Questions tagged [alternate-history]
For questions that ask what might have happened if history had taken a different path.
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What would Julius Caesar think about the development of AI? [closed]
Would the triumvirate use it to his advantage? Would've it be used in Rome for example counting the census? I've been looking for sources around this topic and I've found nothing thus far.
Thank you.
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What parts of the human brain can a truth serum modify to prevent lying?
As I mentioned in a previous question, I am writing an alternate history story with many different countries by the time 2023 rolls around. Vitruvia is one such country that runs many experiments and ...
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Can a device that causes memory loss be created with near-modern technology?
I am creating an alternate history world that leads to modern Earth having many different nations & cultures than it has in real life. One country is big on funding many extreme experiments to ...
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How heavy does a "city" for two thousand people need to be?
This question is inspired by Mortal Engines, but I imagine something more feasible. The original question I wanted to ask was "How to keep a city in the air?", but I figured out there is ...
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How far can a limited group of people advance in technology?
following scenario: a group of people (like 20-30) is brought to a new planet by a higher power. They are granted immortality, but can't reproduce - so they have a lot of time, but a hard limit in ...
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Does the addition of dominant fantasy races change racism in humans?
Context: This takes place in an alternate reality earth; several fantasy races have existed since the Ladinian era of the break up of Pangea; meaning by the time humans evolved into homo-sapiens, they ...
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Is it reasonable that magic would become a subject and magi would become students in military academies in a world with rediscovered magic?
Until twenty years before the time at which my story is set, the world was pretty much as our modern-age world is now. Magic was thought to be nothing more than myth and superstition. Alien worlds ...
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Radio, but earlier
Let start with a current history tech-levels. Suppose, a relevant scientist in a mid-tier Great Power in 1850s receives a mysterious package.
To be concrete, let's say a mid-tier Great Power is maybe ...
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What would happen if the Panama Isthmus was turned into an island chain?
I understand that the Panama Isthmus is necessary for the Gulf Stream, but what would happen if instead of a solid land bridge, like shown below, it was radically changed into a series of islands ...
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How much smaller would the industrial revolution been if it had relied on wood/biomass? [closed]
Terra: People burned mostly wood for their heating/fuel needs. Then they figured out steam engines. Their fuel needs exploded. They could have kept burning biomass, and they did a little bit, but the ...
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Does magic speed up technology?
In a classic RPG magic system, energy/mana/handwavium points are expended to manipulate reality. The cost increases with the complexity and extent of the alterations being made.
Natural talents for ...
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Help solving the issue of how the existence of a giant uninhabited continent change the history of my world?
I'm writing a story (not sure if it's speculative fiction or low fantasy or sci-fi) that is set in a fairly realistic world except that there is a parallel dimension which humans colonized in what ...
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Would fixed-wing aircraft still exist if helicopters had been invented (and flown) before them?
The current setting i'm working on plays in an alternate timeline to our own in the late 1920's, with one of the key differences being that the helicopter had already been invented in the late 1880's ...
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What would naval warfare look like if Dreadnoughts never came to be?
I sadly couldn't find any answers to this question, probably because it's quite niche, so i'm posting this as my first question here!
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(1906) was ...
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How would a societies evolve where almost everyone can shapeshift into last person they have touched [closed]
In my world, every individual gains the unique ability to shapeshift into the last person they have touched upon turning 16 years old. Somethings to note is one cannot revert back to their original ...
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If modern computers evolved a different way, how different might their keyboards look?
I've been sketching up a constructed script, and I've been drawing a computer keyboard to accompany it.
Now, I've drawn up keys equivalent to Ctrl and Alt, and a "OS Direct key" (equivalent ...
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Reasonable Relative Value in Domestication of Kelenken Terror Birds?
I'm working on a pretty detailed alternate history of the ancient America's, and currently I'm focusing upon Mesoamerica in particular. The core difference is that, through several different ...
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How would civilization differ if silicate glass wasn't so useful? [closed]
(This is a "hard sci-fi" chemistry question.)
