Sci-Fi Monday: Cleburne (Alternate Timeline for GURPS Time Travel)

Dixie 14 (aka Cleburne)

 

 

There are, not surprisingly, close to a score of known parallels classified as "Dixie" worlds, that is, realities in which the Confederacy won the American Civil War. On the clear majority of these parallels, the South holds strong to ideals of racial supremacy accepting chattel slavery and even adapting it to the Industrial age for slave labor in factories rather than agrarian pursuits. However, on at least one known parallel, history took a different course; that world is nicknamed "Cleburne" to distinguish it from the other Dixies.

 

Map taken from http://jakarnilson.webs.com/mogdonazia/battle2.htm and used without permission.

 

In our world, Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, CSA, hosted a meeting in which he pointed out the many obstacles the South had to overcome to win the war, even at that late date. The one deficiency the South could address was the manpower issue. Cleburne proposed that slaves who would fight for the Confederacy would be emancipated. As he wrote in a letter dated 02 JAN 1864:

 

 "Will the slaves fight? The helots of Sparta stood their masters good stead in battle. In the great sea fight of Lepanto where the Christians checked forever the spread of Mohammedanism over Europe, the galley slaves of portions of the fleet were promised freedom, and called on to fight at a critical moment of the battle. They fought well, and civilization owes much to those brave galley slaves. The negro slaves of Saint Domingo, fighting for freedom, defeated their white masters and the French troops sent against them. The negro slaves of Jamaica revolted, and under the name of Maroons held the mountains against their masters for 150 years; and the experience of this war has been so far that half-trained negroes have fought as bravely as many other half-trained Yankees. If, contrary to the training of a lifetime, they can be made to face and fight bravely against their former masters, how much more probable is it that with the allurement of a higher reward, and led by those masters, they would submit to discipline and face dangers."

 

His proposal was greeted with polite silence and nothimg ever came of it. Cleburne himself would die leading a gallant charge at the Battle of Franklin on 30 NOV 1864.

Patrick R. Cleburne, Savior of the Confederacy

On the world of Cleburne, however, the proposal was met with a more reasoned response and was implemented. There was some immediate resistance and protests made, but as the war progressed, the advantages began to take their toll on the nay-sayers. One of the first responses was the recognition of the CSA by the United Kingdom (and later France). While Britain would not directly aid the South with ground troops, the British navy made short work of the Union blockade allowing the resupply of the Confederacy with war materials. The British diplomatic corps went to work urging the two nations to come to an accord.

 

On the battlefront, the new freeman of the South made their presence known within months. Grant's Wilderness Campaign and Sherman's Atlanta Campaign were both slowed down due to the influx of black troops. In the Confederate Army, black units were greeted with some skepticism and even outright derision and hostility. However, troops who had fought against units such as the 54th Massachusetts were more than willing to give them a chance and that warrior bond common to all who share hardships would make for some interesting post-war politics.

 

The US Presidential election of 1864 would see McClellan winning over Lincoln in a very close race. By spring, 1865, the Union would come to the peace table and offer generous terms for the cessation of hostilities. A return to prewar borders became a reality (with the notable exception of West Virginia). Kentucky opted for the Union, Tennessee for the Confederacy. Missouri went with the South and Kansas with the North. The Indian Territory would remain a bone of contention for some  years to come; the South sided with their Cherokee allies for its "independence." It would eventually become reality as well in 1907. As far as the western states, the USA ceded the area that is Arizona and New Mexico in our world to the CSA. In the late 1860's, Maximilian I ceded Sonora and Baja California to the Confederacy in exchange for military backing against Benitio Juarez. The CSA, like the USA, stretched from sea to sea. The New West would see a large number of black settlers escaping racial tensions in the Old South.

 

And make no mistake, things were not all sunshine and happiness in the CSA. This would come to a head in the 1878 Presidential election when Cleburne ran on the Whig ticket against Nathan Bedford Forrest on the Democratic ticket. Relations with the USA would remain frosty; there were some areas where the two worked together well such as the postwar cattle drives that sold Texas beeves to Kansas markets for consumption in Northern cities. However, it would take the First and Second World Wars for the two nations to warm up to each other once again. By the 1980's (current year is 1987), there was even talk of reuniting, but such is really wishful thinking of some starry-eyed dreamers. However, the two are staunch allies in the fight against Global Communism.

