ISOT ideas

[Anchises]

I just wanted to create a thread where people can post and discuss ideas for potential ISOTs. This intended more as a discussion thread so the contributions just have to be an interesting pitch for discussions instead of elaborate projects.
My current idea:

When thinking about modern day ISOTs a lot of stories tend to mostly ignore the psychological impact of the ISOT itself. There are some good examples out there but the majority of ISOTs goes straight to the juicy stuff like colonization, economics or warfare and ignores what the certainty that there is something supernatural would do to people. I suspect that intensely religious areas would actually cope with the psychological fallout better, at least initially. It might be easier to accept this as some form religious event while atheists and agnostics would probably really struggle with incorporating the ISOT into their larger world-view.

So I am currently thinking it could be an interesting idea where very religious areas and nations from modern day pre Covid-19 earth are ISOTed to a virgin earth.

For North America it would make sense to ISOT the Bible Belt and the Mormon Corridor.

Mormon corridor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bible Belt – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

As a European I'm not really sure how America truly works but my rough idea would be:

The Bible Belt and the Mormon Corridor would probably develop into different directions due to geographical distance and the religious divide.

I suspect the Bible Belt would turn into a more Christian version of the United States. I think abortion would be quickly outlawed for example and the separation of church would be interpreted pretty differently. In the long run new political fault lines would emerge and I could see political splits along confessional lines. I also think the economically neoliberal religious right would eventually be challenged by more economically redistributionist Christian political movements. There are also several different states that are ISOTed so the questions of states rights and federalism will be important political questions.

I'm really not sure how the Mormon territories would develop. I don't think the classical trope of a theocracy makes too much sense. A more informal situation makes more sense imho. Mormon religious institutions would probably influence law making indirectly but I don't think the police would kick in your door for drinking coffee. Utah would probably be the undisputed centre of the Mormon Corridor making Federalism less of an issue, at least initially. It could be an interesting contrast if the Mormon Corridor develops into a more centralized state abandoning federalism over time.

When it comes to the economy I'm pretty clueless I have to admit. The after ISOT shock would disrupt economies heavily but the Bible Belt has immediate access to the ocean which would probably make food security less of an issue there.

 

[Galactic_Girl]

I don't post here often but I really wanted to do a civil war ISOT. Basically, one that I've been kicking around for a while is 2012 United States after Obama's re-election, ISOT to June 8th, 1861. All of the continental US is ISOT except the confederate states, Now the question isn't will the US retake the South, its how will they reintegrate the south and bring them up to speed. Reconstruction will be much harsher in this scenario.



New Mexico territory could come or not. Not sure to include it or not. Also for fun no Alaska or Hawaii. I'm not sure exactly what to bring in this scenario.

 

[lamna]

I don't know if anyone has done it yet, but a ISOT from the future to the present would be interesting. While the best works take into consideration the people from the past, the people ISOT'ed are inevitably the ones the stories centre around.

What would it be like with a small enclave of people from a few centuries in the future, desperately trying to get us to avoid the mistakes of their past, trying to maintain their advanced technology and being horrified at the notion of living the way we do.

 

[King Washington]

I have a weird idea that has multiple iterations of Germany (or the states that would make up Germany) from throughout history getting ISOTed to a virgin earth.

For example Modern Germany finds itself somewhere on the west coast of North America and Nazi Germany circa 1939 finds itself attached to Antarctica.

Of course the same setup could be applied to other nations.

 

[the atom]

I don't post here often but I really wanted to do a civil war ISOT. Basically, one that I've been kicking around for a while is 2012 United States after Obama's re-election, ISOT to June 8th, 1861. All of the continental US is ISOT except the confederate states, Now the question isn't will the US retake the South, its how will they reintegrate the south and bring them up to speed. Reconstruction will be much harsher in this scenario.



New Mexico territory could come or not. Not sure to include it or not. Also for fun no Alaska or Hawaii. I'm not sure exactly what to bring in this scenario.

Click to shrink...

I'm sorta curious as to how much damage the CSA could inflict in the first few days. I suspect it wouldn't be a small amount.

EDIT: Well, thinking on that I actually think there's a good chance they just call the war off altogether. They'll know something is very wrong the second they approach the border, and likely pause to get their bearings while they figure out exactly where they are. Then the AFVs and helicopters will start showing up and I very much doubt even the most dedicated generals will have any real appetite to resume the fighting.

 

[ScottishMongol]

I don't post here often but I really wanted to do a civil war ISOT. Basically, one that I've been kicking around for a while is 2012 United States after Obama's re-election, ISOT to June 8th, 1861. All of the continental US is ISOT except the confederate states, Now the question isn't will the US retake the South, its how will they reintegrate the south and bring them up to speed. Reconstruction will be much harsher in this scenario.