Silicate glass is malleable when hot, stiff at human-compatible temperatures, transparent, and chemically inert. It's cheap and easy to make, ...
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Feasability of an OGAS/Cybersyn-style Socialist Internet In An Alternate 1930s
OGAS and Project Cybersyn were both plans in socialist countries for an internet-style system that would be used to coordinate central planning. In this alternate timeline, World War 1 has never ...
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How do I prevent combat-oriented aircraft from being viable?
The more I compare fictional military vehicles and tactics with real-life ones, the more it seems like aircraft are near-omnipotent in the battlefield (operating word here being near). As such, it's a ...
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Murder is Legal, now what? [closed]
Background:
I'm toying with a short story that deals with the concepts of: The limits of Policing, The (legitimate) use of force and the right to defend oneself.
In the scenario - a society faces ever ...
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How much and how powerful would a "phlebotinium" bomb launched from orbit be to create an artificial sea? [closed]
I am writing a setting for an unspecified goal, whether I will end up doing a video game or a novel out of it all, but I am still working on the worldbuilding aspect.
Lore-introduction, (you can skip ...
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Indian Ocean continent - which humans get there first?
Trying to develop an ATL in which several 'lost' continents in the Indian Ocean - namely Kerguelen, Broken Ridge and the Mascarene Plateau (just east of Madagascar) - never end up being submerged and ...
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Conditions to help Paganism survive until a Revival Movement
In my world, the Northern Kingdoms are the equivalent to Europe. Like Europe, in the Middle Ages, their version of Christianity began replacing old Pagan religions and gods.
However, in my world, ...
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Portable Alternatives to Traditional Keyboard/Mouse Input
In a near-future alternate reality where smartphones were never invented, people rely heavily on augmented reality and highly mobile computing. High-tech clothing and accessories are everywhere. Heads-...
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How effective a sewage system can a roughly medieval location manage if told of sanitation but not how to make a sewer?
Let's say a modern man is transported to a world that is roughly medieval and modeled very clearly off of medieval Europe. He manages to impress the son of a king and eventually gets the king to hear ...
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Justification for the cult of Tiamat (chaos deity)
While chaos might be well suited for raiding and pillaging, my world is to be in a sedentary setting. Indeed, chaos, in the true spirit of the term, seems to run counter to what a sedentary society ...
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What conditions could help the Roman Catholic Papacy revive Paganism successfully to reduce Protestantism?
In this alternate history, the Papacy becomes worried when those such as Martin Luther began complaining about the Church's practices. At this point, Luther breaks away, beginning Lutheranism. Fear of ...
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At what technological level can a mixed-gender military not be at a disadvantage to an all-male one?
In various fantasy settings, female combatants are quite common. There is a history of women in the military in real life but such women were generally rare and often hid their identity. Warfare was ...
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Max tech level for society of 200,000
Given a remote island colonised by modern day (2023) explorers, with a total population of about 200,000 but cut off from the outside world for political reasons, what level of technology could they ...
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How to counter bulletproof plate armor with 19th Century technology? [closed]
I'm writing a timeline where the Russian Empire figured out how to make magical armor. By fully immersing plate armor in holy water, that plate armor is now fully bulletproof. No projectile will ...
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How far back in time would the USA need to travel to be able to conquer the entire world? [closed]
I've been thinking of a scenario in which the US wants to control the entire world, via time travel, but I'm not sure what time to travel to.
The US is generally considered to have the most powerful ...
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What would be the next logical step after crossbows?
In this world I'm making, I'm trying to avoid firearms (to keep things like melee weapons more balanced), but also be more industrial. I'm justifying it by the simple idea of 'we never discovered ...
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What defensive invention would have made the biggest difference in the late 1400s?
One world I've been tinkering on for months is an alternate history where Europe did not colonise the rest of the world, different global cultures remained (more) independent, until in the age of the ...
