Converting popular settings to Infinite Worlds

[LoneWolf23k]

Been thinking of how to convert popular settings (RPGs, Comics, Animes, Cartoons, etc) into Infinite World Parallels..

Here's my first attempt:
Warhammer
Current Affairs: Even as the Empire recovers from it's last war against Chaos, SS Agents from Reich-5 are infiltrating the Empire, which they believe to be a strong candidate for the True Aryan Homeland. Patrol agents seek to undermine their efforts, while keeping a watchful eye on the forces of Chaos to prevent their expansion to other worlds.

Divergence Point: The Old Ones arrive on a prehistoric Earth and create new races, before being layed low by the daemonic energies unleashed by their own Warp Gates.

Major Civilisations: Western (Empire with Rivals); Chaos (Diffuse); Dwarf (Multipolar), Elvish (Tripolar); Orc (Diffuse)

Great Powers: The Empire (Odd blend of Athenian Democracy and Feudal system); Bretonnia (Feudal Dictatorship); the Warriors of Chaos (Clan/Tribal); The Orc Tribes (Clan/Feudal); The High Elven kingdom of Ulthuan (federation of multiple kingdoms); The Dark Elven lands of Naggaroth (Theocracy); The Dwarf Kingdoms (Feudal Kingdom)

Worldline Data: TL4 (with some areas of lower and higher tech)
Mana Level: Normal, with High and Very High Mana areas, mostly under Chaos control.
Quantum 3 Infinity Class: Z2
Centrum Zone: Inaccessible

The world called Warhammer has a physical geography roughly similar to most earths (with the addition of the Atlantic island continent of Ulthuan), and is currently in it's equivalent to the Renaissance. It is highly different from Earth's Renaissance due to the addition of numerous other nonhuman races competing with humanity, the presence of magic, and most especially the presence of the dark forces known as Chaos.

The Reich-5 agents which discovered Warhammer were delighted to discover an almost completly undiluted race of strong Germanic warriors in the men of the Empire, and have begun infiltrating the Empire's byzantine system of politics to acquire control. A few of them have actually and honestly converted to the Cult of Sigmar, much to the consternation of their Nazi comrades.

While the Patrol has discovered the Nazi's plans for Parallel domination, they actually consider it a secondary concern, compared to the Chaos cults and Daemons. It is believed that the Warp leads to another Universe, which means the Daemons and their Chaos Gods could find their way to yet other worlds, making them a Multiversal threat...


...And that's it for this one. Now, let's see some others...

[Huyderman]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

The Empire (Odd blend of Athenian Democracy and Feudal system)

I would disagree with this. The Empire is not an Athenian Democracy. The electoral system is exclusivly the domain of nobels, and normal people have little influence. The Emperor is nominally in charge of the Empire, but is dependant of the support of the Elector Counts. Each Elector Count (including the Emperor, but excluding the Teological Electors) is the ruler of his/her own province.
The fact that the Elector Counts elect one of their own to be emperor does not make the system democratic, and much less an athenian democracy. The Empire is in fact an Elective Monarchy, in much the same fashion as the Holy Roman Empire upon which it is based.

[DrTemp]

Originally Posted by Huyderman

I would disagree with this. The Empire is not an Athenian Democracy. The electoral system is exclusivly the domain of nobels, and normal people have little influence. [...]

You mean, as in Athens? ;-)

Nice idea, by the way. How about A LotR parallel? Or a Moorcock-type bunch of interlinked parallels?

[Huyderman]

Originally Posted by DrTemp

You mean, as in Athens? ;-)

Now I don't know much about political structure in old Athens, so I'm basing myself on the definition of Athenian Democracy as defined in GURPS Campaigns. Which does not fit well with how the political structure in The Empire work.

[elShoggotho]

You missed the Dark Elves, living on the edge of the northern wastes in their kingdom of Naggaroth, and the Skaven, living in tunnels and burrows throughout the Old World. There are also the Lizardmen of the New World, who are mostly pseudo-Aztec. In the end, there are also the eastern lands, which sport chaos dwarves and hobgoblins and further on the realm known as Nippon...
There's also the kingdom of Bretonnia, which is clearly Arthurian.

Thanks for mentioning Michael Moorcock. The north polar portal is clearly an attempt by the Lords of Chaos to establish their own rule in that world. Sigmar clearly was an incarnation of the Eternal Champion, but without his sword.

[ed_209a]

If we are talking GW worlds, lets include Warhammer 40K.

One interesting theory I have heard about the two games is that the world of Warhammer Fantasy might be just one of the millions of colony worlds from the 40K setting. Many worlds were isolated in the "crash" that happened before the Emperor took over. Fantasy "magic" could be a rationalization of 40k Psi (or vice versa?)

Dimentional travel to the 40K setting might be dicey, since they already have protocols in place for visitors from other dimensions: Gestapo-like Inquisitors and plasma-based flamethrowers. Admittedly, the usual plane-hoppers are there for something a little more insidious than opening new markets for iPods and fast-food franchises.

