New Reality Seeds

[PTTG]

Gotha-X

For the GM who wants to make things bad for the PCs...

Gotha-X (I don't want to look up the next open number) diverged with a subtle climatological shift that caused a brief, global famine circa 1100. Peasant labor shot up in value, and the dramatic unrest resulted in several European dynasties being overthrown, ultimately to be replaced with progressive leadership. As peasants were able to demand better living standards, wealth migrated from the nobles into society, gradually triggering an early Renaissance. TLs shifted a hundred years earlier, and the political structure of Europe was made dramatically more liberal at the same time.

In 1954, western society was a mature TL 9 in many respects (Only a low TL 8 in computers due to a substantially different economic model that didn't support moore's law, and upper-TL-8 cybernetics), with TL 10 experiments in a few fields (genetic engineering {crops mostly}, energy, transportation). However, the fast growth had striated society harshly, and outside of Europe many people still lived in TL 5 conditions. Only the colonialists and their allies ever had access to the best, and they used it to control local populations brutally. Practical medicine was TL 9, but many theories of human genetics, neurology, and even anatomy were painfully regressive due to prejudice against the colonial populations.

At some point - maybe in French Algonquinia, maybe in Ottoman Brazil, maybe in Holy Roman Beijing, or perhaps in British Timbuktu, a movement emerged to overthrow the imperialists using their own technology. The last several decades had seen more information processing used in political control, more computers and cameras and "telephons" (bugging devices), all of which demanded more skilled technicians. The colonial powers were forced to train locals in electronics and mechanics, and the slow growth of computers now meant that those basic skills were gateways to everything the Imperials knew.

In the end it was surprisingly simple for the distributed network of rebels to engineer a disease that would infect the self-styled "superior neurology" of the Europeans, and turn them into the savages they claimed to find in the rest of the world. It would be immune to the vaccines and hardy against the antivirals, and it would mutate frequently just in case. It would spread in the dense population of Europe and leave the oppressed colonies alone. A single desktop gene printer made 80% of the initial samples.

This was the Gotha virus.

It was a last, unintentional retribution by the Imperialists that sealed this world's fate; they considered the "hardy savages" of colonial nations to be highly resistant to disease, a fact they reflected in their medical records. "Fundamentally different," they believed. In truth, the Gotha virus had no difficulty spreading into the colonial world almost as fast as it spread in the crowded cities of Europe. By 1969, only tiny enclaves, all of them scattered in the peripheries of the world, remain. Europe is a savage, ruined place of the decaying towers of a once-mighty civilization where only robotic servitors and wild animals wander. Worst of all are the largest cities of the colonies; these are home to roving packs of Gotha-infectees, victims of fallen settlements and scavaging missions.

Outworld considerations:

This may be the origin world of the Gotha virus, and it is definitely a high-tech apocalypse world. On the other hand, roving packs of high-tech zombies, combat robots deployed in the final days of the collapse, and perfectly cognizant humans ready to trap, shoot, laser-blast, and/or rob anyone who looks unfamiliar. Infinity would probably be happy to close this world off for good and forget about it, but the fact of the matter is the address is already out there and White Star wants to loot it. Miracle Workers are trying to get permission to provide relief to stranded settlements and maybe even evacuate them to an empty alternate. There are even some crazed psychopaths hoping to go there and hunt zombies.

More alarming is the fact that, if this IS the origin world of Gotha, then how did the disease spread to other timelines? The obvious answer is also, perhaps, the most concerning part of this history: One of those advanced technologies the Imperial powers were experimenting with was cross-time travel, and if there were so many attempts to escape that failed, that brought the disease with them, how many new Imperial colonies are out there?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by PTTG

In 1954, western society was a mature TL 9 in many respects (Only a low TL 8 in computers due to a substantially different economic model that didn't support moore's law, and upper-TL-8 cybernetics)

I think that has to be "isn't willing to make people unemployed by increasing automation." Moore's "Law" is merely an observation that once you've started down the path of large-scale integrated circuits, developing this form of technology to greater capabilities is surprisingly easy.

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I think that has to be "isn't willing to make people unemployed by increasing automation." Moore's "Law" is merely an observation that once you've started down the path of large-scale integrated circuits, developing this form of technology to greater capabilities is surprisingly easy.

Certainly, in OTL, that is the case. I suspect that cliodynamically, moore's law depends on some assumptions (such as a strong consumer market and multiple actors) that aren't universal. Gotha-X had a government-run computer industry that produced chip designs, and a number of separate fab firms that produced computer parts to spec, dating back to 16th-century calculating engines for artillery.

Although yes, from a plot angle this is so because I want them to have a lot of fun gadgets without too much automation. Though that limits the number of robots that are reasonable to have... Still, they were high tech, probably developed only in the years during the spread of the disease.

