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Old 08-10-2017, 01:32 AM   #104
PTTG
 
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Alternate Crosstime Organizations

FreeKey Science Institute

FreeKey was established on a near parallel with enhanced Psi activity. Though the timeline had strong inertia, that broke down in 2012, when a psi world-jumper unlocked her talent through the help of a home-made psi booster, and started distributing the designs and her information over the internet.

She eventually started working with an online message board associated with the paranormal -- FreakyScience.net -- and over the next ten years the informal group eventually founded FreeKey Science Institute, built on ideals of freely-shared information.

In 2027, the artificial psijump module was perfected. The devices are generally externally powered, and instead of consisting of a single conveyor for a group, consist of separate modules per person, or 1-ton freight modules. Apparently they have trouble making larger single-unit capacities. Additionally, these psijump modules must be tuned carefully, and only function when jumping between two hard-wired worldlines. Per unit mass, however, the costs are similar to Homeline's approach.

Despite all these drawbacks, the simplicity and aversion to secrecy lead to widespread adoption of the technology.

It is very difficult for them to discover new worldlines. Trained and highly-skilled psionic jumpers must risk life and limb to "feel out" and jump to new worlds, and many of those worlds are empty of human life.

Nonetheless, the FreeKey Science Institute looks for other worlds with human civilizations, to research their tech openly, and offer freely everything they themselves have, including psionic world-jumping tech.

The present day is 2033, and the FSI has reached and started uplifting eight civilized worldlines; they generally contact one human worldline every six months, and an additional one or two empties. It's possible other organizations on their source world are in contact with worldlines unknown to the FSI; however, the Institute attracts the best and brightest, so they remain the leading resource.

The eight worldlines they've discovered are fairly well distributed:

A TL2 (with TL7 in pure mathematics) worldline that diverged from inertia normal in 600 BCE with a psi upswing.
A 1955 worldline that diverged in 1941 with no pearl harbor. The USA is working closely with Imperial Japan against the USSR.
A historical echo of 1972.
A 1380-like world, with the addition of a race of spirit-like creatures that take the form of nymphs, elves, fair folk, kami, rashsaka, djin, spiritual animals, and other non-monsterous spirits of superstition. They have uniformly have low levels of Magery, to go with the low ambient mana level on the worldline.
A solidly TL9 world which until contact had primitive, naive medicine of around TL4. The first worldline discovered.
A historical echo of 1801.
A historical echo of 299 CE.
A 1935 echo that was is the most recently discovered worldline. Hitler was assassinated a few weeks ago.
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