Piecing Together the Ashes: Reconstructing the Old World Order is a post-apocalyptic Alternate History work written by Anarcho-Occultist found on AlternateHistory.com.
Centuries after the Deluge and Desolation, which caused most of our present-day history to be lost, the remaining humans are left to figure out the civilizations and culture that came before them, often in humorous ways. Many of the entries are written as historical documents, while some are myths and legends, and others are narrative-driven segments involving archaeologists on the brink of discovery.
The timeline's full thread can be found here
, and here as just the story. An AH account is needed to view both threads.
This timeline contains examples of:
- Actual Pacifist: The Dreemurites' main philosophy is this, as they believe that a refusal to harm others unnecessarily will guarantee them a place in the afterlife.
- After the End: The story is set centuries after a nuclear apocalypse wiped out most of humanity.
- All Hail the Great God Mickey!: A large part of the story revolves around this trope due to the humans' limited knowledge of our present day. Disney itself is regarded as a religion of the ancient world and its characters as deities.
- Ancient Astronauts: These sort of conspiracy theories have persisted into the post-Deluge world, but are now mixed with elements of various science fiction stories.
- Ancient Order of Protectors: The Guardians of Adam, a secret society that safeguards what are implied to be nuclear waste sites and horde any pre-Deluge knowledge they feel is too dangerous to become common again.
- Balkanize Me: Virtually every modern day nation collapsed following the Deluge, leaving countless new ones to emerge in their place. Dozens have taken the place of the US, while hundreds have taken the place of Russia.
- A Beast in Name and Nature: The President Evil who destroyed the world is remembered only as "The Beast".
- But What About the Astronauts?: Averted Trope.
Word of God says that there were no space colonies at the time of the Deluge, though this hasn't stopped some readers from suggesting a surviving Mars colony could exist. - The Caligula: The Beast genuinely believed that everyone opposed to him was possessed by demons, and that God ordered him to nuke the world in order to purge them.
- Clarke's Third Law:
- The Internet (known as 'the Web of the World' by the present) is thought to be a supernatural phenomenon by most modern societies.
- The Singularitarians believe The Singularity is a transcendental religious event rather than a technological one and worship certain computer programs and fictional artificial intelligences as 'archilects.'
- Composite Character: Due to limited knowledge of the past, several historical characters are conflated, such as John Lennon being a mix of himself and Vladimir Lenin. This is also seen with historical and fictional characters, with Mr. Rogers being conflated with Captain America and Superman, while Harry Potter is mixed up with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
- In some of the post-Deluge religions that emerged, this has happened with some of the worshipped figures. For instance, in Etherianity Mermista is fused with Ariel and Senshiism has Sailor Mars combined with both Rei Ayanami and Asuka Soryu.
- The Conspiracy: Possibly. The author has hinted that some of the theories about the Guardians of Adam may not be too far off from reality and further has implied that they are manipulating the historical record.
- Cult Colony: A couple existed, though most have fallen before the present day.
- The Ryke of Aryan, founded by a collective of Right-Wing Militia Fanatic types who set up a cult worshipping Qeq (an amalgam of Pepe the Frog and QAnon's Q) that practiced ethnic cleansing and human sacrifice.
- Cheyenne Mountain fell victim to this after the Deluge, where descendants of the US government established supremacy over civilians and acted cruelly towards them.
- Divided States of America: Dozens of nations inhabit what was once the USA.
- Failed Future Forecast: The list of 'People's Kings' of the American Empire indicates that the 2020 presidential election was won by Bernie Sanders in this timeline. The list was made in 2019 before Joe Biden won the 2020 Democratic nomination.
- The same list also implies that the last President before The Beast was Virginia State Assemblyman Lee J. Carter. Carter would leave politics in 2021 after losing his seat in a hotly contested primary race.
- Fantastic Religious Weirdness: Numerous new religions have popped up since the Deluge:
- Lincolnism is a Christian denomination that views Lincoln and other American presidents as saints.
- Widdhism is a mixture of Wicca, Taoism, and Buddhism, with a bit of Star Wars mythology thrown in.
- Several religions are based on misremembered bits of pre-Deluge pop culture — as noted elsewhere, Disney is viewed as its own pantheon; Gallifreyenism is primarily based on Doctor Who with other characters portrayed by numerous actors (including James Bond and Spider-Man) being in the pantheon; Etherianism is based on Masters of the Universe (primarily She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) with some Disney thrown in; Dreemuritism is based on Under Tale; Senshiism is primarily based on Sailor Moon with other anime/manga thrown in.
- Cosplaying is considered a sacred practice of personifying the gods by most of the above.
- Lego was misremembered for a time as a religion based on "the Master Builders", until archaeologists finally uncovered evidence proving what it really was.
