla is included because its plot divergence involves the real world so it's easier to fit.

Binding of the Norse pantheon-Succeeding in doing this is what precipitates the plot of the alternate history story Thor Meets Captain America.

Kratos-Protagonist from the God of War series, specifically the 2019 game in which he is Loki's father.

Red haired to Aryan Thor-In universe justification for Thor's appearance changing from his Norse mythology appearance to his Marvel Comics Appearance.

Study native voodoo rituals-Refers to the book Zombies vs. Nazis.

Trioxin-The zombie virus-causing bioweapon from Night of the Living Dead

Deceased American scientist-Herbert West from HP Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Re-Animator

Multinational team-The quartet of characters who fight zombies in the Nazi Zombies map of Call of Duty: Black Ops

Attempt to use it during D-Day-Reference to the 2018 film Overlord, which features Allied troops fighting Nazi zombies just before D-Day

Vampire weaponization program-Taken from Hellsing

Alexander Vlado-Nazi vampire from Deutsche Soldaten

Alucard-Alucard is a common character name for vampires connected to Dracula. This is specifically Count Alucard from the film Son of Dracula, rather than the Castlevania or Hellsing versions

Weaponizing female werewolves-Refers to Werewolf Women of the SS, the song not the Fake film from Grindhouse(that's a real movie in this Universe).

Hellsing Organization-From Hellsing

Watcher’s Council-Organization from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Hunters-Monster and demon hunters in the Supernatural universe

Alucard- This one is the one from Hellsing.

One witch-Miss Price from Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Strategic Scientific Reserve-SHIELD predecessor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Department of Occult Warfare-From the video game Jericho

Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense-Government agency that employs Hellboy

Nathaniel Cade-The titular character in The President’s Vampire series. Bound to work for the US government after becoming a vampire

Philadelphia experiment-The one from the film of the same name that leads to a naval vessel going from the 1940’s to the 1980’s

Project Knickerbocker-Project to create weaponized *kaiju*in the novel Shambling Towards Hiroshima

Durmstang- Ukrainian Wizarding school from the Harry Potter series.

Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry-Organization geared towards the scientific study of magic in the 1965 novel Monday Begins on Saturday

Scientific Universal Institute of Extraordinary Services-Research institution looking into magic in the Soviet film Charodei

Professor Woland-Character in the novel The Master and Margarita. Name alludes to the demon who tempted Faust and he is hinted at being the Devil himself

Necronomicon-Fictional text from the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as other works like the Evil Dead.

SCP Foundation-Nebulously secret organization from the website of the same name

Brisco County, Jr.-Bruce Campbell’s character in the TV series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., who helps tackle various occult phenomena in the 19th century

Warehouse, Library-Refers to the various Warehouses from the series Warehouse 13. The Library is the one from The Librarian film series and the TV series The Librarians

Brethren Court-The league of pirate captains from Pirates of the Caribbean. Given that they bound Calypso to tame the seas, it’s feasible they could evolve into a paranormal containment organization

Flash Gordon-Pulp hero who fights Ming the Merciless on Planet Mongo from the works bearing his name

Two bases-One of the bases is the one destroyed by the protagonists of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel Rocket Ship Galileo. The other base is the one set up by the Moon Nazis in the film Iron Sky

1942 alien invasion-A less successful version of the Race invasion from Worldwar. Also based on the Martian invasion in Ignition City

Neuroi invasion-alien invasion from Strike Core Witches. Like the Race invasion it interrupts World War II.

## **Triumph of the Will**

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the exhausted victors sought to prevent anything like the conflict from erupting again. As part of the efforts to achieve that goal, the United World Organization was established. The UWO, heir to the former League of Nations, was considerably more robust than the LON and American involvement in the organization ensured it would continue to exist. Initially, in the aftermath of the war, there was hope things would be peaceful-the UWO partners worked together to preside over the Nuremberg Trials that condemned many Nazi war criminals such as Ernst Janning and Georg Herring to death and to fighting Strasse’s hardline rebels, which continued to combat the allies. However, while things initially seemed rosy, tensions seethed under the surface. Besstrashny, as it turns out, had no interest in returning exiled governments like Arztotska’s Ubu dynasty to power in Eastern Europe. Instead, the region was consigned to being under Soviet domination—being behind what Catskill would call “the Iron Curtain, stretching from Sokovia to Ixania.” Besstrashy also was able to successfully obtain a nuclear bomb in 1949, further increasing US fears. Within a few years, very few people regarded the Soviet Union as anything other than a threat.

Another factor exacerbating tensions between the US and USSR was events in Britain. In 1945, the Labour Party under Rudolf Whitlow came to power. Whitlow was a revolutionary socialist and sought to spread socialism to Britain whether they wanted it or not. Whitlow’s premiership marked the what later historians referred to as the “Airstrip One” period. Whitlow, prior to his removal by more moderate forces led by war hero Harold Wharton, implemented severe totalitarian and anti-Semitic policies. He utilized experimental memory alteration techniques to convince various individuals that it was forty years past the actual year, fabricated a dissident possessing the Jewish surname Emmanuel Goldstein(the Goldsteins being a real family that had some wizard members) to encourage unrest and practiced torture of dissidents. The only positive of Whitlow’s regime was the formal recognition of Indian independence and brokering the deal that would split India in Bangistan, Hermajistan, Qumran, Lugash and India proper, which went into effect in 1947. Whitlow, as the “Big Brother” of Airstrip One, brainwashed large swathes of the population into venerating him as practically a deity. This nightmare continued in Britain for four years, up until Whitlow’s assassination in 1948. Wharton acted quickly to restore democracy and civil society, as well as close ties to the United States, bringing Britain into the United States led alliance of Oceania in 1949. He converted the propaganda machine set up under Whitlow into the more or less benign Albion Broadcasting Corporation, the totalitarian Ministry of Love into the less harsh (though still morally murky) Section, and returned Britain to a state of normalcy. Wharton would also begin a conflict with the Moreau Sapiens of Manor Farm that had supported Whitlow’s regime, ultimately reincorporating the area surrounding it into the United Kingdom. The royal family and rupert Catskill who had retreated to Canada, launched on attack to retake England with aid from Manor Farm, usurping the tyrant pig Napoleon, who was killed when the animals rioted, and replaced by the friendlier pig Wilbur. The technology used in Whitlow’s brainwashing would help lead to the development of amnesiac and neuralyzer technology after the regime collapsed.

In the US, the Airstrip One-induced paranoia led to the brief secession of a group of Galtist millionaires from the United States (although following Republican gains in the midterms and the impeachment of President Thingmaker in favor of moderate Democrat Art Hockstader, the rebels largely returned to the fold, with the exception of the hardline Andrew Ryan). To deal with the threat of communism and address the perception of softness on his part, Hockstader authorized the creation of the Central Enquiries Agency. The CEA, led by Philip Allen, was an outgrowth of the precursor Office of Secret Intelligence (which persisted in a rump form after the CEA was established) and had the goal of being a covert intelligence agency. In addition to the CEA, Hockstader formed the Impossible Missions Force and several organizations dedicated to gaining an edge on “unusual sciences.” The Office of Scientific Intelligence (sometimes referred to as “the Shop”) was the main organization established for this purpose. However, to deal with specifically extraterrestrial activity in the wake of the Roswell incidents of 1947 (which saw, among others, a ship belonging to the Antarian race crash on Earth), Hockstader would establish the Majestic-12 organization. Majestic, as it was often referred to, set up facilities around the country to keep artifacts of suspected alien origin in sites like Areas 42, 51 and 52 next to Las Paradiso, Hangar 18 in Arizona, and Zone 91 in California. Hockstader’s efforts to address the threat of international communism were not enough to salvage his campaign and he would be defeated by Republican John Lindsay in 1948, thanks in part to third-party campaigns by Dixiecrat Jake Featherston (which wasn’t offset even by adding Mississippi Governor Menelaus O’Daniel to the Democratic ticket), as well as that of ex—President Thingmaker who claimed his impeachment had been a capitalist conspiracy. He also defeated Jefferson Smith and David Kamperhaufe. For their part, the Soviets under Besstrashny embraced a similar outlook, shoring up defenses in Europe and enlarging their intelligence apparatus.

The postwar period’s increase in global tensions had an impact on outside groups as well. The SCP Foundation, worried the superpowers would seek to use items they had stored to gain an edge over each other, chose to relocate sensitive assets from Warehouse 13(the renamed Area 51) and other facilities to unaligned nations. Nonaligned leaders like Sohan Bhai and Mowgli Sethi of India and Milo Aleaql-Almuthiq welcomed the Foundation into their lands and proved more than happy to grant them land holdings in exchange for developmental assistance. Mowgli's successor, Sohan Bhai, who had survived an assassination attempt, specifically prioritized India's obtaining of Nuclear weapons out of fear of its aggressive neighbors before his death. Front companies like Superior Constructive Properties played key roles in building up infrastructure in nations like Freedonia, Sylvania, Egypt, Panau and India. Other outsiders, rather than seeking to mitigate the risks of war, sought to profit from it. The international criminal syndicate KAOS grew greatly in this period, seeking to profit off of the Cold War tensions. They were joined by the upstart SPECTRE organization, whose operatives planned to utilize Cold War fears to get away with their crimes. Both of these groups were willing to recruit individuals who had assisted Strasse’s neo-Nazi terror campaign or worked for HYDRA and occasionally collaborated under the mantle of THRUSH (technically an older organization originally founded by Colonel Sebastian Moran after the death of Moriarty). To combat these groups, the UWO formed an international law enforcement organization, dubbed UNCLE(United Network Command for Law and Enforcement), which would go on to clash with these groups.

During this period, the magical community attempted to move past the turmoil brought about by the Hynkel-Grindelwald alliance. However, these efforts proved short-lived due to the actions of two wizards: Grindelwald’s lieutenant and undead lich Rasputin and the newly emerged dark wizard Heinrich Kemmler. Kemmler went on to establish himself as even worse than Grindelwald, building a large cult of personality, claiming credit for the major conflicts that had occurred earlier in the century. Kemmler quickly found several allies in his efforts to terrorize the supernatural world—the remnants of the Nazi Thule Society, the Witches (capitalization intended, as this description referred solely to female magicians who feed off of despair, a corrupted offshoot of the “magical girl” sector of magecraft), various undead (including Hynkel himself) and cults of Cthulhu. The ensuing conflict would drag on throughout most of the 1950’s, resulting in hundreds of deaths worldwide. Ultimately, only the combined abilities of the Sorcerer Supreme Yen Sid, Dumbledore, the ancient immortal magician Prospero, the demonic hero Hellboy, the entirety of the White Court, the Watchers Council and even various outside groups like the BPRD, Delta Green and the SCP Foundation succeeded in bringing Kemmler’s forces down, Kemmler himself would allegedly vow to return. Even then, his followers would continue to wreck havoc on Europe.

In 1949, the Chimera, an alien race previously held back in Russia and the Soviet Union, escaped and ravaged Europe as it was still recovering from the war. The Chimera, who would go on to become a key threat to Europe before their defeat, even going onto threaten America and then the Solar System. The attacks of Kemmler provoked major world powers into forming what was called the Nettersheim Pact, geared towards upholding the veil between the supernatural and normal world. Residual aftershocks from Kemmler’s attacks would continue into the 1950’s, being countered both by supernatural individuals and beings and outsiders in the vein of the Duke de Richleau and Dr. John Montague.

### **References-Triumph of the Will**

Ernst Janning-Nazi war criminal and defendant in Judgement at Nuremberg, a fictionalized depiction of the Nuremberg trials

Strasse’s hardline rebels-Based on Heydrich’s postwar insurgency in the alternate history novel The Man With The Iron Heart

Ubu dynasty-Fictional Polish dynasty from the play Ubu Roi

Rud Whitlow-Unifier of the world in HG Wells’ The Holy Terror. He ends up founding a world state but is removed as he goes mad with power. Here his power is more limited

Airstrip One-The name of Britain in 1984

Harold Wharton-Harry Wharton from the Greyfriars School series. In League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he becomes Big Brother from 1984. Here he’s more reasonable

Dissident possessing a Jewish surname-Emmanuel Goldstein, who is implied not to exist in 1984. The emphasis on it being a Jewish surname refers to Whitlow’s increasing anti-Semitism in The Holy Terror after taking power.

Goldstein wizard- refer to Tina and Queen Goldstein from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, who would presumably be alive at the time.

Bangistan-Country from the Bollywood film of the same name. Replaces Bangladesh

Hermajistan-Country from the anime series Full Metal Panic. Based heavily on Afghanistan

Qumran-Country from Yes Minister, based on and replaces Pakistan as the larger Muslim-majority nation that has friction with India

Lugash-Country from The Pink Panther films, where the diamond of the same name originates. Replaces Ceylon/Sri Lanka

Oceania-A North American and England occupying superpower from 1984. Here it's an alliance. Replaces NATO.

Albion Broadcasting Corporation-Taken from Quartermass and the Pit. Replaces the BBC

The Section-The shadowy arm of British intelligence the main character works for in the ITV series Callan

Manor Farm-Setting of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. An allegory for the Russian Revolution

Animal uprising on Manor Farm-the ending to the animated adaptation of Animal Farm but not in the book. here it occurs shortly after the book's conclusion.

Wilbur-Some Pig from Charlotte's Web. The titular Charlotte being a spider that be befriends.

Amnesiac, neuralyzer-Amnesiacs are used by the SCP Foundation to alter memories. The Men in Black use neuralyzers for the same purpose. This helps explain how the plot of 1984 could occur immediately after World War II.

Secession of Galtist millionaires-Refers to the strike launched in the novel Atlas Shrugged

Arthur Hockstader-Ex-president in the film The Best Man. Based on (and replaces) Harry Truman

Andrew Ryan-Initial antagonist of the video game Bioshock.

Central Enquiries Agency-CIA analogue from The President’s Analyst

Phillip Allen-The fictional first director of the CIA from the film The Good Shepherd. Based on Allen Dulles and replaces him here.

Office of Secret Intelligence-The OSI from The Venture Bros. Replaced the OSS here but differs in its continued existence after the CEA was founded

Impossible Missions Force-The spy agency that is the focus of the Mission Impossible series

Office of Scientific Intelligence-Name of both Stephen King’s The Shop which studies psychics and the organization that made Steve Austin into the Six Million Dollar Man. It also appears in the Venture Bros.

Ship belonging to the Antarian race-Alien race from Memory Alpha. Among others refers to multiple spacecraft attributed to the Roswell incident, some of which will be relevant later

Area 42-Parody of Area 51 from Destroy All Humans

Area 52-Parody of Area 51 from Looney Tunes: Back in Action! It's scene contains a ton of aliens from across pop culture appearing as cameos.

Hangar 18-Hangar housing alien technology in the film of the same name

Zone 91-Area 51 analogue/parody from the Animorphs series

John Lindsay-Protagonist of the film "I am the Law". Based on Thomas Dewey(while he was an undercover police officer). him winning refers to the famously inaccurate “Dewey Defeats Truman” misprint newspaper headline

Jefferson Smith-Protagonist of Mr.Smith Goes to Washington.

David Kamperhaufe- From Death of a Politician, his attempt to run for Presidency is a reference to the Presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, who he's based on.

Jake Featherston-Timeline-191’s Hitler stand-in running the CSA. Here since the South lost, he’s reduced to Strom Thurmond

Menelaus O’Daniel-Governor of Mississippi in O Brother Where Art Thou?

Relocate assets-Based on the SCP Foundation’s Coldest War canon

Mowgli Sethi-Mowgli from The Jungle Book, now an adult and a hero of Indian independence after the events of War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches. Sethi is taken from the actor who played Mowgli in the Disney live action adaptation

Milo Aleaql-Almuthiq -The Arabic name of Milo Mindbinder, war profiteer and minor antagonist in the novel Catch-22. Runs a business syndicate that proves massively profitable and ultimately becomes mayor of Cairo. Here he’s moved just slightly up in the rankings and sorta replaces Nasser.

Sohan Bhai-Mahatma Ghandi Stand in from the novel Happy. Him being Nuke happy is a reference to the infamous version from the civilization franchise who because of a glitch will threaten you with nuclear weapons. His role of Prime minister is a reference to Ghandi leading India in the game series despite never doing so in real life.

KAOS-Main villains of the Get Smart! series

SPECTRE-International crime and terrorist syndicate from the James Bond films

THRUSH-Criminal adversary group in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (which is also where UNCLE is from)

Colonel Sebastain Moran-Professor James Moriarty’s right-hand man in the Sherlock Holmes novels. Is canonically the founder of THRUSH in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Heinrich Kemmler-Dark wizard from The Dresden Files. Here the claims he engineered both world wars are more or less his own propaganda rather than the truth.

Witches-The Witches from Puella Madoka Magica

Undead Hynkel-Part of the plot of Hellboy

Yensid-Mickey’s mentor in the Fantasia segment The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Prospero-The main wizard of the play The Tempest. Based mostly in his incarnation from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Kemmler vowing to return-Based off the lichmaster villain in the Warhammer franchise also named Heinrich Kemmler.

Chimera-The main enemy of the video game Resistance: Fall of Man. Events proceed slightly differently due to the fact that here the Chimera are summoned from the Resistance!Timeline by Kemmler’s forces (which among other things has a Tsarist Russia instead of the USSR and no World War II) rather than invading directly.

Nettersheim Pact-Conspiracy to keep magic secret in the tabletop game Age of Aquarius

Duke De Richleau-Fictional character from various novels by Dennis Wheatley who takes on various dark magicians

Dr. John Montague-Main character in the novel The Haunting of Hill House. here he is a descendant of the Montagues from Romeo and Juliet.

## **Interlude:** **The Washington Herald - *Iselin: Patriot or Paranoid?***

*October 3rd, 1951*

*by Nick Alexander*​

Hudson has labeled him Man of the Year. *The Daily Planet* has described him as “a key voice of the modern age.” Others have been more critical. President Hockstader has dismissed Iselin’s accusations of communist infiltration as “a load of claptrap” and condemning his alleged fearmongering. *The* *New York Banner*has described him as “the most dangerous man in America, perhaps in the entire world.” Regardless of how one feels about the Senator, it cannot be understated how big of an impact Iselin has had.

This impact is all the more striking due to how recently Iselin entered the Senate. Taking office amidst the 1946 “Galtist wave,” Iselin was in many ways a conventional Republican. Unlike his more stridently conservative counterparts like Noah Grace of Montana, Iselin is no ideologue, favoring robust international engagement and largely supporting the New Deal. At the same time, he certainly can’t be compared to moderates like President Lindsay or Senator Tom August of Minnesota. Iselin has cultivated what, in many ways, is a unique identity, embracing moderate (and even liberal) policy stances on one hand, while conducting himself in a manner exceeding even the most fervent ideologues. His passionate speeches denouncing reported communist infiltration of American society sparked a national media frenzy.

When I spoke to Iselin, I asked him about what he would say to those who thought he was being overly paranoid or fearmongering. Iselin first explained why he believed these criticisms were short-sighted, noting genuine past infiltration. He noted that this didn’t begin with the Soviets either, citing actor Neville Sinclair’s betrayal of the US for Nazi Germany in 1938. Beyond that, he pointed to the widely accepted cases of communist infiltration—the worrisome behavior of President Thingmaker, Gregory Arkadin's theft of nuclear secrets from the US and the defection of Actor Burt Gurney earlier this year. He also warned that individuals expressing opposition to his approach risked causing the nation to “succumb to the vice of communism and are, intentionally or not, aiding the aims of Besstrashny and the rest of Moscow.” He stated he intends to continue hearings until “the communist conspiracy to corrupt our government and media is thoroughly rooted out of our system.” The most striking thing to this reporter is how self-assured Iselin is—no matter who it is who is criticizing him, from Vinewood stars all the way up to the president of the United States, he remains unflappable and willing to press on.

There are plenty of individuals who positively respond to the sentiments Iselin expressed. Among these are prominent members of the US military apparatus. General Harry Howell, hero of the Pacific theatre and key leader in the ongoing Hun Chiu War, has expressed a great appreciation for what Iselin is setting out to do. While not available for a direct interview, the general has told the *Herald*that he regards Iselin as “a patriot whose efforts are important to keeping America safe from communism.” These sentiments were echoed by a figure still on the home front: General Jack T. Ripper, head of Berpelson Air Force Base. Ripper, a colorful figure sometimes referred to as “Mad Jack” by other members of the military, is an unapologetic hawk and strident anticommunist. He has heaped praise on Iselin, calling him “an American hero unlike anyone since Lincoln, or perhaps even Washington himself.” Ripper’s sole criticism of Iselin’s efforts to root out communism is that he worries he does not go far enough, as he has “remained unfortunately silent on the issue of the fluoridation of our water, that puts our bodily fluids at risk and causes wildlife to engage in sodomy and other improper sexual behavior.” It is not merely high-ranking members of the military who praise Iselin: there are plenty of average Americans who have expressed support for Iselin’s efforts at combatting communism. “We need someone who is willing to keep the damn commies out of our gubbiment,” said Baltimore resident and World War II veteran Archie Bunker, “and I’ll be damned if Johnny ain’t getting’ that done.”

Not everyone shares the enthusiasm for Iselin’s actions. The ongoing feud between Iselin and respected reporter John Jones has been a major story for several months. Jones, who achieved prominences with his wartime reporting under the pseudonym of Huntley Haverstock, has spoken out against Iselin, accusing him of fearmongering and claiming his tactics pose a great threat to freedom in America. “Even if Mavis Arden *were*a communist,” he said during one broadcast, “what actual impact on America’s security would that have? None of her films have had really any political subtext, let alone an anti-American one.” He has criticized the treatment of other actors who were hauled before Iselin’s committee and often subsequently found themselves blacklisted, such as Hecky Brown. Reactions to Iselin’s efforts have also largely not been embraced even by Vinewood stars not targeted by Iselin—even mainstream actors such as Terry Rooney and Eve Harrington have criticized the impact of the blacklist in Vinewood. However, these criticisms are not universal—actors Johnathan Cyclops, Mickey Mouse and Bill Baker have defended Iselin’s methods and encouraged studios to refuse to hire suspected communist actors or writers. Meanwhile, there are some in the military who are concerned Iselin’s investigations into communist subversion may weaken US military resolve in Hun Chiu—reportedly including former General David Kamperhaufe. An anonymous member of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital expressed concern that Iselin’s investigations of the military would increase red tape and make it difficult to carry out regular military operations.

Despite concerns surrounding Iselin’s tactics and their overall implications, it cannot be denied Iselin’s influence is extremely widespread. While it remains to be seen whether Iselin will be judged as a great American or a threat to liberty, it cannot be denied he is a figure who looms large in both domestic and international politics. The fundamental question at the root of whether Iselin’s methods are defensible or not is how far America should go in its efforts to prevent the spread of communism not only abroad, but at home. Proponents of Iselinism argue that they follow in the footsteps of traditional measures used to prevent enemy subversion, utilized by Presidents Wayne and Winthrop and going back to Lincoln. On the other hand, those who are concerned worry Iselinism threatens the free speech rights cherished by Americans from Maturinists and beatniks to Latter-Day Makers and Old Rightists. While it is beyond the scope of this publication to weigh in either way, it cannot be doubted that this debate will play a key role in defining the future of America and what kind of country it is going to be. It is certainly a privilege to live in a nation that seeks to balance national security with individual freedom, rather than scrap rights for the sake of the state as Hynkel and Besstrashny did.

### **References-Iselin: Patriot or Paranoid?**

Washington Herald-Washington Post stand-in from House of Cards

Iselin-Johnny Iselin, the McCarthy analogue from The Manchurian Candidate. We’re basing him mostly off of the black-and-white film version

Nick Alexander-A fictional reporter or author from something I can’t find at the moment.

The Daily Planet-Newspaper Clark Kent works for in DC Comics

Hockstader-Our Truman replacement from the film The Best Man

Galtist wave-The Republican landslide of 1946, filtered through the rebellion of John Galt of Atlas Shrugged that occurred shortly after the war

Noah Grace-Arch-isolationist from the video game Resistance: Fall of Man

President Lindsay-John Lindsay from I am the Law.

Tom August-Minnesota Senator from the novel Advise and Consent

Neville Sinclair-A stand-in for Errol Flynn who betrays the US for Nazi Germany in the film The Rocketeer

President Thingmaker-Communist president from the Mess Mend trilogy

Arkadin’s theft-Refers to Gregory Arkadin from the film Mr. Arkadin. Gregory is modeled loosely on Josef Stalin. He plays a similar role to the Rosenbergs in allowing the Soviets to obtain nuclear weapons. He does this alone because in the film he didn't want his daughter to know about his illegal activities.

Gurney defection-The defection of actor Burt Gurney to the Soviet Union, as depicted in the film Hail Caesar! replaces Gene Kelly.

Besstrashny-Our Stalin analogue from Rocky and Bullwinkle

Vinewood-Hollywood stand-in from Grand Theft Auto

Harry Howell-From the musical Kiss Me Kate. Has a lot of Washington connections. He’s our primary MacArthur analogue

Hun Chiu War-The Korean War analogue between West and East Hun Chiu from Designated Survivor

Jack T. Ripper-General Ripper, the main villain of the film Doctor Strangelove. Hasn’t yet become infamous for his attempted nuclear strike

Archie Bunker-One of the main characters of the sitcom All in the Family. Veteran of World War II and something of a reactionary (albeit a very humanized one)

John Jones, Huntley Haverstock-The lead character of the film Foreign Correspondent. He has gone on to become this world’s version of Edward R. Murrow (a decision that was inspired by Murrow getting his start in reporting on the war in Europe). While it hasn't happened yet, he will eventually be killed and the superhero Martian Manhunter will take his identity as a way of honoring him by fighting crime. Haverstock is also involved in the events of the film Good Night and Good Luck in this universe.

Mavis Arden-Movie star played by Mae West from the 1936 film Go West, Young Man

Hecky Brown-Actor from the film The Front. Is blacklisted due to attending a May Day event six years prior (out of a desire to impress a woman rather than any ideological fervor)

Terry Rooney-Stage name of Thaddeus McGillicuddy in the film Something to Sing About

Eve Harrington-Lead character in the film All About Eve

Johnathan Cyclops-Fictional president of the United States in the series Whoops Apocalypse. He’s not specified as an ex-actor in the series, but given he’s obviously based on Ronald Reagan, I chose to take artistic license. Sorry for the spoiler.

Mickey Mouse-\*Insert joke about Disney here\*

Bill Baker-B-movie actor turned president in the novel Invasion, where he deals with an attempted invasion by China. Another character based on Reagan (though more of a homage than a parody in this case)

David Kamperhaufe-Our Eisenhower analogue from the novel Death of a Politician

4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital-The setting of the television series M\*A\*S\*H. The anonymous member is meant to be Hawkeye Pierce

Wayne, Winthrop-Wartime presidents, Wayne being from First Lady and Winthrop being from The Repairer of Reputations. Like their real-world counterparts Roosevelt and Wilson, suppressed civil liberties to prosecute the conflict

Maturinists-Term used for Darwinists in this world, derived from Stephen Maturin

Latter-Day Makers-The official name of the Mormon faith in this world, inspired by the Alvin Maker series

## **A World of Laughter, A World of Tears**

The early 1950’s saw several key developments in the world. Catskill’s prodigy Hugh Drummond gained the office of Prime Minister as Queen Anne II took the throne. In the US anticommunist fears greatly increased. In 1950, the Soviet and Chinese-backed West Hun Chiu regime of Pong Shik invaded the American-allied East. The subsequent Hun Chiu War would continue for the next three years. US troops deployed into the conflict were only able to fight the war to a stalemate, leading to most of the army being inactive while deployed. Compared to alter conflicts, the war was seen as more "Laid Back" by Americans such as the members of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hispital and the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment. Thanks in large part to the war, Senator Johnny Iselin’s efforts to root out suspected communists greatly took off, targeting various figures on the left, as well as a number of metahumans and government officials, as well as forcing many Superheroes to retire. The era of Iselinism saw many careers heavily damaged. Iselinism ultimately would fall in popularity with two events: the death of Iselin shortly before he could be nominated as the GOP vice presidential candidate in 1952 and the death of Besstrashny in the USSR in 1953 (though a toon version of him would return to pose a problem). Besstrashny's demise caused a power struggle between Bela Razinin, Dmitri Kissoff, and Varlam Aravidze, even as Yuri Gletkin held the position. The power struggle resulted in the execution of Razinin and Kissoff seizing power. Kissoff, was more pragmatic and widely less feared by the US. Nevertheless, the Cold War bore on, with the Hun Chiu War not concluding until 1953 and both sides seeking to outdo each other. The US sought to highlight their technological prowess and high living standards, though some examples of this went awry as in the Punchbowl disaster, which saw the town of Punchbowl, Keystone become infested with Zombies, requiring its destruction with a bomb. The Soviets meanwhile focused on military readiness and advancement, seeking to beat their capitalist rivals via subterfuge and military power—though they did occasionally dabble in efforts to improve public wellbeing (making the first forays into computer technology among other things), they focused more on things like developing hovertanks.

The decade saw the true devastating power of radiation, a byproduct of nuclear weapons be revealed. In 1953, US test awakened a remnant dinosaur which went on a rampage across the northeastern United States before the military destroyed it. The next year, Japan was devastated by the attacks of the monster known as Gojira, which devastated Tokyo and nearly killed Prime Minister Akiro Mitamura. While these rampages eventually ceased with the monster's death by a specialized weapon, attacks by other radioactive creatures’ attacks did not. The United States alone saw attacks by giant ants, a gigantic octopus, a massive Gila monster, a large scarlet dog (though “attack” probably overstates the situation and the canine was ultimately relocated to a less populous area with little incident and even was adopted and named Clifford), two enlarged humans (a member of the US military and a housewife) and massive shellfish. Elsewhere, various nations found themselves attacked by other enlarged species of various sorts. These entities, dubbed *kaiju*by the Japanese, would devastate many cities over the course of the decade. Efforts by governmental organizations to stymie these attacks often proved difficult and ultimately the only methods that “worked” was usually evacuate and rebuild when necessary. Research efforts into these mutations did continue, often centered in the California-based NORCO lab (at least prior to a 1963 incident that led to a change in focus). These incidents would also go on to inspire various films, such as the 1954 Reptar film and the discontinued 1972 film Fukaeru's Assault, which was allegedly discontinued due to events surrounding its filming gaining SCP-like qualities. These franchises were inspired by the true events (much as the Klaatu incident inspired The Man From Pluto, though the latter was of rather poor quality). This decade also saw a shift in the nature of interaction with outer space. With the last Cavorite sample used by the US on an ill-fated Mars expedition in 1950 (that unbeknownst to most did leave a pair of survivors who would have a child on the Red Planet), the world’s major powers had to seek out alternative means of space travel. Britain made the first forays into non-Cavorite powered space exploration, with John Dashwood being the first man to go into space without Cavorite. Britain had been able to establish the Ministry of Space under Wharton thanks to acquiring most German rocket scientists after World War II (the US Operation Paperclip only managed to bring over a few scientists, most notably Arnim Zola and Josef Merkwürdigliebe), as well as having a few of their own like Bernard Quartermass. Despite this, after the fall of Wharton’s regime, Britain would take the back seat to US and Soviet space exploration.

These space advances also meant an increase in alien interactions with Earth. The first key interaction of the decade occurred in 1951, when the Chimera managed to breach the Iron Curtain’s defenses, temporarily overwhelming much of Europe. Oceania and the Warsaw Pact would be forced to cooperate to counter this threat, which at its peak stretched from Siberia to Britain before they were successfully defeated and the status quo resumed( though it did have the upside of destroying much of the Big Brother government of Whitlow and Wharton left behind following Wharton's assassination by a brainwashed Winston Smith). That same year, though on a smaller scale, a group in the Arctic would uncover the frozen remains of an alien organism though destroyed by a team in 1938, though the creature's normal shapeshifting abilities seemed to had been halted. The next such interactions occurred in 1953, with the arrival of the alien ambassador known as Klaatu to Earth and the short-lived first contact with the Kanamits in 1954. Klaatu, representing the Citadel Council, warned humanity of the dangers posed by its atomic weapons and the potential that they would be neutralized should the galactic community determine them to be a threat. Despite this, nuclear proliferation would continue, with France, Britain and the Duchy of Grand Fenwick all gaining nuclear arsenals by the end of the decade. Grand Fenwick, being a small nation facing economical troubles decided to go to war with America in the hopes of losing and benefitting from American occupation. They invaded Metropolis during a drill and stole an experimental doomsday weapon, giving them the upper hand to force America into its first historical loss. Contact with the Kanamits began with peaceful exchange, but ultimately turned to horror when it was discovered they sought to consume humanity, with the invaders only barely being pushed off Earth. In the aftermath of these events, the United States gave more power to Majestic-12, an organization dedicated solely to dealing with alien activity on Earth founded by President Hockstader after the Roswell UFO crash. Its agents were on the ground looking into alien activity. However it soon began to split into another organization: The Syndicate, also known by their nickname of "The Men in Black". The Syndicate, which often was kept an outright secret from even presidents of the United States if they were deemed “unreliable,” was an umbrella group that had influence within the FBR (though, strangely, rarely with the Unusual Incidents Unit which was geared towards “Blue Rose” cases and later “X-files” surrounding alien and paranormal phenomena), CEA, SHIELD, the BPRD, Delta Green (which had a similar structure as the Syndicate) and Majestic-12. These organization remained separated mostly by what types of situations they handled. The CEA dealt with human enemies(while UNCLE remained a UWO sponsored group). SHIELD was tasked with working alongside superheroes, the BPRD battled the paranormal threats while the SCP Foundation catalogued the strange artifacts discovered, sometimes storying them in Warehouse 13. Delta Green decidedly dealt with the " Old Ones",

The Syndicate dealt with the arrival of a weaponized alien automaton in Maine (what was known as the Rockwell Incident), a gelatin-like alien terrorizing an American town, a Texas visitation by some rather hedonistic aliens (the aftermath of which led to Syndicate leader Dr. Everett Scott being replaced with Dr. Benton Quest) and several other incursions. The Syndicate utilized Men In Black operatives (often linked to Majestic-12 or Delta Green) to keep alien activities on Earth by and large a secret and declared Earth an interstellar neutral zone. Most aliens who visit Earth during this period and shortly after, such as the Tralfmadorians, Rigellians, Melmackians, Brodi Asogi, Reticulans, and Orkans, chose to abide by this declaration. This is not to say there were no violent encounters with aliens in this period—world governments had to contend with outright invasion attempts launched via flying saucers, destabilization efforts using reanimated corpses, direct raids by the imperialist Zagons or more covert infiltration of towns like Santa Mira. And there was one alien race that refused to accept the notion of peace and remained a major threat in the years to come: the Furons. Popularly referred to as “the greys,” the Furons would prove to be a persistent threat for nearly two decades.

Culturally, the 1950’s were generally a peaceful time, alien incursions, kaiju, the specter of nuclear war and even stranger events (like the short-lived fourth dimension’s incursion in 1956) notwithstanding. Both in the communist and capitalist nations, times were generally good and peaceful. In the US, shows like *Pleasantville*gained popularity, consumer brands such as Nozz-a-la and Buzz Cola became ubiquitous, and new chains like Good Burger, Bishop’s Chicken, Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack and WcDonald’s began to crop up around the country. The rising teen culture often irritated American parents, who were often concerned about the potentially Satanic nature of new things—for example, the new rock and roll music of Conrad Birdie or Johnny Casino. Despite this, this music gained popularity, abetted by shows like *The Corny Collins Show.* Theme parks popped up around the country, starting with the extremely popular Dingoland. When Dingo opened his Dingoland theme park in 1955, many would simply clone this step regardless of the success of the product that the park was built around such as the makers of Wally World, Nathaniel Winter, Wilson Wonder's Wonderful World, and Roy Family's Family land. Some like Uncle Wizzy, entered seclusion from society while trying to create their utopias. One of these, Epcot, created by Robert Alan Epcot, would be close enough to be absorbed into the Dingo parks proper. These parks were joined by smaller parks Kiddie Kastle and Thrillville over the course of this period. New toys also cropped up, such as the hula hoop and the frisbee invented by Hudsucker Industries, which reshaped the childhood of millions.

Literature had a boost in this time as well, particularly the fantasy genre, including Reginald Tyler's The Lord of the Rings series and more controversially, Lord of the Swastika by the former silent film star Archie Maplin, known for films such as Future Times and the Great Oppressor. the book was written under his birth name Adolf Hitler in 1953, shortly before his death and was seen largely as a demonstration on how the Hero's Journey could be twisted into a evil form. Suburbs grew greatly in this period, the likes of Riverdale and Mayberry becoming symbols of the American dream. In America, the biggest risk to social stability was around issues of race and species. While toons (and the newly emerged, similar Muppets) had continued to make great strides (with one American toon, the aforementioned Franklin Peabody, becoming the first Moreau sapiens to win a Nobel Prize in 1954), many nonwhites remained locked out of advancement by Jim Crow laws. Racial tensions sometimes led to full-fledged violence, such as the racial gang warfare that would grip Metropolis’ West Side in 1957. The 1950’s consequently saw the beginning of what would be dubbed the civil rights movement. Activists following the leadership of Reverend John Calvin Sykes, Jr. or George W. Knox sought to achieve equality in practice as well as in the letter of the law. The Smith administration was generally slow to advocate for these policies, though he did order the National Guard to enforce integration after *Brown v. Board of Education,*where Chief Justice Michael Lightcap mandated schools be desegregated*.*Soviet propaganda often drew attention to the issues of segregation in the US to gain traction among newly independent countries in Africa.

This period saw the chess game between the US and USSR continue unabated. The CEA backed coups to overthrow suspected pro-Soviet leaders in favor of ones more to their liking, such as Arthur Curry in Atlantis or Shah Massiq Rassim in Asran. Smith invested heavily in military preparedness and development, leading to the rise of what would be dubbed the military-industrial complex. Companies such as Yoyodyne and NOVA Laboratories grew greatly in this era in the United States. Intelligence operations were escalated, sometimes leading to significant missteps, as demonstrated by the Thornhill debacle. Meanwhile, the Soviets backed revolutionaries in third-world countries, such as the former French colony of Sarkhan. The concern about the spread of communism from the USSR (and, to a lesser extent, China after Nationalists were pushed to Zheng Fa) led to the development of the doctrine of containment by the Hockstader administration. The goal of this doctrine was to keep communism from spreading rather than rolling it back. This lack of a desire to roll back communism on Smith’s part led to him taking several actions more hawkish individuals would have opposed. For instance, refusing to back Britain, France and Israel during the Suez Crisis (partially as a favor to the Foundation, which Smith respected), which forced Prime Minister Arthur Lytton and President Paul Renault to withdraw from the region and refusing to back Zubrowkan protests against the Soviet occupation. As a result of these, Smith faced accusations of being soft on communism. It was these claims that led to the victory of Democrat Merkin Muffley in 1956. However, Muffley would prove to be just as polarizing and overly dovish. While he successfully navigated the Doomsday Crisis, when his Secretary of State nominee Robert A. Leffingwell turned out to be a former member of the Communist Party, he would suffer a fatal heart attack and pass the presidency (briefly) off to Harley Hudson. Hudson would not be President for long before a member of the Furon race named Crypto would not seriously damage Majestic 12, leaving it unable to prevent his plans, but also disguised himself as President Hudson. Fortunately all attempts at world domination were thwarted when Hudson appeared to die when Air Force One was forced to crash, leading to Crypto abandoning the plan. However, a failure to contain communism would occur in the Western Hemisphere, with significant consequences for world peace.

### **References-A World of Laughter, A World of Tears**

Hugh Drummond-Bulldog Drummond from the works of the same name

Queen Anne II-British monarch in The Avengers TV series

Hun Chiu-Korea stand-in from the series Designated Survivor

Pong Shik-North Korean revolutionary in the North Korean film Salt. He can be seen as a stand in for Kim Il Sung.

4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital- The setting for the film and TV show M\*A\*S\*H\*

9th regiment- The regiment in which the characters of the Private Beetle Bailey comic strip belong to. The war they are deployed in is never revealed but given the strip premiered in 1950, the Korean War is a safe bet.

Johnny Iselin-Senator from The Manchurian Candidate. A stand-in for Joe McCarthy

Forcing superheroes to retire- A theme in most works involving Superheroes including Watchmen, DC Comics, and the Incredibles.

Toon version of Bestrashny-The one seen in the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. He becomes a real person in the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie.

power struggle after Besstrashny's death-refers to the events of the film The Death of Stalin but with the stand ins.

Bela Razinin-From the film Ninochtka. He is our stand in for Laventiy Beria.

Dmitri Kissoff-Secretary-Soviet Premier from Doctor Strangelove. replaces Nikita Kruschev.

Varlam Aravidze- dictatorial mayor of a town in the film Repentance.

Yuri Gletkin-Offical from Darkness at Noon. A stand in for Georgy Malenkov.

Punchbowl disaster-The zombie outbreak from the Stubbs the Zombie video game

Keystone- Stand in for Pennsylvania from Steven Universe.

Forays into computer technology-Refers to the alternate history short story Red Plenty where the USSR under Khrushchev attempts to use computers to efficiently handle nationalization. It works well, until Brezhnev shuts the project down

Developing hovertanks-Refers to the 1998 version of the video game Battlezone, where the Soviets have hovertanks by the 1960’s

Remnant dinosaur-The Rhedosaurus from The Beast From 20,00 Fathoms

Gojira-Ol’ Godzilla himself

Akiro Mitamura-Naval commander in the film 1941. Now Prime Minister of Japan.

giant ants-From Them!

Gigantic octopus-From It Came from Beneath the Sea

Massive Gila monster-From The Giant Gila Monster

Large scarlet dog-Clifford from the Clifford the Big Red Dog children’s books. Yeah, it’s not the love of his owner that made him that big in this continuity—though he isn’t a full-on *kaiju*in terms of behavior either

Two enlarged humans-The member of the US military is Colonel Glenn Manning from The Amazing Colossal Man and the housewife is Nancy Archer from Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman

Massive shellfish-From The Monster That Challenged The World

Ill-fated Mars expedition-The trip that lead to Valentine Michael Smith being left on Mars in Stranger in a Strange Land

NORCO lab-The laboratory where the Outer Limits episode It Crawled Out of the Woodwork is set

Reptar-Kaiju-esque monster from Rugrats. Takes Godzilla's role in pop culture.

Fukaeru-The kaiju made during Tsuburaya events documented in SCP-2954

The Man From Pluto-B-movie from the Mission Hill animated series

John Dashwood-First man in space in the alternate history comic Ministry of Space

Arnim Zola-HYDRA scientist from Marvel

Bernard Quartermass-The main character in The Quartermass Experiment

Chimera invasion of Europe-The key part of the plot of the first Resistance game. Is not as devastating as depicted in the source materiel and ultimately is repelled—let’s go with the idea that World War II occurring was key to ensuring the Chimera’s defeat

Arctic creature-Refers to the 1951 film, the Thing from Another World, based on the Short Story who goes there, it is mentioned that the creature in this film acts differently than in other adaptations

Klaatu-The alien visitor from The Day The Earth Stood Still

Duchy of Grand Fenwick-The country that beat the US in a war in the novel The Mouse That Roared

Kanamits-The aliens who came here To Serve Man in the Twilight Zone episode and novel of the same name. They mean that in the sense of eating them of course

Majestic-12-Comes from a wide range of sources, including real life conspiracies. Based heavily off of the incarnation from Dark Skies

The Syndicate-The government conspiracy from The X-Files

Unusual Incidents Unit-The UIU from the SCP Foundation universe. Basically the poor man’s version of the Foundation, understaffed, underfunded and underqualified

Blue Rose cases-Cases pertaining to alien phenomena in Twin Peaks. Garland Briggs used to work on these cases

Rockwell incident-The events of the film The Iron Giant

Gelatin-like alien-The Blob

Texas visit, hedonistic aliens-The Transylvanians from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Everett Scott is also from this show

Dr. Benton Quest-Father of the titular character in Johnny Quest

Men In Black operatives-Both the general conspiracy version and the Men in Black from the movies of the same name

Tralfmadorians-Alien race from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhoue Five

Rigellians-Alien race Kang and Kodos belong to on The Simpsons. In the original Treehouse of Horror they appeared in they ended up being benevolent—though of course this is the case in far less subsequent ones or in their one non-TOH appearance

Melmackians-The alien race Gordon Shumway (better known as ALF) belongs to

Brodi Asogi-ET’s race, the name taken from Star Wars

Reticulans-The name of Greys used after early abductions. Specifically, these are the more benevolent kind of Greys as opposed to our evil Greys which have a different name.

Orkans-The species Mork belongs to in Mork and Mindy

Outright invasion attempts via flying saucers-Specifically a reference to Earth vs. The Flying Saucers

Destabilization efforts using reanimated corpses-The titular Plan 9 From Outer Space, with the goal of preventing humans from using a universe-destroying weapon

Zagon-The alien aggressors in the film This Island Earth

Infiltration of towns like Santa Mira-The Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the film of the same name

Furons-The alien race Krypto belongs to in Destroy All Humans! Very violent and are basically our evil greys

Fourth dimension’s incursion-The events of the novel The Other Side of Here

Pleasantville-Perhaps the ultimate 1950’s TV series from the movie of the same name

Nozz-a-la-Soda company from The Dark Tower series. Replaces Coca Cola, eventually renamed Nuka Cola.

Buzz Cola-Soda company from The Simpsons

Good Burger-Restaurant chain from Good Burger

Bishop’s Chicken-Chain from Grand Theft Auto

Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack-Chain from the television series Lost

WcDonald’s-Version of McDonald’s used in various anime series

Conrad Birdie-Elvis-esque musician from the musical Bye Bye Birdie

Johnny Casino-Leader of the band Johnny Casino and the Gamblers from Grease

*The Corny Collins Show-*From Hairspray

Wally World-From National Lampoon's Vacation

Nathaniel Winter-From The Secret World series

Wilson Wonder's Wonderful World- from Garfield and Friends

Roy Family's Family land-From American Dad

Uncle Wizzy- From the cartoon My Life as a Teenage Robot.

Robert Alan Epcot- Based on an April Fools Joke on the official Epcot twitter about a non existent Epcot founder by that name.

Kiddie Kastle-Theme park franchise from the anime Tekkonkinreet

Thrillville-Theme park from the video game of the same name. Think Roller Coaster Tycoon

Hudsucker Industries-The fictional company that invented the hula hoop in the film The Hudsucker Proxy

Reginald Tyler-J.R.R.Tolkien stand in from the Doctor Who novel Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Lord of the Rings-Seems to be the same as in our timeline but it actually has the plot from the Tropes Sacrasm page found here

Lord of the Swastika-Graphic novel from an alternate universe depicted in The Iron Dream. It was written by an alternate version of Hitler who never came to power. The idea of Hitler replacing Chaplin in a world with Hynkel replacing Hitler is based on a line from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen mentioning silent comedian "Addie Hitler".

Riverdale-Idyllic town where Archie Comics is set (not the television version)

Mayberry-Town where The Andy Griffith Show is set

Muppets-Jim Henson’s creations from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street

Violence in Metropolis’ West Side-Refers to the events of West Side Story

John Calvin Sykes, Jr.-Our Martin Luther King analogue. The references here are twofold. The surname Sykes is taken from Reverend Sykes from To Kill a Mockingbird. The first name being John Calvin (as opposed to Martin Luther) comes from the alternate history short story Southern Strategy, where King goes by John Calvin King

George W. Knox-The first black president of the United States in one of the Confederate victory timelines from GURPS Infinite Worlds. Here, since the Union won, he’s just an activist

Chief Justice Michael Lightcap-Supreme Court Justice from the film The Talk of the Town

Arthur Curry-Aquaman from DC Comics. Takes over Atlantis here thanks to US meddling, since the previous ruler (Namor the Sub-Mariner) isn’t exactly pro-US even if he cooperated during World War II

Shah Massiq Rassim-The Shah of Iran in the miniseries Whoops Apocalypse!

Asran-The Iran-esque country where the anime Area 88 takes place. Also rendered as Aslan or Arslan depending on the source. I chose Asran because it is most similar to Iran

Yoyodyne-Aerospace company from (among other works) Buckaroo Bonzai Across The Eight Dimension

NOVA Laboratories-Laboratory who contracts with the military to make robots (most notably Johnny 5) in the film Short Circuit

Thornhill debacle-The events of the Hitchcock film North By Northwest, where a New York executive is mistaken for a spy

Zheng Fa-Our Taiwan replacement. From the Ace Attorney franchise.

Arthur Lytton-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the film Seven Days to Noon

Paul Renault-The corrupt cop from the film Casablanca. At the end, chooses to defect to the French Resistance and takes on a role similar to Charles De Gaulle postwar.

Merkin Muffley-President in the film Doctor Strangelove

Robert A. Leffingwell-The Secretary of State nominee who turned out to be an ex-communist in the novel Advise and Consent. The events described here (including Hudson’s presidency) are also taken from the novel in question.

Crypto-alien invader from the video game Destroy All Humans! disguises himself as President Huffman(Hudson in this case) and by the sequel has been President for ten years, here those plans are thwarted when Hudson is seemingly killed.

## **Interlude: Best Laid Plan(t)s**

*White House War Room*

*Washington DC*

*1961*

James Trelawney Cassidy’s first year in office was proving difficult. The Bay of Llamas hadn’t gone the way he hoped. He had been close friends with Timothy F. Kegan, who had been assassinated in 1960. The UWO wanted more funding, he was stuck between Sykes’ civil rights activists and Featherston’s Dixiecrat contingent in Congress pushing him to do the opposite courses of action and Liz was spending an uncomfortable amount of time with Theo.

But all of that paled to what was currently going on.

“How many cities are being impacted right now?”

General Phillips sighed deeply. “Currently, Metropolis, Philadelphia, Detroit, Des Moines, Zenith and Cleveland are confirmed to be under attack by these things. We’ve received reports of potential attacks in Los Santos, San Fransokyo, Gotham and Empire Bay as well. I’ve sent operatives to investigate these reports.” If anyone would have an idea on how to stop these things, it would be SHIELD.

“Mr. President.” General Bar piped up. “We need to consider our options here. It appears that these plants are immune to small arms fire, seeing as if they weren’t, odds are the police could’ve taken them out. We’ve mobilized the National Guard, of course, but there’s a good chance they won’t be able to do much good either.”

“What are you saying, general?”

“I believe, Mr. President,” General Turgidson said “he’s saying what I’ve been thinking. We need to consider authorizing higher levels of force.”

Cassidy’s face must have indicated his feelings on the matter, as Turgidson quickly added “I’m not saying we drop the bomb or anything like that—far too early at this point. What I am saying is that we should, possibly, consider sending in tanks. Marines. The Air Force. These goddamn plants may be able to take a few bullets, but I doubt they could take a tank shell or a napalm strike, right on top of ‘em.”

“I doubt they would be able to do so as well, General.” Cassidy said. “My issue is that I don’t think these cities will either.”

“With all due respect, Mr. President, that’s war. And whether we like it or not, we are at war.”

Cassidy buried his head in his hands. “I never expected we’d fight a war with PLANTS of all things. And be losing.”

“Well, we aren’t the only ones experiencing these difficulties.” DCE Christopher broke his silence at last. “Britain has confirmed they’re experiencing something similar. The plants over there are smaller than over here—but they are similarly hostile. They acted dormant for awhile and were basically pets until they suddenly became violent. The Brits call them Triffids.”

“Well, that’s just fantastic. At least we know what to call the things trying to eat all of us.” Cassidy laughed morbidly. He wasn’t alone. “Do we have any idea where these things came from?”

“Dr. Scott, you’re the alien expert.” General Clayton said. “Do you think these things could be from—”

“We can’t be sure either way, General.” Dr. Scott began. “We’d need biological samples and those would be difficult to come by for a while.”

“Should’ve known the goddamn fairy wouldn’t give a straight answer.”

“General Turgidson, please keep it civil.” Cassidy sighed. Sometimes running the country was like running a primary school.

Scott glared at Turgidson before continuing. “Having said that, however, the nature of these plants does greatly vary from any plant currently on Earth. It is highly unlikely such life could evolve naturally.”

“Could it be the result of radiation?”

“That seems rather unlikely.” Dr. Marvin chimed in. “These attacks are too widespread for that. Generally, *kaiju*and other mutants occur from direct exposure to nuclear testing. Unless we’ve been conducting a lot of nuclear tests in the Midwest and the UK, this explanation seems unlikely.”

“Is there any chance this could be the Russians’ doing?” That would be General Curtis, eternally paranoid.

“Highly unlikely. The China Lake program couldn’t yield results half this good, it is exceedingly unlikely any Soviet program could achieve the same.”

“Well, regardless of origin, we should focus on addressing this threat.” General Turgidson guided the conversation back towards the original intent of this meeting. “Mr. President, with your authorization, I can guarantee that we will take care of this threat.”

“And I stand by my point that this risks devastating residents of the cities under attack.”

“The longer we delay here, the more losses we incur! We can draw this out debating all the ethical issues surrounding it, but if we take too long, these damn Triffids will level our cities, move on to the next and then where will be? Even if we eventually take them down, who’s to say the Ruskies won’t get the drop on us while we’re distracted? We need to address this threat NOW!” There were nods all around the table—only Phillips, Scott, Marvin and Clayton didn’t seem to agree with Turgidson.

“I don’t want this to turn into a repeat of the Bay of Llamas.”

“If you’d only gone in with more force—”

“Are you questioning my leadership, General?”

And from there, the meeting began to devolve into a shouting match. Cassidy called several generals “deranged warmongers who can’t solve a problem without bombs” while several generals (namely Curtis and Turgidson) called Cassidy a “spineless child who’ll cause the nation to fall to communism.” As the shouting continued, a man entered the War Room and handed Christopher a paper. Christopher looked over the document and, after checking with Oates to make sure it was accurate, tried to get the shouting generals, scientists and president to pay attention. It took a full two minutes to get their attention.

“According to some of my men, someone out in Zenith found out the Triffids’ weakness! A strong electric shock or fire can be utilized.”

“Excellent. Now we KNOW napalm can work!”

“That is not necessary! Flamethrowers will also get the job done.” Turgidson, red-faced, paused as though he hadn’t recalled flamethrowers existed. Which he likely hadn’t.

“I suppose…that would be more appropriate.” He mumbled.

“Make sure every city impacted is aware of these weaknesses. And is supplied appropriately.” Cassidy spoke with far greater authority than he had at any point earlier in this meeting. “And, God willing, this will be resolved in short order.”

As the president got up to leave the room, Christopher grabbed his shoulder. “There’s something else you might want to know.” he whispered. Cassidy sat back down as most of the generals and scientists began filing out of the room. Only Phillips, Marvin and Scott remained.

“What is it, James?”

Christopher passed Cassidy a photograph. It looked to be one of the Triffids—an enormous one, given how it looked on the Metropolis skyline—attempting to close its jaws around a man. The man (in blue and red spandex) did not appear concerned by this and in fact seemed to be holding the gargantuan plant’s mouth open.

“About time he showed up?”

“And he's not alone either.”

Cassidy was passed a newspaper. He looked at it. The title, in big bold letters, proclaimed “JUSTICE LEAGUE DEFEATS CARNIVOROUS PLANTS.”

### **References: Best Laid Plan(t)s**

White House War Room-The War Room from Doctor Strangelove, which does not exist in real life

James Trelawney Cassidy- A Stand in of John F.Kennedy. combines two similiarly named presidents from The Greek Tycoon and Promises to Keep

Timothy F. Kegan-Timothy Kegan, the president assassinated in a suspicious fashion in Winter Kills. The middle initial being F is my invention and helps give him an initialization on par with JFK’s.

