>>1080768
Tell them it's not a network connection, it was nutrient intake and medication only. It gave you a little diagnostic data. It said your power levels were critical, and that it could cause brain damage... which might be the real cause of your amnesia. You're not sure if it recharged you, but probably? Check by removing and plugging it back in, it should give you that basic diagnostic again.

Outwardly wonder why you hadn't used it on schedule, before they arrived. You weren't unconscious that long.

good news, I have figured out the plug is how I feed and apparently is designed to also give limited medical aid to myself in the form of painkillers and similar drugs. Pretty sure it's just a program to simulate those things while I simply recharge but there it is. So what I miss while I was out and how long was I out?

Also is there a reason why their's only two of you guys in this room at any given time or is it simply because this room would start getting cramped pretty quickly if more than three bodies where to be standing around in here?

cough politely before you sit up, so you don't startle them, since as a mechanical being you probably where lying there perfectly still.

Silicon 2024/01/12(Fri)06:32 No. 1080843 ID: b22bc5
File 170506992101.gif - (13.28KB , 990x660 , HU_00_015_A.gif )

You decide to try getting another diagnostic, so you remove the plug from the port and put it back in.

That's looking promising. Apparently you were asleep (?) for about two hours. You don't fully lose consciousness this time and your vision returns after a few seconds.

Silicon 2024/01/12(Fri)06:32 No. 1080844 ID: b22bc5
File 170506993370.png - (259.02KB , 990x660 , HU_00_015_B.png )

You get Shyama's attention by coughing before sitting up on your bed. He looks over at you with a friendly smile and... could that be an expression of relief? He says: "Oh! You've awoken. Excellent! How are you feeling?"

"Oh much better, thank you,", you say, "The plug is not a network connection, just nutrient intake and medication. I'm not sure if it actually injects nutrients and drugs for existing fleshy components or if it just simulates those things as I recharge, but there it is. I cannot fathom why I even have a mouth at all."
Shyama says: "Interesting. I am glad you're feeling better. I apologize for restricting your access to sustenance. It was not my intention."

You go on: "There was also diagnostic data. It said my power levels were critical and this might cause brain damage. Perhaps that's the real cause of the amnesia. Apparently I hadn't been using the plug on schedule even before you arrived. I wonder why."
Shyama takes some notes and says: "Perhaps we can figure that out together later."

Silicon 2024/01/12(Fri)06:32 No. 1080845 ID: b22bc5
File 170506994837.png - (248.86KB , 990x660 , HU_00_015_C.png )

There is a pause before you ask: "Is there a reason there's only ever two of you in here at any given time?"
Shyama looks a bit puzzled as he replies: "Not in particular. The room's not that large and we wouldn't want to overwhelm you."

"What are you doing in here? Not that I don't appreciate the company.", you say
"Waiting for you to regain consciousness, of course," says Shyama, "I wasn't sure you were ever going to wake up again, but it's all worked out in the end."

You swing your legs over the side of the bed and say: "At any rate, now that I'm better I'm ready to help prevent a war that would eclipse all that came before, or whatever it is we're doing here."
Shyama gives you a big smile: "Oh we'd really appreciate your help. Come join me at the table, please. Let's talk."

You get up off the bed and move the chair. You find that it is surprisingly light, but also resists being raised off the floor ever so slightly. Like it's got magnets in its legs. You sit down and scoot closer to the table. You recognise the device sitting next to Shyama as a cassette recorder.
Shyama flips a few pages back on his writing pad and then pushes what you assume is the record button on the recorder.
"This is session one, 6th of Pausha Waning, 2512.", he says at the device before turning to you: "Thank you for agreeing to speak to us."

Silicon 2024/01/12(Fri)06:32 No. 1080846 ID: b22bc5
File 170506996036.png - (212.97KB , 990x660 , HU_00_015_D.png )

He continues: "Gamal and I have agreed that we should try to help you recover more of your memories. We'll determine what you do remember and then see what can be unlocked from there.
"First of course, let's establish the basics. Who are you and where are we? Vijaya says you've also expressed confusion about the when."

He leans down to pull up a flat rectangular object wrapped in a white cloth and lays it on the table between the two of you. He says: "I have brought the mirror as you requested. Perhaps that can also jog your memory. So... to start with:
"How should we refer to you? And what do you want to talk about first?"

