#Alt History

[reachartwork]

Samantha "Sam" Small is a 14 year old high school freshman and superhero-in-training, recruited by the Delaware Valley Defenders to protect Philadelphia. Her powers let her bite through metal and smell when people bleed. Her interests include soccer, women, putting herself in danger, and Shabbat dinner with her Pop-Pop Moe.

Chum is a slice-of-life/action web serial, currently around 900,000 words. It has been described as "good enough to spend hours organizing info on it", a "beautiful coming of age story", and "a superhero story to rival worm". It's got dinosaurs in it. It's got heartbreak in it. It's got really good fight scenes in it.

Go read it on Royal Road or Wordpress and consider joining the Chumcord!

[rrhodes25]

I've had this concept rattling in my brain for awhile, and I finally had the motivation to draw it

I really enjoy imagining prehistoric megafauna interacting with different phases of human history - as unrealistic and silly as it may be

That being said, Paleoloxodon Namadicus marching across the steppes of East Asia as a Mongol Scout patrols past it.

[creature-wizard]

There's people out there who will be like, "What if Christianity never happened?" and come up with the most fanciful wish fulfillment scenarios instead of actually examining what other spiritual and political trends were popular in the 1st century Greco-Roman world and looking into the histories of countries where Christianity never gained predominance.

[red-red-spout]

UPDATE: Plz reblog the updated version of this post with like, the reblog chain, the first post isn't really that accurate...

Something i think is kinda underutilized in spec evo right now is alternate domesticates. There's potentially hundreds of thousands of domesticatable edible plants and animals and such, and humanity only ended up domesticating a tiny slice of the worlds biodiversity. And the divergence from the wild types is extreme- it's evolution at hyperspeed

this is all the product of like, a few thousand years of effort and it's so utterly divergent, it's incredible. You see the possibilties here, right? You can place your point of divergence incredibly recently- maybe only a few millenia back- barely have to change much about the world- and get a radically different human symbiote biosphere. What if we'd domesticated amaranth instead of wheat? Weasels instead of cats? The possibilities are (almost) endless

and that's not even getting into the alternate history aspects. Imagine how different history would've turned out if rather than having to wait for europeans to reintroduce horses to the americas, the peoples of the great plains had been mounted centuries or millennia earlier on the backs of riding-deer

[foone]

Alt history where the cold war ends in 1981, because AT&T launches a coup of the United States with the assistance of the USSR.

Seeing the breakup coming as their long antitrust trial comes to an end, the bell system secretly coordinates with the soviets for military support, and takes over the US. They officially end the Truman doctrine, to allow the Soviet union to bring socialism to the world. AT&T doesn't care who runs the world, so long as they're allowed to provide phone service to it.

Governor Ronald Reagan never takes office after winning the 1980 election. The 40th president of the US is instead Chairman Charles L. Brown, formerly CEO of AT&T.

The United States of Bell is begun.

[ptrcbtmn]

"Capitalism was..."

[lonestarflight]

AU Space Shuttle Enterprise

Circa 1985 to 1987

From my Alternative History Post (link) this is how the Space Shuttle Enterprise evolved from the 4th operational orbiter in 1985 to the prototype unmanned shuttle.

More History on the Shuttle:

• April 1983: Enterprise is returned to Palmdale for her disassembled and rebuild.

• As a weight saving measure her mid-fuselage is returned to Convair for a complete rebuild to bring it inline with OV-103 and OV-104.

• to further lighten her frame, her aft-fuselage is rebuilt with similar materials as her sisters.

• Engineers at Rockwell suggests rebuilding or replacing her wings as well but NASA doesn't have room in the budget.

• May 1985: at long last, Enterprise is rolled out and joins the fleet. She weighs slightly less than Columbia. Her main issue is her wings are heavier and weaker than the other Orbiters.

