OK. Since all of the 2017 stuff is in one big happy fiction folder, and since there is now a growing group of characters who are playing pretty much exclusively in the so-called "Inca-World", it would be a good idea if fics that happen there are titled in such a way that folks can quickly note, "Ah, this is happening over in that funky place where TS went."

As such, I would request that any fictions happening solely in "Inca-World" include the tag [AU-IW] in the subject line.

Also, I'd like to note that we'd love to see folks explore characters in this world. Alternate versions of N!Prime-2017 characters, brand new characters that exist only in [AU-IW], etc.; c'mon over and play! Just please check with either Pachacamaq or myself in the background-dev stages, so that we can make sure that your background meshes with the established history for the timeline (the link embedded above gives at least some rough help there).

Wheeeeee!

- Jess

Here is what Jess linked, posted for convenience:

Tawantin Suyu

The point of divergence happened in 1405, when a Portugese merchant ship was blown horribly off-course, and wound up on the shores of South America. The Inca - who were pre-expansion at that point - encountered them. Said ship and surviving crew never did get to go back home, and the Inca gained three important things:

* Knowledge of Spanish/Portugese metallurgy of the day, courtesy of the captured smith and smithy from the ship (a big step up for the Incas)
* Several examples of very nice crossbows (that were copied quickly) and a pair of Spanish handgonnes (which weren't adopted, but took away some of the "shock and awe" in the next century).
* Smallpox.

That last item was probably the most important. The disease ravaged the Inca people through the first two decades of the 15th century, after which they recovered and developed some immunity to the disease. The expansion of Tawantin Suyu (the Inca Empire) was delayed a few years, kicking off in the late 1430s rather than the early 1430s; however, with the crossbows and relatively advanced metallurgy and knowledge that there were people across the sea, that expansion was far, far more expansive and effective than in our timeline; by the turn of the 16th Century, Tawantin Suyu spanned most of South America.

When Pizarro arrived in 1522, he found Tawantin Suyu to be large, strong, proud, well-armed, and as resistant to smallpox as were the Europeans; his hopes for conquest failed, and in the end, Spain forged a brief trade relationship with Tawantin Suyu to the benefit of both states, before a period of isolationism by the latter. Spain did go on to successful conquest of the Aztecs (just as they did here) and much of the Caribbean, but the stars of Spain and Portugal faded faster than they did here without the huge, profitable colonies in South America. The failed Armada of 1588 was pretty much Spain's last major hurrah.

Technologically, this world is a parallel for our own; Tawantin Suyu did much the same thing as Japan, in that they managed to remain culturally distinctive and somewhat isolationist whilst still accepting technological advances and modernization, finally opening up in the post-WWII globalism (a war in which they remained carefully neutral). There is a United States, a former Soviet Union, a United Nations (and a Zurich Decree), etc... and a robust and healthy Tawantin Suyu that holds pretty much everything in South America other than Panama and the Falkland Islands (the latter of which has been the topic of several periods of tense negotiations with the United Kingdom, but not military action; think the ongoing dispute over Gibralter for a real-world equivalent). Tawantin Suyu is currently a constitutional Monarchy with a parliamentary form of govenment; there is an Apuq Tukusqa (Emperor, the head of state) and Awki (Elderman, equivalent to a Prime Minister, the head of government). The population tops 180 million in 2016, with a decent economy based largely on natural resource development (oil, lumber, minerals), technology and pharmacology, and tourism. The city of Coricanchac is every bit as much of a tourist mecca as is Rio de Janerio back home.

On the nova front: there's no Project Utopia, no Teragen. Due to a number of tiny differences in who came about and who didn't, Aeon simply never formed, despite an equivalent to the Hammersmith Event. There was no Galatia incident; instead, there was an explosion of an experimental French reactor design in 1998 that kicked off the Nova Age, but fewer have managed to get into the very powerful Q6+ territory. There are a number of small nova organizations - think Daedelus League sized affairs - and municipal/regional defender types, but the vast majority of novas are independent.

Sounds like a hoot. However in standing with all the other obscenely long and unpronounceable names I'd have to go with Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu and frankly I'm not spelling that out every time.

(And yes, that's an actual name for those who don't know.)

That's what cut and paste is for.

What a bloody imperialist. "Hi, I'm new to this plane of reality, and I can't wait to impose my will on it!"

What? You thought Jager was a sweetheart?

Not at all. It's just amusing to see him do it so soon.

I have no clue what Inca-Rev would be like...

I ought to make an account for IW Meghan Cutter. She's a lot of fun.

No Inca-LiberTeen?! What a duketastrophe!

Start your own! Make it Egyptian... Pharaoh Liberteen... or an AU World War world with Third Reich tyrannosauruses!

A White Rat without PTSD would be interesting. He might still have a family and, god-forbid, he might be a decent human being too.

Fuck you, and fuck your made up words!

You've put me in a real quizibuck here.