Imagine a place where different timelines of Earth had collided into one new Earth.
Think not the many worlds theory. No one person’s choice can make an entirely new universe or timeline. That’s not how physics or chemistry works.
This applies mostly to the chances a chemical reaction takes place. And they can apply to just about everything. Like what if the asteroid that caused the mass extinction of the Cretaceous Period had gone off course of Earth? Probably because of different chemical reactions from exposure to cosmic radiation or solar wind.
What would happen if Afrotherians became the dominant mammals? Would the probosces and tails become appendages? What if someone found a way for plants to become sapient?
But most importantly, how would they be as people and what would happen if they and humans were no longer the dominant species?
If there’s a label for this it’d be different “Hubble volumes” or Cosmic Inflation.
Now this is not a beginning of a Warhammer styled game where everyone is both the villain and hero. This is not a dramatization of real world events with stand-ins, or how far certain trends go. This is more like a place between fantasy and reality. Because the world outside your window and not looking past your newsfeeds can be a lot. So some outside perspectives may just be the wonders people look for.
How many times have people seen aliens only for them to basically be palette swaps of humans? At worst, that means we have no comprehension of how life could be outside of our orbit so we just project ourselves outward. So I thought, why not apply the familiar to the weird and wonderful things on Earth?
Same reason why this takes place in an anachronistic 21st century. We have no comprehension of the future or present. So why not just live in the moment while planning ahead where time and events don’t matter?
Does that mean 9/11 and the Covid Pandemic never happened? No, things that have too much weight to them leave collective scars. Like Covid, climate change, technological advancements, demographic shifts, and military conflicts among more. But again, dressing those events with coats of paint on is thinking too small.
Think of stuff like clackers around World War II when they were invented in the 1960s-70s. Or certain dufflebags on the Titanic from years after it sank. Or if you wanna be more concrete, Vikings that found Canada long before Columbus found the Caribbean.
I also have no intention of keeping everything to myself and just leaving some things to a few books. A bigger and livelier world is meant to be shared.
Based on the information provided about the different Earth timelines, here's a comparison of when each sapient species evolved, from earliest to latest: