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Old 10-06-2007, 08:02 PM   #1
Tom Mazanec
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

Darwin was forced to publish his evolution theory "early" because he received a letter from another naturalist (Wallace IIRC) who was working on the same idea.
Elisha Gray (or Grey, never can remember which) patented the telephone on the same day as Alexander Graham Bell.
Caliph has had the technology to build conveyors for centuries. Why haven't they done so? Just butterflying Van Zandt won't be enough.
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Old 10-06-2007, 08:25 PM   #2
David Johnston
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

What gives you the idea that Caliph has the technology to build conveyors?
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Old 10-06-2007, 08:51 PM   #3
isthisfunforyou
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

Darwin’s unpublished writings clearly show Darwin thought the concept first. In fact, he thought of it well before Wallace was even born (Darwin was an old guy before he got the balls to share his works with the world).

Darwin mistakenly thought Wallace had the same idea-but in reality, Wallace’s ideas were incomplete compared to Darwin’s. Darwin, being a generous man by all accounts, gave Wallace co-credit for the idea. It wasn’t till years later did Darwin realize that Wallace’s ideas were actually different then his own. In his private writings, Wallace agreed and said Darwin gave him too much credit.

As an aside, Darwin is not famous for evolution (or at least he shouldn’t be). He’s famous the theory of natural selection as the primary mechanism by which evolution occurs. The concept of evolution (or at least the mutability of species) is much older-the earliest known mention of evolution is from 6th century BC.
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Old 10-06-2007, 09:46 PM   #4
LoneWolf23k
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

Caliph is apparantly working into the field of FTL drives, and according to one theory, the local quantum field of a universe can only deform in one "direction", either "timeward" or "spaceward". So since Caliph is heading spaceward, it can't develop timeward technology..
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Old 10-06-2007, 09:48 PM   #5
Apache
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

IIRC, Caliph MAY have the tech to build conveyors, but both Centrum AND Infinity have made the timeline a 'NoGo' zone, and are VERY SERIOUS about it.

Even if Caliph is a timeline where projectors won't work, they would soon dominate the Quanta.

Plus, IIRC, Caliph has STL interstellar travel.....which opens up whole new bottles of worms.
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Old 10-07-2007, 01:02 AM   #6
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
IIRC, Caliph MAY have the tech to build conveyors, but both Centrum AND Infinity have made the timeline a 'NoGo' zone, and are VERY SERIOUS about it.

Even if Caliph is a timeline where projectors won't work, they would soon dominate the Quanta.

Plus, IIRC, Caliph has STL interstellar travel.....which opens up whole new bottles of worms.
It's the same year in Homeline and Centrum and some theories go that this is a factor as to which timelines CAN produce Projector effects.

It may be that Conveyor theory depends on Projector phenomena being observed. If you can't develop Parachonatic travel because projectors aren't capable of working in your universe, (but can project and retrieve conveyors when operating in a universe that permits them to exist) you are stuck to A) developing Exotic forms of dimensional travel, ie magic, supers etec. Getting a working Conveyor and seeing what makes it tick (limits you to your quantum unless the Projector people cooperate). Or phenomena like the Chronobahn and Banestorms.
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Old 10-07-2007, 01:16 AM   #7
Dangerious P. Cats
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

There could be ultra secrete missions to prevent Caliph from discovering it. Could be a good basis for an adventure.
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Old 10-07-2007, 06:06 AM   #8
Rutan
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
Caliph has STL interstellar travel.....which opens up whole new bottles of worms.
So they're bottling the worms now? It's amazing how Caliph technology is progressing. I expect they'll be letting cats out of the tin soon.
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Old 10-07-2007, 06:13 AM   #9
Jürgen Hubert
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

What makes you think that Caliph-made conveyors would actually work?

After all, both Homeline and Centrum seem to be special somehow...
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Old 10-07-2007, 08:12 AM   #10
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Why hasn't Caliph discovered the Secret?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec
Caliph has had the technology to build conveyors for centuries. Why haven't they done so? Just butterflying Van Zandt won't be enough.
The laws of physics may be uniform on a universal basis but in the IW setting they defintely are not uniform on a meta-universal basis (see Microworld and may others). Caliph scintists aren't working with the same laws as Homeline and Centrum.

If you start looking at the nuts and bolts it turns out to be important that Caliph is on Q6. You need a projector and a conveyor to get to or from Homeline to Caliph.

Projectors wouldn' work if built on Caliph. As far as anybody knows projectors only work on Homeline or Centrum.

Canon isn't quite clear on whether you could take a conveyor througha projector to a Q^ would and then jump around Q^ as you pleased. Just to clear up this situation, I would rule no as GM.

So you have a clause in transtemporal physics as applied to Q6 that assisted entry or exit From Q5 is possible but purely internal conveyor ops aren't possible within Q6.

So there would be no toehold within Caliph physics where they could get started on the subject.

This is technobabble of course, but the point about the local variance in physics is key to the setting.

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