Story Idea Thread: post your ideas here!

[Zyobot]

May 1, 2019 8:43:51 GMT James G said:

Non-designated survivor.

In the present day, a nuclear blast occurs in Whitehall, London. 20kt at ground level.
Almost all of the Gov., royalty, the civil service (MI5, MOD, Met. Police HQ etc) is gone in an instant. Parliament is in session and a big portion of senior royalty is in the city too.
There is a surviving Cabinet minister, some other MPs and Lords and a royal or few.
There is no clue who committed this act of terror so no immediate UK reaction comes.
Britain is left a mess because the political heart of the country is gone. Casualties will fast be beyond those at once killed by the blast.
The non-designated survivor must try to put Britain back together again.

The rest of the world would no doubt enter alarm mode and probably play some role in this scenario. An act of terror that makes 9/11 seem like child's play ain't something that the global community tends to take lightly.

For my first potential TL idea, I'm thinking of an ASB fanfiction scenario that'd probably be titled as 'Another Bloc of Capitalists: A Reds! ISOT'. It'd take place in Aelita's Reds! TL (which can be found on AH.com as well as SV), with an alternate, always-capitalistic and much more liberal-democratic Russia and China being ISOTed into the setting and perhaps forming tenuous relations with the imperialistic Franco-British Union. Predictably for those familiar with the story, it'd result in a Cold War brewing between TTL's America and the new arrivals.

Another, more original work I have in mind is called 'The Plan-All Intelligence'. Basically, it'd explore a collectivist society whose economic activities and resources are directed and distributed by a supremely important machine(s) of the same name as the title. Perhaps the current order would come to be from TTL's suffering its own cyberpunk-adapted Gilded Age, I don't know yet.

[James G]

The Three Republics

During a very different WW2 - the Second Great European War - the UK ends up as an ally of Germany fighting the 'menace of the Bolsheviks'. The war goes very wrong for Germany, Britain and Europe.
The Soviets take over most of mainland Europe. A communist rising in Britain, against the war and not necessarily pro-Moscow, occurs when Soviet forces reach the Low Countries. Without the need for a Soviet Sealion against prepared defences, Soviet light forces enter Britain to back a 'people's republic'.
We have a Red Europe.
The British Isles are split into three republics: England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales is subsumed into England and all of Ireland is taken down.
In a different Cold War, the US and USSR still face off against each other though with Asia - Japan and a Republic of China - as strong American allies. The Soviet Union eventually falls in the 80s. Like dominos, so does all of Europe including the three republics of the British Isles. Democracy replaces communism in the three republics.

[Zyobot]

May 5, 2019 20:07:20 GMT James G said:

The Three Republics

During a very different WW2 - the Second Great European War - the UK ends up as an ally of Germany fighting the 'menace of the Bolsheviks'. The war goes very wrong for Germany, Britain and Europe.
The Soviets take over most of mainland Europe. A communist rising in Britain, against the war and not necessarily pro-Moscow, occurs when Soviet forces reach the Low Countries. Without the need for a Soviet Sealion against prepared defences, Soviet light forces enter Britain to back a 'people's republic'.
We have a Red Europe.
The British Isles are split into three republics: England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales is subsumed into England and all of Ireland is taken down.
In a different Cold War, the US and USSR still face off against each other though with Asia - Japan and a Republic of China - as strong American allies. The Soviet Union eventually falls in the 80s. Like dominos, so does all of Europe including the three republics of the British Isles. Democracy replaces communism in the three republics.

I'd ask how those three republics are faring in the midst of the 21st Century, but I suppose I'd have to wait until you went ahead with the TL to receive an answer(s).

Another idea of mine would be the Pokemon setting we're familiar with encountering a parallel world in which Pokemon--rather than humans--develop an advanced civilization as well as a universal ability to speak human language. Unsurprisingly, Ash Ketchum & Co. would have the field day of their lives ITTL that I do not yet have a precise title for.

[Zyobot]

No one's replied in a while, but here it goes anyway. I was also thinking of a crossover TL that I might call 'Another Galaxy To Burn'. It'd revolve around the Chaotic forces deployed in the 13th Black Crusade being ISOTed to the Star Wars galaxy, though in which specific time period remains undecided as of yet.

