Butterfly theory in the Albionverse

A staple of alternate history is butterfly theory - the idea that a single action will have far-ranging minor consequences that will ultimately result in even a small change creating alterations to future history that will render specifics and even broader trends unrecognizable within even a short period.

The AH universe in which Albion and the writer's other various pet projects originate is a shared universe, initially rooted in an open region in the online game NationStates and developed with an eye towards accommodating other creators. In an informal shared setting of this nature, which caters to players at all levels of investment in alternate history, a strict approach to butterflies may prove intimidating to those less familiar with alternate history tropes. In particular outside players were considered to have an interest in common formative events in OTL (Our TimeLine, aka real life), such as the Second World War and the Cold War, which tend to provide both interesting points of divergence and a common setting understanding.

The end result is that the Albion universe is propped up on significant use of butterfly nets, in which certain key events are pegged to happen and parallels are drawn in other situations.

In a pure alternate history setting, the point of divergence for the shared universe - namely, significantly different outcomes during the Seven Years' War, with New France remaining independent of the British Empire - would necessarily create divergences that would butterfly away events such as the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812 and certainly the world wars of the 20th century. However, the necessity of keeping these anchor historic touchpoints in place for outside creators to build around resulted in a halfway approach, with butterfly theory heavily restricted until the postwar period. In general, major touchstone events such as the world wars and the American Civil War still occurred in this universe, albeit often with altered players and outcomes, while events after the Second World War have a significantly wider degree of differentiation and divergence as these touchstones are moved past.