New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

This alternate world had different geography. There were many more islands off the coast of Morocco and even as far north as southern Portugal. In Roman and Medieval times these islands were routinely visited by European ships and merchants. As this chain of islands extended as far south as Senegal. Thus European sailors were always in contact with West Africa from the Classical period on.

This Q6 parallel's local year is 1530. The Tech level is still Four, but both continents, Europe and Africa are more prosperous. Prince Henry the Navigator achieved his mission to circumnavigate Africa in his lifetime. Europe and West Africa see themselves as Christendom, one unity.

Homeline wants to see where this parallel is going. The Cabal hopes to learn new mystic secrets. Centrum hopes to use dynastic marriages to create a universal monarchy and lock this world up forever and a day.

Can you rescue them.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

This Q6 world diverges from Homeline in 1942 when a young woman (Sally Watkins) in London wins a free trip to a resort. In most worlds, the raffle doesn't take place because of the binge drinking of the man running the raffle.

Because Sally Watkins was away, she wasn't killed when a bomb landed square on her apartment. Moreover, she was seduced by a man at the resort, became pregnant, and had a child on April 30th, 1943.

Henry Watkins was always interested in things occult and had a keen analytical mind and clearly some occult gifts. All reports suggest that either Henry had outrageous paranormal luck powers or he was a functional magician by his early teens.

Like many young people in the 1960s, he experimented with drugs, meditation, and explored expanding consciousness. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Henry examined his experiences with a keen analysis, a scientific worldview, and the ability to see beyond the physical world into spirit realms. Henry saw that he could change the world, so he went ahead and changed it.

On November 7th, 1978 Henry performed a ritual in his flat in Islington that changed the world, slowly.

Before Henry Watkins cast his spell a weak form of Path/Book magic (almost exclusively effecting Luck and self-perception) was rare but normal on this parallel. On the morning of Nov. 8th, 1978 Henry's apartment was a high manna area. A slowly growing High Manna area.

Around the world, there are other areas of High Manna that start at the same time. Hunted houses, places of legend, areas held to be strange by the locals from Faerie Raths in Ireland, to places were the locals say UFOs land in California or Texas. These to start small and are slowly growing.

The local year in this parallel is 2013. Henry Watkins is 70 years old and still looks 35. The planet is somewhat like Homeline in 2013 except that this world is 85% No Manna/15% High Manna. Also, there have since interesting bits of luck. Example: The Challenger developed a glitch. While figuring out what happened the O-ring Problem was discovered. Politicians that had little or no regard for working class people had interesting (generally humiliating and career ending) accidents. While the champions of Unions and working class people worldwide have had excellent luck. There was no market crash in 2008 and there are the beginnings of an international Moonbase. But anyone who was an adult in Homeline's 2013 would feel very much at home.

The Cabal is intrigued and disturbed. The Cabal still knows nothing about Henry, who still looks and sounds like an ordinary Working Class Londoner, but they know a genius with the magics of Luck and Manna is hidden from them. Meanwhile, Henry knows about the Cabal, Centrum, and Homeline. He sees no use in the first two and is trying to figure out how to deal with the third. He wants his world to be an equal partner. He knows it's a tough sell.

[Astromancer]

Henry Watkins from the last posting is basically John Constantine without the nihilism and bitterness and with a lot more hope. So he's as tough and tricky as Constantine, more mystically powerful, but he lacks the Punk Rage "let it go to hell" brutality. Henry has great wells of kindness in him. Not to say he is anyone's fool or sentimental. But unlike Constantine, he isn't bitter.

[Astromancer]

Some recent Lovecraft fans have played with the idea that Helena Blavatsky was a dupe of the Outer Gods. This makes a good roleplaying idea. Blavatsky's whole Root Race idea takes the late 19th century's Scientific Racism and blends it with Atlantis and Hindu myth cycles. She sweetens the weird mix for her audience by announcing that "The sixth subrace of the Aryan's" would show up in California from Anglo-American stock. Something aimed to massively flatter her American followers and donors.

In a world targeted by Nyarlathotep or something similar, having Indigo Children show up. The Indigo Children are actually stolen from a parallel which neither Homeline nor Centrum can access at this time, and the Cabal has not yet found. They are Parahumans whose traits fit the standard descriptions of the Indigo Children in local New Age tropes. Generally, these Indigo Children will need Heightened IQ, Intuition, Psi powers, and perhaps Magery.

The plan is to use the Indigo Children to create a cult that can summon the Outer Gods to this Parallel and free them to travel the nearby worlds without restriction. I assume that some Cabal groups will be either dupes or allies of Nyarlathotep or whoever is behind the plots. This means the Cabal with be both and ally and a threat to the PCs.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

Mallory-13

Worlds, where the Arthurian Cycle seems to be happening in the present, get the Camelot designation. Worlds were Arthur is returning in the modern world get the Mallory designation.

Mallory-13 is a Q6 parallel where the local history diverged from Homeline's in the 1950s. Stalin lived a longer life and launched a war of conquest in 1950. Truman turned out to be effective in leading a World War. Strom Thurmond, horrified that Truman was promoting desegregation and civil liberties as vital to America's maintaining her moral leadership and winning WWIII, assassinated Truman. The chaos in the US government gave the USSR several years of advantage.

In 1960 the MacArthur administration was able to launch enough H-bombs to break the USSR. But then collapsed in a civil war as the Corporate Junta tried to stomp out all traces of democracy in America and the people fought back.

