Inca-3

"The locals are noticing the hotter summers, the increased flooding, all the rest... but the various people in power won't commit funds to breakwaters or to moving people to higher ground. I'm not sure if I should be thrilled or depressed by how much humans have in common across all realities."

— Eve Gardner, BREACH Dendrihistorian

Not So Little Ice Age

In the 14th century, climactic and solar events caused Earth to cool... and to keep doing so, at a dramatic pace, extending far beyond Europe and for a far longer time. Glaciers crushed London by early 1400s, and the populations of Europe, Asia, and what would (on Baseline) be known as North America moved south, while those in the southern hemisphere moved north. Only fragments of these groups survived the initial sudden famine and then the struggles of migration. The most prosperous surviving societies were those in the now-temperate or semi-tropical equatorial band.

One of these was the Incan Empire. They absorbed some refugees, and fought off the rest, depending on the social conditions of the 15th and 16th centuries (as measured on Baseline). They spread, crossing north of the Andes where lower sea levels exposed new routes. The challenges of administering such a large territory, and the influences and ideas of many absorbed cultures, led to slow, but steady, progress in most areas of technology.

In the equivalent of 2023, the world is starting to warm. Lowland cities and villages are dealing with increasing floods. At the same time, the Empire is an expansionist phase, moving northward, where it is encountering its first real resistance in the form of a larger, but slightly less advanced, Neo-Mayan culture. As the Neo-Incans have just begun experimenting with gunpowder, it is possible that will prove decisive, but that history has yet to be written.

BREACH

The breach point opens on what Baseline terms Marajo Island, here a large, elevated city overlooking a sprawl of fertile farmland and coastal fisheries... all of which will be underwater as the warming cycle continues. With sophisticated AI models to build from known pre-Colombian languages and mutate them over time, sufficient translation is possible for BREACH agents to pass as ignorant, slow-talking folk from distant villages, which is one of BREACH's best-rehearsed tactics, especially in pre-industrial societies where a culture's territory is large but travel and communication speeds are low.

World Type

Alternate History

Divergence

14th century

Current Year

2023

TL

3 (4 in mathematics, civil engineering)

Llama Drama

The need for beast power to expand the empire led to increased domestication, and breeding, of llamas. They have been bred for greatly increased strength, including a better ability to bear riders, making them useful for more than hauling carts. Even so, the riders must be light and unarmored, generally under 125 lbs for anything but brief journeys. Thus, other than for scouting, they have not been integrated into warfare in the same way horses were on Baseline.