[Astromancer]

While I was reading a book of essays by Christopher Hitchens, and specifically his essay on Rosa Luxemburg, I happened onto a piece of German colonial history that would be interesting to any gamer.

In 1904 a General Lothar von Trotha was gaining a reputation for brutality in the Herero Wars. These wars were pretty much genocideal. The General was later an early member of the Thule Society a group that seemed pleased with the General's record.

Among those helping the general were Josef Mengele's mentors, who performed medical experiments on the Herero tribes people. Hermann Goering's dad Heinrich Ernst Goering was the first colonial governor of Namibia.

The historical co-incidence of a brutal atrocity with several people that would have distant but significant links to the Third Reich can be spun in several ways. A simple fact finding mission to what is assumed to be a echo could involve sinister magic or just vast human evil. Perhaps the people of Atlantic left something dangerous in the Kalahari Desert something that the Thule society pasted to Hitler. There are so many ways to spin this old horror.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Certainly, in OTL, that is the case. I suspect that cliodynamically, moore's law depends on some assumptions (such as a strong consumer market and multiple actors) that aren't universal. Gotha-X had a government-run computer industry that produced chip designs, and a number of separate fab firms that produced computer parts to spec, dating back to 16th-century calculating engines for artillery.

Although yes, from a plot angle this is so because I want them to have a lot of fun gadgets without too much automation. Though that limits the number of robots that are reasonable to have... Still, they were high tech, probably developed only in the years during the spread of the disease.

Perhaps with a larger cheap labor pool than in OTL history, there wasn't as much push for automation and advanced computers. In Homeline post-WWII the labor of Latin America, Africa, and Asia were liberated from colonial rule, but then trapped in the Cold War, not to mention isolationist socialism. They only opened up after the fall of the U.S.S.R., and automation there is still behind what it is in the Western world.

If Europe/West/white people still ruled directly over the rest of the world as computers came into being, perhaps there wouldn't be as big a push towards automation. In Homeline automated manufacturing replaced relatively expensive Western unionized labor, as opposed to cheap Third World labor (it's now happening in places like coastal China that have recently advanced).

A preference for cheap labor over automation would mean more widely available generic products, but fewer highly advanced ones.

Originally Posted by PTTG

More alarming is the fact that, if this IS the origin world of Gotha, then how did the disease spread to other timelines? The obvious answer is also, perhaps, the most concerning part of this history: One of those advanced technologies the Imperial powers were experimenting with was cross-time travel, and if there were so many attempts to escape that failed, that brought the disease with them, how many new Imperial colonies are out there?

I like the idea of a potential original Gotha timeline. Maybe this could be called 'Gotha-0'? Maybe it gets renamed 'Gotha-X' from whatever its number was when Infinity thinks it might be the origin of the disease - not ready to yet name it 'Gotha-0' and say it was the source of the disease, but wanting to imply how serious this timeline might be.

I would say that Infinity would likely be able to clamp down on visits to it - even just being a Gotha timeline is enough to blacklist it. Then you throw in high-tech, and the potential of being the Gotha origin/parachronics, and it's on a Caliph-level secrecy. If the coordinates are out there, the only visitors would be under strict Infinity approval - except, of course, for illegal visitors like swagmen wanting to harvest high-tech.

Anyone interested in actual Gotha zombies, such as for zombie hunts or biological research, would likely go to a low-tech Gotha timeline. There would be less danger on the timeline (relatively speaking), and Infinity wouldn't be watching quite so hawkishly.


One way to up the drama on Gotha-X would be to put in on Q6 or Q7, and make it open to Centrum. The description of the world pre-virus sounds a lot like Centrum pre-Last War (Europeans rule over the rest of the world like a feudal empire, but relatively high-tech).

What if Centrum discovered the world pre-virus, and tried to prevent a Last War (of course Centrum would expect one), only to be blind-sided when not only is it a colonial rebellion (and not a fight among aristocrats that Centrum was expecting, because that's what happened on Centrum), but a bio-weapon?

Or what if this is one of the advanced worlds Centrum discovered early in their parachronic history, that then went apocalyptic - and there are rumors that Centrum started it? Maybe Centrum, or at least people in Centrum, were worried that Gotha-X would discover parachronics, and encouraged/created the original virus, only to see it spiral out of control - and then Centrum carried it over to other worlds and/or left behind parachronic tech enabled natives to carry it over?

That would be a kind of fascinating, if extremely large, meta-campaign, finding the roots of the Gotha virus in early Centran parachronic activity.

[Astromancer]

Try this idea, early in the 20th century there was a theory that Iceland existed because of an asteroid hit the Earth in that area. Well goofy theories make good gaming. So try the idea of that rock hitting elsewhere.

A) Picture a asteroid causing a large island Northeast of Japan. Near enough for fishermen to find it. Far enough South to be fertile enough to be settled. Close enough to North America to lead to a medieval Japanese discovery of America.

