Infinite Worlds Quiry [The Secret is Out!]

Astromancer · 10-03-2012, 04:20 PM

This thread is on the idea of a world were The Secret(Panchronomics) is well and truely out.

I'm think of a campaign with a Q6 TL6 world (much like our Earth in 1885 but somewhat advanced in several areas) that has seen the secret exposed. Neither Homeline nor Centrum is able to put the genie back in the bottle. The Brits have caught agents of both Homeline and Centrum and want diplomatic relations! The Americans, the French, the Germans, the Japanese, the Brazilians, and the Italians, are demanding ambassadors as well. Russia and China haven't made their minds up about the whole thing. Both the I-Cops working in San Francisco and Paris, and the Centrum Agents in Rio and Munich, have been told their cover is blown (by the locals) and have been pointedly asked to take messages to the leaders.

My questions are these.

A) How will Homeline and Centrum respond? I don't want Centrum A-bombing the place, what other games might they play?

B) What do you think the local powers will want from the ambassadors?

Added facts. This parallel has a Difference Engine! A local eccentrict (who dies in a mysterious fire as an infant in most parallels) decided Babbage and Lovelace were right, and he used his fortune to solve the problem of building the Difference Engine. Now (June 1885) the Difference Engine is a curiousity. But practical uses are being proposed!

robkelk · 10-03-2012, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

A) How will Homeline and Centrum respond? I don't want Centrum A-bombing the place, what other games might they play?

What other game? The Great Game, of course. I expect that both sides still want the parallel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

B) What do you think the local powers will want from the ambassadors?

Whatever they can get. Some will want things that are slightly in advance of whay they have (that they can maintain and duplicate with their own technological and industrial base), while others will want the most advanced things they can find (to get an immediate boost over their rivals and never mind whether they can continue for the long term).

johndallman · 10-03-2012, 04:31 PM

That's a lot of different countries that have figured it out. Too many for them all to have done so independently, unless something introduced the idea of parallel worlds decades ago. I'm reasonably sure it wasn't around at this time on our Earth. Or did one person catch on and spread the information wide and quickly? This will make a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

A) How will Homeline and Centrum respond? I don't want Centrum A-bombing the place, what other games might they play?

I suspect both H&C will provide the appearance of diplomatic relations. It will likely be a dummy, because they aren't really willing to treat the governments of this world as equals, and it will be staged so as to mislead the natives about the power and scale of the organisations they're dealing with.

samd6 · 10-03-2012, 04:35 PM

How bad is it?

Do the locals merely know that there are other worlds, but are without reliable means of travel? (Gernsback-2, Thesis-1, whatever Core Earth of TORG is, several 4-color supers worlds, a few mythic parallels, etc.)

Do the locals know parachronic theory or have any native parachronic devices? (The Cabal, the Colegio Januari, Reich-5, Centrum, Homeline)

If the answer to the second is yes, Infinity is screwed. If not, the can pull out current agents and set up shop somewhere else.

Astromancer · 10-03-2012, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samd6

How bad is it?

Do the locals merely know that there are other worlds, but are without reliable means of travel? (Gernsback-2, Thesis-1, whatever Core Earth of TORG is, several 4-color supers worlds, a few mythic parallels, etc.)

Centrum and Infinity agents had been discovered by a local while trying to examine his Difference Engine. The Inventor had friends with pull in the press and the TIMES published proof of Outtime penitration on the front page. the government had to check it out while the telegraphs buzzed. The Inventor (I'll call him Lovelace for now and declare him a relative of Ada Augusta) cracked the code on a small notebook computer he'd lifted from the agents. And both Infinity Incorperated and Centrum are known by name!

Flyndaran · 10-03-2012, 04:46 PM

Like all the modern day UFO proof?
It would take extraordinary evidence to do more than make the cover of the local tabloids.

jeff_wilson · 10-03-2012, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The Inventor [...] cracked the code on a small notebook computer he'd lifted from the agents.

TL6 autodidact on TL9 spygear? Disbelieve!

Fred Brackin · 10-03-2012, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Centrum and Infinity agents had been discovered by a local while trying to examine his Difference Engine. !

I can't really beleive he didn;'t just get shot with some Eraser drug. The whole incident would be Erase-able for quite a while alter.

Regardless of the plausability of your premise and simply accepting it I would say that Infinity has a strong instict to simply bail out. If they were alone on the world I believe they would do so. This world has nothing Infinity wants badly enough to pay the local's price for. The Difference Engine is an amusement park attractuoin to a conventional TL8/9 society.

Centrum would probably have its' usual ideological goal of uniting the wor;d under an English-speaking government. Who knows how thet might go about trying to achieve this. Centrum does not seem truly rational on the subject. Infinity might stay only to oppose Centrum.

digoraccoon · 10-04-2012, 05:38 AM

The first potential I see for an adventure here is why is this particular world so friendly toward the other parallels? It feels like they're a bit TOO friendly and this could be a great hook to discover this world's one dirty secret that neither homeline or centrum saw coming.

wellspring · 10-04-2012, 01:41 PM

I'm not buying the premise either, but if we take that as given:

I smell an ISWAT mission. Get the laptop back, along with all other physical evidence. Infinity gear is set to remote detonate, remember? I don't see why that didn't happen, but pop that stuff now.
Bail out. Completely.
Slip back in with entirely new covers and go back to monitoring mode. Quarantine the place other than for intelligence-gathering. The previous agents should be cashiered for incompetence.