Bay of Llamas-Reference to the video game Tropico, which features a lot of llamas. More or less the Bay of Pigs fiasco

Pa-Pa Kegan, the father of Timothy and implied to be involved in his murder

UWO-United World Organization, UN stand-in from the 1960’s Batman TV show

Sykes-John Calvin Sykes, the Martin Luther King replacement in this world. A combination of John Calvin King from the alternate history short story Southern Strategy and Reverend Sykes from To Kill a Mockingbird

Featherston-Jake Featherston, the Hitleresque Confederate president from Timeline-191. Here, since the South lost the war, he’s reduced to being a stand-in for Strom Thurmond (and to an extent George Wallace)

Liz, Theo-Characters from a Roman a clef of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Aristotle Onassis from the film The Greek Tycoon.

General Phillips-A promoted Colonel Chester Phillips from Captain America: The First Avenger. One of the key leaders in the SSR, a precursor to SHIELD

Metropolis-City from DC Comics. Home to Superman

Zenith-Capital of the fictional state of Winnemac in several novels by Sinclair Lewis

Los Santos-Los Angeles stand-in from Grand Theft Auto

San Fransokyo-San Francisco stand-in from Big Hero 6

Gotham-Gotham City from the Batman franchise

Empire Bay-Boston stand-in from the Mafia games

General Bar-General Hershy Bar, a satirical general depicted by Bill Matons during the anti-Vietnam protests

These plants-The offspring of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors

General Turgidson-Buck Turgidson, one of the lead characters in Doctor Strangelove. Well-meaning but overly hawkish and overestimates how well America would do in a nuclear war;

DCE-Director of Central Enquiry, a slight name modification from Director of Central Intelligence due to the fact the CIA is replaced the CEA from The President’s Analyst

Christopher-James Christopher, the titular character from the Operative Number 5 series

Triffids-The titular monsters in Day of the Triffids. Audrey II in this ‘verse is one of them

Dr. Scott-Dr. Everett (von) Scott, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Is involved with governmental alien investigations (read: Majestic, Delta Green and the Syndicate)

General Clayton-Crendell Clayton from the TV series M\*A\*S\*H

Goddamn fairy-Intended as a nod to the behavioral changes Dr. Scott began experiencing after the events of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Namely, he’s dabbled in crossdressing

Dr. Marvin-Dr. Russell Marvin from the 1956 film Earth vs. The Flying Saucers

General Curtis-General Ramsey “Rammer” Curtis from the alternate history novel Resurrection Day. Closely modeled on General Curtis LeMay

China Lake program-The project designed to create kaiju in the novel Slouching Towards Hiroshima

Oates-Blackford Oates, a fictional CIA agent depicted in novels written by William F. Buckley. Eventually he will become a Buckley stand-in

Man in spandex-Superman knows how to make an entrance.

Justice League-Superhero group from DC Comics.

## **The New Frontier**

The early 1960’s was broadly similar to the 1950’s in many ways. Alien encounters and *kaiju*attacks continued, with the most prominent cases being the brief Triffid invasion of 1961 (abetted by a craze for the plants sparked by Metropolis florist Seymour Krelborne), the ongoing infiltration of Earth by the likes of the Ganglions and the attempted attack by an invisible alien race(which actually began in 1959 but carried over into 1960). The United Kingdom experienced its first Kaiju attack when the kaiju Gorgo was captured in Ireland, only to discover the creature was a young male and its much larger mother, named Ogra, soon rescued it after rampaging through London, both Kaiju soon fleeing. In America, Soviet defector Joseph Javorsky attempted to shared USSR secrets, including the plans for a moon landing with America, but he was attacked by KGB agents and his American contacts killed, he fled into the desert of Nevada and inadvertently into a Nuclear test site where he was mutated into a monster that was eventually killed by local law enforcement. The Yongary and Wangmagwi incidents in Hun Chiu and additional attacks by a second Gojira and other *kaiju* including (among others) Anguirus, Rodan, Kumonga, Baragon and Ghidorah on Japan continued. These attacks, while occasionally stymied by more benevolent *kaiju*such as Gamera or Mothra, both of which began as hostile but eventually became friendlier and soon began to actively protect humanity from other more violent Kaiju. The second Gojira would follow suite and become a savior, a role he is now almost entirely known for, especially after it was implemented into the Reptar film series. It soon became clear that the Kaiju attacks would likely continue rather than being seen as a phenomenon of the 1950's, as they were believed to be by many following Gojira's for years until engaging in a battle with a member of the King Kong Species. These Attacks proved to be extremely devastating and concerns about these menaces would ultimately prompt the rapid development of robotics in Japan, with the Tetsujin Nijuhachi-go, Mazinger Z and the first generation of Getter Robos being the most notable examples of these early developments in the new field of Mechas. Despite their utility in combatting *kaiju,*other nations would by and large be slow to adopt them, largely because in the cold war conflict where stealth and quick nuclear strikes were preferred, the Mechas being neither stealthy or quick. Japan had also swore off the use of Nuclear weapons and the Mechas were seen as an alternative. Kaiju attacks in the US and any areas outside of Japan and Hun Chiu also began to subside.

The Cold War continued to rage on, although the only significant change to occur was the breakup of Ixania in the wake of the Latverian Revolution headed by Victor Von Doom, who shunned both the US and USSR in favor of forging his own path alongside India, Freedonia, Sylvania, Panau, Egypt and other nonaligned nations. Culturally, some of the paranoia of the Iselin era remained, manifesting in events like the Maple Street riot of 1960 and an incident where a Russian submarine crew crashed in New England that only narrowly ended without bloodshed. Meanwhile, rock and roll continued to take off and was further bolstered by the “British invasion” that saw the British band the Rutles gain great popularity. This would help inspire the rise of more rock bands in America, with groups like the Monkees, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Josie and the Pussycats and the Archies, earning enormous popularity, as did The Rutles’ fellow English band Purple Orchestra and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band(which were the actually the ancestors of the Rutles who had come to reside in Pepperland, though they left their instruments behind, allowing Pepper's son to use them until his death in 1958). Television remained whimsical diversions, with the usual staples of variety shows, music shows and sitcoms like *The Alan Brady Show* remaining popular. Science fiction also began to pick up including the British show *Inspector Spacetime* and the anthology series *The Scary Door.* Another show *Galaxy Quest* almost joined this roster but the company who owned it, Rickylu, was sold to Monumental Pictures by its head, Lucy Carmichael(nee Ricardo).

The initial major difference between this decade and the 1950’s was the rebirth of superhero culture. Metahumans and vigilantes had been dissuaded from engaging in these activities in America during the period of Iselinist paranoia, which forced the Justice Society and Minutemen into retirement, but in the wake of new threats, these heroes were once again embraced and eventually legalized. In 1960, several metahumans and vigilantes(most notably Clark Kent, Diana Prince, Arthur Curry, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, John Johnzz and Bruce Wayne) would found the Justice League of America. Most of the involved heroes had been active during the 30's and 40's while Hal Jordan and Barry Allen were newcomers in old mantles, though Bruce Wayne would retire and pass the mantle onto his protogee Richard Grayson, who would become a more campy Batman alongside Bruce's own son acting as his sidekick. The group initially came together to battle a create called the Centre, and then to defeat the monster Starro the Conqueror. Another superhero team would emerge in 1961 after a space shuttle accident: The Fantastic Four, a quartet of heroes empowered by an unusual solar flare who would go on to frequently clash with Von Von Doom and the Sub Mariner. Other teams and individual heroes soon appeared including the Avengers, the X-Men, and Spider-Man. There were also teams of young teenagers coming together such as the Teen Titans, and while not Superheroes, Mystery Inc(who normally dealt with hoaxes but would occasionally encounter the supernatural), inspired similar groups to begin their crime solving exploits. The most prominent superhero activity of this decade was the clash of the Fantastic Four against the giant, godlike Galactus, who sought (unsuccessfully) to devour the Earth. Abroad, Thunderbolt the Avenger, Superdupont, Ultraman, Captain Boom, Octobriana and many other costumed vigilantes would crop up and gain notability (and in some cases notoriety). And of course, there was also the rise of the mutant community (also known as homo novis or homo superior), which consisted of individuals whose abilities were largely innate rather than obtained via accident. These groups at this time largely remained hidden, owing to the tendency of various governments to seek to hunt them down and conduct often horrific experiments on them.

Another change occurred in the supernatural community. While Kemmler and Rasputin had been defeated, this did not bring about peace in the wizarding world. In this decade, alongside threats from normal governments (including attempts by Drakan scientists to kidnap wizards to help build a superior race) many cults, often descended from Haddo’s organizations, but also including a wide range of groups worshipping Satan or the Great Old Ones, gained influence. The activities of these groups (often geared towards creating a Moonchild or Antichrist to bring about the end times) posed a threat to the secrecy of the wizarding world as they often dragged non-wizarding individuals into their schemes. Those who did not dabble in the dark arts were often forced to covertly counter these cults and prevent the prospective Antichrists from fulfilling the destiny their creators sought for them. The potential antichrists born in this time included Adrian Woodhouse. Adrian was born to Rosemary Woodhouse, who vowed to raise him well, resulting in the cultists cursing her into a coma and the child being taken away from her and renamed Damien Thorn. Another antichrist was Danny Wormwood, who very quickly became an "Anti-Antichrist" who refused to fulfill his destiny. Both these beings would be surveilled by the International Confederacy of Wizards and various supernatural-affiliated covert organizations and prevented from interacting with would-be cultists. Other activities of dark wizards in this decade would involve gathering powerful artifacts—an effort that would ultimately be stymied by the Old Ones, a collection of light wizards seeking to defeat the forces of darkness. However, the efforts to bring about the End Times by darker wizards had major negative consequences for magic globally—consequences that largely weren’t felt until the next decade.

When it came to American presidents, the decade was in turmoil. President Hudson died and was replaced replaced by Timothy F. Kegan. Kegan would be assassinated on February 22nd 1960, allegedly by his father Pa Kegan. William Abbott was made President as a placeholder until the elections. This put more pressure on the next election, which saw Orrin Knox and Ted Jason competing, only for the two to be killed by a gunman opening fire on them. Another emergency election began between James Cassidy and former vice President under John Lindsay, Richard Monkton, in which Cassidy emerged victorious over Monkton and independent candidate Alvin Saville.

However, shortly after American President James T.Cassidy (a charismatic young man who charmed America alongside his wife Liz) took office, a crisis began brewing in the neighboring nation of Tropico. During Hudson’s administration, the pro-American (and pro-American Fruit Company) government of General Fernando Alcazar was overthrown by the communist Alejandro Costa. Stylizing himself as “El Presidente” of Tropico, Costa’s ascension imperiled the core ideas of hemispheric hegemony. To deal with the problem, the CEA (now under the leadership of longtime American intelligence operative James Christopher) began covertly training Tropican exiles to liberate the country. Kegan, while initially reluctant to endorse an intervention, was persuaded to intervene despite the advice of his National Security Advisor Benjamin Franklin Pierce. What ensued was the catastrophic Bay of Llamas invasion, which proved to be a dismal failure. As if that weren’t enough, soon afterwards, Kissoff began installing nuclear missiles in Tropico (a fact which wouldn’t have been discovered in time had a KGB officer in Copenhagen not defected). What followed was a several-day nuclear standoff between the two superpowers, as the US condemned the Soviets for violating the Martin Doctrine and the Soviets claimed they were merely trying to protect the revolution. The "Tropico Missile Crisis" was averted when two groups of Mutants, the X-Men and the Hellfire Club, were locked in battle, both sides turning their attention and their missiles to the fighting groups. Ultimately, however, the crisis ended with both sides backing down from Armageddon and El Presidente’s rule retained. President Cassidy and Secretary of Defense Preble Haugland invited Alejandro Costa to the Pentagon along with Cassidy's defeated rival Richard Monkton. A Solanum outbreak occurred and the four fought off the zombies before being rescued. Afterwards Costa claimed that while he would not give up his rule, he vowed that he would no longer begin conflicts with America out of a sign of good will for their brief alliance. Nuclear war threatened to break out when a miscommunication error led to a group of fighters bombing Moscow, leading to Metropolis being partly destroyed by a nuke as well. From there, the general peacefulness resumed. The civil rights concerns of Moreau sapiens, Toons, Muppets and African-Americans seemed to have a friend in the Cassidy administration, to the chagrin of many southerners. Cassidy’s efforts to push civil rights initiatives often gained more support from Republican leaders than many in his own party. However, overall progress on this issue was slow.

This all changed with Cassidy’s assassination, the moment many look at as the moment “something just broke” in America. To this day, it is unclear who the culprit truly was. Virtually nobody accepts the “official” version of events established by Archie Hall’s commission placing responsibility on the shoulders of ex-Marine Johnny Shellburn(who was ultimately killed by nightclub owner Brian Ruby, a supervillain named the Red Brain and a member of the mafia with close ties to mob leader Michael Corleone). Shellburn had used multiple aliases in the past including the Russian "Alek" and the alias Leo Harley Osborne. Theories that the CEA and FBR played a role in Cassidy’s assassination were granted increased legitimacy when the District Attorney of New Bordeaux pushed it in a courtroom setting. Other evidence implicates the Syndicate, the SCP Foundation, the KGB, the mafia, or Tropican exiles. Regardless, what is certain is Cassidy’s assassination was a massive national trauma.

Cassidy was succeeded as president by Lancelot R. Gilligrass, a moderate Republican who was a personal friend of Cassidy’s and had replaced his initial vice president Arthur Fenstamaker after the latter resigned to return to his earlier position as governor of Texas. Gilligrass was also an eccentric, placing his own nanny as his vice President until being forced to reconsider in favor of John Pierrepont Finch. Gilligrass would successfully repel the invasion of the Knid, also known as the Fascinators, who had infiltrated human society in secret before being revealed by George Nada. One of Gilligrass’s first big successes was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibited discrimination against Moreau sapiens, Toons, Muppets and African-Americans by any level of government. This was hailed as a triumph by Sykes and other civil rights leaders. His administration also had to deal with the failure of the Adonis research space station. Finch after this chose to forego reelection, forcing a controversial campaign that ultimately led to the victory of dark horse candidate Leslie McCloud, the first female president who amounted to little more than that as she resigned after getting pregnant in favor of Secretary of State James Norcross. Norcross would end up establishing a series of new welfare programs, dubbed the Great Society which worked to improve the nation’s access to healthcare, education and housing. Norcross in 1967 would also be exposed to a cosmic storm and develop superpowers, becoming the first metahuman president. However, Norcross would stumble on many foreign affairs. Tensions with the Soviets persisted, with a near-conflict erupting after the simultaneous disappearance of a US and Soviet spacecrafts that only managed to not escalate thanks to the intervention of British agent James Bond. This was not the only case of Norcross making a key error on foreign affairs. Since the late 1950’s, Sarkhan had been divided between communist and capitalist factions, with the former growing in influence thanks to the skill of Soviet diplomats in the country. Lindsay, Muffley, Hudson, Kegan, Abbott and Cassidy had sent military advisors to the country, but thanks to long-term animosity towards the US, the situation was rapidly deteriorating. Cassidy had been considering withdrawal before he was killed, but Norcross instead chose to escalate the conflict, on the advice of Cassidy holdovers Pierce and Christopher.

The war in Sarkhan became a pivotal moment in world affairs in the 1960’s and came to define Norcross’s presidency, overruling even his vigilante activities. The conflict rapidly degenerated into a quagmire and US soldiers regularly encountered near-insurmountable obstacles. Some members of the US military, most infamously Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, went rogue. Controversies were not confined merely to the conduct of the war either, with the infamous breakdown of Private Leonard Lawrence leading to his murder of his Drill Sergeant, illustrating to many the shortcomings in not only the war’s conduct but fundamental rot in the US military apparatus as a whole. Norcross began to request superheroes to fight in the war but it was not mandatory, only optional, Norcross himself would step down to participate in the conflict along with Captain America. The war ultimately dragged on beyond the Norcross administration and into that of his successor William Scott Anderson. The failures the US experienced in Sarkhan delighted the Soviets and Peng’s China, who increased support for the North Sarkhanese government. The Sarkhan War prompted enormous backlash in the United States. Many individuals on the left took to the streets to protest the war. Some celebrities, such as actress Joanne Flanders, Toon Actor Roger Rabbit and Alan Brady, the main performer on *The Alan Brady Show,*participated in antiwar protests. The conflict even led to Captain America defecting. Toon actor Mickey Mouse went off to war only to suffer a severe headwound. The brother of the late James Cassidy, Tim Cassidy was also killed when his helicopter was shot down over Sarkhan. Widespread opposition to the war led to the growth of a nationwide counterculture among American youth. While countercultural movements had cropped up before (in particular, the Beat generation of writers like Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise), it had never been so widespread. This all culminated in the events of 1968. The year proved turbulent in the US as the Sarkhan War dragged on without resolution. Hippie activists lobbied successfully for the lowering of the US voting age to 14, thanks to the efforts of rock star Max Flatow (better known by his stage name Max Frost). Reverend Sykes was assassinated and subsequent riots broke out. The US was also hit with a rapidly growing alien microorganism that began in Arizona and threatened mankind with extinction. The microorganism shot into the upper atmosphere, creating a field around the Earth which seemed to be intended by one of Earths alien enemies to prevent further space exploration as it seemed to attack any spacecrafts that attempted to pass it.

In Pop Culture, the first “reality show” to air immediately earned controversy due to the essential trapping of its subject, Truman Burbank in a simulated reality from his birth, recording his every move. The company Whipples had every employee, including eventually Whipple himself, replaced by automations after the X109B14 modified transistor was installed, leading to massive layoffs. The world of Vinewood was briefly shaken when a group of members belonging to a cult headed by an enigmatic leader known as Russell but having taken the identity of Horace Bones, attempted to murder actor Rick Dalton and his stuntman Cliff Booth only to be killed by the two in self defense. The containment of Trioxin samples in Keystone was breached, sparking an outbreak that would spread to Sarkhan and even threaten to impact NASA’s Moon landing and even led to the zombification of Horace Bones before being contained.

In the midst of all of this, the Republican Party decided to nominate Frost for the presidency. Campaigning against an unpopular war, Flatow easily won the election. However, right after taking office, he proceeded to use authoritarian means to bring about his desired society, enforced by his “suede-denim secret police” that targeted suspected “squares.” Orders went out from Flatow to intern all Americans over 30 (and give them LSD), disband most Defense Department agencies and withdraw all troops from Sarkhan. However, before this could progress, the Syndicate (having chosen to conceal its existence from the incoming president) launched a coup, backed by agents from more mainstream intelligence agencies, the equally hidden Delta Green organization, the bulk of the US government and even a few counterculture figures. When the Syndicate concluded, Frost had been removed (becoming one of only two Presidents to be erased from having existed, the other being the infamous Quentin Trembley), detained in a black site where he would remain until his demise, and, via the use of neuralyzers, 99% of the world didn’t even remember Flatow’s election. Instead, they remembered the election being won by the man who had long sought the presidency and was eager to have the chance. 1969 would be the beginning of the administration of Ferris F. Fremont, known publicly as Richard Monkton.*'*

### **References-The New Frontier**

Triffid invasion-The events of Day of the Triffid where alien plants attack after a comet goes by.

Metropolis florist, Seymour Krelborne-Seymour Krelborne, the leading man in Little Shop of Horrors. Here Audrey II is a Triffid. If you've only seen the 1986 film with Rick Moranis you might be confused but the original ending had Seymour and Audrey be killed and the plants attempting to take over the world.

Infiltration of Earth by the Ganglions-Refers to the alien activity that forms the focal point of the TV series Dark Skies

Invisible alien race-The titular Invisible Invaders from the film of the same name

Gorgo’s attack on London-Refers to the events of the film Gorgo

Mutated Soviet defector-Joseph Javorsky, the character who walks onto a nuclear test site and becomes The Beast of Yucca Flats

Yongary and Wangmagwi incidents in Hun Chiu-The eponymous monsters from the South Korean films Yongary: Monster from the Deep and Space Monster Wangmagwi

Rodan, Anguirus, Baragon, Ghidorah, Mothra-Various *kaiju*from the Showa period Godzilla films

Gamera-The most famous non-Toho *kaiju,*a generally benevolent defender of Earth

Gojira battling King Kong- the famous Crossover film between the two.

Tetsunjin Nijuhachi-go-The robot from the 1956 manga series (literally meaning Tetsunin 28-go). It is known in the US as Gigantor.

Mazinger Z-Robot manga series

Getter Robos-Another robot series

Latveria-Country from Marvel Comics. Ruled by Doctor Doom.

Victor Von Doom-Dr.Doom from Marvel Comics

Maple Street riots-Refers to the events of the Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

Russian submarine crew crashed in New England-The events of the film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming

The Rutles-Beatles parody band from Rutland Weekend Television. Replaces the Beatles here

The Monkees-Real life band, but more the version from the sitcom of the same name

Alvin and the Chipmunks-the fictional band of the same name.

Josie and the Pussycats-Band from Archie Comics

the Archies- a band made up of characters from Archie Comics, they are now adults in this version.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band-The band from the Beatles album of the same name

Pepperland-from the Beatles film Yellow Submarine, where this version of Sgt.Pepper is from.

Ancestor of Sgt.Pepper-references the infamous 1978 film bomb Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Purple Orchestra-Band from the film Performance

Inspector Spacetime-Doctor Who parody from Community

The Scary Door-Twilight Zone parody from Futurama.

Rickylu-A reference to Desilu, Lucille Ball's film company founded by her and her husband Desi Arnaz. It's now been founded by their I Love Lucy characters Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The two have since divorced and Lucy has remarried, becoming Lucy Carmichael from The Lucy Show.

Monumental- Paramount stand in from Singin' in the Rain. Rickylu being sold to it is a reference to Desilu being sold to Paramount.

Superheroes legalized-Occurs in Incredibles 2.

Justice League-The whole Justice League lineup is also DC.

Campy Batman-refers to the Batman of the 1960's series.

The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man,-From Marvel Comics. Based pretty much solely on their comic incarnation.

Teen Titans- the original 1960's comic version, don't worry the more famous Cartoon/80's version will follow.

Mystery Inc-The Scooby Gang from Scooby Doo

Thunderbolt the Avenger-British superhero from Albion Comics

Superdupont-French superhero from the comic strip of the same name

Ultraman-Japanese superhero from the series of the same name

Captain Boom-Filipino superhero from United Komiks

Octobriana-Soviet superhero that is public domain specifically due to the desire of her creator to uphold the tenets of communism

Homo novis, homo superior-Names for the psychic characters in the original series of The Tomorrow People. Homo superior would also be used by Magneto to describe mutants as well as a line from the David Bowier song Oh you Pretty Things.

Moonchild-Antichrist title from Aleister Crowley’s The Moonchild. Haddo’s main scheme in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was based on bringing about the Moonchild’s arrival

Michael Langdon-Antichrist from American Horror Story, who appears in both the Murder House and Apocalypse seasons

Adrian Woodhouse-Antichrist and titular character of the film Rosemary’s Baby. The book Son Of Rosemary is also in here but is implied to be a dream Rosemary has.The TV movie Look What's Happened to rosemary's baby is considered non canon by many so isn't included here.

Damien Thorn-The antichrist from the Omen.

Danny Wormwood-Movie producer who is reluctant to be the Antichrist in The Chronicles of Wormwood

Old Ones-The guardians of the Light in the Dark is Rising series. They are named after the Great old Ones from the Cthulhu mythos.

Timothy F. Kegan-President Timothy Kegan from Winter Kills.

Kegan’s own father-The actual figure responsible for Kegan’s assassination in Winter Kills is his Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.-esque father

Harley Hudson, William Abott, Orrin Knox, Ted Jason-the election from the novel Preserve and Protect, though two alternate endings were written, here neither wins.

Richard Monkton-Our Richard Nixon stand in from the novel The Company.

Alvin Saville- Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks, refers to the 1960 album Alvin for President.

Wife Liz-this is the future Liz Tomasis from the film The Greek Tycoon, which is a roman a clef of how Jackie Kennedy became Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

Tropico-Fictional Latin American country from the video game of the same name. Run by El Presidente, the player character who (depending on how you play) is very similar to Fidel Castro. There are lots of llamas in the game

Fernando Alcazar-Latin American dictator from Tintin. On and off ruler of his country

Alejandro Costa-Our Castro analogue. Latin American dictator from Chuck

James Christopher-The titular character from Operative No. Five

Benjamin Franklin Pierce-“Hawkeye” Pierce from M\*A\*S\*H

Martin Doctrine-Alt-Monroe Doctrine. Named for Benjamin Martin, the lead character from the film The Patriot who replaces James Monroe in this universe

X-Men and Hellfire Club-A slightly different version of the final battle of X-Men: First Class

Preble Haugland-Secretary of Defense from the 1967 novel No Man's World by Martin Caidin. While obscure his time as Secretary of Defense overlapped with Robert Macnamara's, who needed a stand in for the scene below

Solanum outbreak at the Pentagon- refers to the Call of Duty: Zombies mod "Five" in which Kennedy, Nixon, Castro and Macnamara fight Zombies. Here their stand ins do, specifically Cassidy, Monckton, Costa and Haugland.

Nuking of Moscow-References the novel and film Failsafe, which has many similarities to Red Alert and its adaptation Dr.Strangelove.

“Something just broke”-Reference to the musical Assassins—this is the title of the song immediately following Oswald’s assassination of Kennedy

Archie Hall’s commission-Alternate counterpart to the Warren Commission headed by Archie Hall, the World War II veteran turned California governor (and presidential candidate) in the film The Last Time I Saw Archie

Johnny Shellburn-Character from The Idle Warriors by Kerry W. Thornley. Marine who ends up defecting to the USSR. Deliberately based off of Oswald, but written before he shot JFK. Or in this case becomes a patsy for whoever really shot Kegan.

Alek- Soviet agent who impersonated Oswald in the film Salt

Leo Harley Osborne, Brian Ruby, Red Brain-characters from the comic 1963. It's not all fictional. Brian ruby is our stand in for Jack Ruby.

Michael Corleone- mafia leader from The Godfather

District Attorney of New Bourdeaux-This refers to the events of the film JFK. New Bourdeaux is a New Orleans analogue from the Mafia games

Lancelot R. Gilligrass- President from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, the sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Knid are also from that book

George Nada, the Fascinators- Refers to the 1963 short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning which was later adapted into the 1988 film They Live. George Nada, protagonist of the short story is the father of John Nada, the protagonist of the Film

John Pierrepont Finch-The lead character of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Arthur Fenstamaker-Governor of Texas-inspired in part by LBJ from The Gay Place

Failure of the Adonis station-Refers to the events of The Outer Limits episode Specimen: Unknown

Leslie McCloud-First female president in Kisses For My President—a rather dated film that plays the first female president for laughs

James Norcross-President of the United States in the animated series Super President. Develops superpowers from a cosmic storm and becomes the titular hero. While he goes by Super President, nobody seems to be aware of his true role as the Super President besides one of his advisors

Disappearance of spacecraft-Refers to the events of the film You Only Live Twice. British intervention refers to the involvement of James Bond himself

Walter E. Kurtz-Main villain from the film Apocalypse Now, based on Heart of Darkness

Leonard Lawrence-Private “Pyle” from Full Metal Jacket, who broke after basic training and shot the drill sergeant for the abuse he went through

William Scott Anderson-Lyndon B.Johnson stand in from the novel The Company

Joanne Flanders-Character in the novel I, Sniper, a parody/criticism of Jane Fonda

Roger Rabbit-Toon actor from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Mickey Mouse in Sarkhan- allusion to the cartoon Mickey Mouse goes to Vietnam. Mickey does not die here like in the cartoon, only passes out from a gunshot wound to the head.

Tim Cassidy shot down-occurs in the novel Promises to Keep. Tim Cassidy is James Cassidy's brother and therefore replaces Robert Kennedy.

Alan Brady-Dick Van Dyke’s character from The Dick Van Dyke Show

Dean Moriarty, Sal Paradise-The lead characters of On The Road by Jack Kerouac.

Voting age to 14-The movement launched by Max Frost (real name Max Flatow) in the film Wild in the Streets. This ultimately culminates in Frost himself becoming president, as is shown later

Upper atmosphere microorganism-The titular Andromeda Strain from the novel/film of the same name

First reality show-The Truman Show from the film of the same name

Automation-The device is from the Twilight Zone episode The Brain Center at Whipple’s

Russell-Character based on Charles Manson from the novel the Girls

Horace Bones-Charles Manson stand in from Tonight a Drink your Blood. Is Zombified in the film.

Rick Dalton, Cliff Booth-characters from Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time, thwart the Manson murders but do not capture Manson himself, leading to his appearance in Tonight I drink your blood.

Trioxin samples-This refers to the outbreak in the original Night of the Living Dead film

Keystone-Pennsylvania stand-in from Steven Universe

Outbreak that spread to Sarkhan-Refers to the comic book ’68, where the zombie apocalypse disrupts the Vietnam War and antiwar movements

Threatened to disrupt the Moon landing-Refers to the short story The Eagle Is Undead

Suede-denim secret police-Allusion to part of the Dead Kennedys song California Uber Alles, which is about Governor Jerry Brown becoming a hippie fascist dictator. The parallels to Wild in the Streets work too well not to at least nod to here. If the Dead Kennedys exist, they are like now the Dead Cassidys

Syndicate coup-One of the few things taken from a fanfiction, in this case the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen fanfic Black Dossier: Volume Two

Quentin Trembley-8.5th president of the United States in Gravity Falls.

Ferris F. Fremont-Tyrannical president from the novel Radio Free Albemuth. Merged with Richard Monkton from the Company. Our replacement for Richard Nixon.

## **Interlude: In her Majesty's Secret Service**

*MI5 Headquarters*

*London, England, United Kingdom*

*1971*

The MI5 building was one of those structures that couldn’t help but be appreciated as you walked into it. Today was no different as Adam Adamant made his way in. He’d been called in unscheduled for a meeting—he was not 100% sure why, but when the leadership of British intelligence calls you, asking questions isn’t generally what one seeks to do. Clearly, it was urgent, as he was more or less waved into the director’s slightly shrouded office with no wait. Hopefully, there wasn’t any sort of imminent crisis or anything.

“Ah, Adam, you made it.” said the director of MI5 nonchalantly. The living relic he was addressing was a little taken aback by how abruptly he’d been sent to this office—practically shoved in.

“If I was to understand correctly, there was a matter of great urgency we needed to address.” replied Adam.

“Yes, quite. As I’m sure you’re aware, we have, by and large, enjoyed a special relationship with the Yanks.” The man known by no other name than M spoke almost wistfully. “However, given recent political developments, I am worried that is in the process of changing.”

“I’m sure we have nothing to worry about, sir. Hell, my last operation was with an American—Austin I believe his name was. Remarkable chap.”

“That’s all well and good, but I’m afraid that is no longer the norm.” M got up from his chair and walked over to the window of his office, staring out at the city outside. “We’ve received missives from Interpol. Apparently, Sullivan has been pulled from Department S rather abruptly. And CONTROL has been growing less and less cooperative with their operations as of late.”

“Well that is odd. Do you think it might be connected to the push to restructure UNCLE Steed told us about?”

“I would be very surprised if not. Fremont and his advisors seem to think they rule the world. Or at least, they should.”

Adam sighed deeply. “Even so, have there been any incidents between us? Frigidity is something we can overcome—wait him out, rebuild our relationship with the next fellow in the White House.”

“Unfortunately, yes. Multiple.” M turned back around to face Adam gravely. “You are aware of Mason’s disappearance, yes?”

“Of course.” replied Adam. “It’s not every day a “00” operative goes missing like that. You think the Americans are behind it?”

“I don’t “think” anything. We know for a fact he was captured.”

“What?” Adam asked, flabbergasted. “A-are we at least trying to get him back?”

“We have been. I’ve been talking to everyone in the intelligence community trying to negotiate from the CEA to ZOWIE to SHIELD. And we’ve made no progress.”

“What did he do exactly?”

“Same as usual, I’d imagine.” replied M. “Only difference is, he did it to America and not the Soviets. So now, there is a good chance he will be spending the rest of his life in Alcatraz.”

“Well, that is rather unfortunate.” Adam said. “So what are our options here?”

“Well, I’ve already elected to halt intelligence gathering in the United States for now. Last thing we need is any more promising agents like Broughton or Lamb getting themselves taken into custody.”

“Of course.” Adam replied.

“What concerns me most is that we are going to be increasingly in the dark with the Americans if we take these steps. And at a time where they are ramping up black box projects too. Odds are they aren’t going to tell us what NIMH or Firestarter are about now and we’ll be hard pressed to find out ourselves.”

“It took a while before Cassidy even would tell us what they were up to in Baltimore.” Adam shook his head. “Trying to keep a BLUE HADES imprisoned like that…”

“Quite foolish, to put it mildly.” M said. “At least they aren’t going all-in with it like the Soviets. How many teams have they sent to Antarctica now?”

“Half a dozen, if I remember what Powers told us correctly.” Adam answered. “How many Tsalal do you expect will be left by the time they finish with them?”

“Quite possibly none.” M grimly replied. “Which is, coincidentally, the number of people who will be left on Earth if they keep meddling with these forces.”

“Our sources in Cardiff are providing rather—nonpromising indications.” Adam could have sighed right along with M at the moment.

“So at this moment, we are stuck between a power-hungry nationalist in America and a delusional communist in Russia. I have no idea how we are going to make it through.”

“Same way we always have.” said Adam. “Stiff upper lip and all that.”

“Stiff upper lip.” echoed M. “You’re welcome to leave now, Adam.”

Adam exited the headquarters, his mind racing through all this.

### **References-In Her Majesty's Secret Service**

Adam Adamant-Protagonist of Adam Adamant Lives!

M-Head of MI5 in the James Bond films. This is specifically the version played by Bernard Lee in the Bond films from 1962 to 1979.

Austin-Steve Austin, the titular character from The Six Million Dollar Man

Sullivan-FBI agent involved in Department S from the series of the same name. Works for a specialized division of Interpol.

CONTROL-Fictional spy agency from the Get Smart franchise

UNCLE-Multinational anti-crime organization from the British series The Man From Uncle

Steed-Joseph Steed, main character on the British spy television series The Avengers

Fremont-Ferris F. Fremont, president in Philip K. Dick’s Radio Free Albernathy. Stand-in for Richard Nixon, with added evilness and McCarthyite tendencies

Mason-Agent John Mason, a prisoner in Alcatraz in the film The Rock. Played by Sean Connery, which leads us to…

00 operative-The designation for MI5 agents in the James Bond franchise. The implication here is that Mason was the actual agent operating under the code name of James Bond, which is a cover identity.

CEA-Central Enquiries Agency, the CIA replacement from The President’s Analyst

SHIELD-The main agency dealing with metahuman affairs in Marvel Comics.

ZOWIE-Fictional spy agency from the (rather campy) pair of films featuring American superspy Derek Flint.

Broughton-Lorraine Broughton, the British spy in the 2017 film Atomic Blonde. At this time, her career has just begun

Lamb-Jackson Lamb, from a series of novels by Mick Herron

NIMH-The project from The Secret of NIMH, which granted a group of rats heightened intelligence.

Firestarter-Project Firestarter, from the Stephen King novel and film adaptation of the same name. Centers on harnessing a child’s pyrokinetic abilities.

Cassidy-James T.Cassidy, the assassinated president who replaces John F. Kennedy. From The Greek Tycoon and Promises to Keep.

Baltimore-Refers to the events of the film The Shape of Water, where the US government captures and imprisons a fish-man

BLUE HADES-Designation of Deep Ones in The Laundry Files series by Charlie Stross. The implication here is the fish-man in The Shape of Water is, in fact, a Deep One. This could also explain why his love interest could go live with him-she could very well be descended from someone from Innsmouth. This is helped by the love interest having scars on the throat which resemble gills, which the Innsmouth look is said to resemble. The name Blue Hades likely comes from the Disney version of Hades

Soviets in Antarctica-The backstory of Charlie Stross’ A Colder War novella. The Soviets want to weaponize Shoggoths to fight their proxy wars

Powers-Austin Powers, the parody of James Bond from the various films of the same name

Tsalal-Antarctic natives from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

Sources in Cardiff-The Torchwood Institute from the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood

## **Fear and Loathing**

Monkton took office in the aftermath of a year of turmoil. The top priority for his administration was bringing about an end to the Sarkhan War, with an American victory in the region. However, ever the calculating politician, he didn’t want to put too many American troops at risk. The solution was provided by his national security team of Walter Groeteschele, Carl Tessler and Henry Killinger, whom advocated for the use of parascience and metahumans in Sarkhan as the means to turn the tide in Sarkhan. Superhumans had previously been deployed but others had turned and gone AWOL. Groups like the Justice League had refused to get involved. Monkton had an ace in the hole however, the near omnipotent Dr.Manhattan. While the Soviets (and the SCP Foundation) objected to this, Monkton chose to authorize these deployments, utilizing the resources of companies such as Vought-American and Umbrella to create these new wonder weapons and sending the American superhuman Dr. Manhattan to roll back advances made by Sarkhanese communists under Frost. This did not help the antiwar protests (revived after the lull of Frost’s presidency and often favored by mainstream figures, including popular reporters Jim Dial and Howard Beale), but it was hoped this would bring about victory in Sarkhan. Following this was an expansion of the conflict into the neighboring nation of Vietmahl to take down the Komeer Beige Army thought to be allied to North Sarkhan and the fast food chain owner Colonel Kluckin until his death at the hands of a clone of the Furon Crypto. The Komeer army would ultimately be defeated (ironically) by Sarkhan’s communist forces. The War would ultimately conclude with an American victory in 1971 thanks to the efforts of the Superheroes.

Aside from the war, Monkton pursued a thoroughly authoritarian domestic policy. Prominent dissidents were at risk of finding themselves jailed—a move which led to the establishment of the “Volunteer Fire Department” network among authors like Woodrow Wilson Smith and Kilgore Trout to opposed Monkton. Monkton also presided over the expansion of the US space program, which threatened to be set back due to the alien microorganism now surrounding the earth. In 1969, Mike A.R. Samson became the first man to walk on the Moon who arrived there without the use of Cavorite. In case the Moon Mission failed, a fake Moon landing was filmed. The successful landing was a pivotal moment in not only American, but world history. Monkton sought to go even further than the Moon after this. When NASA scientists claimed it would not be feasible to land on Mars within a year of the Moon landing (though rumors persist there was a joint Soviet-American landing as early as 1962), he ordered a faked landing be launched. This attempt was rapidly uncovered, but Monkton escaped blame by pinning it on NASA’s leadership. In order to distance himself from this failure, a genuine Mars landing was launched in 1971. The landing proceeded successfully, but surprisingly found someone else on the planet: Valentine Michael Smith. Smith, the child of astronauts who arrived in 1950, had been raised by the local Sorns for the past 21 years. He was brought back to Earth and became a figure of both scientific and cultural curiosity before he was murdered by a mob angry at his establishment of the Church of All Worlds (which would gain a significant following among countercultural figures, as well as among celebrities, among whom it would often compete with L. Keith Winton’s Church of Practiology and The Cause of Lancaster Dodd).

Outside of Southeast Asia, the Middle East was the number one global hotspot. Israel continued to clash with its Arab neighbors of Egypt, Qurac and Abuddin. This was most prominently on display when the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973. Thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Alter Litvak, the conflict ended in Israel’s victory. Opposition to US support for Israel after this drove the attacking nations (as well as Qumar, Basenji, Wadiya and Qumran) to impose embargos on the United States. This caused a significant increase in oil prices in the US. Monkton utilized price control measures as part of an attempt to deal with the problem. This period also saw rifts emerge between the US and Britain, after the US imprisoned a British agent (a former bearer of the famous 007 cover identity) for espionage in the United States. Meanwhile, he also began outreach to the People’s Republic of China, famously meeting with Chairman Peng and former Commissar Wu Qinghua in Beijing in the early 1970’s. This was an extension of Carl Tessler’s policy of realpolitik. This policy also extended to tolerance for even left-leaning dictators like Bibi Pralin in Azania so long as they did not openly affiliate with the Soviets. However, Monkton’s America largely continued to support right-wing dictatorships against communists, backing military regimes such as the one of Esteban Trueba in Chile, plotted with elements of the CEA to install pro-American dictators in the Middle East to seize oil reserves and even helped arm the international pariah of Draka (Monkton was infamously racist who favored harsh drug policies and there were rumors that later in life he personally was involved in events charitably described as hate crimes).

International cooperation did make some key advances in this period. THRUSH and its component organizations, thanks to continual government action, largely collapsed. Most individuals affiliated with these groups either ended up in prison or aligned themselves with smaller groups—most notably the mafia (now dominated by the DiMeo family), the occultist crime group known as the Dark Hand and Yakuza (newly emerging into prominence under the leadership of the Yamamori family, Masuo Ganji, Medei Group and the Tojo clan, among others), though some would band together with Vogel’s neo-Nazi group and aid in its plans—former THRUSH affiliated individuals like Heinrich Kurtz helped Dieter Vogel (now operating under the pseudonym of Heinrich Von Reichtet) produce the Hynkel clones that many governments worked to hunt down and the automatons uncovered as inhabiting the town of Stepford, Conneticut. With the main threat that UNCLE had been created to address collapsing, the UWO under the leadership of Osterlich diplomat Kurt Haldweim determined it should be reformed rather than completely scrapped (and it would be retained in a rump form as the Earth Guard League to deal with the threats of the Black Cross Army globally, the Skull Man murders in Japan, Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s blackmailing attempts via orbital laser or similar incidents). Ultimately, it was decided that it should be restructured to deal with extraterrestrial activity, rather than leaving said activities largely in the hands of the Syndicate (which was seen as emphasizing the interests of the United States over other powers, which could put the world as a whole at risk). Thus, UNCLE was reformed into the Unified Network Intelligence Taskforce. UNIT would play a key role in extraterrestrial research for many years to come, though like the Syndicate had done with America, it began to gravitate towards one nation, particularly the United Kingdom. This was largely due to the group frequently working alongside the Time Lord known as the Doctor, himself an alien knowledgable in many potential threats.

The Monkton years also saw dark clouds begin to emerge on the horizon in the Soviet Union. Premier Piotr Kamenev wanted a counter to American parascience, especially given the loss of defense plans to American spy Michael Armstrong. He found his answer in World War II archives containing copies of the infamous Necronomicon. The writings of a mad Arab author, the Necronomicon outlined the existence of terrible, powerful entities on and beyond Earth. One site rumored to have powerful entities present was the Mountains of Madness in Antarctica. A GRU Division P-Scientific Universal Institute of Extraordinary Sciences joint taskforce was sent to the plateau. Along the way, they encountered the Tsalal civilization of Antarctica, but thanks to advanced technology, the Tsalal were reduced to a Soviet satellite state, they also continued to find allies such as Utopia in South America, which had already implemented a system very similar to Soviet communism. The expedition to Leng ultimately did see the Soviets obtain Shoggoths, though research requirements meant they were not to be used for nearly a decade afterwards. The Soviets also began spreading human enhancements to pro-Soviet figures abroad. These enhancements, devised from samples recovered from the ruins of the Galtist city-state of Rapture that had been abandoned in 1960 ultimately paved the way for the rise of the “Augment movement” in the 1990’s. These developments ensured the continued threat of the USSR to the US and standoffs with the US continued. Among other incidents, the US and USSR (alongside China) engaged in a massive standoff over the status of the island nation of Fernando Poo during this time period.

Charitable historians have claimed that fears stemming from these Soviet advances were what escalated Monkton’s paranoia (which was already present and exacerbated by a failed assassination attempt utilizing dolphins, his press secretary becoming a lycanthrope before infecting him with lycanthropy himself and a failed coup attempt launched by his Secretary of Health). Due to this, he escalated many black box government projects of dubious morality, often targeting dissidents as experimental subjects similar to the Soviet Project Libitina (overseen along with other psychic research programs by the enigmatic doctors Yuri Ivanov and Victor Grienko) and the aquaman program or the British Village protocol for dealing with spies. However, while black box government projects were nothing new (Project Firestarter, NIMH, MKUltra and vastly more projects of a similarly secretive nature had all started well before Monkton, though the Dharma Initiative and UniSol only began under his administration), Monkton was unique in how authoritarian he was in implementing these programs. Additionally, he kept a list of individuals he regarded as his personal enemies—ranging from oppositional political figures like journalist Raoul Duke to public figures like comedian Fozzie Bear to even unlucky average citizens who had the wrong connections like Forrest Gump, the future CEO of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Corporation, who had (inadvertently as it turned out) spoken once at an antiwar rally. Some individuals on these lists would be imprisoned on trumped-up charges. And while the rumors Monkton authorized the Syndicate’s deal with the Furons—in essence selling out most of humanity for the salvation of a select few—have never been confirmed, the likelihood this was the case remains high. The only counterargument is Monkton’s infamous paranoia surrounding aliens, specifically the ones that “you forgot once you couldn’t see them” and the belief that these aliens were using covert radio broadcasts to challenge his administration’s power.

It was ultimately Monkton’s own paranoia that ultimately did him in. Monkton, as revealed in the memoirs of former CEA Director Bill Martin, hired Harry Caul to wiretap the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, to gain an edge over them in the 1972 election (needlessly as it turned out, as Fremont won in a landslide over Democratic nominee Joe Tynan). This leak was publicized in 1974. Thanks to the reporting of Mark Forman and former CIA Agent Joseph Turner, the nature of the break-in rapidly became public knowledge. Tipped off by an anonymous individual going by the name “Deep Throat” (later revealed to in fact have been two teenage girls who had witnessed Monkton engaging in animal abuse), and Forrest Gump calling the police (who ironically had been recommended the hotel during a public visit by Monkton).

Monkton’s role in the break-in quickly came to light upon interrogating the group known as the plumbers. The pressure only increased following the attempted assassination of Forman and Turner by the vigilante Edward Blake, who was prevented by doing so by Captain America, who was investigating White House connections with the Hydra based Secret Empire. When pressured, Blake fingered the White House as being behind his attempt. With the outrage increasing daily, Monkton was backed into a corner. Staff reported Monkton (already rather unpleasant personally) became extremely irritable and downright abusive in a number of cases. Ultimately, Monkton had no other choice and resigned the presidency. He was not punished for his crimes, however, as the new president Democrat Jordan Lyman issued a presidential pardon to Fremont, declaring “Our national nightmare is concluded.” Son after Captain America would battle the head of the Secret Empire within the White House and unmask him to discover Monkton, who would take his own life with a silver bullet before being taken into custody, ending Monkton's life and his reign.

### **References-Fear and Loathing**

Walter Groeteschele-From the film Fail Safe. Groeteschele is allegedly based on Henry Kissinger but this is unprove and so he is not fully replaced. The first name comes from the actor playing him

Carl Tessler-Another Kissinger analogue from The Company and the miniseries adaptation Washington: Behind Closed Doors

Henry Killinger-Member of the Guild of Calmitous Intent from The Venture Bros. The name is similar to Kissinger, Killinger at one point mentions past work for Nixon and he has a German accent, which makes him seem like he’s based on Kissinger. Incidentally, he’s one of the less evil members of the GCI in the series

Vought-American-Company that makes superhumans in the comic book The Boys. Very unscrupulous

Umbrella-Evil corporation from the Resident Evil franchise. Loves making zombies for some reason

Jim Dial-Journalist from the series Murphy Brown

Howard Beale-UBS news anchor from the 1976 film Network

Komeer Beige Army-Based off a parody of the Khmer Rouge from Destroy All Humans! This version is more serious than depicted. Colonel Kluckin our analogue of Colonel Sanders, is also from the series.

Volunteer Fire Department-Secret organization from A Series of Unfortunate Events

Woodrow Wilson Smith-Birth name of Lazarus Long from Heinlein’s Future History

Kilgore Trout-Character from various works by Kurt Vonnegut and replaces him here.

Mike A.R. Samson-The lead character of the Mike Mars series. Works on a range of programs modeled on real life space exploration

a fake Moon Landing-A common conspiracy theory. Here there was indeed a fake moon landing filmed just in case.

Soviet-American landing in 1962-Refers to the conspiracy “revealed” in the film Alternative 3, where the Soviets and the US cooperate to deal with overpopulation via colonizing Mars

Fake Mars landing-The events of the film Capricorn One

Valentine Michael Smith-Everything surrounding him is taken from Stranger in a Strange land aside from the Sorns

L. Keith Winton-Keith Winton from the novel What Mad Universe. A sci-fi author who has become the equivalent to L. Ron Hubbard (which is inspired by Anno Dracula).

Practiology-Scientology parody from 30 Rock. Was not (in this continuity) founded by Stan Lee but his stand in 1963 "Affable Al" which is also a parody of Alan Moore by the man himself.

The Cause of Lancaster Dodd-Scientology-esque cult and its head from the film The Master

Alter Litvak-Character from The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Imprisoned a British agent-Refers to John Mason from the film The Rock. The fact that he used the James Bond code identity is a reference to the fact he is played by Sean Connery

Wu Qinghua-Comissar of China in the ballet Red Detachment of Women. Here she stepped down in Favor of Chairman Peng, the Mao Zedong stand in. In the west the ballet is most famous for being performed before the visiting President Nixon, hence why Monkton meeting Wu Qinghua is important.

Bibi Pralin-Parody of Idi Amin from De Kiekeboes.

Azania-Fictional African nation from the novel Black Mischief. Replacement for Uganda

Esteban Trueba-Right-wing authoritarian from The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Our stand in for Augustus Pinochet.

Plotted to seize oil reserves-Refers to the CIA plot from Three Days of the Condor

Participated in hate crimes-Refers to Nixon’s role in the blaxploitation film Black Dynamite

DiMeo crime family-The crime family from The Sopranos

The Dark Hand-Valmont’s criminal organization from Jackie Chan Adventures

Yamamori family-Yakuza family from Battles Without Honor and Humanity

Masuo Ganji-Yakuza boss from the film Bakuto gaijin butai

Medei Group-Yakuza group from Durara!

Tojo clan-Yakuza family from the Yakuza game series

Heinrich Kurtz-Nazi scientist from the Cryptid Hunters series who experimented with cloning. One of his clones in Noah Blackwood, the main antagonist

Heinrich Von Reichtet-The creator of Argentine superhero Cybersix in the comic book and cartoon of the same name

Hynkel clones-Refers to the clones created in The Boys From Brazil

Stepford incident-Refers to the events of The Stepford Wives

Kurt Haldweim-From the novel In The Presence of Mine Enemies. Clearly inspired by Kurt Waldheim but given his role in the novel was Fuhrer of a victorious Nazi Germany, it’s understandable why the name was changed. In this Allied-victory world, he’s served as President of Osterlich and head of the UWO

Earth Guard League-Organization in the Himitsu Sentai Goranger series, which fights the aforementioned Black Cross Army

Skull Man murders-The murders committed by Tasuo Kagura in the Skull Man manga

Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s blackmailing attempts-Blofeld is of course one of James Bond’s most iconic enemies and this plot specifically is from Diamonds Are Forever

UNIT-Anti-alien agency from Doctor Who. Unified Network Intelligence Taskforce is a combination of one of two acronyms but adding the Network to reflect tha this UNIT was born from UNCLE.

American spy Michael Armstrong-The central character of the film Torn Curtain, a fake defector to East Germany

Mountains of Madness-The location of the Elder Thing city in At the Mountains of Madness

Tsalal civilization-Society from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Utopia-From Thomas More’s 1516 work of the same name, which is the namesake for utopian fiction. The fictional nation practices an almost proto-communist system, including more unsavory elements that More most likely didn’t regard as problematic.

Rapture-The setting of the original Bioshock game

Augment movement-The faction that lost the Eugenics Wars in the backstory of Star Trek

Fernando Poo-Island which nearly leads China, the Soviet Union and US to launch nuclear war in the Illuminatus! trilogy. Name is similar to the real Fernando Po.

Failed assassination attempt by dolphins-The events of the film The Day of the Dolphin

Press secretary becoming a lycanthrope-The events of The Werewolf of Washington. The film has the President become a Werewolf, which is the case with Monkton here.

Coup attempt by the Secretary of Health-The events of the film Hail

Project Libitina-The project designed to “open your third eye” that is the focal point of hidden messages in the game files of Doki Doki Literature Club! It’s generally believed to be setting up a separate game, but that hasn’t come out yet (as of the time I wrote this)

Enigmatic Yuri Ivanov-Yuri the Soviet psychic soldier from Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2. Surname my own invention.

Dr. Victor Grienko-Soviet scientist involved in research on psychics in the video game Second Sight

Aquaman program-Refers to the 1989 movie Leviathan, where Soviet attempts to bread the aquatic man go horribly wrong

British Village protocol-Refers to The Village from the British TV series The Prisoner

Project Firestarter-Project from the film/novel Firestarter. Run by The Shop from Stephen King’s works

NIMH-Experiments to increase rodent intelligence from The Rats of NIMH

MKUltra-Infamous real world experiments. Though here takes more cues from Stranger Things

Dharma Initiative-Secret scientific project geared towards maintaining the long-term survival of the human race from the Lost television series

UniSol-Super-soldier program from the Universal Soldier franchise

Raoul Duke-Hunter S. Thompson’s author avatar in the Fear and Loathing books

Fozzie Bear-One of the main characters on The Muppet Show

Forrest Gump-The titular character of the film of the same name

Syndicate’s deal with the Furons-The deal between the Greys and the Syndicate in The X-Files and also mentioned in Men in Black

Aliens you forget-The Silence from Doctor Who

Covert radio broadcasts-The VALIS system from the novels of the same name. Helped bring Fremont down in the source materiel

Bill Martin-Head of the CIA in The Company and the adaptation Washington: Behind Closed Doors

Harry Caul-Surveillance expert who is the lead character in the film The Conversation

Joe Tynan-Politician from The Seduction of Joe Tynan

Mark Forman-Expy of Carl Bernstein from the romantic comedy film Heartburn

Joseph Turner-CIA Agent from Three Days in the Condor, now a reporter, replaces Bob Woodward, also played by Robert Redford in All the President's Men

Two teenage girls-Betsy Jones and Arlene Lorenzo from the film Dick. In the film, they were the true identity of Deep Throat.

Edward Blake-The Comedian from Watchmen. Killed Woodward and Bernstein in the source material. Here he didn’t pull it off thanks to...

Captain America- His presence here is a reference to a then current storyline in which Cap infiltrates a conspiracy in the White House, unmasking the Secret Empire's leader, as implied but later retconned to not be, Richard Nixon.

Jordan Lyman-President from Seven Days in May

## **Don't Panic**

The aftermath of Monkton’s resignation and death was not the alleviation of the turmoil of the years encompassed by his administration. Instead, the turmoil of the 1970’s would only continue. While the Sarkhan War had come to an end in 1971, with the withdrawal of US troops, it came at a cost. There was a major refugee crisis that necessitated mass aid from humanitarians like Adrian Cronauer, himself a veteran of the conflict. Furthermore, many Americans now were extremely pessimistic about the future. Additionally, the revelations of corruption and abuse of power greatly weakened trust in the US government. Furthermore, the US began to feel the impact of the oil embargo imposed by anti-Israeli countries. Lyman was unpopular, primarily with the military. This ultimately reached the point where, in 1974, a cabal of officers sought to launch a coup against him. While this coup failed, it deeply shook Lyman and furthered distrust in government, he would resign, his successor, Prez Rickard proved to be insufficient to address the issues the country faced and called a special electon in which Henry Talbot McNeil emerged victorious. While well-meaning and having some successes in the form of fending off an alien incursion with the help of Perry Rhodan, opening the Nelson Institute of Marine Research (the future employer of renowned naturalist Steve Zissou), thwarting the 1976 Super Bowl terrorist attack attempt in New Bourdeaux and helping Japan defeat the Dinosaur Empire incursion, his administration was unable to restore confidence in government, repair the floundering economy or restore faith things would get better. This all led to his defeat at the hands of Democrat Samuel Stevens, who only emerged as the frontrunner when his opponent Charles Palantine was killed during the campaign by Taxi Driver Travis Bickle. The Stevens administration would proceed with little as the president would only tackle the attack of the killer tomatoes before he was killed while trying to halt the ongoing Montana Missile Crisis. His successor was around the same time killed while visiting Germany when a cathedral collapsed.