 

*****

 

Yes, there is some hand-waving there, but all-in-all, it makes for an interesting setting. Turn the tropes on their heads. With the Indian Territory and the New West, there's plenty of space to make for a different western-themed game. WW2 intrigue is possible. For instance, the German-American Bund really didn't cause problems in our world; what if they did for the CSA? What if the south still had close ties with France; would Dien Bien Phu turn out differently? So much to think about and try.

 

Anyway, until next time, gentle readers, whistle Dixie!

Sci-Fi Monday: Dimensional Travel & GURPS

Dimensional travel. The idea that for every choice, two or more different worlds are created. There are some who say that time travel is unfeasible, but switching dimensions could well be within the realm of possibility. It's a favorite them in sci-fi literature whether it is true dimensional travel, a "what if?" story, or a combination of the two, as in Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South. There are myriad short stories and novels that are widely read and enjoyed. With Steve Jackson's GURPS as the premiere multi-genre RPG, it was only natural that the game look into this area. Way back in third edition, the Infinite Worlds setting was one of several campaigns featured in the GURPS Time Travel book. With fourth edition, the campaign gained it's own title book.

 

 

The basic premise of the setting is that dimensional travel was discovered in the early 21st century by a pair of scientists. It is now the mid 21st century and the UN has oversight of the project. Thus far, only one other world is known to have dimensional travel technology. However, their dimension is on a different "quantum level" than ours and they cannot reach "Earth Prime" directly. However, Earth Prime frequently has conflicts with them in the "grey zones." I'm not going into a indepth discussion of the quantum levels an how they work--suffice to say that history can be altered in these other world and push them up or down in level. Thus, a world could be made unreachable to Earth Prime by a shift.

 

There are literally an infinite number of Earths out there. Some are relatively benign and ripe for exploitation. For instance, there are "Eden" worlds were man never developed and thus available for colonization (as in the failed television series Terra Nova) or harvesting of natural resources. There are the 'Reich worlds" where the Axis powers won WW2. Most are technologically stagnant or have even developed in to a hell world (q.v.) after Japan and Germany squared off with nuclear weapons. At least one, Reich 5, is on a par with Earth Prime in technology; they do not have dimensional travel and we hope they never do! (Not quite true; but the main Nazi hierarchy does not  have the knowledge.) Visions of a more lethal trans-dimensional Iron Sky come to mind. There are "hell worlds" where a nuclear war or some other catastrophe wipe out civilization. In my own games, I coined the term "Romero worlds" for one that have undergone a zombie apocalypse! there are literally hundreds of possible worlds!

 

 

 

One campaign I've always wanted to run is based not on the UN's Infinity Patrol but based instead around the U.S. government's "Worldgate Project' buried deep in Cheyenne Mountain. Sound familiar? Now, while the UN does have oversight of dimensional travel, several governments have access to conveyors. Supposedly, nothing occurs with UN oversight, but we all know how tricky governments like the U.S., Russia, Japan, and even the UK can be (Torchwood Project, anyone?). So, I have some ideas about the U.S. finding some worlds and keeping them secret from the U.N. Possibly coming into conflict with the Reich 5 Ahnenerbe plot, working to bring about civil rights on a Dixie world or two, that sort of thing. And all the while trying to keep clear of the Infinity Patrol!

 

Another interesting idea in the Infinite Worlds setting is that it is possible to have (alternate) figures from history recruited into the organization. And, since the worlds move at different relative speeds, it s possible to have say, Niccolo Machiavelli as an agent. This allows an out of place place, out of time character like Teal'c from Stargate: SG-1. I did start this game once, but it fell apart before the first session. I had one player create a police officer and his K-9 partner recruited from a Romero world who had survived for several months after the Rise. I was really looking forward to that characterization in play.

 

 

All-in-all, the fun comes from creating new worlds that SJG has not published yet while playing with all those tropes and changing them up.What about a world where things went badly for the U.S. in the Pacific and. while Germany is defeated, the Empire of Japan and the U.S. sign an armistice? A Dixie-world where slaves who would fight for the Confederacy were freed leading to full civil rights for blacks in the 1920's; meanwhile, in the defeated North, blacks are despised and persecuted and the U.S. embraces communism in the 1910's. Conflict galore in that one. It's all about playing with history and seeing how players react; and it's fun, creative fun.

 

Until next time, gentle readers, think of the possibilities!