And that's it. Without parachronics or some other world-hopping mechanism, their knowledge is entirely theoretical. If this is a Q7 world, I suspect Centrum might just reveal themselves and offer an alliance with some or all the crowned heads of Europe. Not being a historical echo, I might just write off the whole place and leave it.

If they try this on a Q6 world, Infinity could have a rationale to stay just to keep Centrum out. But not openly. Secretly, having liquidated all prior connections to whoever revealed himself.

I don't see any reason for Infinity to establish diplomatic relations. There's absolutely no upside. And as a proxy battleground for Infinity/Centrum bickering, they're too far behind on the tech tree to be anything but stomped flat as the two high-tech juggernauts collide openly.

10-03-2012, 04:20 PM	#1
Astromancer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: West Virginia	Infinite Worlds Quiry [The Secret is Out!] This thread is on the idea of a world were The Secret(Panchronomics) is well and truely out. I'm think of a campaign with a Q6 TL6 world (much like our Earth in 1885 but somewhat advanced in several areas) that has seen the secret exposed. Neither Homeline nor Centrum is able to put the genie back in the bottle. The Brits have caught agents of both Homeline and Centrum and want diplomatic relations! The Americans, the French, the Germans, the Japanese, the Brazilians, and the Italians, are demanding ambassadors as well. Russia and China haven't made their minds up about the whole thing. Both the I-Cops working in San Francisco and Paris, and the Centrum Agents in Rio and Munich, have been told their cover is blown (by the locals) and have been pointedly asked to take messages to the leaders. My questions are these. A) How will Homeline and Centrum respond? I don't want Centrum A-bombing the place, what other games might they play? B) What do you think the local powers will want from the ambassadors? Added facts. This parallel has a Difference Engine! A local eccentrict (who dies in a mysterious fire as an infant in most parallels) decided Babbage and Lovelace were right, and he used his fortune to solve the problem of building the Difference Engine. Now (June 1885) the Difference Engine is a curiousity. But practical uses are being proposed! __________________ Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo

10-03-2012, 04:35 PM	#4
samd6 Join Date: Mar 2012	Re: Infinite Worlds Quiry [The Secret is Out!] How bad is it? Do the locals merely know that there are other worlds, but are without reliable means of travel? (Gernsback-2, Thesis-1, whatever Core Earth of TORG is, several 4-color supers worlds, a few mythic parallels, etc.) Do the locals know parachronic theory or have any native parachronic devices? (The Cabal, the Colegio Januari, Reich-5, Centrum, Homeline) If the answer to the second is yes, Infinity is screwed. If not, the can pull out current agents and set up shop somewhere else. __________________ James Soltis Wilda Essential Skills

10-03-2012, 04:46 PM	#6
Flyndaran Untagged Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon	Re: Infinite Worlds Quiry [The Secret is Out!] Like all the modern day UFO proof? It would take extraordinary evidence to do more than make the cover of the local tabloids. __________________ Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.

10-04-2012, 05:38 AM	#9
digoraccoon Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Orlando, FL	Re: Infinite Worlds Quiry [The Secret is Out!] The first potential I see for an adventure here is why is this particular world so friendly toward the other parallels? It feels like they're a bit TOO friendly and this could be a great hook to discover this world's one dirty secret that neither homeline or centrum saw coming. __________________ Dungeon Master Digo "I'm going to start rolling damage dice and then I'll let you know if Saving Throws even matter." The Arbiters Conspiracy comics at its Fnordest.

10-04-2012, 01:41 PM	#10
wellspring Join Date: Apr 2011	Re: Infinite Worlds Quiry [The Secret is Out!] I'm not buying the premise either, but if we take that as given: I smell an ISWAT mission. Get the laptop back, along with all other physical evidence. Infinity gear is set to remote detonate, remember? I don't see why that didn't happen, but pop that stuff now. Bail out. Completely. Slip back in with entirely new covers and go back to monitoring mode. Quarantine the place other than for intelligence-gathering. The previous agents should be cashiered for incompetence. And that's it. Without parachronics or some other world-hopping mechanism, their knowledge is entirely theoretical. If this is a Q7 world, I suspect Centrum might just reveal themselves and offer an alliance with some or all the crowned heads of Europe. Not being a historical echo, I might just write off the whole place and leave it. If they try this on a Q6 world, Infinity could have a rationale to stay just to keep Centrum out. But not openly. Secretly, having liquidated all prior connections to whoever revealed himself. I don't see any reason for Infinity to establish diplomatic relations. There's absolutely no upside. And as a proxy battleground for Infinity/Centrum bickering, they're too far behind on the tech tree to be anything but stomped flat as the two high-tech juggernauts collide openly.