Alternity universe

The Alternity universe is the universe or 'reality' in which all events of the Alternity novel series takes place. The first major PoD takes place in November 1776, when Jonathan Eddy's militia force wins the Battle of Fort Cumberland, thanks largely due to an accident which overtook the messenger delivering word of the attack on the fort to British colonial authorities at Halifax, paving the way for a series of anti-British uprisings across the region, including Prince Edward Island (aided by exiled French Acadians). But, with fighting in the region locked into a stalemate until 1781, Britain includes Nova Scotia, PEI, and Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River in the territory ceded to the USA in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The second divergence point from OTL takes place during the War of 1812, when Lt. General Gordon Drummond is killed in the Battle of Lundy's Lane, and the British fail to prevent American troops from sweeping across Southwestern Ontario and Upper Canada. The Treaty of Ghent is signed in January 1815 and resolves the issues of conquered Canadian territory by giving back much of Upper Canada to Britain, with the exception of Southwestern Ontario, which becomes the US state of Erie by 1843. Further divergences include the US control of Vancouver Island after the Oregon Treaty in 1846 (when President Polk is pressed by hard-liners to acquire further territory), and control of Baja California as well as a portion of Sonora as far south as the village of Caborca after the Baja/Gadsden Purchase of 1853. Other notable events include World War II (1938-1946), the Canadian Civil War (1957-1963), the Arctic Wars (1967-Present), the Great Australian War (1973-1986), and the Indonesian War (1973-1979).

Also of note is the existence (or non-existence) of islands and lakes that have long disappeared from OTL, e.g. Kerguelen microcontinent (Republic of Kerguelen) in the Indian Ocean, the Zealandia microcontinent (New Zealand) in the South Pacific, New England Seamounts (New England Islands) off the US East Coast, Kodiak-Bowie Seamounts (Kodiak Islands) in the Gulf of Alaska, no Sea of Azov (Azov Valley) in Eurasia, a lake-filled Qattara Depression (Lake Qattara) in Egypt, West Siberian Glacial Lake (Lake Altai) in Russia, larger and constant groundwater-refilled Lake Chad, the Serranilla Islands southwest of Jamaica, and Lake Bonneville in the Utah Desert of the United States. In addition is a far more temperate climate in Greenland, resulting in a far larger population, but a more ice-locked Arctic Coast of Russia. Greenland is also considered a separate continent, located on the Greenland Tectonic Plate and separated from North America by Baffin Bay and the Baffin Trench (the latter of which forms the eastern boundary of the plate, passing beneath the Nares Strait that runs between Greenland and Canada's Ellesmere Island).

As well, another divergence from both the real world and Mercury Rising is that Nikola Tesla's lab on 5th Avenue in NYC survives the fire of 1895 and mostly if not directly contributes to a massive technology leap of twenty years, with the first cellular networks emerging as early as 1959, the first analog cell phone that same year (both in Japan), the first walkie talkie in 1920, digital networks by 1969, first flip phone in 1970, first 'smartphone' in 1976, NCD (nano-cancer disintegration) therapy introduced in 1978, NCD-derived accelerated healing techniques in 1980 as well as cures for most viral and bacterial infections in 1986, first true smartphone in 1985 (first to be labeled as such), first 3G networks in 1988, mass produced flexi and tranparent OLED displays by 1989, and the first 4G networks by 1997.