> How should we refer to you?

Seeing that you had a name tag and the charger, too, mentioned Disquiet, it's probably safe to assume that this term has something to do with you. It is a bit unwieldy, though, and does not have the greatest implications. (Anxiety? Revolution?)

How about Disq? That also sounds like the storage medium from way back, so it's tying into this whole cyborg theme, and it's less of a mouthful to pronounce.

You remember spacemen, but that was probably relatively recent with the discovery of this place. You have extensive semantic memory, familiar with pretty much everything in this room. You remember tables and scarves, and food, and charging cables, but your episodic memory seems... empty. You remember that your hands used to be different, less rigid somehow. You remember it's the end of the world. You remember there was something very important that you were supposed to do, but you don't remember what it was. That's about it.

Your nametag says "DISQUIET-247" and your operating system is named "Disquietude." It seems inaccurate to name you after what is clearly the name of your whole project, so 247 would probably be good for short.

You want to talk about what is outside of this room, where they came from, why they're here, and why there was no one here for so long before them? Is this an archaeological site? Some sort of derilect spacecraft floating forgotten through the cosmos? Wait no there's gravity; you remember that gravity means you must be on a planet.

Well your name isn't Disquiet, since that was part of the diagnostic program's name. It must be your... body model. Your number is more of an identifier. 247... 24-7? That's another time reference isn't it. 24 hours, 7 days a week! Like an all-hours convenience store. So why not take the name Connie, or Conrad, depending on gender.

...you should look at yourself in the mirror, I guess, but you're probably not going to like what you see. There is a reason it was removed, after all, and you've felt like your body is wrong. Remembering your old organic body would only enhance that feeling.

Go over some basic things to confirm you're both on the same page. Are they from Earth? Are we on Earth now? (maybe draw a world map to clarify what "Earth" is.)
Is 4361 far enough in the future that the positions of the continents would be significantly different? That could confirm that the date is correct.
You already know what the mirror will show. You don't need to use it just yet if you aren't ready, but you should try to get used to your new(?) appearance.

Silicon 2024/01/15(Mon)15:37 No. 1081106 ID: 1d6349
File 170536183103.png - (0.99MB , 3000x2000 , HU_00_016_A.png )

You wonder about the name Disquiet-247. On the one hand, that is a name. You know this, though you don't know how. Just like Shyama and Vijaya and Gamal are obviously names. It's not a surprise. Just a matter of differing culture, you figure. Very different. You know it's pronounced 'Disquiet-Two-Four-Seven'. Normal.
But considering it rationally, there is something kind of sinister about a name composed of such a negatively-connotated word and a cold number. You try to think of other names like that. A few come to mind.

'Anguish-Seven-Three-Nine'
'Rage-Eight-Two-Eight'
'Serenity-One-Zero-Zero'
'Excitement-Nine-Four-Seven'
'Regret-Five-Two-Eight'

But no context for them emerges.

It seems like a strange coincidence that the diagnostic program has such a similar name.

In any case Disquiet-247 is a mouthful and especially for what you assume are a bunch of non-English-speakers.
"The name tag reads 'Disquiet-Two-Four-Seven'," you say.
Shyama tries saying it. It doesn't come out quite right.

You say: "Yeah it's a bit long. Let's go with... 'Two-Four-Seven' or 'Disq'. Either works."
"Are you sure?", Shyama asks, "I can put in the effort to learn the full thing if you wish."
You shake your head. "No, that's all right.", you reassure him.
Shyama says: "All right, then. Nice to meet you, 'Disq'."

Silicon 2024/01/15(Mon)15:37 No. 1081107 ID: 1d6349
File 170536184964.gif - (657.51KB , 990x660 , HU_00_016_B.gif )

"So... Do you want the mirror?", he asks.

You have so many questions and you're apprehensive about your appearance. On the other hand, not knowing what you look like also makes you quite nervous. Better to rip off that band-aid early.

You take a deep breath. "Yeah, let's... Let's see it."
"All right.", he says and he pushes the little cassette recorder to the side to make more room for the mirror.
He raises it up and removes the cloth.

ANIMATED

Hmm...

