[IW]: How to get Different Stars/Constellations?

[William]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Nah. While that's true most of the time, there are certainly parallels in which geography and the makeup of the solar system are radically changed. Yrth for example. They'd probably be more common in quanta that are "far away".

Yes, different geography is interesting but fairly rare, and I was under the impression that it was usually hard to explain. I based my statement off of a couple of lines on p. 20 of Infinite Worlds, talking about the physics of the timelines, which are obviously intended to give the impression that the emergence of life on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago seems to be the earliest point of timeline divergence among distinguishable parallels.

It's quite true that dramatic other events not associated with life on Earth could be splitting timelines, but the absence of apparent life elsewhere seems to weigh against that (otherwise, they'd give divergences too!).

Huh. There's an odd notion. What if you had interstellar travel, but Van Zandt's quantum "knots" held mostly near the gravity wells, so if you travel to different star systems and come back it's a crap shoot -- without parachronics -- which nearby history you're coming back to? Hell of a thing for an early interstellar traveler to discover!

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by William

It's quite true that dramatic other events not associated with life on Earth could be splitting timelines, but the absence of apparent life elsewhere seems to weigh against that (otherwise, they'd give divergences too!).

They have parallels where life exists in other solar system planets, and what appear to be extraterrestrials were around in the long ago past.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by William

Huh. There's an odd notion. What if you had interstellar travel, but Van Zandt's quantum "knots" held mostly near the gravity wells, so if you travel to different star systems and come back it's a crap shoot -- without parachronics -- which nearby history you're coming back to? Hell of a thing for an early interstellar traveler to discover!

I recall reading an AH novel with that as the big side-effect to the brand-new FTL drive introduced at the end of the story, but I can't recall the title or the author...

(Maybe, just maybe, one of Timothy Zahn's earlier books, if I'm not completely mixing this up with something else...?)

[William]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

They have parallels where life exists in other solar system planets, and what appear to be extraterrestrials were around in the long ago past.

Ultraterrestrials of magical or psionic nature may exist, but it's quite clearly stated on p. 72 of IW that interstellar travel and the concomitant plurality of inhabited worlds is not part of the standard Infinite Worlds setting. That Miles Vorkosigan is shuttling around somewhere in the multiverse SJGames owns is possible, but if ICorps ever meets him it won't be in the pages of one of their books, but in someone's campaign.

[samd6]

I belive the only non-magical world with star travel is Caliph. Roma Aeternalis, Azoth-6 or 7, one of the seeds in Dragons, and Merlin-1 all have reliable spzce travel and aliens, but have magic.

As for the stars, Infinity uses the stars to figure position and time. A weird sky means something big is going on.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by William

Ultraterrestrials of magical or psionic nature may exist, but it's quite clearly stated on p. 72 of IW that interstellar travel and the concomitant plurality of inhabited worlds is not part of the standard Infinite Worlds setting. .

No. It isn't. What is quite clearly stated on p. 72 is that there is no reality in which Earth has Technological FTL. But that in no way says that there are no realities in which Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials. On Page 94, the "Sirian" realities in which Ancient Astronauts messed with Earth between 10,000 and 1200 B.C are offered as weird realities. There's also a Pyramid article in which the Americans and Russians are in a space race to get to what appears to be a derelict alien spaceship that probably wasn't FTL.

[William]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

No. It isn't. What is quite clearly stated on p. 72 is that there is no reality in which Earth has Technological FTL.

And, in a much more important part of that box, says, "interstellar campaign settings don't mesh well with crosstime gaming.... the canvas is quite simply a little too vast for this book. What about all the parallels where the divergence point happens on Tau Ceti IV?... One of the fundamental assumptions of a crosstime game is that Earth (or one of them anyway) is central and important. The vastness of the Galaxy mitigates that." Notice the box's title.

But that in no way says that there are no realities in which Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials. On Page 94, the "Sirian" realities in which Ancient Astronauts messed with Earth between 10,000 and 1200 B.C are offered as weird realities.

Read higher in the sidebar you're referencing. "None of the following civilizations appear on any of the tables or systems in this chapter. They serve as examples of curve balls the GM can throw into high-inertia parallels or puzzle worlds, or use as strange enclaves in more normal timelines."

Not part of the base system. GMs are invited to add them if they wish, but product will not be assuming them. The "high-inertia parallel" reference is something like Ken Hite's style; it implies that aliens aren't part of the current universe, though they might have been part of an earlier or short-lived one.

There's also a Pyramid article in which the Americans and Russians are in a space race to get to what appears to be a derelict alien spaceship that probably wasn't FTL.

I'm not familiar with that article and I suspect that future supplements for IW would regard it as deuterocanonical at best. There's certainly nothing like it referenced in the hardback. Caliph, meanwhile, is unsubstantiated as for rumors of alien contact in the 4e hardback -- deliberately downplayed as a possibility in the phrasing.

The book goes to great lengths to make aliens a foreign element in an IW game. A GM who has introduced them seriously has made a significant departure from the core style. Which he or she is free to do, but this should be understood.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by William

Huh. There's an odd notion. What if you had interstellar travel, but Van Zandt's quantum "knots" held mostly near the gravity wells, so if you travel to different star systems and come back it's a crap shoot -- without parachronics -- which nearby history you're coming back to? Hell of a thing for an early interstellar traveler to discover!

Great idea! and might just make the parallel worlds in space idea work, as you don't need as many worlds to keep track of.

[David Johnston2]

The answer to "What about the places where the divergence was on Tau Ceti" is "You can only get to those places if you go to Tau Ceti". Or least near it. And since there's no Earth with a faster than light drive...not really an issue.

[LokRobster]

The massive geography shift of Yrth would be easier to explain with two moons, or a much larger/smaller or different density moon. Our IW campaign has incorporated a dinosaur world and a world remarkably like Tolkien's Middle Earth. The Dino world is about 70 million years ago, while ME has enough magic and weirdness to be a massive divergent parallel both geographically and mana-wise. I'll definitely use different stars for those.

I use 'aliens' as well, but not from different star systems, just different evolutionary paths - 3.5 billion years is long time for strangeness to develop (United States of Lizardia?). Flight 13 for us had the Markaan being from a parallel - another time had the aliens be force sword wielding Reptile Men from a primordial civilization. Handwavium is utilized anyway in having Steel and Autoduel America as visit-able by Homline conveyers, but later in chronological timeline, even in the default setting.