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The Electric Sheep Pasture

Here's some previous stuff I've done:

Here's something I've been working on today. Until 1999, the UK used FPTP constituencies (with the exception of Northern Ireland) to elect Members of the European Parliament instead of proportional systems that had been used in other member states. This meant minor parties, such as the SDP-Liberal Alliance, failed to gain representation at the European Parliament. Notably, in 1989, the Greens won 15% of the vote, their highest vote total ever, but failed to translate this success into seats. I wondered what would have happened if instead of using FPTP, the UK had always used a proportional system. I created a constituency for each Home Nation - England (66 seats), Scotland (8 seats) and Wales (4 seats). Using the D'Hondt method, I then translated the OTL vote in each constituency into seats. The results are interesting.

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The 10th October 2001 is a date that will live in infamy in British history. In the middle of Prime Minister's Questions, a lorry laden with explosives was driven into the Houses of Parliament, causing a fire and a partial collapse of the building. A total of 52 people lost their lives, including 21 MPs. They included Chancellor of the Exchequer Alan Beith, Home Secretary Auberon Waugh, Health Secretary Simon Hughes and Shadow Defence Secretary Jack Straw. The initial suspicion was that the IRA were behind the bombing, but in the days after the attack no domestic group claimed responsibility. The nation was shocked when the Integralist group Hijos de Bolivar (Sons of Bolivar) announced their responsibility, citing British support for democratic, anti-integralist regimes in South America such as Argentina (Britain's strongest ally in the region). Diplomatic pressure was applied on Integralist regimes in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela who were suspected of harbouring the group. MI6 investigations revealed an Hijos de Bolivar base colluded with the Venezuelan regime and had a base in the jungle there. On the 9th November 2001, Prime Minister Stephen Dorrell announced the British invasion of Venezuela had begun. International reaction to the invasion was mixed, France refused to take part in the conflict. Brazil attempted to pass a condemnation of the invasion in the League of Nations, but this was vetoed by Britain and the USSR (a surprising diplomatic supporter). The United States, headed by the isolationist Ron Paul, stayed out of the conflict. The Venezuelan National Republic was no match against the advanced forces of one of the world's largest economies, and the Integralist regime had fallen by January 2002, replaced by a democratic republic. However, this was not the end of the war. Integralist groups such as the Hijos de Bolivar began a new insurgency in the jungles of Venezuela. It was only the beginning of the Venezuelan War. However, the invasion would have knock-on effects around the world. The new Venezuelan regime re-negotiated oil export contracts which lead to a huge economic crisis in late 2002, causing a downturn across many capitalist Western nations.

(These are the latest events in the Shared Worlds game Where the World Will Lead by @Statesman, @Techdread, @Komodo and contributed to by many others)

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On November the 22nd, 1963, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, USA. As his motorcade entered Dealey Plaza, he was fired at by as many as 55 gunmen from various angles. These included Cuban exiles on the overpass, CIA operatives firing from the grassy knoll, a 'lone nutcase' firing from the Texas School Book Depository, as well as a number of operatives within the crowd. Even the Governor of Texas, John Connally, took a shot against the President. After 13 minutes of shooting, the motorcade managed to leave Dealey Plaza. The President would be declared dead later that afternoon. In the aftermath of the assassination, Dallas police managed to arrest 43 suspects (though they suspected as many as 12-15 avoided arrest). Two days later, however, all 43 of these suspects would be shot dead by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner.

The gunmen were hired by a wide number of different organisations, as well as being joined by other individuals who all bore a grudge against the President. Most academics believe it was a sheer coincidence that all of them decided to assassinate the president at the exact same spot in the exact same city on the exact same day. Debate rages today on the co-operation between the different groups.

(Based on this Onion article, as well as me attempting to list every suggested culprit I could find for the assassination)

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The Iranian Hostage Crisis was an important point in American post-war history. Conventional sources will tell you President Jimmy Carter's failure to release the hostages played a pivotal role in his defeat in the presidential election of 1980, ushering in the Reagan Revolution. In actual fact, however, the story is different.

