Craft-1 (Quantum 7)

[Moe Lane]

http://moeticae.typepad.com/weblog_l...3/craft-1.html

Map here.

Craft-1

This Quantum 7 parallel has only been of real interest to Infinity in the last few years. On the surface, it was merely a slightly dull world where the post-Revolutionary United States broke up its trans-Appalachian territories into distinctly different states. What was missed was that this was primarily due to a somewhat more powerful Freemasonic influence in Craft-1 - and that this influence was due to that society's unlocking of true esoteric arts sometime in the mid 1750s. The result was a normal mana world with several areas mildly aspected towards the Communication and Empathy school of magic.

Once its unique nature was discovered, Craft-1 instantly went from not-particularly-interesting to full-fledged Z3 restricted... and the I-Cops are only moderately hopeful that they caught the problem in time.

Craft-1, 1850

Current Affairs
Infinity gingerly tracks an alternate Compromise of 1850 while simultaneously trying to determine the extent of cross-time contamination, in both directions.

Divergence Point
1723: British Freemason James Anderson unlocks the ancient secrets of Freemasonry.

Major Civilizations
Western (Empire with rivals), Islamic (empire), Chinese (Empire)

Great Powers
Great Britain (ogliarchy, CR3), United States of America (democratic republic, CR2, CR5 for blacks), Republic of France (democratic republic, shifting to dictatorship, CR3), Russian Empire (dictatorship, CR4), Ottoman Empire (dictatorship, CR5), Chinese Empire (feudal, CR3-5)

Worldline Data
TL: 5
Quantum: 7
Mana Level: normal with aspected areas (Communication & Empathy)
Centrum Zone: Not yet discovered, but will be Red when found
Infinity Level: Z3

In 1723 AD, James Anderson published the first constitution for English Freemasonry in both Homeline and Craft-1: however, in the latter timeline he also privately published a description and analysis of certain experiments that promised to reveal the secrets of Solomon. While Anderson never lived to see his Great Work completed, even by the time of his death the first principles of Sacred Geometry and True Sight had been worked out by British Freemasons. In the century since, the Great Work has allowed Masonic adepts to master the arcane secrets of the mind, and make some progress towards other, lesser forms of magic.

It is interesting - or perhaps merely a fairly high level of inertia - that this has had limited effect on the gross outlines of world history. American (and later, French) Masonic lodges swiftly began their own research into the Great Work, with both learning enough secrets in time to effectively neutralize British esoteric power during both the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The latter conflict convinced all three sets of lodges of the virtues of peace, and the post-Waterloo period saw both a formal cessation of hostilities between the various branches of Freemasonry, and a tacit division of the world (via the 1820 Secret Compact) into spheres of influence. France was given primacy of place in mainland Europe and Africa (including the suddenly all-important Egypt); the United States were confirmed in the esoteric equivalent of the Monroe Doctrine; and England was given a free hand in Asia and Australia. All three groups tend towards subtle, reasonably well-intentioned meddling, with a prejudice against a repeat of the carnage of the Napoleonic era. The South American revolutionary movements of the 1820s (and the European ones of the 1840s) were carefully managed, and both the Russian and Ottoman Empires are being slowly reshaped into a more "enlightened" form. Only the Chinese Empire remains really independent (although British Freemasons rather arrogantly decided to subvert the Tai'ping Rebellion), and that's largely due to their own rediscovery of esoteric knowledge.

With the exception of Aaron Burr's attempts to create an independent Freemasonry sect (the remnants of which were finally quashed in the process of fighting the Mexican-American War), the thirty years since the Secret Compact have seen no real challenges to the status quo, although internal tensions have begun to grow. In the USA, the northern and southern branches of American Freemasonry are getting involved in the slavery issue, with compromise growing harder and harder to accomplish with every passing year. British Freemasons have similar problems, as colonial lodges begin to criticize the directives of their English superiors. And in France, a somewhat more charismatic and effective President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte seems to be well along the way of taking direct control of the Grand Orient de France, with mainland Europe being next. Many savants worry that the Great Work may be interrupted again, merely for the sake of some petty - or not so petty - war...

