Unusual solar flare activity occurs throughout this period, peaking around 1862 and showering the Earth with large amounts of what is later identified as gamma radiation.
The first known superhuman, John Featherstone-Haugh, who later becomes known as Excalibur, appears in South Africa, where he routs the Boers at the battle of Majuba Hill, so stopping the formation of Free Transvaal and keeping all of South Africa under firm British control.
US President James A. Garfield is shot and dies after two months in hospital. His Vice President Chester A. Arthur succeeds him.
Flogging is abolished in the British military.
Taking the Austro-German Alliance of 1879 to its conclusion, Germany unites with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, doubling its land area at a stroke, after pressure is put on by the German government with the help of several German superhumans who later form the nucleus of the Kaisers Guard. Hungary becomes a satellite state of the new Reich. The high degree of international tension created by this action causes Britain to sign an Entente Cordiale with France. Tensions slowly relax as it becomes obvious that Germany is not planning to expand any further in the direction of the already-tense Balkans.
In a secret treaty with the new Reich, Serbia effectively becomes a satellite state of Germany.
Friedrich Nietzsche relates the existence of superhumans to his own ideas in philosophy, calling them Overmen. His ideas receive widespread interest, and the term becomes widely accepted.
A slave revolt in Brazil, lead by a Brazilian slave who develops superhuman powers, is brutally put down by the Brazilian government, and the Overman is killed, along with many thousands of slaves.
London's Savoy Theatre becomes the first electrically illuminated public building.
The first of a series of disappearances occur in the East End of London.
The outlaw known as Billy the Kid is killed by the gunman Pat Garret.
Famine forces the Sioux of Chief Sitting Bull to return from Canada to the USA, where they surrender and Sitting Bull is imprisoned. A member of Sitting Bulls tribe who later becomes known as Thunderbird develops Overman powers shortly after the tribe returns to the reservation and he leads them and other tribes from the reservation in an uprising to free Sitting Bull and expel the white man. The uprising is put down by two American Overmen (who later, as Bannerman and Scalphunter form the nucleus of the Guardians of Democracy), and Thunderbird is imprisoned.
Tsar Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by Populist terrorists. Alexander III replaces him and institutes various emergency powers.
During this year most of the Great Powers form their own national teams of Overmen including The Royal Elite Guard and The Royal Indian Guard (Britain), The Kaisers Guard (Germany), The Imperial Guard (France), The Emperors Guard (Japan) and The Guardians of Democracy (United States of America). A single Overman calling himself Legione (Legion) also appears working with the Italian Army. Towards the end of the year a member of the French Imperial Guard, Michelle Montpelier, L'Amazone (The Amazon), goes renegade and leaves the Guard.
A revolt in Egypt and the Sudan is put down by the British Army with the aid of the Royal Elite Guard.
An Overman known as Der Gehirn (The Brain) becomes a nominal member of the Kaisers Guard, although in reality he acts as an adviser to the German government. He proves his political skill in the many cases where he acts in opposition to the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck and comes out politically intact.
Thomas Edison provides the first electric lights to buildings on New Yorks Wall Street.
The electrical illumination of London begins.
The Secretary and Under-Secretary of Ireland are murdered in Belfast by a group of extremists known as the Invincibles who are led by two Overmen, Banshee and Shamrock. The Royal Elite Guard is called in and tracks them down, capturing and imprisoning them under drugs and destroying the power of the Invincibles.
The outlaw Jesse James is shot dead by his cousin and fellow gang member Bob Ford.
In the middle of the year, at least partly acting on the advice of Der Gehirn, Germany calls a colonial conference to decide on the partition of Africa. Because of its action in calling the conference, Germany ends up with a far larger part of Africa than it got in the real world.
France occupies Tonking in China.
Chinese immigration into the USA is halted.
The Society for Psychical Research is founded in Britain. It pays a great deal of attention to Overmen with mental and/or healing powers, but is mostly ignored by them.
The War of the Pacific between Bolivia and Chile comes to an abrupt end when the commanding general of the Chilean army, Emmanuel de Rodriguez, develops superhuman powers and with their help quickly defeats the Bolivian army. He then marches on the Chilean capital, Santiago, and takes control of the country, naming himself El Libertador (The Liberator), renaming the country Los Imperio de Chile (The Chilean Empire) and instituting far stricter controls on the populace than the previous government ever did. He then begins to institute massive industrialisation of the country.
In the summer an Overman-led conspiracy to murder most of the British Royal family and place a puppet ruler on the throne is discovered by a group of previously unknown Overmen (most of whom later joined the Royal Elite Guard). The plot is traced back to the Order of the Silver Twilight, an exclusive upper-class society whose head, Patrick Vandaleur, along with his supposedly dead and in fact horribly transformed brother James is behind the scheme. They receive aid from The Ringmaster (an Overman, Ivan Zerstoiten, the father of Dr Destroyer) and his Pack, a group of physically altered Overmen, the first criminal superhuman group. Patrick Vandaleur dies when the Order is attacked but his brother escapes. Most of the Pack are also captured and the Order of the Silver Twilight is closed down after investigation by the British Government.