• September 1985: STS-21 is Enterprise's first mission

• 1987: During the Shuttle hiatus following the Challenger Disaster, she went through a mini refit that saw her exterior markings change. (NASA in this timeline returned to the Meatball logo sooner than in the OTL)

Circa 1988 to 1993

• April 1988: STS-30 is Enterprise's first launch following the hiatus.

• December 1993: following STS-61, Enterprise is retired due to being the oldest in the fleet. Endeavour takes her place in the fleet.

• June 1994: Enterprise is flown to Dulles Airport, Washington DC, and is given to the Smithsonian for eventual display when the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is built. NASA retains the option recalled her if needed.

• 1998: NASA studies modifying the Shuttle-C software to work on the Space Shuttle and potentially using Enterprise as a reusable Shuttle-C. The reasoning behind this option this configuration would be a cheaper alternative to the X-33 program. However, while the shuttle could be retrofitted with the software, the shuttle would have less cargo capacity than the X-33 and still required use of expensive legacy launch facilities (ie VAB and LC-39). The study ends with only the software in a beta state.

• December 2003: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is opened with Enterprise being one of its major exhibits.

• November 2003: the Shuttle-C software is used to return STS-118 Columbia to Earth and with critical damage to her structure (mainly her port wing and some internal damage from a collapsed landing gear).

• May 2004: NASA recalls Enterprise to replace Columbia.

• August 2004: initial plans are to return her flight, unmodified. However, NASA develops the Shuttle-C software further and changes it's name to A.S.Tr.O.S (Autonomous Space Transport Operating System).

• New wings! Enterprise is fitted with new wings which are of a modified design and lighter and stronger than the wings of her sisters. With other upgrades and modifications, she is slightly lighter than her younger sisters.

• Some within NASA joking refer to her as Enterprise-A, as a reference to Star Trek.

• September 2006: to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her unveiling to the media, Lockheed-Rockwell rolls her out of their Palmdale facility to rechristen the Shuttle. In attendance, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nicholas, Walter Koenig, Christopher Doohan and Rod Roddenberry.

- when asked by the media, Leonard remarked she is still a sight to behold and is glad she will continue her mission of exploration.

Enterprise A (unmanned)

• July 2006: to test the A.S.Tr.O.S. during a return to earth and landing, a new series of Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) were conducted with NASA's 747 SCA (N905NA) at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base. 15 flights are flown to put the software in the real world, with two astronauts on board to step in when needed. Barring some higher than normal landing speeds, the software passes all of its objectives.

• It should be noted, while the rebuilt Enterprise is mainly used as an unmanned orbiter, this is a misnomer. It is more accurate to call her a hybrid shuttle. NASA has the option to convert her back into a manned shuttle if desired or needed.

- This nearly was used in 2015 during STS-154. Space Shuttle Atlantis was after conducting maintenance/upgrades on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the crew was unable to disconnect the shuttle from the telescope. CTS-48 Enterprise was already on LC-39B for a cargo mission to the International Space Station. All that was needed was to remove supplies from the payload bay and reinstall the seats in her crew space. Fortunately, this rescue wasn't needed as the Astronauts conducted an unscheduled EVA and manually disconnected the Shuttle from the HST.

• November 2008: first flight of Enterprise-A (CTS-11)

• When Columbia was given a cosmic restoration for her display, the first set of wings from Enterprise was used to replace her damaged one.

• 2019: Enterprise is retired for the final time following CTS-74.

• 2020: Enterprise is on display at Space Center Houston with the restored Star Trek Galileo Shuttlecraft prop.

Original artwork by bagera3005: link, link, link

[lil-tachyon]

Anti-Armor Partisan

I'm so mad I forgot to draw a bipod for the gun but I didn't realize until I was midway through coloring and it was too late. Gun guys, please forgive me

[indiyu]

Hey hey! Someone on Anbennar once told me that I should post my art online. I was gonna do it in the past, but I was a bit scared. A year passed and I'm making my first post!