While the world is now normal-mana, actual magical knowledge was exclusively possessed by Freemasonry until quite recently, and its adepts still possess the most power and skill. In game terms, Freemasons have access to the entire school of Communication & Empathy, any necessary prerequisites to those spells, and all spells in the Basic Set. Masonic temples tend to become lightly aspected towards Communication & Empathy spells (+1 to rolls) shortly after their consecration. Non-Masonic mages do exist, but are not yet well organized outside of China. Chinese mages are well-organized, have managed to glean enough esoteric knowledge from ancient texts to reproduce the spells from the Basic Set, and are well on the way towards developing a commanding lead in the fields of alchemy and elemental magic.


Outworld Involvement

As far as Infinity can tell, Centrum either hasn't discovered the timeline yet, or doesn't want to have anything to do with it if they have (as it happens, the former is the correct interpretation). This relieves the I-Cops only slightly, as it is becoming increasingly clear that the Cabal has wormed its way into this timeline with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. It's unclear whether they visit Craft-1 for research, experimental, or even recreational purposes, but they are visiting, and in slowly increasing numbers. Fortunately for Infinity, the Cabal's own reluctance to act openly seems to be in full effect; if the locals have been told about other planes of existence, it's not immediately obvious.

This is important because Infinity is well aware that the Secret is not only in constant danger of being compromised on Craft-1; it may have already been compromised. Infinity was running operations on this timeline for almost a decade before it was discovered that there were native magical telepaths in existence there. There have been no signs that any of them had ever scanned the mind of an I-Cop, and no-one visits Craft-1 without being as esoterically protected as Homeline knows how - but there's always the chance that someone is merely biding his time. Or, for that matter, that someone is simply going to stumble across a suitable Gate spell on his own.

With that kind of concern, more conventional Infinity operations are few. There isn't even the usual, if slightly boring, exercises in acquiring statistical information; after all, the entire timeline is being subtly manipulated by a secret society, which tends to skew the data. Some sociologists are interested in seeing what the various Masonic lodges will turn into over the next twenty years, particularly if the American Civil War happens on schedule - but even then that's more about (slightly morbid) curiosity than it is about sociological research.

Other Crafts

Infinity reserves the "Craft" designation for timelines that combine organized worldwide conspiracies with organized magical or psionic knowledge. Craft-2 (Q3, current year 1260 AD) is a high-mana world where the Knights Templar are warrior-mages defending the remnants of the Byzantine Empire from the Mongols. Craft-3 (Q4, current year 1842 AD) is a normal-mana world where the Bavarian Illuminati openly rule over a European empire that stretches from Spain to Kiev, with the Freemasonic kingdoms of Briton, Washington, and Napoleon II's "France over the Sea" opposing him. They, plus the shadowy, and not particularly savory, Russian Union of Salvation (in power since the Glorious Decembrist Revolution), are mobilized in a great war over the prizes of the Papal Lands, the treasures of Egypt, and the location of the final resting place of Koschei the Deathless.

[Greystar]

Cool write-up. I hope more people do things like these.

[Moe Lane]

Originally Posted by Greystar

Cool write-up. I hope more people do things like these.

Thank you. I'm actually surprised that more people don't. :)

[combatmedic]

Definitely cool.

[Captain-Captain]

Here's another. Now who will have the guts to toss a Dungeon Fantasy World into the IW framework?

Kaiser is a designation for worlds where Germany and it's allies won or at least survived the Great War more or less intact.

Kaiser 2 1964
Quantum 4
TL 7+1
Infinity Classification Z3 (recent, fomerly R7)

A world with a major breakthrough in energy production beginning to colonize the solar system.

The first major diversion of this timeline began in 1916. Austrian Intelligence agents working with the German Navy came up with a plan to ruin Britain's claims of innoncence regarding the shipping of munitions on their passenger liners, specifically to capture the Lusitania and put the Wilson government in the position of having to confiscate the ship. .

