- Location
- Rex, NC, USA
Care to fill us in on the details? Not everyone on this site has an AH.com account.
What's the most Cringeworthy Alternate History you've ever read?
- Thread starter Silent Runner
- Start date
- Post-1900
QueenOfRoses
Athena Promachos
- Location
- Department of Motor Vehicles
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There is also (or perhaps used to be, I haven't followed the development lately) Wolfgang Schenck, who heads the Southwest African Nazi colony and also is depicted as very remorseful.
BBadolato
Experiencer of Bij
- Location
- The Netherworld
Used to be with Wolfgang but not anymore. I never minded the Heydrich bits because it felt 'workable' enough given the whole circumstance the situation is everything going to hell in a handbasket, that Heydrich finds that sacrifices have to be made, and he needs the help of literally anyone he can get. Although I generally go with the rule that you don't need to adhere to the historical figure or what they were like on a one to one basis depending on what you are writing.
I've long mulled over the idea of Stalin as a bootlegger in the employ of the Mafia in an alt 20's and 30's America, but it wouldn't do to have Joey 'Juggs' or Joey 'Jugash' be like his OTL self in radically different circumstances even at the risk of writing of Iosif Jugashvili as 'canon' in name only at least to the appearance of some people.
I no longer have an AH.com account either thanks to Grand Poobah Ian, but IIRC the timeline began with the author essentially writing a fantasy of Biden getting assassinated during the 2020 primary, allowing Bernie to win and save the day. He picks *Rashida Tlaib* as his running mate, and wins in a landslide. Highlights include:
-Sanders bombing Israel (in the main I/P thread this user unironically advocated for the use of nuclear weapons against Israel)
-Sanders easily passing M4A in his first month in office
-The GOP's only response to this being in-character conversations between McConnell and McCarthy where they basically sound like Beavis and Butthead and just sorta...quietly agree with Sanders.
I didn't see that but the poster does have a very... optimistic view of what the consequences trying to bomb and occupy Israel would likely be.
Terra Allias
World's only Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka fan
- Location
- Cheverly
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Are you talking about something else? Because I only see part 7 and some prequel that doesn't make sense
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It is fan made, actually.
Mandemon
Gentlemen, I love brawl.
- Location
- Cookie Jar
Whelp, teaches me to only look at titles and style instead of who the OP is.
Yeah that wont be what happens. What happens is people discover the hard way that Bernie has little experience running anything himself.
So, I've been reading GURPS sourcebooks some time ago, and I enjoy the various wacky alternate worlds that are presented there. They're not exactly "hard" althis. and some bits can seem very Eurocentric (I find it funny how in many timelines here, the continent of Africa has vast swathes of land occupied by the dominant powers of the setting), but whatever. If I find a setting fun, it's fun.
But then there's Roma Aeterna, an alternate earth that don't exactly find cringeworthy, per se, but definitely highlights a pet peeve of mine.
In this timeline, the Roman Empire survives, all the way up to the current year of 1893. The empire has guns, steam-powered chariots and typewriters, but their society, unless I'm misremembering, looks and acts exactly like the historical one.
I get that accounting for how a culture changes as time goes on requires not only buttloads of research, but for authors to also basically invent entire societies from scratch, which is already pretty difficult on its own, but... I don't know. Taking antique civilizations and just giving them advanced equipment with no other change to their overall presentation is so lame to me. I feel like it would be interesting to show how exactly time affected the society that survived. Maybe the caste systems of old get put into disarray due to the rise of merchant guilds. Maybe they create a U.K. style parliament system, or even get rid of monarchs altogether. I mean, something would be nice, other than "Romans survived, they have rockets now".
But then there's Roma Aeterna, an alternate earth that don't exactly find cringeworthy, per se, but definitely highlights a pet peeve of mine.
In this timeline, the Roman Empire survives, all the way up to the current year of 1893. The empire has guns, steam-powered chariots and typewriters, but their society, unless I'm misremembering, looks and acts exactly like the historical one.