In October, with public opinion of the administration at an all-time low, President Carter and a number of his military aides devised a final, last-ditch, plan to rescue the hostages still in Iran. A team of army commandos would enter the compound where the hostages were located, free them before loading the hostages on an Army plane to return to a safe place in Turkey, where they would be personally met by President Carter. Originally, the plan looked like it would work out fine. However, in late October, a number of unrelated events meant the Army force due to take part in the actual mission dwindled. With President Carter ready at the base on the 1st, unfortunate news came in - the plane carrying the last 10 men ready to take part in the rescue had taken off too early, stranding them in a remote airport in rural Turkey. With no other way of freeing the hostages, and circumstances meaning they would be unable to wait for the last men to make their way to the safe house, Jimmy Carter himself volunteered to complete the mission he had been planning for months. Flying in a small plane (his plane flying skills were unknown to the general public and still are to this day), he landed in the outskirts of Tehran early in the morning, he would sneak in, armed with one rifle, releasing the hostage who could them commandeer the plane he arrived in before he would flee and disappear into Tehran to be picked up by midnight.

At around 2am, Carter landed the plane in the Tehran outskirts before, under the cover of darkness, heading towards the place the hostages were kept. Helped by sympathetic locals, he would enter the building around sunrise, mingling in with the hostages. He quietly explained to the hostages the plan to escape before finding a way out. Finally, at around 11am, a mass breakout was staged while Carter exchanged gunfire with the soldiers guarding the hostages. The hostage-takers were reportedly surprised by both Carter's appearance and his combat abilities. While most of the hostage-takers were pre-occupied with trying to fight Jimmy Carter, the hostages dispersed before managing to find the plane and escaping Tehran. As chaos erupted, Carter fled into the streets of Tehran, before being rescued himself late at night.

However, the Reagan presidential campaign team became aware of the rescue of the hostages. Knowing that public knowledge of both the rescue and Jimmy Carter's personal involvement would, for sure, lose the GOP the election. They conspired with both the American military and the Iranian revolutionaries to cover up the event, deciding the official 'release' of the hostages would occur during Reagan's inauguration. Carter's rescue of the hostages would be covered up for over 30 years, but there are whisperings of the true events on November 1st. Maybe, one day, the public will know of President Carter's part in the freeing of the hostages.

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Despite 8000 years of techno-evolution and transhumanism, Baseline humans (Homo sapiens sapiens with no known genetic, physical or neurological augmentations) still exist in surprisingly large numbers. Though many do live on specifically designed or terraformed baseline sanctuary worlds (of which there are about 76,000), many also live in baseline enclaves or out in the domain of humanspace. Baseline humans are imbued with a strong sense of pride, particularly of their unbroken ancestry from humans origins on Old Earth. Though there is a stereotype of baseline humans of extreme conservatism and biosupremacism, many baselines are welcoming of other clades. There is a strong sense of spiritualism in baseline societies, with religions such as Ecosophical Retro-Christianity becoming prominent in many baseline sanctuaries.

But what is the future of baseline humans? Many groups fear the numbers of baseline humans are decreasing as many choose to start using minor augmentations. More and more are immigrating into sanctuary worlds, both to preserve their heritage and because of the prejudice they receive in some societies. But the situation is improving, as more and more polities are putting additional protections for baselines into their ideologies.

Baseline humans can also be compared with near baseline humans (humans with only small amounts of augmentation), neo-baseline humans (near baselines who have removed their augmentations), virtual humans (baseline humans that live in, or where created in, virtual spaces), neo-humans (baseline humans created by AIs for architectural or socio-engineering projects) and other humanistic clades.

