Story Idea Thread: post your ideas here!

[stevep]

Jun 29, 2019 20:47:04 GMT Zyobot said:

To share yet another Star Wars TL idea, I call this next one ‘Without the Chess Master’. Essentially, it explores the consequences of Chancellor Palpatine being discovered and deposed much earlier (i.e. in the middle of the Clone Wars, perhaps). However, instead of the happy ending that one would intuitively expect from the orchestrator of a Galaxy-wide war being toppled from his throne, chaos breaks out as the general public’s trust in their government totally shatters. If a Force-damned Sith Lord could get the Republic to grant him practically dictatorial powers while planning to transform it into a totalitarian empire, why should they have anything to do with their government?! Bloody riots and martial law on hyper-populated worlds like Coruscant, explosive tensions between federal authorities and irate member worlds and star systems, and outright mass-defection to the CIS—who predictably uses this as damning proof that the Separatists have been right all along—would wind up commonplace in a Galaxy about to endure a civil war within the Republic itself. There won’t be an Order 66-style Jedi Purge, nor an Iron-fisted Galactic Empire with a Dark Lord of the Sith at the helm ITTL. But there will be a much longer, far more factionalized, and most definitely bloodier Clone Wars.

  From what limited knowledge of the background universe I have this sounds pretty damned likely.  Might still be better than the period of empire rule but could have a hell of a bloodbath and leave any restores Republic more as a federation with things a lot more decentralised.

[Zyobot]

Jun 29, 2019 20:48:27 GMT lordroel said:

Jun 29, 2019 20:47:04 GMT Zyobot said:

To share yet another Star Wars TL idea, I call this next one ‘Without the Chess Master’. Essentially, it explores the consequences of Chancellor Palpatine being discovered and deposed much earlier (i.e. in the middle of the Clone Wars, perhaps). However, instead of the happy ending that one would intuitively expect from the orchestrator of a Galaxy-wide war being toppled from his throne, chaos breaks out as the general public’s trust in their government totally shatters. If a Force-damned Sith Lord could get the Republic to grant him practically dictatorial powers while planning to transform it into a totalitarian empire, why should they have anything to do with their government?! Bloody riots and martial law on hyper-populated worlds like Coruscant, explosive tensions between federal authorities and irate member worlds and star systems, and outright mass-defection to the CIS—who predictably uses this as damning proof that the Separatists have been right all along—would wind up commonplace in a Galaxy about to endure a civil war within the Republic itself. There won’t be an Order 66-style Jedi Purge, nor an Iron-fisted Galactic Empire with a Dark Lord of the Sith at the helm ITTL. But there will be a much longer, far more factionalized, and most definitely bloodier Clone Wars.

This would only help the CIS i think.

Initially, I think they'll struggle since their secret leader's deposition forces Dooku and the Separatist Council to run the Confederacy on their own. Plus, they no longer have someone to potentially provide them with invaluable intelligence from inside the Republic itself, nor a manipulator who probably also capped Clone production and overall war mobilization in order to ensure that no side had an immediately decisive advantage.

But--and this is a game-changing but--the revelation that the former Supreme Chancellor was a Sith Lord on his way to forming an Empire with himself at the head will plunge the Republic into chaos. The general population will permnanently lose their trust in government and even demand that its powers be dramatically rolled back, while countless worlds and systems will clash with federal authorities; simply put, the boiled-over tensions would explode into civil war. Add the CIS using this as damning proof that they've been right all along and Republic territories flocking to the Separatist Cause--not to mention the newfound freedom to mass produce droid armies and launch devastating military operations on an infighting-plagued enemy whose attention is split between maintaining order and sustaining the current war effort--and odds are that the Confederacy will wind up the big winners for at least the foreseeable future.

[Zyobot]

I’m thinking of rewriting ‘A Galaxy Divergent’. I might still use the introductory Prologue I’ve already typed up, but maybe I’ll have Vader sent to at least a few years before the Clone Wars break out, i.e. to around Episode I or II, possibly in between. Perhaps he’ll have restored Force potential and an upgraded, more Darth Malgus-like cybernetic suit (but he’ll keep his trademark mask and helmet; those are too iconic to do away with).

SPOILER: Click to show

{‘A Galaxy Divergent’ Plot}The reason he’d get sent to this time period is so that he can not only act as a free agent with no one to answer to, but also muster a legitimate fighting force to stand against Palpatine and the Republic he controls. Taking time to amass wealth and resources, Vader would then make sure that enough Commerce Guilds and disgruntled worlds and systems are willing to form the CIS ITTL, preferably by getting Count Dooku to join the club as well.

