Quote:
Originally Posted by Crystalline_Entity
Say a character wanted to take a contragravity scoutbot (Ultra-Tech p.80; TL 11^) from a worldline where contragravity worked to a world where it didn’t (using Nexus portals, if it matters). Is there anything in RAW as to what happens?
I can see a number of possible results:
- It doesn’t work… but will resume working perfectly when taken to a worldline where the natural laws permit contragravity.
- It doesn’t work… and will never work again, turning the contragravity generator into useless metal.
- It doesn’t work… and explodes (or does something else which is harmful).
- It doesn’t work… and will need to be repaired (possibly replacing some components in the contragravity generator) for it to work when taken to a worldline where the natural laws permit contragravity.
My gut reaction was option 2 (or maybe 3, if the item uses high-energy superscience power cells etc), to prevent characters causing chaos in low-tech worlds with ultra-tech technology, but I’m unsure whether this is sensible. Magical items explicitly obey option 1 (Magic p.6 - "enchantments...are suspended within a no-mana zone, but resume when taken to an area with mana"), though I’m not convinced that superscience items and magical items should merit equal treatment here.
Am I missing something in RAW about this? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these different approaches? How do other people deal with this? |
There's no particular reason for a consistent rule to exist. There are too many unrelated kinds of superscience and too many different ways for them to be impossible. Let's take a random example:
In the Marvel Universe one method of FTL travel involves a thing called a "Cavorite crystal". If you hit it with intense electromagnetic radiation, it can be used to produce anti-gravity, teleport, or end up an entirely different universe. Actually controlling what it does requires maths and stuff. Now lets move into another universe where that's pseudoscience.
But how is it pseudoscience? Is the crystal's internal structure impossible? It may instantly shatter, or it may just be transformed into something that makes sense for as long as it remains. It might revert if taken back. Or is the crystal's structure perfectly possible, but the space time curvature effects it produces just impossible? Then it may be fine as long as you don't try to use it but because it can no longer convert energy it will be shattered if you try to zap it. Or you may find that your Cavorite warp drive doesn't work because the gizmo to do the zapping is just as impossible as the space time warper.