New Reality Seeds

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

(And what do we learn about wizards from reading Howard’s and Lovecraft’s own stories?)

Speaking of which, what are the odds that other natives of the timeline are also picking up world-jumping magic by reading these widely published pulp stories, foundations of the Mythos Society's own powers? Infinity might knock off the known Society members, only to find it's something of a barn door/horse bolted situation. Naturally that leads to an extended, possibly shoestring operation to suppress the works of the Mythos Society as they contain Secrets Man* Was Not Meant To Know. End result: You've got native investigators of the paranormal digging into this kind of thing and dealing creepy MIB with strange powers, trying to track down tomes of power, and so on. Or you're local secret agent/FBI types, co-opted by Higher Ups** to cover up these irruptions into your reality as part of a secret, illegal conspiracy, codename, I dunno, Delta something.

I also rather like the idea that the worlds the Mythos Society gets to are influenced by the character of their stories - not as blatantly as only letting you travel to Hyboria, the Dreamlands, or Yuggoth, but maybe the echoes of their timeline are much more likely to have elements from or resembling their tales. Given the above campaign seeds, having Conan fight a Shoggoth in the WTC garage and the PCs having to cover it up/investigate it seems like a fun bit.

* Infinity Unlimited excluded, of course.
** Certainly NOT I-Cops in deep cover. No sirree.

Edit to add: Another possibility. After the I-Cops discover the Mythos Society and move on it, the Mythos Society asks for their help in dealing with a particularly troubling timeline Lovecraft and Co. have stumbled on, which Infinity knows as the Cold War echo of Taft-1. Have the pulp magicians found a real threat on this seemingly-mundane timeline, or are they just trying to get some leverage and keep themselves out of Coventry or a shallow grave? That's up to the PCs to investigate. (For extra fun, UPUL has begun to infiltrate Lovecraft-3, which means they might pick up on Homeline's existence sooner than later...)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Interesting... I mean it's not even a weird parallel, since there's certainly a lot of hard-to-prove beliefs that are quite common in OTL. Do people believe the unicorns are currently present and manipulate events, or that unicorns were at one point real animals but either died out or hide and try to make no effect on the world?

That unicorn populations are currently extant in the world, which due to the properties of unicorns are difficult to observe but are otherwise wild animals with little impact on human affairs.

[AlexanderHowl]

I think that the unicorns would have been extinct for hundreds of years, as the miraculous properties of their horns would attract any poacher with a gun. It would be interesting if unicorns survived in the Americas, transported by Portuguese and Spanish virgin warriors during the 16th century to serve as their steeds during battle. Wild unicorns could have participated in the Indian Wars as the steeds of Native American virgins against the US cavalry (which might mean that the Native Americans did better in the Indian wars, as the healing powers of the unicorns would have protected their adopted tribes from the European plagues).

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I think that the unicorns would have been extinct for hundreds of years, as the miraculous properties of their horns would attract any poacher with a gun. It would be interesting if unicorns survived in the Americas, transported by Portuguese and Spanish virgin warriors during the 16th century to serve as their steeds during battle. Wild unicorns could have participated in the Indian Wars as the steeds of Native American virgins against the US cavalry (which might mean that the Native Americans did better in the Indian wars, as the healing powers of the unicorns would have protected their adopted tribes from the European plagues).

There are no unicorn horns.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

There are no unicorn horns.

Which is to say, unicorn horns have popped up in collections and what not over the centuries, but they all turn out to be narwhal tusks, rhino horns, or forgeries. (Obviously, as they don't have magical properties.)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Which is to say, unicorn horns have popped up in collections and what not over the centuries, but they all turn out to be narwhal tusks, rhino horns, or forgeries. (Obviously, as they don't have magical properties.)

Yes exactly. People believe that people occasionally see unicorns. People definitely don't believe that hunters could successfully hunt unicorns with rifles, because you need to be pure of heart and use a golden bridle to catch one and they are probably immortal besides.

[AlexanderHowl]

How can they be unicorns if there are no horns?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

How can they be unicorns if there are no horns?

How can people believe in something without any physical evidence?

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Interesting... I mean it's not even a weird parallel, since there's certainly a lot of hard-to-prove beliefs that are quite common in OTL. Do people believe the unicorns are currently present and manipulate events, or that unicorns were at one point real animals but either died out or hide and try to make no effect on the world?

And what does this worldline call what we call The "Unicorn In The Garden" Rule?

[AlexanderHowl]

Alicorn-3

Alicorn-3 is a weird parallel where the defining features is the physical existence of unicorns. The horns of unicorns posses the ability to magically cure diseases and to neutralize poisons while attached to the unicorn, as well as acting as fearsome melee weapons for the unicorn. In addition, they posses magical Invisibility, allowing them to avoid detection even when they are within plain sight (which they extend to anything that they carry if they are trained for battle).

Unicorns possess a marked preference for human females who have not engaged in consensual sexual activity with human males (they do not care about lesbian relationships between women and do not refuse potential riders who suffered rape). They do not require golden bridles to control them and will in fact refuse any bridle and bit because they are sapient creatures with their own autonomy and dignity. Throughout the history of Alicorn-3, virgins have ridden unicorns into battle and have turned the tides of war.

It is 1800, and the American Uprising was crushed by the Unicorn Cavalry of the all-female Hussein mercenaries hired by British and by the Unicorn Cavalry of the Native American allies of the British Empire. While the American rebels possessed some Unicorn Cavalry, the tendency for colonists to marry early reduced the number of virgins capable of serving as unicorn riders. With each battle, the Unicorn Cavalry under the control of the British routed the armies of the rebels.

After the mass execution of the rebel leaders, George III pardoned the remainder of the rebels, though he awarded freedom to every slave in the colonies as punishment for their masters and guaranteed the territorial claims of his Native American allies by giving titles and land rights to the prominent citizens of the Native American Tribes. The members of the Hussein Unicorn Cavalry stayed in the American colonies and joined with the Native American Unicorn Cavalry to form the American Unicorn Corps, which guards the American colonies in exchange for land and payment and have crushed half a dozen smaller rebellions against British rule since the end of the American Uprising in 1783. Since the beginning of the War with Napoleon, the American Unicorn Corps has conquered every bit of French territory in the Americas, and their might in battle has convinced a number of Native American tribes to join the British Empire in exchange for titles and land rights.