Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: Difference between revisions

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 * '''Type III - Soft Alternate History:''' These are works where the plausibility of the setting's alt-history is less important than setting up a world that fits the creator's artistic objectives. Research is often minimal to moderate and used simply to give some verisimilitude to the setting. [[In Spite of a Nail|Butterflies may be utterly ignored]], [[Politically-Correct History]] may make an appearance, and plausibility will take a back seat to Rule of Drama/Cool/Comedy. Perhaps [[Mirror Universe|parallelism has run to ridiculous levels]] or the author uses Historical Domain characters born way after the PoD ("I don't care if he was born centuries after the historical Fall of Rome, I want General Patton fighting the Modern Romans in Gaul!"). Perhaps the rate of technology growth is just too high. Perhaps the [[Writer on Board|author's politics and desires]] so totally tint the work that it breaks any [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] and turns it into an AH-themed [[Author Tract]]. Many [[Alternate History Wank|Alternate History Wanks]] fall into this Type. Type III Alternate Histories are almost always "steered" ("okay, so I need a Confederate George Patton running a Blitzkrieg through Stalinist China...").
-* '''Type IV - Utterly Implausible AH:''' These are works that are so Soft that they melt. Works that are so implausible as to be effectively impossible and so Soft as to prove impossible to take seriously. Works where research was so poor or ill-considered, [[Author Filibuster|author politics so prevalent]], Butterflies so ignored, details (logistics, politics, etc.) so overlooked, often purposefully, that there's no way anyone with even a passing familiarity with the history can take it seriously. Infamously implausible scenarios like Operation Sealion <ref>[[Nazi Germany]]'s plan to invade Britain during [[World War II]], which has been shown by the members of [[Alternate History Dot Com]] (where it's become a [[Memetic Mutation]] because of this) to be one of the worst military plans ever conceived -- it would have been a catastrophic defeat for Germany that would have effectively destroyed the Wehrmacht and allowed the Allies to win up to a year earlier.</ref> are often placed here, as are utterly implausible technology jumps, such as Aztecs developing breech loading rifles in 1420. Over-the-top totally ludicrous [[Alternate History Wank|Alternate History Wanks]] are usually put here. Obviously a lot of YMMV here. One good "rule of thumb" is if a PoD necessary to make the outcome plausibly happen is so far in the past that Butterflies would totally negate the very events that created the setting (such as a PoD to give Hitler the fleet he needed to invade the UK would need to be before WWI, probably negating the rise of Nazism), then it may be a Type IV. ''Note:'' These works are often defined as [[Alien Space Bats]]; in fact the original term "[[Alien Space Bats]]" was coined to refer to these type of implausible works!
+* '''Type IV - Utterly Implausible AH:''' These are works that are so Soft that they melt. Works that are so implausible as to be effectively impossible and so Soft as to prove impossible to take seriously. Works where research was so poor or ill-considered, [[Author Filibuster|author politics so prevalent]], Butterflies so ignored, details (logistics, politics, etc.) so overlooked, often purposefully, that there's no way anyone with even a passing familiarity with the history can take it seriously. Infamously implausible scenarios like Operation Sealion <ref>[[Nazi Germany]]'s plan to invade Britain during [[World War II]], which has been shown by the members of [[Alternatehistory.com]] (where it's become a [[Memetic Mutation]] because of this) to be one of the worst military plans ever conceived -- it would have been a catastrophic defeat for Germany that would have effectively destroyed the Wehrmacht and allowed the Allies to win up to a year earlier.</ref> are often placed here, as are utterly implausible technology jumps, such as Aztecs developing breech loading rifles in 1420. Over-the-top totally ludicrous [[Alternate History Wank|Alternate History Wanks]] are usually put here. Obviously a lot of YMMV here. One good "rule of thumb" is if a PoD necessary to make the outcome plausibly happen is so far in the past that Butterflies would totally negate the very events that created the setting (such as a PoD to give Hitler the fleet he needed to invade the UK would need to be before WWI, probably negating the rise of Nazism), then it may be a Type IV. ''Note:'' These works are often defined as [[Alien Space Bats]]; in fact the original term "[[Alien Space Bats]]" was coined to refer to these type of implausible works!