Silicon 2024/01/15(Mon)15:38 No. 1081108 ID: 1d6349
File 170536189551.png - (197.64KB , 990x660 , HU_00_016_C.png )

Before you can even really register it, the sadness comes bubbling up inside of you.

"Uhm... Oh? Oh wow. I'm... I'm sorry. I have no idea where this is coming from.", you say.
You really don't. It's not like you're utterly hideous or anything. The feeling isn't even... anguish. Melancholy? Strong melancholy perhaps? The tears keep coming. Why do you have tear ducts anyway? This is so stupid.

Shyama speaks softly: "There's no need to apologise."

"Ugh it won't stop! This is so embarrassing!", you manage between sobs.
Shyama shakes his head. "It's really not. Take your time. I understand this is a lot to take in."

"I don't understand anything," you say, "I don't understand why I look the way I do and why looking at my face makes me so sad. I don't know who or where or when I am. I don't know what this important thing was that I was supposed to do. I remember cosmonauts and they seemed to treat me as some kind of archeological find. Was that you? When did that happen? Are you from Earth? Are we on Earth?"

Shyama waits patiently for you to finish. Then he says: "Well, I can answer some of those right now. The cosmonauts you remember were indeed us. We found you two days ago. We're from Earth, yes. You should know where you are, so instead of telling you, I'd like to try and see if we can't get you to remember by yourself."
These are not particularly satisfying answers.

"Perhaps we'll focus on the when for now?", he offers.

You take a minute to compose yourself and then you start rattling off the historic events you remembered earlier:

1CE - Estimated birth of major religious figure
570CE - Estimated birth of other major religious figure
May 29, 1453CE - The capital of the Byzantine Empire falls. (You draw a blank on the Kushani word for 'Byzantine')
October 12, 1492CE - Columbus lands in the Americas (What's Americas in Kushani?)
October 31, 1517CE - Martin Luther's 95 Theses begin the Protestant Reformation (Not sure what the right word for 'Protestant' is...)
July 14, 1789CE - The Bastille prison in Paris, France falls, beginning the French Revolution (You can't think of the Kushani words for 'France' and 'French')
May 24, 1844CE - Samuel Morse sends the first Telegraph message
June 28, 1914CE - the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sets off the events that lead to World War I.
August 6, 1945CE - The United States drops the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan. (You're making up a phrase for the United States...)
October 4, 1957CE - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, mankind's first artificial satellite into space, beginning the Space Race. (Soviet... Can't think of the right word...)
July 21, 1969CE - Niel Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 mission, becomes the first Human to walk on the surface of the Moon, ending the Moon Race.
1974CE - 1,679-bit binary radio message deliberately sent from Earth to whoever might be listening

Shyama listens to this with a downright placid expression, but you can see the goosebumps on the back of his hands. He thinks, then says: "I do not recognise most of these. The unnamed religious figures are a bit vague of course. That makes them difficult to place. You use a lot of names that I've never heard before. The Telegraph, the first artificial satellite and the first human on the moon are events I recognise, but I don't know this Soviet Union, nor Morse, nor Armstrong."

This makes you even more nervous about the whole 'when' question.

So Shyama doesn't remember that history? Then perhaps it has been... UNMADE! 😎

You should ask Shyama about any religious leaders or major religious figures he may know. We may need more help to put this mosaic together.

They remember the telegraph, but not Samuel Morse? The first man on the moon wasn't Neil Armstrong? That seems... very odd. Could their history have been tampered with, to change the names of anyone in it?

The feeling you experience is uh, disquiet. Which is a normal feeling to have, when whoever created, or reassembled you felt it important to install a holographic hair generator, but not actual hair.

The historic events you most recently remember are notably related to spaceflight. Satellites, Apollo 11, a message sent out into the stars. That's all that really indicates where you are. Somewhere that required pressurized hazard suits as a precaution, but does no longer. Somewhere likely in space. Somewhere involved in... message transmission? That's all you can figure out of all this. You should know, but you do not. A derilect, long lost space vessel still seems likely, but what would it be out here for, and why are you on it?

