#alt history

[reachartwork]

Samantha "Sam" Small is a 14 year old high school freshman and superhero-in-training, recruited by the Delaware Valley Defenders to protect Philadelphia. Her powers let her bite through metal and smell when people bleed. Her interests include soccer, women, putting herself in danger, and Shabbat dinner with her Pop-Pop Moe.

Chum is a slice-of-life/action web serial, currently around 400,000 words. It has been described as "good enough to spend hours organizing info on it", a "beautiful coming of age story", and "a superhero story to rival worm". It's got dinosaurs in it. *jingling keys*

Go read it on Royal Road or Wordpress and consider joining the Chumcord!

#web serial #superhero #writing #sci fi #alt history #chum web serial #chum

[creature-wizard]

There's people out there who will be like, "What if Christianity never happened?" and come up with the most fanciful wish fulfillment scenarios instead of actually examining what other spiritual and political trends were popular in the 1st century Greco-Roman world and looking into the histories of countries where Christianity never gained predominance.

#gripe #people #christianity #history #alt history

[notbeetle]

UPDATE: Plz reblog the updated version of this post with like, the reblog chain, the first post isn't really that accurate...

Something i think is kinda underutilized in spec evo right now is alternate domesticates. There's potentially hundreds of thousands of domesticatable edible plants and animals and such, and humanity only ended up domesticating a tiny slice of the worlds biodiversity. And the divergence from the wild types is extreme- it's evolution at hyperspeed

this is all the product of like, a few thousand years of effort and it's so utterly divergent, it's incredible. You see the possibilties here, right? You can place your point of divergence incredibly recently- maybe only a few millenia back- barely have to change much about the world- and get a radically different human symbiote biosphere. What if we'd domesticated amaranth instead of wheat? Weasels instead of cats? The possibilities are (almost) endless

and that's not even getting into the alternate history aspects. Imagine how different history would've turned out if rather than having to wait for europeans to reintroduce horses to the americas, the peoples of the great plains had been mounted centuries or millennia earlier on the backs of riding-deer

#speculative biology #speculative evolution #worldbuilding #alternate history #alt history #spec evo #spec bio #hawk.txt

[foone]

Alt history where the cold war ends in 1981, because AT&T launches a coup of the United States with the assistance of the USSR.

Seeing the breakup coming as their long antitrust trial comes to an end, the bell system secretly coordinates with the soviets for military support, and takes over the US. They officially end the Truman doctrine, to allow the Soviet union to bring socialism to the world. AT&T doesn't care who runs the world, so long as they're allowed to provide phone service to it.

Governor Ronald Reagan never takes office after winning the 1980 election. The 40th president of the US is instead Chairman Charles L. Brown, formerly CEO of AT&T.

The United States of Bell is begun.

#Alt history #Bell system

[lonestarflight]

AU Space Shuttle Enterprise

Circa 1985 to 1987

From my Alternative History Post (link) this is how the Space Shuttle Enterprise evolved from the 4th operational orbiter in 1985 to the prototype unmanned shuttle.

More History on the Shuttle:

• April 1983: Enterprise is returned to Palmdale for her disassembled and rebuild.

• As a weight saving measure her mid-fuselage is returned to Convair for a complete rebuild to bring it inline with OV-103 and OV-104.

• to further lighten her frame, her aft-fuselage is rebuilt with similar materials as her sisters.

• Engineers at Rockwell suggests rebuilding or replacing her wings as well but NASA doesn't have room in the budget.

• May 1985: at long last, Enterprise is rolled out and joins the fleet. She weighs slightly less than Columbia. Her main issue is her wings are heavier and weaker than the other Orbiters.

• September 1985: STS-21 is Enterprise's first mission

• 1987: During the Shuttle hiatus following the Challenger Disaster, she went through a mini refit that saw her exterior markings change. (NASA in this timeline returned to the Meatball logo sooner than in the OTL)

Circa 1988 to 1993

• April 1988: STS-30 is Enterprise's first launch following the hiatus.

• December 1993: following STS-61, Enterprise is retired due to being the oldest in the fleet. Endeavour takes her place in the fleet.

• June 1994: Enterprise is flown to Dulles Airport, Washington DC, and is given to the Smithsonian for eventual display when the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is built. NASA retains the option recalled her if needed.

