The Martians have invaded, time to return the favor!

The Martians have invaded, time to return the favor!

Monday, June 4, 2007

Colliding Genres Proposal


We all know and love (I presume anyway) the Space 1889
background. Well having looked over the entire Parroom
Station history and background and liking it greatly. I thought
we might borrow some items from both and create our own
campaign setting. I would also like to shoe horn the Iron Stars
game as well.


So what do you guys think?

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AN ANNOTATED TIMELINE OF HISTORY

This timeline, a slightly annotated list of certain events pertaining to the sordid and uplifting history of Parroom Station, is in no way intended to be complete. Readers whose vision of history was not changed by the coming of the Invaders may find that some events do not occur when recall them happening, instead taking place either sooner or later or perhaps not at all. For convenience, the most likely points of confusion are noted thusly.

1861-65

US civil war

1860-63

Captain Nemo's anti-war campaign sends untold numbers of warships and supply ships to the bottom of the sea. Professor Arronax reports the Nautilus sunk in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

1870

Jules Verne publishes immensely popular account of Professor Arronax's encounter with Captain Nemo.

Franco-Prussian War begins.

1871

New sighting of the Nautilus submersible, generally believed to be hoaxes inspired by Verne's book.

Wilhelm, King of Prussia, proclaimed German Emperor at Versailles; Paris capitulates; France signs armistice.

1872

Three Emperors league established in Berlin, alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.

US General Amnesty Act pardons most ex-Confederates.

Verne recounts his journey around the world in 80 days.

1873

Abolition of slave markets in Zanzibar.

1875

Britain buys 176.602 Suez Canal shares from Khedive of Egypt to gain controlling share.

1877

Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India.

1879

The first Invader cylinders fall on Britain.

Chelmsford, eager to settle the Zulu question before returning war-ravaged Britain, pushes across the Zulu frontier, precipitating the Zulu War.

1880

The second Wave of Invaders attack Earth.

James A. Garfield killed in the invasion; Chester A. Arthur steps into his place on the political scene.

The first New York electric street lights brighten the rebuilding city.

1881

Ingersoll utilizes Invader technology to first subterranean "mechanical mole."

Chester Arthur inaugurated as 20th President of the U.S.; he is shot and killed in Sept.; succeeded by Vice President William W. Waterford III.

Flogging abolished in British army and navy.

1882

Triple Alliance between Italy, Austria, and Germany.

Three-mile limit for territorial waters agreed upon at Hague Convention.

Maxim patents recoil-operated machine gun.

Cavor unveils his prototype lifting engine.

Parsons' 1st practical steam turbine amazes viewers with its small size, a benefit gleaned from Invader technology.

1883

British government announces intent to invade Mars.

Daimler's landship prototype embarassingly breaks down during its first public display.

1884

Gen. C. G. Gordon reaches Khartoum; Mahdi refuses to negotiate and occupies Omdurman.

Germans occupy South-West Africa with lightning speed, deploying a new, smaller version of Herr Daimler's landship.

Grover Cleveland elected U.S. President and vows to join the crusade against Mars, revealing that US ethyr conveyors are under construction.

Berlin Conference of 14 nations on African affairs is stalled when the Germans displayed their first ethyr conveyor hull. The scramble to join the Martian Punitive Expedition truly begins.

1885

Allain Quartermain's adventure of King Solomon's Mines.

Great Britain's London debut of their Battle Strider walking machines is nearly upstaged by the appearance of a smuggled-in American Colossus machine. The Colossus breaks down on arrival at Crystal Palace.

The Mahdi takes Khartoum; Gen. Gordon killed in the fighting; British evacuate Sudan; death of Mahdi but it all fades to the inside pages of newspapers as the interplanetary fleet lifts for Mars.

The Congo becomes a personal possession of King Leopold II of Belgium.

Germany annexes Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The deposed Sultan of Zanzibar enters into a secret arrangement with Leopold of Belgium, buying his favor with "a treasure of unearthly value."

1886

The Battle of Landing marks the Martian Punitive Expedition's arrival on Mars; Campaigns against the Holheem of Parroom.

Dr. Jeckel's strange case.

Tesla constructs electric motor in part based on Invader technology; Edison and Swan, mining the same source, produce electric lamps.

1887

First Colonial Conference opens in London; Mars is the most prominent topic.

Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee and announces the opening of grand new Parroom Station Ethyr Port Complex

Sherlock Holmes begins practice.

1888

The Wars of Domination begin on Mars, their end marked the Battle at the Wells of Silence and the elimination of the Sverdlinker cult in 1895

Jack the Ripper murders six women in London.

Aeronautical exhibition in Vienna eatures demonstration flights of imported Martian float ships and early attempts at flying machines based on Invader designsf.

1889

Frederick Abel invents cordite.

Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company and Garnet Worthington's British Syria Plenum Company granted royal charters.

Eiffel tower designed for Paris World Exhibition.

A.H. Becquerel, studying Invader technology, discovers radioactivity.

1890

Dorian Gray's secret revealed

Count Zeppelin builds his airship using salvaged light weight Invader alloys.

1894

Kipling tells story of Mowgli.

1895

HG Wells recounts the adventure of the Time Machine, a coterie of scientists led by O.C. Marsh, G.E. Challenger, and A Huxley call it a fraud, Wells recants, calling his book a work of Scientific Fiction vows to henceforward stick to Scientific Fact.

The so-called "Conflicts of Interests" begin on Mars with a Franco-British clash on Syria Plenum.

1896

Helium discovered by Wm. Ramsay.

1987

HG Wells reveals the truth about the Invisible man.

1898

HG Wells publishes his authoritative account of the First Martian Invasion.

1899

It is learned that the Invaders were not all exterminated.


6 comments:

Don M said...

*change one* 1861-66 US civil
war Texas parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas and parts of several northern Mexican states ceded
to Confederacy by Maximilian in exchange for military support.
Mexican revolution crushed by
French and Confederate armies.

*change two* 1866 Formal Treaty
of Mexico City signed.Creating
the Tripartite Alliance of the French,Confederacy, and Imperial Mexico.

*change three* Sept. 1, 1870 120,000 French troops under
Maurice were close to defeat
by 200,000 German troops under
Helmuth von Moltke. When a Confederate army of 150,000 hit
the Germans on the flank driving them off the field with heavy losses to both sides. War ended
at the negations table with
Emperor Napoleon III and the
Second Empire remaining in power.

Joe said...

I like the overall setting and can live with the changes...)

Just A Decurion said...

You're on crack, Don.

Don M said...

Hey I need the excuse to use all those 15mm Rebs....)

Don M said...

*change four*1872

Three Empires league established
in Berlin, alliance between Germany, England,and Japan.

Grand Alliance formed and signed
in Saint Petersburg consisting of France, Russia, Italy,Imperial
Mexico and the Confederate States
of America.

The Nonaligned Accords signed in Madrid, although not a formal alliance per say the signing parties enacted this treaty to counterbalance the great powers
and to safeguard their interests. The countries covered are Spain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium,
Netherlands, and Portugal.

Just A Decurion said...

The obvious corollary to this alternate timeline would be the US signing onto the Three Empires pact as a counterbalance to French and Mexican support of the CSA. Perhaps a year or two later?

Shades of Turtledove's alternate WWI. . .