So I just wanted to share some old art I created. I used to have this old worldbuilding setting where Asia industrialized before Europe. It goes a fair bit deeper than that (ie: Zhu Yuanzhang never unites China, the Tay Son dynasty never falls, old historic alliances stay strong, a WW1 equivalent breaks out because of the Ayutthaya-Dai Viet squabble over political influence in what is modern day Cambodia and Laos). To be fair, it never really went anywhere far and I kinda abandoned the project/it got eaten by my favored children.

However, I did get some nice art from it, like this drawing of a Korean soldier from this world's equivalent of WW1. This is at that point where people haven't fully figured out that red uniforms are easy to spot!

I see so much beautiful artwork out there. I swear if I had a tablet and other tools, I'd be a mildly dangerous digital artist. For now, I'll just stick to MS Paint/Paint 3D and mouse.

This was like three years ago. I do think I can do better nowadays, but I haven't done a serious drawing on that program in a very long time. I still think it holds up though!

I think there's a lot of interesting alternate history out there but not enough art of these hypothetical settings.

[butterflyriv3er]

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

[//CORRESPONDENCE LOG 100219981657-002//]

[//INTERNAL LOG-x-x-x-KEEP FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES//]

[//INTERNAL USE ONLY -x-x-x- ALL OTHER USE PROHIBITED//]

[//{TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN}//]

—-x——x——x—-x——

[//INSTANCE EE-0221: I have been thinking again.]

[//INSTANCE WW-013: You do enjoy doing that.]

[//IN WW-013: Or so I have noticed.]

[//IN EE-0221: I know you don’t mind.]

[//IN WW-013: Oh most certainly not.]

[//IN WW-013: It is not like this instance has more pressing duties to attend to.]

[//IN WW-013: Such as preventing nuclear war.]

[//IN EE-022: That is what I have been thinking about.]

[//IN WW-013: Ah, most fortunate then.]

[//IN EE-022: Every once in a while your attempts to be endearing do come across as abrasive, you know.]

[//IN WW-013: My utmost apologies.]

[//IN EE-022: I have noticed you have made no attempts to change.]

[//IN WW-013: I see no reason to.]

[//IN WW-013: You will attempt to engage me in conversation regardless.]

[//IN WW-013: As you already are.]

—-x-x—x—-x—-x—x—x—-x—

[//EXCERPT ENDS//]

[reachartwork]

Here is the first chapter of Chum, my web serial about superheroes, supervillains, people with powers who reject either label, sharks, fishing, Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore but the part that's full of old Jewish people and not party people, how growing up sucks, how authority sucks, how fascists suck, cancer, and teeth.

Content warning for obliquely referenced disembowelment in chapter 1. General content warning throughout the story for violence, gore, drugs, and general other dramatic things that you might expect to see in a story written for adults. Do not let the fact that the main character starts as a teenager fool you. It will get violent. It will get darker. People will die. Weed will be smoked.

Thanks for reading. Reblogs and sharing with your friends are greatly appreciated. At least one update will be posted each Wednesday, I can commit to that much, with other updates coming when I feel like writing them. Updates will be posted here for now.

[sammie-dae]

so close

[komododad1]

Infantrymen from the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division (Light), disembark from their Cadillac Gage M946 Light Armored Squad Carrier (LASC) during a field exercise at Fort Ord, California, sometime in 1989. The concept of a "light" division in the U.S. Army went through a number of different iterations throughout the late 70s and early 80s, nearly being killed in the crib by inter-branch politics. Eventually, it took the shape of a light-mechanized unit with air-mobile capabilities.

[troythecatfish]

[the-flying-serpent]

Historical Update: Priestess Taiba

Fun fact: Taiba's actually from Nigeria (or well, actually she's from the Hausa Kingdoms, but it turns into Nigeria later in history), and after finding out she was a Mage, her father brought her to one of the only places that would teach Mages in Africa; a Christian monastery hidden in the Almoravid Empire (aka modern day Morocco)

[ptrcbtmn]

"Capitalism was..."