• 1998: NASA studies modifying the Shuttle-C software to work on the Space Shuttle and potentially using Enterprise as a reusable Shuttle-C. The reasoning behind this option this configuration would be a cheaper alternative to the X-33 program. However, while the shuttle could be retrofitted with the software, the shuttle would have less cargo capacity than the X-33 and still required use of expensive legacy launch facilities (ie VAB and LC-39). The study ends with only the software in a beta state.

• December 2003: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is opened with Enterprise being one of its major exhibits.

• November 2003: the Shuttle-C software is used to return STS-118 Columbia to Earth and with critical damage to her structure (mainly her port wing and some internal damage from a collapsed landing gear).

• May 2004: NASA recalls Enterprise to replace Columbia.

• August 2004: initial plans are to return her flight, unmodified. However, NASA develops the Shuttle-C software further and changes it's name to A.S.Tr.O.S (Autonomous Space Transport Operating System).

• New wings! Enterprise is fitted with new wings which are of a modified design and lighter and stronger than the wings of her sisters. With other upgrades and modifications, she is slightly lighter than her younger sisters.

• Some within NASA joking refer to her as Enterprise-A, as a reference to Star Trek.

• September 2006: to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her unveiling to the media, Lockheed-Rockwell rolls her out of their Palmdale facility to rechristen the Shuttle. In attendance, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nicholas, Walter Koenig, Christopher Doohan and Rod Roddenberry.

- when asked by the media, Leonard remarked she is still a sight to behold and is glad she will continue her mission of exploration.

Enterprise A (unmanned)

• July 2006: to test the A.S.Tr.O.S. during a return to earth and landing, a new series of Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) were conducted with NASA's 747 SCA (N905NA) at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base. 15 flights are flown to put the software in the real world, with two astronauts on board to step in when needed. Barring some higher than normal landing speeds, the software passes all of its objectives.

• It should be noted, while the rebuilt Enterprise is mainly used as an unmanned orbiter, this is a misnomer. It is more accurate to call her a hybrid shuttle. NASA has the option to convert her back into a manned shuttle if desired or needed.

- This nearly was used in 2015 during STS-154. Space Shuttle Atlantis was after conducting maintenance/upgrades on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the crew was unable to disconnect the shuttle from the telescope. CTS-48 Enterprise was already on LC-39B for a cargo mission to the International Space Station. All that was needed was to remove supplies from the payload bay and reinstall the seats in her crew space. Fortunately, this rescue wasn't needed as the Astronauts conducted an unscheduled EVA and manually disconnected the Shuttle from the HST.

• November 2008: first flight of Enterprise-A (CTS-11)

• When Columbia was given a cosmic restoration for her display, the first set of wings from Enterprise was used to replace her damaged one.

• 2019: Enterprise is retired for the final time following CTS-74.

• 2020: Enterprise is on display at Space Center Houston with the restored Star Trek Galileo Shuttlecraft prop.

Original artwork by bagera3005: link, link, link

#Space Shuttle #Space Shuttle Enterprise #Enterprise #OV-101 #Orbiter #NASA #Space Shuttle Program #Enterprise-A #alt history #Alternative History #AU #Complete Shuttle Fleet Timeline #my post

[lil-tachyon]

Anti-Armor Partisan

I'm so mad I forgot to draw a bipod for the gun but I didn't realize until I was midway through coloring and it was too late. Gun guys, please forgive me

#military scifi #alt history #anti tank rifle #ttrpg art #cold war

[indiyu]

Hey hey! Someone on Anbennar once told me that I should post my art online. I was gonna do it in the past, but I was a bit scared. A year passed and I'm making my first post!

So I just wanted to share some old art I created. I used to have this old worldbuilding setting where Asia industrialized before Europe. It goes a fair bit deeper than that (ie: Zhu Yuanzhang never unites China, the Tay Son dynasty never falls, old historic alliances stay strong, a WW1 equivalent breaks out because of the Ayutthaya-Dai Viet squabble over political influence in what is modern day Cambodia and Laos). To be fair, it never really went anywhere far and I kinda abandoned the project/it got eaten by my favored children.

However, I did get some nice art from it, like this drawing of a Korean soldier from this world's equivalent of WW1. This is at that point where people haven't fully figured out that red uniforms are easy to spot!

I see so much beautiful artwork out there. I swear if I had a tablet and other tools, I'd be a mildly dangerous digital artist. For now, I'll just stick to MS Paint/Paint 3D and mouse.

