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Old 02-07-2017, 06:24 PM   #111
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

Sapient, psionic trees populate Aboria.

Visitors discover a world that seems primeval. Not merely untouched, but vigorously alive and both wild yet aesthetically beautiful, in the way that a carefully-crafted bonsai tree seems at once perfectly posed and completely natural. Animal life is active, and many species lost to Homeline flourish here, including more than a few never seen before. Plants of every kind proliferate, and even deserts' stark beauty seems sharpened here, stronger.

The inhabitants are about a hundred million psionic trees around the world. Each one is a titan of the forest, large enough to smash the records of any living tree on homeline (although some historical trees perhaps not). The average tree of this type weighs some 1,200 tons, but the height varies, as the apparent species of the tree is that of a species native to the area where it lives. Its consciousness is stored in a network of synapses and systems that mainly inhabits the root system of the tree, but also spreads upwards into the core of the bole.

Much of their lives is spent in contemplation, as well as communication with their neighbors and cultivation of their surroundings. They use their psionic abilities to shape the world into pleasingly natural and yet harmonious forms, or create entirely psionic artistry that is hard for humans to even contemplate.

Visitors are observed curiously. They let visitors operate undisturbed for a while so as to see how they really act, although playful tree-beings might send psionic visions to appear in the form of men, mer, or speaking animals. If visitors respond well, then a dialog may begin. If the visitors are stiff, unresponsive, or needlessly destructive, then the tree-beings will set to work driving them out.

Their ethics are different... they do not die of old age, and generally see much of what we call "ambition" as short-sighted or destructive. They also see any kind of group identity as, at best, a benign madness. Fanaticism they see as a terminal case. For all that, pursuit of self-defined ideological goals, such as, for instance, the study of knowledge for knowledge's sake, they respect. But it is art that they admire most. They always seek new forms of inspiration, new artistry. Visitors that provide it will be appreciated.

They are, originally, human, and in fact this is a no-mana worldline. Psionics is strong here, but the trees themselves function via a neural network integrated into them through eons-old genetic engineering and ordinary life processes.

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Old 02-10-2017, 07:17 PM   #112
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

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Patchwork Q6

Patchwork seems to be made up of bits and pieces of worlds the fit genres of popular fiction. Much of North Africa and Southwest Asia resembles a mixture of the Arabian Nights and a 1940's melodrama. In continental Europe there are vast numbers of little Ruritanian kingdoms involved in vast amounts of espionage and intrigue. Fairies, ghosts and magic are all over the British isles. The USA has a Space Program with moon bases and extra planetary and extra solar bases and colonies. Most of the American West resembles old Hollywood Westerns. Daily life in most of this America resembles old comedies, slapstick and screwball being dominant. New England, San Francisco, and New Orleans, are flooded with supernatural events. The President is one Andrew Taylor (an unmarried man his Aunt Bea is the First Lady) the Veep is a former military officer named Samantha Carter, a former Air Force Captain.

Centrum wonders why they can't seem to destabilize this parallel's USA. Homeline has a shrewd guess.
An acquaintance complained about all magic and no tech in Britain. Let me point out this world's Britain has an active space program. The ships are piloted by transparent robots.
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Old 02-12-2017, 02:50 PM   #113
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Try this, a parallel were benign alien life forms have landed on Earth and merged with the terrestrial ecosystem. Bazaar mutations have become the norm. Most people shapeshift into a new form if seriously injured. Many people undergo the same sort of event in old age or if they become seriously ill. The process resembles Regeneration in Doctor Who. The main differences are that A) after regeneration the regererated individual's physical age is either in their early twenties, or whatever age they were before if they were younger that that, B) sex changes randomly {about 45% male, 45% female, 10% intersex}, and C) the individual generally still looks like a member of their family, but within that limit this varies wildly.

Centrum, Homeline, and the Cabal, all see the advantages of long lived shapeshiting agents.
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Old 02-13-2017, 12:36 AM   #114
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

They may be too dangerous if they have an unlimited number of "regenerations" even if it's only when faced with otherwise survivable damage.
ISWAT may have no problem hiring demigods, but the public and governments officially don't like the practice.
In the old series, Time Lords' gained the power from the Rassilon treatment which was intentionally limited to 12 as "no one should live forever".
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Old 02-13-2017, 05:50 AM   #115
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

Functional immortality (which is debatable if these guys have) isn't the same thing as being a demigod. If you really want to get rid of one, its fairly easy to do, and that makes them a lot less scary. I don't see the need to put a limited number on it.
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Old 02-13-2017, 10:37 AM   #116
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

In a 2008 near-parallel, an old man bought a stranger a drink. The stranger listened to the old man speak of his regrets and sorrows, and felt pity on him. Most random travelers don't have the tools to undo sixty years of history, but this was no ordinary stranger.

The next time the old man woke up, he was sixteen again, and he was once again back in 1944. Would he know that it was a different world line, and that a remarkably similar 16-year-old was now wandering around 2008? Not likely.
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Old 02-14-2017, 02:45 PM   #117
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They may be too dangerous if they have an unlimited number of "regenerations" even if it's only when faced with otherwise survivable damage.
ISWAT may have no problem hiring demigods, but the public and governments officially don't like the practice.
In the old series, Time Lords' gained the power from the Rassilon treatment which was intentionally limited to 12 as "no one should live forever".
Individuals don't know how many regenerations they get, or what the limits of their regenerations are. So, people take fewer risks than you might think.
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Old 02-14-2017, 04:34 PM   #118
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

Cycle:

Annual events are set and repeat every time. In a small community, there's three or four specific days when a child is born, one day when the eldest person dies, a day when a house catches fire, a day when someone breaks their leg, a day when a hunt goes especially well, a day when travelers arrive...

The only exception is the last day of a leap year. on that day, nothing is ordained.

Small things, such as the specific manner in which an ordained event comes about, change freely. Population is stable.
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Old 02-17-2017, 10:18 AM   #119
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Reprise is the name of this parallel. Basically classic stories tend to repeat themselves, sometimes with the full mechanics, sometimes not.

At any given time stories like Cinderella, Robin Hood, the Nibelungenlied, the Arabian Nights, and the Mahabharata, are acting themselves out at any given time. Sometimes tragedy, at others farce, but Perseus, Dorothy, Ulysses, Medea, Helen, Rustrum, Arthur, David, Sinbad, and Jack, rub shoulders on the subway and in buses. At any time an outsider could get caught in a tale and be unable to leave until he or she has played their part.

The party that was forced to find the Gravitational Realignment Anti Inertial Loop, were really ticked off.
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:27 PM   #120
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

Wasn't only the virgin Galahad able to touch the Grail? That might lead to some teasing amidst an ISWAT team. Sooooo, about your girlfriend that totally exists in Canada?
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