I want to GM another Aberration game. I GMd one a few years back here on the SDMB, and it was a great deal of fun, in fact we were down to a three power race when one of the players absolutely vanished off the face of the earth, and the other two didn’t want to continue with a new player. I’m throwing this open SDMB folks first, but I’ll draw fill ins from Cat-23 if we can’t get 9 players here.
Basically, Aberration postulates a world where powers that “history passed by” had instead thrived. The game starts in 1901, but the map is different. Here’s the backstory on each of the powers:
Burgundy The final confrontation between the civilization of the Seine and
the Saone was no sure thing for the Parisian monarch. In this
instance the victor was the Burgundian dynastic state, stretching
from the Rhone to the North Sea.
Byzantium This empire might have survived had the Turks failed to make a
landing in Europe. The population of western Asia Minor was
still basically Greek in the 1400s. Some strong emperors could
have given the Greek state a new lease on life.
Hungary She was a budding great power until the Turkish invasions. A
strong Byzantium would have prevented that and Hungary, not
Austria, could have become the great Danubian power.
Eire If Irish missionary activity had been followed by political
action on behalf of their fellow celts, the Anglo-Norman imperium
at London might have been still-born. All the Irish needed was
some real unity, which the almost achieved on occasion.
Israel This could be a continuation of the ancient dynastic state under
descendants of the Maccabees, or the Herods. More likely,
however, it would be representative of the final victory of the
Crusaders in the Middle East. It might therefore be called the
"Kingdom of Jerusalem"
Poland The Poles had many opportunities to overwhelm both the Russian
and the eastern Germans. We must here assume that one
opportunity finally worked.
Sicily This island once had an excellent chance of gaining control of
most of Italy under a powerful and aggressive Norman dynasty.
These rulers died out, and Sicily became the pawn of others.
Here we assume that the Norman dynasty did not die out.
Spain The could be a Christian Spain which somehow remained powerful
despite a long succession of cretinous monarchs. Perhaps they
were spared the third-rate Hapsburgs and Bourbons which were
thrust upon them. OR this is a Muslim Spain, which case we
should refer to it as the "Caliphate of Toledo" (a change of
capital from Cordova).
Ukraine The original Russian state was centred at Kiev, and we suppose
here that this southern centre remained dominant rather than
losing out to the northern centres at Vladimir and Moscow. These
people would, however, continue to call their land "Russia" or
something like it.
So, who’s interested?