Maybe they'd show up in the midst of the Clone Wars, or during the Age of the Empire? Unlike before or after those eras at least in Canon, Abaddon & Co. would have formidable and galactic-scale enemies to fight against.

[eurowatch]

Code Geass AU set either during the 1940s or later where the EU is winning the war against Britannia instead of losing because their enemy has the power of plot on their side.

[Zyobot]

To reply to (and hopefully rekindle discussion in) a thread that's been inactive for nearly two weeks, my next TL idea is called 'Dissolved By An ISOT'. The premise is that the modern-day iterations of what used to be British colonies get sent a hundred years back in time to 1920. Obviously, the uptimer countries--namely India, for instance--will want to keep their sovereignty, hence causing the Empire to be no more shortly after the ISOT happens. That said, reestablishing the Commonwealth of Nations isn't out of the question.

Coming from The Lothians blogspot, here's a map of the British Empire in 1920:

[stevep]

May 24, 2019 20:15:44 GMT Zyobot said:

To reply to (and hopefully rekindle discussion in) a thread that's been inactive for nearly two weeks, my next TL idea is called 'Dissolved By An ISOT'. The premise is that the modern-day iterations of what used to be British colonies get sent a hundred years back in time to 1920. Obviously, the uptimer countries--namely India, for instance--will want to keep their sovereignty, hence causing the Empire to be no more shortly after the ISOT happens. That said, reestablishing the Commonwealth of Nations isn't out of the question.

Coming from The Lothians blogspot, here's a map of the British Empire in 1920:

  That would be interesting and chaotic as your introducing four nuclear powers to the 1920's,  two of which are in a cold war type stand off while Israel is thrown into a radically different ME, albeit your still got the chaos of 2020 Iraq.  Not to mention I don't know what the 1920 world will make of a lot of Africa being no longer colonial and very well armed but in cases very disorderly and violent.   

  There are areas  not on the map which were British controlled, such as Egypt, which IIRC gained formal independence in 1922 but Britain maintained a sizeable military presence there.  Alternative Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Tanzania were technically mandated territories being prepared for independence so possibly they might not be included.

  Another point is that you will have 2020 Hong Kong, which is under communist rule but bitterly hostile to it thrown back into 1920 China so what the hell happens there?

  I think a fair chunk of the old empire will be thrown together to some degree because they will need each other more due to the incompatible infrastructure with the rest of the world.  For instance most of the 2020 ports and transport systems will be set up for containers which are unknown in 1920.  Also there would be more commonality in terms of many values, for instance 1920 Papacy is not going to get on well with 2020 Irish republic!

  The up-timers are going to face some huge adjustment problems with the sudden loss of international satellite systems and most of the internet.  Also it does rather solve the problem of Britexit as the rest of the EU is definitely gone and Britain can maintain the open border with Ireland without them vetoing it.

  I hope at least some of the coastal facilities and merchant shipping have been transferred along as well else there could be serious problems with disruption of say oil supplies.  At least with Kuwait, the UAE and Nigeria the up-timers can get access to substantial oil supplies even if the N Sea rigs are lost.  Presuming of course there are tankers to ship it.

[Zyobot]

May 24, 2019 21:07:08 GMT stevep said:

May 24, 2019 20:15:44 GMT Zyobot said:

To reply to (and hopefully rekindle discussion in) a thread that's been inactive for nearly two weeks, my next TL idea is called 'Dissolved By An ISOT'. The premise is that the modern-day iterations of what used to be British colonies get sent a hundred years back in time to 1920. Obviously, the uptimer countries--namely India, for instance--will want to keep their sovereignty, hence causing the Empire to be no more shortly after the ISOT happens. That said, reestablishing the Commonwealth of Nations isn't out of the question.

Coming from The Lothians blogspot, here's a map of the British Empire in 1920:

  That would be interesting and chaotic as your introducing four nuclear powers to the 1920's,  two of which are in a cold war type stand off while Israel is thrown into a radically different ME, albeit your still got the chaos of 2020 Iraq.  Not to mention I don't know what the 1920 world will make of a lot of Africa being no longer colonial and very well armed but in cases very disorderly and violent.   