With the Confederacy formed at the behest of Darth Vader and therefore made into a genuine separatist movement, the Clone Wars will be an actual war rather than a sham bloodbath orchestrated by Sidious like it was IOTL. However, since he can’t keep both sides reigned in to ensure that the Galaxy emerges at least reasonably intact for his new Empire, the conflict will likely wind up even bigger and bloodier this time around. More worlds will be set ablaze, more super weapons will make their debuts, and ever-larger armies of CIS droids and Republic clones and natural-born soldiers raised from its own citizenry will clash throughout a war-torn Galaxy. And while the Separatists won’t be saints and will in fact commit terrible crimes as was true IOTL, the Republic—growing more and more authoritarian and atrocity-prone under an increasingly desperate Chancellor Palpatine—won’t be the good guys ITTL.

[Zyobot]

Three posts in a row and yet another TL proposition that features Star Wars, but okay. I'm thinking of titling this one as 'A More Grievous Galactica', in which said Jedi-killing cyborg and a sizable CIS fleet from sometime during the Clone Wars get ISOTed to the (reimagined) Battlestar Galactica universe. While it's possible that they may clash with the remnants of the Twelve Colonies, a war between machines--Cylons on the home team, and CIS droids as the uninvited visitors--would be more interesting to plan out and write down.

A Darth Vader ISOT--maybe accompanied by Death Squadron as well--would also be on the table. And if I were to throw either Death Star in there to boot, well...

[James G]

The invasion of the Threes

Summer 2000. An asteroid strike isn't what it seems. Small rocks land in three groups of three across the top of earth. Landing sites are Baffin Island (1), Greenland (2 & 3), northern Norway (4), northern Finland (5), Russian Kola (6), Russian Kamchatka (7) and Alaska (8 & 9).
Three creatures emerge from each of the nine rocks which hit the ground. There are all about three in terms of limbs, eyes etc but also their sex and even actions. They love 3! They are a liquid based living form, huge in size and adapt to earth in a near instant. They start building shelters against the cold and digging. They seemingly have no ships. Communication efforts fail.
The six countries consider themselves invaded. They try to fight to kill off the Threes when communication fails and it is deemed that the Threes are hostile. The Threes are also breeding with their young growing fast plus swimming and leaping great distances.
The Threes fight back, somehow co-ordinating from their clusters to one another, using what the earth has to offer: rocks, water, ice, causing earthquakes & landslides and so on.
The invasion is working. Earth is being colonised as the Threes breed and move outwards fighting all in their way.

[Zyobot]

Jul 27, 2019 20:11:17 GMT James G said:

The invasion of the Threes

Summer 2000. An asteroid strike isn't what it seems. Small rocks land in three groups of three across the top of earth. Landing sites are Baffin Island (1), Greenland (2 & 3), northern Norway (4), northern Finland (5), Russian Kola (6), Russian Kamchatka (7) and Alaska (8 & 9).
Three creatures emerge from each of the nine rocks which hit the ground. There are all about three in terms of limbs, eyes etc but also their sex and even actions. They love 3! They are a liquid based living form, huge in size and adapt to earth in a near instant. They start building shelters against the cold and digging. They seemingly have no ships. Communication efforts fail.
The six countries consider themselves invaded. They try to fight to kill off the Threes when communication fails and it is deemed that the Threes are hostile. The Threes are also breeding with their young growing fast plus swimming and leaping great distances.
The Threes fight back, somehow co-ordinating from their clusters to one another, using what the earth has to offer: rocks, water, ice, causing earthquakes & landslides and so on.
The invasion is working. Earth is being colonised as the Threes breed and move outwards fighting all in their way.

...Well, that's a rather interesting storyline idea. A shame that communication between we humans and them Threes breaks down to the point of hostilities that might (?) otherwise be avoided.

[James G]

Jul 27, 2019 20:29:58 GMT Zyobot said:

Jul 27, 2019 20:11:17 GMT James G said:

The invasion of the Threes

Summer 2000. An asteroid strike isn't what it seems. Small rocks land in three groups of three across the top of earth. Landing sites are Baffin Island (1), Greenland (2 & 3), northern Norway (4), northern Finland (5), Russian Kola (6), Russian Kamchatka (7) and Alaska (8 & 9).
Three creatures emerge from each of the nine rocks which hit the ground. There are all about three in terms of limbs, eyes etc but also their sex and even actions. They love 3! They are a liquid based living form, huge in size and adapt to earth in a near instant. They start building shelters against the cold and digging. They seemingly have no ships. Communication efforts fail.
The six countries consider themselves invaded. They try to fight to kill off the Threes when communication fails and it is deemed that the Threes are hostile. The Threes are also breeding with their young growing fast plus swimming and leaping great distances.
The Threes fight back, somehow co-ordinating from their clusters to one another, using what the earth has to offer: rocks, water, ice, causing earthquakes & landslides and so on.
The invasion is working. Earth is being colonised as the Threes breed and move outwards fighting all in their way.