Assume Japanese politics slows down the settlement of North America so that Lewis and Clark would come into a Japanese frontier. A very different Old West. Got any Sushi Partner?

B) Land an asteroid in the area of Diego Garcia and place an Iceland sized island right there under India. Have pirates settle it first and the Brits take it over to stop piracy. Let the early governors believe letting in slaves would lead to the pirates becoming rich and able to rebel, so they bring in settlers from Britain and Ireland.

Now move ahead, you've got a new base in WWII. An island farm far more strategically placed than New Zealand and much harder for the Japanese to threaten than Australia. It gives you and interesting alternate WWII.

[PTTG]

Hints of Eternal Rome.

Somewhere, in the strange and weird worlds of Q3, right on the lower bound of Homeline's reach, there are hints of an old power...

If a Western Globalism (Homeline) and a Technological Socialism (Centrum) are the main players on Q5 and Q8, then On Q1, it is the Great Rome that rules.

I'm not sure of the details, but picture a High Mana Rome that gains the ability to, for instance, conjure banestorms to specific alternate worldlines, including No Mana ones, usually bringing with it a surge of Low Mana. At first, its mages make it a threat to high-tech worlds... but after the first exposure to high tech, things get VERY dangerous.

The current year is 699 CE, about three hundred years since their discovery of parachronic travel. Iesu, a figure considered to be the son of Jupiter and a mortal woman, is demigod of forgiveness and a fairly popular figure in shrines, but by no means a major part of the religion.

Greater Rome has only a very small library of worldlines. They use banestorms to explore and start travel between worlds, (an extremely dangerous proposition, of course,) but once a world is colonized, they establish permanent gateways built along their enchanted roads. THe use of Banestorms also gives Roman mages the ability to operate even on No Mana worldlines, at least long enough to establish permanent portals which seem to allow mana flow. Rome itself, the city, is a curious mixture of exquisitely cut stone, polished glass, and high-magitech features.

There's a lot of room for fluff here- the Legions and their mass-enchanted arms and armor, the Brobdingnagian shock troops, the special forces consisting of mage-marines in thaumic power armor, and so on. The Provincial Histories, intentionally prevented from having access to the best tech lest they become vain.

It'd be a fun foe world for PCs to get lost on. Considering that the Banestorm spells can have the same limitation as Projectors - and it, of all the spells, only seems to function on Greater Rome itself - the crosstime Empire has the same 5-Q "territory," but it's diffuse and distant enough to not be as worrying as Centrum. This is definitely not for everyone, though. It's a fairly large change and, if it was aware of Homeline, utterly terrifying.

[Astromancer]

A very clever threat to Homeline PTTG. Reich-5 might try to either conquer or con Great Rome and thus create a false impression of Fallen Rome Timelines.

[Astromancer]

Try this idea, Robert Fulton tried to get Napoleon to invest in steamboats. Napoleon didn't see how steampowered boats were possible. On this world (Bonapart-9, perhaps) Napoleon got it. Fulton's steam barges took the Grand Army across the channel against the winds and caught England by surprise. Another Army landed in Ireland and set up the Hiberian Republic.

The invasion happened in 1807 the local year on this Q5 world is 1808. London is held by the French. Wellington holds Northern England. The Cabal seems to be giving all their aid to the French and some other Mystic force is helping Wellington. Homeline wants to know who could hold off the Cabal. More importantly, could this person be a potential ally?

Meanwhile, Homeline France is furious. "How dare the Icops do anything to thwart a French conquest of Britain." The French are screaming "Cultural Imperialism!" So the Icops have to contact a mysterious Mystic while keeping a bitter and offended pack of nationalists from back home off their backs.

Remember, Homeline France routinely pulls these kind of stunts.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this idea, Robert Fulton tried to get Napoleon to invest in steamboats. Napoleon didn't see how steampowered boats were possible. On this world (Bonapart-9, perhaps) Napoleon got it. Fulton's steam barges took the Grand Army across the channel against the winds and caught England by surprise. Another Army landed in Ireland and set up the Hiberian Republic.

The invasion happened in 1807 the local year on this Q5 world is 1808. London is held by the French. Wellington holds Northern England. The Cabal seems to be giving all their aid to the French and some other Mystic force is helping Wellington. Homeline wants to know who could hold off the Cabal. More importantly, could this person be a potential ally?

Meanwhile, Homeline France is furious. "How dare the Icops do anything to thwart a French conquest of Britain." The French are screaming "Cultural Imperialism!" So the Icops have to contact a mysterious Mystic while keeping a bitter and offended pack of nationalist from back home off their backs.

Remember, Homeline France routinely pulls these kind of stunts.

Homeline Britain is likely to object to this, a fair bit. Possibly also Homeline Germany, and other Homeline countries that don't like Napoleon, but mostly Britain.