History TabletopGame / GURPSAlternateEarths

* GrayAndGrayMorality: The Quintuple Alliance versus the Russian Dominate.

* InterfaithSmoothie: Thorism, where [[NorseMythology the god of thunder]] promises to fight for his worshipers in heaven if they become his sworn men after death.

In 860, the Vikings take Constantinople (instead of being bribed to go away) and capture the secret of Greek fire. They manage to extend their rule over half of Europe, North America, Russia and Siberia.

* AllohistoricalAllusion

* InSpiteOfANail
* RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: Malcolm Little (Malcolm X) as VP of the rest-US in a world where the CSA successfully seceded. David Duke as POTUS in a world where The Nazis win World War II and the US become their fascist satellite. Jabir ibn Hayyan as a Roman chemist inventing mustard gas in 767. Swedish king [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Charles XII]] invading Britain. Roman emperor Heraclius founding a new empire in Africa after Constantinople falls. And Adolf Hitler ending up in an insane asylum painting more watercolors.
** The sequel had some more of these. [[Creator/AynRand Alissa Rosenbaum]] writing novels about heroic rail builders in Nationalist Republican Russia. Japanese admiral Hiyoshimaru fighting European pirates for the Ming emperors. St. Bernhard of Clairvaux and St. Dominic de Guzman converting still-pagan Scandinavia to a somewhat different Christianity. Ibn Sina inventing calculus in 1006. Jan Masaryk elected Archon of an Austrian empire turned republic. And finally, Otakar Przemysl kicking out the Mongolian oppressors from the Holy Roman Empire in Centrum.

* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: USA vs CSA. In-universe called The Long Drum Roll.

* UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades: Charles de Gaulle invents "guerre-eclair" (blitzkrieg)

* UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany: Allied with the United States in this timeline, allowing them to win [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne the Great War]] and survive. The empire is definitely past its prime, though.
* UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy: With [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X Malcolm Little]] as his VP.

* UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco: The Confederate sack of UsefulNotes/LosAngeles in 1914 stunted the growth of Southern California, so the Bay Area grew much larger as it became the USA's primary West Coast megalopolis.

* UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan
* UsefulNotes/NaziGermany

* TheRomanEmpire

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne: The Pyrrhic War occurred for much the same reasons as UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne did historically (a GambitPileup of secret alliances that finally blew out), but it began in 1927 and ended in a stalemate that precluded any chance of a UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo.

* UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement: Set back a few decades due to the lack of UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo and the Holocaust, which in our world discredited the concepts of eugenics and scientific racism. Women's rights have also been set back; they have the vote in the US, but haven't gotten past the 1920s.

* UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and UsefulNotes/RedOctober: The Austrian revolution is a mix of all of these, though it bears the greatest resemblance to the failed Revolutions of 1848.

** TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: ...but the rebels know that they can't afford to [[DividedWeFall hang separately]], and currently the liberals are keeping everyone together and mostly civilized.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Jamahariya intend to expand the possibilities of science beyond the limitations imposed by Islamic law and custom (as if nanotechnology,[[SpaceElevator space elevators]], and [=FTL=] travel weren't enough); they do tend to push ForScience to [[ScaleOfScientificSins its limits]], and in the Caliph of Hind they may have made a poor choice of friends.

* FictionalUnitedNations: Played with. The League of Nations was real, but even more toothless than the UN is today, and didn't last very long. Here...see UnitedNationsIsASuperpower.

** The country making up the southern part of the larger island off the northwest coast of Europe is known as''Englavo'' – they were invaded by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podolia Podols]] instead of the Normans and formed a hybrid Anglo-Slavic culture.

* AlternateHistoryWank: The Angevins, and the British Empire in general...until 1902, then it becomes a completely new society.

* ShoutOut: To "TheSecondComing." The line for one section header is "The Center Holds."

* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The book goes into an examination of who rules Japan, and the answer is "nobody." The Council of Ministers is a rubber stamp for whoever controls each lever of government, and the powers held by an individual often have no relationship to their actual positions; an officer on the Admiralty staff might be the one who sets grain prices, while the Agriculture Minister runs the East Indies as a feudal warlord.

* BalkanizeMe: The German states (except for Prussia and Austria)

* TheGoodKing: Thanks to an alliance with the Catholic Church, careful devolution of power to local viceroys, and the use of mass media, subjects of the Spanish Empire see their monarch as this.

* UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany

* RisingEmpire: The Tenochca. [[ModernMayincatecEmpire They've just developed the steam engine]], and they're on the move to seize islands (to serve as coaling stations) and slaves [[AztecMythology (to serve up to the gods)]].

Starts to diverge when [[PrivateMilitaryContractors filibuster]] William Walker succeeds in taking over UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}} in 1856; during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, it broke the Union blockade and helped the CSA win recognition from the European powers and ultimately independence. Later, the "Southrons" take over most of Mexico and Central America. The US (which took much of Canada in revenge for British aid to the rebels) is allied with Germany and helps them win UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.

* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: The only native heavier-than-air flyer in Roma Aeterna is the ''jactavolans'', an incredibly dangerous melding of Roman glider and Chinese rocket technology. In game terms, you have to roll Piloting checks on takeoff (to see if the rockets explode) ''and'' landing (to see if you crash). All ''jactavolans'' pilots are state-owned slaves who receive both their freedom and Roman citizenship if they survive a five-year term of service.

* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: The only native heavier-than-air flyer in Roma Aeterna is the''jactavolans'', an incredibly dangerous rocket-powered glider. In game terms, you have to roll Piloting checks on takeoff (to see if the rockets explode) ''and'' landing (to see if you crash). All ''jactavolans'' pilots are state-owned slaves who receive both their freedom and Roman citizenship if they survive a five-year term of service.

* AlternateHistoryWank: For the CSA, Germany and arguably the US progressives and the united Indian republic.

* UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons: Gnarlier than ever. In the present, their army has kevlar armor, tanks with railguns and neutron bomb howitzers.

* ShoutOut: The picture of the nazis deporting the Jews of Houston (happening in the 1980s) is based on the famous picture of the Warsaw Ghetto 1943. Except that they are wearing time-appropriate clothes - the little boy on the right has a baseball cap.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Gurps TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds.

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and RedOctober: The Austrian revolution is a mix of all of these, though it bears the greatest resemblance to the failed Revolutions of 1848.

Starts to diverge when [[PrivateMilitaryContractors filibuster]] William Walker succeeds in taking over UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}} in 1856; during the AmericanCivilWar, it broke the Union blockade and helped the CSA win recognition from the European powers and ultimately independence. Later, the "Southrons" take over most of Mexico and Central America. The US (which took much of Canada in revenge for British aid to the rebels) is allied with Germany and helps them win UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.

* TheFundamentalist: The American Covenant is a Puritan theocracy, bearing a strong resemblance to the [[EnglishCivilWar Commonwealth of England]].

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Robert-Jacques_Turgot,_Baron_de_Laune Baron Turgot]] manages to reform France without unduly upsetting the royalty, which prevents TheFrenchRevolution - and UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution as well, since he won't support republican rebels against a fellow king. In 1984, the Thirteen Colonies are still economically repressed and confined east of the Appalachians. Meanwhile, the Quadruple Alliance of Britain, Spain, France, and Austria remains watchful against the Russian Dominate, the revolutionary force that expelled the Tsar six years earlier and threatens to do the same to the other crowned heads of Europe.

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, TheFrenchRevolution and RedOctober: The Austrian revolution is a mix of all of these, though it bears the greatest resemblance to the failed Revolutions of 1848.