Invisible Sun (Empire Games, #3)

by Charles Stross

We do not know the fate of the first world-walker to open up the time line that gave rise to the Gruinmarkt. They didn’t leave an obvious imprint at the time, no world-walking family, no invisible sun warping the orbit of civilizations around it. But in the wake of the Macedonian invasion of those territories, things went differently, and eventually the Seleucid empire suppressed certain troublesome tribal peoples who insisted on worshipping a single deity rather than the approved Hellenistic pantheon. Judaism was stillborn in that time line: nor did Christianity (or anything recognizable as Islam) make an appearance. The worship of Mithras and of Ahura-Mazda spread in the east, but failed to make in-roads in the west, where a Norse-derived faith took hold.

Hail the Sky Father!