The Eternal City

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: we have our second anniversary coming up on May 27th, and we would like to have another contest. For our second anniversary, send us up to three of your own alternate histories, and we will publish the best - no limit on how many will end up on the final page! We would like to see as many of you enter this as possible, so please - think 'em up, write 'em down, and send 'em on to us at rat4cat@gmail.com! Help us celebrate our 2nd year of existence in style! Oh, and if you're like Sean and we owe you an appearance in TIAH - email us!

April 21st, 2006

in 0 AUC, the Eternal City was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus. Rome became an empire, and then a republic, that has given the world an order and culture that has unified all of humanity as a single people. Founding Day is celebrated by all of humanity every year as the single greatest event in the history of the earth.

in 1509, Pope Henry VII died. He had ended the long War of the Roses by deposing beloved Pope Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. In order to secure his papacy, he murdered virtually all of his predecessor’s family; in a masterpiece of propaganda, he painted Pope Richard as the usurping murderer who ill-served the Holy British Empire.

in 1836, the Texan militia under Sam Houston attacked Santa Anna at San Jacinto, hoping to score a victory with a surprise attack. Instead, the Mexican forces routed the rebel Texans, capturing Sam Houston and ending the hope of Texas for independence. Santa Anna generously let Houston go into exile in South America rather than face execution in Mexico.

in 1915, Admiral Esteban Rodriquez, working on the information gleaned from the Q'Barian refugees, directs his expedition to the P'Karsai nebula, where he expects to find a Kainku world. He personally feels that these Kainku need to be taught about the might of the Congress of Nations, but will follow orders requiring him to be diplomatic; at first, anyway.

in 1956, a young trucker from Mississippi scored a #1 hit on the Billboard charts with Heartbreak Hotel. Jesse Presley went on to become the most famous singer in the world, with billions of albums sold over his 20-year career. He remained humble about it all, giving his thanks to “God, momma, and my own, personal angel, my brother Elvis.”

in 1963, the Gathering Moss met superstar Pete Best when they opened for him at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England. Best, who had played in some seedy dives with his old band, The Silver Beetles, took the Londoners out on a pub crawl afterwards that became the stuff of music legend.

in 1989, a huge group of students gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to commemorate the life of Hu Yaobang, a reformer within the Chinese Communist Party. They asked for a meeting with Premier Li Peng, and to everyone’s surprise, it was granted. Premier Li had decided to carry on with Hu’s reforms, much to the consternation of the rest of the party.

in 1996, Bartholomew Thompson and his ancestor Mikhail von Heflin part ways after rescuing Thompson’s future wife from kidnappers. The Baron sees part of their future together, but says nothing to Thompson; he has no wish to depress the young man in his moment of triumph. Thompson, for his part, says nothing to the Baron about a nagging feeling he has that something is wrong in the Baron's head.

in 1997, Egyptian Marines capture the Pentagon and a large number of American officers along with it. Most of the Joint Chiefs are holed up in Norad with President Shephard, but with the collapse of the Pentagon, huge numbers of the American military surrender. Allied forces are freed up to concentrate on cracking Norad’s defenses.

in 2005, Chelsea Perkins and her mother have an argument in which Mrs. Perkins accuses Chelsea of being in league with the devil; Chelsea pleads with her mother to understand the true nature of her powers, but Mrs. Perkins refuses, and orders her to leave unless she will consent to confession at their church. Chelsea agrees, and the priest at the local church receives quite an earful that day.

Timelines in today's post: the Roman timeline, the Holy British Empire, the Mlosh, Pete Best, von Heflin, the Ralph Shephard timeline and the Chelsea Perkins timeline

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Texas (the movie) to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

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