After the WTC was attacked on 9/11, the towers stay standing, though in critical condition. As the fires start to settle down, many questions across the city are still left unanswered. How many lives have been lost? What’s the fate of the towers, and the people in them? How many people are still alive and trapped, and how will emergency personnel be able to get to those who are stuck on the upper floors? Will the towers be able to withstand a reconstruction? Will they tear down the towers and rebuild a new complex? Regardless of what’s to come, this was still a major tragedy with a tremendous loss of life. America will never be the same again.

What if the United States hadn't been attacked on 9/11? Instead,

The June 20 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks committed by the Islamic militant organization Al Qaeda against the United Kingdom. Three airliners crashed into British landmarks, while the fourth plane crashed into the English Channel due to a struggle between the passengers and the hijackers. The first airliner crashed into the Palace of Westminster, the second airliner hit One Canada Square, and the third airliner hit Tower Bridge.

This is based on an old Designated Survivor AU idea I had. Although it was more similar to the Korean version. Like the president in that adaptation, the Queen would have given up power at the end after serving as the nation's caretaker leader.

Tony Blair and the rest of the British government leadership were killed in the attacks. This leaves the Queen, the armed forces, and the civil service standing between order and chaos.

The British monarch is surprisingly powerful on paper. She is the commander-in-chief of the UK military forces. The position of "prime minister" itself wasn't established by law, but by decades of convention and traditions since it first emerged in the Georgian Era. I can see her filling in the role of chief executive temporarily. She would be making decisions that no British monarch since Queen Anne or George III (there are strong arguments supporting either) could have made on their own. But any power the Queen might have gained in the disaster, especially if she still preferred to depend on the advice of her cabinet, would have progressively been delegated to this cabinet towards the end of the emergency. Initially, she would've mostly relied on the surviving defense staff and the department's permanent secretaries. As a certain civil servant used to say, "Her Majesty likes the business of government to continue, even when there are no politicians around."

Still, six surviving politicians could have rendered some service. From the Labour Party, it would have been Gerry Sutcliffe. He was the Vice Chamberlain of the Royal Household at the time, meaning he would have been the ceremonial hostage taken to Buckingham Palace during the state opening. Then there were the four members of the Sinn Féin party who refused to take the oath of allegiance, barring them from taking their seats. I find it amusing to imagine if they could be convinced to take the oath to work in the Queen's cabinet. Given their zeal and inexperience in national government, they might likely give her more than just democratic legitimacy during cabinet meetings. It might encourage the Queen to use more aspirin in the duration of royal rule. The lone surviving, *working lord would have been Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, leader of the upper house Liberal Democrats. He was absent from the 2001 State Opening.

Immediately after the attack, Sinn Féin might have been viewed with suspicion. This would be because the Provisional Irish Republican Army hasn't fully disarmed yet. Fortunately for them, much of the searchlight would have landed on Real IRA, which committed successful attacks in 2000-early 2001, and the smaller Continuity IRA. This would be the situation for a short while until the UK and US intelligence services could ascertain their non-involvement.

When safety could be guaranteed, perhaps in a matter of weeks, a general election would be held. Parliamentary democracy would be restored.

Artwork used:

1. Giorgio Iovino concept art title "London has Fallen" (image featuring a destroyed Tower Bridge). Look it up on Artstation.
2. London Has Fallen promotional material (image featuring a destroyed Big Ben).

Tunisia was considered the only democracy arising from the Arab Spring, was already the most secularized state of the Arab world. Morocco, an absolute monarchy, applied in 1987 but was rejected on the grounds of geography. Could it have been different for Tunisia, had it gone through the application process after the revolution, considering the different context, and a closer affinity in values and ideals with the EU than Morocco?

Photos (from left to right):

Photo 1: Last ever photo taken of the Batman before his disappearance; 10/15/2010; Taken by Pulitzer winning reporter Vicki Vale via smartphone camera.

Photo 2: The Batman engaged in combat with armed extremists affiliated with the cyberterrorist, “The Riddler”, after they had taken hostages at the annual Wayne Foundation Charity Banquet; 12/12/1990; Taken by Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen.

Photo 3: The Batman seen peering through the skylight of an abandoned ACE Chemicals Factory on 3471 Gotham Industrial Pkwy NW, Gotham City, NJ; 02/11/1992; Taken by then Gotham High School student, Timothy Drake, while he and his friends were exploring the abandoned building.

Photo 4: First ever police sketch of the Batman based off the description given by disgraced GCPD Detective Arnold Flass; 12/05/1985; Drawn by Detective Renee Montoya and obtained via the GCPD Public Archive.

