never drowned. This not only prevented the succession struggle between his sister Matilda and Stephen of Blois (and the Anarchy which followed Stephen's accession to the throne), but also led to Eleanor of Aquitaine becoming even more important to Centrum's history than she was to ours. Married not to Henry II of England but to William Adelin's son Robert the Crusader, Eleanor ruled in her husband's absence and during their son's infancy, establishing an incredibly powerful Anglo-French Empire by her death in 1204. When Mongol invasions prevented expansion into central Europe, the Anglo-French explored the Atlantic Ocean and discovered the New World. Chinese technology imported by the Mongols and royal patronage of Roger Bacon's scientific inquiries meant that, although scientific progress in Centrum was slower than in our history, it maintained a head start of around a century. Eventually, the Anglo-French Empire dominated not only Europe but most of the globe. In 1902 the nuclear obliteration of London by parties unknown decapitated the AFE and kicked off a decade of civil war that killed more than half the world's population (mostly through unrestricted biowarfare). A military-industrial cabal based in Terraustralis (Australia), the Centrum, imposed draconian social controls in order to survive this Last War, and eventually ventured out with the aim of reconquering the globe and incorporating all humanity into a single, rational culture and social order. The development of "parachronics", the parallel-jumping technology central to the GURPS Time Travel setting, enabled Centran society to quickly recover from the war. The "current year" in Centrum is 2015, and much of Centrum's efforts focus on resisting the influences of "Secundus" (the "Homeline" parallel which the Infinity Patrol calls home) over the parallels Centrum itself can reach and manipulate. Publication history GURPS Alternate Earths II was published by Steve Jackson Games in 1999. Written by Kenneth Hite, Craig Neumeier and Michael S. Schiffer, it is a sequel to their earlier book GURPS Alternate Earths. Reception Reviews Backstab #19 References Alternate history role-playing games Alternate Earths II Infinite Worlds Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1999