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Why would a society persecute people who are antisocial misanthropes (sociopaths, psychopaths, narcissists, and sadists)? [closed]
An alternate-historical story is set in a third-world country in 1977 of the Gregorian calendar (the year George Lucas' masterpiece, Star Wars, was released). The country is a Costa Rica pastiche (...
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What population would the Americas have if the natives were as advanced as Europeans?
If you check a list of the most densely populated nations, a lot of New World countries are near the bottom and almost no Western Hemisphere nation (excluding small islands) are near the top. The ...
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What climate would Kumari Kandam have (a mythical continent on the Indian Ocean)?
Kumari Kandam was another mythical continent. It was believed to be host to an ancient Tamil civilization. Such a land was mentioned in ancient Tamil writings. Europeans picked up on the idea to ...
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How Nazi Germany should use it's new Nukes to quickly and efficiently conquer the entire world [closed]
The premise is thus;
A neo-nazi time traveler with a ton of money to throw around who's also done a ton of research into the manufacturing, mechanisms, and uses of nukes, brings a few construction ...
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What climate would Mu, a lost continent in the Pacific Ocean, have?
Mu was a mythical continent that was believed to exist in the Pacific Ocean. It was part of pseudohistory back in the 19th Century. Hawaii and other Polynesian islands were believed to be the remnants ...
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What sort of founder crops and/or domesticable food plants can be found in the tundra/subarctic, specifically the Alaska interior?
Another attempt at a broad question I asked here earlier. My aim here is to build another cradle of civilization from the ground up, in an area that never did (for fairly obvious reasons) and in an ...
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If Mars and Venus were habitable, by when would they have been colonized? [closed]
The first human stepped foot on the Moon in 1969.
The first probe (Venera 3) landed on Venus in 1970
The first probe (Mars 3) landed on Mars in 1971.
If Venus and Mars were habitable (they have liquid ...
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Would ATV Cavalry be as effective as horse cavalry?
During the early 1800s, various countries are gifted tall and modern ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles). These ATVs require no fuel and come with manuals. After a few months of trials, many Europeans master ...
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How early can the point of departure for 2022 to resemble the great cities of Annibale Siconolfi?
Some time ago, I came across the artwork of the Italian artist Annibale Sicionolfi, and I am quite drawn to them, especially on how ecology and architecture are tied together. Art gallery in this link....
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How do I Make the "Anime Girl Warrior Physique" Realistic?
In some Anime, Women look nothing at all like men, yet are capable of nearly the same exact feats of physical strength:
Image from Dragon Ball Super
Is there a way to manipulate biology and ...
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How close would a black hole need to be for humans to have discovered it before theorizing it?
Black holes were first seriously theorized in the early 20th century, but it took many decades before one could be observed; depending on your definition of "observe," this may have occurred ...
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Trojan horse for protecting against Roman inquisition [closed]
I'm imagining a world set in Medici Florence. As actual history plays out, despite the Medicis' growing power, the start of the Roman Inquisition still necessitated some concessions. For instance, ...
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An Irish monarchy and IRA [closed]
I need a change in history so in the year 2020, Ireland is ruled by a Constitutional Monarchy. It is still a catholic nation (not celtic), has a democratically elected parliament and leaders, and the ...
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If people in Iron Age times had access to uranium, would it be used over iron?
Let's say that in 1,200 BC, aliens secretly come to Earth and turn all of the uranium oxides into pure uranium.The aliens then leave and humans discover this new metal.
Uranium has a lower melting ...
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Could advanced Aboriginal Australians have domesticated the Emus/Cassowaries?
In an alternate universe where Eurasia is less advanced and the native peoples of the Americas and Australia build powerful civilizations, what animals could be domesticated that weren't domesticated ...
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If Aluminum was non-reactive, could there have been an "Aluminum Age" instead of a Bronze Age?
Aluminum is the most common metal on Earth. Despite this fact, this element wasn't discovered until the 19th Century. This is because Aluminum is never naturally found in the ground. Instead, aluminum ...