Infinite Worlds and Technomancer

[Southern Cross]

Actually,according to GURPS Technomancer, current magical theory on Merlin theorises that any further use of nuclear weapons might create a Hellstorm ten times larger than the Antarctica Hellstorm,destabilizing the global manasphere.
Off-world nukes should have the same effect as Merlin nukes,given that the Hellstorms have severely weakened space-time across the whole planet.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by Diogenes

Yeah, it's the same "plot" as World War II. The main cast:

Homeline, as the United States of America;
Centrum, as the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, affectionately known as "Russia"; and

Reich-5, as Deutsches Reich, which English Speakers call the 3rd Reich if ruled by the Nazis.

Supporting cast: Merlin, the Magic Earth in the role of the contested land (choose one).

But wouldn't that require Reich-5 to be between Homeline and Centrum? IIRC, they are inaccessible from Centrum...

[Diogenes]

I would not take the metaphor of World War II too far. I saw a tripartite conflict between three parties where two of them would probably have to ally (yes, it's Centrum and Homeline!) to win over the third, that's all.

[vitruvian]

<<Supporting cast: Merlin, the Magic Earth in the role of the contested land (choose one).>>

Somehow, I don't see Merlin being quite so reactive in this case. So long as no nukes *do* get dropped, they might be quite effective against any incursion by Reich-5, and even rapidly develop Plane Shift spells allowing them to take the battle to the Reich. The US of Merlin would have a definite interest in aiding the Resistance of the US on Reich-5, at the very least.

Of course, in my campaign Dixie will be highly destabilized by the activities of an illegal Underground Railroad to Uhuru, and the Israelis have not one but two offworld colonies - Canaan and Ishmael (unlimited Zionist expansion in one, a Coventry-like option for unruly Palestinians in the other - both completely denied).

[Pesterfield]

How could Yrth fit in, it might be a potential interesting battle ground. The Reich sees it as a primitive world for conquest, Merlin/Homeline would both probable see it as a lot of people needing liberation from repressive governments and modernization.

Due to the technology problem though only Merlin and the Reich will really be able to fight there.

[Mark Skarr]

Ah . . . the joys of Infinite Worlds . . ..

Now . . . an interesting theory to postulate:

What if Merlin nukes created Hellstorms wherever they detonated, and outworld nukes worked normally. Merlin could set themselves up nicely to set up magic on any world they wanted to colonize, and the other powers would struggle to steal their technology to see how it differs.

Or, if Merlin's physical laws altered all outworld nuclear weapons inert, since their plutonium or uranium wasn't native, and therefore wasn't able to cause the magical reaction. Would Merlin's nukes still work in other worlds?

[Southern Cross]

If I were running an Infinite Worlds/Merlin campaign,I'd state that the only reason Merlin nukes cause Hellstorms would be the unstable spacetime on that alternate Earth.On other worlds Merlin's nukes would just be ordinary nukes.