The Sacred Timeline/A note on the Multiverse

**PREVIOUS:** The Sacred Timeline/1938 - 1942

The Hero Complex is set in a parallel universe very similar to our own, with a shared history.

The suggestion here being that The Hero Complex takes place in a timeline that split from our timeline some time in 1942.

So everything above happened in The Sacred Timeline/1938 - 1942 happened in the same way (give or take a few literary liberties) in both universes.

From now on, we are dealing in the world of pure fiction. However, there are a number of similarities.

Some people in the fictional universe are the same person as people in our universe. This applies to anyone born before 1942. These include (in no particular order):

* Ronald Reagan
* George H. W. Bush
* President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
* Dr Robert Oppenheimer
* Stanley Lieber
* Theodor Seuss Geisel
* Adolf Hitler
* Rupert Murdoch

However, because the events described in the book are entirely fictional, and the circumstances these people find themselves in differ wildly from the actual events that took place in our universe, you should consider them to be **entirely fictional characters based loosely on historical figures**.

People born after 1942 cannot be exactly the same person even if their parents were married before 1942, because statistically speaking, the odds of any 2 people having sex and conceiving a child with exactly the same genetic make-up in 2 different universes is astronomically small.

But for satirical reasons, we’re going to assume that certain types of people exist in many universes, and that it’s possible for them to have very similar ideas and experiences, resulting in very similar paths through life (and politics). These include (in approximate order of birth):

* Rudolph Giuliani
* Donald "Donny" Drumpf
* George W. Bush
* William Jefferson Blythe Jr.
* Barry Oseoto

Also worth noting, a lot of history is just cause and effect at play, so when the timeline split in 1942, a lot of things were already in motion. Hitler was already eyeing off Russia, Japan was already eyeing off most of the Pacific, Atomic bombs were already theoretically in play, and the USA was already gearing up for a major involvement in both theatres of the war.

But beyond the war, science and technology also continue to develop along very similar lines in both universes, as does popular culture. So really, other than a few name changes, and presence of fake superheroes, the fictional universe is quite a lot like our own. But also very different.

So before we switch to the fictional universe, let’s recap the most significant historical events of the period just prior to the timeline split:

* The Manhattan Project begins
* Stanley Lieber joins the army and almost gets into very deep trouble as a result of his side hustle writing comics
* Ronald Reagan got a gig where he could spent the war starring in training films

To understand the premise of the story, you need to understand 2 more things:

* Physicists have a God complex
* Chemists and biologists resent physicists

Neither of these things are necessarily true, but if you can accept them as trueish, then believing the rest of this will be easier.

1942 continues in a Parallel Universe…

**NEXT:** The Sacred Timeline/1942 - 1949