  There are areas  not on the map which were British controlled, such as Egypt, which IIRC gained formal independence in 1922 but Britain maintained a sizeable military presence there.  Alternative Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Tanzania were technically mandated territories being prepared for independence so possibly they might not be included.

  Another point is that you will have 2020 Hong Kong, which is under communist rule but bitterly hostile to it thrown back into 1920 China so what the hell happens there?

  I think a fair chunk of the old empire will be thrown together to some degree because they will need each other more due to the incompatible infrastructure with the rest of the world.  For instance most of the 2020 ports and transport systems will be set up for containers which are unknown in 1920.  Also there would be more commonality in terms of many values, for instance 1920 Papacy is not going to get on well with 2020 Irish republic!

  The up-timers are going to face some huge adjustment problems with the sudden loss of international satellite systems and most of the internet.  Also it does rather solve the problem of Britexit as the rest of the EU is definitely gone and Britain can maintain the open border with Ireland without them vetoing it.

  I hope at least some of the coastal facilities and merchant shipping have been transferred along as well else there could be serious problems with disruption of say oil supplies.  At least with Kuwait, the UAE and Nigeria the up-timers can get access to substantial oil supplies even if the N Sea rigs are lost.  Presuming of course there are tankers to ship it.

Thank you for the clarification and ideas; I'll have to look further into British history in order to make TTL a reality someday. About who gets ISOTed to 1920, I should've clarified that only Britain's former colonies--and not the UK itself--are sent back and therefore forced to politely assert themselves to its downtimer counterpart, especially India.

But yeah, I see the uptimer countries reforming some sort of commonwealth at least for the time being. And if they bring the downtimer UK itself into the fold, they'll almost certainly make sure that they have way more say in what goes.

Another story idea I've had is one that I'm thinking of calling 'Gilded To The Last', in which the wildly laissez-faire capitalism of the 19th and early 20th Centuries (somehow) never ceases and therefore lasts well into the present day. This is, admittedly, likely ASB since progressive reforms were so popular that it'd be political--and probably economic--suicide not to implement them sooner rather than later, let alone never. Even so, I'm torn between making it a continued dystopia leading to a sort of cyberpunk world, or a surprisingly prosperous one that resembles OTL Hong Kong on steroids (which is again ASB).

[stevep]

May 26, 2019 16:12:57 GMT Zyobot said:

May 24, 2019 21:07:08 GMT stevep said:

  That would be interesting and chaotic as your introducing four nuclear powers to the 1920's,  two of which are in a cold war type stand off while Israel is thrown into a radically different ME, albeit your still got the chaos of 2020 Iraq.  Not to mention I don't know what the 1920 world will make of a lot of Africa being no longer colonial and very well armed but in cases very disorderly and violent.   

  There are areas  not on the map which were British controlled, such as Egypt, which IIRC gained formal independence in 1922 but Britain maintained a sizeable military presence there.  Alternative Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Tanzania were technically mandated territories being prepared for independence so possibly they might not be included.

  Another point is that you will have 2020 Hong Kong, which is under communist rule but bitterly hostile to it thrown back into 1920 China so what the hell happens there?

  I think a fair chunk of the old empire will be thrown together to some degree because they will need each other more due to the incompatible infrastructure with the rest of the world.  For instance most of the 2020 ports and transport systems will be set up for containers which are unknown in 1920.  Also there would be more commonality in terms of many values, for instance 1920 Papacy is not going to get on well with 2020 Irish republic!

  The up-timers are going to face some huge adjustment problems with the sudden loss of international satellite systems and most of the internet.  Also it does rather solve the problem of Britexit as the rest of the EU is definitely gone and Britain can maintain the open border with Ireland without them vetoing it.

  I hope at least some of the coastal facilities and merchant shipping have been transferred along as well else there could be serious problems with disruption of say oil supplies.  At least with Kuwait, the UAE and Nigeria the up-timers can get access to substantial oil supplies even if the N Sea rigs are lost.  Presuming of course there are tankers to ship it.

Thank you for the clarification and ideas; I'll have to look further into British history in order to make TTL a reality someday. About who gets ISOTed to 1920, I should've clarified that only Britain's former colonies--and not the UK itself--are sent back and therefore forced to politely assert themselves to its downtimer counterpart, especially India.