I guess maybe ask them what they know about the first person we walked on the moon and what not. Maybe they just lost the names to time or the names are called something else in their language. Like how Jesus sounds completely different in Spanish and English. (G-sus in English and hey-Zeus in Spanish)

Jesus Christ is a name so widely known and documented, that for it to be forgotten would suggest a major catastrophe and resetting of civilization. Yet they know about the telegraph and first satellite, major events at the time, but not much talked about after.
Ask if the phrase "History Unmade" means anything to them.

>>1081108
Tell her it sounds like you are from a different timeline. And if timelines branch like that, then... if they're trying to prevent a war in the past, all that will do is create a new timeline.

Considering the calendars are different, the difference between your two timelines must be from earlier than that. Somewhere in B.C., so... how about these events?

-331 CE: Alexander the Great conquers Persia
-221 CE: Qin Shi Huang unifies China
-146 CE: Roman conquest of Greece
-27 CE: Formation of Roman Empire

...hey, do you remember anything important happening in 2281 CE?

The earlier in the timeline religious figure is known by names such as Jesus, Iēsous, or Yeshua. Christianity is based on his life and teachings. The later religious figure is Prophet Mohammed, and Islam is based on his teachings.

How about this: Here's a list of major Earth religions in rough order from oldest to newest, from your memory:

Hinduism - Around 1500 BCE, with some older practices

Judaism - Around 2000-1500 BCE

Zoroastrianism - Around 1000 BCE

Shinto - Around 8th century BCE

Greek Polytheism - Around 8th century BCE

Buddhism - Around 6th-5th century BCE

Jainism - Around 6th-5th century BCE

Confucianism - 5th century BCE

Taoism - Around 4th century BCE

Roman Polytheism - Around 1st century BCE

Christianity - 1st century CE

Islam - 7th century CE

Sikhism - 15th century CE

Bahá'í Faith - 19th century CE

Wicca - 1950s CE

>>1081157

Agreed on the different timeline with a likely branching event; attempt to isolate the century where the branch likely took place. Or where they or you are having the dystopian memory modifications or intentional history rewriting and book burning or whatever, you're keeping your options open for possible causes.

Because if the event removed Jesus from the timeline... there are major discrepancies! Also ask, what event separates the Common Era from the Before Common Era divide? For example, your understanding was before the more neutral language was adopted, it was 'Before Christ' in English, or 'Ante Christum natum' in Latin for the equivalent 'Before Common Era' bit, that being in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. And 'Anno Domini', translated as 'Year of Our Lord', a reference to the time after Jesus was born, which was later replaced with the more religiously neutral 'Common Era'. So if not the supposed, though apparently ultimately probably miscalculated date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, than what was the separation event of 1 BCE and 1 CE?

Silicon 2024/01/19(Fri)14:25 No. 1081376 ID: 2916f1
File 170570310677.png - (205.26KB , 990x660 , HU_00_017_A.png )

>>1081112
I'll point out that all those historical events are from earlier suggestions.


"What do you mean?", you ask, "You don't know Neil Armstrong? If it's not Armstrong, then who was first on the moon? Who invented the telegraph?"
Shyama takes another moment to ponder the question before saying: "I don't know who invented the telegraph off the top of my head. But I can tell you the first human on the moon was Gupta Dyaus in 2510."

You shake your head. You don't even know what to say to that.
You think. 2281 pops into your head. That year feels important. And not just because of the math. Yes, you're certain it's important. There is a sense of dread to it. And of anticipation. But you don't remember anything beyond that.
So you pivot.

"Right okay. Well... earlier I asked Vijaya and she said she has never heard of Jesus Christ before.", you say.
"I must admit," says Shyama, That does not ring a bell for me either.
You balk and say: "No? Iesos Cristos? Jesucristo? Yeshua? Isa bin Maryam?! No?!"
"Wait," Shyama interrupts, "Isa bin Maryam? That's a Muslim prophet, right?
You just stare for a moment. "You're joking. A Muslim prophet? You know Islam but not Christianity? The birth of Jesus is our year 1!"
Shyama takes a note and says: "I can't place that right now. I'm sure Gamal would know when Isa lived.

You slump in your chair.

"I give up. Why don't you tell me about a major religious figure?", you say.
Shyama says lightly: "Sure. The obvious one is year 0: Gautama Buddha achieves Parinirvana."
You're not immediately sure where that falls, but... If by Shyama's time it's 2512, that means Buddha lived only about 2500 years ago? But hey that's something, right there. They remember the Buddha.