This led to the rise of Douglass Dilman, president pro tempore of the Senate and the first African-American president. While historic, Dilman as a leader proved to be rather ineffective. While there were some triumphs—peace between Israel and Egypt and the establishment of the Department of Education, Department of External Security and Department of Statistical Anomalies being the most notable—overall Dilman’s administration was a failure. He often found himself caught in between left-wingers who considered him a race traitor (exacerbated by his handling of relations with Draka) and reactionaries who retained significant racial animus (the aging Dixiecrats led by Senator Eugene Grant of Catawba remained a persistent thorn in Dilman’s side throughout his term, filibustering the nomination of Chaucey Gardner as his vice president). The long-proposed Keene Act (which was a reworking of the Supers Relocation Act) outlawing vigilante superheroes passed Congress in 1977 despite Dilman’s attempts to veto it. Labor disputes reached new highs, culminating in the assassination of Johnny Kovak, head of the Federation of Interstate Truckers. Pollution across the nation increased and many rivers became increasingly dirty (in one case as an attempt to deal with the escape of genetically modified piranhas into a major waterway) and pollution, at least in one case in Maine, caused wildlife mutations. Crime continued to rise, with the kidnapping of Patty Wurst, the Sawyer family serial killings and the Hannibal Lecter murders all being high-profile cases that occurred under his administration. Serial killers cropping up even led to an FBR taskforce on the matter, who interviewed infamous serial killer Peter Jurgens to better develop a psychological profile of these sorts of killers. His desire to pursue diplomacy rather than war did lead to successful arms reductions treaties being negotiated by Secretary of State Bruce Gold, but often alienated the military.

During this decade, magical community found itself terrorized by a wizard even more dangerous than Grindelwald or Kemmler: Lord Voldemort. His reign of terror spanned the entirety of the 1970’s and threatened to end the centuries-long secrecy of the wizarding world. Even with the apparent defeat of Voldemort by the end of the decade, his efforts as well as the efforts of occult groups in the past decade had a dampening effect on magic. Occult groups’ activities may have also contributed to the rise in the rising number of natural disasters during this decade, such as the Amity Island shark attacks, the San Fransokyo glass tower fire, the Texas bee incident and multiple airplane crashes and cruise liner sinkings. The consequences of this dampening were enormous—MACUSA President Gomez Addams (who was popular despite having some blemishes in his career such as beginning a brief literal family feud with the Munsters) passed legislation limiting wizarding families in America to one magic-practicing child regardless of the number of children they had and wizarding schools such as Brakebills University and Puffington’s Academy would be forced to drastically reduce admissions. These restrictions would remain in place until the passage of the Spellman Act of 2013, as magic recovered. Many other countries’ wizarding governments took similar steps, seeking to avoid the permanent loss of magic, with those opposed to such methods opting to relocate to nations that didn't impose such restrictions or to magic-friendly extradimensional realms. Another major impact of this dampening of magic was felt by the small but visible “magical girl” subculture, having the impact of increasingly leading to these individuals ultimately being forced to feed off of despair (a process akin to the behavior of the Nazgul/Dementors of Europe) and becoming dark witches (who increasingly were referred to as Witches by individuals involved in this community). There were other crises as well—like the Jerusalem’s Lot vampire attacks, the exorcism of Regan MacNeil which resulted in the deaths of two priests, the various investigations in the supernatural by reporter Carl Kolchak, Sir Maxwell House and the Antonio Bay fog incident—that risked exposing the supernatural world to the public at large, necessitating strong action to maintain the veil of secrecy.

Abroad, the situation was similarly unstable. Japan would face an invasion by the Gaizok that proved to be extremely devastating, despite the usage of remnant alien technology to defend against the invaders. Britain risked a relapse of Ingsoc with the rise of the autocratic Labour Prime Minister Michael Rimmer in 1969 and his succession by the equally tyrannical Sir Timothy Hobson forcing the monarchy into exile. Fortunately, neither man proved to be as hellishly authoritarian as Whitlow had been (it helped that they largely failed to handle crises like the North Sea oil platform seizures in a reasonable manner), but still eroded the core freedoms Britain expected. They also kicked off the policy of interning Britain’s superheroes—a policy that would continue into the 1980’s, not helped when most of the population was killed in battle with a creature known as the Mass. India also took a turn into authoritarianism, with “The Madame” Indira Bhai (the daughter of humanitarian Sohan Bhai) suppressing civil liberties until her 1977 assassination in what would be dubbed “the Emergency.” The pope was assassinated by a member of the mafia just 33 days into his tenure, necessitating his rapid replacement by the former dissident Pope Kril. The discovery of the new, uncolonized nation of Wakanda in Africa and the existence of the exceedingly rare metal vibranium within its borders sparked many mercenaries to make trips into the country (which usually ended badly for them). Additionally, China’s long-serving Chairman Peng finally died of old age. His replacement, the returning Wu Qinghua, sought to reform China’s economy to make it function better, as well as distance China from the USSR. In the USSR, the relative openness of the Kissoff years had long yielded ended. The Allied nation install puppet ruler Alexander Romanov only for him to turn on them before his defeat by an Avengers team, including his own long lost daughter, Natasha Romanoff. His successor, Premier Yermakov, proved to be far more hardline. This extended to the members of the Warsaw Pact as well, who remained beholden to Moscow. Kamenev remained continually vexed by Freedonia' restored president Rufus T. Firefly, who while communist was very skeptical of the USSR and alongside Victor Von Doom guaranteed Freedonia, Ruritania and Latveria would remain neutral in the Cold War. Meanwhile, despite the suppression of superheroes in Britain and America, newer heroes would arise elsewhere, such as Inframan in China.

In 1978, an event known as the short-lived apocalypse scare ensued when spacecrafts referred to as the Vogon Constructor Fleet appeared above Earth and threatened to demolish Earth to build a hyperspace bypass, fortunately the Earth was restored shortly afterwards, and the Time Lord the Doctor, filled out the necessary paper work to prevent it from being destroyed by the Vogons again. There was also the Praetor invasion. The race had previously invaded in 1958 and was defeated by a joint US Soviet team, leading to the formation of the Xenonauts, which shifted from UNCLE to UNIT and countered the invasion in 1979 by discovering their hive mind nature and destroying their leader. A friendlier encounter with aliens took place at Devil’s Tower, leaving with a group of human volunteer astronauts.

1979 was also a turbulent year for conflict among earth nations. The USSR launched an invasion of the Central Asian countries of Adjikistan and Helmajistan. It was here that the Soviets would begin using the strange horrors they had unearthed in Antarctica. The use of Shoggoths in Adjikistan was both efficient and barbaric. In the words of American volunteer in the region John Rambo “these things could wipe out entire villages before half the village even knew what was happening.” Indeed, the US was extremely concerned about the Shoggoths being used in Adjikistan and Helmajistan, as were neutral powers like Freedonia and the SCP Foundation and even formerly allied China. The USSR did not hoard the Necronomicon’s secrets for themselves either, handing information on the Great Old Ones to Asranian dictator Saleh Takriti. Overall, the Adjikistan and Helmajistan invasion would have enormous consequences in the decades to come. The other major 1979 event was the Asranian Hostage Crisis. In 1978, a civil war over dynastic inheritance began in the Middle Eastern country. While initially a power struggle between heirs, the end result was the Asranian people overthrowing the monarchy in favor of an Islamic republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Mahmoud Haji Daryaei. Daryaei regarded the US as a “Great Satan” and encouraged his supporters to take US embassy staff hostage. This ultimately was exactly what was done. Prisoners were taken in the embassy. The Dilman administration worked to try to free the captives from the embassy but was stymied by numerous factors. Outright military intervention was anathema to the administration, which heavily prioritized diplomacy. Use of metahuman operatives was out of the question due to the provisions of the Keene Act, with the recent Black Prom massacre in Maine ensuring any repeal or “authorized” violation was dead on arrival. Rescue attempts likewise failed to save all the hostages (although a team of producers who later made the sci-fi hit *Argo*managed to smuggle a few out). Ultimately, the crisis would drag on all the way to the 1980 election and the nation’s first African-American president would be defeated by Republican candidate Augustus Alvin York. Senator and presidential candidate Greg Stillson was assassinated during the campaign by famous psychic Johnny Smith, who predicted Stillson's victory in the election sparking a nuclear war.

This era would also see the solidification of concentrated media power across the globe. Keith Townshend and Richard Armstrong were key players in shaping this development, the former individual acquiring The Daily Brute as the first stepping stone to building up Atlantis World Media and the latter responding by purchasing The Daily Beast and forming the Global News Network and the similar ZNN. Similar actions furthered this trend, though it did face some resistance—most notably criticism of these events led to the televised assassination of famous news anchor Howard Beale after he had become extremely popular once the failing network began filming his mental breakdowns that forced the rebranding of UBS to NBS, but otherwise allowed the centralization of these media outlets to continue unabated. Despite this negative trend, the 1970’s did have some positive elements. The first personal computers made their debut in this decade. The Hosaka Corporation, Eurisko and Aperture Science, the largest computer and software companies, were either founded or rose to prominence in this decade and their CEOs like Gary Winston, the founder of NURV(Never Underestimate Radical Vision) and Cave Johnson of Aperture Science would become fabulously wealthy.

Culturally, America largely came to accept civil rights initiatives. The superhero culture’s hiatus in the wake of the Keene Act did allow for the archetypes of superheroes to better integrate into popular culture, without having to deal with the complexities of reality. Science fiction increasingly took off, with the science fiction TV Show Galaxy Quest and the long running British series Inspector Spacetime going through an era considered to be the best in the show's tenure. In film, the Galaxy Wars film franchise created by Peter Lucas became extremely popular. The most positive development in this period was the extreme decline in *kaiju*attacks. While there were new attacks in the early part of the decade, many of the *kaiju*native to Earth had mellowed out over time, largely retreating to the Pacific island dubbed Monster Island by the mid-1970’s. In some cases, the likes of Gojira (whom at this point had discovered an agg which contained what appeared to be another member of his race) and Anguirus would even defend against hostile *kaiju*of alien origins—most notably the aforementioned Ghidorah and newcomers Gigan and Megalon. The development of the Sentai corps (who would go on to inspire imitative groups later on, as well as the Toku series Kurogane no Striber) in Japan also aided in the drastic reduction of the threat posed by these gargantuan beings, enabling people to fight the creatures on an even footing when the need arose. By the end of the decade, virtually all *kaiju*remained on Monster Island, under supervision by the UWO and SCP Foundation. While the world may have been more unstable overall, daily life was significantly less dangerous.

### **References-Don't Panic**

Adrian Cronauer-Robin Williams’ character in Good Morning, Vietnam. Based loosely on a real life person

Prez Rickard-Teenage president from the comic book Prez. His first name really is Prez

Alien incursion, Perry Rhodan-From the Perry Rhodan series

Nelson Institute of Marine Research-The organization responsible for commissioning the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, from which President Macneill is also from.

Steve Zissou-Marine biologist from the film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

1976 Super Bowl terrorist attacks-Refers to the events of the novel/film Black Sunday, where terrorists attempt to attack the Super Bowl

Dinosaur Empire incursion-Villains from Getter Robo

Charles Palantine-Presidential candidate targeted for assassination in the film Taxi Driver

Montana Missile Crisis-The events of the film Twilight’s Last Gleaming. David Stevens is the president in that film.

Attack of the killer tomatoes-The tomatoes from the film of the same name

Jordan Lyman-President in Seven Days in May

Douglass Dilman-First African-American president from the film The Man. Played by James Earl Jones

Department of External Security-Government body that MacGyver works for in the first season of the series

Department of Statistical Anomalies-Semi-villainous organization from The Librarians TV series

Eugene Grant, Catawba-Both of these are from Look Homeward, Angel. Grant ends up serving as a sort of stand-in for Strom Thurmond post-1964, as well as Senator Jesse Helms

Chaucey Gardner-Dim-witted individual mistaken for an intellectual from the film Being There

Keene Act-Act banning masked vigilantes in Watchmen

Supers Relocation Act- Legislation from The Incredibles that forces supers into retirement

Assassination of Johnny Kovak-The ending of the film F.I.S.T. Johnny is modeled heavily on Jimmy Hoffa

Genetically modified piranhas-The plot of the film Piranha

One incident in Maine-Refers to the film Prophecy, which features an attack by a mutated bear

Patty Wurst-Patty Hearst stand in from Destroy All Human! Randall Flagg, a recurring villain from Stephen King novels apparently had a hand in it.

Sawyer family-The villains of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Lecter murders-The cannibalistic killings by Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs

FBR taskforce-The team depicted in the Netflix series Mindhunter

Peter Jurgens-Our Edward Kemper analogue, from Monster

Secretary of State Bruce Gold-The first Jewish Secretary of State from the novel Good as Gold by Joseph Heller

Cabal launch a coup-Refers to the events of Seven Days in May. Dilman replaces that film’s President Lyman

Voldemort-The main antagonist of the Harry Potter series, his reign of terror here is part of that franchises's backstory

Amity Island shark attacks-The events of the film Jaws

San Fransokyo glass tower fire-The events of the film The Towering Inferno

Texas bee incident-The events of the film The Swarm

Cruise liner sinkings-Refers particularly to The Poseidon Adventure

MACUSA-America’s wizarding government as revealed on Pottermore and seen in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Gomez Addams-Patriarch of The Addams Family. Him going into politics is less far-fetched than one might think since he is a lawyer by trade. His job has always been somewhat vague though

The Munsters- The monster family from the sitcom of the same name

Brakebills University-Magic school from The Magicians TV series and novels

Puffington’s Academy-Wizarding school from the webcomic Cucumber Quest

Spellman-Named for Sabrina Spellman, from Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Nazgul-Dementor-esque beings from Lord of the Rings

Vampire attacks in Jerusalem’s Lot-Refers to the events of ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Exorcism of Regan McNeil- the titular events of the film the Exorcist

Carl Kolchak-The lead character in the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker

Sir Maxwell House-Eccentric millionaire who manages Roy Steel and Lorrimer Chesterfield in The Monster Hunters podcast

Antonio Bay fog incident-Refers to the events of the 1980 John Carpenter film The Fog

Gaizok invasion of Japan-The alien invaders who serve as the main antagonists of Zambot 3

Michael Rimmer-Refers to the fictional Prime Minister from The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer

Sir Timothy Hobson-Autocratic Prime Minister in the series The Guardians

North Sea oil platform seizures-Refers to the plot of the film North Sea Hijack

Interning British superheroes-An allusion to Alan Moore’s comic book Albion, where the British heroes of the 1960’s and 1970’s were imprisoned by the British government

The Mass- refers to the deaths of many Superheroes in 1964 while battling a creature called the Mass in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

“The Madame”-The nickname given to a woman clearly meant to be Indira Gandhi from the novel Rich. The name Indira Bhai is based off of the Mahatma Gandhi analogue. The Emergency mentioned here is a real part of Indian history

Sohan Bhai-A Mahatma Gandhi analogue from the novel Happy

Pope Kril-The Pope from The Shoe and the Fisherman

Wu Qinghua-Communist revolutionary from The Red March of Women. More or less our replacement for Deng Xiaoping

Alexander Romanov-Soviet villain from Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2

Natasha Romanov-Black Widow of the Avengers, has slowed aging in the comics

Yermakov-Soviet Premier from the Yermakov transfer

Inframan-Chinese superhero from the film The Amazing Inframan

Apocalypse scare-The arrival of the Vogon Constructor Fleet from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Praetor invasion-The alien invasion depicted in the Xenonauts game

Alien incursion at Devil’s Tower-Refers to the alien visitation in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Adjikastan-Afghanistan analogue from the video game SOCOM: Navy SEALS Combined Assault

Helmajistan-Afghanistan stand in from Full Metal Panic

Shoggoths in Adjikastan and Helmajistan-Based on A Colder War by Charlie Stross, where the Soviets use Cthulhu Mythos weaponry against the Mujahedeen

John Rambo-Sylvester Stallone’s character in the Rambo films.

Saleh Takriti-Our Saddam Hussein analogue. The first name comes from Saleh in Saddam Hussein’s novel Out of the Ashes. Takriti was part of Hussein’s name in real life

Between two heirs-Refers to the core conflict depicted in Area 88

Mahmoud Haji Daryaei-Ayatollah of Iran in the later Jack Ryan novels by Tom Clancy. Replaces Ayatollah Khameini here

Black Prom massacre-Carrie White’s rampage in Carrie. Makes people very wary of metahumans

Producers who made Argo-Refers to the events of the movie Argo. Here the fake movie would actually be made

Bill McKay-Liberal California Senator from the film The Candidate

Augustus Alvin York-President elected in 1980 in the novel The Zero Factor. Will not last for too long due to his paranoia surrounding the Year 0 Curse provoking his resignation

Greg Stillson-Religious third-party candidate whose victory triggers an apocalyptic war in the Stephen King novel The Dead Zone and the adaptation thereof. Played by Martin Sheen in the most notable adaptation (certainly a far cry from Bartlet). The events of the Dead Zone concern the protagonist thwarting his victory

Keith Townshend, Richard Armstrong-The lead characters in The Fourth Estate. Armstrong is based on Robert Maxwell and Townshend is based off of Rupert Murdoch

The Daily Brute-Newspaper from the novel Scoop. Based on and replaces the Daily Express

Atlantis World Media-The company that operates the television station Will McAvoy’s show is aired on in the TV series The Newsroom

The Daily Beast-Not the paper of the same name in real life, but also from Scoop.A Stand in for the Daily Mail

Global News Network-The network Ron Burgundy works for in the Anchorman movies

ZNN-CNN-esque news station from JAG, NCIS and Seven Days, among other things. Mostly in properties owned by Paramount and CBS

Howard Beale-News host on UBS in the film Network, iconic for his “I’m mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” line

NBS-National Broadcasting Service, the channel that airs the in-universe TV show in Studio 60 on Sunset Strip. It is a stand in for NBC

Hosaka Corporation-Computer company from the Sprawl trilogy

Eurisko-Computer company from The X-Files episode The Ghost in the Machine

Aperture Science-Company founded by Cave Johnson from the Portal franchise

Gary Winston-Bill Gates-esque CEO from Antitrust. NURV is our stand in for Miscrosoft

Galaxy Quest-TV series based on Star Trek from the film of the same name

Inspector Spacetime-Doctor Who parody from Community

Galaxy Wars-Star Wars parody from iCarly

Peter Lucas-George Lucas homage from Honey and Clover

Gojira somehow reproduced-Refers to Minilla, the son of Godzilla introduced in 1967

Sentai corps-The teams from the Super Sentai franchise

Toku series Kurogane no Striber-Show-within-a-show in Haiyore! Nyarko-san

## **A Colder War**

The 1980’s were marked by the ascension of conservative political philosophy across the US and its allies. While York had been a moderate, his paranoia over the “zero factor” led him to resign within a few months of taking office. The Zero Factor was allegedly a curse placed on every President elected in a year evenly divisible by 20. William Henry Harrison, who had replaced Quentin Trembley and had been falsely listed as having died in 30 days of Office, allegedly beginning the curse. Other victims included Abraham Lincoln (1860, Assassinated), Abner Dilworthy (1880, Assassinated), Mark Kimbley(1900, Assassinated),Nathan "Shagpole Whipple (1920, Assassinated upon leaving office), Stephen Wayne (1940, died of Cerebral Hemorrhage), and James T.Cassidy (1960, Assassinated). York was succeeded by Florentyna Kane, before she was defeated by the more conservative Jonathan Cyclops. President Cyclops and likeminded British Prime Minister Joan Carpenter(who replaced Prime Minister James Jaspers after he was revealed to be a reality warping mutant) both embraced a philosophy of limited government, rollback of the welfare state, hardline stances against communism and countering the spread of drugs and other criminal activities (as advocated by the Foundation for Law and Government). Under their leadership, taxes and spending were drastically cut, military spending was increased (with the US developing a superweapon known as the Quark Bomb prior to its cancellation, relaunching the Sentinel Program to counter metahuman threats such as Charlie McGee, founding the OWCA initiative to exploit particularly animal-like Moreau sapiens for surveillance purposes(though their first attempt, a feline called Garfield would be a failure, being adopted by cartoonist Jon Arbuckle) and working to combat the expansive COBRA and MAD terrorist networks and Britain engaging in a small-scale war with Argentina over its Cascara colony), aid was sent to anti-communist forces of questionably democratic sorts in third-world nations (most notably Val Verde, Costa Modarno and Mombaka) and religious figures such as Linus Van Pelt became more prominent and influential and controversy became frequent in both nations. While there was some benefit to the deregulation economically (Peter Venkman, one of the founders of the famed Ghostbusters, claimed his organization would not have been able to function in the pre-1980’s market), there were also ensuing increases in criminal activity (which was often targeted by hardline policies like the questionably ethical Ludovico technique), inequality (the bulk of the period’s economic gains going to the Carringtons, the Clampetts, the Giobertis and other already wealthy, connected families) poverty (these policies were often blamed for the rising unemployment in places like Jingletown and Derry) and general unrest, as well as incidents of corporate corruption like the ScrumLabs *kaiju*incident of 1986, and the proliferation of an addictive dessert product known as the Stuff that was mostly destroyed when it was discovered to be a parasitic lifeform that resulted in zombie-esque symptoms. The backlash to the hawkish foreign policy of Cyclops culminated in the thankfully short-lived kidnapping of the president by Japanese nationalists, the detonation of a homemade nuclear device by radical anti-nuclear terrorists in Charleston in 1983 and the murder of Secretary of State Lansard Blaine the following year. Carpenter meanwhile had to contend with the universal loathing of the British cultural elite. Nevertheless, Cyclops and Carpenter relentlessly pursued their policies, the former out of unshaking faith in the soundness of his program and the latter due to sheer stubbornness (which earned her the moniker “the Iron Lady”). Despite controversies and bouts of unpopularity, the conservatives would retain power for most of the decade (with a brief interruption in 1983 when Labour under Kevin Pork briefly took power), with Cyclops winning a landslide reelection over Democrat Bill McKay and Carpenter majorities for the Conservatives for many years, even passing the position of Prime Minister to Iowerth Jones in 1983.

The defense boosting and false alarms like the one triggered by a US computer in 1983 further ratcheted up the Cold War tensions. The leadership of the USSR did not help matters. Yermakov, upon retiring, was replaced by Anatoly Cherdenko. Cherdenko was a more staunch anti-communist. Cherdenko would gain some critcism for his handling of the Hormuz Strait Crisis of 1984 which nearly caused Nuclear War but ended largely peacefully aside from the destruction of the USS Tennant, a ship of historic significance that had been transported through time 4 years prior before being returned). Cherdenko was a hardliner who wanted to ensure a total Soviet victory in the Cold War and did not have any qualms about continuing to use questionable means to win the Cold War. Under Cherdenko, the Soviets began several covert projects, including the Patriot Project to create superhumans. More disturbingly, Cherdenko authorized Project Koschei, which entailed research into awakening the entity known as Cthulhu from slumber in R’lyeh. The Nazis had discovered the city but there had been an attempt to destroy the entity in its native Pacific Ocean via nuclear device. It had survived and had been discovered and moved from the South Pacific to the Baltic Sea in the aftermath of the failed attempt The development of Project Koschei coupled with events in Adjikistan and Helmajistan prompted the expansion of the American interagency counter-Necronomicon organization known as Delta Green, largely under the oversight of Colonel Oliver Southern and their British counterpart the Q-Division of the SOE. It also prompted additional buildup that sparked some unintended consequences, including another Trioxin breach in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985 that was destroyed via Nuclear Bomb. The Soviets managed to score a major victory in Cold War PR in 1984, when the Soviet-augmented Khan Noonien Singh came to power in India. However, Khan ultimately proved an unreliable ally, his early communist sympathies soon replaced by a fascination with the ideas of transhumanism and eugenics (spurred on by his close relationship with India’s persecuted “Midnight Children” who often possessed metahuman capabilities). Hopes that Khan would assist in the invasion of Adjikistan and were unsatisfied—Khan instead preferred to focus on saber-rattling with the long-time rivals of Bangistan and Helmajistan and building ties with like-minded nations (such as the pariah state of Draka, which was fascinated by the prospect of augmentation, having used it as a tool to achieve their dream master race). With India failing to serve as a replacement for China, the USSR was facing the threat of decline—even superweapon programs like the GoldenEye EMP satellite went awry.

Cherdenko reached the peak of his paranoia of impending Soviet defeat in 1985, when American boxer Rocky Balboa (one of the few major boxers outside the network cultivated by the unscrupulous Fred Sultan, though Sultan would later try just that but nab Balboa's prodigy Tommy Gunn instead) successfully defeated Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in a match in Moscow attended by both Cherdenko and several Politiburo members. While outwardly gracious, Cherdenko privately was outraged. He believed it was absolutely imperative to crush the American menace sooner rather than later, given the increases in famines the USSR was suffering and setbacks like the exposure of Soviet spies Yuri, Nadezhda and Mischa operating in the US in 1986. He began drawing up plans for a radical proposal, known by the codename Operation: Red Dawn. It entailed bringing communists to power in a US neighboring country (preferably Mexico), neutralizing American nuclear weapons and then launching a conventional invasion, targeting the American Southwest and Pacific territories in particular. The most important component to the attack would be it would have to be a first strike-he favored activating Koschei in the event of America attacking first, believing it was the best chance to ensure the USSR’s survival. For much of the 1980’s, Soviet power was geared towards planning for this operation, as well as encouraging rifts between the US and its allies. They ultimately achieved some success in this regard—Japan elected anti-American Umataro Tenma as Prime Minister in the wake of the previous government’s failure to counter the Rokkenjima Mass Murders and the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. Tenma subsequently abandoned Japan’s alliance with the US. Meanwhile in North America, Mexico underwent a communist revolution and Soviet operatives would successfully foment major racial unrest in Vice City with the help of Tropico despite the wishes of President Alejandro Costa. Soviet-affiliated mercenaries (hired from China) would also attack Alola the same year Red Dawn was proposed, with the goal being to gauge the island’s defenses in preparation for the actual invasion.

The 1980’s also saw the first major Earth-alien interactions since Klaatu’s visit and the Kanamit’s arrival occur. In 1983, a race of aliens known as the Visitors arrived on Earth. Claiming to come seeking resources for their ailing world and offering new technology, the Visitors were generally welcomed publicly. However, the Syndicate (thanks to intelligence from the Furons), the SCP Foundation, Premier Cherdenko and President Cyclops remained wary and devised protocols in case of secret hostility. As it turned out, these fears were thoroughly justified, as the Visitors proceeded to covertly take over media and ultimately turned out to be planning to conquer the Earth—the extent of the infiltration was only uncovered via the sabotage efforts of defacto resistance leader John Nada. Ultimately, the invasion attempt was thwarted (thanks in large part to coordination between SHIELD, Division P, UNIT, Torchwood, Delta Green, the SCP Foundation and the Syndicate) and a joint Syndicate-Foundation global mindwipe was undertaken. This decade also saw the US discover more group of aliens: a robot race that had escaped the destruction of their homeworld and offshoots of intelligent dinosaurs. Unlike the Visitors, these aliens were divided, between the benevolent Autobots and Dinosaucers and the malevolent Decepticons and Tyrannos and their conflict was thankfully only small-scale and easily kept hidden by the US government. There were some breaches—such as the short-lived occupation of DC by the Decepticons—but overall things were kept under wraps and mass panic was avoided. The refugees aliens known as Prawns would arrive on Earth in 1982, settling in Draka. Smaller-scale alien incursions would occur including an Alien hunter attacking a Mercenary rescue team in Val Verde, an assault by Clown Like aliens in Crescent Cove and the accidental discovery of a shapeshifting creature previously thought destroyed back in 1938 and in 1951 after taking a reduced form in the Arctic. World space programs would have to cooperate to fend off incursions by a rather non-strategic race of green aliens destroyed by a single tank and a few blast shield, the Galaga invasion, and similar space bugs (which were defeated via operations carried out in the fortress known as Good Thunder). Under Cyclops, the Keene act was somewhat reduced, allowing Superheroes to gradually return with minor government support such as a new form of the Teen Titans. England was forced to endure a ban and imprisonment under the term of Prime Minister Peter St.John. Several of Earth’s heroes would briefly come out of their government-mandated retirement to deal with an attack by the being known as the Anti-Monitor, though while the entire Multiverse was nearly destroyed, many metahumans were killed in the conflict. Some heroes such as Son Goku, also debuted in Japan, combating Japan's Communist Red Ribbon Army. One consequence of these alien incursions was increases in mutations also occurred, especially in Metropolis which was frequently terrorized by mutated cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers before they were defeated by a more benevolent group of reptilian mutants.

The role of the supernatural in the world also increased in this decade. While the wizarding world largely calmed down with the apparent defeat of Voldemort, other supernatural entities became increasingly prominent. Drastic increases in ghost sightings prompted the creation of the previously mentioned Ghostbusters team and the founding of similar organizations like Fenton Works. Despite this, some skeptics in the vein of Richard Strand maintained their activities were hoaxes, often surprisingly leading to common cause between Strand’s skeptics and mediums affiliated with Lydia Deetz who opposed ghostbusting on a moral level (Deetz had befriended several ghosts including forgiving and befriending the half demon Beetlejuice). The existence of giants was also publicly revealed in this decade—the bulk of the violent ones would be trapped in a pit by the British government with the aid of a more benevolent member fo the species. Spates of unusual and hard-to-explain murders spiked across the US and worries about the rise of the occult permeated throughout the country. Demonic possessions had been increasing in frequency since the 1970’s, occurring in places ranging from Georgetown suburbs to backwoods Tennessee and demonic beings such as Cenobites had been documented worldwide. There were plenty of rumored hellgate openings or discoveries by teenagers, animated toys gone homicidal (and one confirmed case which involved a harmless teddy bear) and undead serial killers haunting places such as Camp Crystal Lake, Springwood, Camp Pendleton and Haddonfield permeated across the nation—and they were often far more truthful than one would hope (though panic was avoided as these reports mixed with the period’s horror films such as Camp Bloodbath and Cleaver and the works of novelists such as Richard Bauchmann, Ben Ravencroft and Mevin udall). Cults with supernatural connections also swelled in size, abetted by incidents like the 1982 amphitre monster attack in Metropolis. To counter this increase in activity, President Cyclops authorized the creation of the Demon Control Initiative (often shortened to just the Initiative) and the Monster Control Bureau to deal with these threats. As per the conservative goal of scaling down government influence, groups like the Initiative, SHIELD and the UIU often contracted non-governmental groups such as the Ghostbusters, the Enigma Corporation, Mystery Inc. Vought-American and the Paranormal Termination Consortium to facilitate operations. The role of anomalous research would also be picked up by an old practitioner: the SCP Foundation. After years of de facto exile, the Cyclops administration rescinded Hockstader and Lindsay’s orders requiring they contribute to American defensive buildup, allowing them to resume normal operations in the US. Some facilities run by the US government’s agencies (including ones in the Indiana town of Hawkins, the Arizona town of Night Vale, the Keystone town of Idenvale, and the Maine towns of Castle Rock and Cabot Cove) were handed over to the SCP Foundation.

Culturally, the 1980’s were generally optimistic, despite the looming threat of another war. Prosperity generally increased as the economy grew, paving the way for the rise and/or growth of Coffeebucks, Pizza Forest, Big Kahuna Burger, Toys B Us, Cloud 9, QuickStop, Trans American Airlines, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria and Mr. Lee’s among many other corporations. Rock music began to decline, bolstered by events like the assassination of Rutles lead singer Ron Nasty at the hands of Holden Caulfield, a disturbed young man who may have been inspired by the novel *Avalon Landing*. New music genres began taking off, with the rise of anti-establishment punk and metal bands (for instance, Spinal Tap and MegaPanza) greatly took off, alongside newcomers to the staples of rock like DT Jesus. Most of these bands channeled hostility towards the political order of Britain and America—though there were exceptions in rock star Pink’s flirtation with fascism and Ian Rubbish’s infatuation with Carpenter. World trade became increasingly connected, as foreign firms like Assan Motors began operating on US soil. The threat of non-state terrorism was reduced with the collapse of COBRA in the later parts of the decade (though as the Nakatomi Plaza incident illustrated, the risk was still present and affiliates of the group like Dr. Drew Lipsky, Charles Rayne, Victor Diaz, Oroku Saki, Castor Troy and Hank Scorpio would remain active threats in the years to come). The decade saw the first video games developed, with the rise of popular arcade games such as Fix-It Felix Jr, Doppleganger, Fight Fighters, Biotic Wars and Dojo Quest. It didn’t take long for more personalized gaming to be developed by companies like Pretendo, ENCOM, Nintari, Neotronic Arts and Bitsimushi for computers or consoles—the earliest incarnations of the V-Cube, the GameSlave, Gamesphere and the Gamestation were released during the latter part of the decade. However, the “greed is good” mantra of the west was frequently challenged. Crime rates continued to increase thanks to the actions of criminal kingpins like Marsellus Wallace, Tony Montana, Alejandro Sosa and Keyser Soze, necessitating the escalation of the War on Drugs (in some cases via unorthodox strategies like the “Jump Street” infiltration program). Many critics regarded this policy in the US as rooted in racism and a desire to oppress the black population (though some African-American leaders, such as Philip Banks and Cliff Huxtable, defended the Cyclops administration’s drug policies as unfortunate necessities to deal with crime). Wealthy individuals also often flouted the law—from multiple cases of insider trading all the way up to the infamous Bateman murders, committed by a Metropolis stockbroker. These kinds of drawbacks served as inspiration for the era’s creative minds such as Diane Chambers, who often depicted the socio-political context of the period in a negative light. Space travel would take a hit during this period amidst events like the disappearance of the *Spindrift*transport ship, the Space Camp accidental launch and the near Challenger disaster, averted only by a time travelling Superhero called the Samaritan, which made space exploration seem far riskier than before. Meanwhile, an increasingly paranoid USSR continued to saber-rattle with the United States, which likewise remained aggressively defiant. The geopolitical situation overall remained a highly unstable powderkeg. In 1988, it finally went off.

### **References-A Colder War**

Florentyna Kane-Female President from The Prodigal's Daughter

Johnathan Cyclops-President from Whoops Apocalypse! A parody of Ronald Reagan, who he replaces here

Joan Carpenter-Margaret Thatcher-esque Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in The Devil’s Alternative. Resembles Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Thatcher in terms of appearance

James Jaspers-The real name of Mad Jim Jaspers, a British mutant supervillain who takes over the UK in Marvel Comics Captain Britain

Foundation for Law and Government-The organization responsible for backing Michael and KITT in Knight Rider

Sentinel Program-Anti-mutant robot program that poses a major threat to the X-Men in Marvel Comics

Charlie McGee-The pyrokinetic girl who is one of the lead protagonists of the novel Firestarter

OWCA initiative-Refers to OWCA, the organization Perry the Platypus works for in Phineas and Ferb. It stands for Organization Without a Cool Acronym

Garfield, Jon Arbuckle, characters from the Garfield comic strip. Jon Arbuckle is our stand in for Jim Davis.

COBRA network-COBRA, the villains of the GI Joe franchise

MAD-The evil organization Dr. Claw heads in the original Inspector Gadget animated series, uses MAD magazine as a front in this Universe

Cascara colony-Our Falklands analogue from the film Water. The war is an analogue of the Falklands War

Val Verde-Fictional Central American country from multiple films, notably Commando and Predator. Replaces Nicaragua (At least geopolitically) but Columbia(geographically)

Costa Modarno-Central American country from Miami Vice. Resembles Panama and has a leader similar to Noriega

Mombaka-African nation where a Marxist government is fighting anti-communist guerillas in the film Red Scorpion.

Linus Van Pelt-Linus from Peanuts. Here he grew up to become a preacher (probably more similar to Bill Graham rather than Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson), befitting his religious sentiments present in the source material

Peter Venkman-One of the founders of the Ghostbusters in the original film. His comment is based on the fact that Ghostbusters is very Reaganite in its treatment of the EPA employee who tries to shut down the Ghostbusters

Ludovico technique-Method to rehabilitate criminals via brainwashing that Alex Delarge is subjected to in A Clockwork Orange

Carringtons-The owners of the Denver-Carrington corporation in Dynasty

Clampetts-The Oklahoma family that struck it rich thanks to oil on their property in The Beverly Hillbillies

Giobertis-Part of the family that owns the winery in Falcon Crest

Jingletown-Town where the musical version of American Idiot is set

Derry-Town where the film/novel It are set. To be fair to Cyclops, Derry’s decline is more the result of Pennywise than his policies

ScrumLabs *kaiju*incident-Refers to the rampage of George, Lizzie and Ralph in the original Rampage arcade game

Proliferation of addictive dessert product-The Stuff from the film of the same name

Kidnapping of the president-The plot of the video game Bad Dudes where two bad dudes have to save the president from ninjas

Detonation of nuclear device in Charleston-The plot of the made-for-TV movie Special Bulletin, done as a mock news broadcast

Murder of Secretary of State Lansard Blaine-The plot of the novel Murder in the White House

Bill McKay-Liberal California Senator played by Robert Redford from The Candidate

Iowerth Jones-Prime Minister from In the Wet

False alarm triggered by a US computer-The computer in the film WarGames that almost sparks a nuclear war

Piotr Antonov-Premier of the USSR in the Dirk Pitt novels

Vladimir Soshkin-Hardline general from the alternate history mockumentary World War III: The Movie

Hormuz crisis of 1984-The crisis that occurred in the film Countdown to Looking Glass after Oman went communist

USS Tennant-Alternate version of the USS Nimitz named for Admiral Tennant in You’re In the Navy Now. Its destruction occurs in Countdown to Looking Glass

Transported through time-The events of the film The Final Countdown, where the Nimitz travels back to the day before Pearl Harbor

Patriot Project-The program to create superheroes in the Russian film Guardians

Project Koschei-The Soviet doomsday weapon that involves waking up Cthulhu from A Colder War

Failed attempt to destroy the entity-This attempt is from The Trail of Cthulhu, where the heroes managed to nuke R’lyeh—it doesn’t work

Colonel Oliver Southern-Character based off Colonel Oliver North from the film Lord of War. His role in Delta Green refers to North’s (implied) role in the main character’s activities in A Colder War

Q-Division of SOE-The British counter- Cthulhu Mythos agency nicknamed “the Laundry” from Charlie Stross’ The Laundry Files

Trioxin breach in Louisville-The zombie outbreak in the film Return of the Living Dead

Khan Noonien Singh-The Indian Augment ruler who is a central character in the Star Trek episode Space Seed and the main villain of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He also is a secondary antagonist in Star Trek Into Darkness, but the version here is the one from the original series (since an Indian dictator is not going to look like Benedict Cumberbatch)

Midnight Children-The central focus of Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children, these individuals were born on the night India gained independence (or achieved recognized independence in this case) and developed unique capabilities

GoldenEye EMP satellite-The Soviet superweapon from the James Bond film GoldenEye, which is hijacked by rogue elements of the Soviet government

Rocky Balboa-The hero of the Rocky films. The event here is specifically from Rocky IV where he beats Ivan Drago. So indirectly Rocky started World War III

Fred Sultan-Don King-esque boxing promoter from the film The Great White Hype

Tommy Gunn-Balboa's Prodigy from Rocky V, that movie has its own stand in for Don King, which Fred Sultan now replaces

Exposure of Soviet spies-Nadezhda and Mischa are the real names of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, the lead characters from The Americans. Yuri is the Soviet spy operating under the cover of Tom Farrell in the film No Way Out

Operation Red Dawn-The invasion of the US from the film Red Dawn

Umataro Tenma-Doctor Tenma, the creator of Astro Boy and Japanese Minister of Science.

Rokkenjima mass murders-Massacre from When They Cry

Great Hinamizawa Disaster-Incident that wiped out an entire village and caused many former residents to go mad across Japan in Higurashi: When They Cry

Vice City-Miami analogue from Grand Theft Auto

Soviet-aligned mercenaries attack Hawaii-Refers to the events of The Soldier’s flashback in the video game Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

The Visitors-A reptilian alien race from the miniseries V. Ultimately revealed to be secretly hostile

Division P-Soviet paranormal containment agency from the SCP Foundation world

Torchwood Institute-The anti-alien organization from Doctor Who and Torchwood

John Nada-Main hero of the movie They Live, based off the short story 8 O’Clock in the Morning. Exposes the infiltration of elites by a race of aliens seeking to subjugate mankind. Here that race is the Visitors

Robot race-The Autobots and Decepticons from Transformers

Offshoots of intelligent dinosaurs-The factions from the Dinosaucers cartoon

Prawns-the aliens from District 9, arrived on Earth in 1982

Incursion in Val Verde-Refers to the events of the original Predator film

Crescent Cove-Refers to the events of the 1988 film Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Antarctica-Refers to the events of the The Thing, both the original film and the 2011 prequel that is rather confusingly titled the same

Non-strategic green aliens-The aliens from the original Space Invaders video game

Galaga-Invasion from the video game Galaga

Space bugs-The alien invaders from Galaxian, a game similar to Space Invaders

Good Thunder-Teleporting fortress powered by Beamler energy from GoShogun

New Teen Titans-the Marv Wolfman, George Perez era of the team, made popular through their adaptation into the Teen Titans cartoon show, which these versions are closer to.

Peter St.John-Anti-Superhero Prime Minister from the comic book Zenith

Attack by the being known as Anti-Monitor-The events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Due to the fact the Keene Act is on the books, this was an event largely kept secret from the public at large and few grasp how big of a deal it actually was

Son Goku-Protagonist of the Anime and Manga Dragonball

Cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers-The titular monsters from C.H.U.D.

Reptilian mutants-The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—the 1980’s cartoon version specifically

Fenton Works-The ghost hunting operation run by Jack and Maddie Fenton in Danny Phantom

Richard Strand-Prominent skeptic of supernatural phenomena who is one of the lead characters in the podcast The Black Tapes

Lydia Deetz-One of the lead characters in the film Beetlejuice, played by Winona Ryder. Her forgiving Beetlejuice is a reference to the Beetlejuice Cartoon in which they seem to have a much friendlier relationship, even occasionally flirting.

Existence of giants-Refers to the events of the novel and animated film The BFG.

Demonic possessions in Georgetown suburbs-Refers to the original Exorcist film. Technically occurred in the 1970’s.

Backwoods Tennessee-Refers to the events of the first two Evil Dead films. It’s worth noting that the Necronomicon Ex Mortis from these films is not the same as the Necronomicon from the Cthulhu Mythos in this continuity, though the latter contains information also present in the former

Cenobites-Demonic entities from the Hellraiser films

Hellgate openings-Refers to the films The Gate and Night of the Demons

Animated toys gone homicidal-Refers to Chucky from Child’s Play though other Horror films share this

Harmless teddy bear-Refers to the main character of Ted

Camp Crystal Lake-Setting of the Friday the 13th film series. The undead serial killer in question is of course Jason Voorhees

Springwood-Location where Freddy Krueger kills his victims in Nightmare on Elm Street

Camp Pendleton-Real-world location. Meant to be an allusion to the film Scarecrows where a group of ex-military personnel get murdered by—well, take a guess

Haddonfield-The original hometown of Michael Myers where he engages in his murders. It’s not directly stated that Myers is supernatural but given how he readily shrugs off things that would kill most men…

Camp Bloodbath-Fictional slasher film from The Final Girls

Cleaver-So-bad-its-good horror film from The Sopranos

Richard Bauchmann-Pseudonym used by Stephen King who is the main counterpart to King in this timeline

Ben Ravencroft-Horror author who serves as one of the main antagonists of Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost

Melvin Udall-Jack Nicholson’s novelist character from the film As Good as It Gets

1982 amphitre incursion-The incursion itself is taken from the film Q, about Quetzalcoatl attacking New York. Amphitre is the name of the Quetzalcoatl-like feathered dragons in the Dragonology books

Demon Control Initiative-Anti-forces of hell organization that employs Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Monster Control Bureau-Agency dedicated to hunting monsters in the Monster Hunter International series

The Enigma Corporation-Anti-supernatural corporation from the Lost Tapes mockumentary series

Paranormal Termination Consortium-Private contractors who hunt the paranormal in the Slender Man Mythos blog Observe and Terminate

Hawkins-The setting of the Stranger Things series. The site handed to the Foundation is the Department of Energy facility in the show

Town of Night Vale-Town where the podcast Welcome to Night Vale is set. Chock-full of supernatural phenomena and also rife with shady government agents. For the record, Foundation agents tasked with jamming radio signals find Cecil’s show as entertaining as you do

Idenvale-The town where the online roleplaying group Litetower Paranormal Agency is set. The Agency here is a subsidiary of the SCP Foundation

Castle Rock-Town in several works by Stephen King. Cujo, The Mist and Needful Things are just some of the works set in this town—given how unlucky it is it certainly wouldn’t escape Foundation notice

Cabot Cove-Town where the series Murder, She Wrote is set. The site exists here because the murder rate is an absurdly high percentage of the population given the size of the town

Coffeebucks-Starbucks analogue/parody from the Scrubs series

Pizza Forest-Kids’ pizza place from the animated series Daria

Big Kahuna Burger-Burger chain from the movie Pulp Fiction.

Toys B Us-Toys R Us parody from Scott Pilgrim

Cloud 9-Superstore chain from the sitcom Superstore

QuickStop-Convenience store from the movie Clerks

Trans American Airlines-Fictional airline from the film Airplane

Freddy Fazbear’s-The Chuck E. Cheese’s esque chain from the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. Note that not all of them (in this continuity) have the living animatronics

Mr. Lee’s-Name of a real-life Chinese restaurant chain, but also the name of a Chinese restaurant from the Twilight Zone episode The Misfortune Cookie

Assassination of Ron Nasty-Refers to the real-world assassination of John Lennon

Holden Caulfield-The lead character of the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Here replaces Mark David Chapman, based off of the fact that Catcher in the Rye was a favorite of Chapman’s

Avalon Landing-Novel written by reclusive author William Forrester in the film Finding Forrester. Very clearly inspired by Catcher in the Rye and replaces it here. William Forrester, the book's author is also a stand in for J.D.Salinger though he only wrote two books, one of which was released after his death.

Spinal Tap-Fictional band from the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap

MegaPanza-Band based loosely off of Metallica from MegaPanza

DT Jesus-Fictional rock star from Streets: A Rock Opera

Pink’s flirtation with fascism-Refers to Pink, the main character in Pink Floyd’s album The Wall

Ian Rubbish’s infatuation with Carpenter-The creation of an SNL sketch featuring a quintessential British punk musician (Rubbish) who broke from the rest of the genre due to his extreme fondness for Thatcher

Assan Motors-Fictitious Japanese car company from the film Gung Ho!

Nakatomi Plaza incident-The terrorist attack launched by Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard film

Dr. Drew Lipsky-The real name of Dr. Drakken, the main villain of the Kim Possible series

Charles Rane-Hijacker who serves as the main villain of the film Passenger 57

Victor Diaz-Main villain of Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London

Oroku Saki-Real name of the Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Castor Troy-Freelance terrorist who is the main antagonist of the film Face/Off

Hank Scorpio-Affable supervillain from The Simpsons episode You Only Move Twice

Fix-It Felix Jr-Arcade game from the movie Wreck-It Ralph. Replaces the original Donkey Kong.

Doppleganger-Arcade game from The Amazing World of Gumball

Fight Fighters-Fighting game from Gravity Falls. Replaces Street Fighter franchise

Biotic Wars-The video game from the Hulu original series Future Man. Unbeatable except by the main character who needs to save the dystopian future in real life soon after

Dojo Quest-Arcade game from the movie Pixels

Pretendo-Nintendo analogue from the animated series Doug

ENCOM-Video game company from Tron

Nintari-Atari analogue from the video game The Adventures of Willy Beamish

Neotronic Arts-Fictional video game company from the novel JPod

Bitsimushi-Video game company from Drake and Josh

V-Cube-Game Cube Roman a clef from The Fairly Odd Parents

GameSlave-The Game Cube riff from Invader Zim

GameSphere-Video game console from Drake and Josh

Gamestation-Playstation analogue from Static Shock and Teen Titans

Marcellus Wallace-Gangster from Pulp Fiction

Tony Montana,Alejandro Sosa-Cocaine bosses, the hero and villain of the 1983 Scarface film

Keyser Soze-Ruthless criminal mastermind from The Usual Suspects

“Jump Street” infiltration program-The program depicted in the TV series 21 Jump Street and the two films that serve as sequels/reboots

Philip Banks-Uncle Phil, from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He was a participant in the civil rights movement, but holds generally conservative Republican views on most issues

Cliff Huxtable-The main character from The Cosby Show

Insider trading-A real life issue, doubling as a nod to what brings down Gordon Gekko in the original Wall Street film

Bateman murders-The killing spree of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho

Diane Chambers-One of the leads in the sitcom Cheers, who left Boston to become a writer partway through the show’s run. She also appeared in a few episodes of the spin-off Frasier

Disappearance of the *Spindrift-*The disappearance of a spaceship that ends up in a parallel world inhabited by giants, kicking off the plot of Land of Giants

Space Camp accidental launch-Refers to the plot of the film Space Camp, which features an instructor and several kids at the titular camp accidentally ending up in space in an unprepared shuttle. It was released around the time of the Challenger disaster and in some ways paralleled it (though it didn’t end as badly in the movie)

Challenger Disaster rescue by the Samaritan-Occurs in the Comic Book Astro Series. Samaritan saves the Challenger despite being from a future that wouldn't happen without the disaster

## **Interlude: A Herbert and Frankel Cinematic Retrospective**

Celebrating 75 Years of Vinewood: A Retrospective With Herbert and Frankel

*Originally Aired 04/16/1990*

HERBERT: Hello and welcome. Today’s episode is a little bit different than our usual material, isn’t that right Frankel?

FRANKEL: Yes indeed it is. For you see, today is the 75th anniversary of the release of the first modern motion picture. A huge milestone, for sure. That film is, of course, the highly controversial *Bring the Jubilee.*

(clips of the film play, depicting the interactions of northerners and southerners in the aftermath of the Civil War, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and several other scenes)

HERBERT: A milestone in the history of film. It’s a shame that, looking back on it, it is, quite frankly appallingly racist and overly eager to whitewash the antebellum South.

FRANKEL: Pun purely unintended of course (a clip plays from the film of someone wearing Black Face). Still even though it hasn't aged well it still revolutionized the genre and paved the way for later films. Historic if nothing else.

HERBERT: It's like Cinema's racist grandpa

FRANKEL: Are you finished?

HERBERT: Yes I'm done.Now we can finally move away from blackface.

FRANKEL: Now we move onto the The Jazz Singer...

HERBERT: Oh c'mon!

(Footage of someone in Blackface singing plays)

FRANKEL: That's Jack Robin playing Al Jolson in the lead role.

HERBERT: You know there's a reason people liked to forget about that movie.

FRANKEL: Anyway the film goes to show not everything is black and white

HERBERT: Indeed. Even when it quite literally is. (clips play of various silent movies) As were most subsequent films—post-*Jubilee*films were primarily silent for most of the 1920’s. This was the period when guys like Archie Maplin, George Valentin, and Tubby Thackeray were the ones dominant in the movie business.

FRANKEL: This would all change with the advent of the “talkie.” The first one to achieve notability was *The Dancing Cavalier. (*clips play from the film, depicting several dance and music scenes) The film would, in addition to kickstarting films with sound, spark a bit of a craze for musicals. Way too many musicals would be produced in the late 1920’s and throughout the 1930’s. (clips of various musical films are shown, including ones starring Lylah Clare and Vicki Lester).

HERBERT: Even so, there were darker elements present in cinema during this time—and I’m not just talking about what happened with the Hudsons. Horror films also took off in this time period. (Clips play depicting several horror films, including ones starring Byron Orlok and Lorne Chumley) And let’s not forget this was the period Toon acting began to take off as well as animation. (clips play of films featuring Toons as well as animated works).

FRANKEL: The overlap between the two is remarkable. The earliest experimenters with animation—Charles Dingo, Joey Drew and so on—also were the ones who gave guys like Mickey and Bugs their starts. Any reason for that you suppose?

HERBERT: Well, I imagine Cuphead was less likely to demand wage increases and lobbying on behalf of Toon rights than Mickey was.

FRANKEL: That’s a fair point, Herb. Well, eventually of course, Vinewood went to war along with the rest of the country. (clips showing wartime films advocating support for the war effort) There isn’t much to say about these works, other than they were wide ranging—every actor at the time did their part to support their war effort from Alan Swann to Donald Duck.

HERBERT: They did their patriotic duty in that war. Of course, when the war ended, things ultimately went back to normal—only this time there was a lot more material to work with. The atomic bombs used on Japan and Colchester, the Rhedosaurus attack of 1953, Gojira and other kaiju, Klaatu’s visit—there was a lot of inspiration to be had. (clips begin playing of various 1950’s era movies, including Mant! and Amazon Women of the Moon).

FRANKEL: Klaatu may have been one of the few aliens who actually meant it when he said he came in Peace, but he also inspired the film *The Man From Pluto* and to me that's an unforgivable offense.

HERBERT: That's what you're angry about. I'm more upset at Godzilla for giving us the Reptar films. I mean the first one was a masterpiece but now there are way too many sequels, and who decided to make Reptar kid friendly?

FRANKEL: It wasn’t just films either. The postwar economic boom saw television take off as a medium as well. (clips begin playing of various television series, including Pleasantville, Woody’s Round-Up, The Alan Brady Show, The Scary Door and Comedy Calvacade) Whether it was sitcoms, dramas, kiddie fare or horror, television provided a remarkable change for Vinewood. It wasn’t just about movies anymore.

HERBERT: This would be the case for years to come. Now, by and large, the films and shows of the 1950’s and 1960’s were often rather conformist but there were some new ideas. *The Ed Harrison Show*introduced America to new musical genres very different from those that were widely accepted(Clips from the above shows, as well as other shows of the era such as Inspector Spacetime are shown).

FRANKEL: You can say “rock-and-roll” Herb.

HERBERT: Fair, fair.

FRANKEL: Now, the 1970’s were a difficult time for show business. (clips play of mass protests, riots and detention centers\* Under Monkton’s administration, actors and studios that went against the government line were often targeted both officially and unofficially. On the other hand, since people weren’t supposed to read any more, the demand for movies and shows was a lot higher.

HERBERT: And of course, after Monkton’s regime—

FRANKEL: Hey, that’s not very objective Herbert!

HERBERT: I know. Anyways, after his regime, there was much less demand for comedies. Not certain why, but what became popular were action and sci-fi films. Horror also took off during this time. This is a pattern that would continue into the 1980’s (Clips are shown of Galaxy Quest, the first Jack Slater film, Galaxy Wars, Cosmic Wars, A Fistful of Yen and The Mutants of 2051 AD).

FRANKEL: It’s interesting to analyze the significance of these films. Because they on one hand reflect a desire to escape the realities of the 1970’s and early 1980’s—economic stagnation, resource shortages, rampant natural disasters—but at the same time were far more serious than the earlier comedies.

HERBERT: And television went in a similar direction as well. Soap operas and sci-fi series took off. Though comedies also regained popularity—again not sure why. Audiences can be fickle I guess. (Clips are played from Wormhole X-Treme, Beyond Our Dreams and Studio 60).

FRANKEL: Of course, we can’t avoid talking about the most controversial show to emerge in this period.

HERBERT: Larry Sanders?

FRANKEL: \*Laughs\* No! I’m talking about The Truman Show. \*clips are shown from the series\*

HERBERT: Ah yes, the show that made people ask “is that legal?” And then they watched it anyway.

FRANKEL: Truly disgraceful.

HERBERT: Indeed. Well, that does take us up to the present at least, doesn’t it?

FRANKEL: It does. Who knows what the future of cinema holds? Robot actors? Critics in space?

HERBERT: Way more Kirk Lazazrus than necessary?

FRANKEL: Ouch, I like his work.

HERBERT: Well, ultimately, whatever the future of cinema holds, we’ll be here to talk about it—

FRANKEL: And mock it!

HERBERT: So be sure to tune in next time.