But yeah, I see the uptimer countries reforming some sort of commonwealth at least for the time being. And if they bring the downtimer UK itself into the fold, they'll almost certainly make sure that they have way more say in what goes.

Another story idea I've had is one that I'm thinking of calling 'Gilded To The Last', in which the wildly laissez-faire capitalism of the 19th and early 20th Centuries (somehow) never ceases and therefore lasts well into the present day. This is, admittedly, likely ASB since progressive reforms were so popular that it'd be political--and probably economic--suicide not to implement them sooner rather than later, let alone never. Even so, I'm torn between making it a continued dystopia leading to a sort of cyberpunk world, or a surprisingly prosperous one that resembles OTL Hong Kong on steroids (which is again ASB).

  Ah so Britain and Ireland would still be from 1920.  That would complicate matters somewhat.  It also makes a commonwealth bloc a bit more difficult to set up as it lacks a fair chunk of its core component.  For instance instead of Liz II as a unifying factor you have George V who will be a lot more distant to everybody in the commonwealth.  Also with a distinctly alien Britain and one involved in a civil war in Ireland its going to be difficult for the two to work together than well.

[Zyobot]

May 26, 2019 19:12:59 GMT stevep said:

May 26, 2019 16:12:57 GMT Zyobot said:

Thank you for the clarification and ideas; I'll have to look further into British history in order to make TTL a reality someday. About who gets ISOTed to 1920, I should've clarified that only Britain's former colonies--and not the UK itself--are sent back and therefore forced to politely assert themselves to its downtimer counterpart, especially India.

But yeah, I see the uptimer countries reforming some sort of commonwealth at least for the time being. And if they bring the downtimer UK itself into the fold, they'll almost certainly make sure that they have way more say in what goes.

Another story idea I've had is one that I'm thinking of calling 'Gilded To The Last', in which the wildly laissez-faire capitalism of the 19th and early 20th Centuries (somehow) never ceases and therefore lasts well into the present day. This is, admittedly, likely ASB since progressive reforms were so popular that it'd be political--and probably economic--suicide not to implement them sooner rather than later, let alone never. Even so, I'm torn between making it a continued dystopia leading to a sort of cyberpunk world, or a surprisingly prosperous one that resembles OTL Hong Kong on steroids (which is again ASB).

  Ah so Britain and Ireland would still be from 1920.  That would complicate matters somewhat.  It also makes a commonwealth bloc a bit more difficult to set up as it lacks a fair chunk of its core component.  For instance instead of Liz II as a unifying factor you have George V who will be a lot more distant to everybody in the commonwealth.  Also with a distinctly alien Britain and one involved in a civil war in Ireland its going to be difficult for the two to work together than well.

Good points to bring up. Maybe the ISOTed-back colonies will have to go about forming a commonwealth-inspired setup (i.e. tight-knit economic bloc) themselves?

Downtimer Britain won't be pleased, but it's not like it'd be easy to work with due not only to a century-wide generation gap between it and the new arrivals, but also because certain uptimers--such as India--will assert their independence from the Crown.

[stevep]

May 26, 2019 19:18:16 GMT Zyobot said:

May 26, 2019 19:12:59 GMT stevep said:

  Ah so Britain and Ireland would still be from 1920.  That would complicate matters somewhat.  It also makes a commonwealth bloc a bit more difficult to set up as it lacks a fair chunk of its core component.  For instance instead of Liz II as a unifying factor you have George V who will be a lot more distant to everybody in the commonwealth.  Also with a distinctly alien Britain and one involved in a civil war in Ireland its going to be difficult for the two to work together than well.

Good points to bring up. Maybe the ISOTed-back colonies will have to go about forming a commonwealth-inspired setup (i.e. tight-knit economic bloc) themselves?

Downtimer Britain won't be pleased, but it's not like it'd be easy to work with due not only to a century-wide generation gap between it and the new arrivals, but also because certain uptimers--such as India--will assert their independence from the Crown.

  The more conservative elements - with both large and small C - will be deeply unhappy.  Socialists will generally be happy and a fair number of the Liberals will also be favourable - although not a certain WS Churchill who was still technically a Liberal at the time.