One of the Overmen involved in foiling the conspiracy, the black African Shaman, returns to his tribe, where he soon becomes its Chief.
Harrods of London is gutted by fire.
France proclaims protectorate status for Annam (Vietnam) under the Treaty of Hue. The Chinese army is deployed along the border to stop this.
Terrorist 'Dynamiters' strike near Whitehall in London.
The machine gun is invented by Sir Hiram Maxim.
After his release from prison Sitting Bull rejoins his people at the Standing Rock Agency.
The volcano Krakatoa erupts in a series of huge explosions which are heard over 2200 miles away.
The Irish Overmen Banshee and Shamrock are executed by the British government for treason despite widespread protests and unrest against this in Ireland.
Terrorist 'Dynamiters' strike at Old Scotland Yard in London.
After a show of force involving the French military and the Imperial Guard fails to have much effect, French warships, aided by the Imperial Guard destroy the Chinese fleet and dockyards at Foochow. Shortly afterwards an armistice is signed recognising French claims over Annam.
A wave of bombings by Irish nationalists strikes London, and only prompt action by the Royal Elite Guard prevents greater loss of life and brings the bombers to justice.
Purified cocaine becomes commercially available in the USA.
The Statue of Liberty is presented to the United States by France.
A female Overman calling herself Lynx appears in New York when she robs several jewellers. However, after almost being captured when trying to sell the stolen gems she drops from view and is not seen for almost a year.
In the Sudan, rebel forces led by an Overman known as the Pharaoh capture Khartoum from the British. The British leader, General Gordon, is killed in the attack. The city is relieved one day later by the Royal Elite Guard, who then go on to destroy the power of the Dervishes and install the British in full control of the Sudan.
The American Society for Psychical Research is founded on a very similar.basic to its British counterpart.
Sitting Bull joins Buffalo Bills Wild West Show after persuasion by the US authorities and tours the East Coast with it.
A clash between Russian and Afghan troops produces a major diplomatic crisis between Britain and Russia which is only solved when an agreement on border delimitation is signed.
The Chilean army invades Bolivia with El Libertador at its head, easily taking over the country by the end of the year. With the taking of the country El Libertador captures and enslaves its only Overman, an animal-like cat-woman known as Pantera, using her as a pet/hunting animal (over the next 85 years various of her relatives and descendants develop similar powers and are likewise enslaved). He orders the construction of a huge palace in the style of an Aztec pyramid at Guaqui on the shore of Lake Titicaca in what was Bolivia.
The American Indian Overman Thunderbird is executed by the US government after prolonged imprisonment during which he is kept unconscious using drugs.
Britain completes its takeover of Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War. Despite the defeat of the Burmese army, guerilla activity continues against the British.
The first meeting of the Indian National Congress occurs.
As colonial forces move to take over different parts of Africa, in many places they find themselves hindered by native Overmen, who have usually installed themselves as tribal chiefs of witch doctors. However, in many cases the Europeans recruit such tribes onto their side and in cases where this is not possible their superior firepower enables them to decimate these Overmens followers and render them ineffective.
When Overmen appear in India, in most cases they are worshipped as gods or emissaries of gods, until they are recruited (by whatever means) into the British Royal Indian Guard. In several cases this leads to incidents in which hostile Overmen have to be restrained to avoid their attempting a rebellion.
Mid-1880's to the Present Day :
Due to the actions of various hyper-intelligent Overman scientists and inventors technology advances much more rapidly than in the real world. However, as many of them work for various governments the majority of the advances are in military-related technology and most advances are kept concealed by different governments. Due to this during all this time the level of technology available to the general public is only slightly higher than that available to the general public in the real world, apart from in a few areas, which leads to the Empire State Building in New York being over eight hundred metres tall, with other skyscrapers taller in proportion. The only exception to this rule is Minerva, which displays a much higher general level of technology than the rest of the world, and gains much of its income from leasing or occasionally selling items of high technology elsewhere in the world.
The science of psychology advances rapidly with the help of telepathic Overmen, primarily Greymalkin, the Royal Elite Guards mentallist. Her work from the 1880's up to her death in 1941 forms the basis of all modern psychology and psychiatry. However, a deeper understanding of psychology does little to improve social conditions, primarily due to official apathy.
Since the appearance of Overmen historians speculate that many myths and legends from all over the world involving gods and other superhuman figures are in fact the distorted memories of other times when Overmen appeared. Due to the extreme difficulty in finding any solid evidence one way or another, these theories have as yet been neither proved or disproved.