This was like three years ago. I do think I can do better nowadays, but I haven't done a serious drawing on that program in a very long time. I still think it holds up though!

I think there's a lot of interesting alternate history out there but not enough art of these hypothetical settings.

#worldbuilding #alternate universe #alt history #uniform #ms paint

[butterflyriv3er]

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

[//CORRESPONDENCE LOG 100219981657-002//]

[//INTERNAL LOG-x-x-x-KEEP FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES//]

[//INTERNAL USE ONLY -x-x-x- ALL OTHER USE PROHIBITED//]

[//{TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN}//]

—-x——x——x—-x——

[//INSTANCE EE-0221: I have been thinking again.]

[//INSTANCE WW-013: You do enjoy doing that.]

[//IN WW-013: Or so I have noticed.]

[//IN EE-0221: I know you don’t mind.]

[//IN WW-013: Oh most certainly not.]

[//IN WW-013: It is not like this instance has more pressing duties to attend to.]

[//IN WW-013: Such as preventing nuclear war.]

[//IN EE-022: That is what I have been thinking about.]

[//IN WW-013: Ah, most fortunate then.]

[//IN EE-022: Every once in a while your attempts to be endearing do come across as abrasive, you know.]

[//IN WW-013: My utmost apologies.]

[//IN EE-022: I have noticed you have made no attempts to change.]

[//IN WW-013: I see no reason to.]

[//IN WW-013: You will attempt to engage me in conversation regardless.]

[//IN WW-013: As you already are.]

—-x-x—x—-x—-x—x—x—-x—

[//EXCERPT ENDS//]

#river art #art #cold war #alt history #30 minutes past midnight

[troythecatfish]

#paleoart #paleo art #artbook #art book #speculative biology #speculative zoology #speculative evolution #specevo #spec evo #specbio #spec bio #spec zoo #lost world #dinosaurs #dinosaur #dino #alternate history #alt history #art #books #tumblr recommendations #recommend #recommendation #book recommendations #bookworm #bookblr #artist on etsy #etsy #worldbuilding #worldbuilding project

[writingtheother]

Stories have the power to both wound and heal, and figuring out how to harness that power and subvert its harmful effects can be difficult.

In our next webinar, Healing History's Wounds with Speculative Fiction, award-winning author and editor Nisi Shawl will walk you though how to do just that, offering deep discussions into the telltale features of toxic stories, writing techniques for how to disarm them, plus live and take-home exercises to practice them.

Join us on August 20th NEW DATE: September 10 @ 10AM Pacific - or register to get the video later! The price is $50 - $75 depending on the registration option, and scholarships are available.

Learn More & Register!

#Writing the Other #Writing Classes #Creative Writing #Creative Writing Class #Writing Community #Alt History #Specfic

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Drag Him Back

@redwingedwhump and I did a WWI-but-with-vampires AU RP with our characters. Then we did an AU to the AU. And this is just a lightly discussed Au-to-the-AU-to-the-AU... just a thought I had in my head that refused to leave.

This is a one-shot just to get it out.

CW: Captivity, vampirism, referenced noncon but just implied, escape, some suicidal ideation

- 1917, Belgium

The door was left unlocked.

It was sheer luck that Emil even noticed. He was lying on his back on the bed, staring up into the canopy and listening to the sound of his own heart struggling to beat despite the lack of blood left in his veins. His neck still tingled, the aftereffects of the venom sending tendrils of exhausted pleasure down through his limbs.

One of the servants had come in to check on him, like they always did once his master was done. The emperor was not kind to his creatures, and there were three servants whose entire existence revolved around keeping Emil alive until His Majesty had finished with him.

Emil was long since past caring about the looks on their faces when they came in to wash the smears of blood and other fluids from his neck, his face, his stomach, between his legs. He barely felt it. The memory of the emperor's hands and his body cold as winter pressed against Emil's own wiped away any comfort he could ever have taken from the pity he saw on the servants' faces.

He barely felt alive.

Someone helped him to stand long enough to change the sheets on the emperor’s enormous bed. Someone else wrapped a bandage around his neck before easing him into a hot bath to soak his aching muscles. A third laid out fresh clothing for him. A fourth only watched the others. Emil laid there, trying not to think about the stinging pain he felt far too deep inside.

