Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: Difference between revisions

* ''[[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.

* The ''[[West of Eden]]'' trilogy is probably an X-III, with the fantastic element being that the dinosaurs were never wiped out. Realistically speaking, the extinction of the dinosaurs is probably what allowed mammals to gain dominance and thus humans to come to be, but of course in that case the humans versus lizard-women plot couldn't happen.

* In John Birmingham's novel ''Without Warning'', a [[Colony Drop]] of a mysterious energy field called the Wave wipes out all human life in most of the continental United States and much of Canada, Mexico and Cuba in 2003 just before the invasion of Iraq but after that it's pretty much a Type I including Sadaam Hussein's reaction to "the Great Satan" gettiing it's legs chopped out from under it and what springs from that.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' takes place in an alternate early 20th century with working [[Magitek]] in the form of alchemy. However, it explicitly takes place in an alternate world separate from our own.

* The setting of [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Seekers of the Sky]]'' duology diverges from ours when [[Jesus]] is killed during the Massacre of the Innocents, resulting in a different Messiah with different powers and goals. Unlike Jesus, the Redeemer passes his one miracle to his disciples, and it spreads from them throughout the world. This miracle is the Word, allowing the user to place any inanimate object into another dimension known as the Cold to be retrieved later. Not only has the Word changed how many things are done in the world (those who possess it keep all their valuables in the Cold), but the Redeemer attempted to end war on Earth by removing all the iron he knew about when he left. Thus, this setting is largely shaped by a major deficit of this very useful metal (e.g. iron replaces gold as currency and status symbol). The duology mostly serves for the author to explore the dominant religion of this world, which is similar to Christianity in some respects but very different in others.

 

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