  However I suspect that a lot of down-time Brits, both leaders and ordinary people will expect a closer relationship with at least the white dominion than will be welcome to them.  Apart from the fact the idea that Britain is still the centre of the empire/commonwealth will take a while to dislodge, as well as the social differences in terms of attitudes to sexism, racism, gay rights etc.  Also in terms of workers rights given how laissez faire so much of the British establishment was then.

  At the same time, with the empire effectively removed from the issue, other than by some interpretations the quagmire in Ireland, Britain is probably still likely to be a more comfortable partner than elements of the rest of the 'developed' 1920 world or the disaster's that are Russia and China at this point.  Japan might actually do fairly well in this scenario with the commonwealth being far more favourable to equal racial rights, although their likely to raise questions about the nature of Japanese rule in Korea.  The US could also have some links with Canada but the question of racial inequality could be a problem here.  Ditto with the European powers with their colonial empires.

  Just checked and Gandhi was back in India by 1920 so he's not about otherwise it would be interesting to see him reaction to how India [and Pakistan/Bangladesh] have developed.

[redrobin65]

Alternate naval battles in the 20th century: how would they play out?

Basically, this would be either planned naval battles that never happened, or hypothetical ones in hypothetical wars. Some that would be cool to write would be:



Tsushima is avoided when Admiral Rozhestvensky chooses one of his other options: go around Japan, which has HUGE risks (and may result in some Tsushima substitute anyhow).

The British attack at the Heligoland Bight in 1914 fails.

The German High Seas Fleet sails out a few weeks earlier in October of 1918.

The USN and the RN clash in an Anglo-American War during the late '20s or early '30s.

Plan Z, as implausible as it was, sees more progress than OTL and the Kriegsmarine has more ships. The Allied counter-building program is more extensive.


The 1941 Evacuation of Tallinn is more successful in terms of ships getting to safety, but at the cost of much of the Soviet heavy surface fleet.

A different Dutch East Indies campaign: the ABDA cruiser force survives for much longer.

USSR vs NATO in the Norwegian Sea during the early 70s.

[stevep]

May 30, 2019 1:30:00 GMT redrobin65 said:

Alternate naval battles in the 20th century: how would they play out?

Basically, this would be either planned naval battles that never happened, or hypothetical ones in hypothetical wars. Some that would be cool to write would be:



Tsushima is avoided when Admiral Rozhestvensky chooses one of his other options: go around Japan, which has HUGE risks (and may result in some Tsushima substitute anyhow).

The British attack at the Heligoland Bight in 1914 fails.

The German High Seas Fleet sails out a few weeks earlier in October of 1918.

The USN and the RN clash in an Anglo-American War during the late '20s or early '30s.

Plan Z, as implausible as it was, sees more progress than OTL and the Kriegsmarine has more ships. The Allied counter-building program is more extensive.


The 1941 Evacuation of Tallinn is more successful in terms of ships getting to safety, but at the cost of much of the Soviet heavy surface fleet.

A different Dutch East Indies campaign: the ABDA cruiser force survives for much longer.

USSR vs NATO in the Norwegian Sea during the early 70s.

  On those options I would say

a)  Rozhestvensky is still likely to be hammered.  His ships and crew are strained after a very long cruise from Europe and the training and leadership seem inferior to those of the Japanese.  If he tries going around Japan, presumably for Vladivostok, he not only adds a further distance to his voyage all the while being very close to the Japanese bases but to get to a friendly port he has to go for some passage through the Kuril islands which are under Japanese control, so is very likely to get caught and forces to battle there.

b)  Would depend on the circumstances.  Say if Beatty's forces steaming to the rescue of the hard pressed cruisers run into a minefield?  In that case the RN could lose a BC or two although if the dead includes Beatty or he's totally discredited as a result there could be counter-veiling factors.  Alternatively if for whatever reason he never commits the BCs in waters so close to the German bases the 'attack' is likely to fail but would have relatively minimal impact on the wider war I suspect.