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Ninth Mesotheist Crusade

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Ninth Mesotheist Crusade

The Ninth Mesotheist Crusade was the penultimate act of the centuries-long Fourteenth Orion War. It was also the last and longest of the nine crusades of the Mesotheist Movement. At the start of the 83rd century, the Orion Federation was pressured by its pan-corporate sponsors to deal with two immediate problems - religious heresy, particularly among baselines; and the rise of the Orion Confederacy, an Omegist, anti-stratocratic neo-human and nearbaseline secession in the Outer Reaches. The current Junta of the Orion Confederacy, led by First General Halgo X Zamo, held thousands of meetings to whip up religious fervour and prepare for the prophesied Ninth Mesotheist Crusade, which was predictedin the Gammas to herald the final triumph of the Mesotheist Movement. The first impetus came following the Churchill Miracles, which matched events foretold in the Gammas. The next, more political, event was the signing of a defence treaty between the previously mysterious Isolated Worlds and the Orion Confederacy. This event was used by Soothsayer Cewre IV to start the first Mesotheist Caucuses, the beginning of the official build-up of the Crusade.

As this was taking place, the Nine Gods emerged from their solipsistic state for the first time in 2000 years. This time, they were disturbed by Orion Federation wheel building within the Forbidden Zones. The Nine Gods feared the Orion Federation planned to seize further areas of the Forbidden Zone and annex the Isolated Worlds. The completion of the Zodiac Wheel in 8198CE had led to the Zodiac War which ended in concession by the Isolated Worlds. Following this defeat, the Isolated Worlds Alliance elected Kazu Bizkatsu as its First Citizen, the first time they had elected someone to that position for 3 centuries. Another major event in the build-up to the Ninth Mesotheist Crusade was the election of Padishah-Pope Owl V by the Sixteenth Ecosophical Retro-Christian Conclave. The new Padishah-Pope was a proud baseline previously known as Sheldon Eagleton, who had lived his entire life on the future baseline sanctuary world of Woodrow. Though originally hoping to accommodate with the Mesotheists (knowing the damage done to his world in the Fourth Mesotheist Crusade), relations between the Papal Planets and the Orion Federation continued to decline when First General Zamo declared the Ecosophists as a heresy of the Mesotheist Movement.

The opening shots of the Crusade took place during the Helena Skirmishes between Confederate and Federation forces. Shortly after this, martial law was declared in the Federation and war officially began on the 178th day of 8273CE. The First Battle of Saint Zakrai was a devastating victory for the Federation, and led to the First Great Cleansing, when 100 billion people were forcibly converted to Fundamentalist Mesotheism. The arrival of the Nine Gods into the war in 8293CE led to the Great Stalemate that lasted for 188 years. Eventually, the Seizure of the Zodiac Wheel in 8473CE marked a turning point in the Crusade. The Crusade was officially declared over Soothsayer Cewre IV on the 256th day of 8839CE. The end results of the Crusade were the collapse of the Orion Federation and the conclusion of the Fourteenth Orion War in 9541CE. Most Orionologists agree the Ninth Mesotheist Crusade led directly to the fall of the Orion civilisations and the Exodus of over 1 trillion people to the Anat Confederacy and other Inner Humanspace polities. The previously prosperous planets of the Orion Sectors have no become sparsely-populated backwaters, shielded from the effects of the Fifth Trans-Enlightenment.

Many scholars state that the Ninth Mesotheist Crusade was the most destructive war in Humanspace. This is, in fact Orioncentric pseudo-historical myth. Though the Ninth Mesotheist Crusade has been immortalised in myth and legend, as well as the effects, both cultural and of the use of exotic and quantum weaponry, still being felt today, the Crusade barely even compares to the Fifth Terran Federation Civil War, the Sobraic Wars, the Oracle War and the cataclysmic Megiddo War. The Crusade did result in the destruction of over 1000 megastructures and as many as 3000 wormhole openings. The Ninth Mesotheist Crusade effectively ended the Mesotheist Movement during the Second Great Mesotheist Schism. Historians are still discussing the ramifications of the Crusades today.

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