Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun

walkir · 03-02-2009, 06:35 AM

After reading the interesting thread about character templates I tried to create a writeup of the SR-Earth.

Here's the result, what do you think?

Popol Vuh-1, 2027

Current affairs: The world is in chaos as magic reawakens and new powers fight in this strange new “sixth” world.

Divergence point: Somewhere in the 1980s. (no idea) Or was it the Seretech decision in '99?

Major civilizations: Western, Japanese, Aztec, elvish, native Americans, many, many more.
Great Powers The 10 Megakons and the corporate court. Organized Crime. Dragons.

Worldine Data:
TL: early 9
Mana Level low, but rising steadily. Quantum 6
Infinity class: R1 Centrum Zone Red

This world was named “Popol Vuh-1” because the main divergence point was placed at 12/21/2012, the end of the fifth age of the mayan calendar called popol vuh.
Magic returned. It seems popols history differed from homelines in drastic ways before that date,especially concerning the megacorps and corporate court, but the most important difference to the survey team detecting it in late 2026 was magic.
No one really believed it, even as a copy of the Dunkelzahn Interview was shown at the Infinity headquarters at homeline.

But then it happened: in late January 2027, an infinity patrol member mutated soon after he set foot on this world. He became one o those persons called “orc” on their world. Sent home immediately, he was checked by skilled magicians and they proved it was magic.

Popol was closed for infinity personnel without special orders in less than 24 hours.

Since then, Popol is under strict control. Nobody may enter it unless he has direct order to do so.
Stealthy drones watching the media channels collect new, strange and frightening data every day and send it home weekly.

Big, powerful nations fell after rebellions fueled by native magic, the VITAS plague or megacorps dwarfing them economically and politically and in most ways imaginable. Those same corps just developed a technique to connect neurally into the WWW. Infinity is very interested in that, as well as in the cybernetic implants produced there.

Campaign note: A team of ISWAT hackers may have a possibility to infiltrate echo mirage and fight the virus of '29 themselves.

Hai-Etlik · 03-02-2009, 06:54 AM

I'd think the designation would be 'Merlin-4'

carllarson · 03-02-2009, 07:56 AM

Don't know about current edition, but in the earlier edition, the divergence was earlier, evidenced by Ehran being known before the Awakening, and some elves and dragons having knowledge of the 4th World, or even lived then.

ed_209a · 03-02-2009, 08:36 AM

Merlin-4 sounds right to me too.

The key feature to the Merlin series is that magic suddenly starts working.

Merlin-1 and -2 were nuclear triggered, but Merlin-3 was too early for nuclear weapons. It could be a magical ritual gone exceptionally right/wrong, just like the Great Ghost Dance.

Technomancer hints that there was magic sometime before, but nothing as definite as Ehran the Scribe's ages of magic.

Incidentally, anyone know what event in Nuremberg in 1919 IW might be referring to?

Kelly Pedersen · 03-02-2009, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkir

Popol Vuh-1, 2027

I agree with Hai-Etlik on this one - the Infinity Patrol already has a standard designation for worlds with magic returning in the modern world, and it's Merlin. Merlin-4 is more plausible to remember than "Popol Vuh", anyway. Remember, the names are usually applied by the average Patrolman to be easy to remember and say, as opposed to the "official" mathematical chronological coordinates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkir

Divergence point: Somewhere in the 1980s. (no idea) Or was it the Seretech decision in '99?

Seretech would be the first obvious breakpoint, I think. There are far earlier ones, but not ones likely to be recorded in a history book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkir

Mana Level low, but rising steadily.

Shadowrun mana doesn't really track super-well with GURPS mana, but I think that it's already effectively at normal level, even at this point. Certainly I don't remember anybody mentioning in any of the source text that magic was notably harder to cast early in the Sixth World.