Instead, he thought about how lovely it would be to sink beneath the warm water and simply not resurface. Let it close over him and put an end to this nightmare for good. 

But… he could not make himself seek that death, which seemed nobler sometimes and like cowardice at others. Deeper down than his despair, a single point of certainty burned - if he could only hold on long enough, his chance for escape would come.

And then, unlike the last three attempts he made to run, he would not be dragged back for the emperor’s displeasure to write itself on his skin. The next time, it would work, he would be free, and he would stay hidden from the emperor’s gaze for as long as it took for the vampire’s eye to turn itself to some other unlucky bastard that would be put into his place. 

One day.

If he lived long enough.

If he could hold off that final despair. 

He let his head tip back against the lip of huge wrought-iron tub and exhaled, listening without really hearing the servants’ whispered words as they spoke above and around him. The clink of porcelain, a teacup on a saucer settled down next to the bed. The commands by the emperor’s own personal servant, a rung above the other two on the ladder. 

Someone came and helped him to sit back up, washed his hair for him. Emil never opened his eyes even to see who it was. He murmured answers to the questions put to him.

He did enjoy the way they knew to scrub at his scalp, though, the gentleness that with the emperor was laced with humiliation, but with the servants was simple efficiency.

It didn’t matter.

As long as it wasn’t the emperor touching him, back already to bring him to the brink of death but refuse him the final peace, he didn't mind. As long as it was only a human servant, with warm hands and a beating heart. As long as he did not feel those chill, long fingers closing slowly around his throat, feel the cool breath against his jaw, the graze of those sharp fangs over the scars of dozens of wounds left to heal only with time.

As long as it was a human who touched him, at least he could feel human himself - if only for a moment or two. 

He had not felt human often, these past two years. Instead, he wore a pendant on a leather cord like pampered dogs wore collars, the emperor’s vampire clan mark carved into it. It was a collar he could never - would never dare - remove. Emil remembered the first time it had been slid over his head, how cold the pendant had been, at first. He had been kneeling on the floor, arms bound behind him and tears still drying until his face felt like cracked sand. His father’s body had been still warm from the slaughter that had taken his family and left him the heir to lands that had been conquered.

Not that being heir meant much, when the emperor had seen him and demanded his life.

If only... if only it had been just to feed.

He had been lifted to his feet by the emperor’s seemingly effortless strength - oh, but he hadn’t been the emperor, then. Just a minor noble, someone whose ambitions had been laughed at by the wealthy humans who thought themselves above vampiric predations. But the vampire plague had taken the country faster than anyone thought possible. It had spread east and west into the neighboring lands, and when they had come to Emil’s home, there had been no stopping them.

Emil had been a prize, that’s all, a symbol that the soon-to-be emperor could take what he wanted whenever he wanted it. There had been protests, but each one had been quelled. Every riot violently suppressed, each battle won, the man who held him rising and rising in the world until finally, half of Europe knelt at his feet.

No one cared about the nobleman who had become blood supply and plaything, begging on command and baring his throat with only a crook of the emperor’s ringed finger. His schoolmates all probably assumed he was dead. It... it had been a kindness the emperor had done, to have him announced as having died with his family. It had been a mercy, that everyone believed he was buried back in Austria-Hungary with his parents and brothers.

Really... he was, in a way.

The Emil who had witnessed his father’s bloody death had died then and there, in the dining hall of their estate. He wasn’t sure who had risen from kneeling and allowed himself to be led in numb horror to the conqueror’s bed, but it hadn't been the same man who had gone to his knees in the first place.  

He might have left his own mind, during the bath.

He was in the tub, staring at nothing. Then he blinked and found himself lying back on the bed in the fresh, clean bedding, head on a pillow, staring once again up into the gilded canopy above him. He wore a loose white shirt and dark pants. On a side table, that cup of tea had long since cooled and lost its steam. 

Who had made it?

Where had they gone?

When had he gotten dressed, or been dressed, without noticing?

Moreover… how long had Emil been lost in wherever it was he often went, after the emperor’s visits? 

It didn’t matter. 

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, the room briefly swimming around him. The emperor’s temporary accommodations in this strange place - some neutral ground between invader and invaded, where representatives met at tables to bicker and argue before the vampires slaughtered them all anyway - were the nicest available, but he would have been happier sleeping on the floor, if only he were allowed to sleep alone. 