 * '''Type X - [[Alien Space Bats]] and Fantastical AH:''' In contrast with Type IV, these works are '''deliberately''' designed as pure fantasy, typically following the [[Rule of Cool]]. Some sort of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] or [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] or [[Negative Space Wedgie]] or [[A Wizard Did It|blatant magic]] causes a PoD that completely changes everything. [[What If]] [[Worldwar|aliens invade Earth during World War II]]? What if time traveling modern Cherokee give assault rifles to their distant ancestors in 1820? What if the modern island of Manhattan was [[Mass Teleportation|time-ported]] to the Mediterranean in Roman times? A sub-type of this rewrites actual history in fantastic terms: what if George Washington's army used nature magic to fight necromantic redcoats? Ironically, many Type X works can become very "Hard" following an initial fantastical PoD, diligently using historical research and Butterflies to see what would logically happen if the Cherokees really did have Kalashnikov assault rifles in 1820. Type X works can be "steered" or "unsteered". '''Note to Tropers:''' when posting examples please make a note on how "Hard" the work is after the initial PoD if the PoD is the ASB element; for example "after the [[Negative Space Wedgie]] moves Manhattan, the rest of the work follows a more Type II or even Type I level of plausibility".
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 * [[Heirs of Alexandria]] by [[Mercedes Lackey]], [[Eric Flint]], and [[Dave Freer]], but due to the large scale of the change, introducing magic, and how long ago it happened, probably a type II (Hard/Soft Alternate History) when the series start, mainly due to good research.
 * ''[[The Tales of Alvin Maker]]'' by [[Orson Scott Card]]: A retelling of the story of Mormonism founder Joseph Smith in a North America [[Mirror Universe]] where magic is real.
-* The ''Strangerverse'' on [[Alternate History Dot Com]] is a loosely-tied saga, whose common tie being a time traveler returning to some point (and figure) in the past. To stop his crapsack-apocalyptic future from happening, the Stranger leaves behind tools to aid his "chosen." This generally results in epic nation-wanks. The stories themselves become Type II or III after the "event," depending on the author. Notables include ''[[The Britwank Empire]]'' and ''[[United States of Ameriwank|The United States of Ameriwank]]''.
+* The ''Strangerverse'' on [[Alternatehistory.com]] is a loosely-tied saga, whose common tie being a time traveler returning to some point (and figure) in the past. To stop his crapsack-apocalyptic future from happening, the Stranger leaves behind tools to aid his "chosen." This generally results in epic nation-wanks. The stories themselves become Type II or III after the "event," depending on the author. Notables include ''[[The Britwank Empire]]'' and ''[[United States of Ameriwank|The United States of Ameriwank]]''.
 * ''[[Temeraire]]'' is the Napoleonic Wars... {{smallcaps|with dragons}}! Otherwise a Type II: The society is still reminiscent of the equivalent time period and technologies are much the same, though there are some significant political deviations. (The Incas were never conquered because they ''also'' had dragons, for instance).
 * The [[Ciem Webcomic Series]] postulates that Boonville, Indiana is overtaken by aliens who are obsessed with [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|engineering]] [[Hybrid Monster|monsters]] [[Bio Punk|for political gain]]. It is attacked by the National Guard and the town of Gerosha is built in its place - so-named after [[Reality Subtext|a seashell with a letter "G" carved into it that was found on a beach in Florida]]. After that, the [[Feuding Families|growing feud]] between Gerosha's founding Flippo family and the Hebbleskin Crime Family results in more [[Biological Mashup|monsters]], more explosions, and even a radioactive [[MacGuffin]] or two. Since it aims to become a comic book film, it's very steered and [[They Just Didn't Care|doesn't seem to care]] about how hard or soft the AH is.