For All the Marbles

For All The Marbles is an ongoing story written by William_Dellinger on Alternate History Dot Com that can be found here

One hundred and sixty four of Earth history's greatest generals, statesmen, inventors, artisans, and religious leaders are pulled from across time and space for the sole purpose of creating a functioning government on an alien world. They have been pulled from their afterlives by Marvin, your typical Alien Space Bat, a player in the intergalatic game of myox.

For the first three months of their journey, they must learn to work together to face the impending trials. There are many conflicting egos, old rivalries, and general disagreements for them to work through.

The story is currently in its second draft, which is linked to above.

According to Word of God, something along the lines of 16-20 books are planned.

---

Tropes found in this story include:

• A Father to His Men: Oliver Cromwell takes part in his soldiers’ training.
• Aliens Are Bastards: The Avarkian Confederation uses mankind as chess pieces, playing God, and generally being arrogant asses. There *is* a method to the madness, however…
• Alien Space Bats: Marvin.
• Almighty Janitor: Aboard the Hub, the place where the Opening Ceremonies for myox take place, the bartender, named Ian, virtually runs the entire game
• Always a Bigger Fish: Kind of the point of the whole game. Once you finish off one faction, there’s plenty more to take their place.
• Anyone Can Die: Due to many of the general’s being lead-from-the-front types, and the tactics that have to be used in the early days, expect many of the mid-ranking officers to get promoted pretty quickly.
• Applied Phlebotinum: The cloning technology that enables Marvin to bring back the great men and women of Earth.
• Awesomeness By Analysis: Kit Marlowe’s trademark fighting style.

Kit turned his attention back to the one with the sword. He could guess the man’s strategy just by looking at him. Accustomed to overpowering opponents. He’ll lead with an overhand strike. Move left, hit second man with foot to sternum. Strike first man at right temple. Take sword, cut throat. Block partner’s wild swing. Right foot to instep. Sword through solar plexus. All of these thoughts passed through Kit’s mind in a fraction of a second.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: These guys (and gals) got picked from the entirety of human history for a reason…
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Attila the Hun, Leonidas of Sparta, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Christopher Marlowe when they flush out Theodore Roosevelt’s assassin.
• Badass: Virtually all of the Terran pieces have their moments, though several do stand out.
  • Theodore Roosevelt takes on not one, not two, but three assassins alone, killing two.
  • Leonidas of Sparta vs. Spartacus of Thrace in hand-to-hand combat against each other.
  • Christopher Marlowe could probably take on the rest of the cast, being sneakier than just about everyone.
  • Socrates stares down Alexander the Great, outwitting him nonchalantly.
  • Colin Powell threatens to break Nathan Bedford Forrest’s spine if a certain word comes out of his mouth again.
  • George Patton facing off against Lord Mavra’s champion.
• Badass Boast: Patton’s speech to Mavra’s champion, when asked “Who is this little man?”
  • “I am Colonel George Patton, commander of the 9th Cavalry. I’ve commanded armies that shook the Earth when we went into battle.” He stepped slowly toward the Mavra brothers. “I’ve faced down Mexican bandits, fought in the trenches of France, and wiped an army of evil from the face of the Earth. My army advanced farther, captured more enemy prisoners, and liberated more territory in less time than any other army in military history. That’s who the fuck I am. Now draw your sword, you bastard son of a whore, and prepare to be run through.”
• Badass Bookworm: Nikola Tesla stands out, especially when he finally faces off against Lord Mavra.

"I'm not your wife. I hit back."

• Badass Crew
• Badass Family: Charles Martel and Charles Magnus are grandfather/grandson. John Churchill and Winston Churchill are also relatives, albeit distantly descended.
• Badass Nickname: They don’t get much better than Charles the Hammer.
• Brits With Battleships: Horatio Nelson and Francis Drake
• Beyond the Impossible: The inventors of General Innovations, Inc. are forced to continuously build bigger and better instruments of war to fight the ever-growing threat.
• Bond One-Liner: Averted after Kit Marlowe takes out the two thieves.
  • “I suppose I should say something witty. But nothing seems to come to mind.”
• Boom! Headshot!: How Kit Marlowe takes care of Theodore Roosevelt’s assassin.
• Character Development: Many of the characters have their own arcs over the story, but Alexander’s stands out more than most. His growth from arrogant, petulant child to humble cog in the machine allows his absolutely terrifying military genius to soar to new heights.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Averted, hard. Having Charles Martel (AKA Charles the HAMMER) on the team, leading an armored division, has that affect
  • Richelieu’s no slouch, either.
  • Napoleon!
• The Chessmaster: Machiavelli, Bismarck, Churchill, Sun Tzu, Alan Turing.
• Christianity Is Catholic: The Imperial Catholic Church consists of Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant members, though it eventually expands to include the Muslim, Jewish, and pagan characters as well.
• Church Militant: The Imperial Catholic Church clergymen aren’t pushovers…
• Clarke's Third Law: The attitude of many of the pieces to Marvin’s technology. Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and (surprisingly) Archimedes of Syracuse are about the only ones to really come close to understanding Marvin’s technology.
• Combat by Champion: Patton for Tesla.
• Cool Airship: Due to airships being easier to construct than airplanes, the Calainian military uses airships in the beginning.
• Cool Ship: The entire freaking Navy.
• Cool Spaceship: The Thande.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Charles Martel is one, though a bit more eccentric than dumb.
• Cultured Warrior: Soooo many.
• Fish Out of Temporal Water: The majority of the pieces. They all adapt, eventually.
• Four-Star Badass: Pretty much all of them.
• Geeky Turn On: History geeky turn-on, anyway.
• Gun Porn: Every conversation between Samuel Colt and John Browning.
• Historical Domain Character: Pretty much all of them.
• The Lancer: Machiavelli to Thomas Jefferson. Hell, Machiavelli to just about everyone…
• Loads and Loads of Characters: 164 characters, plus Marvin, plus 30 or more cameos
• The Mutiny: The Terran pieces take matters into their own hands after finding out what exactly they’re supposed to do on this alien world. It fails, due to rebelling against an almost omnipotent Alien Space Bat, but the principle is still there.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
• Rule of Cool: History's version of The Expendables.
• Schizo-Tech:
• Shout-Out: Far too many to name. There’s at least one, either to pop-culture or Alternate History Dot Com culture, in every chapter. Usually both.
• Worthy Opponent