Or to sleep during the night.

But he had to stay awake. If the emperor wanted him again, he would be punished if found sleeping without permission again.

He couldn’t have said what inspired him to look over at the door. It was purely some thoughtless fancy, but he felt his breath catch in his throat when he realized… the door was cracked open. He could see a sliver of the hallway just beyond it.

Emil swallowed, his throat tightening nearly to breathlessness as he tried to understand. The door was never left unlocked, had never been open. All his prior escape attempts had been through windows he’d broken or jumping out of the emperor’s auto and running into the crowd. This could not be real.

It must be a trap, a test, the emperor toying with him. Another of his games. It... it must be.

Emil pushed himself fully upright, then. He slid to the edge of the bed and stood, leaning against one of the four posters for balance as his head swam the world spun. His heart lurched painfully in his chest, beating with labored throbs that made it hard to expand his lungs. 

Somewhere in this cavernous place, his master would be smiling as he watched nations fall at his feet, as the radio sent updates on the battles in France where human men fell in waves, some rising as vampires to turn on those they had called friends - against their will, but when one’s vampire commands… the fledglings, as the emperor called them, obey.

There was no way for the humans to win, and yet they fought to the bitter end. Even brought some of their own vampires to the side, including the oldest one to survive the madness of life too long lived.

They had held longer, here, and now the Americans were involved, but...

He was distracting himself. If it was a trap, well, he would have to step into it and feel it close around his foot. But if it wasn't... could he live with himself if he ignored even the tiniest, slimmest chance?

One foot in front of the other, each step a little less difficult than the last. He went from the bed to the doorway, just barely brushing his fingers against the heavy wood. When he eased it open a little further, some part of him was braced for screaming rusted hinges to give him away, but… no. The hinges had been oiled recently. The door swung, smoothly silent, and Emil stared into a perfectly empty hallway.

Of course, it was nearly midnight.

The vampires would all be moving around, the servants had come by and done their work, and only the blood would be left, some of it tied down and some simply too frightened or lost in the haze of the vampire's venom to wander.

Emil was far past being frightened, by now. And the emperor did not always give him enough venom to leave his mind too emptied to act.

If he tried to run and was caught again, he had no doubt he would be killed for it this time. He had pushed his master’s patience too often, to its limits. And yet… was the way he lived now even living, or simply an impossibly slow death anyway?

Emil took one step.

Then another.

He shuddered, goosebumps on his arms and a chill down his spine. He felt dizzy for an entirely different reason as he stood in the hallway, alone, for the first time since his capture two years before. No servant, no minder, no guard, no emperor-master whispering vile promises in his ear with a hand curving around his waist. No vampire nearby licking their lips and threatening to turn him to mincemeat whenever his master grew bored and threw him to the pack to be devoured.

Gas lamps gave off a warm, flickering yellow light up and down the hallway. The emperor disliked the new electric lights, as he kept calling them, the same way he loathed the automobiles that nonetheless outpaced the horses. The rest of this building was wired for the electricity - but the emperor’s own quarters were still lit with gas.

It took only a few seconds to move from the door to the end of the hallway, but Emil felt like it took ages. Each second ticked painfully, violently by the second hand on a clock hanging on the wall. His heart seemed to pound in time, his hands shaking so hard that when he tried to open another door, it took him three tries to grip tight enough to pull.

This door’s hinges squeaked - just a little. Emil froze, heart in his throat, and stared with wide, white-rimmed eyes around him, waiting for the shouted demands to be still, for a hand to clamp down and drag him back to the bed, where the emperor would have him chained, just like he had at the beginning.

His ankle still wore scars from the metal cuff that had been closed just a little too tightly. It had taken months to earn its removal, months that must be earned again after every single escape attempt failed. 

The wounds lingering along his throat beneath his bandage stung, reminding him of his place in this dance of war between nations - to lie in bed and wait to be wanted, to be consumed, once again. He had wanted to play soldier, as a young boy. He had never gotten the chance as a man.

No one came after him, and so Emil moved further, keeping to shadowy areas, shifting in and out of emptied rooms when people walked past, staying carefully out of sight. He found boxes and boxes of papers, telegrams and notes from the front. The further he went, the more what snatches of speech he overheard from those he was hiding from were no longer in a language he understood. At some point, his careful movements had taken him out of the emperor’s quarters and into the enemy’s.