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkir

Infinity class: R1

If Infinity hasn't coded this as a "Z", they will very soon. They've got a bunch of major powers with advanced surveillance technology, magic with a lot of knowledge-gathering potential, and a growing class of who are, essentially, criminal black-ops experts. IIRC, Lofwyr has not yet pulled off his buyout of Sader-Krupp at this point, and revealed how terrifyingly competent great dragons can be, but I doubt that's needed. This is the sort of world that the Patrol is going to treat with utmost caution. We're talking "Parachronics in a helicopter in the most remote location we can find, airdrop the agents, and let them walk into civilization. Then no contact until you arrive at the extraction zone six months later. And if you miss the evac, you're out of luck."

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkir

But then it happened: in late January 2027, an infinity patrol member mutated soon after he set foot on this world. He became one o those persons called “orc” on their world.

I don't this works with Shadowrun's backstory. People didn't Goblinize at random - it was due to inherited genes expressing themselves in a high magic field. An off-worlder shouldn't have the genes at all, since their ancestors didn't evolve in high magic.

walkir · 03-02-2009, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hai-Etlik

I'd think the designation would be 'Merlin-4'

No, Merlin is reserved for normal mana worlds with hellstorms. Perhaps Gibson-1?

Quote:

Originally Posted by carllarson

Don't know about current edition, but in the earlier edition, the divergence was earlier, evidenced by Ehran being known before the Awakening, and some elves and dragons having knowledge of the 4th World, or even lived then.

That's why I said no idea. ;)
Of course one could say "divergence point: 1^-1000000000000000000 seconds after the big bang" (or even somewhere before...), considering the dragons mythos of creation as reality.
Just picking a date in the 5th world isn't very good, so I decided to pick the date had to diverge when 1st edition came out, not thinking that much about the crossover. And if we take the 1980s date, a divergence point of '99 seems plausible.

Kelly Pedersen · 03-02-2009, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ed_209a

Incidentally, what did happen in Nuremberg in 1919 that IW might be referring to?

Merlin-3 is a recap of the "Technomancer 1942" setting that Ken Hite created in GURPS Weird War II. It's never specified what creates the Nuremburg Hellstorm in that world. I assume it was a critical meltdown of an experimental plotonium pile. :-)

Kelly Pedersen · 03-02-2009, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkir

No, Merlin is reserved for normal mana worlds with hellstorms. Perhaps Gibson-1?

Maybe Gibson-Merlin, since there's elements of both. Note that worldlines don't usually get a number until they discover other worldlines that justify the same designation.

walkir · 03-02-2009, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Shadowrun mana doesn't really track super-well with GURPS mana, but I think that it's already effectively at normal level, even at this point. Certainly I don't remember anybody mentioning in any of the source text that magic was notably harder to cast early in the Sixth World.

it was, mainly because of lost knowledge. But okay, one could say it's normal (changing to high after the year of the comet).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

If Infinity hasn't coded this as a "Z", they will very soon. They've got a bunch of major powers with advanced surveillance technology, magic with a lot of knowledge-gathering potential, and a growing class of who are, essentially, criminal black-ops experts. IIRC, Lofwyr has not yet pulled off his buyout of Sader-Krupp at this point, and revealed how terrifyingly competent great dragons can be, but I doubt that's needed. This is the sort of world that the Patrol is going to treat with utmost caution. We're talking "Parachronics in a helicopter in the most remote location we can find, airdrop the agents, and let them walk into civilization. Then no contact until you arrive at the extraction zone six months later. And if you miss the evac, you're out of luck."

Right, okay. I somehow missed there's a "Z"-Designation.

Quote:

I don't this works with Shadowrun's backstory. People didn't Goblinize at random - it was due to inherited genes expressing themselves in a high magic field. An off-worlder shouldn't have the genes at all, since their ancestors didn't evolve in high magic.