New Mexico territory could come or not. Not sure to include it or not. Also for fun no Alaska or Hawaii. I'm not sure exactly what to bring in this scenario.

Click to shrink...

Wow, I was going to do the complete opposite. The modern Southern states are ISOTed to 1861. At that point, the South is so different politically that even the question of staying a part of the Union is up in the air - even uptime conservatives would find downtimers totally alien.

 

[Timerider]

Are fictional settings Isoting to modern day permitted here?

 

[Anchises]

Are fictional settings Isoting to modern day permitted here?

Click to shrink...

Sure, go for it.

 

[Timerider]

I've been getting into Neir Automata, and I've really been wanting to see the Yorha moon base/space station get transported to a world where humanity is alive and thriving.
In the case of modern day earth, such an event would cause a massive upheaval. The androids are programed to serve mankind, but with the humans divided into so many nations, who will be giving the orders? That debate alone might be enough to start a world war. In such a scenario, what with Yorha's response be? Will they divide their forces in service to multiple nations and countries? Will they choose one nation and prop it up as a superpower? Or will they go Zeroth Law Rebellion and take over the planet for humanities own good?
And that's just the political implications. There are so many moral, economic, technological, and social questions that this would bring up.
Sadly I am a horrible writer and have not the skill or determination to undertake such a colossal task.
Anyone have any comments on this?

 

[Daguns]

Fly over states. All of America EXEPT the hi density cities. So anywhere with more then 150,000 population doesn't come with. No Washington D.C., no LA, no New York. That would be fun to read.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Okay if we could do fictional, I'm gonna cross post something I put on AH.com

This is from Fallout New Vegas

Post NCR Victory at Second Hoover Dam. NCR, Utah (So Zion and all the various tribes) and the territories conquered by Caesar's Legion were ISOTed to 1914.

Here's roughly a decent map of the situation

So yeah San Francisco Bay is not effected.

Since this is a situation that could easily spiral out of control. Let me establish a few things to create balanced situation

-Caesar and Legate Lanius are dead, the Legion is on the verge of falling apart.

-The Courier is basically semi-retired, focusing most of her efforts on turning the Luxury 38 into a working Casino

- Big MT and the Sierra Madre didn't come along as their tech would rapidly unbalance this situation.

-The Securitron Vault was blown up by the Courier to keep it out of Mr.House's hands so the number of Securitron robots is limited to just a few dozen on the Strip.

-Courier generally tried to ally everyone she could with the NCR, So the Brotherhood of Steel and other factions are still in the Mojave.

-White Legs were pushed out of Zion

Here's also a Wiki Article on the NCR military so you have roughly an understand of what level they're at

New California Republic Army

The New California Republic Army (often abbreviated as NCRA) is the standing army of the New California Republic and one of the largest military forces in the wasteland.[2] Its reputation and ability were forged in the constant conflicts with raiders such as the Great Khans and Fiends, as well...

fallout.fandom.com

Keep in mind that NCR's total population is maybe 1.5-2 million or so by this point


So how does NCR react to this strange new world and how does the United States (And Mexico to a lesser extent) react to a Republic that's similar in some ways and completely alien in others and group of Barbarians speaking Latin occupying a considerable chunk of their nation? What do NCR and the USA do about the soon to collapse Legion?


If this is too much of an easy stomp for NCR, what year do you feel would make it a more balanced situation?

Way I figure, Culture and history is too much for NCR to even consider unification with the United States. the United States would desperate want their tech but would abhor their society. Legion will splinter and collapse, leading to tension as both America and NCR want control over it.

 

[Anchises]

The Legion is going to be a huge problem. With Lanius and Caesar dead Vulpes likely would be able to form a sizeable army out of the collapsing mess. Downtime USA is a softer target than the NCR so I could imagine that adjacent regions will be swept by a wave of terror and possibly even dirty bombs.

 

[Teen Spirit]

The Legion is going to be a huge problem. With Lanius and Caesar dead Vulpes likely would be able to form a sizeable army out of the collapsing mess. Downtime USA is a softer target than the NCR so I could imagine that adjacent regions will be swept by a wave of terror and possibly even dirty bombs.

Click to shrink...

I could easily see basically every Centurion of note and members of Caesar's guard unit taking good chunks of the legion for themselves, Vulpes strikes me as someone who'd only be able to grab a small chunk of the Legion once it fell. But still, yeah, he could cause a lot of problems for the USA.

 

[Anchises]

I could easily see basically every Centurion of note and members of Caesar's guard unit taking good chunks of the legion for themselves, Vulpes strikes me as someone who'd only be able to grab a small chunk of the Legion once it fell. But still, yeah, he could cause a lot of problems for the USA.

Click to shrink...