Silicon 2024/01/19(Fri)14:25 No. 1081377 ID: 2916f1
File 170570311878.png - (336.63KB , 990x660 , HU_00_017_B.png )

"Okay, earlier than Jesus then," you say, "-331 CE: Alexander the Great conquers... Uh... Persia. That's the one."
"Mmmh Haemian history." Shyama muses, That's Alexandros III of Macedon? That'd be around... year 200 I think.

"-221 CE: Qin Shi Huang unifies China.", you try.
"That sounds familiar but I'm not sure where to place it in history.", says Shyama.

You think of another: "-146 CE: Roman conquest of... uh... Macedon?"
Shyama smiles and says: "I was wondering when you were going to bring up Rome."
"Why is that?", you ask.
"There's Roman script all over this place." As he says this he points at the 'History Unmade' thing by the door.
"Oh... I guess.", you say.
Shyama takes more notes and says: "Anyway yes. That must be just before 432."

"Okay one more," you say, "-27 CE: Formation of the Roman Empire"
Shyama looks at you. "Roman Empire?" he asks, "three hundred years after Alexandros III?"
"Roughly?", you say, "I think."

You really hope you're remembering these years correctly.

Shyama looks at his notes with a deep frown. "Impossible.", he says quietly.
Vijaya chimes in trying to sound unconcerned but poorly masking her excitement. "You owe me your tofu rations," she says.

There is silence for a few seconds. You lick your dry lips. How do you put this in a way that isn't gonna sound like complete nonsense? You try: "Am I a time traveler?"
Shyama looks up at you, looking very exhausted. But he quickly regains his composure. Tucking a stray hair behind his ear he asks: "Do you think that's possible?"
Okay. You guess it did sound like nonsense.

"It would explain a lot.", you say, defensively. Vijaya nods.
Shyama takes more notes and shakes his head: "A number of better explanations present themselves. You're an amnesiac and the only context you seem to have for what year it is, is a computer screen. The screen might be wrong. You might be confused. You might have been fed lies all your life. Let's not jump to conclusions."

Silicon 2024/01/19(Fri)14:25 No. 1081378 ID: 2916f1
File 170570312598.png - (335.94KB , 990x660 , HU_00_017_C.png )

You've got another ace up your sleeve, though. You pause for dramatic effect, leaning back in your chair. You point at the logo by the door.
"Does that mean anything to you?", you ask, "'History Unmade'?"
Shyama turns to get another look. "Is that how it's pronounced? I figure the first word relates to 'history' in some way, but I'm drawing a blank on the second one. Granted, I'm not that well-versed in ancient Roman."
"It's English" you say, "It means 'History Unmade'. Or 'undone', 'removed', 'deleted'."

There is a pause. Shyama's face is unreadable.

Vijaya says: "Holy shit."

So we can establish a baseline here. In your calendar system, Siddhartha Gautama becomes the Buddha sometime in the 6th or 5th century BCE, so that gives you a range of the discrepancy between the two calendar systems at least. Try and confirm events before that, though. Do older religions and religious figures exist?

Time to make history! Again! Try not to lose it this time!

So we've established a very rough set of timelines, lets put a pin in that for now.
What kind of tech level are they at? Because of the space suits I had assumed that they came to our location, but now it seems like we are the interloper in their timeline. So are we on a spaceship? Did this facility just appear or was it discovered?

>>1081382

And of course -331 to their year 200 gets you more accurate.

But you can maybe start to figure out where things diverged with more detail. What do they know of pre-buddha faiths and the like. Judaism is a bit more specific on the timeline than Hinduism, which is a bit more mythological. Give dates in both you calendar and theirs, but in yours Moses and the Exodus from Egypt is placed at around 1312 BCE, King Saul at 1025 BCE, King David at 1010 BCE, King Solomon at 970 BCE with the completion of his temple at Jerusalem at 960 BCE. This is the first temple, not the second. Again those dates are in your calendar.