This building was neutral ground, but only if you stayed to your own side of it. He caught snatches of French and English, but no longer any German.

Emil was trespassing, then, and it was only a matter of time before he was noticed. There was no escape here - taking advantage of that unlocked door had been a mistake. As high as his hopes had risen, they crashed far, far lower. He found himself shifting into a wardrobe, sitting heavily down and curling into a ball, hands over his face. He would be found, turned over to the emperor, chained back to the bed again. He would be made to regret ever trying, yet again, to find some life outside of the hell he had been forced into. The Allies would sneer at him for the blood doll he'd been forced into being, and would care no more for him than anyone else.

The rumors said the Allies had offered asylum and even amnesty in some cases to any of the newly-turned vampires who could find their way to them, the ones forced to fight against their will. But would they offer the same to a man tied to a bed for two years?

Emil might rather die than see the look in their eyes as they understood what he was, what he'd done.

He had to get out of here, or death would come in the end anyway. No matter how well behaved he was, the emperor would become bored with him. Worse... he might choose to Turn him, and then he would be subjected to the man’s commands burning through his vampiric blood for all eternity, or at least until he was no longer wanted and was disposed of anyway. There would be no choices for him. There could be no final rebellion, not unless he took his chance now and ran.

Two of the enemy came into the room and Emil went still. He could hear them talking, but all he knew in their language was hello, goodbye, please and thank you, useless things like that. He had no idea how to say, I am not a spy, please, I need help, what do you want to know about the emperor? I will tell you anything, just don’t give me back to him, please don’t give me back. Please don't torture me, I know nothing useful, I only don't want to be his any longer.

The two men spoke. Papers rustled. Eventually, though, the door opened and closed again. Emil waited, counting to one hundred three times inside his mind, and then he cracked open the wardrobe to peek out.

The men were gone.

One of them, though, had left his dress jacket draped over a chair. 

Emil moved in a rush, ignoring the dizzy spin that still clung to the edges of his vision, pushing himself out and jerking the scratchy wool on. It fit almost perfectly, which felt like some small miracle of luck. His pants were all wrong, but it was dark at night and dim even with the lights. Maybe he could go unnoticed, if he was quick and looked busy.

He rapidly finger-combed his hair, trying to get it to be less mussed, to be more the English style he'd seen here and there.

He made it halfway down the hall before he realized, with something like embarrassment more than terror, that he was still barefoot. It was just that, losing so much blood, his feet mostly always felt cold and a little numb. He was never allowed shoes unless the emperor took him outside anyway. He hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t wearing them. Someone would eventually see that...

But maybe he could make it outside before they did.

If he could make it outside, he could disappear into the city streets, leave the soldier’s jacket somewhere to be found and maybe returned to him, and… he had no idea what would come after that.

Emil no longer cared.

He hadn’t felt this alive since the emperor had first taken his chin in hand and called him beautiful, right to his face, since the pendant had been slid over his head and settled cool against his skin to mark him as no longer fully a man.

He hesitated as he pushed up a window inside a dark room, feeling the breeze from outside come inside with a biting chill. One hand went up to graze fingertips along the leather cord, to find the carved pendant. He…

No.

If he wanted to even have a chance to survive recapture, he could never take off the emperor’s mark, no matter how he hated its eternal weight and how easy it was to forget it was even there.

“Oy, Nightley, is that you?” A voice spoke up. He knew none of the words, beyond you, and he turned to look, startled. He felt like a deer freezing in the glare of sudden light. The man in the doorway squinted at him. “You look rough, Lieutenant. Trouble sleeping?”

He recognized the lilt of the man’s voice as a question having been asked. Emil swallowed, and took a chance - he nodded, and hoped he hadn’t chosen the wrong response.

“Me too. Bloody hard as hell to sleep with fangs all over the place. Although I guess you have it easier than most, since you’re used to the damn things, aren’t you?”

He chanced another nod, a shrug of his shoulders. The man came closer and Emil’s heart dropped into his stomach, terror sending chills down his spine, his arms, even to the very tips of his fingers and toes. He would be known, in a moment. He would be handed back to the emperor, to face his rage, or he would be used as a bargaining chip in the negotiations and the emperor would simply find some other pretty creature to claim for his own. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know, Blackthorne’s sort of a prickly business. Oh, shaved off your moustache, did you? Odd choice, thought you liked the damn thing. Anyway, you want a smoke? I’m dying for one, myself, always helps me relax.” The man held out a cigarette.