c)  If the HSF sails without a major mutiny and actually engages the GF and USN its likely to suffer badly.  Britain had sorted out a number of the problems displayed at Jutland and had more forces with the R's completed and a USN squadron that had been brought up to RN standards so the HSF is heavily outnumbered even without the relative low moral and lack of practice of the German ships.  Albeit they had seen some action against the Russians the previous year in turning the Riga position.

d)  With a UK/US conflict so much would depend on the circumstances.  Britain is likely to have the better ships assuming no WNT as it can build designs with experience from WWI whereas the US 1916 programme apart from the problem of lack of will in Congress to fund it had some fundamental flaws as it lacked such experience.  However the longer after WWI [assuming this still occurs] the more likely unless there are drastic changes in the US that the latter will simply have too much resources and be able to outbuild and possibly with differing educational standards outclass the RN.  However there are so many variables as to how this conflict came about that without some basic structure to build upon pretty much anything would be speculation.

e)  Assuming that the Germans build their larger fleet without the resultant drain on resources meaning they can't overrun France then their still likely to lose as Britain also had a major construction programme under way with a larger core established shipbuilding industry and without the loss of ~20 years experience that Germany suffered.  Plus the British need a strong navy to protect themselves whereas for Germany the army will always be more important.  Also the UK has more experience with developing carriers, albeit it has wasted a good bit of this and geography means that it has a huge advantage unless the Germans can force the RN into battle in an unfavourable position.  As such unless some other factors aid the Germans, i.e. say Britain has had to detach large forces to the Far East, has suffered substantial losses somewhere or the Germans can bring say a powerful Luftwaffe with a strong anti-naval ability into play their likely to lose heavily.  However even then the development of air power and the geographical advantage Britain has means that a powerful surface fleet is a relatively limited tool for Germany.

f)  Don't know anything really about this but if the Soviets get lighter ships out at the cost of the bulk of their heavy units as I think your saying I'm not sure what the effect would be?  Does this mean they have no BBs at Leningrad which did help with bombardment of the Germans during at least the early part of the seige and hence would make things worse for the defenders.  However if they have more light elements still about in 44-45 that might help them advance a little faster although unsure.  If the evacuation means more men escape an encirclement that might help but given that they would presumably have to leave most of their equipment behind and how big the Soviet losses were in 41-42 I suspect the men rescued would probably be casualties fairly quickly afterwards with minimal effect on the wider war.

g)  That would be nasty, even if it didn't escalate into a wider, let alone a nuclear war.  As with d) so much would depend on the circumstances as to what brought it about, what the aims of each side are and what's happening elsewhere.

  Anyway initial thoughts for what their worth.

[Zyobot]

This next idea of mine features Avengers: Endgame spoilers, so I suggest not reading it if you haven't seen said movie yet.

SPOILER: Click to show

{'The Iron Lucario'}After dying from exhaustion by use of the Infinity Stones to get rid of Thanos and his army, Tony Stark finds himself reborn in the Pokemon world as a Lucario who retains his ability to speak, read and write human language.

Drawing on his passing familiarity with the Pokemon games and anime, Stark would otherwise be forced to restart from the ground up as he adjusts to life in this fictional world. He'd also, of course, have to beware wandering trainers, eager researchers, the authorities, and Team Rocket along the way--especially as he gathers the needed materials and equipment to build a new "Iron Lucario" suit, never mind another business empire.

[James G]

Summer of terror

In May 1984, Tony Benn's Labour Gov has been elected over Thatcher's delated Conservatives. There was no Falklands, Benn won the party leadership and the country has suffered recession under Thatcher. As Labour grew in the polls, many self-declared patriots worry that the country will go full-on communist under Benn. They fail in attempts to stop him from getting into Downing Street using political means and smears.
Instead, they work with the CIA who has arranged for an Operation Gladio style resistance to be set up in the UK not to face the Soviets but instead to fight Benn's 'communists'. Some level of cooperation has taken place with various parts of the UK security services to hide and support this as well.
The terrorists deem themselves 'Auxiliary Units', taking the name from the 1940-44 units set up to oppose any German occupation. These modern ones act as cells starting through June and into the summer. They commit acts of violent terror against the Government and selected elements of the state. They want the government to fall in an era of destabilisation: their actions are combined with American activities and also domestic political events.
Benn does cave in and returns the fight.

Where this would go afterwards, I am not sure.