History WebOriginal / ChooseYourHistory

* ArcVillain: WWI-era France, Salvationist Russia, Han Xianchu's China and Showanist Japan have all served as antagonists and foes to the USA at one point or another. By the end of the main series, the role belongs to the Blood Iron Pact, an alliance of [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Glorian]] states including [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Italy, Germany]] [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and Grand Britannia]].

** NRAM, the New Reformed America Movement, has the hyena. They even try to introduce hyenas into the American wilderness at one point - it goes about as well as you'd expect, and HilarityEnsues (Siryeehaw explicitly compares it to the Australian Emu War).

* UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories: There's an InUniverse one - the political party known as the Realist League of America believes that [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall the universe is a simulation]], and that promoting anarchy and chaos will keep things interesting enough that the powers that be won't pull the plug. The Realists are considered a political JokeCharacter both in and out of the story.

* WhatTheHellPlayer / WhatTheHellHero: In the Texas CYOH, the American Civil War breaking out five years early is explicitly described by Siryeehaw as being Texas' fault for, among other things, annexing California and subjugating Deseret, thus stifling Manifest Destiny and depriving the USA of a badly-needed safety valve.

Most recently, he's started a new series (23 episodes and counting) taking place in the Republic of Texas.

* FictionalPoliticalParty: By the 40s, ''[[UpToEleven all]]'' of the American political parties are parties created for ''CYOH'' by Siryeehaw or by the viewers.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: John Tyndall, a British Neo-Nazi politician in our world who led the British National Party for some years but never managed to get elected to the House of Commons. In this world, [[spoiler: he appears to be ruling the Restored Empire of Grand Britannia, the fascist/Glorian side in the Federation's civil war.]]

** China rarely if ever has it good. In Mainline, they went through multiple civil wars, culminating in the WholePlotReference to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar that was the War in Heaven and the subsequent Scramble for China. In Remastered, [[CrapsackWorld they're living in Remastered]]. And in Texas' timeline, [[spoiler: the Wildcard hit them with a more powerful Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which partially overthrew the Qing Dynasty and promptly collapsed, kicking off a civil war.]]

** [[spoiler: every CYOA universe is on a technical level this way - due to key differences in the nature of reality. However, the most obvious ones are the habitable and inhabited Venus in the Mainline, the cosmic horrors in Remastered, and El Dorado and its alchemical engine in Texas.]]

Most recently, he's started a new series (22 episodes and counting) taking place in the Republic of Texas.

** On America's side, Ronald Reagan still ends up as president, albeit earlier, and so does Kennedy, albeit later.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The British Empire as a whole meets with one in ''CYOH Remastered'' - they fought off the First Columbian Revolution and kept tyrannizing the colonies, but the Second Columbian Revolution inspires the Anglican Republican League in Britain itself, which successfully overthrows the monarchy.]]

** [[spoiler: every CYOA universe is on a technical level to be this way- due to key historical differences and figures being changed and moved around. However the most obvious ones are from the Mainline, Remastered, and Scotty's own Britannia and Spirit of Man.]]

* ProxyWar: The Scramble for China, in which America and Japan spend most of TheSeventies trying to help their respective allies in China win the civil war there. [[spoiler: Thanks to American aid, the Republic of China wins.]]

* ScrewDestiny: [[spoiler:Columbia is attempting to pull this against the CosmicHorrorStory that is ''Remastered''.]]

* {{Steampunk}}: The Remastered timeline may be heading this way, if recent decisions are anything to go by.

* WhatTheHellPlayer / WhatTheHellHero: In the Texas CYOH, the American Civil War breaking out early is explicitly described by Siryeehaw as being Texas' fault for, among other things, annexing California and subjugating Deseret, thus stifling Manifest Destiny and depriving the USA of a badly-needed safety valve.

* [[spoiler: AmericaIsStillAColony: The Revolution fails in the Remastered timeline. [[SubvertedTrope Before long, though, it's shown that all British victory did was delay the inevitable, and the Second Revolution succeeds in founding the new nation of Columbia.]] Ultimately, America only stayed a colony until 1808, and when it rose up again, [[KarmicDeath so did Britain.]]]]

* [[spoiler: CosmicHorrorStory: ''Columbia''/''Remastered'' turned into one following the introduction of the 10th God around Episode 40 or so. It since has developed into LovecraftLite.]]