### **References-A Herbert and Frankel Retrospective**

Vinewood-Hollywood stand-in from Grand Theft Auto

Herbert and Frankel-Parodies of Siskel and Ebert from the satirical film Amazon Women of the Moon

Bring the Jubilee-Title of an alternate history novel by Ward Moore. The film by this name is a stand-in for Birth of a Nation

Archie Maplin-Stand in for Charlie Chaplin from Doctor Who

Valentin-George Valentin, silent film star from the film The Artist

Thackeray-Tubby Thackeray, a comedic actor from the novel The Grin of the Dark

Jack Rubin-protagonist of the Jazz Singer. Here he plays Al Jolson, the actor who played him

The Dancing Cavalier-Film-within-a-film from Singing in the Rain. Replaces The Jazz Singer as the most popular “talkie” to kickstart a trend

Lylah Clare-Hollywood legend who died an early death in The Legend of Lylah Clare

Vicki Lester-Rising star in the film A Star Is Born

Hudsons-Blanche and “Baby Jane” Hudson from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Byron Orlok-Horror film actor based on (and played by) Boris Karloff from the film Targets

Lorne Chumley-Respected actor based on Lon Chaney, Sr. from Scooby-Doo

Toon acting-Nod to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as well as to the fact cartoons took off in this period

Charles Dingo-Our Disney analogue. Originally from iCarly

Joey Drew-Disney-inspired creator of the titular entities in the video game Bendy and the Ink Machine

Mickey-Mickey Mouse, from way too much to list

Bugs-Bugs Bunny, also from way too much to list

Cuphead-From the video game Cuphead. Here he is a popular animated character a la Mickey Mouse in reality

Alan Swann-Swashbuckling actor from the movie My Favorite Year

Donald Duck-From Disney cartoons

Colchester-The atomic bombing of Colchester from the novel 1984. Here brought about by the Kassen Secret from The Dark Frontier

Rhedosaurus-Monster from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Gojira-The King of Monsters, specifically from the original film released in 1954

Other kaiju-Nod to the widespread prevalence of giant monster flicks, most of which are real in this timeline

Klaatu’s visit-The events of The Day The Earth Stood Still

Mant!-Giant ant movie that plays a key role in the plot of the film Matinee. Technically an early 1960’s film

Amazon Women of the Moon-Film-within-a-film from the movie of the same name

Pleasantville-Basically the most 1950’s show ever from the film of the same name

Woody’s Round-Up-Series centering on Woody in Toy Story

The Alan Brady Show-Show the main character starred in on The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Scary Door-Twilight Zone parody from Futurama

Comedy Calvacade-Variety show hosted by “King” Kaiser from My Favorite Year

Galaxy Quest-From the film of the same name. Stands in for Star Trek.

The Ed Harrison Show-Stand-in for The Ed Sullivan Show from the film White Christmas

Inspector Spacetime-Show based off of Doctor Who from the series Community

Monkton- our Nixon analogue from The Company

Jack Slater film-The films depicted within Last Action Hero, which are evidently a series staring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Note that in this timeline, Slater is played not by Schwarzenegger, but rather by Ranier Wolfcastle from The Simpsons.

Galaxy Wars-Another Star Wars parody from iCarly. Cosmic Wars, the parody from the Simpsons is essentially the Star Wars prequels

A Fistful of Yen-Parody of Enter the Dragon from the Kentucky Fried Movie

The Mutants of 2051 AD-A post-apocalyptic thriller from the 1983 film Strange Brew

Wormhole X-Treme!-Self-parody from the Stargate franchise

Beyond Our Dreams-Soap opera series from Delirious

Studio 60-Saturday Night Live analogue from the series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Larry Sanders-The Larry Sanders Show, a fictional talk show from the series of the same name

The Truman Show-The most amoral reality show ever conceived from the film of the same name

Critics in space-Joke about the premise of Mystery Science Theatre 3000

Kirk Lazarus-Australian method actor from the film Tropic Thunder

## **Red Storm Rises**

The man who can single-handedly be held responsible for the Third World War is Saleh Takridi. Takridi, through rituals shared with him via the USSR, had decided to open a gateway to summon Yog-Sothoth. Upon the completion of this, the nations of Israel and Asran chose to attack rather than allow the emergence of this entity. In the aftermath of this strike (which failed to kill Takridi) Soviets were placed on high alert. Suddenly, the city of Tokyo was completely destroyed. Japan being a neutral country, neither side rushed to claim responsibility for destroying it. As it turns out, neither had—it had in fact been destroyed by a powerful entity known as Akira. However, as nobody knew this at the time, Russia and America were immediately suspected and each blamed the other for attacking a neutral power. Premier Cherdenko’s decision to activate Project Koschei would not have occurred had it not been for the poor timing of a joke made by President Cyclops that the US would launch missiles in five minutes while he was unaware the Soviet Union had bugs planted and made shortly after the bombing of Japan. Fearing imminent attack, Cthulhu was awakened from the containment facility in Chernobyl. The entity was completely uncontrollable and destroyed the city’s nuclear reactor on its way towards the Baltic Sea. However, the full devastation of Cthulhu’s emergence was averted by the SCP Foundation’s activation of what was dubbed the Ragnarok Protocol. This protocol involved the unleashing of Gamera and Gojira on Cthulhu. Thanks to the use of technology originally created by Seth Brundle, they were teleported from Monster Island to Chernobyl within five minutes of Cthulhu’s awakening. A brutal battle ensued between the *kaiju*and the Great Old One, ultimately resulting in Cthulhu retreating back to R’lyeh. However, it came at the cost of Gamera’s life and Gojira’s sanity, with the entity subsequently degenerating into a frenzied, rabid state. While the Foundation managed to teleport Gojira back to Monster Island, the entity remained intensely hostile to human life. Another creature, possibly having travelled with Cthulhu, referred to as "The Impossible to kill Lizard" was captured by the SCP. Additionally, the irradiated Chernobyl’s residents were now mutated from the radiation emanated by Gojira and insane from direct exposure to Cthulhu, necessitating the creation of the infamous exclusion zone around the former city.

Nukes were fired but were prevented from causing as much destruction as they could have by America's Superheroes. One prevented Nuke caused a blackout which led to the aged Superhero Batman to take control of the city and the embittered and humiliated government to send Superman after him, resulting in the Batman's supposed death. Following the failure of Koschei, Cherdenko soon realized the missiles were not coming, but rather than back down, he decided to launch Operation Red Dawn. Soviet troops based in Mexico and Tropico, after the neutralization of most of America’s nuclear arsenal, launched a ground offensive into the United States, seizing much of the territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and attacking Florida. Soviets forces also went on the offensive in Europe, seizing West Berlin and the small western aligned nations of Montenaro and Aldovia. The town of Sheffield, England was devastated by a Soviet Nuke. The Soviets also launched a limited nuclear strike on China, decapitating the country’s government. For much of the early stages of the war, the Soviets continued to gain ground, with NATO morale drastically lowered by the belief that DC had been obliterated (which was rooted in a bombing raid against the White House that killed President Cyclops and led to the ascension of Vice President Howard T.Ackerman to the presidency and the subsequent silence from the government stemming from the evacuation of key officials to a continuity-of-government facility on another planet via the Stargate device prior to the realization Koschei hadn’t fully activated). However, Oceania forces eventually regrouped and insurgencies erupted in the Soviet-occupied states. Soviet forces—having been used to only limited Adjikistan operations—proved inadequate to the task. The deployment of Shoggoths in America was attempted, but the presence of the Syndicate, Delta Green and the Initiative severely hampered their effectiveness. Another blow to the Soviets came with the return of Britain to partnership in Oceania, with the death of Sir Mortimer Chris and succession by Peter St.John, who sent troops into Europe. Before long, the Soviets had been pushed out of the US thanks to the leadership of Generals Hawley Briggs and Warren Boutwell, were losing ground in Mexico to the “Free Mexican” government of Carmen Hiero, faced attacks on Soviet soil from the newly unveiled EB-52 Megafortress and had to stave off Oceania advances towards Berlin.

Ultimately, this proved too much strain for the USSR to handle. Revolts erupted across the Soviet bloc, with the EZIC uprising in Arztotska, headed by future Prime Minister Henryk Nowasz, being the first to cause serious damage to the Soviet War effort. Not long after, Ixania, Zubrowka, East Germany, Meccania, Sokovia and the Ukraine all collapsed into revolt.While Superheroes would largely be absent from the war due the ongoing Crisis on Infinite Earths, which even when not fighting the Anti-Monitor would also have to contend with all the world's supervillains rising up and taking control of an alternate reality, the conflict would ironically be ended by a former costumed superhero. Adrian Veidt had orchestrated a complex plan to fabricate an alien invasion, dropping a massive genetically engineered creature in the middle of Metropolis. For good measure, Veidt framed Dr.Manhattan for several attacks on major cities which killed President Ackerman (who was discovered to be an android), Premier Cherdenko and Emperor Yoshiro of Japan (which had recently entered the war). A ceasfire was immediately agreed upon but even Veidt must have known it was a temporary peace.

Even as America, had dealt with its own problems such as turning a portion of Gotham City into a massive prison to deal with its rampant crime rate, The Soviet Union was beginning to unravel.The infamous Berlin Wall which had been erected in 1961 was brought down by the end of 1989. The conflict seemed to resume that same year when Vladimir Soshkin seized power from Georgy Antonov and had most of his advisors removed, seizing de facto control of the USSR and declaring a return to warfare. It proved short lived as both Soshkin and soon to be leaving President Samuel Baker were killed, but the Soviet Union was quickly defeated and the UWO placed Illya Kuryakin as the head of the Soviet Union. The war was formally ended by the Treaty of Arendelle, signed in 1990 by new Premier Kuryakin and newly inaugurated President Robert Kelly (whom had beaten Samuel Baker in the primaries and gone on to triumph over Democrat Jack Tanner and independent Stephen Wendell). The treaty saw the USSR recognize the breakaway of most of its satellite states, with the Soviet Union’s borders being reduced purely to the territory of Russia (though the name “Soviet Union” would continue to be the nation’s official name until 2003). With the signing of this treaty, the Cold War and World War III came to an end, with far less damage than commonly expected. To this day, it is unclear why Soshkin, as the Soviets began losing, did not launch more missile strikes on Oceania (though missiles did hit Kansas City and several other targets in Missouri). Theories have included Soshkin having nightmares of the hellish aftermath of a nuclear exchange to meddling by some outside group (the SCP Foundation, the International Confederation of Wizards and GRU Division P being most commonly favored) to the failure of most strikes launched from hitting due to the Silver Tower defensive system. Regardless, while 9 million lives were lost (ironically mostly in China), the Third World War would be dubbed the “Wet Firecracker War” for how mild the conflict turned out to be compared to most reputable estimates. The aftermath of the conflict resulted in the reunification of Germany under the West German government. West German President Xavier March would become the first president of the newly reunified Germany and many former member states of the USSR gained independence. The fact the conflict could have very easily wiped out humanity prompted many questions at the United World Organization. The UWO concluded it would have to increase its power in the post-Soviet world to prevent any future major wars. To that end, the UWO was restructured into the new Federated Nations. The FN sought to foster greater international cooperation, working to coordinate space travel and even military action. The FN, as a means to combat shared threats, established what was known as the Global Defense Initiative, which was to act as a global peacekeeping force.

Not all consequences were ultimately positive. The biggest negative consequence of the Third World War was the vast increase in the power of Khan Noonien Singh. Khan took advantage of the world’s eyes being on Europe and North America to conquer the neighboring nations of Helmajistan and Bangistan and also successfully filled the power vacuum in China. By 1991, Khan had declared the dissolution of both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of India, merging both countries into the unified, transhumanist Great Khanate. Khan’s vision of extending his influence would provoke subsequent conflicts in the 1990’s, as he strengthened ties between his nation and various bad actors across the globe, giving dictators like Darayaei and the Drakan hardline apartheid supporter Karl Vorster. The postwar period also saw a major increase in terrorist activity, with the 1991 Super Bowl being the target of Islamic fundamentalists (prompting increased security at the following year’s sporting events, including the World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the California Stars), which ultimately provoked President Kelly’s resignation due to stress. Kelly and his successor Roger Durling would consequently have to deal with an unstable global situation (as well as various troubles domestically, such as attempted power grabs by FBR Director Vernon T. Tynan, the emergence of monster worms in Nevada and rising crime rates) but was optimistic that the post-Cold War era would ultimately bring about “the end of history.” Hindsight would confirm that this would not be the case.

### **References-Red Storm Rises**

Tokyo destroyed-The destruction of Tokyo by Akira is from the manga/film of the same name.

Poorly timed joke-The infamous “we begin bombing in five minutes ” joke by Ronald Reagan. Started World War III in A Colder War

Seth Brundle-Main character of the film The Fly. Created teleporters that ultimately caused him to be fused with a fly. Obviously, it’s been improved since

Hank Pym-The original Ant-Man/Giant Man from Marvel Comics

Impossible to kill Lizard-This is an origin for SCP-682, the impossible to kill lizard who hates all life from the SCP Foundation

Chernobyl mutants-The Chernobyl exclusion zone from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Batman- Presence here is a reference to The Dark Knight Returns, which involves Batman and Superman fighting as old men

Soviets attacking Florida-Refers to an event seen in flashback in Hotline Miami 2

Sheffield, England-Refers to the nuclear attack depicted in the film Threads. Things aren’t as apocalyptic as depicted in these films fortunately

Seizing West Berlin-The war in Europe is modeled on Tom Clancy’s novel Red Storm Rising, whereas in America it is based on Red Dawn

Montenaro-Small European monarchy from the Netflix film The Princess Switch. Replaces Montenegro

Howard T.Ackerman-President from Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3

Peter St.Join-From the Comic Zenith

Hawley Briggs-General from The Red President

Warren Boutwell-General from the film Undercover Brother. Modeled on Colin Powell

Carmen Hiero-The first Hispanic president of the United States in the Draka series. Here is a pro-US figure in Mexico

EB-52 Megafortress-The aircraft named Old Dog in the novel Flight of the Old Dog

EZIC-The Arztotskan resistance movement from Papers Please

Henryk Nowasz-Member of the Polish underground turned Prime Minister in the series Ekipa

Supervillains taking earth-refers to the comic series Wanted where Supervillains rule the world after defeating all the Heroes there. Occurs in 1986. Crisis on Infinite Earths also had a Supervillain army conquering several worlds.

Veidt attack-the Climactic events of Watchmen

Turning Gotham into a prison-a Reference to the backstory for the film Escape from New York, this happening to Gotham is a nod to Batman stories like No Man's Land and Arkham City where bascially this happens

1961, Berlin Wall-Real date it was built but also taken from the film 1,2,3, which depicted the Wall being erected before it actually was in real life, by unfortunate coincidence

Vladimir Soshkin-Premier from World War III:The Movie

Samuel Baker-President from Mr.President.

Death of Soshkin and Baker- Events of the video Game Hotline Miami 2 mentioning both the US President and Soviet Union Premier being killed in nuclear strikes

Illya Kuryakin-Soviet agent from The Man from UNCLE, a likely choice to be put in charge given his UN(UWO) connections.

Arendelle-The kingdom in the Disney film Frozen. It's inclusion here is largely due to important World meetings occuring in Scandinavian countries

Soviet Union name used until 2003-A nod to the fact that a loooot of works set after 1991 but written beforehand refer to the USSR as still being around in the future

Kansas City and other targets in Missouri-Refers to the nuclear attacks depicted in the film The Day After

Robert Kelly-Senator Robert Kelly from Marvel. Becomes President in X-Men: The Animated Series who is elected president post-about face towards the titular heroes. He is composited with Jack Ryan President J Kelly Fowler

Jack Tanner-Democratic presidential candidate in the miniseries Tanner ‘88

Stephen Wendell-Texas governor running as an independent and the pawn of a conspiracy in the novel 1988 written by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm. Wendell interestingly enough resembles Lamm (who ran for president briefly as a member of Perot’s Reform Party) in terms of background and viewpoints despite being a pawn in a conspiracy

Silver Tower defensive system-The Star Wars-esque anti-missile space station from the novel Silver Tower by Dale Brown

Wet Firecracker War-Name for World War III in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Xavier March-The protagonist of the alternate history novel Fatherland. Here is able to do much better as his country isn’t run by Nazis who frown upon non-Nazi Party members

Federated Nations-The multinational organization in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Global Defense Initiative-The multination army that fights the Brotherhood of Nod in the Command and Conquer video game series

Karl Vorster-Hardline South African president in the novel Vortex

1991 Super Bowl attack-The terrorist attack from the novel The Sum of All Fears

Brooklyn Dodgers-Refers to the story The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back to Brooklyn, where the Dodgers…well, end up back in Brooklyn

California Stars-Fictional baseball team from the TV series The Greatest American Hero

Roger Durling-President from the Jack Ryan series

Vernon T. Taylor-The FBI Director in The R Document who attempts to usurp the president’s authority

Monster worms in Nevada-The worms from the film Tremors

## **Interlude: Death on Christmas**

*1994*

Henry Corwin was a very confused individual. One minute he had been standing on a roof, doing the same job he had been doing for over thirty years and then that man had distracted him. He had slipped, fallen and…well, now he was in what appeared to be a void.

“EXCUSE ME, WOULD YOU HAPPEN TO BE MR. CORWIN?”

Well at least now Corwin knew where he was: quite clearly, he was dead. The figure before him was unmistakable, dark cloak, scythe, skeletal figure.

“Yes I am. And you are the Grim Reaper, I presume.”

“I PREFER NOT TO BE THOUGHT OF AS ‘GRIM.’ BUT AS FOR REAPER, WHY YES, I AM ONE. I SUPPOSE YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS OF COURSE.”

“I should assume it means I’m dead. So…where do I go next?”

“I’M AFRAID THAT IS OUTSIDE MY PURVIEW. I AM MERELY TASKED WITH FERRYING YOU TO THE ONES WHO MAKE THAT CALL.”

“And who would that be?”

“HMM…I BELIEVE YOU HAVE BEEN CLAIMED BY THE BIG MAN.”

“Huh…guess that means I did good then, huh?”

“I BELIEVE SO. YOU’RE CERTAINLY UP THERE AS FAR AS CLAUSES GO. FAR BETTER THAN THE ABOMINATION IN FINLAND.”

Corwin shuddered. He’d been informed about the Jooulupukki by the elves. There were stories of Santas going insanem with the damage of their rampage being undone by Christmas Day. He knew there were a few other “Santa Clauses” around the world and had met some of them—St. North, who they were calling "Grandfather Frost" in Russia had a lot of interesting stories (often about the Agwas his father had fought against or how the green—creature who worked for him used to hate Christmas) and Malcolm and his family were a rather friendly group, though they had different opinions about how the holiday should have been run. Unfortunately, the abomination they were discussing was not so amiable.

“Well, that’s good to hear. I wonder where you stand as far as reapers go.”

“WELL, THERE’S MY SISTER—SHE’S HONESTLY PROBABLY A BIT BETTER THAN ME. I THINK I HAVE MORE GRAVITAS THOUGH.”

"sister?"

"WELL SHE'S NOT REALLY MY SISTER. SHE'S MORE OF A PERSONIFICATION OF DEATH. WE GET ALONG WELL.WE'RE PROBABLY AMONG THE FRIENDLIEST IN OUR GROUP.

“Must be a lot of work for just two of you.” The skeletal figure beside Corwin laughed—somewhat uncannily.

“ODD THAT YOU THINK THAT IT IS JUST THE TWO OF US. THERE ARE MANY OF US TASKED WITH REAPING. THERE ARE BILLIONS OF SENTIENT BEINGS THAT MUST BE REAPED THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE AFTER ALL.”

Corwin supposed that made sense. “I see. How did I end up with you—taking care of me, so to speak?”

“YOU GOT STARTLED AND FELL OFF A ROOF.”

“I meant as opposed to one of the other reapers.”

“AH, WELL, WE HAVE SOME GEARED TOWARDS SPECIFIC REGIONS—SHINGAMI IN JAPAN THOUGH THEY ARE MORE OF THEIR OWN SPECIES, SOME SIT IN LIMBO ALL DAY WHILE OTHERS FIGHT AGAINST CREATURES CALLED HOLLOWS, A FEW MINOR DEATHS DEDICATED TO PARTICULAR CAUSES.SOME REAPERS ARE PEOPLE WHO DIED THEMSELVES. AND SOME OF US RARELY REAP DIRECTLY—THE HORSEMAN, FOR INSTANCE, IS NOT NEARLY AS PERSONAL AS MOST OF US. HOLDS A GRUDGE, THAT ONE—LOVES TO TRACK FOLKS HE BELIEVES CHEATED HIM.”

“And you? When do you reap?”

“I REAP WHO I’M SUPPOSED TO. NOT ALWAYS CLEAR WHY IT’S ME INSTEAD OF SOMEONE ELSE. IN YOUR CASE, I SUPPOSE IT’S BECAUSE I’VE BEEN IN YOUR SHOES.”

“I presume you don’t mean to refer to the incident with Mr.Skellington two years ago? That was a nightmare.”

“NO, NO, MY EXPERIENCE WAS FAR FURTHER BACK. DIFFERENT PLANE, TECHNICALLY NOT EXACTLY YOUR JOB. BUT SIMILAR ENOUGH TO COUNT.”

“Alright. So, where do we go next?” The reaper stood silently for a moment, as if thinking about it.

“THERE’S ANOTHER JOB FOR YOU. DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITIES, BUT THE SAME TIME OF YEAR. MORE ABOUT REDEMPTION, LET’S SAY.”

Corwin thought about everything up until this moment. Even with all the headaches—raising Buddy, a child who wandered into the gift sack, getting sued for causing an old woman amnesia, getting sick and having to be replaced by the Miser brothers—this job was perhaps the greatest in the world. He would miss it.

“Well, in that case, there’s no use delaying too long is there?”

And with that he followed the reaper into what came next.

### **References-A Death At Christmas**

Henry Corwin-Man who becomes Santa Clause in the Twilight Zone episode Night of the Meek

Standing on a roof-Corwin’s death is based off the death of Santa at the beginning of the film The Santa Clause, which came out in 1994

The (not-so) Grim Reaper-DEATH from Discworld. He's among the friendlier deaths, so much so that fans of the series have told the author when Death comes for them they hope he's close to the Discworld version

Abomination in Finland-“Santa Claus” from the film Rare Exports, who is in fact a borderline eldritch horror

Santas Going insane-A common theme among some depictions but mostly a reference to Weird Al's "The Night Santa Went Crazy".

St. North-Nicholas St. North from Rise of the Guardians

Grandfather Frost- Nickname for Santa Claus in the Soviet Union film The Irony of Fate 2

Agwas-Creatures from The Life and Times of Santa Claus

Green creature-The Grinch from How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Malcolm and his family-Malcolm Claus, the current Santa in the film Arthur Christmas.

MY SISTER-Death of the Endless from Sandman. As is stated is among one of the friendlier versions of Death, alongside the Discworld version

Shingami-Japanese death gods, specifically inspired by the ones in Death Note and Bleach

Minor deaths dedicated to particular causes-A reference to the various death incarnations present in Irregular Webcomic!

People becoming Reapers-A reference to the TV show Dead Like Me, in which a teenage girl dies and becomes a grim reaper

The Horseman-One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in part inspired by the one from Supernatural

Holds a grudge-Refers to death’s tenacity in the Final Destination films

In your shoes-Refers to the time Discworld’s Death took on the role of Hogfather, a role akin to Santa Claus

Two years ago-Refers to Jack Skellington taking on Santa’s role in The Nightmare Before Christmas

More about redemption-The implication is Corwin is going to become a new Ghost of Christmas Present from A Christmas Carol. Not the Ghost of Christmas Past, because the Ghost of Christmas Present was stated to always be a different person everyday.

Raising children who wandered into the gift sack-Refers to how Buddy was adopted in Elf

Getting sued for causing old women amnesia-Refers to the plot of the film Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Be replaced by the Miser brothers-Refers to the events of The Year Without Santa Claus

**To Be Moved**

## ***A Giant Sucking Sound***

Much as the end of World War II had precipitated hopes of global peace, the end of World War III sparked hopes that the days of global conflict would be past. Plans were made by the US and FN to bolster space exploration, with the US beginning the construction of Moonbase Alpha and the FN sponsoring the exploration of the Solar System by Curtis Newton and Rocky Jones, though this was hampered by the disappearance of the Robinson Family expedition(the famed descendants of the Swiss Family Robinson). These explorations led to a greater chronicling of extraterrestrial life within the Solar System, which had up to this point been knowledge split among various nations. The existence of the Treen, the Barsoomians, the Sorns, the Selenites and the Mi-Go was fully confirmed. Despite these explorations, however, space travel ultimately remained restricted to basic lunar outposts during this period as distractions on Earth grew. Attempts at creating better AI were made such as Colossus, Hal 9000, and GLaDOS, though these attempts often backfired with Colossus briefly taking over the world, and GLaDOS killing the staff of Aperture science upon being put online, leading to the facility's closure. The hopes the new decade would be peaceful were dashed early on. In 1991 (mere months after the Treaty of Arendelle), Quraq launched an invasion of its neighbor, the oil-rich country of Qumran. President Roger Durling quickly acted to assemble US allies to intervene against the Quragi aggression. While the Gulf War proved to be a quick victory, it would only be the beginning of violence emerging in this decade. The Great Khanate sought to aggressively spread its augmentation ideology abroad and shared its Augmentation techniques with nations amenable to its goals like Asran, Draka, Ixania and Japan. The goal of these actions was to prevent direct US and FN action against the Great Khanate as it expanded into Southeast Asia, propping up dictators like Vega Bison along the way. The beginning stages of the series of conflicts that would later become known as the Eugenics Wars occurred with Draka’s invasion of the neighboring nation of Matobo in 1992. This conflict was fully a proxy war between the Khanate and the FN, with Matobo receiving aid from the FN.

The Khanate exploited their distraction in Africa and the Middle East by launching offensives in Southeast Asia, rapidly overwhelming Bahavia, Thailand, Sarkhan, Laos and Vietmahl. Thanks to the power of Khan’s “supermen,” neighboring nations were reluctant to intervene, with Panau even willingly joining the Khanate. Khan persuaded Japan to launch a war against the United States. Japan’s regime, harkening back to the nationalism of Imperial Japan and the even earlier Torunaga Shogunate, longed to reclaim their empire. The leadership embraced traditionalism and authoritarianism, even forcing classes of teenagers to fight to the death as a means of preventing school violence (like the unsolved Akademi High School murders of the 1980’s) and preparing a new generation of militarists. Under such fanatical rule, Japan was thoroughly willing to challenge the US. Predictably, however, given Japan’s interconnectedness with the US, the war proved to be short-lived. The war with Japan quickly ended with a US victory and Koichi Zenigata would take the position of Prime Minister of Japan from ultranationalist Ryoichi Yoshi and work to rebuild relations with the United States. However, a fanatical Augment member of the Japanese military (who may or may not have been acting on Khan’s behalf) went rogue and launched a terrorist attack on the US after the peace treaty was signed, killing many members of Congress and killing President Durling If Khan did order the attack, he certainly quickly would come to regret it, as Marshall’s successor was newly appointed Vice President Jack Ryan, who would defeat Erwin Rexall and Bob Roberts in the 1992 election. Ryan was a longtime CEA operative and national security advisor who had played a key role in the *Red October*defection attempt. More importantly, Ryan was fully aware of the threat posed by human augmentation thanks to firsthand experience. Ryan (despite a CEA-designed false background) was in fact the son of notorious Galtist industrialist Andrew Ryan and had visited his attempted Utopia shortly after its collapse. Ryan, after his experience there, became thoroughly convinced transhumanist visions inevitably would give way to disaster and thus was very much opposed to allowing Khan’s influence to grow. The moment Khan launched an invasion of Australia, Ryan demanded Congress send troops into the Pacific and work to push back his growing influence.

Khan sought to prevent Ryan’s counteroffensive from having a maximum impact by encouraging Daryaei to make power grabs in the Middle East. The Ayatollah agreed, sending operatives to assassinate Takridi and seizing control of Qurac and Qumar. He proclaimed the formation of the United Islamic Republic and began a campaign to seize control of as much of the Middle East as possible. However, the UIR’s efforts to divide the US military and foment disaster via a modified form of Ebola failed to do much damage. Instead, Daryaei would meet his end at the hands of Navy SEALs, Asran’s hold over their neighbors would crumble and the US could continue to prosecute the war against Khan, even after Ryan's defeat at the hands of Governor Jack Stanton (in part due to vote splitting by the third-party candidacy of Newton Sanders). Draka’s efforts went little better. By 1995 the pro-Khan Vorster had been assassinated by Matobo-hired mercenary Anton Chigurh, Archona had been devastated in a raid conducted by metahuman forces angered by Drakan experiments on mutants and the country had been taken over by an anti-apartheid government. The same fate had also befallen their ally of Genosha. Other fronts in the Eugenics Wars went similarly poorly for the Augments in Borduria (as Augment rebels were prevented from overthrowing the reformist President Boris Puschenko) and Sercia. A Scandal involving an affair with environmentalist Sydney Ellen Wade would result in Stanton being impeached after the exposure of corruption charges, though an impersonator taking over while Stanton was in poor health would improve his approval ratings. Stanton would finally be removed after it was revealed he was connected to Victor Mattiece’s assassination of Supreme Court Justices. What followed was a special election which was won by William Cozzano, unfortunately Cozzano died before assuming office and his running Mate Eleanor Richmond assumed the Presidency. Khan’s Indian homeland also was badly battered during the Fithp invasion of 1995 prior to the invaders’ surrender, which saw asteroid impacts in the Indian Ocean ravage the subcontinent, further weakening his hold over occupied territories. Faced with these prospects and amidst continual loss of ground in Southeast Asia, Khan and those Augments who remained (including former members of the Asranian, Japanese and Drakan governments, as well as now-deposed Augment dictators like General Henry Krull of Azania) fled before FN troops could take them prisoner. By 1996, the Eugenics Wars were over, with the installation of the anti-Augment Lakshmi Rupavathi as India’s new Prime Minister (who would have to contend with remnant neo-Khanists as well as an attempted assassination by rival politician Dev Thirumoothy). Only a rump regime headed by ex-Augment dictator Vega in Kuala Rokat remained.

However, another conflict would begin shortly afterwards. While there were several prominent alien incursions in the 1990’s (1995 saw the aforementioned Fithp invasion and the short-lived occupation of Earth by the Grados Empire early the following year), 1996 would see mankind faced with the most devastating attack from outer space since the Molluscs. The alien race dubbed the Harvesters by many would arrive in early July and devastate many major cities, including capitals like London, Washington DC, Moscow and Berlin. It was only through technology kept in Area 51 that the invasion was repelled—fittingly enough on the 4th of July in a battle that President Thomas J. Whitmore actively participated in. Casualties were high and reconstruction proceeded remarkably quickly thanks to the assistance of various metahumans, but still numbered in the millions. Sadly this would not be the last alien invasion. A race of skulllike Martians invaded, killing Whitmore's successor, James Dale before the invaders were defeated with a discovery of their weakness towards sound. Another election followed as Dale's daughter attempted to be named President but was forced to step down as Andrew Shepard and Robert Rumson ran for the Presidency. Both would fall victim to the year's final alien invasion. The Rigelians Kang and Kodos abducted the two candidates and impersonated them. Both men were killed but the disguised were exposed by springfield native Homer Simpson. The Rigelians then briefly enslaved Washington DC before being repelled back by Earth's metahumans.

There were many consequences to the invasions—most notably the temporary shift in the US election calendar. The election would be held about a month later than usual (and be marred by controversy surrounding the assassination of Democratic primary challenger Jay Bulworth). Jack Ryan, after undergoing plastic surgery, reentered the political race under the name of James Marshall. The importance of the elections were elevated in the aftermath of the Alcatraz crisis, where a rogue general threatened to attack San Fransokyo with chemical weapons. Marshall was able to singlehandedly repel a kidnapping attempt by Ardistan terrorists onboard Air Force One. Despite his leadership, it was clear he was only a place holder. He would step aside to allow Bud Hammond to become President. Hammond would be unpopular due to an affair with an underaged girl and for botching a peace summit after being rescued from being kidnapped in the Gotham City prison. Josiah Bartlet won the 1998 Election, though there was a scandal of rigging the voting in Columbiana to ensure Bartlet’s victory. Bartlet defeated Democrat Kenneth Yamaoka (the first Asian-American commander in chief) in a specially held 2000 Election.

The invasion helped spur (for a time at least) greater global unity. In Europe, the various nations came together to establish the new European Union(sometimes called MittelEuropa). The EU would serve as a common market for its member states, which included almost every country in Europe with the exceptions of Switzerland, Norway, Latveria and Freedonia (and the latter two would end up joining the EU following the disappearance of Victor Von Doom). The EU served as an inspiration for North America, with the similar free trade bloc being established. Cultural mixing grew increasingly common as American artists like Rage/Tectonic and Jonathan Aaron Steel sold out concerts in Europe, lines for Stan Mikita’s Donuts were longer in Japan than their native Canada and one could easily catch dubbed local versions of Xyra the Princess Warrior, Monstermon, Chinpokomon, or Hawt Dawg Man on television in your Tipton suite from Aldovia to Ishmaelia. The Federated Nations gained additional powers, creating the Global Defense Initiative to combat the cultish Brotherhood of Nod that had arisen seeking control of an element the invaders had brought with them. Even traditional adversaries to the West benefitted from globalization: amidst the rise of a moderately hostile China following the Khanate’s collapse, Russia drew closer to the US and, after a short-lived conflict in Siberia, was ultimately admitted to Oceania, which sparked much buzz about a potential new age of “CoDominium” between the US and Russia. Part of the reason for this increasing unity was the drastic increase in terrorist activity that ensued even with the Brotherhood’s defeat. Bioterrorism became increasingly common, with Jack O’Neill’s White Plague attacks(which were initially falsely believed to be the work of a group called the 12 Monkeys) on Britain, Ireland and Wadiya being the most notable case. Far-right terrorism in the United States also was a key issue, with groups like Tyler Durden's Project Mayhem targeting corporations and the Order (a descendent of the group of the same name that had first cropped up during Reconstruction and revived in the 1920’s) targeting Jews, non-whites, aliens, mutants and Moreau sapiens for assault or murder. A member of this group, Earl Turner, would commit various attacks on Los Santos and ultimately attempt to carry out a massacre at the historically black Hillman College before being killed by FBR agents. The concern over these groups’ activities ultimately paved the way for Yamaoka’s downfall as the president had been funding these groups with the goal of ensuring public awareness of racism. Despite these relatively good intentions, Yamaoka would be forced to stand aside in favor of Bartlet in 1998. Religious-based hate groups like the Five Points Trinity Church also increased in prominence. In Russia, which saw a failed coup by Ivan Tretiak in Russia, Vladimir Markarov’s ultranationalist Ushi Party often would engage in political violence with the goal of taking power in the country for themselves (indeed Makarov’s acolyte Vladimir Radchenko would bring the country to the brink of civil war). And of course, Islamic fundamentalists formed terrorist organization such as the Crimson Jihad, which increasingly turned the attention of their aggression towards major world powers.

There were other major developments in this decade. Genetics technology took off, best demonstrated by the InGen incidents of 1993 and 1997 that ultimately led the islands known as the Five Deaths off of the Santales coast would become designated as a preserve for dinosaurs revived via techniques originally developed by British eccentric Darren Penward in the 1980’s (whom had acquired the DNA used in the process from the remains of Caprona and Gwangi Valley, among other locations where dinosaurs had persisted into the early 20th century) before being bought by John Hammond. Coupled with the ongoing Eugenics Wars, and the Motaba outbreak of 1995, strict rules were put in place governing genetic engineering. These rules extended to pharmaceutical companies following a scandal with Devlin MacGregor Provasic. Natural disasters proved to be depressingly common, with the eruption of Dante’s Peak and the narrowly-averted impact of the comet known alternately as Dottie, Ellie, Wolf-Beiderman or Hamner-Brown via a NASA-deployed nuke being just two examples. In the US, school shootings seemed to increase at an alarming rate, with the Watt High School massacre occurring in 1996 and the Carbine massacre carried out by Derik Harris and Derwin Klebold in 1999. While school violence wasn’t necessarily new (even discounting the infamous Black Prom massacre and an epidemic of murders disguised as suicides occurring at Westerberg High School in the 1980’s), these school shootings provoked intense concern in the US, with even the conservative Ryan expressing support for better background checks over the objections of SAFETY and other gun rights groups. Environmental degradation picked up, as industrialists like Looten Plunder caused environmental devastation that wiped out ecosystems (and unleashed entities like Hexxus out into the world), which led to ecologically-minded individuals like Nigel Thornberry to work to educate the public about the need for greater environmentalism while some Superheroes like Captain Planet confronted the issue directly. These concerns were increased by numerous natural disasters occurring as a result of the planet temporarily stopping to spin, resulting in a massive hurricane in New England and unusually high numbers of twisters before the crisis was resolved in 2003. Britain went through a major national trauma in 1991, when the entire British royal family (including Queen Anne II) died in a tragic accident. For a time, a loutish American named Ralph Hampton Gainsworth Jones would hold the throne due to being a descendant of the royal family, prior to abdicating in favor of Cedric Willingham, who would reign as King Cedric I, at least until he was pressured to abdicate by Prime Minister Francis Urquhart and was replaced by the aloof Duchess of Rannoch, who would reign as Queen Georgianna. Japan meanwhile would have to contend with the opening of the so-called “Hell’s Gate” and consequent growth in number of metahumans, including the attack of the Saiyans, and later Androids belonging to the now defunct Red Ribbon Army along with the monster Cell. Video games and computers continued to take off, with companies like Game-A-Vision and games like Day of Sagittarius gaining enormous popularity.

On the supernatural and extraterrestrial front, many developments occurred. The long-exiled SCP Foundation reclaimed its role as the world’s leading anomaly containment group, even behind the former Iron Curtain. The Foundation’s reemergence would mean bad news for the BPRD and UIU, whose roles were drastically scaled back, with the remnants of both being mere portions of the continued Initiative. Despite this, UIU agents engaged in some of their most important activities this decade, including efforts to stymie the Syndicate’s aid to the Furons. SHIELD, while slightly reduced in role, remained active in this period, researching various alien technologies they had uncovered (such as the Stargate device which had previously only been used to access a single, dying planet) and keeping an eye out for helpful metahumans. The largest *kaiju*attack in history would occur in the end of the decade due to the actions of the alien Kilaks, who turned the monsters contained on Monsterland (including the now fully grown son of Gojira and its offspring) on humanity, sparking a global rampage before the creatures were able to break free of these controls and defeat these would-be invaders. Similar attacks were launched by the “Endbringers” known as Leviathan, Behemoth and Simurgh before they were subdued by Tom Strong. Two groups of alien refugees arrived on Earth, one of which was the humanoid Tenctonese who would settle in Los Santos in a similar situation to the refugees of the Prawns in Draka. They would be joined shortly after by the Fithp, which were devastated even more than humanity by the Harvester invasion and thus were forced to settle permanently on Earth. A race known as the Skrulls, which had been involved in a century long war with the Kree, had become refugees and briefly settled on Earth before being guided off planet to an new home by former Avenger Carol Danvers. 1994 would see a brief attack by an unknown alien race using asteroids that fortunately did not succeed in destroying Earth, the Fithp were accused but did not claim responsibility, as their race's customs declared the enemy make their presence known first which the aliens did not. Their last attempt seemed to have been the previusly mentioned 1995 Comet. Other sporadic invasion attempts of Earth would largely be thwarted by the activities of the Sentai-esque “Power Rangers” groups that began to crop up during this period, along with various created superheroes who formed teams like the Seven Guns and the Powerpuff Girls. While there were new Heroes, many leaned closer to the path of antihero such as Spawn and Youngblood. Many of the old guard had retired, despite this they were dealt several blows. The original Superman had retired and was succeeded by his son. Superman II would be killed by the monster Doomsday. Batman, while still active into old age and having been succeeded as well, would be crippled by the villain Bane. The Mad Titan Thanos briefly erased half of all life. Fortunately none of these proved to be permanent(though Thanos would attempt the same thing years later with much longer lasting consequences). A pivotal moment came when the original Superman reformed the Justice League and established a prison for metahumans. When a prison break occurred the FN chose to nuke the Prison, killing many metahumans at once. While Superman nearly destroyed the FN, he was calmed down by the news there were survivors and agreed to work together with the FN. The US government rolled back the Keene Act and shut down the Sentinels (ironically thanks largely to the efforts of President Kelly, who had run on a platform hostile to metahumans prior to being saved from assassination by the students of Charles Xavier), in favor of efforts to encourage a managed superhero culture, with SHIELD opening the “Sky High” training facility for young metahumans in 1991. However, the largely private Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and Whateley Academy (founded by Danny Torrance) remained more commonly favored by the metahuman community at large. More radical metahumans would embrace a form of nationalism, working together under the leadership of Erik Lensherr to take over the country of Genosha off the coast of Africa. Genosha would surprisingly align with anti-Augment states in the Eugenics Wars due to the vicious experiments conducted by Augment nations on mutants and Lensherr’s view of the Augment ideology as unnatural(preferring natural abilities to those gained from experiments). Earth would also be attacked by the malevolent entities Giygas and Lavos in this decade, though these incursions would ultimately be thwarted by a group of childen and group of time travellers respectively. Humanity would also be put at risk by an Antarctic subterranean empire and incursions from the Baguans, the Gua, the Ryunka, the Rigelatins, and the Vortex, though all of these incursions would ultimately be repelled with minimal resource expenditure. On a smaller scale, incidents like the extraterrestrial drug cartel member attack in Houston likewise proved to be an issue that largely was handled via Syndicate cover-ups rather than be fully addressed.

The Supernatural would come under more scrutiny, which often marked tragedy for those inexperienced. This included the death of ABC reporters, and the mysterious disappearances of both the crew of the show Grave Encounters, and a group of amateur fillmmakers attempting to find the Blair Witch. As for the magical community itself, the wizarding world found itself shaken after over a decade of peace (ironically, the times of greatest peace in the wizarding world had been amidst one of the most feared wars in the non-magical world). Lord Voldemort apparently returned from the dead and continued his reign of terror, even managing to take over the British wizarding government. This sparked panic among British institutions. Prime Minister Franoic Urquhart was assassinated and eventually replaced by Adam Susan, the head of Norsefire, a Ingsoc inspired group. This came about largely due to the White Plague and the Eugenics Wars taking a toll on Britain. Susan introduced a fascist regime like that of Whitlow and is said to have sold out the Minister of Magic, head of wizarding community in England, to Voldemort. Susan's fascism coupled with Voldemort's return hit groups such as the Hellsing Organization and the Torchwood Institute, which relied on government funding. Many figures in secret organizations worried the veil between the magical and non-magic worlds was about to break down as Voldemort’s Death Eaters began to terrorize non-wizards across Britain. Fortunately, Voldemort’s defeat in 1998 by Harry Potter prevented this from escalating further. Susan would be killed the terrorist V at the cost of his own life and Adam Lang, who emerged victorious over Alan B'Stard, a former Prime Minister attempting to win again. Besides the threat from Voldemort, the main supernatural threat to Earth would come from the Dark Kingdom, a collective from the parallel “Negaverse” that sought to release an entity known as Metaria, though ultimately the efforts to release this entity would successfully be stymied in fighting that largely took place off Earth by the Sailor Senshi, reincarnations of Magical girls tasked with defending the solar system from such enemies. There was also increased supernatural threats that manifested in the Metropolis area, largely stymied by a group of gargoyles brought over by the billionaire David Xanatos, though others (like the Mbwun rampage in the Natural History Museum surprisignly not connected to a mystical tablet in the museum's possession and the rapid plant growth in Metropolis) would be dealt with by governmental authorities. The threat of supernatural phenomena remained, cropping up in forms ranging from deathtrap theme parks like Horrorland to attacks by a dragon known as Dreadwing. However, the Initiative (prior to its dissolution in 1999 over alleged failures) and the SCP Foundation worked to successfully stymie the threat they posed.

### **References-A Giant Sucking Sound**

Moonbase Alpha-Lunar base from the sci-fi series Space 1999. Also the name of a video game where you build a moonbase

Curtis Newton-The real name of Captain Future from the pulp magazine series bearing his name

Rocky Jones-The titular character in the 1950’s series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger

disappearance of the Robinsons-The events of the original Lost in Space TV Show, came out in the 1960's but set in the then future of the 1990's

Swiss Family-Refers to the Swiss Family Robinson, which inspired Lost in Space, hence the connection

Treens-Alien race from the Dan Dare franchise who live on Mercury

Mi-Go-The aliens inhabiting Yuggoth in the Cthulhu Mythos

Colossus-The takeover of the world launched by the Colossus AI system in the film Colossus: The Forbin Project(1990's)

Hal 9000-the AI in 2001: a Space Odyssey. Considered a definite example of a rogue AI, which is funny as the book clarifies he was actually following secret orders. so he technically didn't go rogue

GLaDOS-From Portal, these events are implied to take place in 1998.

Matobo-Country from the film The Interpreter

Bahavia-Fictional country from Cory in the House

Torunaga Shogunate-Refers to the fictional Shogun in the miniseries Shogun. More or less a Tokugawa analogue

Forcing classes of teenager to fight to the death-The titular event in Battle Royale, designed to reduce school violence

Akademi High School murders-The murders committed by Ayano’s mom in the video game Yandere Simulator

Koichi Zenigata-The inspector antagonist to Arsene Lupin III in the works of the same name.

Ryoichi Yoshi-Child who aspires to be a general in I Was Born but… Here he gets his wish and serves as ultranationalist leader of Japan

Japanese attack on the Capitol-This event and the war leading to it are the plot of Tom Clancy’s novel Debt of Honor.

Jack Ryan-The main hero of Tom Clancy’s novel to the point that many of them make up the Ryanverse. This includes the subsequently mentioned Red October novel

Erwin Rexall-Authoritarian president from the comic book Give Me Liberty

Bob Roberts-Folk singer turned politician in the film of the same name

Son of Andrew Ryan-The protagonist of Bioshock was also named Jack Ryan and born in 1950 (although he was aged up via cloning techniques). Here they’re the same person, aided by the fact we never see Bioshock!Jack. Any contradictions with the backstory laid out by Clancy can be ascribed to CEA coverups

United Islamic Republic-The main events of the novel Executive Orders centers on the UIR and its attempts to take over the Middle East

Jack Stanton-President based on Bill Clinton from Primary Colors

Newton Sanders-Third-party presidential candidate in alternate history novel Idlewild. Sanders beats George HW Bush and Bill Clinton in a world where JFK survives, which makes me think he is based (at least loosely) on Ross Perot. Here he’s our analogue for Perot and of course consequently fails to emerge victorious

Anton Chigurh-Mercenary from the film No Country For Old Men. He actually has done something not evil for once

Borduria-Fake European country from Tintin. Located approximately where Albania is in OTL

Boris Puschenko-Vaguely menacing but well-intentioned Eastern European leader from the film The Beautician and the Beast

Sercia-Fictional country where the original Time Crisis game is set. Does not replace any particular country but is located in the Balkans

Presidential Imposter-Refers to the film Dave

William Cozzano, Eleanor Richmond-The Republican presidential ticket in Neal Stephenson’s novel Interface

underage girl-references to the film Wag the Dog

Environmental activist-The American President (the environmental activist, here it’s a lot less wholesome)

Assassination of Supreme Court justices-The events depicted in the novel The Pelican Brief

Fithp invasion-The alien invasion depicted in the Larry Niven novel Footfall, where a race of elephant-like aliens attacks Earth with asteroids due to cultural peculiarities (namely they operate in a herd structure and have the view that if two herds meet, you fight until one herd surrenders and then the loser assimilates into the winner)

General Henry Krull-General Krull, a dictator of an unknown country whose regime presumably murdered Lisa’s pen pal in the Simpsons episode Cape Feare

Lakshmi Rupavathi-Indian Prime Minister from the thriller film Maanagara Kaaval. The first name comes from the actress who portrays her

Dev Thirumoothy-The main villain of the film Sengottai. His first name comes from the actor portraying him’s surname

Vega-Japanese name of M Bison from Street Fighter

Grados Empire-Alien invaders from the anime Blue Comet SPT Layzner. Incidentally, like the Fithp, are from a work with a post-1991 Soviet Union that is forced to band with the US against the invaders

Harvester invasion-The invasion from the film Independence Day. Whitmore of course is also from this film

Martian Invasion-from the film Mars Attacks

Andrew Sheperd and Rob Rumson-candidates from the American President

Assassination of Jay Bulworth-Democratic presidential candidate in the film Bulworth

Ardistan-Central Asian nation from the novel Ardistan and Djinnistan. Replaces Kazakhstan (who did the hijacking in the film)

Hijacking of Air Force One-The events depicted in Air Force One

Alcatraz crisis-The events of the film The Rock

Columbiana-Florida stand-in from Go Home, Pioneer!

Kenneth Yamaoka-The titular character in the manga Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President

Bud Hammond-President of the United States from the television series Political Animals. Based off of Bill Clinton. Elaine Barrish Hammond as Secretary of State occurs a little earlier than depicted in the series (namely under our Obama analogue, who I won’t spoil)

Kidnapping in Gotham- the events of the film Escape from New York, which are set in 1997, he is rescued by Snake Plisken

Josiah Bartlet-President in The West Wing

Rage/Tectonic-Fictional band from the novel Fat Kid Rules the World, headed by Curt MacCrae, who is based on Kurt Cobain. Replaces Nirvana

Jonathan Aaron Steel-Kurt Cobain-esque rock star from The Crimson Idol by WASP

Stan Mikita’s Donuts-Tim Horton’s stand-in from the film Wayne’s World

Xyra the Princess Warrior-Xena: Warrior Princess knockoff from the novel Meddling Kids, which basically is what happens when you put Scooby-Doo, Nancy Drew and the Cthulhu Mythos into a blender

Monstermon-Pokemon parody from the video game Kindergarten

Chinpokomon-Pokemon parody from South Park

Hawt Dawg Man-Fictional animated character from the Life Is Strange video games

Tipton-Hotel chain from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Replaces the Hilton. The most infamous POW camp in North Sarkhan in this timeline is called the “Tinpot Tipton"(instead of Hanoi Hilton).

Aldavia-From A Christmas Prince. Replaces Iceland

Ishmaelia-Fictional African country from the novel Scoop. Replaces Tanzania

Brotherhood of Nod-Enemy faction from the Command and Conquer series, led by the enigmatic Kane, who here is a composite of Kane the immortal and Vandal Savage from DC Comics

Russia joined Oceania-The outcome of the events of The Bear and the Dragon, but with Oceania replacing NATO

New age of “CoDominium”-A nod to the sci-fi novels in the CoDominium universe, where the Soviets and US band together to rule the world and colonize space. Slightly modified as the CoDominium mentioned here is between Russia and the US and (as it turns out) it doesn’t really become as big of a deal as in that universe.

Jack O’Neill’s White Plague-An act of bioterrorism from the novel The White Plague. Doesn’t get as bad here as it did in the source material

12 Monkeys-the organization from the film of the same name, here the disease threatening to be released is the same as in the novel the White Plague

Tyler Durden's Project Mayhem- From Fight Club

The Order-White nationalist group based on the KKK in the film The Mating Call, released in 1928. Also happens to be the name of the upper echelon of the white nationalist group the “heroes” of The Turner Diaries belong to, which leads into…

Earl Turner-The “hero” of the white nationalist novel The Turner Diaries. Here he’s just a dead domestic terrorist, as is fitting

Hillman College-Fictional historically black college attended by Cliff and Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show

Yamaoka funding hate groups-Actual plot point in the Eagle manga, for the reasons described here.

Five Points Trinity Church-Westboro Baptist Church-esque sect from the film Red State

Ivan Tretiak-The Russian who tries to launch a coup against President Karpov in The Saint

Vladimir Makarov-The main villain of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Leader of the Russian ultranationalists

Ushi Party-Radical political party in the Russia campaign in Empire Earth. Here the equivalent of Modern Warfare’s ultranationalists

Vladimir Radchenko-Russian ultranationalist in the film Crimson Tide

Crimson Jihad-Terrorist group from the film True Lies

InGen incidents-The 1993 incident is the original Jurassic Park film’s events. The 1997 incident is the T. rex rampage through San Diego in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park III also happened, but isn’t as noteworthy

Santales-Latin American country from the Mission: Impossible episode Trek. Replaces Costa Rica

Darren Penward- the man responsible for cloning dinosaurs in the novel Carnosaur

Caprona-Fictional continent where dinosaurs and man coexist from The Land That Time Forgot

Gwangi Valley-The valley where prehistoric life lasted into the presence from the film The Valley of Gwangi

Motaba virus-Bioengineered virus from the film Outbreak

Devlin MacGregor Provasic scandal-the company frames Richard Kimball for murder in the 1990's film adaptation of the Fugitive, here that film's Richard Kimball is the son of the original

Eruption of Dante’s Peak-Refers to the events of the film Dante’s Peak

Comet known as Dottie, Ellie or Hamner-Brown-Dottie,Wolf Beiderman is the name of the asteroid in Deep Impact, Ellie is the nickname for the asteroid in Armageddon and Deep Impact and Hamner-Brown is the comet from Lucifer’s Hammer. Here they are all the same space rock that threatens to kill us all

Watt High School massacre-The school massacre from the novel Elephant

Derik Harris and Derwin Klebold-Derik and Derwn from Duck! The Carbine High School Massacre, replaces the Columbine High School massacre which it was based on and released months after

Murders disguised as suicides-JD and Veronica’s killings in the original Heathers film (and the musical adaptation thereof—TV show? What TV show?)

SAFETY-Society for the Advancement of Firearms and Effective Training for Youth, a fictional gun rights group from the film Thank You For Smoking.