After years of fighting against the US governments oppression of American Indians, continuing on from the start made by Thunderbird, the Chiricahua chief Geronimo is captured and imprisoned. War with Mexico is narrowly avoided after Mexican troops fire on the US forces hunting him.
An attempted coup by a group of disaffected Samurai in Japan is foiled when the Overman Kamikase, the son of one of the conspirators, betrays them to the authorities.
Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe begin to move into Palestine with the aim of creating a Jewish national homeland.
On the advice of Der Gehirn, backed by many other German politicians whom he has converted to his views, Germany begins construction of naval forces on a scale which challenges Britains naval supremacy.
France creates the Union of Indo-China.
Huge blizzards followed by extreme drought cause thousands of settlers to leave the plains of Kansas and Nebraska.
Germany and Russia sign the Re-insurance Treaty.
Elizabeth Nietzsche, the sister of Friedrich Nietzsche, and her husband travel to Paraguay where they establish an Aryan colony which seeks to create a master race free from external contamination.
The last Indian war - the Messiah War - is fought, with the aid of the Guardians of Democracy, against the Sioux in South Dakota.
Dr L. L. Zamenhof publishes the artificial language Esperanto. By 1990 it has over two million speakers worldwide.
The first rigid airship, using hydrogen for lift, is flown in France.
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria is celebrated around the British Empire.
The Overman Shaman begins to unite several African tribes into a single black nation by a combination of diplomacy and brute force.
The International Council of Women is organised to fight for women's suffrage everywhere. The Amazon in her civilian identity as Michelle Montpelier speaks with great success at the first meeting of the Council.
For three months Whitechapel in London is terrorised by the crazed killer who becomes known as Jack the Ripper. Despite the aid of the Royal Elite Guard the killer is never captured and the killers identity is never discovered.
The French, using Overman help, successfully complete the Panama Canal.
Emancipation of the slaves in Brazil occurs. This is the last slave-owning nation on Earth.
The Overman Shaman is assassinated while he sleeps by opponents to his ideas for tribal unity. His infant Tribal Union falls apart as each of the members fights the others to gain control of it.
Emperor William II, a known opponent of Otto von Bismarck comes to the throne in Germany.
After continuing problems with the admission of telepathically gained information into courts of law, British lawyers with help from the Royal Elite Guard mentallist Greymalkin devise the three telepath system. Under this system any telepathic evidence has to be verified by three telepaths, one reporting to the Prosecution, one to the Defence and one to the Judge alone. However, due to a lack of telepaths this rule cannot often be used, which leads to an amendment to the law allowing telepathic evidence to be admitted to court if only one telepath is involved, but only as hearsay evidence.
Acting on the advice of Der Gehirn, and his own feelings, William II forces the resignation of Otto von Bismarck.
Nietzsche suffers a breakdown and is placed in an asylum suffering from the advanced stages of syphilis, where he is confined until his death in 1900.
Brazil becomes a republic after planters and liberals unite to overthrow the monarchy.
The first heavier-than-air aircraft is flown on the South Downs of England by Sir Hiram Maxim.
Japans adopts its first constitution.
The Chilean Empire takes over the country of Peru, in the process becoming the first nation to use chemical weapons (developed by El Libertador himself) against an opponent.
A worldwide influenza pandemic begins.
A group of outlaw Overmen calling themselves the Renegades (consisting of about six Overmen including Gunslinger, Silver Annie, the Ghost, Rebel, Valkyrie and Flicker, and twenty to thirty normal humans) raid banks and bullion depositories across the Southern and Western USA. Although the Guardians of Democracy are sent after them they are never caught, and despite suspicions that the Renegades are hiding out in Mexico enough evidence to justify entering Mexican territory cannot be gathered.
The Eiffel Tower is constructed during the Paris World Fair.
Abyssinia becomes a protectorate of Italy. Abyssinian objections are ignored by the Italian government.
Italy annexes Somalialand, with Legione at the head of the Italian forces there.
A brief civil war occurs in Chile when government attempts to claim revenues from the Bolivian saltpetre mines are opposed by the entrenched Chilean ruling classes. This leads to their effective destruction as El Libertador crushes all opposition and places most of the land in Chile under his direct control.
Otto Lilienthal flies Germanies first powered aircraft.
US government agents move against the Indian Ghost Dance movement. One of the movements leaders, the chief Sitting Bull, is killed while being taken into custody as an 'agitator'. Two weeks later two hundred men, women and children, also members of the Ghost Dance movement, are gunned down at Wounded Knee despite their already having agreed to return to their homes.
The last of the series of disappearences which have been occurring in the East End of London since 1881 takes place.
Germany fails to renew the Re-insurance Treaty with Russia due to the increasing instability within Russia.
British forces defeat the last of the Burmese guerillas.
Nationalist and anti-Tsarist unrest, with Overman support, grows across Russia. The Tsar institutes strict clampdowns on the offending areas, but only succeeds in furthering the unrest.