Oswald-4

[Picture of JFK assassination evidence]

Key Information

Quantum
5
Status
Open. Oswald-4 is one of the "Big Four" worlds.
Divergence Point
November 22, 1963, 11:30 AM
Summary
Oswald misses Kennedy, a depressed world turns to central government control.
Local Year
2001

Description

All worlds which diverge at the point of the Kennedy assassination are referred to as "Oswalds". Oswald-4 was the last of the "Big Four" worlds in absolute time to discover parachronic travel when a projector manned by a US government team sent several agents into Latin-6. They were not immediately uncovered, of course. Oswald also bears the distinction of being the first timeline to achieve parachronic technology in subjective time, being only at the year 2003.

While parachronic technology does work, tabletop fusion does not. This makes Oswald-centered crossworld endeavours very expensive, and only a few crosstime organizations call Oswald home.

Brief Oswald Timeline

[Troops slog through a Vietnam jungle]
1964
Kennedy and Johnson re-elected by landslide.
1965
Civil rights bill sold up the river in return for Southern support for massive Vietnam budget.
1967
Civil rights bill rammed through despite opposition. Nationwide recession begins.
1968
In the Democratic race between LBJ, Robert Kennedy, and George Wallace, the Democratic party is split three ways. Nixon wins at a walk with his hawkish VP Barry Goldwater, resurrected from political death with his constant Vietnam pressure. (Reporters call it the Lazarus campaign.)
1970
American invasion of Laos and Cambodia. Widespread bombing throughout South Asia.
1971
The Chinese overtly intervene in Cambodia. Threat of nuclear war and continued recession brings massive stock market crash and worldwide depression.
1972
Americans overwhelmingly re-elect Nixon over a Robert Kennedy-McGovern peace ticket. However, the war in Vietnam continues to drag on and continues to expand across South Asia.
1975
India enters the South Asian war on the side of America in Laos and the Chinese in Cambodia.
1976
Ronald Reagan and Spiro Agnew are elected on a moderate Republican ticket to appease a growingly militant liberal sector of America (Democratic ticket is Robert Kennedy again and Jimmy Carter.) Worldwide depression continues.
1981
The Vietnam war finally ends in bitter recriminations as all sides undergo catastrophic losses. The world economy is slow to recover.
An insular European community developed parachronic technology in 1998. Local year is 2003. Oswald is a more government-oriented and slightly more homogenized world than any of the other Big Four. (Homeline and Dupe-1 have more financial control over the populace and Latin-6's social class structure provides a measure of security there.)

Oswaldian Patrons are likely to prize their parachronic operatives much more than other Patrons, meaning Oswaldian worldjumpers receive 5 free points (only to be spent on Patron) reflecting the extra care and value which are placed upon them. However, native-Oswaldian technology is about 40 years behind Homeline, Dupe-1 and Latin-6, meaning they have a 3-point version of the Primitive disadvantage, that may be bought off in the usual way.

Points of Interest

Identical, more or less, to Homeline of 2003. However, the Vietnam memorial stretches along the outer wall of the Pentagon instead of the few hundred feet that it does on Homeline.

Big Four Influence

Oswald is one of the Big Four. It jeaously has guarded its independence with a ferocity that borders on the paranoid. It is the "little brother" of the Big Four and it knows it, and like all little brothers, it tries to puff itself up to look bigger. It is also considered the loose cannon of the Big Four, and is probably the most closely watched.

Technology on Oswald, despite the protestations of the various governments of the world, has skyrocketed since parachronic travel began. While it certainly has helped the world, the "cyberpunk" technology has admittedly been somewhat destabilizing, culturally speaking.

Oswald has a fairly advanced and open psionic community - any Oswaldian and most Outtimers can attain mild levels of psionic ability with a regimen of drugs and training. Though the techniques have started to spread, they are still the most advanced on Oswald itself. On the downside, Oswald is the most paranoid and least prized member of the Big Four.

Centrum Influence

None known.

OOC Origin

I invented Oswald.
Take me back to the Alternate World list.