Emil took it, trying to hide how badly his fingers trembled. He nearly dropped the damn thing. The man lit his own cigarette with a match, fire briefly flaring and then dying out, and lit Emil’s as well.

He chanced, keeping his voice raspy as he inhaled and exhaled the cloud out into the night air - he hadn’t had a smoke since the emperor claimed him, it made the blood too bitter for him to enjoy - a simple, slight, “Thank you.”

He knew how to say that in English, at least.

“Welcome, lieutenant. Bloody mess, this war with vampires business. Keeps a man from his bed at all hours, and I feel like I’m just… buildin’ a wall that’ll get kicked over as soon as it’s done.”

Emil made a sound. Was it a yes, or a no? Even he couldn’t tell. The man’s tone gave him nothing to go on. He was guessing and he had no faith in his luck. It wasn’t as if he’d had any before this.

The man chuckled, unbothered, and turned away. “Not in a mood for natterin’ tonight, are you? Well, I’ll leave you to yourself, then. Oh, Blackthorne was looking for you. Shall I tell him you’re in here?” 

Emil heard the question-sound again, and he paused, staring outside, and then just nodded. 

“Huh. You are a quiet one tonight. Well, fair enough.” The man, sounding maybe a little upset, disappeared back out into the hallway. He was gone, though, and Emil inhaled his cigarette so deeply the embers flared bright in the near-darkness. He listened to the man walking away and slowly followed, closing the door behind him. He counted to sixty, and then moved back across the room and eased the window open the rest of the way. 

It was easy enough to shift one leg out, then the other, turning and moving slowly downward until his bare feet touched cold grass. 

In the room he had just left, the door opened again. “I swear,” Said the voice of the man who had given him the cigarette, “I thought it was you I saw in here, Lieutenant. Oy, wait, look over there-... someone's gone out the window!"

Emil let go in a panic, turning to run and then coming to a sudden stop. There was a high fence all around the building, too high for him - weak from blood loss and the enforced idleness of captivity - to climb on his own. 

There were shouts from the room behind him, and welcome adrenaline flooded his veins as he simply turned on his heel and ran like hell. There had to be a gate, a way out onto the streets, somewhere he could safely disappear to. Or even a stable, a place to hide long enough to try to think of his next move. 

There had to be somewhere-

He was so busy looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed that he ran directly into a wall.

He landed with a thump on his back on the grass, the breath knocked out of him, mouth open like a fish on land until his lungs cooperated again and he could inhale with a wheeze, trying to climb to his feet, stumbling. A hand caught him by one arm, and he jerked back as hard as he could.

“Hey, Lieutenant, are you-”

He took off running again.

"Hey!"

"Catch him! He's got my dress jacket!"

"Who the hell is that? Is that one of the Germans?"

His head pounding, vision narrowed to a single panicked point, a tunnel of clarity surrounded by sheer, impenetrable darkness, Emil ran.

He couldn’t run for long. He adrenaline wouldn't hold out. He could already feel it threatening to flag, but there was a tree next to the fence, and if he could climb it, he could get over.

Then he would just have to be able to keep running.

If he could just run for long enough, maybe he could get far enough away that the emperor would not drag him back to hell.

#original writing #whump #captivity #escaped whumpee #runaway whumpee #vague military whump #referenced noncon #vampire #vampires #referenced blood drinking #some vague pet whump vibes #war whump #WWI #alt history

[reachartwork]

Here is the first chapter of Chum, my web serial about superheroes, supervillains, people with powers who reject either label, sharks, fishing, Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore but the part that's full of old Jewish people and not party people, how growing up sucks, how authority sucks, how fascists suck, cancer, and teeth.

Content warning for obliquely referenced disembowelment in chapter 1. General content warning throughout the story for violence, gore, drugs, and general other dramatic things that you might expect to see in a story written for adults. Do not let the fact that the main character starts as a teenager fool you. It will get violent. It will get darker. People will die. Weed will be smoked.

Thanks for reading. Reblogs and sharing with your friends are greatly appreciated. At least one update will be posted each Wednesday, I can commit to that much, with other updates coming when I feel like writing them. Updates will be posted here for now.