I get that accounting for how a culture changes as time goes on requires not only buttloads of research, but for authors to also basically invent entire societies from scratch, which is already pretty difficult on its own, but... I don't know. Taking antique civilizations and just giving them advanced equipment with no other change to their overall presentation is so lame to me. I feel like it would be interesting to show how exactly time affected the society that survived. Maybe the caste systems of old get put into disarray due to the rise of merchant guilds. Maybe they create a U.K. style parliament system, or even get rid of monarchs altogether. I mean, something would be nice, other than "Romans survived, they have rockets now".
I personally think Sanders would be at least a slight improvement over Biden (and a major one compared to Trump), but I agree that the timeline as you describe it sounds silly and ungrounded in the realities of governance.
I assume it's stuck in the pop culture image of the principate instead of anytime later than in Roman history
- Pronouns
- He
I really don't blame whoever the writers for that book were. In addition to the reasons you gave about needing tons of research that probably won't satisfy most of the people complaining*, there's also the fact that the book is being made to sell to people who want to game in a steampunk Roman Empire. If they put out a parliamentary republic in thrall to the rising merchant class with Rome itself declining in importance... that's not going to satisfy the itch for playing in a steampunk Roman Empire.
*'well, actually, steam can't power something that big and a civil war wouldn'y be satisfied with anything but seizing Rome itself and I have a twenty page list of other concerns I'd like to see addressed...'
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I think so. Then again, it was a long time since I last read it, so there could've been nuances that I've missed. The writers for the book (and the GURPS books in general) seem to be pretty well read, as they always state a specific date and event that caused the divergence, most of which I didn't even know about (look up William Walker). So, take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
Fair. To be clear, I'm not someone who expects realism in alternate history. Like I said, if a setting is fun, it's fun. I, for one, would like to see mechas be invented during the Enlightenment.
I do recommend people to check out the GURPS books. Alternate Earths 1 and 2 for 3rd edition, and the more grand Infinite Worlds for 4th edition. Their Nazi Earth even has its own State of Burgundy (unlike TNO, this version is basically a theme park that uses slave labor).
I blame Gene Roddenberry.
- Pronouns
- She/They
I mean the TNO version is like a theme park for esoteric Nazism.
The main difference is in tone. TNO Burgundy is Hell On Earth that even the mainstream Nazi party finds repulsive and terrifying. Reich-5 (the name of the timeline) Burgundy is bad, but just as bad as anywhere else under Nazi control.
So I just read through Edifice: A History of the National Redoubt up until now, and ngl, it's kinda cringe. It starts with Zhou Enlai's assassination in August 1968, followed by a nuclear war between the USSR and China in March 1969, and it just becomes even more of a depressing mass death scenario, culminating in the most recent chapter where a nuke goes off in the middle of Manhattan on Christmas Eve in 1972.
I dunno, it has somewhat plausible parts like the massive surge in bunkers around the world (particularly in Albania), but Christ does it feel like a cheap dystopian TL.
I dunno, it has somewhat plausible parts like the massive surge in bunkers around the world (particularly in Albania), but Christ does it feel like a cheap dystopian TL.
Anything I have ever written! 
is the most cringe worthy.
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
is the most cringe worthy.
The presidency of John F. Kennedy (Alternative History pop culture Timeline.)
Beth Griswold was watching the Filipino drama loving yours, Helen hosted by Helen vela once the show was over she watched her future husband Pete Duel, on t.v. giving a speech. Polls through out the state of California showed Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley likely to win the Democratic...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
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- Location
- The Midlands.
Well, I'll give /r/AlternateHistory one thing. They're smart enough to realise there's no way the Americans could have another War of Southern Aggression and not make it literally everyone else's fucking problem as well.
Parzival
They shall not pass. We shall overcome.
- Location
- Northern Virginia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What the hell does the South have to do with a 2acw? Especially if it's the scenario I am thinking of.
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Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I guess that the users in r/AlternateHistory is entering the trend of copying (and adding their own elements) of the "Second American Civil War...As Seen By Redditors" TL after (honestly) bad-faith mods taken down the posts and became some sort of an martyr among that community.
What Jake posted is actually an fan post of the said TL, perhaps.
What Jake posted is actually an fan post of the said TL, perhaps.