Alternative History:Counterfactualities

Points of departure that fall under this category are those which adopt a change that is not the result of a simple variation but rather the integration of a completely alien element to history from OTL. This element could be something which, according to modern mainstream science, is impossible or it could be the introduction of a fictional character(s) that has wideranging results.

Althistories in this category should not be confuse with [|secret histories] which although might share some superficial similarities in term of background, are usualy assume to be taking in OTL with the differences being hidden from us.

A sub-genre of this category would be "academic" counterfactualities, published works that use a non-historical point of departure to demonstrate an opinion, hypothesis or a statistical model.

A few examples follow:


 * a form of magic is discovered during the renaissance and takes the place of science.


 * all of a sudden, every human beings turn purple.


 * An explorer discover a gateway to another planet during the victorian era leading to a race for colonization by the great powers of that time.


 * Writting was never invented.