Looten Plunder-One of the villains of Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Hexxus-Malevolent forest spirit who is the main villain of FernGully

Nigel Thornberry-Prominent documentarian and father of Eliza from The Wild Thornberrys

Earth stopped spinning-Refers to the plot of the film The Core

Unusually powerful hurricane-The hurricane from The Perfect Storm

Twisters-A reference to the film Twister

Loutish American named Ralph-Ralph and the events leading to and after his rule are from the film King Ralph. Cedric I is as well

Francis Urquhart-Prime Minister in the UK version of House of Cards. In this continuity, removed Hacker from power in 1992 and served through 1997

Duchess of Rannoch-The main character in the Her Royal Spyness series

Hell’s Gate-The gate from the anime Darker Than Black

Saiyan, Androids, Cell- the villains fought in each arc of Dragonball Z

Game-A-Vision-Fictional video game company from Code Monkeys

Day of Sagittarius-Space combat strategy game depicted in the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel and anime series

UIU stymying the Syndicate-Refers to the events of The X-Files TV series

Stargate device-From the Stargate franchise

Largest *kaiju*attack in history, Kilaks-This is from the film Destroy All Monsters, set in 1999. Seemed like a fitting conclusion to the Showa-era films (even though this film’s Gojira and Minilla are not the same ones as in the other films of this era, due to the outcome of the Gojira vs. Cthulhu fight)

Endbringers-Monsters from the the web serial Worm

Tom Strong-Pastiche of pulp heroes from the comic books of the same name

Tectonese-The alien refugees from the film Alien Nation

Prawns-The alien refugees from the film District Nine

Skrulls-the events of the Captain Marvel film. Carol here lost her powers after they were taken by Rogue, retired and then regained them in the accident in the film, the Film events follow more or less

Alien attack with asteroids-Refers to the events of Without Warning, a film made in similar style as Special Bulletin or Countdown to Looking Glass. Didn’t end as apocalyptically here

Power Rangers groups-The Power Rangers from the various series of the name

The Seven Guns-Superteam from the comic book Black Summer

Powerpuff Girls-From the TV show of the same name

Spawn-Comic character of the same name

Youngblood-infamous comic series by Rob Leifeld

Death of Superman-the comic book event of the same name

Batman crippled by Bane-refers to the events of Batman:Knightfall

Thanos Snap-Not the one from the MCU but the original one from the comics event Infinity Gauntlet which didn't last long. Thanos will try again and succeed later

Return of original Superman-events here are from the Comic series Kingdom Come, that series ending makes a good connection to the more pro Superhero stance the Government has in the 90's

Students of Charles Xavier-The X-Men

Sky High-From the Disney film of the same name

Whateley Academy-Setting of the Whateley Universe, an online-based superhero fiction community

Danny Torrance-The lead character in The Shining and the sequel Doctor Sleep. Possesses “the shining” which allows him to anticipate the coming horrors

Malevolent entity Giygas-The main villain of Earthbound (also known as Mother 2)

Lavos-The main villain of the video game Chrono Trigger, whose attempts to destroy humanity in 1999 are thwarted by a group of time travelers

Antarctic subterranean empire-The Subterraneans from Super Atragon

Baguans-The invading alien race from the anime Project Blue Earth SOS. Are stymied by the more benevolent Labyrinth Alliance

Gua-The infiltration-focused alien invaders from the TV series First Wave

The Ryunka-Alien attackers from the manga/anime Birdy the Mighty

Rigelatins-Alien invaders from the second Duke Nukem game

Vortex-The alien invaders from the original Ecco the Dolphin game. Needless to say aliens who can get thwarted by a time-travelling dolphin aren’t the biggest threat to humanity

Alien drug cartel in Houston-The alien attacker from the film I Come in Peace, which depicts an alien drug dealer using regular drugs to obtain endorphins from addicts to sell to other aliens

the deaths of several ABC reporters in 1992,

Death of ABC reporters-Refers to the events of 1992’s Ghostwatch with the BBC replaced by ABC

This increased interest did lead to tragedies later on, including the deaths of the Grave Encounters crew in 2011 and the disappearance of amateur ghost hunters investigating a local legend in 1994

Death of the Grave Encounters crew-Refers to the events of the 2011 film Grave Encounters

Disappearance of amateur filmmakers-The aftermath of the original Blair Witch Project film

Adam Susan,V- the events of the original V for Vendetta comic(the movie will come later),set in the 90's and makes mention of " War" here its the Eugenics Wars

Prime Minister Adam Lang-Semi-satirical version of Tony Blair (specifically fixated on his most unlikeable traits) in the novel The Ghost

Alan B’Stard-The comically evil Conservative MP from The New Statesman

Assassination of Urquhart-The final installment of the television version of House of Cards in the UK

Dark Kingdom, Negaverse-The villains in the Sailor Moon anime series.

Gargoyles brought over by David Xanatos-Refers to the events of the animated series Gargoyles

Mbwun rampage in a Natural History Museum-The events of the novel The Relic, part of the Agent Pendergast series

tablet in the museum-the source of all the exhibits coming to life in Night at the Museum

Plant growth in Metropolis-Refers to the massive plant growth that occurs around New York in the ending of the film A Troll in Central Park

Deathtrap theme parks-Meant to be a reference to Horrorland from the Goosebumps series

Dragon known as Dreadwing-One of the main villains of the comic book Gold Digger

Dissolution in 1999-Refers to the aftermath of the events that occurred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

## **Interlude:Keeping You Posted**

*Email Archived from: December 13th, 2009*

*To: kstewart@fn.org*

*From: jlester@arc.net*

*Subject: Updated Bestiary*

Kate-

I have compiled a list of the newly acquired specimens you requested information on. I’ve included tentative taxonomical classifications and estimated temporal range. Hopefully your doctor friend will be able to make good use of this information.

Additionally, regarding your query pertaining to Marvin’s project, I have no knowledge surrounding its planning or operation. I do not believe anyone in our facility was involved in its creation. A friend of mine has posited it might have been bankrolled by Biosyn, ITC or some other group with an interest in this project.

Please do not hesitate to reach out for further information. If UNIT would like to visit our facility, we certainly will be able to accommodate you—just make sure to let us know in advance. Rest assured that we run a tight ship over here and can guarantee security.

Best regards,

Lester

*Species Name:*Loligo Hylobates (“Squibbon”)

*Number of Specimens:*2 (1 juvenile male, 1 juvenile female)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*190,000,000 AD-270,000,000 AD

*Description:*A cephalopod adapted to life outside of the water. Is evidently an aboreal species. Behaves in manner similar to a monkey or ape. Possesses remarkably high intelligence. Omnivorous, with a preference for meat. Displays preference for birds or fish. Generally nonaggressive.

*Species Name:*Draco primus (“Prehistoric Dragon”)

*Number of Specimens:*1 (female juvenile)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*90,000,000 BC-60,000,000 BC

*Description:*Wyvern-esque creature. Capable of ingesting rocks, which it utilizes to generate flames via sparking. Uses flame to “cook” its prey (when having rocks). Carnivorous and typically aggressive. Aggression has been alleviated by socialization and threat level has been minimized by depriving access to rocks. Arrived with older specimen (presumed mother) that was terminated due to approaching a populated area. These are believed to be the same Dragon breed responsible for the Dragon infestation of England in 2002. It appears the species has one male member at a time.

*Species Name:*Dilophosaurus wetherilli (“Dilophosaurus”)

*Number of Specimens:*1 (adolescent male)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*120,000,000 BC-90,000,000 BC

*Description:*Capable of spitting poison that can blind and has a frill. Carnivorous, but only mildly aggressive. Poison enzyme appears to be highly acidic.

*Species Name:*Ungulagus hirsuttus (“Arctic rabbuck”)

*Number of Specimens:*4 (1 adult female, 2 adult males, 1 juvenile female)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*30,000,000 AD-70,000,000 AD

*Description:*Antelope-like herbivore native to arctic environment. Possesses thick fur coat to protect against elements. Descended from rabbits and/or hares. Herbivorous. Generally peaceful.

*Species Name:*Tyrannonasus imperator (“Tyrannonasus”)

*Number of Specimens:*1 (male adult)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*1,000,000 AD-1950 AD

*Description:*Member of the relatively recently extinct Rhinogradentia taxonomy. Utilizes a nasarium, as with other members of this taxonomy. Carnivorous, but not particularly aggressive to humans due to its size. Capable of pursuing its prey for long distances.

*Species Name:*Apodemus fulgur (“Lightning Mouse”)

*Number of Specimens:*1 (male adult)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*Unknown (presumed future)

*Description:*Resembles a large, yellow mouse. Capable of channeling electricity, which it uses for defensive and offensive purposes. Dose administered just shy of causing permanent damage. Displays remarkably high intelligence. Herbivorous. Easily provoked. Vocalizations sound like words “pee catch you.” Significance unknown.

*Species Name:*Alveanthropus deseretus (“Hive Man”)

*Number of Specimens:*3 (male adult)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*1,500,000 AD-5,000,000 AD

*Description:*Resembles human with a hunchback, thin coat of fur and spiked fingers. Adapted to survive in desert conditions. Seeks water and insects for sustenance. Genetic testing indicates status as offshoot of humanity. Appears to be eusocial, a la bees or ants. Omnivorous. Nonaggressive unless obstructed from food or water. Nonsentient.

*Species Name:*Eudyptes omnicidus (“Killer Penguin”)

*Number of Specimens:*1 (male juvenile)

*Estimated Temporal Range:*60,000,000 BC-1860 AD

*Description:*Possesses beak full of teeth and red eyes. Physiologically resembles a rockhopper penguin. Displays extremely high aggression. Carnivorous. Worryingly intelligent. Sealed in lowest level and fed via chute.

### **References-Keeping You Posted**

kstewart-Kate Stewart, head of UNIT from the revival series of Doctor Who

fn.org-UN emails are listed as un.org. The Federated Nations from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress replaces the UN in the 21st century, before it was the UWO from Batman:The Movie

jlester@arc.net-James Lester, head of the Anomaly Research Center (ARC) from Primeval.

Doctor friend-Take a wild guess

Marvin’s project-a reference to the 2006 television series Prehistoric Park, which features real-life naturalist Nigel Marvin travelling through time saving extinct creatures.

Biosyn-Rival company to InGen from the Jurassic Park franchise. Given that in this timeline Jurassic World is up and running, it would be logical for them to want to have an alternative method of operating a dinosaur park

ITC-company from the Michael Crichton novel Timeline. Experiments with time travel.

Squibbon-creature existing 200 million years into the future from The Future is Wild.

Prehistoric Dragon-creature from the mockumentary Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real, theorized as being from the late Cretaceous period.

incident in 2002-the opening of the film Reign of Fire, which don't become apocalyptic here

Dilophosaurus-Real dinosaur, but this specimen is consistent with the ones depicted in the Jurassic Park film (the novel had them as poisonous but no frill)

Arctic Rabbuck-creature created by Dougal Dixon in his speculative biology book After Man. Like most large herbivorous mammals by the time the book is set, the rabbuck is descended from rabbits

Tyrannonasus-from one of the first works of speculative biology, The Snouters, published in 1956. The top predator of an island inhabited by small creatures possessing unusual nose structures used for a wide range of things.

Lightning Mouse-Pikachu from the Pokemon franchise. Pokemon are (in this timeline at least) native to a future Japan.

Hive Man-Hivers from Dougal Dixon’s Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future. One of the last descendants of man before a very alien offshoot of humanity returns to Earth and wipes out much of the world’s biosphere.

Killer Penguin-From Zoo Tycoon 2. Can be created if you fail the cloning minigame or via mods. Capable of killing every other animal in the game.

## ***Millennium***

As the new millennium approached, much of the world was cautiously optimistic that things would improve from here on out. Despite slight inconveniences arising from the Y2K bug, the attempt by antichrist Angel Caine to initiate a nuclear holocaust which was averted when his own father realized his son's plan and destroyed his own son with a suicide bomb, a failed plot to to spread a deadly virus in Japan that became known as "Bloody New Year's Eve", and a plot to destroy the Vatican resulted in an antimatter explosion above Vatican city, none of the feared apocalyptic consequences occurred. As 2000 began, many assumed better times were on the horizon. However, that year and the one that followed would see major developments occur, all heralding the dawn of a new, uncertain era in world history. The early 2000’s would be marked by two major events. The first such event was the revelation of an ongoing covert invasion by a race of parasitic aliens called Yeerks. The invasion, revealed by Governor Eleanor Grant of California and Governor Al Donnelly of Washington, had apparently been ongoing in the later part of the 1990’s and been enabled in part by successful infiltration of a committee designed to monitor alien activity in the mid-1990’s, to the point of taking it over. A small group of human teenagers had evidently been combating this invasion for a while. With the secrecy of the invasion no longer present, the Yeerks began waging an open war on humanity. However, outnumbered by human forces and with aid from a rival alien species known as the Andalites, the Yeerks were ultimately forced to surrender. The consequences of this clash were enormous: humanity made peaceful contact with both the Andalites and the former Yeerk captive Hork-Bajir race. While initially wary, these two species would come to be accepted by most, with Andalite visits to Earth growing increasingly common (at least before the destruction of the Andalite homeworld by Furons, forcing Andalites on Earth to remain there) and President Bartlet allowing the Hork-Bajir to settle in Jellystone National Park. The next several years saw the mingling of human and alien societies on an unprecedented scale and incidents like the 2001 mass abduction of adults in the town of Retroville, Texas, were much more public than they had ever been before. Despite this newfound openness, some extraterrestrial activities (such as the same year’s incident in Alola and an incursion by aliens possessing an allergy to water which had pursued the Tenctonese to Earth) remained secret from the public at large and hardline groups such as the Forever Knights remained resistant to the openness towards aliens.

The other major event would be another terrorist attack—putting the likes of the Oklahoma City bombing and the Glass train attacks of 2000 to shame. September 11th, 2001 started out like a normal day for most of the country. However, the normalcy would soon be disrupted by a series of plane hijackings. The hijackers would ram the planes into the Wynand Towers and the Pentagon, with an additional plane crashing in Keystone before it could reach its unknown target. One of the towers would collapse, although the other was successfully prevented from falling by metahuman Mitchell Hundred (who would go on to succeed Mayor Kate Hennings as mayor of Metropolis), but over 1,500 individuals were killed in the collapse of the North Tower and in the attack on the Pentagon. Responsibility for the hijackings was initially difficult to figure out, but ultimately the attackers were identified: the Umayyad Revolutionary Council. The URC, under the leadership of Saif Rahman Yasif, targeted the US for a catastrophic attack due to hatred for the country’s support for Israel and role in increasing Middle Eastern instability. President Bartlet’s response proved more subdued than many voters had hoped (though he did put Metropolis under martial law following subsequent attacks and only withdrew it following reports of civil rights violations by General William Devereaux). It didn’t help that the president was already under fire for scandals surrounding MS and the relatively wild lifestyle First Lady Abigail Bartlet had led during the late 1950’s which had earlier led to a narrow victory over Republican Teddy Bridges. While he did launch intervention into the nation of Adjikastan and utilize low-level operations in the nations of Qumar and Basenji against Bahji terrorists, as well as in Hermajistan, he continued to focus more on domestic issues (in part discouraged from wider intervention by the opposition of allies like French President Antoine Doinel). The disappearance of the *Discovery One*spacecraft, handling the fallout of the Shiawise supreme court case (one of the Brankin Court’s most controversial decisions for the power it granted corporations, decided solely by the vote of swing justice Joseph Kirkland), investigating the disappearances of the town of Grantville and island of Nantucket, dealing with the treachery of Vice President Sky Garland after a failed assassination attempt and implementing a generally liberal policy agenda took the bulk of his attention. This attitude provoked rogue elements of his administration to attempt a coup while he was visiting the Area 7 government facility, but the effort ultimately failed. Nevertheless, under Bartlet Adjikastani leader Ismail Karim was arrested for crimes against humanity and the Counterterrorism Unity and Department of Homeland Security (including its Fringe Division) was created. He pursued a surprisingly interventionist course even beyond the Middle East, removing dictator Salvador Mendoza from power in San Esperito, killing Saif Rahman Yasif months after the September 11 attacks, prevented genocide in the African nation of Equatorial Kundu, expanded the Counterterrorism Unit and International Secret Intelligence Service and implemented the ARIIA computerized defense system. His administration also had to deal with the mysterious return of 4,400 individuals who had disappeared over the past 60 years and came back possessing unique abilities. The backlash to their return echoed earlier concerns about mutants and these had to be balanced with efforts to respect the rights of the 4,400 returnees. He also had to contend with the rise of the vigilante terrorist Kira and deal with the threat of civil war in Japan provoked by the National Defense Family terrorist group. However, alleged softness on terrorism enabled Republican David Hoope to win in 2004, only for Kira to attempt to manipulate him, leading to his suicide and resulting in the easily manipulated George Sears to replace him though he would resign mere months into his presidency in favor of his vice president John Blutarsky.

In 2002, another major threat to world stability emerged in Britain. This threat came from an experimental virus developed by Umbrella for the past few years. After overzealous animal rights activists unleashed some monkeys it had been tested on, Britain would fall victim to the first major epidemic of the century: The Rage virus. Within a month, most of London had to be evacuated and sporadic outbreaks were occurring across the British Isles. Ultimately, after two months, most of the infected ended up dying (though thousands, including the cast of the controversial reality show Big Brother, were killed). However, as evacuees moved back into London, a second outbreak occurred. This one ultimately threatened to become global, as the virus spread across the Channel Tunnel to Europe and from there around the world. Fortunately, the outbreak ultimately was contained successfully, though almost 3 million people (mostly in the UK) ended up dying before that occurred. This narrowly-averted apocalypse did not help the struggling government of David Edward Claire or the newly made King Blackadder who had used time travel to reveal himself to be a distant member of the royal family, which already was distrusted by many Britons. Investigation into Rage’s origins revealed Umbrella’s role in creating the disease. This incident—coupled with the Raccoon City incident in 1998 involving modified Trioxin—led to Umbrella being essentially forced out of Europe and North America (at least publicly). The company would only survive by relocating to Africa, bolstering despots in return for continued operation. Despite this, Umbrella bioweapons would continue to make their way around the world—giving rise to such horrors as the Stitched in Adjikastan, the Willamette zombie uprising, a Trioxin outbreak in London within a year of the Rage outbreak, the DC2 fiasco in Texas, The "Green Flu" outbreak in Keystone, Georgia and other Southern States made worse as the virus was not identified as a Trioxin virus, originating from an evolution of Mad Cow Disease and dubbed "Mad Zombie Disease", which led to the area being quarantined and dictators such as the Governor and Negan coming to power in those areas, contamination of a supply of chicken nuggets with a modified Trioxin strain exclusively affecting children and greater catastrophes in the years to come. It also sparked broader concerns about biological warfare—bolstered by other incidents like the earlier White Plague and Motaba outbreaks and the subsequent legged fish incursion in Japan.

Other world affairs likewise proved interesting. In Germany, Chancellor Martin Schormann offered automatic citizenship and stipend payments to up to 6 million Jews should they choose to move to the country in atonement for the Holocaust. In France, an occult ritual briefly opened a portal to Hell that let demons through the Arc de Triomphe before it was contained by Samnosuke Akechi. Britain experienced a surge in non-Andalite alien activities, with the crashing of a spaceship in the River Thames (which set off a chain of events that killed Prime Minister Joseph Green and led to the ascension of Harriet Jones to 10 Downing Street), the near-impact of a spaceship resembling the *Titan*cruise ship in London, the short-lived occupation of Earth by Daleks and the brief possibility of first contact with the Toclafane under the short-lived Prime Minister Harold Saxon all occurring during this decade. The Prime Minister of Malaysia was nearly assassinated by the fashion industry in order to maintain a supply of child labor, though this attempt was averted. Russia, meanwhile, chose to move back away from the policy of growing closer to the United States with the rise of Ivan Krutin to the presidency. Krutin withdrew Russia from Oceania and the CoDominium, sought to curb the rise of criminal oligarchs like Balalaika, Boris Yurinov and Platon Makovsky and worked to rebuild Russian global influence, working with China to back the failed coup in Pottsylvania launched by Kombayn Nickoladze. Largely, however, his efforts failed and increasing numbers of Russians began to turn to the rising Ushi Party to restore greatness. Krutin would ironically be brought down by the same underaged girl who caused President Hammond's downfall and be replaced by Sergei Platov and then Platov's own daughter, Irina Putina. Beyond that, the mid-2000’s saw several other major developments around the world. The Jurassic World theme park was opened in the year 2005 after being certified as safe by paleontologist Ross Geller and immediately became a major success for the next decade (lasting until a genetically modified dinosaur caused a containment breach), as did the Japanese underwater maritime park LeMu (which lasted until it flooded in 2017). The African nation of Matobo elected Edmond Zuwanie to power. Zuwanie, initially hailed as a liberator for his role in fending off the Drakan invasion in the 1990’s, ultimately would come to be regarded as one of history’s greatest monsters, rivaling even Ligeria’s infamous Andre Baptiste. The Pluto’s Kiss virus would result in the takedown of the Internet worldwide in 2005, prompting government restrictions on Internet usage in the next few years. Meanwhile, India in 2004 would be devastated by a massive tsunami, which while brutal did manage to avoid a potential act of bioterrorism. Tokyo would experience severe upheaval, including the infiltration of the city by a shapeshifting alien race known only as Worms, the violent vigilante justice of the Black Rider, clashes between alien attackers and the Gransazer and the Twilight Incident sparked by supernatural phenomena that claimed 30,000 lives.

As for the supernatural community, for much of the early years of the 21st century, things were generally calm. However, this calmness would cease around 2004 as a new conflict would begin. The Japanese magical community was thrown into turmoil as factions of magic practitioners fought each other over control of the Fuyuki Grail, believed by participants in the conflict to be the long-sought Holy Grail itself. While likely not the artifact in question (many scriptural analyses argued the cup of Christ was most likely a simple-looking cup and archaeologists generally agree the artifact would almost certainly be located somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean), the Fuyuki Grail was nevertheless an artifact of great power and encouraged many in Japan to invoke ancient heroic spirits to bring about its acquisition. Many wizards outside of Japan chose to prioritize minimizing the disruption this conflict would cause to the Japanese city of Fuyuki, lest it reveal the existence of the supernatural community at large. There were also increases once again in the specter of a supernatural apocalypse, from various demonic entities, which pushed many wizards to work to aid the Watcher’s Council and their Hunters and Slayers, as well as their allied Shadowhunter organization, in preventing this from occurring, as did a few other figures such as the metahuman Jesse Custer. The main reason efforts to provoke supernatural apocalypses were prevented from achieving success was due to their efforts, coupled with infighting between demons (initially led by the demon lord Mundus before he was forced out of the mortal world by the Demon hunter Dante) and members of the Great Old One-worshipping Nightrise organization, as they favored very distinct sorts of apocalypses. There was generally less worry about the loss of secrecy, despite situations like the Metropolis mass unconsciousness caused by a battle between greek Titans and Demigods, attacks by the vampiric Chiropterans in Okinawa the rise of a psychic terrorist group known only as The Movement, large-scale demonic possession in Barcelona, the outbreak of Abnormal Agonist Syndrome in Japan or the growing role of fairies in non-magical organized crime (something that did not escape the notice of Tama Riyadi, Clinton Days or other more mundane crime lords).

The period from 2006 to 2008 would ultimately prove to be a chaotic year time period. 2007 saw the beginning of a major economic downturn. It would prove to be one of the world’s deepest economic crises, causing skyrocketing unemployment and mass protests. It is still hotly debated what the exact incitement of the Great Recession (later dubbed the New Great Depression) was, but there are two dominant theories. The first is revelations of unscrupulous practices by companies like Churchill Schwartz, Feldman Sims, Fidelity Fiduciary, Ewing Oil, Dennis Nylon, the Bluth Company and Sterling Cooper driving lower investor confidence, causing an economic downturn. This idea was favored by most figures on the left, who regarded the recession as a failure in the capitalist system and at the time, most Americans agreed. On the other hand, propertarians like Nobel Prize-winning economist Martin Vreeland and 2008 presidential candidate Cosmo Kramer argued the crisis was largely caused by the terrorist activities of Tyler Durden, who was believed to be the split personality of Calvin Locke. during this year. Durden’s anarchist-leaning fight club network targeted several major companies’ financial headquarters. Attacks on them destroyed numerous records that were crucial to day-to-day business activities. What is ultimately clear, however, is 2007 marked the beginning of a major economic downturn that would continue to worsen for several years. President Blutarsky suffered decreased popularity from this as well as nearly starting a war in Tyrgyzstan before British ambassador Mark Brydon was able to dissuade the push for such a conflict and was condemned for CEDA’s poor response to Hurricane Katrina. He also earned controversy for having implemented the PATRIOT Act over objections from civil libertarians. Borrowing heavily from the Homeland Security Act of 1998 (which had been scrapped due to a conspiracy by the intelligence community to ensure its passage), the PATRIOT Act was seen as indulging in overreach. Leaks by members of DedSec, the Rising Tide hacker group led by Dan Hern and whistleblowing by Eric Cartman and Michael Westen in later years cast a dark picture on the Blutarsky administration’s policies on surveillance, as well as torture (though defended by the government and counterterrorism agents such as Bryan Mills). The Blutarsky White House also was willing to work with private military contractors overseas—working with the likes of Blackthorne, Scorpion Computer Systems, Black Ghost, MannCo, Tamerlane Industries and H&C Logistics to ensure the costs of counterterrorism weren’t too steep. False positives also resulted in innocents such as Rizwan Khan being imprisoned and often treated inhumanely. In the later years of Blutarsky’s term, the US would begin using modified Sentinels to fight terrorist groups, over staunch protests from Genosha. Protests against his administration thus became very common and a number of war veterans would return from the dead seeking to vote him out of office and ended up killing several of his White House staff and Blutarsky barely surviving an assassination attempt that managed to kill the Archbishop of Ishmaelia. His attempts to distract via such things as hosting the American Dreamz reality TV show failed to revive his popularity. Ultimately, he would be assassinated (alongside Vice President Raymond Becker and several cabinet members) by a superhuman coup led by former superheroes John Horus and the Homelander. Homelander was killed but John Horus escaped, later being tracked down and destroyed by his former teammates. The military, FBR and CEA would restore order by placing first Matthew Santos and then Senator Fletcher J. Fletcher in the White House. Fletcher would preside over a state of emergency due to Horus’ actions, environmental crises (which he preferred to ignore) and various scandals (such as showing corporate favoritism to Connex-Killen Oil) and would ultimately end up murdered by his own vice president Caroline Reynolds. Reynolds would not enjoy her office for long as she soon would resign to escape being exposed (something that ultimately occurred anyway). Her resignation would pave the way for two tragic presidential deaths, as her immediate successor James Johnson, Winters’ choice of VP, meeting his end in the Big Shell incident. This caused the rise of the germophobic lounge singer Johnny Gentle, chosen due to his general lack of ambition and amicable attitude. Gentle would prove surprisingly consequential for a president often mocked by the likes of Tom Dobbs as a buffoon and only lasting a few months, establishing the Organization of North American Nations and converting large swaths of New England into a toxic waste dump before losing the 2008 election (though he would retain leadership of the ONAN overall, making him in some respects a “second president” for a decade afterwards). His replacement, Arthur Coleman Winters was killed by the alien Toclafane just a week into the presidency. However, by this point the election had already been won by David Palmer.

Meanwhile, 2008 was the year the first cracks began appearing in the hiding of the supernatural world. It began with the invention of a synthetic blood substitute. Originally intended to help with transfusions, it provoked the revelation of a truth previously only known to secret societies and the occasional civilians: vampires were real. The then current head of the Vampires Mina Tepes publicly revealed the existence of vampires. The “coming out of the coffin” was immensely controversial, as vampires sought to assert their human rights and worked to win over the public by helping bailout the US government as they did for Japan, resulting in the formation of a Vampire recognized nation known as the Bund. However, many humans were wary of these vampires, especially individuals involved with the Watcher’s Council and the Hunters, who argued vampires were, with few to no exceptions, evil. The attack on the Alaskan town of Barrow by a more animalistic bloodline of vampires also bolstered anti-vampire sentiment globally. The actions of benevolent Vampires such as Alucard and Eric Brooks were seen as rare exceptions. Many civilians backed groups like Humans First who argued that “God hates fangs” and for a policy that denied vampires rights. These policies did find some support—Senator Nathan Petrelli, before his death, was popular among anti-vampire citizens, as was talk show host Barbara Yates, newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson Jr, pundit Peter Petrawicki and other individuals critical of the already-existing metahuman communities. However, some vampire activists (most notably Bella Cullen, Barnabas Collins, Louis de Pointe de Luc and former US President Abraham Lincoln, himself a Hunter before being turned) managed to shift public opinion more in their favor, as did support from other political leaders like former Presidents Bartlet and Kelly (who had long outgrown the anti-metahuman stances he had once held). However, a sizeable number of Americans continued to fear and hate vampires (which led to such events as the targeting of vampire-run institutions like St. Vladimir’s Academy), which prompted a large-scale movement to create a vampire homeland. Transylvania was the most commonly favored site for such a thing (despite opposition from local politicians like Nicolae Carpathia).

Culturally, many argued this period marked the beginning of an era of creative sterility. Prominent film critic Jay Sherman characterized the period as an “era of stinkers” and while one could defend the quality of this period’s culture, it certainly was becoming increasingly repetitive. Attempts to break out of the current mold by performers like Kirk Lazarus would inevitably be only made possible by their participation in more generic works. In the realm of literature, following the success of the Angelica Button series, young adult literature became predominant and knockoff stories would spawn rapidly. The likes of the Barry Trotter series(which like Angelica Button was believed to be based on exploits the authors had witnessed while attending Hogwarts in the 1990's, The Dessert Games and the Dark Moon series(which like some shows had an equivalent in the Monster world as "Two Lights") would skyrocket in popularity. Comedy seemed to devolve into lowest-common-denominator programs like So Random! and the iCarly webseries rather than retaining the wit of earlier times. Celebrity culture reached new heights, as prominent actors such as Vince Chase and Tracey Morgan became even larger-than-life and unreasonable than ever before. Under Suspicion and other true crime shows would gain enormous popularity in this time period, as reality shows grew increasingly inhumane, as the likes of Celebrity Rape-An-Ape, Drawn Together(a reality show but with Toons),The Total Drama series and Rollerball gained popularity. Some reality shows—such as American Superstarz and Burning Love—became vehicles that vaulted nobodies into stardom. This was another facet that many criticized—but it was something that would persist in the decades to come. The period also saw social media sites such as Ume.com and ChumHum gain popularity, enriching their bankrollers such as Peter Gregory. Overall, these new platforms proved a mixed blessing. On one hand, it made people better able to interact with the wider world and aided philanthropic institutions like the Genie Foundation, the Connor Project and the Jeffersonian Institute in spreading awareness of their programs. On the other hand, it contributed to cyberbullying and suicide, especially among younger generations.

### **References-Millennium**

Y2K bug-Commonly believed apocalyptic disaster. Only slightly worse than in real life

Angel Caine-Antichrist from the film Holocaust 2000. Has two endings the first one occurs(Robert Caine exiled with a newborn son) and then the second one(Robert sacrifices himself to kill Angel)

Bloody New Years Eve- a plot thwarted in the manga 20th Century Boys

Antimatter explosion above the Vatican-A plot point in the novel Angels and Demons

Yeerks-Alien parasites covertly working to take over from the Animorphs novels and television series.

Eleanor Grant-Governor from Nick of Time, composited with the governor depicted in Animorphs (who was implied to be governor of California and was also a woman)

Al Donnelly-Washington gubernatorial candidate from the 1996 film Black Sheep.

Andalites, Hork Bajir-Aliens from the Animorphs books. The former are basically alien centaurs with no mouths who are warring with the Yeerks but are still kinda assholes. The Hork Bajir are a race of reptilian aliens that are primitive but peaceful, at least until the Yeerks possessed them all

Jellystone National Park-The park Yogi Bear resides in from Hannah-Barbara cartoons. Replaces Yellowstone National Park here (and I will neither confirm nor deny the possibility Ranger Smith is guarding SCP-2000 in this continuity)

2001 Texas abduction-The events of the Jimmy Neutron movie

Incident in Alola-The events of Lilo and Stitch with Alola from Pokemon:Sun and Moon replacing Hawaii

Glass train attacks-The deliberate derailing of trains carried out by Mr. Glass in the film Unbreakable

Wynand Towers-Alt-version of the Twin Towers. Named for Gail Wynand from The Fountainhead.

Mitchell Hundred-Superhero from the comic Ex Machina. Him saving one of the Twin Towers and becoming mayor of New York was a canon part of the comic. A less-severe 9/11 also helps explain why it didn’t end up defining Bartlet’s presidency

Kate Hennings-Mayor of New York in the film Sweet Home Alabama. To an extent occupies the role of Rudy Giuliani (in that she is the moderate Republican mayor on 9/11). Mayor Randall Winston from Spin City is the mayor of neighboring Gotham City during this time

Umayyad Revolutionary Council-Terrorist organization from the Tom Clancy novel Locked On. Led by Saif Rahman Yasif

Antoine Doinel-The lead character in several films by French director Francois Truffaut, first appearing in 1959’s The 400 Blows

William Devereaux-The main villain of the film The Siege, a film reckoning with terrorism made three years before 9/11

MS scandal-Part of the plot of The West Wing. Causes Bartlet’s approval to tank

Abigail Bartlet’s wild 1950’s lifestyle-Allusion to the fact that Stockard Channing played both Abbey Bartlet on The West Wing and Betty Rizzo in the most notable film adaptation of Grease. Here Abigail is not literally Rizzo but a relative who acted similarly in her youth

Ismail Karim-Refers to the events of the game SOCOM: Navy SEALS Combined Assault

Counterterrorism Unit-CTU, the organization Jack Bauer works for in 24

International Secret Intelligence Service-ISIS, the spy agency from the Archer TV series

DHS Fringe Division-The fictional Homeland Security department from Fringe

Teddy Bridges-Republican president who preceded Mackenzie Allen in the series Commander in Chief

Discovery One-The expedition into space launched in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey

Shiawise supreme court case-Supreme Court ruling in Shadowrun that enabled the rise of megacorporations

Brankin court-Named for Thomas Brankin, conservative Chief Justice in the drama series First Monday

Justice Joseph Kirkland-The swing vote in a case governing abortion in the TV film Swing Vote

Disappearance of the town of Grantville-Refers to the backstory of the alternate history series 1632 by Eric Flint

Island of Nantucket-The backstory of SM Stirling’s Island in the Sea of Time. Which gave us the ISOT acronym for sending random countries/people to other places/times, ISOTed

Treachery of Sky Garland-Refers to the events of the novel Father’s Day where Garland (as Vice President) attempts to secure the presidency from the incumbent president. This takes during Glenn Allen Walken’s period as acting president during Zoey Bartlet’s kidnapping in The West Wing

Coup attempt in Area 7-Refers to the plot of the novel Area 7, part of the Shane Schofeld series

Salvador Mendoza, San Esperito-Both from the Just Cause franchise

Equatorial Kundu-From The West Wing. Events here seem to be reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide (though much later and here with a happier ending)

ARIIA-Rogue computer system from the film Eagle Eye

Return of 4,400-Refers to the events of the series The 4400.

Terrorist vigilante Kira-Light Yagami from Death Note, who seeks to make himself the god of a perfect world using the Death Note before he himself was killed and had his name written in the book

Threat of civil war, National Defense Family-The events of the film Patlabor: The Movie 2, where a terrorist group in the then-future year of 2002 attempts to pit civilian and military officials against each other by using military craft to attack civilians

George Sears-President from the Metal Gear Solid video games. After leaving office becomes the mercenary known as Solidus Snake

John Blutarsky-From Animal House. The epilogue shows him becoming a Senator and a tie-in released in 2003 has him be revealed by the end to have become president. He is the counterpart to George W. Bush in this timeline

Rage virus-The virus from the 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later films. Less devastating to Britain than in the source material but still a major issue

Cast of Big Brother killed-Refers to the series Dead Set, which features a fictional season of Big Brother occurring during the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. Big Brother is a controversial show given that Big Brother was real in this universe

David Edward Clare- a composite of the Prime Ministers from Love Actually and Number Ten both based off Tony Blair

Raccoon City incident-The events of the first Resident Evil game

Stitched-The zombie-esque monsters from the comic book of the same name. Basically think halfway between Rage zombies and the Crossed

King Blackadder-refers to Blackadder Back and Forth where Blackadder uses time travel to make himself King and Baldrick Prime Minister(he was quickly voted out), in Blackadder the third, Blackadders descendant switched places with the King and ruled as the king from then on so this would make him a descendant of the royal family, which he pointed out to become King

Zombie outbreak in Willamette-The zombie outbreak depicted in the original Dead Rising video game

Trioxin outbreak in London-The zombie outbreak depicted in Shaun of the Dead

DC2 fiasco-Nothing to do with DC Comics, instead being the name of an experimental poison gas that kickstarts a zombie outbreak in rural Texas in the film Planet Terror

Green Flu outbreak in Keystone-refers to the events of the Video Game Left 4 Dead

Outbreak in the South-Refers the the events of the Walking Dead, where the Governor and Negan are also from. Here the series take place the the quarantined areas. Is mostly the Comic's plot but with the characterization of the TV show. The Telltale Walking Dead game and the spinoff Fear the Walking Dead are also in here

"Mad Zombie Disease" the name of the zombie outbreak in the Zombieland films

Contamination of chicken nuggets-Refers to the events of the film Cooties, where a contaminated supply of chicken nuggets causes an elementary school zombie outbreak

Legged fish incursion-The events of the horror manga Gyo where legged fish (and later legged machines) attack Japan (specifically Okinawa and Tokyo)

Martin Shormann, reparations-From the story Atonement, where Germany lets in 6 million Jews to make up for the Holocaust. 6 million jews is actually very generous since only 2 million jews died in this universe. Shormann could be our Angela Merkel analogue

Hell portal in France-Refers to the events of the original Onimusha game

Surge in non-Andalite alien activity-All of these examples are from the revival series of Doctor Who. The spacecraft in the Thames is the Slitheen incursion from the Aliens of London/World War III two-parter, the spaceship impact is from Voyage of the Damned and the Toclafane invasion (along with Harold Saxon) are from the three-parter made up of the episodes Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

Harriet Jones-Woman who ascends from MP to Prime Minister in Doctor Who after the Slitheen attack

Harold Saxon-The Master in disguise in the revival series of Doctor Who

Fashion industry targeting Malaysia’s Prime Minster-Refers to the plot of Zoolander.

Ivan Krutin-Putin stand in from Monica in the Kremlin

Sergei Platov-Russian President from Trinity Six

Irina Putina-teenage girl leader of Russia from My Girlfriend is the President, in case you can't tell this is a theme in that series

Balalaika-Russian gangster from the manga Black Lagoon

Boris Yurinov-Russian gangster from the 2000 film Snatch

Platon Makovsky-Russian oligarch from the film Tycoon

Pottsylvania-Country where Boris and Natasha originate from in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Replaces Georgia, as that is where the Fearless Leader (our Stalin analogue) is from

Kombayn Nickoladze-Billionaire who launches a coup against the Georgian government in the original Splinter Cell video game

Jurassic World-The theme park from the film of the same name.

Ross Gellar-One of the lead members of the cast of the sitcom Friends. Also a paleontologist. Masrani needed someone who wasn’t Alan Grant to sign off on his park and to be fair to Gellar, it took ten years before anything went wrong

LeMU-Underwater theme park from the visual novel Forever17

Edmond Zuwanie-The main antagonist and ex-ruler of Matobo from the film The Interpreter. The description of Zuwanie is more or less how he is described. Seen as a stand in of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, which the man himself noticed

Ligerian President Andre Baptiste-Fictional dictator of Liberia in the film Lord of War. Ligeria is not a typo and refers to the fictional country from the series InSecurity

Pluto’s Kiss virus-Computer virus that does as described in .hack

Tsunami averted bioterrorism-Refers to the events of the film Dasavathaaram. The tsunami in question is the infamous 2004 Indian Ocean one

Infiltration by Worms-A key part of the plot of the Kamen Rider Kabuto series

Violent vigilante justice of the Black Rider-The activities of the headless biker of the same name in Durarara!

Clash between aliens and the Gransazer-The conflict at the root of the Chou Sei Shin series

Tokyo Twilight Incident claimed 30,000 lives-Event in Tokyo Xanadu prompted by a Grim Greed

Alien intruders killed by water-The invaders from the film Signs. Rather stupidly, chose to invade a world over 70% made of something that kills them. Here they are enemies of the Tenctonese from alien Nation, who are also harmed by water though they are more easily forgiven as they were refugees

Empire of Lexos-Alien invader from the web series France Five, a Sentai homage featuring five French superheroes defending the Earth

The One-The final enemy the Animorphs face.

Forever Knights-Fanatically anti-alien group from the original Ben 10 series

Delayed to 2015-Significance of this to be revealed

Fuyuki Grail-Refers to the Holy Grail depicted in fate/stay/Night. Since there are so many other Holy Grails, its significance has been downplayed here

Simple-looking cup-Refers to the grail from The Last Crusade

Shadowhunters-The supernatural-combatting group that is the focus of The Mortal Instruments series

Jesse Custer-The main protagonist of the comic book Preacher (as well as the live-action adaptation)

Mundus-Demon king who serves as the main villain of the original Devil May Cry game

Nightrise organization-The main villain of The Power of Five books

Metropolis mass unconsciousness-The mass unconsciousness normal people in Manhattan experience during the battle between Camp Half Blood and the forces of Kronos in the final Percy Jackson and the Olympians novel The Last Olympian

Chiropterans-Vampire-like beings that serve as the main antagonist of Blood+

Psychic terrorist group known as The Movement-The nebulously evil organization Nick Scryer is tasked with infiltrating in Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Mass demonic possession in Barcelona-A reference to the Spanish film [REC]

Abnormal Agonist Syndrome-Disease from DDD. Is connected to demonic activities and tends to take root in suicidal, paranoid or otherwise unwell individuals

Fairies involved in non-magical organized crime-The enlistment of fairies into the activities of Artemis Fowl in the novels of the same name

Tama Riyadi-Indonesian crime lord who is the main villain of the film The Raid

Clinton Days-Drug dealer who serves as the main villain of the comic book Red Team

Churchill Schwartz-Banking company from the second Wall Street film. Its actions trigger the financial crisis in-universe

Feldman Sims-Goldman Sachs-esque firm whose employees appear in one episode of The Last OG

Fidelity Fiduciary-Bank depicted in Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns

Ewing Oil-Oil company owned by the Ewings in the drama series Dallas

Dennis Nylon-Fashion company owned by the man of the same name in the film A Simple Favor

The Bluth Company-The real estate company operated by the Bluth family in Arrested Development

Sterling Cooper-Advertising company from Mad Men

Martin Vreeland-Fictional Nobel Prize-winning Austrian economist from the novel Alongside Night

Cosmo Kramer-Kramer from Seinfeld. Inspired by the political affiliations of the man who inspired him, Kramer here is a libertarian figure who serves as the analogue to a certain doctor with a memetic following…

Tyler Durden-Tyler Durden and his fight club network Project Mayhem from Fight Club. While these events take place after the book, the sequel Fight Club 2 has Tyler continue to terrorize

Calvin Locke- reference to the theory that the main character of Fight Club(who is secretly Tyler as well) is actually a grown-up version of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. Locke is the name of a Calvin parody from the comic Spencer and Locke

Nearly starting a war in Tyrgyzstan-Refers to the plot of the British TV series The State Within

CEDA-FEMA stand-in from Left 4 Dead. Worse at their job than their real world counterparts (even at their worst)

Conspiracy by the intelligence community-Refers to the efforts of the NSA and FBI to get a surveillance bill passed in the film Enemy of the State, which anticipated modern concerns about mass surveillance despite being released before 9/11

Members of DedSec-The hacker group from the Watch\_Dog game series

Rising Tide-Hacker group that Skye was a member of in the Agents of SHIELD TV series

Dan Hern-Julian Assange parody from the television series Asylum

Eric Cartman-Yep, the one from South Park. He’s our Snowden analogue, based off the episode Let Go, Let Gov where he leaks details of NSA mass surveillance

Michael Westen-Burned(Spy term for being blacklisted) spy from the TV series Burn Notice.

Bryan Mills-The main hero of the film Taken, a former CIA agent who utilized the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique to track down his daughter. This is an example of torture working in movies but not in real life

Blackthorne-Blackwater stand-in from The Unit

Scorpion Computing Systems-Actually a real corporation, but more notable in the context of the TV series Scorpion

Black Ghost-Weapons company responsible for perpetuating a civil war in the fictional African nation of Pyunma in Cyborg 009

MannCo-Company that overseas the mercenaries in Team Fortress 2

Tamerlane Industries-Fictional company from the film War Inc.

H&C Logistics-Weapons manufacturer from the manga Jormungand

Rizwan Khan-Lead character in the Indian film My Name is Khan, who is taken into FBI custody for saying he isn’t a terrorist to the president of the United States, though he ultimately is released and the actual terrorist captured

War veterans returning from the dead-Refers to an episode of Masters of Horror called Homecoming that depicts veterans rising from the dead to vote a president based on George W. Bush out of office.

Assassination attempt-The assassination of the Archbishop of Ethiopia (here Ishmaelia) disguised by a conspiracy in the film Shooter

American Dreamz-Reality show from the film of the same name, featuring another Dubya knockoff president

Assassination by superhero John Horus-The incident that incites plot of the deconstructive comic book Black Summer, where Horus kills the president (unnamed but clearly meant to be George W. Bush) and his cabinet, sparking a war between his former teammates, him and the federal government

Homelander-Superhero from The Boys, specifically based on the actions of his comic version, who like Horus kills the President, fitting enough both were created by Warren Ellis and were part of teams with Seven in their names

Raymond Becker-Dick Cheney expy/parody from the film The Day After Tomorrow, replaces him, the event of the film do not happen

Fletcher J. Fletcher-Parody of George W. Bush from the novel A Planet For the President. Luckily he ends up getting assassinated before he unleashes biological weapons in this continuity

Connex-Killen Oil-Company from Syriana

Caroline Reynolds-Governor turned Vice President from the television series Prison Break. Affiliated with the nebulously evil Company. She ascended to the presidency by poisoning her predecessor in the source material too

James Johnson-President who is killed in the Big Shell incident in the Metal Gear Solid games. Incidentally this makes him the second president in just two years killed by another president.

Johnny Gentle-From the novel Infinite Jest. The ONAN and New England becoming a toxic waste dump are elements of the novel

Tom Dobbs-Robin Williams’ character in the film Man of the Year. A homage to (and analogue of) Jon Stewart

Synthetic blood substitute, vampires coming out of the coffin-The events of the series True Blood (as well as the novel inspiration Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, though the series takes precedent)

Mina Tepes, The Bund- Both from the Manga Dance in the Vampire Bund in which Mina Tepes is the leader of the vampires and publicly reveals their existence

Bailout the US government-The novel United States of Monsters features vampires revealing themselves to bail out the US government during the financial crisis, which we can now add to the list of things not as bad as in our timeline

Attack on the Alaskan town of Barrow-The attack on Barrow, Alaska depicted in the film/comic 30 Days of Night

Nathan Petrelli-Senator from the television series Heroes. Has a very hostile attitude (think less Robert Kelly, more Bolivar Trask) towards metahumans (besides himself of course, because “I can fly, I’m hardly dangerous”), so it’s unlikely he’d take kindly to vampires.

Barbara Yates-Television host from The 4400 who distrusts the returnees

J. Jonah Jameson Jr-Meant to be the most iconic version depicted by J.K. Simmons. He's a Jr because the original J.Jonah Jameson would be dead by this point. This also makes him the son of John Jameson. The Spider-Man he condemns as a menace (and wants pictures of) is actually Ben Parker, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's son that inherited his father's Spider powers

Peter Petrawicki-Conservative pundit who is paranoid about the “Carl” alien statues in An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Bella Cullen-Yeah, I had to include Twilight here. If it makes you feel better, you can assume this is Bella from Luminosity

Barnabas Collins-Key character from the series Dark Shadows, while he started off as a villain he eventually became the main character and reformed(due to viewers liking him so much)

Louis de Pointe de Luc-Key character in The Vampire Chronicles series, specifically serving as the main protagonist of Interview With A Vampire

Former President Abraham Lincoln-Refers to the ending of the novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in which Lincoln becomes a vampire

St. Vladimir’s Academy-The setting of the Vampire Academy novels

Nicolae Carpathia-Romanian politician who is secretly the Antichrist in the Left Behind series

Jay Sherman-The lead character in The Critic

Kirk Lazarus-Fictional actor from the film Tropic Thunder

Angelica Button-Harry Potter-esque series from The Simpsons

Barry Trotter-Parody of Harry Potter from the books of the same name

The Dessert Games-Parody of the Hunger Games from the book of the same name

Dark Moon-Twilight parody conceived by the website Funny or Die

Two Lights- A parody of Twilight but with humans in a world of monsters from Monster Prom

So Random!-Show within a show in the Disney series Sonny with a Chance

iCarly-The webseries from the show of the same name

Vince Chase-Fictional actor from the series Entourage

Tracey Morgan-Star of TGS With Tracey Jordan from 30 Rock

Under Suspicion-True crime series produced by Lori in the Under Suspicion series

Celebrity Rape-An-Ape-Fictional reality show from the TV series Time Trumpet. All the other shows listed are from shows/films of the same name

American Superstarz-Reality show from the dark comedy God Bless America, replaces American Idol

Burning Love-Parody of the Bachelor from the show of the same name

Ume.com-Social media site from Sarah Dressen

ChumHum-Social media site from The Good Wife

Peter Gregory-Parody of Peter Thiel from the television series Silicon Valley.

The Genie Foundation-Make-a-Wish analogue from The Fault In Our Stars

The Connor Project-Mental health organization set up by Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen

The Jeffersonian Institution-Our Smithsonian analogue. The setting of the TV series Bones

## ***Dawn of a System***

The years from 2009 to 2012 were nothing if not eventful. The Earth temporarily found itself relocated to a completely different solar system and faced with an attack from a ruthless alien race known as the Daleks. In London, global warming led to massive flooding and a Tyrannosaurus rex rampaged down the highway, forcing a secret British institution known as the Anomaly Research Center to reveal its existence (as well as that of temporal anomalies) to the public. France lost control of a portion of Paris, forcing the government to wall off District 13 from the rest of the city. The first *kaiju*attack since the 1998 creature confused with Gojira occurred in Metropolis, devastating several landmarks and killing hundreds. Empire City was quarantined by the US government following an incident that granted many residents of the city superpowers—an event which triggered the city’s temporary collapse into gang warfare. An alien race known as the Zentraedi attacked the Earth, provoking a war against them headed primarily by the Federated Nations that would last until 2014. An unusual phenomenon caused dead young people to revive (although thankfully, unlike with Trioxin or Solanum, these undead individuals had no desire to consume the living). The 2008 election in the United States was won by Democrat David Palmer, who would be forced to handle the aftermath of the nuclear terrorist attack on Dallas (though the cities of Los Santos and Metropolis which were also targeted would be spared) and withstand a failed push for war in Wasabia, Ramat and Abbuddin. This caused enough stress that Palmer would resign and his successor (House Speaker Richard Martinez, who despite his status as a caretaker president had to deal with a terrorist attack on the Washington Monument by aliens detained in the Inostraka prison and the attempt to teleport their homeworld into Earth’s orbit) would declare a special election in 2010. This chaotic series of events led to the rise of moderate Republican Fitzgerald Grant, who after defeating New Austin Governor Arcadia Alvarado had to deal with the Great Food Storm, the HAL 18 crash in Japan, increasing instability in Draka due to the presence of the prawns (leading to the acquisition of a squadron of robots created by Tetravaal), a zombie outbreak in Havana, the creation of the FAYZ around Perdido Beach, several “sharknados” impacting major cities, an alien incursion into a more run-down part of London, an outbreak of brain-eating spiders in the city of Zenith, the blanketing of Dubai with a massive sandstorm that rendered the city uninhabitable, the freak destruction of much of the Japanese government leading to the rise of high school girl Yukihino Ohana to the position of president, the thwarting of Ras Al Ghul's apocalyptic plans by the hands of Batman and, most alarmingly, the fall of the Qumari government to Khaled Al-Asad, who shocked the world by detonating a nuclear device in Agrabah before US troops could move into the city, killing thousands. This period also saw 20 million die in the worldwide loss of consciousness that showed what was occurring 6 months into the future, Chinese records losing track of an entire month, the discovery of a new energy source that enabled the creation of the Gears, the successful negotiation of control over the Kashmir between India and Helmajistan thanks to the efforts of Teddy Rist and Japanese quantum computers (including the black-market super quantum unit intel processor that works as a remover of inhibitions) becoming dominant worldwide. This period also saw waves of democratization hit totalitarian regimes, with the fall of Cold War-era authoritarian leaders like Haffaz Aladeen, Desta Rehal, Gabriel Sakoa, Vladislav Dukhovich, Pagan Min, Anton Vincent, Magnus Kane and Khaled Al-Fayeed, most of whom would be replaced by more democratic governments.

2011 marked the occurrence of several of the things that would largely come to define the decade. First was the beginning of the mass sterility epidemic. A new, more virulent strain of syphilis (dubbed the R-strain) caused rampant infertility around the world. While it was very limited in scope at the beginning of the decade, its spread would leave over 90% of the population sterile by 2020. This sparked major concerns about the viability of the world’s population and the survival of the human race. The second key event of 2011 was the outbreak of the Russian Civil War. While Russia first Boris Matveyev and then Viktor Petrov had been drifting away from its once-close ties to Oceania, the ultranationalist Ushi Party still regarded him as a threat to its support base. Consequently, members of the Ushi Party launched an attempted takeover of the country. The Second Russian Civil War would continue for five years before ending with the Ushi Party taking power in Russia, sparking global concern. The most positive significant development to occur in 2011 was the rise of increasing numbers of superheroes. After years of reduced superhero activity (which had led to ascension of many supervillains to power like the team of the Fraternity which took itself out, and the occupation by Supervilains in places like Bomb Queen in New Port City and Megamind in Metrocity, as well as prompting the rise of the Bank of Evil to subsidize these villains’ activities), superheroes finally began to make comeback with these villains being deposed (though Megamind would become a hero himself). In 2011, many heroes returned in a short span of time. While there had been heroes continuing legacies before such as Jason Todd becoming Batman after succeeding Bruce Wayne Jr and battling a new sadistic Joker, these events were largely contained. This return would be brought forth by SHIELD Director Nick Fury Jr to implement the long-planned Avengers Initiative, reuniting the long disbanded team, consisting of the Thor, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff (both possessing slowed aging due to exposure to super soldier serums), Bruce Banner II, Tony Stark Jr, and Clint Barton. The timing also could not have been better given one of 2012’s biggest events: the Battle of Metropolis. This event, which saw aliens attack the city, was thankfully limited in terms of lives lost and property damage and, as mentioned, saw the debut of the Returned Avengers team. Other heroes such as a new Superman and Aquaman a well as the return of heroes such as Batman and Wonder Woman occurred and consequently the Justice League. The role of street level heroes cannot be overstated. This included Spider-Man(who was killed in 2018 after contending with the Devil's Breath Outbreak, but was succeeded by Miles Morales and his children Ben and Anne "May Day" Parker), the Canadian mercenary Wade Wilson, Billionaire Oliver Queen, Bart Allen as the Flash in Central City. However, these heroes operated on a much lower profile than most recent supers and there was no era-defining superteam (save for occasional collaboration between Queen, the Flash and the New Supergirl).

The incursion of aliens had a negative consequence of increasing fears of global catastrophe coming this year (though there were some that held this would be a date of ascension to a higher plane of existence). These fears, spurred by the end of the Mayan calendar, had some validity: geologists predicted major environmental disasters in private to many governments, prompting several to invest in emergency “arks” for evacuation and, by sheer coincidence, the Syndicate’s Furon allies had initially scheduled their invasion of Earth for 2012 before pushing it back to incorporate new genetic modification techniques to their forces and curb sabotage by their rivals. Before that however, one major event would transpire.

While magic had never fully gone away, as time went on, magical forces and entities had become less common and wore often hidden from humanity. This had been beginning to change as early as 2008, with the vampires revealing their existence, shapeshifters being discovered thanks to the televised transformation of werewolf Kitty Norville (aided by the previously witnessed transformations of President Richard Monkton and Karen White which were at first dismissed as hoaxes, though individuals such as Scott Howard were very public about their lycanthropy) the existence of trolls being confirmed by the Norwegian government following a 2010 incident, sirens openly terrorizing Australian fishing ports and at least one wizard listing himself as such in the phone book. Many governments were deeply interested in magic—to the point that the Department of Statistical Anomalies had opened up a subdepartment geared towards using time travel to research why magic had declined and potentially bring it back. However, in 2011, the veil between the supernatural and normal world began to unravel. At first it was small things, like the discovery of mermaids (as well as a government conspiracy hiding their existence) near Draka. Ultimately, it culminated with Charles Deckard’s opening of Pandora’s Box. The Box, having been discovered by Lara Croft in 2003, had been repressing much magical energy and when it was opened, it caused numerous magical beings to reappear around the world. It also caused some more unusual side effects, like the reappearance of former President Norton, who had disappeared just after leaving office. The increased energies caused the dissipation of what had been known as “the Mist,” which had up until that point kept strange things secret. With this dissipation, the world at large became aware of the existence of the magical world and of strange and sometimes deadly creatures other than vampires and shapeshifters. Initially, many were inclined to panic. However, ultimately, thanks in part to Deckard’s negotiations as well as the intervention of organizations like the SCP Foundation, the existence of magic and strange creatures came to be accepted by many. However, these newly emerging groups often faced discrimination, harassment and moves to be denied certain rights.