- Forbidden Zone: Cheyenne Mountain has become this. Following the Deluge, the remnants of the Beast's government and a civilian population took refuge in the NORAD complex there, which over the next several generations developed into a Cult Colony built on the backs of slave labor by the civilians. Eventually, they rebelled and escaped, sealing the complex behind them and becoming a tribe which inhabits the area and keeps trespassers away from the mountain, which they've come to believe is the resting place of an Eldritch Abomination called "the Norad" which helped the Beast destroy the world.
- Future Imperfect: A major theme of the story is the future humans not quite interpreting the past correctly.
- Historical Hero Upgrade:
- Many US presidents get this, with the negative aspects of most good leaders being largely forgotten. Special mention should go to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, who after Mount Rushmore was rediscovered became revered as divine figures by the newly emergent Lincolnist faith.
- Nikola Tesla is not only remembered with relative accuracy, but over time has come to be associated with many more scientific developments and advancements than what he's credited for in reality. He's even worshiped as a saint by Lincolnists.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: In contrast with more beloved US presidents, the ones who are remembered more negatively get hit with this, such as Nixon being portrayed as a proponent of racial segregation, complete with George Wallace's infamous "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" being attributed to him.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: In "A Glance Behind the Curtain", the Qeqists compel a new initiate into their inner circle to murder a nonwhite baby.
- Interfaith Smoothie:
- One of the major post-Deluge religions, Widdhism, is a fusion of Wicca, Taoism and Buddhism, along with some smaller sects (and a bit of Star Wars mythology thrown in as well)
- The major post-Deluge branches of Christianity in America also qualify — the Reconstructionist Christians are the result of remaining Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and some Protestants while the Southron Church of Christ combines numerous Protestant denominations together along with Confederate nostalgia.
- Ironic Echo: The Pledge of the Tuckerites is one for the white nationalist 14 Words, being the same length and phrased similarly, but affirming the defense of all people instead of one race.
- Just Before the End: "32 Minutes Before" shows San Francisco just before the apocalypse happens.
- Land Down Under: Australia, now known as Oz, went through a period of warlordism and climate disasters following the Deluge, but emerged as a unified constitutional monarchy that is now spreading influence through the South Pacific.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Nomads in the Mojave still report UFO sightings even centuries after the Deluge. Word of God has refused to confirm whether these are genuine alien spacecraft, some continued form of hallucination or hoax or something else.
- The Order: The Tuckerite Order of the Swastika, a group founded by a reformed Neo-Nazi (who had an epiphany after a Hispanic doctor saved him from radiation poisoning) following the Deluge, and which has since grown into an international organization similar to the Red Cross.
- Patchwork Fic: In-universe, many different pieces of pop culture are fused together to make entirely new stories, one example being Barry Potter meeting Gandalf Hagrid and going to the Emerald City to stop the Sith Lords from obtaining a powerful ring, where he meets Katniss.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: The People's State of Gitmo, which controls most of post-Deluge Cuba, is an oppressive dictatorship run by an unelected bureaucracy which enforces a strict caste system.
- Persecution Flip: Post-Deluge, many of the new states in Europe have become satellites to the more powerful nations that emerged in Africa.
- Precursors: Our modern day society is viewed as this by the future people, who in some cases can barely grasp the technology we had at our disposal.
- President Evil: The man remembered only as "the Beast" was the last President of the United States, who led a coup against an elected leftist President, rounded up Muslims in "reeducation camps", engineered coups in or outright invaded neighboring countries when they protested his actions, and finally started a nuclear war with the rest of the world while believing himself to be chosen by God.
- Red Baron: The US Presidents that history remembers have titles to go with them, such as George the Washington or Reagan the Gipper.
- Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Deconstructed Trope. Most of this crowd fizzled out quickly owing to their violence towards neighbors after the Deluge and the ones that didn't built supremely authoritarians societies that could not last. One society formed a cult based on 4chan culture (namely alt-right racial politics, the 'Free Kekistan' meme and Q Anon) that collapsed after its followers got tired of its practice of human sacrifice amidst famine and many of their descendants now worship the demon meant to embody the globalist boogeyman.
- Schizo Tech: By the setting's "present day", technology for developed nations is described as comparable to the 20th/early 21st Centuries in certain respects and Victorian in others.
- The Scottish Trope: The Beast's name was stricken from the record and is regarded as so horrible no one is allowed to say it.
- Villain Episode:
- "Necessary Evil" is from the Beast's POV as he reflects on why he did what he did.
- "A Glance Behind the Curtain" centers on an initiate into the Cult of Qeq and his initiation into the cult's inner sanctum.
- 0% Approval Rating:
- The Beast is universally loathed.
- The Cult of Qeq by the modern day is despised enough the founders' own descendants have totally renounced it.