A well executed hijacking of the ship took place it's first night out of New York. Neutral citizens were comandeered to act as witness and verify the ship illegally carried contraband items out of the US. The crew and officers were crammed into barely enough life boats to fit them all and set to find their way to land. The true manifest of what the ship carried was found, photographed and the pictures developed aboard the ship. Copies of the photos and second signings of the depositions taken were given to the neutrals who'd acted as witnesses. The passengers were allowed to go to the lifeboats nearer to shore. The ship was then sailed off, to meet with the ship that would take the hijackers home and to ensure the Lusitania ran aground some 20 miles south of Atlantic City.

The passengers, falsely told the Germans had placed bombs among the munitions gave reports that stalled the authorities from taking any immediate action regarding the ship.

The hijackers escaped and handed their evidence to an Austrian diplomat.

The scandal ensured the US would be truely neutral in the war for the rest of it's duration. And also ensured the election of former Justice Charles Hughes that November.

This hurt the British and French a lot and won sympathy for the German and Austrians in the US. It also extended the Great War's duration until 1922.

In 1921 however, German anti-aircraft shot down a strange aircraft, one utterly unknown. They actually brought down a visiting alien ship.

They recovered several working generators, cold 4 proton fusion suitcase sized units able to produce about 2 megawatts of power each. It had one effect on the war. Germany, whose science and engineering gave them gasoline from coal and superior aircraft and submarines and let them catch up to the British in Tanks, was winning the war. The desire to see if they could make something of these generators got the Kaiser to offer terms the British and French could accept.

German physicists led by Einstein, Planck and Heisenberg could not possibly uncover the secrets to making the materials that let cold fusion work in so small a volume, but they did find the basis for making 20 acre sized generators that could produce up to 5 megawatts that ran on hydrogen extracted from water.

The Second World War started in 1938, when the Japanese Soviet Axis faced Germany, England, France and the United States.

Cold Fusion didn't work to create atomic weapons but it spurred their development. The Soviets fell to German nuclear bombs and the joint armies of the allies in 1942, the Japanese surrendered a month later on somewhat better terms.

German and US technology was considerably more advanced than anyone elses and the Council of Nations essentially became a means of keeping peace between countries, with US, German and Austrian forces mostly used when peace keeping attempts failed.

Space exploration began with the use of rockets in the second war and the development of 'fuzion burst' technology, which was about the nastiest result you could get if you tried to make cold fusion go boom, greatly expanded the Delta Vee of a rocket engine equipped with one or two of them (and no more owing to weight limits)

Germany won the race to the Moon in 1959. The US, however, somewhat humiliated by the German success is well on it's way to reaching Mars and has established a base on the Moon, though it is well smaller than any of the German moon bases.

Infinity found this world around the time Reich 5 did. ISWAT agents killed the psi who brought the SS Raven forces to this world. Whether Reich 5 has another way of getting here is unknown and the SS not killed committed suicide to avoid talking. All evidence is that the cold fusion works in this universe and none other that Infinity knows of.

However even if the Nazis are stopped here, there is a new and bigger problem: An Iswat monitoring station placed on an Earth grazer asteroid has picked up signs that something BIG is approaching the edge of the the solar system. Could someone be looking for a lost spaceship?

Not really wanting to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, most Infinity operations were shut down and personnel recalled. A few observers and robotic spies remain.

[Moe Lane]

Cool. You should turn that one into its own thread.

[TheDS]

Just as a minor matter of accuracy, had not the USA entered the war when it did, with Russia having just been forced to make peace, England and especially France would not have lasted much longer. It was hope for American entry that really kept up the Allies' hopes, and dashing them would've ended the war probably before much of 1918 had passed. Both the Allies and the Central Powers were teetering on the brink of collapse most of that year.

From the example they made of the Russians ("give us this huge swath of land or we'll take more"), I think the French would've been quick to offer them whatever they wanted, so long as they didn't go overboard.

I'm not convinced the Kaiser would've been content to have what he'd gained, but whether harsh victory terms would've created a French Hitler (or Featherston) cannot be known. The matter not having been suitably settled, you can bet there'd still be another major war in Europe.