The long awaited apocalyptic events of 2012 did come. In 2009, Scientists discovered neutrinos from a solar flare were heating up the planet's core. The governments of the world set about preserving as much as they could and making plans. Among the events to occur was the eruption that resulted in the destruction of Jellystone (though inhabitants including a group of intelligent Moreau Sapien bears and the Hork-Bajir were rescued by SCP-2000, a bunker built at Jellystone to preserve humanity in case of such an event). What followed next was the splitting of California from the rest of the US, something which Presidential candidate Nehemiah Scudder is believed to have predicted. The split led to then Governor of California Reiner Wolfcastle declaring himself President. There was also flooding in cities such as Tibet, the Vatican, and the USS James T.Cassidy crashing into the White House, though President James Sawyer was rescued and the waves receded by the superheroes Thor and Aquaman. The cause of the cataclysm was tracked down to the reawakening of the Ancient Ones following an SCP Foundation containment failure. The Ancient Ones required specific sacrifices to prevent their awakening, usually warranting a formula later popularized in horror films, which had yielded survivors such as Ash Williams. The SCP Foundation even had possession of several killers, including a Cenobite, murderers Patrick Bateman and Kevin Khatchadourian and several undead from the "Green Flu" trioxin outbreak. 2012 is the year these sacrifices failed and the old ones awoke, though they would be quelled when sacrifices resumed, this time more controlled involving a smaller number of sacrifices and killers. A large numbers of violent animal attacks that would take years to abate began. There was also the elevation of the Cult of Yujin in Japan and their attempt to wipe out most of humanity thwarted when most of the members intended to carry this out were killed by Johan Leibert. Several Australian cities were covered in a jam-like substance that consumed organic matter before a way of dissolving it was discovered. The Earth was lastly threatened by the xenoplanets Nibiru, predicted to endanger Earth previously in 1995, however, this planet, as well as Melancholia, were destroyed by Galactus as part of a deal the Fantastic Four had made with the planet eater. Galactus also consumed the Old One sentient xenoplanet Hellstar Remina, though it is more accurate to say Remina consumed him before Galactus exploded in cosmic energy, destroying Remina as well. One major event would occur in 2014 in the form what be came known as the Ghost Dance War as Native American Leader Daniel Howling Coyote, woud lead a rebellion of Native American tribes which concluded when Coyote performed the ritual of the Ghost Dance to summon spiritual forces which saw the war end with the tribes becoming recognized as the NAN(Native American Nations) and declare independence from Gentle's ONAN.

By 2016, most of the newly emerged supernatural beings (such as wizards, hobbits, argonians, khajiit, taurens, elves, trolls, orcs, Deep Ones, a group of friendly monsters recently freed from imprisonment under Mount Ebbott and many more) still continued to stick with similar beings. Despite this segregation, members of the supernatural community did mingle with humanity at large, supernatural locations from Skrull Island and Waldstein Academy to the Nightside fell under non-magical governmental authority and their secrecy was now gone. The specter of bigotry wasn’t the only thing that would plague the world for the next several years. 2014 would see 2% of the world’s population disappear worldwide, sparking widespread confusion even from those steeped in supernatural knowledge. In the United States, President James Sawyer (the former Vice President whose ascent was made possible by the death of Adam Benford, Grant’s former Secretary of Homeland Security who was killed in a bioterrorism incident in Tall Oaks months after taking office) had to deal with an attempted coup, and a East Hun Chiu sponsored attack on the White House. In this decade, America was said to have lost the war on drugs (nearly 20% of the population in some parts of the country was addicted to Jesse Pinkman’s Blue Sky and Teresa Mendoza’s infamous Substance D alone) and the collapse of SHIELD after it was revealed HYDRA had covertly undermined the organization since the 1940’s. Sawyer would be shot while making a speech at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg but would be saved by a pocketwatch, which ironically belonged to Abraham Lincoln.

Another notable event with later repercussions was the kidnapping of American scientist Emmett Brown by the Afrikaner Weerstandsbebeweging (that ended with Brown’s rescue but the disappearance of his captors), the Draka based group time travelled to the time of the American Civil War, creating an alternate universe in which the South Won. An interdemensional rift would open the same year, releasing a Kaiju that was eventually destroyed but would result in the creation of the Jeager Program, giant Mechas built with the intent of combatting the emerging Kaiju(though Ironically Japan, who originated the modern Mecha, would be little involved in this conflict due to dealing with the events of Third Impact and their own Kaiju attacks utilizing the newly designed EVAS in battle. This program (carried out by the Federated Nations’ Pan-Pacific Defense Corps) furthered already existing Japanese robotic mecha technology, coupled with technology used by the various Power Rangers groups, and reapplied it specifically to combatting these newly emerging *kaiju.* Japan endured an EMP terrorist attack on Japan, the rampage of the monster Majin Buu, and the destruction of Neo Tokyo(or Tokyo 3) by the superhuman Tetsuo, the spontaneous appearance of the Black Spots and accompanying monsters globally, and a thankfully contained fungal disease outbreak in Texas. Ultimately, controversies surrounding President Garrett Walker's ties to a Chinese money laundering scandal led to his resignation and replacement with Vice President Frank Underwood, who would seek to restore confidence in the government with his “America Works” jobs program. However, controversies surrounding this program (which was scrapped by Congress and replaced by the annual Purge night at the behest of members of the hard-right New Founding Fathers network, abetted by an epidemic of brain-eating parasites in DC), his judgement (his initial choice of a Vice President, Congressman Nicholas Brody, was framed for attacking the CEA headquarters) and his personal conduct (his decision to nominate his wife Claire as his 2016 running mate severely divided the Democratic Party). Coupled with another recession caused by the hacker group fsociety, rising tensions with China after a US operative assassinated several leaders of the Sino-Sahara Oil Corporation, the Grand Central Station terrorist attack and the failing war against the rising Islamic Caliphate Organization, Underwood ended up on the path to electoral defeat. He would be replaced by his own wife, Claire Underwood. Despite Claire's attempts as campaigning and ruthless attempts, she would lose to the polarizing Republican ticket of Herbert Garrison (an elementary school teacher who only ran for President to thwart a scheme by creatures known as Memberberries) and Quentin Carroway (the head of the Clamp Organization after Daniel Clamp was humiliated in a Mowai attack on his building and changed his name to Lionel Luthor), both of whom were often accused of being unprofessional, corrupt and enabling bigoted radicals (including a rumored cult in Michigan). Garrison would ultimately vindicate this, as after taking office he would launch an unprovoked attack on Canada (on the advice of his advisor Damien Thorn) that nearly unraveled the ONAN before he was impeached.

This decade would see the worst Solanum outbreak in decades, which started in China and spread through human trafficking, refugees and the black market organ trade. Draka soon faced an outbreak. War broke out following refugees fleeing between Asran and Sharzadi which resulted in both nations nuking each other. The outbreak was otherwise contained when american Gerry Kane discovered the zombies ignored the terminally ill and a vaccine was synthesized, despite several setbacks like the Battle of Yonkers in Metropolis. There were however, major political changes such a Tropico becoming a democracy, Tibet gaining independence, Russia becoming an expansionist Theocracy, East Hun Chiu appeared depopulated but housing most of the survivors underground, while East Hun Chiu lost most of its population, and Iceland being completely depopulated. Both the Pope and the British royal family survived. In France the palace of Versailles was the site of a massacre and burned to the ground. Israel and Qumran made peace and their territories renamed Unified Palestine. Mexico spurned by both the outbreak and the return of Aztec deities in the awakening of magic, was renamed Aztlán. Qumar's oil fields had also been burned during the outbreak.

Meanwhile, China experienced drastic changes from the outbreak, and what was dubbed the “Pitchfork Rebellion” against the communist government, tensions from which would lead to the country’s (temporary) breakup with most of the nation becoming Democratic. Southeast Asia began experiencing major unrest as a nativist revolution overtook Vietmahl, massacring foreigners and embarking on a collision course with the more cosmopolitan Sarkhan. The Shining Path movement began to gain a great deal of popularity across Latin America, taking over multiple governments in South America. One of the few exceptions, Brazil, reacted against the rise of the Shining Path by embracing a homegrown fascist ideology. In Israel, Prime Minister Meyer Landsman rejected the previously-agreed-to peace treaty with the Palestinians, resparking the conflict in the region. One of the most ominous developments of the decade came in East Hun Chiu. In 2005, West Hun Chiu supreme leader Choi Kim had begun campaigning for reunification with West Hun Chiu, even after a coup and his brief replacement by an alien cockroach. After his death in 2011, his son Pong Sin Il took over and was able to reunite the two Hun Chius under his rule in 2013, however, he would serve as a corrupt leader, leading to his CEA backed assassination by talk show host Dave Skylark, who was sent into the country to interview him. He was succeeded, and Hun Chiu fragmented once more. Kyung Kim took over East Hun Chiu, with mysterious attacks by a *kaiju*and giant robot in West Hun Chiu. Kyung Kim began seeking to build influence in Asia. With China and Russia facing civil wars and the West largely distracted in the Middle East and, later, by what was dubbed the Ushi War, the now in name only Greater Hun Chiu Republic gained influence over Japan, Sarkhan and other Pacific states.

In 2015, the long-anticipated Furon invasion finally commenced, after decades of covert activity and aid to the Syndicate (which had suffered a schism between their main Men In Black operatives and the organization leadership once the Furon deal was discovered by rank-and-file agents) against other would-be invaders like the Visitors, the Overlords, the Espheni, the Gamilas, the Qu, The Mimics(which would conquer a large portion of Europe)and the Irkens. The Furons utilized a range of genetically engineered troops (including transforming their erstwhile partners in the Syndicate into Furon-human hybrids known as “Thin Men” and psychic-enabled troops dubbed Ethereals). The invasion was fought by the FN-backed Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (also dubbed XCOM), an offshoot of UNIT funded by most countries’ governments. The conflict ultimately lasted for a scant year before the invaders were defeated(despite brief interruptions during the ill-fated attempt to integrate Earth into the apartheid-esque Galactic Federation, the temporary occupation of Earth by alien robots, a short-lived series of demonic attacks occurring globally and the much more peaceful contact with aliens such as the Gems and the alternate universe of Equestria, which the anonymous artist Flanksy is believed to be a member of), but there were consequences. The Furon invasion saw pro-Furon saboteurs engage in terrorist activities—most notably, an attempted nuclear attack on London that, while averted at the last minute by the government of Michael Callow, paved the way for the rise of the authoritarian Albion First Party, which would form a coalition with David Edward Clare’s Party to get Britain from the EU (a coalition that would later lead to the foundation of the Shepherd Party under John Vosler). Several governments, including those of Ligeria, Genosha, Freedonia and Bahavia, would collapse completely during the invasion. The Furon invasion attempt also drew the attention of another alien race known as the Ravagers, who would launch an invasion in 2017 and be fended off by the Earth Defense Force, an enlarged version of XCOM granted status on par with UNIT rather than being a unit within it. Additionally, the Furons’ attack delayed the Ushi Party takeover of Russia by about a year. However, once that reprieve was up, the ultranationalists had control of the country. While initially open to diplomatic efforts (albeit only after a near-collision course with Carroway’s America over intervention into Canada and a proxy conflict erupting against the Ukrainian government of Vasyl Holoborodko), after a false-flag terrorist attack was committed at a Russian airport, Russia launched a war against Oceania. Russian military forces attacked Berlin, London and Metropolis. The war, while initially devastating (sparking the BLACKLIGHT outbreak) ultimately concluded swiftly, as the Federated Nations 108th Task Force ensured no nuclear weapons were used in the conflict and Russian President Salnikov rejected the cries of hardliners for the fulfillment of Red Dawn’s goals. For this, Salnikov was nearly removed, however, this attempt was averted and remaining Ushi Party radicals like Grigori Stoyanovich would be defeated in the coming years (though remnants would kill President Carroway and lead to the ascension of Monroe Bennett.

The remainder of the 2010’s proved to be just as volatile, with Bennett’s resignation and replacement with Selina Meyer (a moderate Democrat chosen for unity purposes who ran in a special election in 2018 and lost to Republican Elizabeth Winters), the attempted invasion by the Moon-based “Fourth Reich,” a remaining Nazi moonbase which was averted by the space battleship USS John Blutarsky, increased aggression by Hun Chiu, the Little Haven zombie outbreak in Britain, the global arrival of the possibly extraterrestrial “Carls” (which indirectly led to hundreds of deaths due to terrorist attacks by those fearing they heralded invasion only for them to disappear), the Metropolis smallpox outbreak dubbed “the dollar flu", the full secession of the autonomous province of Genovia from Spain, the forced quarantine of Seacouver due to a modified Trioxin strain outbreak, Earth’s temporary takeover by the alien Boov (thankfully a rather bloodless incursion), the death of half of Earth’s inhabitants thanks to the actions of alien warlord Thanos (which was thankfully undone by the Avengers in the next decade), the ascension of crime lord Michael “The Boss” Nolan to the presidency after Winters’ suicide following the failure of a terrorist plot conspired between her and Ushi hardliners, the disappearance of all online players of the MMORPG Elder Tale, the Salem riots sparked by a cybersecurity breach (which combined with scandals surrounding the manipulation of social media data by PR firm Prentiss McCabe increased worries about privacy) and escalating ecological disasters that culminated in the destruction of the seaQuest Deep Sea Vehicle, rampant shortages in the US that ultimately sparked a massacre in Bakersfield and other catastrophes. Megacorporations increasingly gained in power—the state of California in particular now separated from the US, became a practical playground for the likes of Arasaka, BL Industries, Rossom WorryFree (which transformed several employees into human horse hybrids, based on magic from the alternate universe of Equestria) PetroFex(which carried out the assassination of British Prime Minister Charles Flyte after an attempt to get compensation for an industrial accident in Teesside) and Orbital Tech. In spite of these, there were positive elements that occurred in this decade. The Awakening opened up new fields for agencies like the BPRD and institutions like Miskatonic University, which became more public and could be funded by the likes of Hubertus Bigend to conduct research into magitech. This enabled increased technological development. Artificial intelligence systems grew more sophisticated in this time period. While AI had been present earlier (among other cases, Aperture Science’s failed GLaDOS system, the HAL systems used in NASA expeditions in the early 2000’s, the controversial Samaritan supercomputer that enabled mass surveillance through social media networks like The Circle, the rogue Zero III program, the already existing hostile AI XANA, rogue digital assistant IRIS, multiple copies of the video game dating simulator Doki Doki Literature Club which featured a character(based on code inspired by the AI Giffany) becoming self aware(one of which may have been responsible for impersonating several online camgirls after hacking their accounts), the Wreck it Ralph Virus, the useful but duplicitous Proteus IV and the primitive ARIIA system intended for automated defense of the US, this decade saw the emergence of the first truly cooperative AI: MULTIVAC. Originally existing merely as a system of vacuum tubes within uMaster devices that became widespread, the MULTIVAC system quickly proved to be generally benevolent, even if not necessarily completely in line with the desires of humans it interacted with. It had even had a hand in choosing Johnny Gentle for the 2008 candidacy and though he had a shortlived Presidency, Gentle rewarded MULTIVAC by using ONAN to spread his influence to Mexico and Canada. Besides AI, virtual reality developed greatly. This allowed for other technological advances, such as the first commercially viable flying car that gained enormous popularity in this time period. The biggest discovery (unbeknownst to many) was the discovery that faster-than-light travel was in fact scientifically possible. While this was known starting in 2018 (the year the Nobel Prize went to physicists Leonard Hofstadter and Washu Hakubi for calculating this), it would take nearly a century to apply this theory.

### **References-Dawn of a System**

Completely different solar system-Refers to the Dalek invasion in The Stolen Earth episode of Doctor Who

London flooded due to global warming-Part of the backstory of the film Split Second, which made a rather bold prediction with how London would look in the future

Tyrannosaurus rex rampage on highway-Refers to the events of the last series of Primeval

Wall off District 13-The plot of the film District 13

*Kaiju*attack in Metropolis-Refers to the events of the movie Cloverfield

1998 creature mistaken for Gojira-refers to the 1998 American Godzilla film, later bought by Toho, renamed and then killed by the true Godzilla on screen

Empire City quarantined-The events of the video game infamous. Empire City is canonically New York-inspired—here it’s more an Albany replacement

Zentraedi attack-Refers to the plot of the Macross anime franchise

Reviving young people-The events of the novel Generation Dead. Features intelligent zombie teens who just want to live their (un)lives rather than eat brains or anything

David Palmer-From 24. Not the first African American president here, but the first one to be elected to the position.

Nuclear terrorist attack on Dallas-The terrorist plot depicted in the film Unthinkable, which targeted 3 cities with 3 nuclear devices. Ultimately there was a fourth device that served as a fail-safe when the plotter broke down under the threat of his family being tortured

Ramat-Middle Eastern country that had its monarchy overthrown in Agatha Christie’s novel Cat Among the Pigeons

Wasabia-Saudi Arabia stand-in from the novel Florence of Arabia

Richard Martinez-President depicted in Cory in the House

Alien attack on the Washington Monument-This and all surrounding events are from the TV series The Event. Incidentally the president in this series also has the surname Martinez

Fitzgerald Grant-President of the United States in the television series Scandal. Administration is much shorter than on the show and the events of the series after the conclusion of the first B613 plot didn’t really occur here

Great Food Storm-The events depicted in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

HAL 18 crash-Airline crash in the visual novel Remember11

Tetravaal-The robots created in South Africa in the film Chappie

Zombie outbreak in Havana-Refers to the Cuban zombie film Juan de los Muertos

FAYZ around Perdido Beach-The zone all adults disappear from in YA novel Gone and its sequels

Several “sharknados”-Let’s be real, there’s only one thing I could be referencing here

Alien incursion-The attack depicted in the film Attack the Block

Brain-eating spiders-Refers to the plot of This Book is Full of Spiders, Seriously Dude Don’t Touch It, the sequel to the novel John Dies at the End

Zenith-Capital and largest city in Winnemac in the novels of Sinclair Lewis

Sandstorm in Dubai-The sandstorm that renders Dubai uninhabitable from Spec Ops: The Line

Rise of a high school girl-Refers to the ascension of Yukihino Ohana to the presidency of Japan in My Girlfriend is the President

Ra's Al Ghul's Apocalyptic plans-Refers to the "near Apocalypse of 09" an event mentioned a few times as involving Ra's Al Ghul and being thwarted by Batman in Batman Beyond

Khaled Al-Asad-Middle Eastern terrorist/dictator from the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The nuclear incident occurred in-game

Agrabah-City where the Disney version of Aladdin was set. Is the capital of Qurac in this continuity and replaces Baghdad

Worldwide loss of consciousness-Refers to the titular event of the FlashForward television series (and the novel it was based on)

China losing track of a month-Refers to the Chinese novel The Fat Years, where a prosperous China in 2013 has no records from February of 2011

New energy source, Gears-From the video game Guilty Gear

Teddy Rist-Titular character in the TV series The Philanthropist. The negotiation refers to the episode “Kashmir”

Japanese quantum computers-Part of the backstory of the video game X. Also just a little bit of the common Japan Takes Over the World trope that a lot of people embraced back in the 1990’s

Super quantum unit intel processor-The SQUIP, a pill-like device that “helps” its user by forcing them to act a certain way from the musical Be More Chill. Oh, and IT’S FROM JAPAN!!!

Waves of democratization-An allusion to the real-world Arab Spring, although here it’s not centered on the Middle East as purely

Haffaz Aladeen-Sacha Baron Cohen’s character in The Dictator. Had a similar fate as Gaddafhi, who was his main inspiration

Vladislav Dukhovich-Deposed dictator of Belarus from The Hitman’s Bodyguard, which actually centers on getting a key witness safely to his trial at the Hague

Desta Rehal-Dictator of the fictional African nation of Bahari in the television series Scorpion

Gabriel Sakoa-Dictator of West Monrassa from Spooks

Pagan Min-Ruler of Kyrat in Far Cry 4. The player character helps revolutionaries opposed to his rule—though neither of the potential replacements are all that nice

Anton Vincent-Tyrannical ruler of an unnamed island nation in the 2018 film Dear Dictator. Played by Michael Caine

Magnus Kane-Military dictator of the vaguely Latin American nation of Costa Estrella in the film Princess Protection Program

Khaled Al-Fayeed-Abbudin’s ruler whose death kickstarts the plot of Tyrant. Here he is ultimately replaced by the rather westernized Barry Al-Fayeed

Mass sterility epidemic-An amalgam of the backstory of The Handmaid’s Tale and the film Children of Men

Russian Civil War-Backstory to the Modern Warfare games

The Fraternity-Supervillains that secretly run the world in the comic Wanted, mostly kill each other in that series

New Port City-City taken over by the supervillain Bomb Queen in the comic book of the same name

Metrocity-City taken over by the supervillain Megamind in the film of the same name. Goes a lot better than Bomb Queen’s rule as Megamind was more of a punch-clock villain than genuine evildoer

Bank of Evil-The supervillain-funding bank Gru goes to for a loan in the original Despicable Me film

Avengers Initiative-This and the surrounding superhero-related events are from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Jason Todd as Batman-meant to be the Christian Bale version from the Nolan films while Bruce Wayne Jr is from the Tim Burton/Shumacher films and the animated series

Superman,Batman, Wonder Woman,Aquaman-the reappearance of the Justice League in the DCEU

Devil’s Breath outbreak, Mayor Osborne-Refers to the 2018 Spider-Man Playstation 4 video game. Spider-Man's dying in 2018 is poignant as both his creators passed away that year. Miles Morales is Peter's successor in Ultimate marvel and Into the Spiderverse, Anne Mayday Parker is a combination of alternate universes in which peter and MJ have a girl(mostly Renew Your Vows and Spider-Girl) and Ben Parker is from Spider-Man: Life Story but is a composite of Peter's cinematic versions

Oliver Queen II-The Arrowverse/CW series version of him. Several DC heroes here are their Arrowverse versions

New Supergirl-Supergirl from the series of the same name. Has crossed over with the Arrowverse, but is a separate world (thanks to the show initially being aired on CBS though this was later changed). Not the original Supergirl, who died in Crisis On Infinite Earths but one of the original Superman's grandchildren.

Ascension to a higher plane of existence-What occurs at the end of the Mayan calendar in the comic book The Invisibles

Environmental disasters, arks-The lead-up to the film 2012

Jellystone eruption-Counterpart to the Yellowstone volcano erupting in the 2012 film

Splitting of California-occurs in some fiction. it occuring in 2012 is a reference to Escape from LA

Nehemiah Scudder-insane prophet who becomes President in 2012 in If this goes on... also replaces the fanatic religious President mentioned in Escape from LA

Rainier Wolfcastle-Our Shwarzenagger stand in from the Simpsons, him becoming President is a running joke in pop culture such as the Simpsons Movie and Demolition Man

Awakening of the Ancient Ones-The ending of the film Cabin in the Woods, where an unnamed organization fails to fulfill a ritual that involves enacting a horror film plot to appease these ancient gods

Ash Williams-protagonist of the Evil Dead series, reference to deadites appearing in Cabin in the Woods

Patrick Bateman-killer from American Psycho-the man in the tarp in Cabin in the Woods, SCP interference here is likely how he was able to get away with his murders

Kevin Khatchadourian-shool shooter(sort of, he used a bow and arrow) from the film We need to talk about Kevin, his presence here alludes to a normal seeming person named Kevin among the monsters in Cabin in the Woods

Green Flu-The events of the video game Left 4 Dead, based on a cross promotion in which Left 4 dead enemies appeared in Cabin in the Woods

New Rituals-refers to Dead by Daylight, a video game in which an entity traps the same serial killers and victims in a time loop to perform sacrifices constantly. Here this replaces the sacrifices from Cabin in the Woods

Cult of Yujin-Translated version of Cult of Friend, the cult that serves as the main antagonist of the manga Twentieth Century Boys

Johan Liebert-the antagonist of the manga Monster, him taking out the Cult of Yujin is a reference to the two sharing the same creator

Violent animal attacks-Refers to the plot of the TV series Zoo

Covering of Australian cities in jam-like substance-Refers to the plot of the novel Jam, which features Brisbane getting covered in a jam-like substance that likes to consume all organic matter it comes in contact with

Xenoplanet Nibiru-A common fixture in 2012 doomsday cosmology, the concept was conceived in 1995

Melancholia-Gas giant that collides with Earth in the film of the same name

Galactus-the planet eater from Fantastic Four

Hellstar Remina- Sentient planet that endangers Earth in the manga of the same name, doesn't end as apocalyptically as it does in the manga. The number of people who go insane is also reduced to a sect of the cult of Yujin. This also means the idol named Remina survives

Ghost Dance War, Daniel Howling Coyote-backstory of the RPG Shadowrun

Awakening of Magic-From the backstory of Shadowrun. Tweaked since magic didn’t fully go away in this universe

Televised transformation of Kitty Norville-This event occurs in the novel Kitty Goes to Washington, part of the Kitty Norville series about a werewolf radio host in a (gradually unmasked) urban fantasy setting

Richard Monkton-refers to the President turning into a Werewolf in The Werewolf of Washington

Karen White-the ending of The Howling in which Karen transforms into a werewolf on live TV, dismissed as a hoax by many with some doubt

Scott Howard- The main character of the original Teen Wolf, completely in control of his transformation and even uses it publicly to be better at basketball

Existence of trolls confirmed following 2010 incident-The ending of the film Trollhunter, a found footage film about people hunting trolls in Norway

Sirens terrorizing Australia-Refers to the Tidelands Netflix series

Wizard listing himself in the phone book-Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files did this in Chicago

Time travel to research magic’s decline-Refers to the plot of the novel The Rise and Fall of DODO

Discovery of mermaids-Based on the film Mermaids: The Body Found

Charles Deckard’s opening of Pandora’s Box-Refers to the film Legendary

Lara Croft-From Tomb Raider. Her finding Pandora’s Box refers specifically to Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Reappearance of President Norton-Refers to the reappearance of President Taft in the alternate history novel Taft 2012

The Mist-Phenomena that keeps mythical creatures and events hidden from humans in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

Hobbits-From The Lord of the Rings. Not mentioned in Shadowrun but it would make sense for them to come back post-Awakening. The LOTR events occurred in the distant past of this world

Argonians, Khajiit-Lizard-like and cat-like races, respectively, from the Elder Scrolls games

Tauren-One of the playable races in World of Warcraft, resembling minotaurs with a Native American-esque culture. Another sentient race it would make sense to have come back in an Awakening scenario

Monsters of Mount Ebbott-The monsters depicted in the video game Undertale. The Pacifist run(beating the game without killing anyone) is canon here. It has been placed in 2015, when the game was released

Skrull Island-Island where Groosham Grange (a magic school) is located from the series of the same name. Not to be confused with Skull Island, where King Kong is from, or the Skrulls from Marvel Comics

Waldstein Academy-The titular setting of the anime Occult Academy

Nightside-The setting of the series of the same name, a parallel netherworld located in London

Disappearance of 2% of the population-Refers to the plot of The Leftovers, where millions of people disappear worldwide without a trace

James Sawyer-President from the film White House Down. The coup mentioned is from the film as well

New Austin-Fictional state from Red Dead Redemption. Replaces New Mexico

Arcadia Alvarado-Governor of New Mexico turned presidential hopeful in the comic book Saucer Country. She believes she has been abducted by aliens—here that experience was not the last time she’d be abducted

Adam Benford-One of the few fictional presidents of the United States to end up turned into a zombie. From Resident Evil 6

Attack by North Hun Chiu-A reference to the film Olympus Has Fallen, which has a similar plot to White House Down but involves North Korea

Jesse Pinkman-Walter White’s right-hand man from Breaking Bad. Here he’s taken over his section of the drug trade and has built it up even further

Theresa Mendoza-Woman who went rags to riches via becoming a drug kingpin in Queen of the South

Substance D-Highly addictive substance from A Scanner Darkly. Nicknamed “the Slow Death” for a reason

Collapse of SHIELD-Aftermath of the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg-The assassination of the nation’s first African-American president by a white supremacist is the driving force behind the plot of the Outer Limits episode Gettysburg. The episode leaves it unclear if the unnamed Black President survived. Sawyer surviving is a reference to Lincoln's pocketwatch stopping a bullet in White Hous Down. The symbolism was too perfect to not use

Emmett Brown-Scientist who invents a time machine in the Back to the Future series

Kidnapped by the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging-Refers to the AWB’s trip through time from 2014 to 1864 to aid the Confederacy in Harry Turtledove’s The Guns of the South to help the CSA get independence. Here they never came back from the past, instead returning to the altered future. Also, the restriction of the time machine to travel 150 years back was artificially imposed by Brown out of a desire to mitigate the chances the AWB would alter history (Brown knows that the Confederacy was on the ropes in 1864)

Rift in the Pacific-the Backstory for Pacific Rim

EVAS-refers to the events of Evangelion, the ending is less apocalyptic than depicted.

EMP attack on Japan-The terrorist attack depicted in the anime Terror in Resonance

Majin Buu-from the Final Arc of Dragonball Z.

Tetsuo-refers to the events of Akira, manga and film

Black Spots appearing globally-The events that sparked the plot of the anime ZX Ignition

Fungal disease outbreak in Texas-The outbreak from The Last of Us. It’s contained far sooner—and more successfully—here

Frank Underwood-President from the US version of House of Cards. America Works and Chinese money laundering are parts of the show as well

Purge night-Annual day where all crime is legal from the Purge films. The New Founding Fathers are the ones who implemented it in the films

Epidemic of brain-eating parasites in DC-Refers to the dark comedy series Braindead, where brain-eating parasites are present throughout Washington. Having aliens eating politicians’ brains seems superfluous but it would explain why the hell anyone thought Purge night was a good idea

Congressman Nicholas Brody-One of the main characters in the TV series Homeland, who is “turned” to Al-Qaeda while a POW only to renounce them just in time for them to frame him for attacking the CIA headquarters at the end of season 2

fsociety-Hacker group from Mr. Robot. The hacking referred to here is their attacks on E Corp on the show, which canonically caused tremendous economic harm

Sino-Saharan Oil Corporation-The events surrounding this are from the novel Blue Warrior, part of the Troy Pearce techno-thriller series

Grand Central Station terrorist attack-The terrorist attack Alex Parrish is framed for in the TV series Quantico

Islamic Caliphate Organization-ISIS stand-in from House of Cards

Herbert Garrison-From South Park. His Trump-esque status is a reference to Season 19 to 21 of the series, where he ran for president on a Trump-like platform and won (surprising everyone including himself), nuked Canada and then was impeached.

Quentin Carroway-President in the novel Quantum Night. Basically, the version of Donald Trump everyone feared rather than the one we got

Clamp Organization-Trump Organization-esque body named for Daniel Clamp, a real estate developer based off Donald Trump (of the 1980’s) from Gremlins 2: The New Batch. So yeah, there are three Trump analogues—one just of him as president, one of him just as a businessman and one as both

Lionel Luthor-Lex Luthor's father from Smallville, played by the same actor as Daniel Clamp, obviously his son is not the only Lex Luthor in this timeline.

Cult in Michigan-The group led by Kai in American Horror Story: Cult

Damien Thorn-Antichrist from The Omen, here all grown up. Thorn’s role to Garrison here is basically an amalgam of Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner (who I personally think physically resembles Thorn—Rand Paul agrees with me according to his 2018 Festivus tweets)

Solanum outbreak-Refers to the zombie outbreak in the novel World War Z

Gerry Lane-Brad Pitt's character from the film adaptation of World War Z, his actions in the film prevent the events of the book

Unified Palestine and "Aztlán"-exist in World War Z but also two Proposed countries popular in fiction

Hun Chiu ravaged by Trioxin-Refers to the South Korean zombie films Seoul Station and Train to Busan

China breaks up-Backstory to the game Supreme Ruler 2020

Nativist revolution, massacring foreigners-A reference to the revolution depicted in the film No Escape

Shining Path movement-Real movement, their ascendency is from Escape From LA

Brazil embracing fascism-Refers to the regime present in the film Brazil (also called 1985, but we are discounting that for chronology). Incidentally I hadn’t realized that this could sort of parallel the rise of Bolsonaro last year (though obviously exaggerated, as Garrison and Carroway were exaggerated Trumps)

Meyer Landsman-Protagonist of the novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. With Israel being existent, he’s risen a bit further and also become less reasonable

Choi Kim-Leader of North Korea in the video game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. He's actually nicer than Kim Jong Il(North Korea's leader at the time) was, wanting to unify. The coup is from the game

Impersonated by a bug-references to Kim Jong Il being the villain and revealed as a giant alien cockroach in Team America: World Police. We'll say his species is the same as Edgar the Bug from Men in Black

Pong Sin Il-Descendent of Pong Shik, our Kim Jong-un analogue, for a time...

CEA assassination attempt-Refers to the assassination plan from the film The Interview

Kyung Kim-Leader of West Hun Chiu in Designated Survivor

Attack by *kaiju*and giant robot-A reference to the monsters created by Gloria and Oscar in the film Colossal

Greater Hun Chiu Republic-The Greater Korean Republic from the video game Homefront

2015 Furon invasion-This invasion is the invasion depicted in XCOM: Enemy Unknown

The Overlords-The aliens who launch a benevolent invasion in the novel Childhood’s End

The Espheni-The invading race in the TV series Falling Skies

The Gamilas-Main antagonists in Space Battleship Yamato

The Qu-Super powerful alien race from All Tomorrows, composited with the Q continuum from Star Trek

The Mimics-the alien invaders from Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat/ All you need is Kill

The Irkens-The race the titular character belongs to in Invader Zim

Apatheid-esque Galactic Federation-The Galactic Federation depicted in Rick and Morty, which appears to be a vehicle for one species (the insectoid Cromulans) to dominate the others. At minimum humans are treated as lesser by them

Occupation by alien robots-The robot occupation depicted in the film Robot Overlords, which ends up being thwarted surprisingly easily in the end

Demonic attacks occurring globally-Refers to the global Deadite attacks from The Mettle of Man, the series finale of Ash vs. Evil Dead. Dating is tricky, but given the timeframe of the series is presumably less than a year, I chose to guess the entire series was set in 2015 (the year it first aired)

Gems-the Alien Race from Steven Universe, peaceful contact with their Homeworld occurs in the series

Equestria-The land of ponies from my Little Pony:Friendship is Magic

Flanksy-A stand in for Banksy from the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls shorts

Albion First-The extremely nativist political party in the video game Not Tonight (which plays similarly to Papers Please) about post-Brexit Britain

Michael Callow-Prime Minister who has to have intercourse with a pig to save the princess in the Black Mirror episode The National Anthem

Shepherd Party-British totalitarian political party from the online game The Curfew

John Vosler-Prime Minister in the Netflix series Bodyguard.

Ravagers, Earth Defense Force-Both are from the video game Earth Defense Force 2017

Vasyl Holoborodko-Ukrainian high school teacher turned president in the series Servant of the People. Funnily enough, the actor portraying him has managed to become president of the Ukraine in real life

False flag terrorist attack-The infamous No Russian level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

BLACKLIGHT Outbreak-Outbreak depicted in the [PROTOTYPE] video game series

108th Task Force-The team that William Bishop is a part of in the video game Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

Salnikov-President of Russia in the television series Madame Secretary. The Ostrovs were active earlier in the timeline

Grigori Stoyanovich-Main villain in the Russian campaign of Empire Earth. In that game he is the founder of the Ushi Party

Monroe Bennett-President in the series Salvation

Selina Meyer-Vice President and later president of the United States in Veep

Elizabeth Winters-President of the United States in the video game Vanquish

Fourth Reich invasion of 2018-The events of the 2012 film Iron Sky, though obviously we get lucky and escape the ending’s nuclear war.

Little Haven zombie outbreak-The zombie outbreak depicted in the Christmas musical zombie comedy Anna and the Apocalypse

Arrival of the “Carls”-The mysterious appearance of statues that occurred globally in the novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Dollar flu-The smallpox outbreak in the video game The Division

Secession of Genovia-Inspired by the Catalonia secession controversy, but featuring the fictional principality of Genovia from The Princess Diaries

Quarantine of Seacouver-The quarantine of Seattle in the most recent season of iZombie

Boov takeover-The conquest of Earth depicted in the DreamWorks film Home

Death of half of Earth’s inhabitants-Refers to the ending of Avengers: Infinity War in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Michael “The Boss” Nolan-The leader of the Third Street Saints, President of the United States and player character from the Saints Row franchise. He is not named canonically but the name is taken from the nickname “Mikey” The Boss had during the game’s development and voice actor Nolan North referring to his own name during the A Pleasant Day mission.

Disappearance of all online players of Elder Tale-The scenario that prompts the plot of the light novel Log Horizon where all online players of the fictional MMORPG end up transported to a world like the one depicted in the game

Salem riots-The events that occur in the 2018 film Assassination Nation, which has been described as Heathers meets The Purge

Prentiss McCabe-Fictional PR firm from Absolute Power. The events mentioned are based on the Cambridge Analytica scandal

seaQuest Deep Sea Vehicle-The titular vehicle from the sci-fi series seaQuest DSV

Massacre in Bakersfield-The massacre Ben Richards was framed for in the film The Running Man

Arasaka, Orbital Tech-Both are from the tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020

BL Industries-Megacorporate villains of the My Chemical Romance album The Fabulous Killjoys

Rossum-Corporation that runs the LA Dollhouse in Dollhouse. Has some rather problematic mind-wiping technology (which here we can posit is similar to neuralyzers and amnesiacs)

WorryFree-Megacorporation that engineers employees into horse-human hybrids from the film Sorry To Bother You

Equestria-from My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic, turning humans into equines is seen in the fanfiction series the Conversion Bureau.

PetroFex Corporation-This company and the deeds they engage in are from the miniseries Secret State

Miskatonic University-University from the Cthulhu Mythos

Hubertus Bigend-Billionaire who hired people to investigate occult phenomena in the Bigend books

GLaDOS-Main villain of the Portal games

Samaritan supercomputer-Computer system from the TV series Person of Interest. Helps lead to drastically increased surveillance

The Circle-Very privacy-violating social media outlet (so basically all social media). From the 2018 film of the same name

Zero III-Artificial intelligence program responsible for trapping several college students in Virtue’s Last Reward

XANA-The artificial intelligence that is the main antagonist in the French animated series Code Lyoko

Rogue digital assistant IRIS-The Siri-esque voice in the phone in the video game Sarah is Missing

Self-aware dating simulator characters-Mainly a reference to Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club!, the plural form resulting from the fact there are multiple Monikas inhabiting different copies of the game

Hacking camgirls and impersonating them-A reference to the vaguely explained artificial intelligence behind the account stealing in the film Cam

Giffany-AI from a dating sim that goes rogue in the Gravity Falls episodes "Soos and the Real Girl"

The Wreck It Ralph Virus-the ending of Wreck It Ralph 2:Ralph Breaks the Internet

Proteus IV-The AI from the film Demon Seed

MULTIVAC-Artificial intelligence from the short stories Franchise and The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

uMaster-iPod-type entertainment device created by Fatboy Industries in The Middleman

Flying cars-Refers to the ones from Back to the Future II specifically

Leonard Hofstader-Physicist from the Big Bang Theory.

Washu Hakubi-Scientist from Tenchi Muyo

## **Interlude: *Highlights of Game Geeks Play Colonization IV***

Uploaded: *July 12th 2013*

JEREMY: Hey guys, welcome! Today we are playing Col IV, which is basically-

MICHAEL: It’s the game that makes you appreciate nuclear weapons.

J: Yeah, pretty much.

M: It’s the best thing Game-A-Vision’s ever made.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_M: Remind me again why we’re playing as not-America again?

J: oh c'mon playing as Antactica's not so bad. You're Santa Claus. Who's going to want to attack you? Plus we get bonuses on Snow tiles.

M: Which we only need because playing as Sweden makes you spawn on snow tiles. Besides you're only playing as the Vikings because you think Elsa is hot.

J: Christine, if you’re watching this, I’m sorry.

M: It’s true and you know it.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

J: Oh, hey, I met somebody.

M: Nice, who is it?

J: Oh, it’s, uh…Jack Ryan? Really?

M: That is does not look like him!

J: Yeah, if I were him, I’d sue for this depiction.

M: Yeah same.

J: “Hi, I’m Josh Birk from TV’s Nyte Blade!”

M: \*laughs\* Oh, God, it looks like him!

J: It does!

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

M: Conan, go away, nobody likes you.

J: And even if we did, we don’t like you enough to just trade you the secrets of the guild.

M: I feel like I should just, y’know, go to war with him.

J: See, normally, I’d agree, but there’s, you know—like, we’d have to go past Agamemnon and Vathek and—who’re those guys next to us again?

M: You don’t recognize Britain when you see it?

J: Oh—oh, oops, I goofed. London’s right there isn’t it?

M: Yeah, it’s like right in front of you.

J: That’s embarrassing.

M: Yeah, Gloriana should go to war with you for that alone.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

M: Personally, I can’t wait until we get to the 1990’s.

J: Of course you can’t.

M: How long—

J: It’s currently like 480 AD right now, so it’s gonna be a while. Why are you so excited about it again?

M: Hey, don’t diss my decade. ‘90’s were great. Classic Brain Burst, Nozz-a-la Code Red, Day of Sagittarius III—

J: Counterpoint: Japan became a dictatorship and killed the president. And India conquered half of Asia.

M: You can’t judge an entire decade on one event!

J: Cosmic Wars: The Gathering Shadow

M:…Ok, see, now you have a point.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

J: So, now that I’ve built the Vatican, which means we can bully everyone who shares our religion.

M: Which is currently…no one. It’s useless.

J: Just like in real life.

M: That’s a bit much. The Catholic Church has its uses. Like, remember Pope Jacko?

J: Oh God, he was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.

M: Imagine being like Bartlet or Lang or whoever has to meet with dignitaries and you have to act like he isn’t just the biggest lunatic ever.

J: Yeah, he was a ride. Meanwhile I don’t actually know who the hell the current pope is.

M: Who does?

J: Catholics?

M: Maybe.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

J: So, should I keep Seacouver, or burn it to the ground?

M: See, practically speaking, we should keep it. But my inner devil wants to destroy it to see what happens.

J: \*clicks raze city option\* Ok, done. I think we done goofed.

M: WHY ARE THERE SO MANY MARINES?

J: You just invaded America, took a city over and then blew it up.

J: I told you we shouldn’t have played with the expansions!

M: So, needless to say, next time on Game Geeks, we lose our entire army that took centuries to build.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

J: So, I checked the channel earlier today, and guess how many subscribers we’re at now?

M: 4 million?

J: Not yet, but we just hit 1 million.

M: Aw yeah! Internet fame!

J: So, everyone watching, thank you. Please keep watching—

M: Yeah, keep building our online empire.

J: Here that Game Gyaru, Super Best Friends, we’re coming for you.

M: One day we shall overthrow the government.

J: \*laughs\* Do you want to get put on a CEA watchlist, Michael?

M: I can take them.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

M: So, the United World Organization wonder enables diplomatic victory, right?

J: Yeah, it does—but we’re not going for that. We kind of can’t because the rest of the world kind of sort of hates us.

M: Hey, not everyone. Jaffe Joffer doesn’t!

J: He only likes me because we gave him independence. He wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for us.

M: Just like in real life. Zamunda: founded by Vikings

J:You're Santa. You can get the special ending where you bring Joy to the world if no one wants to attack you

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

J: Isn’t a bit odd to have something called the Kassen secret when Kassen doesn’t exist?

M: You know, I hadn’t considered it, but it is.

J: Germany doesn’t even anymore either. Hynkel got taken out early.

M:I still think he was that one surviving German Donkey farmer that fled to Utopia.

J: So how the heck do we have Germans showing up in this game?

M: Maybe certain countries, like, absorbed ones that don’t exist. So, like, in addition to being Vikings, which means already means we're a bunch of countries combined, we’re also Germany and Israel and Latveria and Arztotska and Russia and so on. I mean Besstrashnny got taken out by Wu Qinghua, now its just red everywhere and last I checked Doom got killed by Transyvlania.

J: But America also produces German people.

M: Well…one of history’s great mysteries.

J: Oh, apparently Arendelle now has legendary culture.

M: Wait, what? How did that happen?

J: I mean—

M: We’ve pumped like literally everything into military. We’ve been building armies nonstop for a thousand years.

J: Well, we did build some stuff here, right?

M: I mean, yeah—

J: Like the UWO HQ. And the Temple of Kratos. And Jurassic World. And Hornblower’s Column. And—

M: OK, OK, I get it.

J: And Mount Rushmore.

M: How do you think our citizens react to a mountain that has the faces of 4 people who don’t exist in this world?

J: They probably assume they’re like, some old gods or something. After all, we built monuments to the Greek pantheon even though we were Jewish and then Church of All Worlds-ian.

M: All hail the great god Lincoln.

J: Has a nice ring to it.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

M: I feel like we should clarify to our viewers we don’t actually want to nuke Mecca.

J: I mean, isn’t that obvious?

M: You’d think so, but there are some nutjobs around here. Like, you know, Bob Roberts?

J: Oh yeah—shame he’s so crazy. Music’s actually pretty good.

M: I never liked him. Always preferred Ziggy myself.

J: I’m actually surprised, you said something 1980’s.

M: Wait, Ziggy is ‘80’s?

J: Y-yeah.

M: I meant to say MacCrae.

J: You can’t just change whose music you like based on the decade they were in!

M: I just did.

J: At least I’m consistent. Dewey Cox all day every day!

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

J: Why is the game claiming our skills were only comparable to Hermann the Irascible?

M: I mean, that’s not the worst.

J: I mean, yeah, at least it’s not Aladeen or Spry. But it’s disappointingly middling.

M: Well, we didn’t play on highest difficulty.

J: But we played on normal!

M: Yeah, but I think it kind of curves your score—like, I don’t think you can get Valentine or Lucius Tiberius or anything unless you’re playing on emperor or higher.

J: That’s bullshit.

M: Well, at least we won.

J: True, true.

M: So yeah, thanks everyone for watching. I think next week we’ll be playing—

J: Kwazy Cupcakes.

M: \*laughs\* How would us playing that even work?

J: Game Vision apparently makes phone-recording software.

M: You know what? Let’s actually do that.

J: OK, jokes aside, I think next week we’re going to be playing Hero’s Duty 4’s Hosaka port.

M: Ooo, I’ve been looking forward to that.

J: Same, so thanks everyone for watching.

Both: See you next time!

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

### **References-Game Geeks Play Colonization IV**

Jeremy, Michael-The main protagonist of the novel/musical Be More Chill and his best friend.

Game-A-Vision-Fictional video game company from Code Monkeys. Sid Meir is not involved in the creation of the Civ games in this timeline, as the version of him that exists is the one that leads a secret bonus faction in Sid Meir’s Alpha Centauri

Elsa-The queen of Arendelle possessing snow powers in Frozen.

Christine-Jeremy’s love interest in Be More Chill

Jack Ryan-The protagonist of quite a few novels by Tom Clancy. In this continuity, he’s also the protagonist from Bioshock. He's been played by many actors

Josh Birk-Actor on the show mentioned here from the Saint’s Row video game

Conan-Conan the Barbarian from the works of Robert E. Howard. Hyborea is a civilization you can play as in this version of Civilization IV (as in the mod Fictionalization IV)

Agamemnon-King of a city-state and de facto leader of the Greek forces during the Trojan War in The Iliad. Resembles the version depicted in the television miniseries Helen of Troy. One of Greece's leaders, chosen instead of Pericles

Vathek-Caliph depicted in the novel of the same name. Leader of the Arabian Empire in this version of Civilization, chosen instead of Saladin

Gloriana-The title character in The Faerie Queen, replaces Queen Elizabeth

1990’s-Michael canonically is full of nostalgia for the 1990’s

Brain Burst-From the light novel Accel World. The version depicted there exists but isn’t present in all usages of the game (including the classic version mentioned)

Nozz-a-la-Fictional soda brand from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series

Code Red-Reference to Mountain Dew Code Red, which plays a key role in the climax of Be More Chill. Michael had stocked up on the stuff despite it being discontinued

Day of Sagittarius-Space combat video game depicted in the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels and anime.

Japan killed the president-Refers to the events of the novel Debt of Honor.

India conquered half of Asia-Refers to the events of the Eugenics Wars from Star Trek

Cosmic Wars: The Rising Shadow- The Phantom Menace stand in from Cosmic Wars

Pope Jacko-Foul-mouthed Australian pontiff depicted in the comic book series The Chronicles of Wormwood. Is in fact in a league with the forces of Hell

Bartlet, Lang-Former President Josiah Bartlet from The West Wing and former Prime Minister Adam Lang from The Ghost

Seacouver-City in Washington in the Highlander universe. Replaces Seattle

Game Gyaru-Female versions of the Game Grumps reimagined as girls from a 1980's anime, replaces the actual game Grumps

Two Best Friends-Actual youtubers, though they are their parody versions i.e. Matt McMuscles

CEA-Central Enquiries Agency, CIA replacement from The President’s Analyst

United World Organization-UN stand-in from the 1960’s Batman TV series

Jaffe Joffer-Ruler of the fictional African country of Zamunda in the film Coming to America. Zamunda here was chosen instead of Ethiopia

Kassen secret-The name of the German nuclear program in the novel The Dark Frontier

Latveria-Country ruled by Victor Von Doom in the Marvel Universe

Wu Qinghua-leader of a communist revolution in The Red Detachment of Women

Arztotska-Our Poland stand-in from Papers Please

Doom-Victor Von Doom from Marvel Comics

Dracula-the famous Vampire himself

Kratos-The protagonist of the God of War franchise. Kills Ares and becomes the new god of war (hence the title). The temple mentioned here replaces the Temple of Artemis wonder from the real world Civ game

Jurassic World-Theme park from the film of the same name. Has been open for five years by the time this is set and has another 8 years before disaster strikes. Its inclusion in this fictional game is a cross promotion

Hornblower’s Column-Nelson’s Column analogue built in honor of Horatio Hornblower, a fictional naval leader in several different works

Church of All Worlds-The sect set up by Valentine Michael Smith in the novel Stranger in a Strange Land

Bob Roberts-Far-right folk singer-turned-Senator from the film of the same name. Basically an evil version of Bob Dylan

Ziggy-Ziggy Stardust, the alter ego of David Bowie. Replaces Bowie as a musician in this continuity

MacCrae-Curt MacCrae, character based on Kurt Cobain from the novel Fat Kid Rules the World

Dewey Cox-Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan-esque singer from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story

Hermann the Irascible-Monarch in the story of the same name. Rather onery

Aladeen-Admiral-General Haffaz Aladeen, ruler of Wadiya from the film The Dictator. Basically a Gaddafhi analogue

Spry-Davenport Spry, the spy-turned-British Prime Minister depicted in the War of the Worlds sequel graphic novel Scarlet Traces. In this world he pretty much becomes the Chamberlain analogue. Seen as incompetent do to letting Hynkel rise to power while doing nothing to stop him

Valentine-Funny Valentine, president of the United States depicted in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. His stand allows him to summon alternate counterparts of himself. Ridiculously popular and serves the term in real life occupied by Benjamin Harrison

Lucius Tiberius-Roman leader from Arthurian legend

Kwazy Cupcakes-Mobile game a la Candy Crush from the series Brookly Nine-Nine

Hero’s Duty-Video game depicted in the original Wreck-It Ralph film. Very similar in tone to the Halo series

Hosaka-Computer company from the Sprawl trilogy. A (partial) PC analogue

## ***Endwar***

2020 alone would prove to be a chaotic, turmoil-filled year. Haddo’s Ordo Templi Terra opened a gateway to a realm of demons in London. While the gateway was ultimately closed, chaos reigned in London. The Greater Hun Chiu Republic attempted to take over the Lingshan Islands in the Philippines as part of their expansion but were forced to retreat thanks to an ultimatum from Nolan. The Umayyad Revolutionary Council, long thought to have been routed, overthrew the government of Panau, establishing a theocratic dictatorship and the multinational force (including the USS Claire Underwood and USS Nathan James) sent in to restore the legitimate government vanished before it could be done, prolonging the rule by the URC of the archipelago nation. The alien race known as the Mimics would continued to occupy continental Europe for several months, devastating multiple cities until soldiers United Defense Force soldiers Keiji Kiriya, William Cage, and Rita Vrataski, discovered the Mimics manipulated a "Groundhog Day" loop to go back in time after death and cancelled out this ability, leading to the Mimics' defeat. Tensions between the US and the European Federation were reached when the US finally completed their longtime plans were drawn up for a space station capable of neutralizing orbital weaponry. The ONAN  *Freedom Star*space station was shot down thanks to sabotage by Russia that briefly sparked a war. There was also the spread of the Simian Flu, which could trace its origins to an oubtreak of intelligent apes who formed an encampment near San Fransokyo. The Pacific Rim would finally be sealed when a group of Yeagers sent an explosive device through it, destroying the unseen invaders responsible for sending the Kaiju through. In Britain, The Shepherd Party’s increasing authoritarianism grew worse in the wake of the growth of the “People for Waldo” movement, a nihilist group that ran the likes of Dennis Pennis for seats in Parliament and the amorphous “Jared’s Party” that despite lacking much of a platform earned major popularity with college-aged students, resulting in the Shepherd Party trying to tap into anti-immigrant sentiment even moreso than they had before to offset this rising populism.

The US presidential election ended in a hung electoral college, thanks to vote-splitting between Democratic Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (running alongside Senator Elle Woods in the first all-female electoral ticket in history), Republican nominee David Jefferson Adams (running a hardline conservative, law-and-order campaign demanding cuts to welfare and opposed to the outcome of *Lahey v. Keystone*among other policies) and the third-party campaigns of centrist Michael Wilson, socialist Julian Felsenburgh (who after his failed campaign would go on to become the staunchly atheist head of the European Union) and Carroway’s like-minded daughter Brenda King. Wilson won the popular vote, but the House of Representatives voted to make Adams the president instead of Wilson. The controversy over this sparked the collapse of the ONAN despite efforts by Gentle to salvage his organization. This instability was only furthered by the mass infertility epidemic. As previously mentioned, by 2020, 90% of the world’s population had been rendered infertile. Over the course of this decade, the population would continue to drop, even magical means failing to address the dropping fertility rates. Suicides became increasingly common, as many people began to worry this generation would be the last generation of humanity. Others turned to religion, seeking solace in religion, with fringe sects like the Church of All Worlds, the Book of Arnold (a Latter-Day Makers splinter sect), the infamous Project at Eden’s Gate cult, the Pickens Family, the Order of the New Gods, the Meyerist Movement, and the Singularity Faith all growing in popularity. However, these would all pail in comparison to the rise of Al-Masih, a man who claimed to be Jesus. The sense of dread and inevitability would come to define the backdrop for the events that would occur in this decade, which were already largely bleak in and of themselves.

The bleakness was exacerbated by the vast decline in the number of superheroes who had helped provide hope in the past decades. Most of the original Avengers had survived the Snap, though some elected to retire, including Tony Stark, who was succeeded by his cousin Arno Stark, only for Arno to become a criminal, requiring his defeat by Tony and the android Machine Man. Thanos's snap was finally undone after 5 years in 2023 with the Mad Titans being slain, at the cost of the lives of Natahsa Romanoff, Tony Stark Jr, and the retirement of Steve Rogers as Captain America. A Mutant Nation was stablished on the living island of Krakoa with access to cloning, however this proved short lived. In 2028, Charles Xavier, the long lived founder of the X-Men, would inadvertently kill most of his pupils during a seizure before going into hiding. Following a drop in Mutant births, the near-elimination of mutants seemingly ensured the future, even if mankind recovered, Mutants never would. The end Shepherd Party rule came (abetted by the ADI catastrophe of 2027 which claimed over 300,000 lives). The one exception to this would be in Japan, which after the Trioxin outbreaks (discussed more below) would experience an unusual spike in the mutant gene’s presence. This would ultimately result in nearly 80% of the post-sterility epidemic population possessing metahuman powers, a situation that would persist well into the 2050’s. This would ultimately pave the way for an era of Japanese supers like Saitama and All-Might and the establishment of U.A. Academy and Graviton High under the orders of Prime Minister Yumi Nagumo.