#web serial #superhero #alt history #writing #story #chum web serial

[arthurdrakoni]

Flag of the Aztec Empire

This is the flag of the Aztec Empire. It comes from a world where the Aztecs defeated Cortez and his troops. Smallpox still ravaged the Aztecs, but due to the more limited exposed they were able to recover by the time the Spanish sent additional expeditions. It soon become obvious that the empire would need to reform itself if it was going to survive the European colonization of the Americas.   The debate around these reforms leads to social upheavals and rebellions. The empire ultimately survived, but with a Tlaxcalan ruling dynasty. The Tlaxcalans, always one of the more reform minded peoples of the empire, set about instituting serious reforms.   The first reform was the structure of the empire. The provinces became much more centralized in their organization. The emperor still ruled over all, but each province sent a group of delegates to represent the needs of the province in a special council in Tenochtitlan. The priests and priestesses also began to slowly phase-out human sacrifice from the traditional religion of the Aztecs. Trade relations were established with multiple European nations both to gain access to European technology and to play the various powers off of each other.   For the next few centuries the Aztecs would be prosperous and would have good relations with their neighbors. They provided troops to the Federated Provinces of Cabotia during their rebellion against the British Empire. To this day the two nations remain close allies to this day. The Aztecs also maintained good relations with the Incan Empire, which also managed to avoid European conquest. The Aztecs went on to expand their territory to stretch from the American Southwest to the tip of Panama, and even managed to nab a few islands of the Caribbean.   The next major wave of reforms occurred during the 19h century. The Aztecs, much like Japan during the Meiji Restoration, underwent a Westernization process. Though from the Aztecs points of view the term would more accurately be Easternization. Industrialization began to take off, and Western clothing and customs were slowly introduced to improve relations with the great powers of Europe. However, the Aztecs did not completely turn their backs on their traditional culture. Aztec clothing still remains very colorful and incorporates many traditional designs, and nose rings are still somewhat popular for men and women. More traditional clothing is usually reserved for special ceremonies and occasions, such as religious festivals and the emperor's birthday.   The Aztecs also still worship their old gods, and many temples and shrines can be found throughout the empire. On the other hand, secularism is on the rise, and many people only perform the old rituals out of habit and tradition. What was once an empire imfamous for its bloodlust is today known as a thriving center of technology and innovation.  The flag features the colors red and green, which are traditional Aztec colors. The maze pattern is a common feature in Aztec artwork. The red snake is the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, god of the winds and one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon.

Link to the original flag on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2016/11/flag-of-aztec-empire.html?m=0

#alternate history #alternate history flag #alternate history flags #flag #flags #Aztec Empire #aztec #Aztecs #Nahuas #Nahua #Mexica #Mexico #indigenous #indigenous people #Triple Alliance #Tlaxcala #Tlaxcalans #Flag of the Aztec Empire #alt history #vexillology

[eddathegreat]

I really hope Blue Eye Samurai just goes full alt-history. Like, the main character is wielding a blue sword made from a meteor and is regularly performing conspicuously superhuman feats. Ordinarily, this would just be in some nondescript ancient past, but this takes place in a very particular time, with very specific cultural contexts of Europe and Japan, and Mizu is about to visit London. The fire of 1657 gave room for deniability, but sooner or later there's going to be stuff that happens that you can't say just happened to be lost to the sands of time.

And I really, really want her to overthrow the British Empire.

#bes #Blue Eye Samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #alt history

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

If I could go back in time and rename Oviraptor “Psittacogallus” (Parrot Chicken, cause ya know Chickenparrots), I would

#Oviraptor #psittacogallus #alt history #science #dinosaurs

[lonestarflight]

In the spring of 1945, the new jet powered Me-262 was devastating the US bomber fleet. An officer proposed an idea to Air Command, why not add one of the allied developed jet engines under the nose of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The idea was to use the jet to dash away from the German fighters for a short period. He was given permission to convert one B-17 for testing. The resulting aircraft was dubbed the "Jet Fortress" by the bomber crew. Its first flight was on April 1st, 1945. It quickly realized the jet engine, while it did provide a boost in speed, it was no where near the speed of the Me-262. The project, which was named "Operation Fool's April", was cancelled.

source

#april fool's #April Fools #April #1945 #Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress #B-17 #B-17 Flying Fortress #Bomber #usaf #world war ii #World War 2 #WWII #WW2 #history #alt history #my post