After discussions on the OOC thread, my mind jumped to some ideas for possible times in which to place this game.
The earliest possible date is September 1945 (because the Veteran Bird is real and Canon). The latest is the near future. See below the ones I'm considering:
1948
The K-k-king stammers his speech on the BBC about the bright new world coming through with free education, free healthcare and housing fit for heroes but they'll have to decolonise to afford all of this. A recent survey showed that only one colony (Jamaica) was making a profit and of the rest, only South Africa was breaking even. And then of course there's Nye Bevan's new clothes (look says the boy, he's naked but for a mushroom cloud).
1968
With the summer of Love behind us, we're clearly heading for a Revolution. We've seen burning Czechs and Vietnamese. Tanks crush dissent in Prague while robocops rampage on the streets of Czechago. We're on a Magical Mystery Tour folks (or was it an Electric Koolaid Acid Trip), we're halfway between Sergeant Pepper and Charlie Manson!
1977
This year was the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II (Lord bless you Ma'am) and four young London Lads and the ex manager of the New York Dolls are ripping the music industry apart and letting everybody play. Meanwhile, the economy is circling the drain in London and New York (and let's face it, where else matters?) Judy is a Punk, Jackie is a Runt and we're all antichrists for the next fifteen minutes. The future ain't what it was, in fact there's NO FUTURE!
1984
In some ways it's not as bad as predicted. We fought a war over some penguins and sheep and when Billy Bragg shot an enemy soldier, in his hand he found a weapon that was made in Birmingham. On the other hand, they made Orwell's novel into a musical so that's pretty terrible. There's a war going on at home between the government and the people, but only the Government even knows there's a war going on.
1999
Ours was the peace we knew between the fall of the Soviet Union and 9/11. We expect it all to fall apart when Y2K comes because some bright troll told us the machine would stop, like in that book by E M Forster. Still, it''s 1999 so let's party like it.
2005
The world we knew fell apart in 2001. No reaching big black monoliths waiting at the end of the Solar system, more like the destruction of a couple of monoliths with people in them. Then in 2005 the war comes to the streets of London and the friendly British Bobby forgets the time and carries a machinegun instead of a watch.
2016
We voted to join the Third World, while across the pond, Americans voted in Pennywise the Clown as President. And then there's the mystery of all those celebrities turning up dead?! Oh yes, and Leicester City were League Champions, Chicago Cubs won the world series for the first time for over a hundred years, Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize and Bono was voted woman of the year!!????!
(I had to prove that last one so...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37845314 )
2030
Covid is nothing but a distant memory but with the death of Queen Beatrice II last year there's nobody left who is eligible for the British Crown (Protestant descendants of Princess Sophie Augustus of the Palatinate). Instead, Parliament is seriously considering Arthur Stuart (a direct male-line descendant of Robert II of Scotland) and Simon Loudon, descended through Henry VIII's younger sister Mary Tudor from Henry VII). Will they be able to run the United Kingdom with two kings? London doesn't care, it has bigger problems of its own.
I don't want to hold a vote on this, but I'd be grateful if you could all have a look at these possibilities and let me know what you think.