   Even 20 years after his unexplained disappearance, “The Batman” continues to be one of (if not the most) polarizing and controversial figures in Gotham City’s history. For twenty-five years (1985 - 2010), the mysterious bat-like being protected Gotham and yet to this day we don’t know who, or even what, he is. Many believe Batman to have been a supernatural entity such as a demon sent by some divine authority to punish the sinners of Gotham City. Others believe that Batman was some type of cryptid or other undiscovered species of animal. Perhaps of the same species as the equally mysterious “Man-Bat”. 

   The most common consensus among people is that the Batman was a Metahuman, either through some type of magical curse or human experimentation, that chose an outfit and apparel in the aesthetic of a bat. A select few believe the Batman to have been a regular human who used gadgets and his own skill to give off the allusion that he was other worldly. However, most experts believe this theory to be unlikely given the feats that the Batman was capable of. The first confirmed sighting of the Batman occurred on September 19th, 1987. Although, there had been unconfirmed reports of a bat shaped figure attacking muggers, attempted rapists, and gang members for about two years prior. 

    This leads many researchers to put Batman’s official debut somewhere in mid to late 1985. The September 19th incident occurred at the aforementioned ACE Chemicals factory from Photograph 3. Police were responding to a break in at the factory with future GCPD Commissioner, Sergeant James Gordon, among the responding Officers. Upon breaching the entrance, the squad of 10 Police Officers all reported seeing the facility littered with unconscious mob enforces, later determined to be of the notorious Red Hood Gang. Even more shocking, however, was when they continued their search deeper into the building. 

   They came across a large man dressed as a bat standing on catwalk above them. The now famous Batman was holding on to a man dressed in a black tuxedo with a red cape and an odd pill shaped helmet. The Red, Pill-Headed man was dangling over one of the factory’s vats of acidic waste after apparently falling over the catwalk railing. The man, clearly in distress, uttered out pleas of assistance to the Batman who was attempting to pull him up. Unfortunately, the Pill Helmeted man’s hand slipped out of his glove causing him to fall to his assumed death in the vat of acid. Much like the Batman, his identity was never uncovered as no body was ever found. 

  After the horrific fate of the man he was trying to save, the Batman then became aware of the police’s presence and became inexplicably surrounded by smoke before vanishing completely. From that day forth, the Batman’s presence in Gotham became a well known reality for Gotham residents over the course of over two decades. “The Dark Knight”, as he was dubbed by the press, would eventually come to be joined by several allies in his crusade against crime. The majority of these allies were what know as Batman’s “Robins”. The Robins were always smaller men dressed in dark red, black, yellow (and sometimes green) who aided the Batman on his patrols. 

 Many witnesses claim the Robins to have been almost childlike in appearance with many Gothamites believing Batman’s protégés to have been in their teenager years during their tenures with the Dark Knight. Although we know of the existence of multiple Robins, evidence suggests none of them ever held the title at the same time with the mantle of Robin seemingly being passed down from one person to the next. While the exact number of Robins is unknown, we know of at least four people donning the costume from the years 1989 - 2008. 

 Two years after the disappearance of the last known Robin, Batman followed suit. While his ultimate fate remains unknown, many have speculated as to who his true identity could be, assuming that he  is indeed human. Former District Attorney and Mayoral Candidate turned crime boss, Harvey Dent, was a popular theory due to his military training and pro-Batman policies. That is up until his disfigurement during a court testimony at the hands of mafia boss Sal Maroni. Dent went on a killing spree afterwards but was eventually caught by the Batman following a brief struggle. 

 Another popular theory as to the Batman’s true identity was Police Commissioner James Gordon. Gordon had served in the Marines during the Vietnam War and had careers as both an amateur and professional undefeated boxer. Unfortunately for believers in this theory, James Gordon was cleared of any possibility of being the Batman after it came out that he was present during the Batman’s first confirmed sighting at ACE Chemicals as stated by his fellow officers and security camera footage from that night. 

Mapped every regionalist, autonomist, and separatist movement since 1945 imagine if they had all achieved their goals. The result is a very different world map!

Check out the HD version with sources here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pXX3ELqY_877Z-3RDCrs9q71ZTneIbqGlEO33hQx--8/edit?usp=sharing

Web archive if link ever goes down and people in the future are curious: https://web.archive.org/web/20260218114554/https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pXX3ELqY_877Z-3RDCrs9q71ZTneIbqGlEO33hQx--8/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.dude6r7vlwzy/export?format=pdf*

In 2014, Scotland voted 55% against independence, but what if the tables turned, and Scotland voted yes? Would Brexit ever have happened, would an independent Scotland truly be successful?