I agree with the fracturing. The Legion is likely to quickly degrade into competing successor warbands. Even a victorious NCR is going to need time to consolidate their gains so they won't expand much beyond the Hoover Dam for a while.

1914 America really isn't equipped to handle the Legion. The US army is fairly small, not very well trained and their equipment is inferior to what the NCR has at their disposal. The US heartlands will be swept by a wave of terror and slavery. Initially I don't think that the National Guard or police would be able to truly stop the Legion warbands. It would take them a while to properly mobilize a sufficiently large enough force to systematically eradicate the remnants of the Legion.

Vulpes, regardless of how successful he is in rallying men to his cause, is not the only one very fond of terror attacks. There is more than enough radioactive material to really damage downtime USA with. Dirty bombs are really going to be an out of context problem for 1914.

The NCR might actually be the laughing third in this scenario, sweeping into former Legion territory once the USA have stemmed the Legion tide.

 

[Teen Spirit]

I agree with the fracturing. The Legion is likely to quickly degrade into competing successor warbands. Even a victorious NCR is going to need time to consolidate their gains so they won't expand much beyond the Hoover Dam for a while.

1914 America really isn't equipped to handle the Legion. The US army is fairly small, not very well trained and their equipment is inferior to what the NCR has at their disposal. The US heartlands will be swept by a wave of terror and slavery. Initially I don't think that the National Guard or police would be able to truly stop the Legion warbands. It would take them a while to properly mobilize a sufficiently large enough force to systematically eradicate the remnants of the Legion.

Vulpes, regardless of how successful he is in rallying men to his cause, is not the only one very fond of terror attacks. There is more than enough radioactive material to really damage downtime USA with. Dirty bombs are really going to be an out of context problem for 1914.

The NCR might actually be the laughing third in this scenario, sweeping into former Legion territory once the USA have stemmed the Legion tide.

Click to shrink...

Admittedly this is part of the reason I was hesitant about the date because if you get to like the 30s, Airpower would make things very dicey for NCR since they have painfully little. But 1914 seems almost too much the other way. Would like immediately post WW1 balance it out? Or do you think this works?

 

[Anchises]

Admittedly this is part of the reason I was hesitant about the date because if you get to like the 30s, Airpower would make things very dicey for NCR since they have painfully little. But 1914 seems almost too much the other way. Would like immediately post WW1 balance it out? Or do you think this works?

Click to shrink...

I think the NCRs small population and internal corruption balance things out in the long run. There will be some people fleeing to the USA with future tech and once the Legion has been taken care of the United States are still very well positioned. Tech will flow to the USA inevitably and given enough time the United States will easily dwarf the NCR. If they end up in a full scale war the NCR probably would be finished too. If the USA is mobilized they can quite literally drown the NCR military and bodies and destroy it via attrition.

So 1914 should be fine imho.

 

[Thelunarwolf]

Volantis is the Greatest City on Planetos.

But it is nothing at all compared to the City of Splendors.

Waterdeep, City of Splendors, Greatest of all the cities in Faerun ca 1300DR Isoted to the position of Volantis, at the start of the Century of Blood.

Volantis at the time had three quarter million people whereas Waterdeep was closing in on 2 million.

 

[King Washington]

So idea:

The entire Sol System ISOTed to the Star Wars Galaxy (presumably somewhere in the Mid Rim) at around 20 BBY, with the Galactic Empire occupying Earth shortly afterwards. Assume it's OTL Earth with the exception of Star Wars never existing and George Lucas instead making a remake a Flash Gordon which starts off a franchise which largely fills the same niche.

I'm mostly curious about what a little over two decades of Imperial occupation means for us Earthlings and what happens after the Rebel Alliance liberates us.

I'd also wish to subvert the Earth/Humanity Fuck Yeah trope, with the nations of Earth not standing a snowballs chance in Hell in a war against the Empire, not that there isn't any resistance...

The Imperials would mostly be interested in how exactly the ISOT happened and the fact that humans seem to have evolved here.

 

[Brightflame]

I could easily see basically every Centurion of note and members of Caesar's guard unit taking good chunks of the legion for themselves, Vulpes strikes me as someone who'd only be able to grab a small chunk of the Legion once it fell. But still, yeah, he could cause a lot of problems for the USA.

Click to shrink...

Outside Lucius, Vulpes is arguably the highest-ranking member of the Legion left (and no I'm not just saying that because of the civil war in OWB), while the Legion will inevitably fall to warlordism, I see both Vulpes and Lucius being the most prominent of warlords.

Alternatively, both Vulpes and Lucius could see the writing on the wall and form a duumvirate, possibly saving the Legion from total dissolution (still severely weakened and losing extensive territory though) for a time, before the two begin to scheme against one another once ambition outgrows pragmatism.