Then in shattered ruins of Britain, Arthur has returned.

This is a post apocalyptic world where King Arthur and his knights, with Merlin, Morgan, and many others in tow have returned. The local mana level is High, the Tech Level is seven in some enclaves, in certain areas mixtures of technology and magic make the effective tech level higher, but not consistently.

Britain, Ireland, and much of Western Europe are afflicted with strange magics and wonders. Japan, Indonesia, Egypt, and the West Indies, among other places, have similar problems. The brutal remnants of Brezhnev's empire still threaten from the east. A mysterious gigantic old woman is known to advise Brezhnev and his government. Civil war still makes America bleed, and not only America.

The PCs are knights, magicians, scholars, diplomats, and others, allied with Arthur's court and committed to restoring democracy, justice, fairness, and peace, in a post apocalyptic world.

[Prince Charon]

Infinity discovered this worldline in the local year 203 CE, and at first thought it could an historical echo, until they saw a narrow boat rapidly steaming upriver.

This worldline appears to have diverged during the reign of Emperor Titus of Rome, or possibly his father, Vespasian, when s mutated variety of seaweed began growing rapidly, choking the coastal regions and shallows of the Mediterranean. While the seaweed was easily collected, it wasn't very good to eat, either in flavor or nutrition, but was quite annoying. When Domitianus became Emperor after his brother's assassination on 82 CE (about a year later than on Homeline, and a clear murder rather than the more questionable death of our history), one of his first acts was to offer up a reward for anyone who could find something useful to do with the ubiquitous weed.

An eccentric patrician called Marcus Icilius Gregorius, who had been fascinated with the aeolipile in his youth, noted that the dried seaweed burned hotter than wood, and decided that it would make an excellent fuel for an item that he'd once dreamed of: a boat propelled by a short Archimedes' screw, attached to an aeolipile. The only problem was, if he built up enough steam pressure to do useful work, the spherical bronze vessel holding the steam would burst. Iron was stronger, of course, but not strong enough when compared to its weight.

Late one night, it is said, after thinking long on the problem and falling asleep, Gregorius dreamed of the god Vulcan, who told him to use the seaweed to make stronger iron. When he woke, he gathered a group of blacksmiths, told them of the dream, and began a series of what could loosely be termed experiments to try to craft stronger iron. Eventually, he (or rather, a blacksmith and a mason whose names are lost to history) developed a process by which they produced a primitive form of steel. This, Gregorius had his craftsmen use to create both a boiling vessel, and eventually a tubular aeolipile containing a screw of its own, a primitive steam turbine.

Thus in 89 CE did Gregorius demonstrate his steam-powered boat to Domitianus - who viewed it as a complex toy (after all, they had plenty of slaves to row boats and ships with), but was rather more interested in this 'steel' thing he used to make the engine. Gregorius did receive the reward promised, but it was for steel, not steam, that he was honoured.

The steam turbine remained a toy (or a component in toys) for much of the proceeding century, until the Plague of Cassius (OTL Antonine Plague; the emperor it was named for was never born in this timeline), when the shortage in slaves and other workers caused the Romans to look again at the writings of various philosophers about the useful work the turbine might be put to.

This world is a bizarre mix of Classical Rome and Steampunk, complete with autocarriges, railroads, and even newspapers (the printing press having been invented in Alexandria, Aegyptus in 169 CE), yet lacking in gunpowder (though they do have steam cannon), telescopes, and many other essentials of the Age of Steam.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Eventually, he (or rather, a blacksmith and a mason whose names are lost to history) developed a process by which they produced a primitive form of steel.

Err, Imperial Rome was well aware of steel and used it. A better steel-making process, on the other hand, might well attract rewards.

[Astromancer]

Rome seems to have had a great deal of Clockpunk style technology. They just didn't apply it to what we would see as practical problems. The Anitkythera mechanism long preceded the simple use of crank to help pull buckets up from wells. Slaves could pull the water up the old fashioned way. It's much like the simple fact that English and French women of means had servants, the servant tax in the Netherlands meant rich Dutch women did their own cooking. The Dutch women invented or rewarded the inventors of many kitchen devices. Romans could simply throw more slaves at any problem so technology was for toys. The labor shortage could change Rome.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Err, Imperial Rome was well aware of steel and used it. A better steel-making process, on the other hand, might well attract rewards.

Had forgotten that, but treat it as a better form of steel, and it still works. IIRC, one of the issues people bring up when someone suggests earlier steam engines is the strength of the steel, so it needs to be stronger than what they had at the time in our history.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Rome seems to have had a great deal of Clockpunk style technology. They just didn't apply it to what we would see as practical problems. The Anitkythera mechanism long preceded the simple use of crank to help pull buckets up from wells. Slaves could pull the water up the old fashioned way. It's much like the simple fact that English and French women of means had servants, the servant tax in the Netherlands meant rich Dutch women did their own cooking. The Dutch women invented or rewarded the inventors of many kitchen devices. Romans could simply throw more slaves at any problem so technology was for toys. The labor shortage could change Rome.

That part I did remember (along with the results of the Black Death in the 14th century), hence my searching for a plague that could cause such a labour shortage, when working on the post.

Incidentally, being sick sucks, and I do not recommend it.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Incidentally, being sick sucks, and I do not recommend it.

Been there, vomited that. Sickness is a nasty bore.