Chromed Out Lore for Dummies
// This article is currently a WIP, please excuse any mid-sentence stops or typos
There's a decent amount to cover, even in a 'For Dummies' article, so if you want a one-line TL;DR right here, look no further than the next sentence.
The British retains their imperial possessions, and it gets worse from there.
Post WW2
The initial divergence begins with one single moment, on one late 1945 day in India, where Mahatma Gandhi took two more seconds to make his breakfast.
An awaiting British sniper successfully used these two seconds to kill Gandhi, and deal a massive blow to the Indian independence movement. Despite being hit badly by the war, Britain fought tooth and nail against independence in its colonies afterwards. While fighting against independence, it remained a world superpower, alongside the United States of America and the Soviet Union.
The British entered the Cold War, and initially took on an alliance with the Americans against the Soviets, but inevitable suspicion grew between them, heating up relations between the British and Americans.
Meanwhile, in Asia, the Republic of China under the Kuomintang would successfully come out on top of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the country was in ruins from the war.
1950 to 1990
The Korean War begins in 1950, between the southern Republic of Korea (backed by the United States), and the northern Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (backed by the USSR). The war ends in a stalemate after a near-victory by the Republic of Korea.
China begins the Lántiān Offensive against Communist Vietnam in 1955, and annexes the nation in 1960.
The First Civil Rights Movement begins in the United States. Rosa Parks is killed via cyanide poisoning 166 days into the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by the CIA mere minutes before delivering the'I Have a Dream' speech. Racial segregation remains federally legal in the United States As consequences of this, the Party Switch of the 1960s never happens, the Democrats remain the premier right-wing party in the United states, resentment boils and bubbles in the Black community, and the push for Gay rights in the '60s and '70s is largely rejected.
In 1990, the Tiananmen Square Protests occur in Beijing, China. Instead of democratic elections, the protestors demand the end to the prosecution of the homeless, and relief from the cutthroat capitalism of the Republic of China. On June 4th, the protestors are harshly quelled, and tens of thousands are massacred by the Chinese military.
Turn of the Millennium
In the early 1990s, the Second Civil Rights Movement begins. It is focused on achieving equality for Black individuals, and Queer liberation. The movement is far more insurrectionist and paramilitary in nature than the first. Racial segregation is federally outlawed by 2011 after heavy obstructionism by southern Democrats.
