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Old 04-11-2019, 01:52 PM   #1401
ericthered
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Um, in relation to _what_?

Even if you mean a simple flipping from left to right so that the Sun rises over Wales and sets over the Thames' mouth what about the Eurasian landmass? Does that mean the Koreas are adjacent to the UK and Japan to France?
The Eurasian land map would run backwards. I suppose you'd say that the land is flipped relative to a person facing the nearest pole. In order to preserve geography, you also flip the direction the earth spins. So if you stand in France facing north on homeline, spain is to your left, and Germany to your right, and sunrises come from the direction of Germany. On Eurona, when you look at the nearest pole while standing in france, Germany is on your left, and Spain is on your right. But the sun still rises in the direction of Germany.

It occurs to me that not only does the earth spin backwards, but it rotates around the sun the other direction, and the rest of the planets probably do too.
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Old 04-11-2019, 02:04 PM   #1402
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

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The Eurasian land map would run backwards. I suppose you'd say that the land is flipped relative to a person facing the nearest pole. In order to preserve geography, you also flip the direction the earth spins. So if you stand in France facing north on homeline, spain is to your left, and Germany to your right, and sunrises come from the direction of Germany. On Eurona, when you look at the nearest pole while standing in france, Germany is on your left, and Spain is on your right. But the sun still rises in the direction of Germany.

It occurs to me that not only does the earth spin backwards, but it rotates around the sun the other direction, and the rest of the planets probably do too.
Once again the only observable effect appears to be on the starfield.
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Old 04-11-2019, 02:21 PM   #1403
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

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Once again the only observable effect appears to be on the starfield.
And the side of your body geography appears on. When sailing north down the rhine, france is now on your right and germany on your left.

The most intricate effects are probably those involving battles and handedness. Every Battle where the defenders have a hill securing their left flank is now a battle where a hill secures their right flank. In ancient battles right and left have small but meaningful differences due to basically every soldier being right handed.

The most obvious effect is to bewilder outtimers who are in mostly familiar terrain. I'd get seriously weirded out visiting salt lake city, facing north, and having the lake on the right and the towering mountains on the left.
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Old 04-11-2019, 03:26 PM   #1404
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

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I still don't understand. Why is celestial north important? I mean sure, the Pole Star will now be in the south but how does that change the map?
It gets you Mondas, the home world of the classic Cybermen. :-)
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Old 04-11-2019, 04:20 PM   #1405
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I find the more interesting scenario being one where the planet rotates the same way, but is still topologically mirrored. Climates would be dramatically changed, as would wind currents.
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Old 04-11-2019, 04:38 PM   #1406
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And the side of your body geography appears on. When sailing north down the rhine, france is now on your right and germany on your left.

The most intricate effects are probably those involving battles and handedness. Every Battle where the defenders have a hill securing their left flank is now a battle where a hill secures their right flank. In ancient battles right and left have small but meaningful differences due to basically every soldier being right handed.

The most obvious effect is to bewilder outtimers who are in mostly familiar terrain. I'd get seriously weirded out visiting salt lake city, facing north, and having the lake on the right and the towering mountains on the left.
How would you know you were facing north?
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Old 04-11-2019, 05:08 PM   #1407
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Default Re: Catalog of the Weird Parallels

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How would you know you were facing north?
Because all of the landmarks that were previously north are still north. In the case of Salt-Lake city, antelope island is still to the north, and the Jordan river is still to the south. The mountains still have their distinct "Skylines", just reversed and on the wrong side of the sky.
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Old 04-12-2019, 04:16 AM   #1408
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How would you know you were facing north?
The sun at noon will be behind you.
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Old 04-12-2019, 11:40 AM   #1409
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The Eurasian land map would run backwards.
That still doesn't tell if Britain is across the Channel from France or Korea.

Let's try another analogy. In the original Battlestar Galactica the most common (due to massive re-use) special effects sequence was <Cylon Raider Bank right><three pairs of laser blasts><Cylon Raider explode>. The second most common sequence started with <Cylon Raider bank left>.

The second sequnce was created by flipping the film so the right side was the left and vice-versa. Is this what happened to the Earth? If so the relative position of _nothing_ has been changed.

Note that this does require that the Earth and possibly the whole Solar System to have been rotated through a 4th physical dimension of space.

Also note that if conveyors visiting this world are not similarly rotated they will arrive going c. 2000 mph per hour in the "wrong" direction.

If there is no rotation this would explain at least one version of Reality Vanish but has little roleplaying utility. If rotation does occur all passengers of the conveyor must undergo rotation as well or they go "boom" by themselves.

In a "no-boom" situation where people are described as not being "flipped" it is there sense of right and left that would have to be not rotated while their physical bodes were rotated. No Earthbound instrument would support this perception but if the stars weren't rotated I guess that the sidereal chronolog would give funny results.

So the "weird" aspect is how do PCs _know_ that the Earth/Solar System has been rotated? I can't think of any other effects though since the physical world was rotated symmetrically..
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Old 04-13-2019, 07:48 AM   #1410
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In 1959, researchers in France develop a personal teleporter device. Outtimers would recognize it as a form of eccentric psionotech, but locals consider it purely conventional, if amazing, technology.

Teleporter booths are even now being installed all around the planet, and are being integrated into the space program. At about 15 kilojoules per kilogram per 100,000 kilometer of travel, and operating at light speed, the devices are shockingly efficient... in theory. Due to current technical limitations, the effective floor for distance is something like 100,000km, so even changing floors in a building requires the same energy as traveling to the opposite side of the planet.

The machine itself requires a few pieces of equipment that cost $10,000 ($1500 in money at the time) per installation, regardless of size. In addition, the machine requires an additional $200 ($30 in 1960 dollars) per kg of capacity... again, these are limited by the technology somewhat; it's expected that prices will drop substantially over time.

The current date is 1968. Teleporter stations are finally leaving the prototyping stage, and it's already possible to zap across the Atlantic for $100 in GURPS/modern (~$23.50 nominal).

Fun to explore in the early '70s, but also fun to imagine the 1990s and onward.
Mars would be too far away, but a moon base would be fully viable. You said the limit was sixty thousand miles. Orbital platforms in geosynchronous orbits would only be twenty-five thousand miles up. If hopping the Atlantic is One Hundred bucks, then a relay of five hops should be 500$ of just a little more. Vastly cheaper than supplying a base by rocket. By 1980 at least the USA and the USSR would have moon bases.
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