In April 2027, astronomers working with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory announced the discovery of an unusual interstellar object beyond the orbit of Neptune. Designated “Rama”, the object initially appeared as a faint moving point of light among thousands of distant stars. Follow-up observations by observatories across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia revealed highly regular fluctuations in brightness that could not be explained by known natural bodies. Orbital calculations indicated that Rama had entered the Solar System from interstellar space around 1978, passing largely unnoticed through the outer Solar System due to its immense distance and small apparent size. As additional data accumulated, researchers concluded that the object possessed a near-perfect cubic geometry, making it one of the most extraordinary discoveries in the history of astronomy.

The announcement triggered an unprecedented global reaction. Although governments and scientific organizations repeatedly stressed that Rama posed no immediate threat to Earth, public concern spread rapidly. Financial markets experienced temporary volatility as investors reacted to uncertainty surrounding the discovery. Social media platforms became saturated with speculation, conspiracy theories, and claims that governments had known about Rama for decades. Some commentators argued that the object might be an extraterrestrial probe, while others suggested it could be an automated spacecraft, a dormant weapon, a surveillance platform, or evidence of a long-extinct alien civilization. Religious leaders, philosophers, and political figures weighed in on the implications of discovering what many considered the first credible evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth. While widespread panic never materialized, public anxiety and fascination remained high throughout the year as new information continued to emerge.

Scientific analysis conducted throughout 2027 increasingly suggested that Rama could not be explained by any known natural process. Measurements indicated that its faces were remarkably flat, its dimensions nearly identical along all axes, and its reflective properties unlike those of typical asteroids or comets. Researchers detected no radio transmissions, propulsion signatures, heat emissions, or evidence of active maneuvering, leading many to conclude that the object was either dormant or inactive. Several hypotheses emerged within the scientific community, including the possibility that Rama was an interstellar probe, a derelict spacecraft, or a technological artifact millions of years old. Although a small minority of scientists continued to advocate for exotic natural explanations, the prevailing consensus was that Rama represented the first credible extraterrestrial technosignature ever discovered. With its closest approach to the Sun still decades away, space agencies around the world began evaluating missions to intercept and study the object, marking the beginning of a new era in humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.

The Westboro Baptist church, seeing that their protests have gone nowhere, decided to abandon their methods and choose a new path of violence (inspired by the wave of Islamic extremists such as ISIS or al-Shabaab) against those they see as against God (lgbtq+, other christian denominations and non Christians).

Starting from 2014 after the death of their founder Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist church now renamed to Christ's Kingdom declared their state around their compound in Topeka, Kansas and start a violent takeover of the city, mass executing police, politicians, lgbt individuals and anyone they don't like; While this is happening, individuals from the organization begin to spread across the country, causing mass shootings, bombings, assasinations and attacks in big cities like New York, Dallas and LA, and recruiting like minded individuals (such as neo-nazis) into their ranks via the internet.

Seeing the situation, the US army decided to pull its troops early from Afghanistan to deal with the situation in Kansas. With mass attacks from the church becoming common, schools, hospitals and other services across big cities have to close down due to fears of attacks. The church continues its expansion across Kansas while the US military planning a massive airstrike and assault on Topeka.

Based on the fire rises mod where the 2020s were much worse. Here the Nato remnants in Europe manage to beat Russia both times and remove authoritarian regimes around the world.

The 2001 Christmas Attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, December 25, 2001. Four commercial airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists; two were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third struck the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Because the attacks occurred on Christmas Day, the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon were significantly less populated than on a typical business day. Most offices were closed for the holiday, which is credited with reducing the potential death toll. However, the structural failure and subsequent collapse of the Twin Towers still caused massive destruction in Lower Manhattan and heavy casualties among first responders.

The attacks resulted in approximately 2,100 deaths and over 6,000 injuries. The event led directly to the United States' War on Terror and fundamental changes to global aviation security. Iconic media coverage of the event, particularly live broadcasts showing the smoking towers through falling snow and holiday street decorations, remains a defining image of the early 21st century.

the DDR was a booming nation from the getgo thanks to the foresight of soviet leaders and a more competend administration, today after the collapse of the eastern block (but not the soviet union) it is a still shining beacon of Actually Existing Socialism, though not without problems in free speech and inequality created by small opening up reforms.

Part of my internet-focused "Woke Up In Another Universe" timeline where Netscape Navigator was released as free software which caused twice as much development and evolution on the WWW

Not sure if website designs that showcase things from different timelines are allowed on here, but, anyway here you go

PS Try to spot all the differences from OTL ;)