* [[spoiler: KarmicDeath: The British Empire as a whole meets with one in ''CYOH Remastered'' - they fought off the First Columbian Revolution and kept tyrannizing the colonies, but the Second Columbian Revolution inspires the Anglican Republican League in Britain itself, which successfully overthrows the monarchy.]]
* LeftHanging: Remastered's CosmicHorrorStory MythArc proved to be a bit of a BaseBreaker, and it's currently on indefinite hiatus and seems unlikely to return now that the Texas timeline is in full swing.

* [[spoiler: NeverWasThisUniverse: As of installment #55 (1989), this has been revealed to be true of the main timeline. Three words: VenusIsWet.]]

* [[spoiler: ScrewDestiny: Columbia is attempting to pull this against the CosmicHorrorStory that is ''Remastered''.]]

* ButterflyOfDoom: Not necessarily of ''doom'' - if anything, the world seems about as well off as our own - but the StoryBranching format means that a few changes that start off small have led to a very different world two centuries after the PointOfDivergence. As for the Remastered series, while it has allowed more steampunk technology to come through, it may very well be ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin .

* AudienceParticipation: Besides the obvious {{Gamebook}}-style interactivity, Siryeehaw encouraged the readers to create their own political parties in Mainline (which is how NASA and CAPP happened), conducts flag changes by vote, and most recently gave the Texas CYOH a "Wildcard" episode - an idea borrowed from [=ScottyFresh=], another CYOH creator on dA (who was himself inspired by Siryeehaw), in which the readers periodically get a chance to affect a single event outside the focus nation in order to spice up the world.

** The Texas timeline has Texas itself in [[GoldColoredSuperiority gold]], America in greenish-blue, Mexico in lime green, California in orange and Deseret in light blue. Meanwhile, Texas' allies - Belgium, Prussia and Chile - get purple, dark gray and green respectively.

Most recently, he's started a new series (19 episodes and counting) taking place in the Republic of Texas.

** The British Empire, too, has had a rough time of it. They were overthrown by fascists late in Mainline and fell to republican revolution early on in Remastered, and one of the choices the fans picked in the Texas timeline's recent "Wildcard" episode was for them to be ravaged by an epidemic, then suffer a major rebellion as a result.

** [[spoiler: Andrew Jackson in the Remastered series ends up being hung in 1828 following the failure of his rebellion]].

** The easiest way to see how much Siryeehaw's style has evolved and how much more ambitious CYOH has gotten is to compare recent episodes of ''Remastered'' to the episodes of the main timeline that cover the same timeframe. The ''Remastered'' episodes have better art, more options and ''much'' more in-depth gameplay mechanics.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Siryeehaw has had to take the occasional hiatus, for various reasons, and represents the ensuing lack of updates as an in-universe TimeSkip.

* WonTheWarLostThePeace: The American Civil War turned out this way - which was a good thing. The South won the war, but slavery was abolished not long afterwards anyway.

* EverythingIsBiggerInTexas: Including Texas! The Texian Republic ends up stretching all the way to California by the 1850s.

* FlyingSaucer: There's a UFO scare subplot at one point, involving Joseph McCarthy no less. The SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome wins out, however, and it doesn't go much of anywhere. Late in Mainline, there's an arc concerning the mysterious "Providence Box" found in orbit, but we never did find out what was going on there. [[spoiler: Ironically enough, there are aliens in the solar system - but they're Venusians who haven't gotten space travel yet.]]

* FlyingSaucer: There's a UFO scare subplot at one point. The SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome wins out, however, and it doesn't go much of anywhere... at least, not yet. Whatever the "Providence Box" is, there's a very real chance it's extraterrestrial - although right now, we don't really know what's up with that thing. [[spoiler: Ironically enough, there are aliens in the solar system - but they're Venusians who haven't gotten space travel yet.]]

* BalkanizeMe: Happens to several nations- Mexico getting it [[KicktheDog in every timeline thus far]]. China is the most notable Mainline example, having had multiple civil wars. Russia also becomes a victim after the Utopians are overthrown, and late in the game it happened to the Imperial Federation with the rise of Tyndall.

** The British Empire, too, has had a rough time of it. They were overthrown by fascists late in Mainline and fell to republican revolution early on in Remastered, and one of the choices the fans picked in the Texas timeline's recent "Wildcard" episode was for them to be ravaged by an epidemic,

* FollowTheLeader: The success of CYOH has spawned several imitators on its native Website/DeviantArt, many other people have done their own versions set everywhere (and everywhen) from Byzantium to Roman Britain to a setting based on Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds, as well as one centered around a far earlier industrial revolution in Eastern Rome.