Five Earths, All in a Row

[warellis]

Fantasy Earth & Clockpunk Earth are the closer Earths to Infopunk Earth whereas Steampunk & Dieselpunk Earth are a good deal farther out on both ends right?

[maximara]

Originally Posted by warellis

Fantasy Earth & Clockpunk Earth are the closer Earths to Infopunk Earth whereas Steampunk & Dieselpunk Earth are a good deal farther out on both ends right?

Correct.

Their "alternate" names (Crossroads-4) denote their quanta which is also their order in orbit:

* Crossroads-4a: Steampunk Earth (Stp-Earth): furthest 'behind' Inp-Earth's orbit, and is only other one Inp-Earth is getting artificial radio traffic from
* Crossroads-4b: Clockpunk Earth (Clp-Earth): closest Earth 'behind' of Inp-Earth
* Crossroads-4c: Infopunk Earth (Inp-Earth)
* Crossroads-4d: Fantasy Earth (Fa-Earth): closest Earth 'ahead' of Inp-Earth
* Crossroads-4e: Dieselpunk Earth (Dsp-Earth); the furthest ahead of Inp-Earth in orbit, 26 light-seconds and a little less than three calendar days 'later'

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Consider starting off from the Armatura Equestris style (MA150) or Early Medieval Knight Mounted Combat (MA175). They shouldn't have Lance skill apparently, because they lack stirrups to couch with.

I'm not totally sure whether the Fa-Earth cataphracts had stirrups before making contact with the other Earths (OTL the Avars and others brought them to Europe in the late-6th/early-7th century, which is near enough temporally that the Late Roman Empire of Fa-Earth could have them in the early 6th century), but they might not have, so that's a good point. By 'now,' though, they will have seen examples through the magic mirrors and ought to have started experimenting with them.

Also, one thing which they ought to have that historical cataphracts probably didn't (in most cases) is Legal Enforcement Powers. In order to do their peacetime job of finding trouble and stabbing it (or arresting the perpetrators if anyone involved is inclined to surrender and risk a trial), they need certain rights that probably amount to LEP [15].

[warellis]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

I'm not totally sure whether the Fa-Earth cataphracts had stirrups before making contact with the other Earths (OTL the Avars and others brought them to Europe in the late-6th/early-7th century, which is near enough temporally that the Late Roman Empire of Fa-Earth could have them in the early 6th century), but they might not have, so that's a good point. By 'now,' though, they will have seen examples through the magic mirrors and ought to have started experimenting with them.

Also, one thing which they ought to have that historical cataphracts probably didn't (in most cases) is Legal Enforcement Powers. In order to do their peacetime job of finding trouble and stabbing it (or arresting the perpetrators if anyone involved is inclined to surrender and risk a trial), they need certain rights that probably amount to LEP [15].

Well one good thing about being able to see Inp-Earth stirrups, and possibly Stp-Earth (I can't remember which worlds have interacted with Fa-Earth most), is that they can probably skip any trial and error and focus on the best type for themselves.

Especially if those elf and dragon representatives have been able to get good looks at stirrups and other innovations in museums or wherever.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

I'm not totally sure whether the Fa-Earth cataphracts had stirrups before making contact with the other Earths (OTL the Avars and others brought them to Europe in the late-6th/early-7th century, which is near enough temporally that the Late Roman Empire of Fa-Earth could have them in the early 6th century), but they might not have, so that's a good point. By 'now,' though, they will have seen examples through the magic mirrors and ought to have started experimenting with them.

According to History of Equestrian Stirrups: "The earliest evidence of a stirrup was excavated in India, during 2nd Century BC. It was a cornelian seal depicting a rider on a horse, his foot resting on a stirrup made of wood in a hook style L-shape format."

It should be mentioned that while history on Fantasy Earth is similar to OTL up to 312 CE it actually "diverged" c 100,000 BCE with the appearance of other races that survived into the 4th century. About ever religion would be different thanks to all these other races.

Other differences abound:
*Japan: culturally and technologically closer to the mid Heian era, except that they already have katana.
*Pharaonate in Kush (what we would call Sudan), with springs and canals that did not exist in OTL, and a culture with great similarities to Ancient Egypt.
*Iroquouis (or a very similar tribal alliance): having an agricultural revolution, and appear to be mastering ironworking and positional numerology, though the rest of their technology appears to be in the early-to-mid Bronze Age, with an ideographic writing system.
*India: flying machines called 'vimana', most of which are held aloft by lenticular or spindle-shaped hot air balloons, and are propelled by great cloth-and-wood screws.

[Prince Charon]

Sorry, this isn't an update.

I've mentioned on occasion that some of the Earths take advantage of naturally-magical materials, or incorporate one or more simpler fetishes into more complex devices, but I've been vague on how. Since the answer works for more than just this setting (and long predates it), I decided to make a thread for Magical Engineering.

[warellis]

Would each worldline have a different term/variant for "Engineer (Magical)/TL^" due to differences in ideas on the magic and such?

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by warellis

Would each worldline have a different term/variant for "Engineer (Magical)/TL^" due to differences in ideas on the magic and such?

Probably more than one variant per Earth (or 'per planet,' for those worldlines with more than one inhabited planet or similar in the Sol System), though there may be some variants that are common on more than one Earth.

[warellis]

Are there certain magics unavailable due to all the magic here being psi in nature?

Like are bag of holding style magics around, or not really?

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by warellis

Are there certain magics unavailable due to all the magic here being psi in nature?

Like are bag of holding style magics around, or not really?

Bag of holding would involve warping space in some way, and is available, but requires more effort. Shapeshifting is much harder than in a lot of other settings, but can be done fast with a very large effort via space warping, or much more slowly though biokinetic changes to the body (alternatively, shapeshifting can be faked with illusions, or for a body larger than the subject, by forming an ectoplasmic 'suit' over the subject).

Generally speaking, things are only unavailable if they can't be plausibly explained as psi abilities. The only one that I can think of right this minute (while I'm tired and have a headache and am only posting so that I won't forget to post it later) is real time travel that doesn't involve traveling to a worldline that has an earlier or later 'present.' There are probably others, but I'm blanking on examples.

EDIT: Also, there are things that are hard to really do, but easier to fake, as noted re: shapeshifting.