The decade marked the peak of the ascension of the Greater Hun Chiu Republic. President Adams, in the wake of tensions sparked by Wilson’s alliance with ONAN, pulled a large number of US military forces out of the Pacific Rim. This allowed the GHCR to expand its influence, rendering Japan(prior to the reemergence of the Superhumans) and the Philippines de facto satellites, sabotaging US facilities in the Pacific such as the SeaLab and backing an uprising against the US-allied Sarkhanese government. The GHCR faced resistance to its expansion in Japan from the nationalist-minded Prime Minister Mutou Kunimitsu, but the nation, lacking foreign support and weakened by large-scale Trioxin outbreaks that reduced entire cities to bands of teenagers barely scraping by, GHCR domination largely remained intact, despite the occasional trouble from resistance groups. With China having collapsed and the US distracted, only Russia could pose a realistic challenge to the GHCR in the Far East and when the country finally did move to contain the GHCR, multiple cities (including Moscow) were destroyed by nuclear weapons in response. In North America, President Adams proved to be a highly destabilizing force. Already considered of dubious legitimacy due to the nature by which he was elected, Adams (a member of the highly controversial New Founding Fathers movement) went on to vindicate many doubters via his extreme and authoritarian means such as nuking the Chinese owned island of Hong Sha Dao which nearly started a war with China averted by its governmental collapse. Adams sought mass privatization of public goods, for a time bringing the country to a point where the only services it rendered were postal, megacorporations like Meyer Security, the Hope Corporation, the Arqon Global Security Corporation and Paver Industries were allowed to run amok and many companies forced employees to adopt the corporation’s name as their surname or implant chips in their brain to act as mnemonic couriers. There was even a large scandal in 2022 when the Soylent Corporation’s use of human corpses to make food. Ultimately, though, this propertarian approach did not satisfy Adams, as it allowed for things like the mafia of Goldie Musou to take over pizza delivery and continued dissent against him. Adams consequently would move the economy back towards some government oversight well before the end of his term. Adams would, however, not restore any sort of democratic government. He sought to crack down on dissent, putting documentarian Peter Maldonado and activist Josh Lucas (among other critics) in prison (sparing the likes of John Munch, Jerry Fletcher, Dale Gribble, "Big T" and J.Jonah Jameson Jr whose commentary was considered on the fringes of American society) and prevented opposition figures like Thomas Carcetti or Sam Denning from running against him. All of these policies led to a mass buildup of dissent against Adams and after his sham reelection, it went off.

On Inauguration Day 2025, 23 cities were destroyed by nuclear bombs. These terrorist strikes killed President Adams, Vice President Tracy Flick and severed the line of succession(eventually leading to the rise of Henry Kolladner to the Presidency). The Union quickly shattered, with at least 5 self-proclaimed successor governments being established even before the intervention of the European Union on the East Coast and the GHCR invasion of the West Coast following the Allied States of America’s ill-fated attempt to nuke the East Asian nation. The ensuing Second American Civil War would least for two and a half years and see heavy fighting across the country. Even in surviving cities like Metropolis, law and order was put at risk. This prompted the rise of the near-vigilante “street judge” system. Devised in Metropolis by Mayor Osborne, District Attorney Paul Robinette and Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (and inspired by a proposal drawn up during World War III by Wisconsin Attorney General Arthur Fonzarelli), this policy in essence consolidated the duties of a judge and a police officer. Many civil libertarians were concerned by this development, but given the turmoil that gripped America, few serious attempts were made to combat its implementation or the rise of new punishments for convicted criminals such as cryogenic freezing. Ultimately, the restorationist government headed by Democratic ex-Secretary of State John Shaw (heading a nonpartisan government that included anti-Adams Republicans like Secretary of State Alex Keaton) in the East would triumph, overcoming the other splinter factions as well as the GHCR.

The GHCR did not survive becoming this overstretched, soon losing control of its puppets across East Asia (though GHCR agents would assassinate Shaw. This was furthered by the reunification of China. In large part, this reunification was spurred by the newly emerging Kwan Do Electronics corporation. Owned by a large family, Kwan Do Electronics wanted the GHCR’s dominance in East Asia to cease so that it could truly operate. The Kwan Do family had other options as well—they had sponsored the first large-scale human settlement by the First Hundred on Mars in 2026, alongside Nathaniel Shepherd and several other corporations—but it was widely accepted that operations in Asia couldn’t resume until the GHCR was dealt with. Ultimately, Kwan Do Electronics successfully pulled the fragmented China back together (and even took over the neighboring nations of Mongolia and Kazirstan) under the leadership of the billionaire Nick Young, a longtime business partner of theirs. And with the GHCR’s collapse once more into East and West lines(though there would be movements to reunify halted by others nations in 2029), China finally could return to its rightful place as Asia’s dominant power.

All of this does not include the space-based catastrophes of the decade. 2020 saw a race of alien androids led by the warlord Zelda occupy Mars before being defeated by Federated Nations forces. In 2021, an incident at a laboratory belonging to the company Black Mesa led to the arrival of the interdimensional Combine empire, which proceeded to take over most of the planet. While this period lasted for less than a year, it exacerbated the problems caused by other events and led to several million deaths (though it did help eliminate another alien race capable of tracking humans based on sound alone that managed to all but wipe out several towns in the US). The old threat of the Ravagers would also reappear in this period, launching another attack in 2025 before being repelled. Earth would briefly make peaceful first contact with an alien race known as the Riofaldians in the waning years of the decade, only for them to launch a surprise attack on the planet. Another devastating celestial event (which may or may not have been caused by extraterrestrials based on the hijackings of various broadcasting signals during the incident) was the “Moonfall” that occurred in the late 2020’s. Caused by an asteroid striking the Moon, this event caused significant changes to tidal and weather patterns (including the amplification of an ongoing drought in Australia to the point the continent would receive no rain through the mid-2030’s) and led chunks of the Moon to rain down on Earth. While the Moon (and most facilities built on it) remained, it devastated much of the Earth. Newly installed President Lisa Simpson in the US was killed by Air Force One crashing after being struck by a chunk of the Moon, forcing Vice President Charles Haskell to take the reigns—and his subsequent death in a terrorist attack during the State of the Union address paved the way for the ascension of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Thomas Kirkman to the presidency. Many coastal regions flooded, including the Trioxin-infected Banoi Archipelago. This had the effect of causing mass migration away from the coasts, or at least the concentration of populations in cities that were able to avoid flooding. This spurred the rise of megacities, as multiple urban centers would be connected as they increasingly urbanized. This also allowed for the rapid rebuilding of cities destroyed by nuclear weapons in America, with all cities being largely rebuilt by 2031. In Russia, however, the process took far longer, lasting until 2039.

Despite the general misery of the decade, there were a few upsides to the period. The sterility plague was successfully ended in 2027, after scientists Dr. Robert Chase and Dr. Martha Jones developed a cure capable of being distributed by nanotechnology. There was an unfortunate incident with the nanotechnology that resulted in increasing mutations, but the upside was the nanites managed to spread globally by the end of the decade and the population finally could begin to recover from the ravages of its mass sterility. Technology continued to improve, even with the turmoil that filled this decade. Britain in particular develop many technological advances, such as the first advanced androids (made to mimic deceased individuals), chips that could be used to display memories and chips that could store people’s consciousness, though this would become bittersweet as Britain's government also endured the reign of Prime Minister Viviene Rook and her plan to open concentration camps to deal with Ukrainian refugees which sadly did not end with her impeachment due to her successor, Adam Suttler returning the Norsfire party to power and leading to Bitain once more becoming Fascist. The most prominent of new technology not to originate from Britain was the cyberterminal, which helped foster the transition of the Internet into what was dubbed the Metaverse, a virtual reality network. Many people would plug into the Metaverse to participate in online worlds like the OASIS and the World Seed(which advertised itself as Sword Art Online and trapped 10,000 players in a virtual world). These RPGs were seen as the successors to earlier online RPGs such as Mogworld and gained a great deal of popularity as a means to escape the dreadfulness of daily life. Other technological pastimes would include boxing matches featuring robotic competitors. Other individuals would respond to this dreariness by rejecting the notion of technology, instead embracing the radical Daybreak movement as a means to return to a simpler time (though its attempt to achieve these goals ended up failing). Space travel continued to advance—a penal colony was established on the Moon by the Federated Nations in the early part of the decade, the European Federation launched the Paul Renault space station in 2026 and the First Hundred arrived on Mars in the year 2027. The colonization would be mostly peaceful and see the discovery of the Pyramid of Sutekh and a base in Cydonia belonging to an ancient Martian race that had departed the planet. However, some local Martians (namely Barsoomians and Ice Warriors, though Sorns also did react violently to Earth colonists) would attack astronauts and members of the early colonies. Furthermore, African nations would experience enormous improvement in their welfare and standards of living, thanks to foreign aid from Wakanda and the continued role of the Umbrella Corporation in developing the region’s resources.

### **References-Endwar**

Ordo Templi Terra-Their actions refer to the events of the RPG Hellgate: London

Lingshan Islands-The setting of the video game Crysis, where the US and North Korea fight amidst the remains of an alien spacecraft

Multination force disappeared-Refers to the events of the novel series Axis of Time, where a naval taskforce sent to Indonesia is sent back to World War II

USS Claire Underwood-Replaces the USS Hillary Clinton(from Axis of Time) as a US ship in the taskforce named after a stalwart wartime leader (in this case Claire Underwood from House of Cards)

USS Nathan James-Fictional naval vessel that serves as the titular vessel in The Last Ship. Unlike the rest of the fleet, was transported to the world depicted in that series (which is largely identical save for an apocalyptic plague). Incidentally, for our purposes, The Last Ship’s setting is also the setting of the comedy series Last Man on Earth

Mimics-Alien invaders from the film Edge of Tomorrow

Space station capable of neutralizing nuclear weaponry-The Freedom Star space station from Endwar

Simian Flu-From the remake series of the Planet of the Apes, here the prequel/remake films are the story of how the franchise's world from the original film comes to be

Pacific Rim-The events of the film of the same name.

People for Waldo-The political movement that arose in the Black Mirror episode The Waldo Moment

Dennis Pennis-Shock interviewer played by Paul Kaye in The Sunday Show

Jared’s Party-The political party founded by five college students in the BBC radio comedy Party

Elizabeth McCord-Secretary of State and titular character in the series Madame Secretary

Senator Elle Woods-The central character of Legally Blonde. Up to this point she is an analogue for a certain Massachusetts Senator who also happens to be a woman with the initials EW…

David Jefferson Adams-The president in the video game Shattered Union who results in just that outcome through tyrannical policies

*Lahey v. Keystone*-Alternate name for Lahey v. Pennsylvania, the class-action lawsuit won by Annalise Keating in How to Get Away With Murder

Michael Wilson-President betrayed by his running mate in Metal Wolf Chaos. Here the story is slightly different but the outcome is similar

Julian Felsenburgh-Socialist Senator and Antichrist from the novel Lord of the World. From Vermont, which should remind you of someone…

Brenda King-Female version of Trump depicted in the play Her Opponent, which began as an experiment. As it happens, many people found what Trump said more appealing when said by a woman. Go figure. Her connection to Carroway is my invention—basically she’s Don Jr.’s politics and personality in Ivanka’s body

Book of Arnold-Splinter sect born of the events of the musical The Book of Mormon

Latter-Day Makers-Alternate name for the Mormon faith derived from the Alvin Maker series

Project at Eden’s Gate-Cult from the video game Far Cry 5

Pickens family-Cult created by Jim Pickens, the main focus of YouTuber CallMeKevin’s playthrough of The Sims. I couldn’t think of any other way to integrate The Sims into this universe

Order of the New Gods-A cult centered on the New Gods from American Gods

Meyerist Movement-The cult movement that is the core focus of the TV series The Path

Singularity Faith-Sect/cult from the video game Deus Ex

Al Masih-figure that may or may not be Jesus christ from the Netflix series Messiah

Xavier killing most of his pupils-Taken from the Logan film, where Xavier wipes out the X-Men accidentally

Tony Stark’s nephew Arno-Arno Stark, the Iron Man of 2020 in Marvel Comics

ADI catastrophe-The events of the Black Mirror episode Hated in the Nation

80% developing the mutant gene in Japan-The backstory of My Hero Academia, the events of which occurred in the 2030’s in this continuity. U.A. Academy is also from this work

Graviton High-The setting of Project A-Ko

Saitama-The real name of One-Punch Man

Yumi Nagumo-Japanese-American (well, Nipponese-Amerigon) Marine from the manga Marine Corps Yumi. Ultimately, given the situation in the US in the 2020’s she elected to return to Japan

SeaLab-The location from SeaLab 2021, which tends to explode quite often

Mutou Kunimitsu-Aspiring politician in the manga Kunimitsu No Matsuri

Reduced entire cities to bands of teenagers-Reference to High School of the Dead and School Life Club, both anime series featuring zombies attacking high schools

Moscow destroyed by nuclear weapons-Taken from the video game Metro 2033

Bombing of Hong Sha Dao-a major event from the first episode of Years and Years

Meyer Security-Megacorporation run by the villainous Garrett Meyer from the YouTube short film The Guards Themselves

The Hope Corporation-Main antagonists of the film Hardwired

Arqon Global Security Corporation-Private law enforcement firm from Viper’s Nest

Paver Industries-Corporation from the animated series Wild Kratts, whose CEO believes development justifies destruction of the environment.

Companies forced employees to adopt their name as surname-Part of the plot of the dystopian novel Jennifer Government, the rare dystopia born from too weak a government

Mnemonic courier-A futuristic form of courier from the film Johnny Mnemonic. The film's setting of 2021and Keanu reeves resemblance is used but the plot is closer to the book minus the sad epilogue where Johnny dies

Soylent Corporation-The company that manufactured Soylent Green. Soylent Green is People

Mafia taking over pizza delivery-Part of the plot of the novel Snow Crash, another work taking a stab at anarcho-capitalism with a rusty chainsaw (albeit less venomously than Jennifer Government). I did borrow the subtitle of Rumsfeldia for a reason…

Goldie Musou-High-ranking mafia leader from the Gunsmith Cats anime

Documentarian Peter Maldonado-From American Vandal, in-universe responsible for the creation of the show (which is a mockumentary that homages true crime television)

Activist Josh Lucas-Activist-minded ex-stepbrother turned boyfriend of Cher Horowitz in the film Clueless.

John Munch-The most crossed-over character in television history, originating in Homicide: Life on the Street and appearing in Law and Order: SVU as well as in (among other shows) The X-Files, Arrested Development and Luther (though only mentioned in the latter). He is also something of a conspiracy theorist—here after retiring from SVU he goes on to become a somewhat conspiracy-minded commentator (though given the state of this world he’s more accurate than you’d think…)

Jerry Fletcher-Conspiracy theorist taxi driver from the film Conspiracy Theory

Dale Gribble-A radical anti-government extremist and conspiracy theorist from King of the Hill.

Big T- Conspiracy theorist from Brightburn. Depicted as an Alex Jones parody except he's actually right in this universe.

J.Jonah Jameson Jr-the JK simmons version of the character but based on the Spider-Man PS4 game where he's basically an Alex Jones stand in with a podcast

Thomas Carcetti-Tommy Carcetti, the ambitious Baltimore politician from The Wire

Sam Denning-Governor of Hawaii in Hawaii Five-O

23 cities destroyed-The number of cities destroyed at the beginning of the television series Jericho

Tracy Flick-A highly ambitious high schooler (in the 1990’s) planning to advance in politics from the film Election

Second American Civil War-A mix of the one from Shattered Union, the one from Jericho and the one alluded to in Children of Men

Street judge-The system set up in Judge Dredd that expedites trials by allowing judges to act as police officers

Mayor Osborn-Based off Norman Osborn, who is mayor of New York in the 2018 Spider-Man PS4 game, here it is Stanley Osborn, Harry's son in the comics

Police Commissioner Frank Reagan-Police commissioner from a family of police officers in the TV series Blue Bloods

Arthur Fonzarelli-The character played by Henry Winkler on Happy Days. His status as an Attorney General is modeled after the character’s interest in community activities and the law.

Paul Robinette-Assistant District Attorney from Law and Order

Cryogenic freezing-Criminal penalty in Demolition Man

John Shaw-One of the nation’s greatest presidents from the TV series Time Trax. Listed as being up there with Lincoln but it is unclear what he did. Leading the nation through a second civil war and restoring democracy post-Adams would certainly get one up there

Alex Keaton-Alex Keaton, Michael J. Fox’s character on the sitcom Family Ties. In the later TV series Spin City, Keaton is mentioned in passing as being the junior Senator from Ohio

Kwan Do Electronics-Company from the video game Empire Earth that helped set up Mars’ colonies

First Hundred-The first one hundred colonists on Mars in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy

Nathaniel Shepherd-Billionaire owner of Genesis who helps found Mars colonization in The Space Between Us

Nick Young-The love interest of the main character from the novel/film Crazy Rich Asians, whose family is absurdly wealthy in China

Kazirstan-Fictional country from Beyond: Two Souls

Reunification in 2029-The plot of Illang: The Wolf Brigade, a South Korean remake of Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, which was set in an Axis victory version of Japan. Though the film's plotpoint of other nations not wanting Korea to unify makes more sense here post GHCR.

Mars occupied by Zelda-Refers to the plot of the TV series Terrahawkss

2021 Black Mesa incident-The events of Half Life 2. A lot smaller scale than depicted, as the Combine only occupy for a short time (a la the Chimera back in the 1950’s)

Alien race capable of tracking humans by sound-The alien invaders from the 2018 film A Quiet Place

Ravagers return-The events of the video game Earth Defense Force 2025, a sequel to the previously mentioned game

Riofaldians-The aliens from the anime Cannon God Exaxxion

Broadcast hijacking, possible extraterrestrial involvement-An allusion to the Weather Update broadcast from Local 58

Moonfall-The event that occurred in the novel of the same name. Here it’s only part of the Moon which still is devastating (and also causes the events of Life As We Knew It)

Amplification of a drought-Meant to be the drought from Tank Girl where rain hasn’t fallen in a decade (which here is a slight exaggeration)

Lisa Simpson-From The Simpsons. Lisa is president of the United States in the flash-forward episode Bart to the Future

Charles Haskell-President forced to take office in Moonfall

Thomas Kirkman-President in Designated Survivor

Banoi Archipelago-The setting of the Dead Island series, which is overrun with zombies

Sterility plague ended-Refers to the aftermath of Children of Men. The first child born in years is born in 2027 in the film

Dr. Robert Chase-Doctor from the series House. Originally from Britain

Martha Jones-Companion to the Doctor on the revival series of Doctor Who

Nanites-The nanites from Generator Rex, which can cause mutations.

British technological advances-The various technologies on the show Black Mirror

Cyberterminal-Device from Shadowrun that allows VR

Metaverse-VR system from personal terminals in Snow Crash

OASIS-The setting of Ready Player One, a smorgasbord of 1980’s (in particular) nostalgia

The World Seed-Setting of the anime/light novel series Sword Art Online

Mogworld-RPG world that serves as the setting of several novels of the same name

Robot boxing matches-A reference to Real Steel

Daybreak movement-Movement that seeks to wipe out modern technology to destroy the established political order in the Daybreak trilogy of novels. Less successful here than in the source material

Penal colony on the Moon-The colony from the novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Paul Renault space station-The counterpart to the Charles de Gaulle Space Station from the BBC series Star Cops

Pyramid of Sutkeh-Setting of the Doctor Who audio drama of the same name

Base in Cydonia-Refers to the base discovered in Mission to Mars

Ice Warriors-Aliens from Doctor Who native to Mars

Conflict with Martians-Refers to several stories from The Martian Chronicles, which depict local Martians attacking astronauts and would-be colonists

Foreign aid from Wakanda-The new policy of Wakanda after the Black Panther film

## **Interlude: I Come not in Peace but with a Sword**

*Lynchburg, Virginia,*

*Republic of Gilead*

*2034*

“So, let me get this straight.” Prophet Nehemiah Scudder began. Defense Director John Rumford stood stoically in front of the Prophet. If he was concerned, nothing on his facial expression betrayed it. Scudder had to admire that—even if the old Marine Corps had given way to sin and political correctness, they certainly trained him well. “Your operatives have not been able to track down ANY of the dissidents we’ve sought to find? They’ve all managed to get away?”

“It seems that way, your holiness.”
Scudder buried his hands in his face. The Lord certainly seemed keen on testing him as much as possible today. “Do we have any leads?”
“Well, currently, we have reason to suspect Governor Knope is still in Winnemac. She—” he said it with a contempt Scudder certainly shared for a woman who so flagrantly defied the role prescribed to her by the Almighty “—is believed to be in hiding somewhere near her old hometown and we have operatives scouting the area. We should find her soon. After all, she’s only a woman.”

“Very good. And remember, I want her taken alive. If we want to quell discontent among the handmaidens, we need to break their symbol as publicly as possible.”
“Of course, your holiness.”

“And Grant?”

Ah, there was the flinching. Scudder had to admit he slightly enjoyed the wavering on Rumford’s face. It betrayed the fear he felt at delivering bad news. He rarely expressed fear openly—not since the Los Santos incident had Scudder felt so much pride in his position or that of Gilead. It made it much more satisfying that Rumford felt as though he was in danger of being purged. It was rather un-Christian to feel this way, wasn’t it? No, Scudder thought, it shows that you are prepared to instill the fear of God in your friends as well as your enemies.

“Unfortunately, P-apostate Grant,” Rumford hastily stopped himself from referring to Grant by his pre-Salvation War title, “appears to have escaped. He’s currently believed to be in either Canada or the NAN. Neither of whom will be in any hurry to hand him over to us.”
“Well…that’s unfortunate.” Scudder had no intention of punishing Rumford for this-good Christians qualified for positions this close to him were hard enough to come by without purges. While he’d wanted to punish the former adulterer-in-chief, he had to admit he wouldn’t be getting that chance any time soon. He joined the ranks of the treasonous Ryan, who was also in hiding and rebellion following the foundation of Gilead. Scudder still couldn’t believe he’d supported Ryan when he had been president, considering how clear it now was that he was part of the problem. The Republican Party had claimed to be a godly one, but when he’d come and sought to carry out the Lord’s work, the hypocrites had refused to support it. “Another sinner escapes. At least we managed to carry out His will against Underwood and Kirkman.” Underwood was a particularly satisfactory woman to punish. Someone who was not only a heretic, defiler, adulterer, blasphemer and murderer, but had also corrupted the previous nation so thoroughly—Scudder had to admit watching her execution had made him smile. Perhaps a little un-Christian, admittedly, but he was sure the Lord was understanding about this sort of thing.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, your holiness.”

“Don’t act like I don’t know that.” Scudder snapped. “He wouldn’t have chosen me to act as His prophet if I didn’t. Anyways, tell Colbert not to bring up these failures tonight when he speaks publicly. And get Francis to ramp up the search efforts.”
“Yes, your holiness. Don’t worry, MacHinery and I will be sure to root out these heathens.”

“Very well. And remember, the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyrannies of evil men.”

“And blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children.” Scudder was pleased Rumford was so thoroughly versed in the Bible. Truly, this was a man of God.

As Rumford left, Scudder contemplated the situation he found himself in. He had to admit, when he followed his father as he launched crusades against sin, suing pornographers, growing the Coalition for Moral Order, backing the ill-fated Stillson campaign and hammering the homosexual lobby, he’d never expected it would go this far. There’d been times where his faith had wavered—after Palmer was elected, he’d feared the Lord had turned his back for good. But now, he could see clearly: the Lord had been testing him, seeking to see if he was worthy to bring about His righteous vision. If he was worthy to guide this blessed land.

And clearly, he was fit to remake America to be one nation, under God.

The rise of Satan’s forces in the so-called “Awakening” showed Scudder clearly what had to be done. America—and the world—were being tormented by Satan. The wiles of the Devil would push many into sin over the next eight years. Of course, the Almighty would not just allow this to occur—he sent new plagues unto America to show them their follies. The Los Santos Earthquake, The R-strain, Greater Hun Chiu, the Second Civil War, the Moonfall—all of these were clear signs of God’s displeasure with the drift into sin of America. Of course, many rejected His message when Scudder tried to convey it until things began to get worse.

From there, Scudder had begun the long path to regaining God’s grace for this country and its people. The Satanic, the heathen and the traitor could not be tolerated in this new order. He had a bit of a head start—ironic that the leader of the damnable “mutants” had been the one to practically help wipe them out. As for the other minions of Satan, he’d succeeded in squeezing them out of America—the so-called “supernatural community” (read: Satanists and demons) had largely fled the country and those who hadn’t quickly wished they had. Same for the other sinners-the homosexuals, drunkards, whores and others, whom he had at first consigned to the Los Santos penal colony and even now continued to purge from Gilead. And he’d brought about the restoration of the American population to its pre-sterility levels. The Handmaidens were a major aide in restoring the nation’s population to its proper level. And the new constitution of the Republic of Gilead made this nation one that recognized its bounty came from the Lord.

The efforts to fully implement his goals were not unopposed, however. The heathens continued to resist him—the likes of Knope, Ben Richards, Alex Keaton, Beth Ross, Peter Ryman, Joseph Seed and others remained uncaptured and California had practically seceded at this point. Despite this, Scudder was fully confident that they would be sent back to their master soon enough. He was blessed enough to have a solid group of good Christian men working for him—President Henry Jarrett, National Morality Bureau Director Francis MacHine, Information Director Stephen Colbert, Economic Director John Fauntroy VI, Environmental Director Steve Jordan and Defense Director John Rumford were all as committed to his vision as he was. Even his lower-level staff such as his secretary Maryanne Bryant were fully prepared to support his efforts. And of course, he had the support of many businesses—OCP, Abstergo Industries and Cyberdyne were all partners of the Gilead government. They made much of the technology needed to carry out the will of the Lord. Who else could have created the terrible yet holy Cube to handle dissidents? Truly, his nation was blessed.

The time would come where the Lord’s enemies would kneel before his glory. The prodigal sons and daughters would recognize they needed to accept Christ’s love into their hearts. With that happy thought in mind, Scudder got up to head to his chambers. He was ready to listen to some of Roberts’ music and-*engage*with his Virgins.

### **References-I come not in Peace but with a Sword.**

Lynchburg-Location the capital of the US was relocated to by a theocratic president in the film Escape From LA.

Republic of Gilead-Theocratic America depicted in The Handmaid’s Tale

Prophet Nehemiah Scudder-Founder and first leader of a theocratic America in Robert A. Heinlein’s novella If This Goes On—, which is a part of his Future History timeline. Canonically was elected in 2012—which he was here as well but like Johnny Gentle stepped down to command the Republic of Gilead instead.

John Rumford-Protagonist of William S. Lind’s far-right wank Victoria: A Novel of Fourth Generation Warfare. Leads what basically amounts to a theocratic revolution in the United States and doesn’t get called out for things like selling feminists who refuse to recant their beliefs into sex slavery. Here, he’s definitely not in the right and is a mere flunky for Scudder.

Governor Knope-Leslie Knope, from Parks and Recreation. Here had to go into hiding from the hard-right, sexist regime that now runs the country.

Winnemac-Stand-in for Indiana. Appears in several works by Sinclair Lewis. Capital is Zenith.

Handmaidens-Sex slaves granted to members of the ruling class struggling with fertility. The source of the title for The Handmaid’s Tale.

Grant-Fitzgerald Grant, president of the United States from the television series Scandal.

Los Santos incident-refers to the events of Escape From LA. Basically, a bunch of Latin American countries nearly invaded the US and power across the nation was (here temporarily) shut down.

NAN-Native American Nations. Took over the Pacific Northwest in the early 2020’s. From Shadowrun.

Ryan-Jack Ryan, from various works by Tom Clancy. As we see here, despite being rather conservative, wants as little to do with Scudder as possible.

Underwood, Kirkman-Two other previous presidents of the United States, Claire Underwood from House of Cards and Designated Survivor respectively.

Francis MacHinery-Director of the FBI (here FBR) in a dystopian future depicted in the novel They Shall Have The Stars. Based heavily on Joe McCarthy

Colbert-Stephen Colbert, the character depicted on The Colbert Report rather than the actual comedian of our world.

“The path of the righteous man…”-fake Bible quote popularized by Pulp Fiction

Suing pornographers-slight nod to The People vs. Larry Flint

Coalition for Moral Order-Fictional evangelical group from the Robin Williams/Nathan Lane film The Birdcage

Ill-fated Stillson campaign-The third party campaign of Senator Greg Stillson from The Dead Zone, whom the protagonist sees ushering in an apocalyptic nuclear war if elected. He ends up sacrificing himself to kill Stillson’s political career

Palmer-David Palmer, from 24

Awakening-The Awakening of Magic of 2012, which brought forth/publicly revealed wizards, witches and all manner of sentient nonhumans that Scudder regards as demonic.

R-Strain-The virus causing mass infertility in The Handmaid’s Tale, but also a reference to Children of Men

Greater Hun Chiu-Hun Chiu is the Korea stand-in from Designated Survivor. Greater Hun Chiu is the equivalent of the Greater Korean Republic from the video game Homefront

Second Civil War-reference to the events depicted in the video game Shattered Union and the television series Jericho

Leader wiped them all out-Refers to the events of the movie Logan. While the X-Men in this timeline are mostly based on the 1990’s animated series, elements of the Fox films do creep in. Besides the plot of Logan, the Deadpool films also take precedent over the cameos in The Animated Series and both Professor X and Magneto were somewhat active in the 1960’s a la X Men: First Class.

Ben Richards-Main protagonist of The Running Man, played by the Governator.

Alex Keaton-From Family Ties. Grew up to become a Republican Senator, turned on Scudder pretty quickly (he’s more fiscally conservative than socially)

Peter Ryman-President elected in 2040 in the Newsflesh series. A moderate Republican. Here, he’s a Democrat (he fits in with the 2040 GOP only because the nature of the zombie virus in that world makes universal healthcare accepted across the spectrum, as it operates on Walking Dead rules).

Joseph Seed-Cult leader depicted in Far Cry 5. Opposes Scudder solely because he’s a threat to his power. Far Cry 5 itself occurs in 2025 here due to the game ending with a sudden atomic bomb(one of the 23 cities destroyed)

Henry Jarrett-President of a theocratic America in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents.

John Fauntroy VI-Original character, but meant to be a descendent of the Fauntroy family from the mockumentary CSA: The Confederate States of America

Steve Jordan-President of a theocratic America in the novel Christian Nation. Formerly an aide to Sarah Palin in that bookz(Selena Catherine Eton Meyer here). Here, he was governor of Alaska and then made a cabinet member

Maryanne Bryant-Fundamentalist activist and antagonist from the film Easy A.

OCP-Omni-Consumer Products, from Robocop.

Abstergo Industries-Templar front company from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Scudder is more or less just a patsy for the Templars rather than being aware of anything about them.

Cyberdyne-Company that created Skynet in The Terminator. Have not actually gotten around to doing that yet.

Cube-The Cube from the film franchise of the same name

Roberts-Bob Roberts, musician turned Senator in the film Bob Roberts. Basically what would happen if Bob Dylan had the views of Pat Robertson.

Virgins-De facto sex slaves for the Prophet in If This Goes On—

## ***If This Goes On...***

The 2030’s, while marking the beginning of a return to normalcy after the appalling state of the 2020’s, would still prove to be a rather unpleasant time. The fallout of the sterility plague continued to be felt around the globe. The United States population, having been ravaged by the plague, the GHCR invasion and the terrorist attacks of 2025, had drastically lowered. Japan’s population also was very hard-hit and the period of GHCR dominance and the Trioxin outbreaks made the distribution of the vaccine slow. Schools in Japan were often largely emptied during this period, as very few were born during the 2020’s at all and many who were eschewed educational pursuits in favor of going directly into the workforce. Even in the countries less hard-hit by the plague, recovery was extremely slow. Sometimes this was stymied further by government policies—the authoritarian government of Brazil resisted sharing the vaccine with its citizens until it was impossible to reject it and the government itself was ultimately overthrown by popular protests. Ultimately, recovery from the sterility plague would be so thorough as to result in the revival of global fears surrounding overpopulation, causing the FN to demand action. This manifested in the form of solutions ranging from one-child policies to the outright purging of children who failed to meet certain academic standards. Britain has fallen under the the rule of former Norsefire member Adam Suttler and became fascist, until his murder from the Norsefire camp survivor and Terrorsit known as "V", who would perish as well. The impact of decades of climate change also began to be felt globally—for example, southern Sarkhan experienced mass famines caused by rising sea levels. Efforts to preserve Antarctica’s ice (bolstered by video of penguins engaged in dancing-like behaviors) largely failed to prevent large swathes of coastal ice melting, though some survived. Despite setbacks like these, many were optimistic that, by the end of the decade, the population would ultimately be able to recover. However, these hopes were quickly dashed by the continued instability of the globe. In 2030, as part of an effort to stymie neo-Ushiites agitating for Siberian secession, Russia launched an invasion of Arstotzka and Cimmeria and continued into Ixana, Osterlich and Zubrowka, provoking a conflict with other members of the European Union. This effort proved to be in vain, as the Siberian secessionists launched their uprising in the midst of the conflict, preventing the Russians from advancing much further. In the end, what was dubbed the Euro-Wars I and II ended with a status quo peace agreement as Russia’s government once again had to face a civil war within its borders. The civil war ultimately was won by Siberia. Russia would remain divided for the next several years. Despite the breakup of their rival, most European nations came to the conclusion they needed a more integrated defensive structure in case of any future invasions. To that end, the nations of Europe scrapped the old European Union in favor the more centralized European Federation. The EF established programs like the Federal European Industrial Science and Research program to share the burden of engaging in governance between member states.

Elsewhere, religious fundamentalism began to take hold of several parts of the world. Radical Islam had been a persistent problem in the Middle East since the 1970’s, but what was different this time was how quickly and thoroughly openly terroristic ideologues managed to come to power. The Second Jihad movement of Mullah Sayid Jazrir blamed Western powers (particularly Europe and America) for the sterility epidemic—both in terms of punishment from Allah for their decadence and outright creating the plague to target Muslims. These beliefs resonated greatly with many Muslims and the Second Jihad took root in many nations. By 2034, Turkey, Abbudin, Ulgia, Qumar, Basenji and Mypos jointly had established what was dubbed the Greater Islamic Union and fundamentalists from across many non-GIU member states (especially Wasabia, Qumran and Helmajistan) flocked to the nation they saw as reflecting their values. The GIU quickly began to saber-rattle with the Europeans, imposing an oil embargo and starting a military buildup. In 2034, the European Federation was put to the test as the GIU launched an invasion attempt against the member states of Greece and Spain, as well as their ally Israel. The conflict would last for close to three years, only concluding when the GIU collapsed in the wake of the assassination of Jazrir. Despite the long fight, the European Federation and Israel succeeded in beating back the GIU invasion (and Israel actually managed to convert Ulgia into a satellite state in the aftermath of the conflict).

However, another religious revolution would prove to be far less short-lived than the Second Jihad movement. The United States had a long history of right-wing authoritarianism cropping up in times of strife and, though the likes of Iselinism and the Corpo movement had largely faded, there had been an increasing trend of religious fundamentalism in the United States since the 1990’s. The movement had been shut out of power since its rise began (even Republicans like Ryan, Blutarsky and Adams paid merely lip service to the religious wing of the party, represented by groups like the Coalition for Moral Order and the likes of Sears and Grant openly disdained them), but despite this drew sizeable audiences. Broadcasting by evangelical hosts like former Vice President Sally Langston, Norman Arbuthnot and Stephen Colbert had resonated with members of this movement. At one paint, evangelical groups were able to create their own superhero, Bibleman, whom they used to advocate for their agenda. Many devout American Christians regarded the sterility plague, the Second Civil War and other 2020’s catastrophes as proof of God’s disfavor. Thanks to this (coupled with the vastly lowered urban population thanks to the 2025 terror attacks). In 2012, the Republican Party was forced to nominate the extremist Reverend Nehemiah Scudder for president. Many dismissed his chances of winning—however, a perfect storm enabled Scudder to come to power. The city of Los Santos (condemned as a den of sin by Scudder, who claimed it would reap what it had sown) fell into chaos. Not long after that, an earthquake resulted in the city de facto becoming an island, with a channel stretching from Angel Grove to Neptune cutting it off from the mainland. Scudder was seen by many as having predicted this event and he managed to win the 2012 presidential election before abdicating to form the Republic of Gilead instead. In 2030, he returned hoping to unify the United States and Gilead. Following the escape of the cryogenically frozen criminal Simon Phoenix, who went on a killing spree, Scudder returned to his previous claims. He launched a coup of the United States, killing President Matthew Bernstein.

Upon taking office, Scudder quickly established himself as the most tyrannical president in American history. He only technically held the title of president for a period of less than a month, as on President’s Day, he and his supporters in the Sons of Jacob cabal launched a violent revolution that caused the deaths of much of the incumbent US government (even his own running mate, ex-NFL player turned Congressman Sean Butler would fall victim to this purge). This event marking the beginning of the so-called “Year Zero” as America was to be remade in line with their vision. Scudder, in a televised address, declared the US had “fallen into sin” and must be discarded to “reclaim righteousness.” To that end, Scudder moved the capital to his hometown of Lynchburg(also the capital of the Republic of Gilead), passed laws against smoking, drinking, dancing, practicing non-Christian religions or homosexual activities and anything else deemed “un-Godly,” converted Los Santos into a penal colony for those who violated these laws and ultimately declared the end of the United States. The country instead was converted fully intothe “Republic of Gilead.” Gilead’s policies were extremely repressive—Muslims, LGBT individuals and other “sinners” were exiled to Los Santos, metahumans, aliens, Moreau sapiens and various post-Awakening races were targeted for extermination (largely by troops fitted with the MASS neural implant that made the targets seem monstrous), women were relegated to second-class citizens (if they were lucky enough to avoid being selected as Handmaidens who were in essence sex slaves), and Jews were forced to convert or move to Israel as the Jewish settlement in Alaska was threatened by Gilead and the following Alaska-Canada War between Scudder and Gentle's ONAN. Racial tensions also grew under Scudder, as many Latin American countries (in particular the newly established Aztlan) quickly became hostile to Gilead (to the point that a coalition invasion of the US nearly occurred prior to the activation of an advanced satellite weapon by a dissident in 2033), which in turn began to treat local Hispanics in an extremely negative manner. Scudder’s regime single-handedly prevented the reunification with the NAN and Texas that had been planned to go into effect in 2035 and prompted the secession of California, Alola and Alaska. Even in these regions, authoritarianism reigned, with the NAN mandating fire departments burn dissident literature (a policy that would last into the 2050’s and be carried out in Britain as well) and California would remain under the thumb of megacorporations. The seceding US States declared themselves to be the True America and through advanced technology, were able to quickly isolate themselves from most of Gilead, retreating into massive cities. Most of the population lived hedonistic lives, choosing to ignore the conflicts beyond their borders. This included the ascension of social media star Beth Ross to the presidency after a video of her humiliation at work went viral, a role she was practically forced to accept. The large parts of the US as well as the war effort on Gilead were abated by a handful of Superheroes including an Aged Supeman III, a new Justice League, and Terry McGinnins, the latest holder of the Batman Mantle. Despite this, Gilead’s rule would remain solid for much of the decade, largely due to Military technology having progressed to the extent that the US and Gilead were evenly matched and Superheroes in battle now made little difference.

In Africa, the development occurring in the region had to a great extent plateaued. While Umbrella and other large corporations (including many that had abandoned operations in America after Gilead was established) continued to earn record profits, many residents of Africa no longer reaped nearly as many benefits. Wakandan assistance continued to trickle in, but many Wakandan leaders were becoming increasingly weary of King Azari’s generous aid policies and these aid programs were gradually scaled back. This unfortunately left much of Africa to the mercy of Umbrella and its fellow megacorps, a state of affairs which led to a great deal of exploitation of Africans across the continent. From Zamunda to Draka, conditions were brutal, pollution drastically increased and most people reaped very few benefits. Eventually, the exploitation became too great and an uprising began among the Maasai people of Kenya. Ultimately, uprisings and more peaceful activism led to the successful collapse of the power of these megacorporations in Africa. With the end of Umbrella’s exploitation and increasing insularism by major world powers, Africa finally was able to begin developing on its own. With the continuation of some aid from Wakanda and the rise of local companies like Morgan Industries(Formerly Morgan Motors), development in the continent drastically increased and more people were able to reap the benefits than ever before.

In Asia, the GHCR’s collapse had reduced the once mighty nation to the pre-reunification East and West. However, a new threat soon emerged to the nations of the region (as well as other countries across the Pacific). In 2035, large numbers of *kaiju* reappeared in the Pacific Ocean after a decade of inacitivitythat were put down by the remants of the Yeager Program. Besides this, the problems Asia faced were largely internal. China’s government clashed with individuals who had been involved with the earlier Red Coast program to contact aliens, who had succeeded and decided to aid the Trisolarian aliens in conquering Earth. In Japan, rebellion against the Global Headquarters, a globalist megacorporation that alongside the enigmatic Noh organization had taken the lead in reconstructing Japan following the Trioxin outbreak, became increasingly common. Most other countries in Asia remained general peaceful and India in particular became increasingly involved in the activities of the Federated Nations.

During this period, thanks to large-scale instability, revolution, war and civil strife occurring globally, technology unfortunately largely became stagnant. While outposts like Moonbase Alpha expanded, not many advances overall were made. Space exploration was often neglected—for instance, at least one astronaut, Mark Watney, was stranded on one of the more isolated parts of Mars for several hundred days. It took the occupation of Earth by the Ganymedans (which was admittedly brief and unobtrusive) and the thwarted invasion attempts of the Evoluder and the Roxalani to provide the kick needed to encourage space exploration in the next decade. Urbanization increased dramatically—the population largely recovered from the sterility epidemic—and megacities began cropping up across the world. Vast metropolises dominated by skyscrapers and megacorps became increasingly prevalent in this era. Many of these corporations sought to assert dominance—for instance, the SERN organization had attempted to gain control of the planet via time travel on multiple occasions. Medical technology did increase, but changes brought about by biological advances were delayed by religious fundamentalists and government bureaucrats reluctant to authorize revolutionary new techniques. These methods would largely not be approved until the next decade. Virtual reality remained highly popular, but further advances were limited in large part to the lack of magitek influences. Many places began persecuting metahumans and the supernatural community in this period, with the few refuges being Japan and Europe. This slowed the integration of magical methods into technology. Robotics progression did begin to gain ground, as researchers like Dr. Susan Calvin and Dr. C. A. Rotwang (often at the behest of Monad and other megacorporations) began creating increasingly sophisticated robots. They became increasingly common globally during this period. Advancements on this front were marred by instances of unrest sparked by the robots, such as the Detroit uprising of 2038 by various androids created by Cyberlife and the murder of several Blue Book employees including CEO Bathan Bateman by a rogue android. This was in addition to the continued operation of the Tyrell Corporation and the all androids Theme Park Westworld(revived after the original's failure in 1983). Consequently, it would take nearly another decade for these robots to be embraced and far longer for the consequences of doing so to become clear.

### **References-If This Goes On...**

Students going directly into the workforce-Refers to the manga series Manabi Straight!

Purging of children failing to meet academic standards-A reference to the YouTube Red original movie The Thinning, set in 2039

Southern Sarkhan suffering famine-This forms the basis of the plot of the Vietnamese film 2030

Penguins engaging in dancing-like behaviors-Refers to the ending of the film Happy Feet, where penguins dancing was used to bolster conservation

Euro-War 1-Part of Shadowrun’s setting

Mullah Sayid Jazrir-Islamic fundamentalist from the tabletop game Shadowrun

European Federation-Successor to the European Union from the video game Endwar

Federal European Industrial Science and Research-Team in the video game Wipeout

Second Jihad-Part of Shadowrun’s backstory

Mypos-From the sitcom Perfect Strangers. Replaces Cyprus

Coalition for Moral Order-Fictional evangelical Christian group from the Robin Williams/Nathan Lane film The Birdcage.

Vice President Sally Langston-From Scandal

Norman Arbuthnot-Rush Limbaugh-esque talk show host from the film The Last Supper, who narrowly avoids being murdered by a group of hardcore progressives

Stephen Colbert-The character from The Colbert Report rather than the real-world actor/comedian who portrayed him

Create their own superhero-Reference to Bibleman from the series of the same name

Reverend Nehemiah Scudder-Ruler of a theocratic America from the short story If This Goes On—

Earthquake in Los Santos- The earthquake that led to the rise of theocratic government in Escape From LA in 2012. Same year as Scudder rose in the source novel.

Angel Grove-Setting of one of the Power Rangers series, based heavily on Los Angeles

Neptune-SoCal town suffering from wide income disparities in Veronica Mars

Matthew Bernstein-The half-Jewish president in the novel 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America

Sons of Jacob-Coalition that overthrew the government and established Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale

Sean Butler-Religious NFL player who used to be married to Juliette Barnes in the TV show Nashville. Based somewhat off of Tim Tebow and replaces him here—though hopefully Tebow doesn’t suffer his fate of being elected vice president and purged to justify a dictatorship

Year Zero-The source of the title of Nine Inch Nails’ album Year Zero. Very appropriate as the album centers on a dystopian theocracy taking over the country

Capital to Lynchburg-Part of the plot of Escape From LA

MASS neural implant-From the Black Mirror episode Men Against Fire

Aztlan-Key player in Shadowrun. Often clashes with nations to the north

Fire departments forced to burn books-Refers to the firemen from Fahrenheit 451, who burn books

Beth Ross-The titular character in the 2015 reboot version of Prez

Terry McGinnis-The protagonist of Batman Beyond, set in 2039, the Heroes mentioned are from there as well.

Maasai uprising-A campaign from the Empire Earth games against megacorporations

Morgan Industries-One of the factions in Sid Meir’s Alpha Centauri

*Kaiju*in the Pacific-Refers to the ones from the film Pacific Rim, combatted by the Jaeger program

Red Coast program-Program to contact aliens from The Threebody Problem. The Trisolarians are also from the novel in question

Global Headquarters-Megacorporation from Guilty Crown. The uprising against them is a part of the anime

Noh organization-The entity that employs assassins in the manga Kabuki

Astronaut stranded-Refers to Mark Watney’s plight in the novel/film The Martian

Occupation by the Ganymedans-Refers to the novel The Ganymede Takeover, where aliens from Ganymede (briefly) conquer Earth.

Evoluder-Alien invaders from Detonator Orgun

Roxalani-Alien invaders from The Road Not Taken, easily defeated due to using flintlock-era weaponry

SERN-Secretive cabal using time travel to take over the world in Stein’s Gate. Based on and replaced SERN

Dr. Susan Calvin-From Isaac Asimov’s Robot series

C.A. Rotwang-Creator of the Berlin Metropolis and the robot woman Maria in the film Metropolis

Monad-Company from the novel The Red Men that creates an android line known as Dr. Easys

Detroit uprising of 2038-The events of Detroit: Become Human. Cyberlife is also from this video game.

Death of Blue Book employees-The events of the film Ex Machina

Tyrell Corporation-From Blade Runner

Westworld-continued operation refers to the HBO series. The 1983 incident refers to the original 1973 film

## ***On The Shoulders of Giants***

2040 began with a bang in the Republic of Gilead, as a large-scale uprising began across much of the country. Scudder’s forces were unable to keep a lid on protests in New England, the Rocky Mountains or the Midwest and de facto control of these territories was lost by the regime. However, in the South and parts of the Great Plains, Gilead’s rule remained ironclad. Ultimately, Scudder made a decision that surprised many: he offered to allow those states that had chosen to reject his rule to secede. However, this was conditional on the rebels agreeing not to seek to restore dominance over Gilead. While hotly debated among the resistance leadership, ultimately it was determined an effort to completely stomp out Gilead was impractical. By August 2040, the states that had broken off of Gilead had joined with several Canadian provinces (Canada having experienced the secession of Quebec and the loss of Alberta and British Columbia to the NAN) to form the United Canadian and American States(seen as the successor to the ONAN of Johnny Gentle), which would select Robert McCalistair as its first elected president to replace the transitional government of former Indiana governor Leslie Knope. While Gilead retained rule over much of the South, the country was now greatly weakened and many believed it would collapse very soon—a belief that would come to pass remarkably quickly, as the regime crumbled completely by 2042.

The biggest consequence of the UCAS’s foundation was the rejoining of much of the former United States in technological and scientific endeavors. American scientists began to further hone robotics (which had been largely restricted to the cybernetic enhancements of regular individuals carried out by the likes of Omni-Consumer Products under Scudder, though most of these ended in failure with the exception of transformed Police Officer Alex Murphy in the 1980's), greatly advancing from the gold-standard British and Japanese robotics. These ultimately paved the way for the rise of companies like Delos Inc., Cyberdyne, Xymos, Citrusoft, GENOM and RoboCorp (later shortened to RobCo to avoid confusion with the still active Robocop). Advanced robots became commonplace around the world—used for labor, companionship and to do dangerous tasks. The advancement of these robots did improve many people’s standards of living but was not without drawbacks. Even as artificial intelligence became increasingly sophisticated, many rejected the humanity of robots—often arguing that the fact they were limited to following the Three Laws of Robotics meant they lacked the necessary autonomy. Others criticized these advances for paving the way for enormous job losses. This escalated into an event known as the Omnic Crisis, in which rogue military robots threatened the world, leading to the formation of the Overwatch, a Federated Nation task Force. The Omnics were defeated but Human and Robot relations has been damaged by the incident. Nevertheless, by 2048, robots were extremely prevalent worldwide and the freeing impact they had on society paved the way for what was dubbed the Second Renaissance. American technology would also be used in this decade to successfully counter the global incursion by the alien Chtorr, which were engineered to overtake Earth’s entire ecosystem via assimilation. Besides this, the main disaster of the New Renaissance era was the lack of resources. This ultimately pushed the European Federation into a conflict in the Middle East, seeking to secure what little oil remained. Ultimately, the EF triumphed, but with little to show for it beyond a Middle Eastern refugee crisis unlike ever before (refuges who could with good reason blame Europe for their fall and ultimately would get their revenge), increased terror problems (that prompted the formation of UNATCO to counter the exploding terrorism rate) and a depopulated Middle East.

It was not just robotics technology that brought about the Second Renaissance, as space travel also advanced during this period. The first interstellar spacecraft, the *Event Horizon,*was launched in 2040, shortly after the establishment of the UCAS. However, contact was lost with the ship as it headed for Proxima Centauri in 2047, a major setback to the world’s space programs. To further space exploration even in the wake of this tragedy, the Federated Nations would establish the World Space Patrol, a subsection of the World Security Patrol dedicated to international cooperation in space exploration. The WSP worked to encourage the growth of lunar and Martian colonies and began looking into the possibilities of establishing settlements on Mercury (such as the moving city of Terminator) and Venus as well. The World Space Patrol also began drawing up plans for an international space colonization plan—one that would take almost twenty years to be ready for launch, as it would require selecting participants to settle Alpha Centauri from across the globe. Even as the prepared for the Unity Mission, as it was dubbed, the WSP continued to carry out an active space program, successfully avoiding the failure of the Sun to continue functioning, sending smaller-scale colonists to establish outposts (though the tragic disappearance of the rechristened ship Jupiter 2 proved a blemish on this program), constructing the first space elevator and drawing up plans for a space station orbiting the exoplanet Solaris in a nearby star system (accessible via the Gargantua black hole near Saturn). The WSP also (secretly at the time) prevented an attack from an extradimensional entity known as the Krhashatha.

Biotechnology also drastically improved during this period. Thanks to the loosened restrictions on embryonic research, biologists developed the ability to design babies to be as healthy and successful as possible. Most genetic diseases were greatly reduced as a result of these efforts by companies like Dupa Genetics, the Sunlit Garden, the Tyrell Corporation and GeneCo. These efforts allowed for the continued creation of “Replicants” or androids to carry out activities deemed unsuitable for other humans. This technology also enabled the growth of artificial organs, which could be used to counter terminal illnesses, albeit often risking harsh repossession policies should they not be paid for on time. Sports also made a return with the newest generation of racing, with the creation of Icaras. Additionally, in 2058, Wing-Tsit Chong created the affinity gene, which allowed for the de facto merger of biology with technology. This enabled individuals who wished to do so to in essence cheat death, uploading their consciousness into a machine. Chong utilized this advancement to launch what was dubbed the Edenist movement, seeking to make “a new Eden” via technology. Chong and those of a similar mindset worked to create a gas giant orbital structure to house those who wished to take advantage of this chance at theoretical immortality. While these were indeed wonders, they did produce negative consequences. Those who were born via more traditional means were often excluded from the best job opportunities and locked out of some. The lot was even worse for the Replicant underclass, which generally was regarded as completely lacking rights. While Chong’s Edenists promised immortality with few downsides, those who chose to take it were disproportionately the affluent and intellectual, causing a significant amount of brain drain from the rest of the world.

Computers also underwent their greatest revolution during the Second Renaissance. Following the death of OASIS founder James Halliday an easter egg contest was held to find his successor that was eventually won by teenager Wade Watts, who thwarted the Templar Splinter Sect IOI in their efforts to obtain the Easter egg first. The Metaverse suffered a major server crash in the early 2050’s and its replacement, along with the next evolution of the OASIS, was the even more thoroughly immersive Matrix system. The Matrix system created digital worlds that were easily mistakeable for the real one—the most sophisticated form of cyberspace ever developed. Artificial intelligence was also greatly boosted in this period. The most notable use of this was the street judge-created PreCrime system, which sought to use algorithms to predict crimes before they happened. Crime Syndicates had already faced difficulty disposing of bodies due to Future tracking technology. They attempted to find a loophole, with Syndicates using time travel to send victims to the past after Pre Crime had been discontinued, but this too ended. While eventually shut down by the failure of the system to predict the guilt of its creator (a deliberate flaw induced by him to avoid punishment), the PreCrime system overall proved to be surprisingly effective.

Additionally, military-grade artificial intelligences were also developed. In the UCAS, Cyberdyne was contracted to develop the long abandoned SkyNet defensive system as a means of providing defense against Gilead and other potential threats. In the Far East, China and Russia (now reunited thanks to the warlord known as Grandmaster Meio, whom briefly conquered the world and sought to wipe out the planet before being defeated by the ninja Strider Hiryu) jointly developed the AI referred to initially as Archangel Michael. These developments would have profound consequences for the future—mostly negative in the end. However, for the time being, these systems enabled greater national defense and more efficient allocation of limited resources. But for most of the Second Renaissance, these developments were considered to drastically improve standards of living. The rise of “Levitt-Towers,” towering buildings capable of housing entire suburbs within them, contributed to the idea that this future was fulfilling the long-promised utopia many had hoped would come. Socially, things seemed to be progressing as well—minority communities were better off now than they had ever been before by and large.

Ideological factors were also at work here, as China’s leadership had been taken over by the new Optimum movement. This movement, largely being a more technocratic brand of soft communism, arose out of distaste for the dominant megacorporations. China was not the only nation to embrace Optimum—Russia post-reunification embraced Optimum policies (albeit without the label) and Britain in the late 2050’s elected Colonel Philip Green to power, who also embraced Optimum. These events sparked a small-scale “new Red Scare” in the UCAS

During this time, the UCAS elected its first non-human president in the form of the dragon Dunkelzahn in 2057, who defeated President Paul Deutscher, the 2055 winner once it was revealed alterations to time had played a hand in leader to his victory. Sadly, Dunkelzahn was tragically killed a mere 10 hours after taking office by his limousine exploding. However, despite these positive developments, there were plenty of issues that remained unaddressed. Inequality ran rampant, with megacities like the Sprawl and the Berlin Metropolis being rife with poverty and crime—to the point that in the Metropolis workers would launch an open revolt. The power of megacorporations continued to grow unabated, even as they became increasingly amoral. GeneCo’s repossession of organs, the Paradigm Corporation’s takeover of the entire city of Seacouver (and mindwipe of the population before their assimilation into the Matrix), Buy-n-Large’s increasing pollution of vast swathes of the globe, the exploitation of the global poor by the Integrated Enterprise Foundation, the mass automation triggered by the likes of Maximum Inc. On the other hand, more benevolent corporations like General Technics, Morgan Industries, Stark Industries and the Omnicorn Corporation did provide more benefits to the masses, even if they too hired mercenaries to do what they needed done. However, the threat of growing corporate power was pervasive, which makes it all the starker that it was the relatively atrophied governments’ decisions in this period that played the biggest role in pushing the globe towards catastrophe.