Language might also be useful. In your calendar, Latin itself, the original language to use that script, came about at around 700 BCE. As far as that language, it isn't derived specifically from Latin, not being a 'Romance Language', but the script is; Old English began at about 450 CE, Middle English at about 1100 CE, and Modern English -- THAT -- at about 1500 CE. Again, your calendar.

Romance languages, that is languages more wholly derived from Latin, would be things like Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, which began to develop in their 'old' forms at around 9th century CE, and took centuries to standardize, with, for example, Italian -- the language of the people who live where Rome is -- changing notably at about the 10th century CE and becoming much more standardized in 1472 with the publication of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Though without Christianity in this timeline, that probably doesn't exist.

I mean, branching timelines or historical revisionism is one thing. But Islam existing without Christianity preceding it? The book-burners or the time travelers are either lazy or incompetent!

Year 0 of HU is 2281 CE. HU would be History Unmade. So, 2281 CE would be the year something important was changed, I imagine. Though... honestly this doesn't make a lot of sense. If you're a time traveler, why are you in a time period where history doesn't match yours? Shouldn't you have gone back in time along your own timeline, rather than jump to an alternate history?
I wonder if what happened was that you were a time traveler, but you were sent TOO FAR into the past, which meant you had to WAIT until you could change the event you were sent here to change, but something went wrong and your presence here somehow changed the course of history via butterfly effect?

>The birth of Jesus is our year 1
Not strictly true. The calendar is a bit off, it's more like 4 BC for Jesus's birth. Blame the guy who made the date system ~100 years later, and the fact that they didn't have very good written records back then.

Anyway, ask her why the Roman Empire thing gave her pause. What happened to Rome in her timeline?

Yeah, we have a rough estimate of CE and theirs line up as numerical timelines - and we also have a lead for where these timelines diverged in content.

"Okay, sounds like the divergence in my understanding of history has to do with something happening to the Roman Republic before it could become the Roman Empire, or something earlier that led to that. Who won the Punic Wars in your version of history - Rome or Carthage?"

"Also, I'm still confused about how you know of the Islamic faith on account of it being an offshoot branch of Christianity in my timeline. What, did Mohammad interpret the Buddha instead of Jehovah as being Allah? ... Wait, the Judaic god Jehovah's supposed to predate the birth of Jesus by like a thousand years - how do you not know that name?"

Silicon 2024/01/21(Sun)09:57 No. 1081522 ID: 815fee
File 170585986043.png - (339.40KB , 990x660 , HU_00_018_A.png )

There's an intoxicating mix of dread and excitement churning in your stomach as your mind races to put the pieces together.

"Let's bear this out,", you say, "Say for the sake of argument that I remember a different timeline from yours."
Shyama sighs quietly.
"For the sake of argument!", you emphasize. Vijaya nods enthusiastically.
Shyama nods, turns over a page on his writing pad and says: "For the sake of argument, fine. What then?"
"We agree roughly on a couple of events in ancient history, but not on the modern stuff. I'd like to confirm that older events still happened the same. So here are a few more major world religions and related events."
"Look, I'm not a historian. None of us are historians. I don't think this is going to yield very exact year numbers." he says.

After a bit of back and forth, you do indeed fail to get very exact numbers, but you can at least confirm the existence of and learn or be reminded of Kushani words for: Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism (largely dead), Shinto (dead), Greek and Roman Polytheism (dead), Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism (dead), Taoism and Islam.

Shyama cannot confirm the existence of Christianity, Sikhism, Baha'i and Wicca. It's not lost on you that Islam without Christianity preceding it should be impossible. It doesn't make sense. However, you don't see how asking Shyama about that is gonna be helpful. Perhaps you can ask Gamal about it later.

You also try to confirm the spread of Romance languages and the evolution of the English language, but this doesn't seem to be Shyama's area of expertise. He can tell you that no modern language aside from your 'English' uses the Latin alphabet. Apparently the Greek alphabet is used by most languages in Western Haemia, whatever that is.

You decide to pull on that thread a bit more.