Hm, I thought about those genes present randomly and just expressing after one crosses the borders of the world. One could say some 4th worlders stranded on Homeline in the long forgotten past, created the legends and had their kids changed back to homo sapiens sapiens, though.

ed_209a · 03-02-2009, 08:46 AM

Good point about the Merlin 1-3 having hellstorms. Are there any more worldline series with drastic increases in mana in recent history?

I guess it would be up to Infinity to decide if a "Merlin without a hellstorm" is still a Merlin, or something else.

03-02-2009, 06:35 AM	#1
walkir Join Date: May 2006 Location: Germany	Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun After reading the interesting thread about character templates I tried to create a writeup of the SR-Earth. Here's the result, what do you think? Popol Vuh-1, 2027 Current affairs: The world is in chaos as magic reawakens and new powers fight in this strange new “sixth” world. Divergence point: Somewhere in the 1980s. (no idea) Or was it the Seretech decision in '99? Major civilizations: Western, Japanese, Aztec, elvish, native Americans, many, many more. Great Powers The 10 Megakons and the corporate court. Organized Crime. Dragons. Worldine Data: TL: early 9 Mana Level low, but rising steadily. Quantum 6 Infinity class: R1 Centrum Zone Red This world was named “Popol Vuh-1” because the main divergence point was placed at 12/21/2012, the end of the fifth age of the mayan calendar called popol vuh. Magic returned. It seems popols history differed from homelines in drastic ways before that date,especially concerning the megacorps and corporate court, but the most important difference to the survey team detecting it in late 2026 was magic. No one really believed it, even as a copy of the Dunkelzahn Interview was shown at the Infinity headquarters at homeline. But then it happened: in late January 2027, an infinity patrol member mutated soon after he set foot on this world. He became one o those persons called “orc” on their world. Sent home immediately, he was checked by skilled magicians and they proved it was magic. Popol was closed for infinity personnel without special orders in less than 24 hours. Since then, Popol is under strict control. Nobody may enter it unless he has direct order to do so. Stealthy drones watching the media channels collect new, strange and frightening data every day and send it home weekly. Big, powerful nations fell after rebellions fueled by native magic, the VITAS plague or megacorps dwarfing them economically and politically and in most ways imaginable. Those same corps just developed a technique to connect neurally into the WWW. Infinity is very interested in that, as well as in the cybernetic implants produced there. Campaign note: A team of ISWAT hackers may have a possibility to infiltrate echo mirage and fight the virus of '29 themselves.

03-02-2009, 06:54 AM	#2
Hai-Etlik Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Victoria, BC, Canada	Re: Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun I'd think the designation would be 'Merlin-4'

03-02-2009, 07:56 AM	#3
carllarson Join Date: Feb 2005	Re: Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun Don't know about current edition, but in the earlier edition, the divergence was earlier, evidenced by Ehran being known before the Awakening, and some elves and dragons having knowledge of the 4th World, or even lived then.

03-02-2009, 08:36 AM	#4
ed_209a Join Date: Sep 2004	Re: Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun Merlin-4 sounds right to me too. The key feature to the Merlin series is that magic suddenly starts working. Merlin-1 and -2 were nuclear triggered, but Merlin-3 was too early for nuclear weapons. It could be a magical ritual gone exceptionally right/wrong, just like the Great Ghost Dance. Technomancer hints that there was magic sometime before, but nothing as definite as Ehran the Scribe's ages of magic. Incidentally, anyone know what event in Nuremberg in 1919 IW might be referring to? __________________ “Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant" Last edited by ed_209a; 03-02-2009 at 08:41 AM.

03-02-2009, 08:46 AM	#10
ed_209a Join Date: Sep 2004	Re: Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun Good point about the Merlin 1-3 having hellstorms. Are there any more worldline series with drastic increases in mana in recent history? I guess it would be up to Infinity to decide if a "Merlin without a hellstorm" is still a Merlin, or something else. __________________ “Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant" Last edited by ed_209a; 03-02-2009 at 08:53 AM.