EDIT: Oof, forgot we are talking jumping from one Earth to an alternate Earth. In 40k, Earth (Terra) is the capital world of the Empire... They are probably VERY alert to new, unexplained visitors. Could be a very short trip.

[elShoggotho]

Reminds me of old times, when I recreated the Aliens movie as Imperial Guard vs. Necrons, in GURPS 3e...

[LoneWolf23k]

Ok, time to resurrect this thread with another World..

Lucifer-7 (aka Neon Genesis Evangelion ) Current year: 2015

Current Affairs: 15 years after the Second Impact, Tokyo-3, a militarized civilian city located on one of the last dry sections of Japan, is attacked by the first of a series of strange organisms referred to as Angels. Conventional weapons are found to be ineffective, but the paramilitary organization NERV has succeeded in developing biomechanical mecha, the Evangelions, (or Evas), which are capable of intercepting the Angels.

Divergence Point: The Second Impact occurs in Antarctica in 2000, destroying the contient and causing the Earth's axis to tilt, radically altering the planet's climate (The true nature of 2nd Impact and the Angels is unknown to Infinity and Centrum at this time)

Major Civilisations: Western (Multipolar), Japanese (Unitary), Arab (Multipolar)

Great Powers: NERV (UN Special Agency); The United Nations have effectively become a world government.

Worldline Data:
TL: 8 Mana Level: No Mana
Quantum: 6 Infinity Class: R5 (under revision)
Centrum Zone: Orange

Infinity discovered this world 10 years after Second Impact, and classified it as a Lucifer world. Infinity's activities on Lucifer-7 involve trying to remove Centrum influence on the United Nations and investigating the activities of NERV following the recent appearance of the Angels. Centrum is currently attempting to acquire more influence on the UN council, and has only become infiltrating NERV as a reaction to the Angels' appearance.

Neither Infinity nor Centrum are aware of the true nature of the Second Impact and the Angel threat.

[David Johnston]

Amber

Current Affairs: Amber has settled down with the installation of a new monarch whose wife has the political acument and charm to win over most of the fractious brothers and sisters who were rival claimants to the throne. Centrum, Infinity and Reich-5 all lack the capability to reach Quantum 1 where Amber resides.

Great Powers: The city state of Amber itself is the only great power on its world.

Worldline Data: TL 3+2.
Mana Level: No Mana.
Quantum: 1, Infinity Class: Undiscovered.
Centrum Zone: Undiscovered

Amber is the only world in Quantum 1 and it is the source of all the "timelines" familiar to Infinity to Centrum. The reason why conveyors will work in Centrum and Infinity and not the intervening worlds is because Centrum and Infinity both contain faded copies of the one True Pattern of Amber, and the conveyors are in reality powered by Pattern. Mana based magic doesn't work in Amber. Nor does much in the way of advanced technology. Only the spiritual power of the Pattern and the rival power of the Logrus function there and the Logrus is weakened. The big secret that Van Zandt revealed to the U.N. was the existence of the Courts of Chaos, an extradimensional army which in it's enmity toward Amber intended to invade intervening quanta, using them as staging bases to get closer to Amber, with the result of even a partial success being a "weakening of reality" that would undermine the very consistency of the natural laws of Homeline, wiping out most of humanity as their technology became unreliable and lifeforms mutated into monsters. The hidden purpose of the Infinity Patrol is to keep an eye out for the forces of Chaos and, by drawing Centrum out of the isolation which would otherwise be its wont...to make them keep an eye out as well.

[William]

Amber would make a very interesting overlay for the Infinite World setting; I say an "overlay" since really it threatens to rewrite the entire cosmology for the system, putting Amber and the Courts of Chaos at the poles of existence and relegating Infinity and Centrum to simple Shadow operatives.

If I were inclined to include Amber and the Courts in an Infinite Worlds setting -- and to be certain, several of the enhancements and limitations on Jumper seem designed with Amber-style Shadow-walking in mind, such as requiring motion and having a limited range per hop -- I would have the two of them be realms in Yetzirah, probably with the Courts strongly aligned with the decan of Akhouiy and Amber representing Alath. This would in turn explain the difficulty of getting high tech, such as gunpowder, to work there. The natives of these realms, sufficiently awakened by exposure to the Pattern and the Logrus, would thereafter be able to descend to the material worlds of Assiah, or as they call them, the Shadows, and walk among them from there. Both realms are isolated from most of the rest of Yetzirah, though Amber possibly has a connection to Briah (where the deeper Pattern lies). In particular, you cannot walk directly from the Courts to Amber (though Corwin manages to go from deep Amber straight to the Courts via Trump!).

This makes Amber and the Courts a source of parachronozoids that can roam the entire Infinite Worlds setting. The Broken Patterns in Shadow, areas in the material world strongly tangent to Amber but possibly tainted by the Abyss ("it becomes like a dark well from which you draw power," as Jasra describes it), could be a nice site for a PC to pick up Jumper abilities and magical or super powers. Amber and the Courts can still quite legitimately regard themselves as bracketing existence, even with Homeline and Centrum being anchor timelines.