The Kerguelen Skerry [Infinite Worlds]

[AlexanderHowl]

The Kerguelen Skerry is a skerry of nine known timelines that extends from Q2 to Q10 (with one timeline per Quantum). It is parachronically isolated, travelers suffer an additional -10 to skill when attempting to enter or leave the skerry, but traveling within the skerry is quite easy (travelers are capable of traveling through the skerry as if its timelines were within the same Quantum, and they receive a +10 to skill when they do travel). In addition, it seems to have four 'lower' levels and 'four' upper levels, which connect the nine timelines together.

The Kerguelen Skerry is named after the existence of an unsubmerged Kerguelen Plateau at the border of the Antarctic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. With an area of 480,000 square miles each timeline, the Kerguelen Plateau is home to a divided TL4 parachronic human society that uses Ritual Path Magic to travel between the nine timelines (and the nine levels of each timeline). The Kergelen populations are different than the other human races in their timelines, with dark blue hair and dark green skin, though no one has been able to determine why. Standard spells to not work in the Kerguelen Skerry because mana does not exist (the Ritual Path Magic system of the Kerguelen Skerry functions through manipulating reality instead of manipulating mana).

[Flyndaran]

Looking at the climate for the real world island... yikes. That sounds quite harsh for a TL 4 society.
But certainly interesting starting point for a faction/campaign.

Green skin isn't that unusual in vertebrates. Even one side of my family has a tiny hint of green to ours.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Green skin isn't that unusual in vertebrates. Even one side of my family has a tiny hint of green to ours.

That would be the ones from Innsmouth?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Looking at the climate for the real world island... yikes. That sounds quite harsh for a TL 4 society.
But certainly interesting starting point for a faction/campaign.

It's about the same as Iceland's, and we know that the settlers there managed with lower than TL4 tech. Note that the average daily temperature on Kerguelen Island never drops to freezing, so it's cold and windy but doesn't get super cold.

The eastern parts of this micro continent are probably cool, windy, and cloudy. The west side windier, and much wetter. It will have coal (at one point the French had a coal mine on Kerguelen Island), and probably iron ore (almost everywhere has that), and unlike Kerguelen Island today it would probably have a reasonable land-based ecology, rather than Kerguelen Cabbages, imported rabbits, and feral cats.

[AlexanderHowl]

Remember, they also have RPM. Even if only 10% of their population are mages (either through birth or training) and 10% of their mages are adepts (either through birth or magical gadgets), they will have an edge compared to conventional TL4 societies. Of course, it will still be a cold island (at 480,000 square miles, it would be the second largest island on Earth after Greenland, and it has a lot better climate than Greenland). It would also likely be quite volcanically active, because of the geological processes needed to maintain its stability, so Iceland is not a bad comparison.

[ericthered]

Hmmm....

• Is there something about the island, their diet, or the local ecology that produces the magery effect? That sounds like something infinity would love to research.
• Have the Kergus explored the rest of their worlds? TL 4 means they may or may not have. The rest of the world may or may not have found them?
• How close to history is the rest of the world? does it very by Quanta? What's the date?
• What is the culture of the Kergus like? how do they respond to others showing up?

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, my thinking is that Magery 0 (RPM) occurs naturally in 1% of the adult population while another 9% of the adult population acquire Magery (RPM) 0 through training (Magery 1+ comes from magical gadgets or training). 10% of adults who naturally develop Magery (RPM) 0 are also born with Ritual Adept while the remainder of the adults with Ritual Adept gain it through magical gadgets. The aristocracy is composed of families who acquired magical items over the generations (the nine royal families have magical gadgets that have been improved through thousands of years of work).

The nine timelines have a date between 600 AD and 1500 AD, with 1100 AD being the average. The Kerguelen Plateau is the most isolated place on Earth and, other than fishing vessels going to fish off the coast of Antarctica during the summer, the people of Kerguelen are unaware that there are other humans on their world (their myths record their ancestors arriving over four thousand years ago). The few unfortunates who traveled to the Kerguelen Skerry always end up on Kerguelen Plateau, it is a parachronic quirk of the skerry, and they usually end up being permanent immigrants (six Centrum operatives and six Infinity operatives have escaped the skerry, though half of them were picked up by the other side). The Kerguelen people have myths about meeting other people, though they represent them as being savages that eat children, murder men, and rape women, so the accuracy of their myths are unknown.


The Kerguelen people refer to themselves as the Va'ta'ma in their language (which is unknown outside of the Kerguelen Skerry), which simply means the People of the Stones and Waves. They are a matriarchal, matrilineal, and matrifocal people with female relatives of the same generation sharing husbands. The temples (which handle the worship of the Ten Thousand Goddesses) handle the visitors and arrange for their likely adoption/marriage. Female visitors are treated as equals and will often be adopted into families without daughters when they learn the language. Male visitors are prized husbands and will often find themselves married off before they learn the language.

[thrash]

Paul Drye did an article for Pyramid ("Infinite Crossroads-12: Lemuria", 16 February 2007) that covered five timelines involving a Kerguelen subcontinent.

From a setting design standpoint, what purpose does it serve to spread the skerry across nine quanta, when it is so difficult to access any particular timeline from outside? I can see one or the other feature, but the combination seems counterproductive.

[AlexanderHowl]

Sociologically, it is a parachronic society that develops in (relative) isolation (parachronic and physical). The purpose of having the skerry crossing multiple Quantum is that it allows the importation of limited people from every known timeline through phenomena like Banestorms, meaning that it could serve as a setting for a mixed Centrum/Homeline game (since they can come in through any Quantum). Its magical system also prevents the Cabal from operating in the setting, though it is possible that there could be one chronobund per Quantum that ends in the Kerguelen Skerry (though entering and leaving may be difficult).

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Rupert

It's about the same as Iceland's, and we know that the settlers there managed with lower than TL4 tech. Note that the average daily temperature on Kerguelen Island never drops to freezing, so it's cold and windy but doesn't get super cold.

Took a quick look at the Wikipedia article for Kergulen and Reykjavík, and it looks like Port-aux-Français, Kerguelen has better weather than Reykjavík.