User blog comment:Arstarpool/Competition: Worst TL Idea/@comment-2078215-20100808053419

Set in a world similar to Earth in the mid twentieth century, this TL tells the story of a fight to protect that world using a combination of magic and technology. Witches are young women with high magical potential who are recruited into militaries around the world to fight against the enigmatic alien race, called the Neuroi, which began an invasion of unprecedented scale on human territory in the year 1939. This puzzling enemy force has appeared frequently and without warning in many areas across the world throughout history. The weapons of the Neuroi mostly take on forms similar to aircraft, but their most troubling tactic is the spreading of a corrosive miasma. Not only do normal humans have no defense against this miasma, but the remnants of the land affected by it are processed by the Neuroi into new weapons, crumbling huge sections of former nations into the sea. As the miasma seems to be unable to spread across large bodies of water, humanity has designated such areas as their main lines of defense. In order to bring out their potential for use in battle, each Witch equips a unique machine onto their legs: the Striker Unit. With the Striker Unit equipped, they gain the ability to fly and their tapped magical potential provides the strength to utilize weapons far too heavy and powerful for a normal person. Also created is a defensive field that can protect the Witches from the Neuroi's miasma as well as other physical weaponry, making them humanity's trump card in the war.

The time-line takes place in an altered version of Earth, ravaged by the Neuroi. Several large pieces of Earth's landmasses have been obliterated (with Europe and Africa being the most intact), drastically altering the appearance of the planet in comparison to its real-life counterpart. The nations which the witches hail from are also based on major world powers of the time albeit with different names and altered territories. Japan is known as Fuso Empire, the United States is the United States of Liberion, Germany is Imperial Karlsland, France is Gallia, Great Britain is the Commonwealth of Britannia, Austria is Ostmark, the Soviet Union is the Orussia Empire, modern Italy is split between the Duchies of Romagna and Venezia, Finland is Suomus, Norway and Sweden are Baltland, and Spain is Hispania.