...Well, that's a rather interesting storyline idea. A shame that communication between we humans and them Threes breaks down to the point of hostilities that might (?) otherwise be avoided.

The Threes will see humans like we see ants and react accordingly. However, humanity's most lethal weapons, nukes, would be broken out before humanity was willing to accept such a fate.

[Zyobot]

Jul 27, 2019 20:55:03 GMT James G said:

Jul 27, 2019 20:29:58 GMT Zyobot said:

...Well, that's a rather interesting storyline idea. A shame that communication between we humans and them Threes breaks down to the point of hostilities that might (?) otherwise be avoided.

The Threes will see humans like we see ants and react accordingly. However, humanity's most lethal weapons, nukes, would be broken out before humanity was willing to accept such a fate.

...Oh. Both of those definitely suck for us. And I don't much like the notion of a world irradiated by mushroom clouds, and neither does most anyone else.

[Zyobot]

It's been a long while since anyone else has posted here, but okay. My next TL idea is one that I don't yet have a title for (I'm open to suggestions), this time with a premise of the ~2020 United States getting sent back to about 1980, but into the space occupied by Canada so that it simultaneously exists with the downtimer America. The two versions of the country work to reunite--I have yet to hash out precisely why--and wind up sharing a presidential election (since both 2020 and 1980 are election years). And with both the uptimer Democrats and the incumbent Donald Trump entering the race to square off against the likes of downtimer President J. Carter and the then-rising star that is Ronald Reagan, along with a few others, things are about to get wild as the clownish politics of the early 21st Century get brought to the Eighties.

[forcon]

Ths Rogue President: a populist US president and the former owner of a major private military company launches a war against Iran in the run-up to the next election. The causus belli is a terrorist attack supposedly sponsored by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. However, as the war progresses, it becomes apparant that the President's former company might be morw involved in the situation than was first thought.

[Zyobot]

Aug 25, 2019 10:29:46 GMT forcon said:

Ths Rogue President: a populist US president and the former owner of a major private military company launches a war against Iran in the run-up to the next election. The causus belli is a terrorist attack supposedly sponsored by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. However, as the war progresses, it becomes apparant that the President's former company might be morw involved in the situation than was first thought.

That sure sounds intriguing and like a TL I'd be willing to follow. I've the feeling that this will probably be a 'Future History' work, or a 'Politics and Current Affairs' one if the premise and/or discussion is too heated for anywhere else on the forum?

[forcon]

Aug 25, 2019 17:09:57 GMT Zyobot said:

Aug 25, 2019 10:29:46 GMT forcon said:

Ths Rogue President: a populist US president and the former owner of a major private military company launches a war against Iran in the run-up to the next election. The causus belli is a terrorist attack supposedly sponsored by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. However, as the war progresses, it becomes apparant that the President's former company might be morw involved in the situation than was first thought.

That sure sounds intriguing and like a TL I'd be willing to follow. I've the feeling that this will probably be a 'Future History' work, or a 'Politics and Current Affairs' one if the premise and/or discussion is too heated for anywhere else on the forum?

As a story it would be one written in character with fictional individuals rather than real people being portrayed. I'd probably post it in thr wroters forum still, as a piece of fiction, though politics & current affairs might be more advisable.

[Zyobot]

Aug 25, 2019 17:26:20 GMT forcon said:

Aug 25, 2019 17:09:57 GMT Zyobot said:

That sure sounds intriguing and like a TL I'd be willing to follow. I've the feeling that this will probably be a 'Future History' work, or a 'Politics and Current Affairs' one if the premise and/or discussion is too heated for anywhere else on the forum?

As a story it would be one written in character with fictional individuals rather than real people being portrayed. I'd probably post it in thr wroters forum still, as a piece of fiction, though politics & current affairs might be more advisable.

Ah. Well, wherever you put it, I look forward to the prospect of reading it someday.

Best of luck,

Zyobot

[Zyobot]

For a while now, I've been contemplating a TL idea that I may call 'Gold And Black: The Road To Ancapistan', which has a rather self-explanatory premise of history continuing to progress in such a way that a lasting anarcho-capitalist civilization arises in the rather distant future. I doubt, of course, that such a society would form anytime soon (for better or worse).

[Zyobot]

I dunno if I'd write this myself, but I've been wondering what affect that sending the 1989 US to sometime in September 1939 or thereabouts would have. Certainly, it'd now be a curb-stomp in favor of the Allies rather than as much of a hard-fought victory as was true IOTL.

But what'd be especially interesting is how geopolitics shapes up in the post-war world, with G.W. Bush's America working to amend history according to its own freedom-loving, hyper-capitalistic design.