 

[the atom]

I think the NCRs small population and internal corruption balance things out in the long run. There will be some people fleeing to the USA with future tech and once the Legion has been taken care of the United States are still very well positioned. Tech will flow to the USA inevitably and given enough time the United States will easily dwarf the NCR. If they end up in a full scale war the NCR probably would be finished too. If the USA is mobilized they can quite literally drown the NCR military and bodies and destroy it via attrition.

So 1914 should be fine imho.

Click to shrink...

They also can produce a lot more firepower than the NCR can. Once the U.S. is able to start churning out 75mm guns and forming artillery parks all the wasteland factions are toast.

 

[dasherdancer]

The England of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from just after the Pevensie children arrive back at Professor Kirke's house from their reigns in Narnia is ISOT'd to replace our present day England.

 

[Teen Spirit]

I think the NCRs small population and internal corruption balance things out in the long run. There will be some people fleeing to the USA with future tech and once the Legion has been taken care of the United States are still very well positioned. Tech will flow to the USA inevitably and given enough time the United States will easily dwarf the NCR. If they end up in a full scale war the NCR probably would be finished too. If the USA is mobilized they can quite literally drown the NCR military and bodies and destroy it via attrition.

So 1914 should be fine imho.

Click to shrink...

I do feel like the USA would be pretty adverse to a protracted war with the NCR because the Legion will bleed them and the NCR would be able to achieve some very favorable kill ratios against the US Army. More experience, better weapons, actual armor. Particularly if the get brotherhood support, nothing from 1914 short of Artillery is stopping Power armor.

Outside Lucius, Vulpes is arguably the highest-ranking member of the Legion left (and no I'm not just saying that because of the civil war in OWB), while the Legion will inevitably fall to warlordism, I see both Vulpes and Lucius being the most prominent of warlords.

Alternatively, both Vulpes and Lucius could see the writing on the wall and form a duumvirate, possibly saving the Legion from total dissolution (still severely weakened and losing extensive territory though) for a time, before the two begin to scheme against one another once ambition outgrows pragmatism.

Click to shrink...

That does seem very possible. Vulpes and Lucius's Remnant Legion causing a wave of terror in the USA as they try to push into or at least terrorize the western states, while NCR tries to grab any parts of the Legion that break away so America doesn't take it first.

 

[Muhkat Lomorki]

Idea: Modern Day China is ISOT'd to an alien planet, covered in a massive ocean.

It is inhabited by monstrous sea life, such as eels a mile long and turtles the size of small islands. Meanwhile, on an archipelago five-hundred miles to the West, there are dinosaurs and tribes of lizardfolk with psychic powers that let them control the native wildlife. These islands are surrounded by a range of mountains, allowing for them to be somewhat isolated from the deadly sea life. The mountains themselves are home to dragons who are like seabirds and have a wingspan of 200 meters.

What do you think?

 

[Axiomatic]

I don't know if anyone has done it yet, but a ISOT from the future to the present would be interesting. While the best works take into consideration the people from the past, the people ISOT'ed are inevitably the ones the stories centre around.

What would it be like with a small enclave of people from a few centuries in the future, desperately trying to get us to avoid the mistakes of their past, trying to maintain their advanced technology and being horrified at the notion of living the way we do.

Click to shrink...

It would be pretty interesting to develop the future morality that is just self evident to all the uptimers.

Like, maybe they're all horrified to live among people who still eat non-vat meat, and who let their children experience involuntary puberty before they're 18 and can make that sort of decision for themselves.

What would be a good area to replace, though? It would have to be someplace fun where you could demonstrate the effects of climate change in the century to come.

 

[DireSquirrel]

Volantis is the Greatest City on Planetos.

But it is nothing at all compared to the City of Splendors.

Waterdeep, City of Splendors, Greatest of all the cities in Faerun ca 1300DR Isoted to the position of Volantis, at the start of the Century of Blood.

Volantis at the time had three quarter million people whereas Waterdeep was closing in on 2 million.

Click to shrink...

You really hate Essos, don't you?

Waterdeep is the first level of Undermountain, which has Skullport (a Netherese enclave that became a Mos Eisly of Faerun), and is part of the Underdark. Most particularly it comes with Hallister. A Mad Wizard capable of magics that created the region in the first place.

About 1/4 of those 2 million people are spellcasters of somekind far beyond any other on Planetos. Even old Meli the fire witch was maybe an 8th level cleric. Maybe 1-5% of fighters can solo any "dragon" anyone on Planetos could come up with. Upwards of 5 Chosen of Mystra (Immortal Magical Superheroes) depending on when it takes place make residence in the city.

The Faceless men would be Zhent puppets within a decade.

Essos is fucked.