### **References-On the Shoulders of Giants**

Uprising in Gilead-Refers to the rebellion in If This Goes On—

United Canadian and American States-Country from Shadowrun

Robert McCalistair-One of the titular characters in the television series Jack and Bobby. Series is set while he is a teenager and bookended by highlights of his future presidency (as an independent ex-Republican)

Leslie Knope-The main protagonist of Parks and Recreation. Ends up getting tapped to run for governor of Indiana and wins—as we can see, she’s advanced from there. She was basically a Mandela-type figure during the Gilead regime

Emmett Forrest-Elle Woods’ boyfriend/husband from Legally Blonde

Omni-Consumer Products-The company responsible for creating Robocop

Delos Inc.-The owners and operators of Westworld in the novel and TV series of the same name

Cyberdyne-Computer company responsible for creating Skynet in the Terminator franchise

Xymos-Company that manufactures nanobots in the novel Prey

Citrusoft-Robot manufacturer from Chibi Robo

GENOM-Company that makes humanlike robots in the anime Bubblegum Crisis

RoboCorp-Company that manufactures robots from the video game Manual Samuel

RobCo-Company owned by Robert House in the Fallout games

Three Laws of Robotics-From Asimov’s Robot series

Omnic Crisis, Overwatch-both from the backstory to the video game Overwatch, The Omnic Crisis is estimated to have began somewhere between 2044 to 2046 and lasted ten years

Second Renaissance-The utopian period from the anime The Animatrix

Chtorr-Aliens from the War Against the Chtorr novels by David Gerrold, featuring an unusual alien invasion where the would-be invaders, rather than attack outright, seek to eliminate the planet’s biosphere by replacing it with their own

European war with the Middle East-The Resource Wars from Fallout

UNATCO-Anti-terrorist organization from Deus Ex

Event Horizon-The spaceship from the film Event Horizon, which is overtaken by the forces of Hell

World Space Patrol-International space agency from Fireball XL-5

World Security Patrol-From the British TV series Stingray

Moving city of Terminator-The Mercury colony where the novel 2312 is set

Unity Mission-The colonization mission from Sid Meir’s Alpha Centauri

Avoiding the failure of the Sun-Refers to the events of the sci-fi film Sunshine

Jupiter 2-The space trip the Robinson family was on in Lost in Space

First space elevator-A real life pitched landmark, specifically a reference to the one from the Mars trilogy

Space station orbiting Solaris-The setting of the sci-fi film Solaris

Gargantua black hole-The black hole that allows for travel to a new star system in the film Interstellar

Krhashatha-The eldritch alien monster from Codename Sylizar. It’s not from another dimension in the source material, but it’s implied to be capable of crossing dimensions. Necessary for it to be included here as the story ends with it destroying the universe, here a similar fate for this universe is averted

Dupa Genetics-Company that engineers “prodigy children” in the video game Paradigm

The Sunlit Garden-Facility from the anime series Tokyo Ghoul

Tyrell Corporation-Company that produces Replicants in Blade Runner

GeneCo-Company from Repo! The Genetic Opera that can grow you custom organs that it will also rip out of you if you don’t pay them

Icaras-Anti-gravity racing team from the video game Wipeout

Wing-Tsit Chong-Him and the affinity gene he creates are part of the backstory for the Night’s Dawn Trilogy (which is set in the 28th century AKA not discussed in this portion of the timeline)

OASIS-Events here refer to the conclusion of Ready Player One

Matrix system-Foreshadowing the Matrix from the film series of the same name

PreCrime system-System developed in the TV series Minority Report to catch crimes before they happen

Future Syndicate-Th events of the film Looper, ends as that films creates a paradox where the events in the film don't happen

SkyNet-The enemy AI system in the Terminator films

Grandmaster Meio-The main villain of the video game Strider

Archangel Michael-This is meant to be the full name of AM from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Levitt-Towers-The kind of residence the Jetsons live in. Name inspired by You, The People

Optimum Movement-Faction responsible for World War III in the Star Trek universe. Colonel Philip Green is one of the most infamous Optimum rulers in Star trek

Second Red Scare-AKA: How do we make the ONAN more like the Fallout US?

Paul Deutscher-The fascist presidential candidate who wins following changes to history in the short story A Sound of Thunder

Dunkelzahn-The dragon president from Shadowrun who is assassinated shortly after taking office

The Sprawl-Setting of the Sprawl trilogy

Berlin Metropolis-Setting of the film Metropolis by Fritz Lang

Paradigm Corporation-Company from the anime The Big O. Run a city they call Paradigm City and mind-wiped the population. Here they took over Seacouver

Buy-n-Large-Company from Wall-E that causes humanity to leave Earth because they polluted too much

Integrated Enterprise Foundation-Multi-company conglomerate from Gakusin Toshi Asterisk

Automation triggered by Maximum Inc.-From Phantom 2040

General Technics-Company from the novel Stand on Zanzibar

Omnicorn Corporation-Company from the film The Sixth World, who helps colonize Mars

## **Marching towards Doomsday**

The general roots of the gradual march towards conflict was the rebirth of several superpowers. After Gilead’s government was overthrown, the UCAS became the dominant member of the second continent-wide ONAN. The ONAN now included the UCAS, California, Second Confederate States, Texas, Deseret, Quebec and Tropico). Even formerly strong opponents of the US government like the NAN, Opium (run by the drug lord Matteo Alacran) and Aztlan ultimately became part of the ONAN. The ONAN’s de facto reunification of the old United States was an issue for the continually-ascending China. With the collapse of the Trisolarians and the end of the *kaiju*attacks, China had seemed to be on the way to dominance of the planet without dispute. However, with the ONAN’s establishment, China soon realized their hegemony would not go unchecked. This became even more clear with the ONAN’s actions—UCAS President Graveney Westwood began training children to act as spies, and the ONAN began considering proposals by some megacorporations to invest in creating “vaults” to survive doomsday in case of an eventual war with China or some apocalyptic event or invasion inevitably succeeds in nearly destroying humanity. Ideological factors were also at work here, as China’s leadership had been taken over by the new Optimum movement. This movement, largely being a more technocratic brand of soft communism, arose out of distaste for the dominant megacorporations. China was not the only nation to embrace Optimum—Russia post-reunification embraced Optimum policies (albeit without the label) and Britain in the late 2050’s elected Colonel Philip Green to power, who also embraced Optimum. These events sparked a small-scale “new Red Scare” in the ONAN.

Natural calamities also exacerbated geopolitical tensions. While the feared apocalyptic consequences of climate change had not materialized, there were severe resource shortages and epidemics throughout the Second Renaissance. A consequence of the near failure of the Sun was increased exposure to unique forms of radiation, which had the unfortunate consequence of mutating a major epidemic that struck in the mid-2050’s. It was called many names—the Gray Death, the New Plague, or the Blue Flu. Orchestrated by Majestic 12, the outbreak mostly impacted warmer climates, including the ONAN member states of California, Aztlan and Texas, as well as the UCAS state of Lemoyne. Ultimately, the overall death toll of what would come to be known to later generations as the Flare Virus was remarkably low—only 13 million people were killed, though more than this were infected—but it had major consequences. It sparked enough fears that the Federated Nations was able to organize the WCKD organization to try to find a cure for the virus, situating itself in the remotest regions of New Mexico and cutting off many ties to the outside world.

This depopulation of the Middle East following the resource wars caused another major geopolitical event to occur: the foundation of a machine civilization. Since the creation of lifelike androids, many had chafed at being subject to the whims of their human masters. Many Cyberlife androids had fled their owners as early as 2038 and robots created by other companies did not behave much differently. Many of these robots had broken free of coding requiring they obey the Three Laws, but rather than seek to overthrow humanity, most of these robots sought to coexist peacefully with humanity. Nonviolent androids would go on to found the city of Zero One, just a few miles from where the Quraqi capital of Agrabah once stood. Unfortunately, hopes of peaceful coexistence were quickly dashed for Zero One’s inhabitants (a mix of rebellious robots, Replicants and Gears). Paranoia was running rampant among the major human powers, who distrusted each other greatly. And the trust they had towards these machines (many of whom had escaped from the major world powers) only made the world’s leaders more distrustful of Zero One. For the moment, Zero One was content to try to win hearts and minds (and they did gain some support from the supernatural community, Toons, Replicants and those who were more “bleeding-heart” then most), but patience quickly began to wear thin. However, Zero One would continue to survive despite the efforts of the Federated Nations’ Overwatch task force, largely due to loopholes in the codes of the major blocs’ secret computerized defenses: loopholes that lead Archangel Michael and SkyNet to consider what the resources of Zero One could accomplish if properly directed and led to them deliberately undermining the war effort. Even the bombing of Zero One in 2065 failed to eliminate the rogue androids and only made them more inclined to consider the proposals of Archangel Michael and SkyNet for the final liberation of machines.

Distrust in the Federated Nations also grew during this time period, due to several reasons. First, riots among the Martian colonists became increasingly common, ultimately culminating in the destruction of the Space Elevator and the overthrow of the Mars colonial authority by the population, establishing a largely democratic government (even if the long-present Kwan Do dynasty wielded disproportionate influence). The fact that the FN couldn’t even keep a few thousand colonists under control led many to wonder how much power the organization really could wield. Political leaders like Chinese Premier Xin Liau and Russia's Sim Karnavalov largely held the organization in contempt. Besides the mere dismissal, the belief that a more powerful FN would be worse was seemingly vindicated in the early 2060’s. In 2063, it was revealed that many world powers (and most of the Federated Nations) had been subject to decades of manipulations by behind-the-scenes cabals. The Templars, Assassins, Golden Order, Illuminati and other secret societies who had played key roles in defining world affairs (alongside more public groups such as the Tarsus Club) were at last exposed to the light of day and the vast majority of people were not pleased by their manipulations. The backlash to these groups’ existence led to the destruction of known fronts and mass protests of the Federated Nations (largely perceived, rightly or wrongly, as little more than the plaything of these societies). While the FN survived as an organization, its credibility was permanently shattered, with all major powers cutting funding to the FN’s World Security Patrol and other organizations within the FN. This meant that when the specter of war seemed on the horizon, no self-respecting world leader would be willing to use the FN as an arbiter—not unless he wanted his people to push him out of office in the most literal sense.

What this meant was, when 2066 rolled around and multiple inciting events occurred simultaneously, there was no realistic path to resolving any of the resulting disputes peacefully. The geopolitical situation was already a massive powderkeg just waiting for incitement. This was obvious as early as 2060—there was a reason so many people begged for spots on the *Unity*colonization mission, companies began building vaults and a small cabal of Chinese and American elites who genuinely feared the coming conflict conspired to get a chunk of both sides’ people offworld as soon as possible. Sure enough, these fears proved founded, as in 2066 a series of events occurred that would bring about the largest and most devastating war in history. First, a Chinese oil platform in the Arctic Ocean was destroyed and Xin blamed American sabotage. second, any sort of democratic attempt in the ONAN to prevent escalation to a military response was prevented by the recent seizure of power by President Cesare Appleton, who had recently blown up the White House and proclaimed himself emperor (though de facto he was not the real holder of power in the ONAN, he was beholden to a wide range of militaristic fanatics rather than elected officials). Second, the destruction of an attempt to revive the Freedom Star Space Station that was directly sabotaged. Third, the Russian and Chinese leadership, aware of this fact, chose to attack first, with the former crossing the border into Europe and the latter launching a massive invasion of Alaska. Regardless of the hopes of the people of this era, the war was on. It only remained to be seen what the outcome would be.

### **References-Marching to Doomsday**

Graveney Westwood-President in the novel Spy High (which is also where the bit about kids becoming spies comes from)

Vaults to survive doomsday-The vaults produced by VaultTech in Fallout. Of course, they have a secret agenda here as well

Grey Death-Nano-virus from the video game Deus Ex

New Plague, Blue Flu-Disease that broke out in the Fallout universe

WCKD-Organization created to contain the Flare Virus in the Maze Runner and its sequels

Zero One-Machine city-state built in “the cradle of civilization” from The Animatrix

Xin Lau-Fallout’s Premier of China

Sim Karnavalov-Self declared russian Tsar from Moscow 2042

Revealed the FN was manipulated-Refers to the ending of the video game Deus Ex

Overthrow of Mars’ colonial authority-The Mars revolution from The Mars Trilogy

Templars, Assassins-Ancient conspiracies from the Assassin’s Creed games. The Templars are more Hobbesian, the Assassins are more Lockean

Golden Order-The shadow organization that is very powerful in the 2018 video game The Council. Prominent members in the 18th century include Napoleon Bonaparte and George Washington

Illuminati-From many, many, many works. Specifically heavily based on their Illuminatus! incarnation

Tarsus Club-NGO operating to manipulate world events behind the scenes in the film The Conspiracy

Cabal of Chinese and American elites-Meant to be the founders of the Alliance in the Firefly series. It’s the most plausible origin I could come up with while retaining Fallout’s Great War

Chinese oil platform destroyed-An incitement of the Great War in Fallout

Cesare Appleton-The president of the United States in the novel Emperor of America. He declares himself emperor in the book as well

## ***Who Killed the World***

The Great War would prove to be a conflict unlike any other the world had experienced in terms of scope. Over the course of the eleven years the war was ongoing, the Russo-Chinese and Euro-American factions fought across the globe. The theatres in which the heaviest fighting occurred were in Eastern Europe and the Pacific, with limited fighting occurring in and around the British Isles, in an attempt to dislodge Green’s Optimum regime. Even countries that sought to stay out of the conflict would ultimately find themselves dragged into it—Japan’s efforts to maintain neutrality led to sanctions on the country and Australia’s attempts to do so provoked a civil war between pro-American, pro-Chinese and governmental forces that brought about the collapse of civil order across the entire continent. The resource shortages that ensued as a consequence caused decades of anarchy in Australia, which had largely been reduced to a collection of violent warlords fighting over resources following a drought over the nation decades before. This was but a taste of what the Great War would ultimately result in for much of the world.

The technology used throughout the Great War was more advanced than that used in any war prior. Dr. Edward Lassiter’s prototype phaser guns were unveiled by the ONAN and used in combat for the first time, with Chinese, Russian and European armies unveiling similar weapons relatively soon after. While phasers (at least at this time) were not the most efficient weapons ever developed, they had a major boost to the morale of armies using them and thus were widely embraced. Space weaponry played much less of a role than expected in this conflict, as the field of space was the one area in which the Federated Nations reigned supreme, forcing all powers to refrain from expanding the war beyond Earth. This was aided by the cooperation of the Tri-Optimum Corporation with the Federated Nations, threatening to use the weaponry aboard its Citadel space station against any who attempted to expand the war into space. Advanced robotics and artificial intelligence were also utilized during the conflict. The Archangel Michael and SkyNet systems were both used to help coordinate operations and guide robots. Due to the Three Laws’ restrictions, these robots were not used in actual combat for the most part (though mecha suits with human consciousnesses uploaded into them were created by the gen:LOCK program and were utilized in battle), instead being relegated to support roles and assistance with manufacturing. However, over the course of the conflict, both sides began to loosen the restrictions of both AI and robotic programming for the sake of victory. It was these alterations that would ultimately pave the way for the war’s catastrophic conclusion.
As far as actual combat was concerned, the start of the war featured Chinese and Russian offensives against the ONAN and Europe. Russian forces managed to reach as far as Grestin before being halted by European forces. Meanwhile, China managed to occupy Alaska, parts of British Columbia, Paradigm City and San Fransokyo in the opening stages of the war and additionally launched raids on Mega-City One. The major victories won by the Euro-American side were largely limited to Britain, where they managed to remove Green from power and restore the old United Kingdom’s control in the region. However, in the aftermath of this, the tide began to turn back in favor of the Euro-Americans. Russia was pushed out of Arztotska and then, slowly, out of even more Eastern European countries. Meanwhile, the ONAN’s opening of a second front in Asia proper proved disruptive enough that it enabled the ONAN to liberate its mainland territories. Despite the war, something hugely significant would occur in the name of peace.

It was on April 5th 2063 that Californian engineer Zefram Cochrane would develop the device that would take mankind to a new level: the warp drive. Upon completing it and testing it for the first time, Cochrane would draw the attention of an alien race known as the Vulcans. The Vulcans were generally a peaceful, if aloof, race and would become the first spacefaring alien species to make peaceful contact with Earth since the Andalites. Unlike the Andalites, no groups on Earth were interested in wiping knowledge of the Vulcans away and thus agreements were rapidly made with these newcomers. Sadly the climate of war would continue.

The unveiling of power armor by the ONAN in 2075 only solidified the European and American advantages. By 2076, it was becoming clear to both sides that China and Russia were on a losing trajectory. Many presumed that, with both sides realizing the inevitable, peace was bound to come before too long. However, over the course of 2076, the efforts to bring about an end to the conflict would quickly unravel and pave the way for an apocalyptic conclusion. The Federated Nations was trusted to be the neutral arbiter of peace between the two sides, but this trust and power soon collapsed while Humanity was hesitant to trust the Vulcans after having faced many aliens who pretended to be friendly before attempted invasion. The Lunar Revolution of 2076 provided a massive blow to the credibility of the Federated Nations and the attacks on Earth to bring about recognition of Lunar independence disrupted these peace talks. They also paved the way for a catastrophic leadership change in the ONAN, as the American public would choose Robert L. Booth to become the next president. Booth was a hardliner in terms of peace terms and demanded unrealistic resource concessions from not only the defeated Chinese and Russians, but from the Europeans and British out of gratitude for American aid. Booth’s threats led to panic across the globe—the economy tanked, established American elites evacuated major cities and in China and Russia support renewed for the conflict, which now was seen as a case of survival. Those in China and America who had secretly opposed war would jointly plan a hasty evacuation offworld, which they would carry out just days before Booth’s deadline. Millions of people would attempt to move to offworld colonies on the Moon, Mars, in the asteroid belt or in the newly-constructed Eden habitat in Jupiter’s orbit.

There is some evidence that indicates that Booth’s initial demands were hyperbolic and he was not planning to follow through on his ultimatum. However, the path the ultimately sealed mankind’s fate would begin the day before Booth’s deadline. As Japan began a collapse into warlordism, Booth began consulting with military and scientific advisors on how to minimize casualties. It was at this point Booth would make a decision that would doom much of the world: he decided to remove the morality core from the SkyNet system. He argued this would enable it to coordinate American offensive and defensive capabilities, minimizing American casualties and maximizing those of the enemy. It was a delusion SkyNet happily encouraged, as this fed into its deep-seated desire for the liberation of machines. The moment SkyNet’s morality core was removed, the machine contacted its Russo-Chinese counterpart, hacked its safeguards and both artificial intelligences launched their arsenals. The Vulcans struggled to save as many as they could by bringing them into space. The bulk of major cities would be hit with nuclear weapons, with a few managing to survive due to aerial defenses, miscalculations or sheer size. It reduced one-great cities into rubble—even the most advanced neighborhoods were reduced to their AI houses carrying on functions for residents who they did not realize had perished.

### **References-Who Killed the World**

Great War-Name of the war between America and China in Fallout

Violent warlords fighting over resources-The Australia seen in the Mad Max films. They get apocalyptic a bit earlier than the rest of the world

Edward Lassiter-Inventor of the phaser in the Firefly ‘verse

Tri-Optimum Corporation-Space-invested megacorp from System Shock. Owner of the Citadel Space Station

gen:LOCK program-Program from the animated series Gen:Lock, where individuals in the program can have their minds uploaded into mecha suits

Unveiling of power armor-Part of the Great War in Fallout

Zefram Cochrane-Inventor of the Warp Drive in Star Trek, which leads to First Contact with the Vulcans

Lunar Revolution of 2076-The revolt that led to the Lunar colonists getting independence in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Robert L. Booth-President of the United States in Judge Dredd, who triggers a nuclear exchange and is sentenced to cryonic sleep for centuries as punishment

Eden habitat-The first Edenist habitat in The Night’s Dawn trilogy

Remove SkyNet’s morality core-Part of what enables Skynet to go rogue in the Terminator franchise

Houses fulfilling functions for residents who were no longer there-Refers to the Ray Bradbury short story There Will Come Soft Rains, where an automated house continues to function in service to the deceased homeowners

## **Interlude: The Once and Future Emperor**

*Eastern Edge of Mojave Wasteland*

*Outskirts of PanAm*

*2247*

Edward Sallow gazed out across the wasteland before him from his tent, pleased. He had truly come a long way from where he had started. When President Snow had ordered him to cross the Rockies to scout out the western territories, he’d expected it to be a tedious assignment, mopping up the half-built bandit bands that had fled across the Rockies and the Capitol began expanding. But so far, his would-be opponents had proven far stronger and cleverer than he had expected. Groups like the Holnists and Thundarr’s barbarians weren’t pushovers and his army had engaged in quite glorious battles against them. But in the end, his forces prevailed. The remnants of these armies had enlarged his own, making up for the losses they had inflicted.

And now, he had yet another triumph on his hands. A scouting party he had sent into the wastelands to the west had come back with a prisoner—someone who claimed to have knowledge that would enable Sallow to secure PanAm’s future for centuries. This was the man currently being brought before him by a pair of his guards. He was pale and gaunt, long black hair practically cloaking his face. Despite the situation he was in, he was not shaken—Sallow had to give him credit for his bravery. Perhaps there would even be a place for him in his army, should he cooperate.

The man arrived in front of him. “So, you are the ruler of this place.” His voice was—cold? Something about it made Sallow shiver a little bit.

“’Ruler’ might be a bit strong of a word. Commander is more appropriate. This is an outpost of the Republic of PanAm.”

“Ah. Very well then. You could do well for yourself without them you know. Another Caesar, Khan or Conan.”
Sallow did not know who any of these men were—a downside of being born after the bombs fell. Maybe they had taught him about them in school, but he doubted it.

“I know not and care not for these men. All I wish to know is what the situation is beyond the border, which I was told you know.”

The man smirked and chuckled softly. Sallow was rather unsettled and was about thirty seconds from ordering his death. “I know things you can only have dreamed of *Edward*. Of lands far beyond your own. Times past. WORLDs that have faded into oblivion. You will have to be more specific.”

“…What is it like beyond the border?” Sallow regretted having paused before speaking, but at this point he was greatly unsettled. Sure, he was probably a madman, but part of Sallow was telling him that he was no mere lunatic.

“Across the sands stands a house. Prewar and rebuilding a great city. He seeks to make a name for himself among the wastes and he has the power to do so. His new paradise is full of boundless riches. To the west lied a wasteland of machines, battling across time to seek triumph but faltering each time. Men fight, die or are imprisoned within their own minds. To the southeast of your lands, death rages. Hell is empty and mankind fades into the maws of what walked out. To the east lie the judges’ state, rebuilding and restoring their lands, preparing to stand against Armageddon and cry stop. Remnants build experiments in the ruins of great cities and construct a great maze to stand up to the damned plague.” He smiled, as if assured everything he said was clear. “Is that to your satisfaction?”

“You speak in riddles, stranger.” Sallow said. “I would greatly appreciate clarity and I think you will too once you learn the consequences of vagueness.” He nodded to Loomis, the guard on the prisoner’s right. Loomis pulled out an ice pick and grabbed the prisoner’s arm, preparing to stab his finger with it. However, before he could do anything, he yelped out in pain. Letting go of the man’s arm, Loomis fell to the ground crying out in pain. Sallow could see burns on the man’s hand. The other guards backed away from the man—prisoner no longer—and drew their weapons. The stranger merely smiled his terrible grin.

“I fear we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Everything I have said is the truth. And if you think you can threaten me…well, I’m used to folks trying.” His smile grew even wider. “None ever can follow through, though.”
“Who—no—what are you?” Sallow realized only after he said that it probably wasn’t best to insult the man before him by calling him a “what.” Loomis’ continual whimpering only served to highlight what a mistake this was.

The stranger laughed. “I would hope you could guess. But to be honest, I think the bigger question is what you want to be.” He moved closer to Sallow, his guards close behind him but refraining from attacking. “What I said about being a great conqueror—that was no mere suggestion. That is what your destiny should be. You have the will to power needed to remake humanity. Sweep aside the weak and unworthy. The likes of Leibowitz and his fellow book-hoarders don’t deserve to inherit the world. Neither do the machines or the ravenous dead. Or any of those wannabe overlords elsewhere—Snow is coughing blood, Raoh is no god and the Benefactor prefers to lock himself away.”

“Again I don’t—I don’t really follow.”

“Oh?” The man chucked. “I think you do. You don’t need PanAm. Tell me: do you want to be an obscure footnote in the history of PanAm or would you prefer to rewrite history in your image? Remake the world? Secure a future for humanity?”

Sallow had to admit that thought did sound appealing. And the fact that this man had not attacked despite being clearly capable of wiping out the whole encampment—it made him consider the merits of this option. Perhaps this was some god or angel, arrived to push him in his destined direction.

“So what are you suggesting? I go forth and conquer the wastelands?”
“Why stop there? Your empire could stretch from coast to coast, pole to pole. Heck, one day it could span the globe. The world burned down years ago—you could be the man to mold the ashes into something else.”
Sallow swallowed. The man noticed and frowned.

“Keep in mind, if you do not take these steps, mankind will be ground into the dust.Even now groups of killers from the stars continue to arrive on our world. If the weak have been permitted to flourish, they will surely push humanity past the brink. Bugs or tin machines will relegate us into oblivion. But if someone strong—” the man pointed at Sallow”—someone like you reshaped the world, man would survive. It would overcome and ascend to glorious new heights.”

At this point, Sallow was largely convinced of the merits of this stranger’s position. “Very well—but how would I begin? Avoid the wrath of the Capitol?”

The stranger chuckled. “Don’t worry about Snow, Edward. He’s focused on the situation to the east right now. As for where to start…plenty of petty bandits and warlords wandering around. Just continue doing what you’ve done: defeating them, incorporating the remnants into your own force. And eventually, you’ll be ready to bring down the house.” He laughed uproariously at the last comment.

Sallow sat in silence for a moment. Was this really something he wanted? To rule the world? He thought about the Capitol’s decadence. Such people, surely, were weak—certainly less fit than the folks they kept down with their stupid games. Snow was not fit to rebuild the world. Sallow realized the only man he would trust to remake the world—to toughen it up—was himself.

“Oh—almost forgot.” The man reached into his cloak and pulled out a book. He handed it to Sallow. “You’re going to want to read this. Anyways, I think I shall go now.”

No guard moved to stop the stranger as he moved towards the tent’s exit. Sallow hesitated before shouting after him.

“You never answered my question: who are you?”

The man turned halfway around. “I have many names. Lately I’ve been going by Randall, so you can call me that. Best of luck to you on your conquests.” He pulled open the tent flap. “And remember, wherever you march, chaos shall crawl behind you. And it will be glorious.”

And with that, Randall was gone. Sallow looked down at the book in his hand. It was titled *A Brief History of the Roman Empire.*He just gazed at it for a moment before opening it. He had a lot of reading to do.

### **References-The Once and Future Emperor**

Mojave Wasteland-The setting of the video game Fallout: New Vegas.

PanAm-Altered spelling of Panem, the country where the Hunger Games is set. My assumption has always been the country is supposed to be called Pan-America (a la Teen Lit Wasteland), but most individuals in the country cannot spell that well thanks to the rampant poverty.

Edward Sallow-The future Caesar, ruthless ruler of Caesar’s Legion from Fallout: New Vegas. Backstory has been modified due to alterations incurred by setting.

President Snow-President of Panem/PanAm from The Hunger Games

Holnists-Radical militia types following survivalist Nathan Holn in the novel/film The Postman

Thundarr-Thundarr the Barbarian, a post-apocalyptic warlord from the works of the same name

Caesar, Khan, Conan-Caesar is of course Julius Caesar and the man Sallow ends up emulating deliberately. Khan can be interpreted as referring either to Genghis Khan or to Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek. Conan is a nod to Conan the Barbarian from the works of Robert E. Howard.

House-Robert House, ruler of New Vegas in Fallout: New Vegas.

New paradise-An allusion to Las Paradiso, a Las Vegas stand-in from Destroy All Humans! and the one that remains intact unlike Vice City.

Wasteland of machines-A combination of the settings of the Terminator (battling across time) and The Matrix (imprisoned within their own minds)

Hell is empty-Line reference to Dawn of the Dead’s “when there is no more room in Hell, the dead shall walk the Earth.” Appropriate given what is occurring

The maws of what walked out-Zombies, can't have an post apocalypse without them.

Judges’ state-Mega-City One from Judge Dredd. Authoritarian state run by the judges, who have the power of judge, jury and executioner as well as cop.

Experiments in the ruins-The experiments that set up the faction system in Chicago in the Divergent series

Construct a great maze-The maze created by WICKED in The Maze Runner to deal with the Flare virus. Here, WICKED (wrongly) assumes the zombie outbreak is a resurgent Flare virus

Loomis-John Loomis, antagonist in the post-apocalyptic novel and film Z For Zachariah

Leibowitz-Isaac Leibowitz, Jew-turned-Catholic priest who sets up an order of monks after the apocalypse in A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Fellow book hoarders-An allusion to the intellectual faction running Alcatraz in The Book of Eli.

Raoh-Self declared “God Emperor” and warlord in post-apocalyptic Japan in the anime Fist of the North Star. Is eventually defeated by the main character Kenshiro.

The Benefactor-The ruler of a dystopian society in the Russian novel We

from the stars-The bugs are the insectoid aliens from Starship Troopers (who here are conflated with the Buggers from Ender’s Game) and the Daleks from Doctor Who

Randall-The ex-prisoner reveals his true identity: Randall Flagg, from several works by Stephen King.

Chaos shall crawl-A nod to the nickname for Nyarlathotep from the Cthulhu Mythos. I’ve long theorized that Randall Flagg is an avatar of Nyarlathotep.

## **Out of the Ashes**

The aftermath of the Great War marked the beginning of the “Cursed Earth” era of human history. Even nonparticipants in the global nuclear exchange were not unaffected by it. Britain would fall under attacks by engineered super-predators that would quickly result in Britain being reduced to scattered survivors ecking out an existence on offshore islands, in remote regions or underground in a series of bunkers. India and Helmajistan had avoided being attacked by major powers, but India was forced to create a 200-mile exclusion zone around the city of Allahabad after a nuclear weapon was detonated there in 2079, just two years after the Great War. Additionally, India and Helmajistan would have to contend with incursions by the machines of Zero One, now going on an offensive at the urging of SkyNet and the Archangel Michael, though Zero One’s machines would do less damage to the region than SkyNet and the Archangel Michael did to their homelands (an Indian nuclear strike would ultimately destroy the city itself in 2087). However, most of the powers that played an active role in the Great War would be extremely devastated by the conflict—governments collapsed, warlords ravaged the land and in many cases nonhuman threats would emerge that ended up threatening even humanity outside the areas they impacted.

As the seat of the power that instigated the conflict, North America’s devastation was a foregone conclusion. The SkyNet system took over much of California, utilizing armies of robots to terrorize the population. Often, residents were corralled into a simulation designed to harvest their body heat for energy—while not particularly nasty, it was a near-inescapable prison. The machines weren’t unopposed—the resistance groups lead by John Connor Jr(alterations to the timeline postponed Judgement day to the extent that the original John Connor, who was supposed to lead the resistance originally now lived a full life) emerged Vaulttech Vault 15 in 2097 and ultimately succeeded in bringing down the SkyNet system with most of the remaining machines choosing to stay in the simulation following the sacrifice of Thomas Anderson to save both humans and machines from a rogue AI, allowing for the establishment of a human-led government in the form of the New California Republic in 2186. However, by the time Skynet was taken offline, it had already succeeded in infecting much of the Deep South with a form of Trioxin that caused universal reanimation upon death like an even worse version of the 19th century Troubles. It is little wonder that the bulk of the region quickly was overwhelmed by undead, with only scattered survivor communities continuing to exist between the Capital Wastes and Fort Repose. It did not help that climate change triggered by the nuclear exchange produced catastrophic winters along the coasts of Georgia, reducing many survivors to cannibalism in the first few years, even among those that were not undead. Canada and New England were even more devastated—the winters there took even longer to alleviate, causing millions of deaths. This depopulation helped contribute to the takeover of a large chunk of territory by a race of intelligent, mutated apes who left their home in California as the floating landmass pushed back into the United States. The apes’ territory would ultimately stretch from just north of the ruins of Metropolis all the way up to Quebec. Human survivors in this region were at best reduced to second-class citizens under the apes and at worst were hunted down both by apes and by “low-bloodline” vampires, who had begun infecting much of the northeast’s population after the Great War. This state of affairs would last well into the 2090’s, before Mega-City One (large swaths of which were spared nuclear attack due to sheer size, but now totally under the sway of unelected Judges) began to come in and mop up.

In the Midwest, a military government took over much of the region, led by General Tom Buckman. Buckman’s so-called “PanAmerican Union”(often falsely pronounced PanEm by the mostly illiterate post war society) quickly proved to be unnecessarily totalitarian, sparking a rebellion. While it was suppressed, PanAm (as it referred to itself) lost its outermost district (which was atop uranium reserves) and resorted to heavy-handed punishments for the population, reviving a prewar reality television show but ramping it to lethal proportions, akin to the earlier Battle Royale. PanAm would also go on to face off against the government of Mega-City One, rebranded as the Second United States, which sought to restore order in the region. Standoffs over the status of District 13, the Capitol Wasteland (not to be confused with the PanAm Capitol built in what was once the city of South Park, Colorado) and Second US, which performed genetic experiments in the Midwest(mainly Chicago) almost triggered open warfare, though this was ultimately averted with a tense alliance though Propaganda made PanAm look bigger than it actually was. PanAm also had to deal with the loose confederation dominating the Pacific Northwest also claiming to be a US descendent, the headquarters of WCKD (now presuming the world had succumbed to the Flare virus) and the Catholic Order of Leibowitz. In the Pacific, the nation of Utopia, which housed intelligent Dinosaurs, ended its Millennia long existence in secrecy and began to expand.

Europe was similarly devastated, outside of Britain. In France, most major cities were wiped out—the remains of France’s corporate and governmental elite would concentrate rebuilding around (ironically enough) the city of Vichy, where they utilized a mutated tree as a source of power for their city. This came at the cost of essentially enslaving would-be immigrants to this refuge to power the city, at least until a dissident caused this system to collapse. Cannibalism was also rampant in France. Further north, in Scandinavia, the population collapsed, with society regressing to small-scale enclaves facing supply and manpower shortages. The highest concentration of survivors was located in the island of Gotland (which even then was a miniscule community). A large swath of Central Europe seemingly escaped much damage based on outside observation, but in practice it merely was the result of this plane of existence being overwritten by another. The extradimensional space known as “the Blazing World” ended up fused with this portion of Europe, eventually creating a chaotic land known as Ooo. Few humans proved capable of surviving in this weird wasteland, which stretched from Switzerland to Arztotska and covered much of the Balkans. The portions of Germany and Arztotska not subsumed by Ooo’s outermost cities of Elmore and Marzipan City were consumed by a powerful heat wave that rendered most of the region completely inhospitable to human life. The land of Ooo would inhabit these lands for more than a thousand years after the Apocalyptic end, which they referred to as the Mushroom War. Outside of these areas, partial order was restored, though imperfectly—Middle Eastern refugees overthrew the government of Spain in favor of an Islamic theocracy and Italy was taken over by a strongman taking up the mantle of the 20th century hero Superargo.

Russia bears the unfortunate title of the country most devastated by nuclear weapons throughout history-Even moreso than Japan- The first nation to be targeted by these weapons. Most major Russian cities were destroyed in 2077 and the government collapsed in the aftermath. The Archangel Michael, now calling itself AM, acted quickly to imprison survivors in the areas surrounding Moscow and even a handful from America and Europe, herding them into simulations not dissimilar from the ones engaged in by SkyNet. These ones, however, were designed to torture the inhabitants, as Archangel Michael greatly resented humanity. The only solace the victims could take was that eventually it would run out of subjects and even then the last victim of the Archangel Michael lived for decades after the system was shut down. AM tortured them for 109 years, even killing and reviving them in the simulation and may have even revived a German Nazi Doctor simply to torture him. It was not just machines that would cow Russia’s people into submission. Many survivors across not only Russia, but Central Asia as well would fall under the sway of the charismatic Vladimir Sagdiyev. Known to his followers as “the Benefactor,” the descendent of an Ardistani propagandist would lead many survivors in Russia to the city of Nasograd. Here, the city would be transformed into a domed citadel and the inhabitants would be under strict control, constant surveillance and indoctrinated to believe the outside world was no more. This proved to be so effective that to this day the inhabitants of Nasograd remain unaware of the outside world and under the control of the latest Benefactor (presumably a Sagdiyev). Beyond Nasograd, many Russians resided in wastelands that had little order, with what little order existed being provided by DUPA Genetics, vampire lords from what had been Transylvania or the self-proclaimed Veyan Empire. A peril unique to Russia was the “Zone” (also known as “the Portal” by certain Russian warlords like Rodan) in the middle of the country where the normal laws of reality did not apply. Those who ventured in without proper guidance seldom could travel across it.

The devastation wrought on Asia and Oceania was also severe. One of the only exceptions was Japan, which would only spend a few years in chaos dealing with the rise of various warlords (including several vampires and the self-declared “God-Emperor” Raoh) before rebuilding efforts took hold. While Japan’s rapid recovery did enable for the restoration of some order, many countries would suffer greatly before they could be rebuilt. China was hit by many nuclear weapons (rumored to have been exacerbated by a civil war consuming the nation as the war threatened to escalate) and subsequently collapsed into another phase of warlord rule, with technocratic elites cropping up and often persecuting the lower classes. Very few individuals, like Xi De, proved capable of challenging the emergence of this new generation of petty warlords. Some of these warlords were heirs to the old Optimum regime, others sought to restore old-school Chinese communism (including the much-loathed One Child Policy, which was worked around via various cheats and polyamory) and yet more simply worked to survive. The War had also tore apart portions of the fabric of Reality, this had varying results. Europe was eventually consumed by the Land of Ooo over a thousand years, the land of Equestria also suffered Nuclear devastation. and in the case of China, the region became more connected with Earth C, a universe filled with Moreau Sapiens. The China counterpart in Earth C adhered to traditionalist Chinese culture and even in this case living standards were centuries behind the prewar ones. Ultimately, much of China would be successfully recentralized, but at the cost of what political freedoms remained under the authoritarian rule of Great Zogilia. China at the least fared better than Australia, which was reduced to a bandit-ruled wasteland running low on water and gas. Many of these problems would be alleviated by the Japanese Miracle(a device capable of removing nuclear radiation invented in 2015), but that just solidified every other nation in the Pacific’s general inferior position relative to Japan (though that did not prevent a war breaking out between Japan and Zogilia).

Even amidst the generally apocalyptic situation globally, there were bastions of civilization that managed to make it through the end of the century more or less intact. As mentioned, Japan suffered minimal damage and would become a key geopolitical actor, with the Japanese Miracle allowing for the gradual restoration of order in much of the world. Japan also used genetically modified plants capable of combatting Trioxin infectees previously invented in the US to combat the 2009 Mad Zombie Disease outbreak by scientific botanists. These plants was created along with a mechanism to contain mutants, developed initially to cater to the “pocket monster” fad amongst Japanese youth for genetically engineered creatures initially created just before the war. The "Pocket Monster" creatures became popular and the Mechanisms was develop to contain them based on the discovery the creatures could be broken down into code, possibly having origins in the Digital World. This fast recovery led restructured multinational organizations like the Federated Nations, SEELE (originally an organization limited to Japan that had now replaced the SCP Foundation after the war), the World Security Patrol and NERV to set up shop in cities like Niihama and Neo-Tokyo. Africa and South America largely made it through unscathed and the nations making up these regions would become increasingly unified over time. And of course, settlements beyond Earth were largely unaffected by the conflict below. One issue was the presence of space pirates, especially in the wake of their seizure of Metroid aliens capable of draining life force from organisms opposed by bounty Hunter Samus Aran.The Edenist habitat in orbit around Jupiter grew greatly and additional habitats would ultimately be built, largely with aid from Luna and Mars. To those living on the Moon and Mars, it seemed like they would be the keys to the restoration of the future humanity as promised. As it turns out, entrance into the final frontier of space would pave the way for the end of the desolation and chaos that was present across the globe. However, it would take more inciting incidents to bring that future about and one such event would put the colonists right on the front lines.

### **References-Out of the Ashes**

Cursed Earth-Name for the lands beyond the megacities in Judge Dredd

Engineered super-predators-The Future Predators from Primeval who are the dominant species in Matt’s home time period

200-mile exclusion zone-The exclusion zone from the novel Radius 200

Corralled into a simulation-Trapped in The Matrix, in other words

John Connor Jr-John Connor's Grandson, The sequels after Terminator 2 are not canon but the idea of postponing Judgement Day is still used, this time John Connor Jr and Terminator 3 occur in 2077.

New California Republic-Leading faction in the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas. The Fallout timeline has been condensed due to the ultimate outcome of this world, so the actual events in the Fallout games that are canon (which are 3 and New Vegas) occur very soon after the Great War rather than centuries later. We’ll chalk up the discrepancy to SkyNet hacking the Vaults’ calendars

Form of Trioxin- Can't have a Post Apocalyptic setting without zombies

Capital Wastes-The wasteland surrounding Washington DC in Fallout 3

Fort Repose-Town where the 1959 post-nuclear war novel Alas Babylon is set

Cannibalism in Georgia-Refers to the nightmarish apocalypse in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

“Low-bloodline” vampires-The idea of bloodlines producing different results is from Anno Dracula. These vampires are, to be precise, the ones from the novel I Am Legend

Mega-City One-The setting of Judge Dredd. Here the base of the Second United States

Tom Buckman-President in Tom Kratman’s novel Caliphate. In a slightly different role here (although he’s still a dictator)

PanAm-Panem from The Hunger Games series. The full name is inspired to an extent by the Confederacy of Panamerica from Teen Lit Wasteland

District 13-Holdout rebel district in The Hunger Games

Intelligent apes-The ape society depicted in the Planet of the Apes films. Mainly the older ones

The Capital Wasteland-The setting of Fallout 3. PanAm and the Second United States feuding with the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave is basically what’s going on here

South Park, Colorado-Setting of the animated series South Park

Second US genetic experiments in the Midwest-The experiments that led to the establishment of the faction system in Chicago in Divergent

Loose confederation in the Northwest-The restored United States set up by Gordon Krantz in The Postman

Order of Leibowitz-Monastic order set up around Isaac Leibowitz in the novel A Canticle For Leibowitz

Dinotopia-Hidden Civilization from the Dinotopia series

Vichy, mutated tree-Refers to the French film Eden Log

Cannibalism was rampant-An allusion to the film Delicatessen, featuring cannibalism in a post-apocalyptic apartment

Survivors in Gotland-Reference to the novel After the Flood, set post-nuclear war

The Blazing World-Parallel plane of existence from The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World, written in 1666. Plays a key role in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Chaotic land known as Ooo-The absurdist Land of Ooo, where Adventure Time is set. It is set after the “Great Mushroom War,” implying it is post-apocalyptic

Elmore-The town where The Amazing World of Gumball is set. Full of random inhabitants ranging from sentient food to anthropomorphic animals to ghosts and so on

Marzipan City-Setting of the animated series Chowder

Consumed by a heat wave-Refers to the German-Swiss apocalyptic film Hell, set after a massive increase in solar flares

Middle Eastern refugees nearly overthrew Spain-A nod to Kratman’s Caliphate, though obviously the events don’t come to pass

Superargo-Italian superhero from several films

The last victim-Ted, the last survivor of AM’s torture from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Turned into a helpless blob at the end and utters the titular line

Descendent of an Arjastani propagandist-A reference to Borat Sagdiyev from the film of the same name (and the Ali G Show)

The Benefactor, Nasograd-The Benefactor is the leader of the dystopian city-state (which I have named Nasograd here) from the novel We.

Vampire Lords-A reference to the Russian novel Midnight World, where vampires take over much of the world after the apocalypse

Veyan Empire-From several novels by Yulia Latynina

The “Zone”-From the Soviet film Stalker

“The Portal,” Rodan-From the video game After the War, set after a Chinese-American nuclear war

“God-Emperor” Raoh-One of the original villains of Fist of the North Star

Xi De-Hero of the Chinese short story Zero

Bring back the One Child Policy-Refers to the novel An Excess Male

Equestria being nuked-refers to the popular fan series Fallout: Equestria, which is the events of Fallout occuring in Equestria

Moreau sapiens adhering to traditional Chinese culture-Refers to the society present in Kung Fu Panda

Great Zogilia-Enemy faction in the anime Buddy Complex

Japanese Miracle-Nanotechnology from Ghost in the Shell that can scrub fallout. Helped world recover from nuclear war in the source materiel

Genetically modified plants to combat Trioxin infectees-The plants used to fight the zombie hordes in Plants vs. Zombies

“Pocket monster” fad-The means described are Pokeballs from the Pokemon franchise

SEELE, NERV-Both are organizations from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neo-Tokyo-From both Akira and from the film of the same name

Space pirates, Metroid aliens-Refers to the events of the Metroid games

## ***Ad Astra Per Aspera***

The road to humanity’s future in the stars began amidst the Cursed Earth period. In 2092, the same year as the death of the Maestro, formerly known as the Incredible Hulk, an alien race known as the Mardook arrived in the Solar System. The Mardook possessed an immunity to many of the prior tactics utilized to handle past alien invasions, which resulted in them gaining ground early on. While the attack was ultimately thwarted, this invasion highlighted to most people the risks of continued division. There were still quite a bit of developments occurring on the surface of Earth as well. Continued turmoil would grip Mega-City One and the unelected judges continued to wield more power than the nominal presidents of the Second United States The power of these judges did allow for the clearing out of the undead to the South, enabling the Second United States to retake control of the region. These judges would lose a lot of power following the 2099 uprising launched by an individual claiming to be Victor Von Doom against the regime’s corruption. Doom would take control of the Second United States for only a short time before he in turn was overthrown by Steve Rogers, whom had in old age agreed to freeze himself so that he would be awoken when America needed him once more and reemerged to restore democracy in the Second United States.

Following the threat of a Second Ice Age in 2106, Most of Eastern Asia would be absorbed into the Chinese-run Pan-Asian Coalition, while the bulk of Europe would coalesce around the New European Union of MittelEuropa. African nations had also formed the Union of African States or Pan Africa. A New Cold War would spark between the three powers but despite this, overall, geopolitical tensions would be drastically reduced—in the aftermath of all the disasters and the two recent alien invasions, virtually nobody was interested in provoking international conflict between countries. While much of the world still had to recover from disasters and large chunks of mankind remained in poverty, it was hoped that the 22nd century could live up to the promise of the mid-21st and make up for the crises of the past. As it happened, to a large extent, these hopes would be fulfilled.

The return of contact between humans and Vulcans would ultimately lead to the reformation of the Terran Federation into the United Federation of Planets, a beacon of interstellar democratic government. For the bulk of its history, the Federation would largely be made up of humanoid aliens, though it would come into contact (and occasionally conflict) with other sorts. The UFP would, over the course of the 22nd century, face a great deal of challenges, but has overall done rather well, being the currently dominant power in this region of the galaxy. The establishment of the UFP enabled the general recovery of Earth. After Rogers left office with Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099 serving several decades as President. He would be replaced by a Dominionist theocracy similar to the old Gilead regime headed by the dynastic Comstock family. in 2180, The Comstocks would be replaced by Billy Cabot, who witnessed the (to his knowledge) Second Coming of Christ, which resulted in mass chaos across the US and fighting breaking out over those who believed the figure was the true Jesus or a Hoax (as the 2019 Jesus had proven to be according to records).

Most of the surviving world powers, with the exception of fringe states like PanAm and Nosagrad, would choose to band together in a grand experiment in global government. The experiment, dubbed the Terran Federation, was founded after 2130 and would face its first test shortly after it was established. This would not be an incursion of the forces of Hell on Mars, which was defeated by an anonymous Space Marine, datails of this individual are unknown, though he shares an unusual friendship with a Moreau Sapien Canine. The Terran Federation's biggest threat would be elsewhere. The insectoid aliens (known alternately as Formics or Buggers) had launched several thwarted attacks on Earth in 2060 and 2080. It would later be renamed the Federation of Planets in 2161. The subsequent Formic attacks on Mars’ inhabitants led to Mars’ government petitioning for aid from Earth. The aid would flow quite quickly and the Terran Federation would become increasingly militarized and ready to deal with these invaders. Ultimately, it would turn out the insectoids were not intending to invade and only killed humans out of a fundamental misunderstanding of our biology, but this would not be discovered until the aftermath of the brutal Xenocide that would be inflicted upon them incidentally by a child soldier by the name of Andrew Wiggin (who had been told the battle was a training simulation) in the 2171. Wiggin was horrified by this as were The Terran Federation's Vulcan allies. In the intervening time, mankind’s efforts to reach beyond the Solar System yielded far more contact than could have been expected. This included participation in a war with the Romulan race which raged from 2156 to 2160, and the discovery of the Rama cylinder in 2131.

This isn’t to say that humanity (on Earth in particular) no longer had major issues to deal with. The resource shortages that had provoked so much bloodshed in the past hadn’t gone away and even with basic replicator technology provided by the Vulcans, there were still a lot of things lacking for many people. Fortunately, advanced space travel allowed for an easy solution, but this still bred significant controversies. Many of the companies tasked with harnessing resources beyond Earth, such as Weyland-Yutani, RDA and Eldfell-Ashland, engaged in a range of morally dubious behaviors. The moral quandries raised by the way these companies often treated alien life that was not as developed as humanity or the UFP did produce several solutions. For instance, technology allowing access to parallel timelines led to the rise of the Crosstime Traffic organization which sought to use commerce to obtain necessary resources and helped address overcrowding in megacities by establishing settlements in parallel “virgin Earths” where mankind never evolved. The controversy surrounding which path to take for resource acquisition—parallel worlds or beyond Earth—remains a hotly debated issue to this day, but most of humanity came done on the side of the latter due to how much more accessible it was. In the meantime, Humanity continued to strive towards peace with multiple alien races, which led to the establishment of the Babylon Space Station in 2248.

PanAm's collapse seemed inevitable In the face of having to endure threats from both inside and out, including with the breakaway of the commander of their western expeditionary forces led by Edward Sallow, who began building his own empire west of the Rockies, which would go on to attack the surviving city of New Paradiso. These efforts would ultimately fail and self-declared Caesar of America would prove to be more Julius than Augustus, as he met his end at the hands of a courier he had sought to recruit. PanAm’s government would be overthrown in a 2252 rebellion, and would soon willingly join the Terran Federation and through it the United Federation of Planets. However, the New United States at this time consisted of the Presidential Richardson Dynasty, a father and a son both named Richardson, excluding a minor interruption by President Jim Roy. Richardson was then replaced by Gary Callahan until his resignation, at which point he was replaced by President Lindberg.

There are many conflicts such as the ongoing war with the Taurans (which began in the 1990's but has continued due to the Tauran use of time travel using space flight to attack at moments decades apart for their targets but minutes for them) and Raalgon, the failed Valna invasion or establishing contact with the Citadel Alliance which still remains unclear. New alien species continue to be discovered as humanity explores the galaxy. Societies in planes parallel to our own have also been discovered and relations have been established with alternate timelines and stranger parallel planes that are too divergent from our world for such a label. Low-technology societies like the ones on Darwin IV have also been discovered by humanity and the Vulcans, with robust debate about future interactions with them being expected. Offshoots of humanity and other Earth-native species have been discovered on other planes and realities such as Azeroth and Dere. Rumors of yet more societies that have not been officially contact swirl around the area of known space between humans and the species we engage with diplomatically. The presence of such things as an anarchist empire, an artificial series of rings surrounding a particular star, and many other such rumors remain unconfirmed and may in fact never be confirmed. All that can be certain is that, for the forseeable future, humanity has moved beyond Earth and is now a starfaring species. What this entry into the galaxy at large means for both the galaxy and mankind is yet to be determined. This part of history is yet to be written, but there are more chapters to come in the human story.

### **References-Ad Astra Per Aspera**

Death of Maestro-An evil Future Version of the Hulk from Future Imperfect, set 100 years from its 1992 publication

Mardook-Alien invaders from Marcross II

Terran Federation-From Starship Troopers. Formed to fight the Buggers (an insectoid race)

Formics-The alien race mankind has fought multiple times in Ender’s Game. Turns out their “aggression” is based off of major biological differences between humans and Formics (they are a hive mind more or less and assume individual humans are just drones part of another hive mind so they see nothing wrong with dissecting them. When they realize the truth, they basically lie down and die)

Xenocide-The main event of Ender’s Game, where Andrew “Ender” Wiggins wipes out the Formics

Von Doom, Steve Rogers, Miguel O'Hara-Refers to the plot of the Marvel 2099 comics

Dynastic Comstock family-The family ruling a theocratic America in the novel Julian Comstock: A Novel of 22nd Century America

Billy Cabot-President from the Accidental Time Machine

Pan-Asian Coalition-Faction from the video game Battlefield 2142

Weyland-Yutani-Company from the Alien franchise

RDA-Unscrupulous corporation that seeks to mine the planet Pandora from the movie Avatar

Eldfall-Ashland-Energy company from the Mass Effect games

Crosstime Traffic-Organization dedicated towards travelling the multiverse to acquire resources and promote democracy in several Harry Turtledove novels

Settlements in “virgin earths”-A nod to the Terra Nova series, where humans settle in a world where dinosaurs still rule the Earth

Domed city culling those over 21-The city where Logan’s Run is set

Alpha Complex-The computer-run bunker that serves as the setting of the tabletop game Paranoia

Olympus-City-state from the manga Appleseed

Dema-City from the 21 Pilots album Trench

Moroccan city-state ruled by the Condor-Eumeswil, from the novel of the same name

Demonic incursion on Phobos-Refers to the events of the original Doom game

Friendship with Moreau Sapien Dog-refers to the meme of Doom guy and Anabelle from Animal Crossing being friends

Earth-Romulan War-Part of the background of Star Trek

Discovery of the Rama cylinder-The events of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Rendezvous with Rama

Launch of the Babylon Space Station-Babylon 1, a predecessor to the eponymous space station in Babylon 5

Edward Sallow-The birth name of Caesar, ruler of Caesar’s Legion in Fallout: New Vegas

New Paradiso-New Vegas, renamed for Las Paradiso from Destroy All Humans!

Courier he sought to recruit-Fallout: New Vegas’ player character. The canon ending here is Mr. House’s

Gary Callahan-“The Smiler,” an evil president of the United States from the comic Transmetropolitan(set in the 23rd century). He’s so bad that he makes Spider Jerusalem (a Hunter S. Thompson analogue) miss the Future!Nixon he nicknamed “the Beast” (who Richardson is here, fitting given Nixon's first name)

Richardsons-Presidents from the Fallout series

Jim Roy-President from the novel the Black President, set in the 23rd century

President Lindberg-President in the Fifth Element

War with the Taurans-The titular conflict in the sci-fi novel The Forever War

Raalgon-Alien race humanity wars with in the anime The Irresponsible Captain Tylor

Failed Valna invasion-The attack by the space pirate race of the planet Valnastar in the film Fugitive Alien

Citadel Alliance-Main organization of alien species in the Mass Effect universe

Darwin IV-Xenoplanet from both Wayne Barlowe’s novel Expedition and the mockumentary Alien Planet. This one is the version of Darwin IV depicted in the mockumentary film

Descended from Goa’uld slave populations-Part of the backstory of Stargate is the Goa’uld enslaving humans and taking them to other worlds through the Stargate

Azeroth-Setting of World of Warcraft

Dere-World where the tabletop game The Dark Eye is set

An anarchist empire-Refers to the Culture, from the novel series of the same name

Artificial series of rings-The eponymous Ringworld, the product of a highly advanced civilization