"When I mentioned the Roman Empire, that gave you pause. Why is that? What happened to Rome?", you ask.
Shyama looks at you with concern when he says: "You really don't know? You seem to have retained a pretty thorough overview of history, divergent as it may be. I'm a bit concerned where this conversation is going. Are you sure you're ready for this one?"
Vijaya chimes in again: "For fuck's sake Shyama. We're running out of time!"
Shyama sighs: "You're right."
He sets down his pen. He presses a button on the cassette recorder and then another to pop it open. He switches out the cassette for another one. He presses the record button.
"This is session one, cassette two, 6th of Pausha Waning, 2512."

He turns to you.
"432, Western Haemia," he says, gravely, "the Apennine Cataclysm."

Silicon 2024/01/21(Sun)09:57 No. 1081523 ID: 815fee
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"Our best source on the matter is an 8th century Greek translation of a contemporary Latin account. The event coincides with a meteor shower visible over most of Haemia. It speaks of lights in the sky above the Apennine peninsula briefly shining brighter than the sun. People looking up are struck permanently blind.
"It records dozens of explosions in the countryside, roughly centered on the city of Rome, turning villages and farmland to dust and rubble.
"A particularly large and bright explosion is recorded off the western coast. It blows apart even stone buildings of nearby port towns. The number of dead is incalculable.
"Afterwards the peninsula and surrounding regions are described as 'blighted land'. People sicken, often fatally. Children both human and animal are born 'twisted'. Even plant life comes out warped and strange for decades."

Shyama pauses, then adds: "The Roman Republic collapsed soon after."

Silicon 2024/01/21(Sun)09:58 No. 1081524 ID: 815fee
File 170585988542.png - (130.52KB , 990x660 , HU_00_018_C.png )

...

Silicon 2024/01/21(Sun)09:58 No. 1081525 ID: 815fee
File 170585990070.png - (211.17KB , 990x660 , HU_00_018_D.png )

Jesus Christ

Sounds like somebody freaking NUKED rome.

>>1081527
Hang on that raises another question, does this timeline know about atomic weapons?

"So, wait, you are telling me that someone detonated multiple different types of atomic weapons on an iron age polity, the Roman Republic, and you all didn't consider meddling by an extrasolar intelligence or an acausal event with timeline branching as one of your top hypotheses? And the nuclear events were such that not only were cities annihilated, but large amounts of surrounding areas were irradiated? That sounds like some of the events maybe were thermonuclear fusion rather than just nuclear fission bombs! What does your radioisotope analysis in the soil, water, and vegetation, your crater analysis, your tree ring analysis, your long term mutation analysis, and your geological sediment analysis say about the details and the particulars of the events?"

Why, though? Rome wasn't directly responsible for any major disasters that I can recall.

>>1081533
I think Rome was meant to make a statement that nothing is immutable for HU.

>>1081532

"Specifically you are looking for Uranium-235, Uranium-238, Plutonium-239, Plutonium-240, and if there is a spike in Carbon-14, that implies the use of fusion weaponry, and if there isn't a large spike in that, it implies fission weaponry instead. All of these have half-lives in the at least the thousands of years so should still be detectable."

>>1081533

Rome was a major disaster. I'm shocked that civilization was impeded by its destruction.

2080 years ago. That's our History Unmade event.

>>1081614

Eh, I'm not sure that's necessarily the case. They acted like a typical empire. Now the Mongols, THEY were a disaster! Destroyed the largest city on the planet at the time!

Ok, here's a totally different question:
Do either of you know who Adolf Hitler was?

>>1081528
>>1081535
Don't you understand, with no Einstein there is no nuclear weapons because we have altered the space-time continuum! Ohh, who knows what nightmares we have created...

>>1081645
Gimme a break, of course nuclear weapons were discovered without Einstein.

>>1081664

These bits here are a cultural reference to an obscure game for the Windows Personal Computer that a generation of nerds grew up with, with a plot involved time travel adjusting timelines around World War II with unintended consequences, a take on a common theme in science fiction for several decades.

>>1081645
>>1081623

>>1081724
Well if it hit Rome, it could have been a Tiberium meteor instead. Just sayin'.

>>1081724
I'm the one who made that second post. Mostly because there was no mention of WW2 yet, just the bomb that ended the war.

Hey everybody, thanks for reading and/or playing. It's been a blast so far.

I am taking a bit of a break, but hope to get started on Part 1 next week.

Until then, feel free to hypothesize and roast me over on the brand new Quest Discussion Thread: https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/141592.html