New Reality Seeds - Page 464

Astromancer · 03-19-2020, 06:20 PM

Solar Energy was first demonstrated as a practical means to power machinery in Paris in the late 18th century. It was on public exhibition at many trade and industrial fairs. In most worlds few people care much. One or two economists tell other economists and several British economists mention it. In this Q6 parallel one eccentric Englishman invites the inventor to Britain to work towards building salable products for the tropics. The two hit it off and are in Jamaica throughout the French Revolution.

They build dozens of solar power engines that do work as water pumps and other such things. Most use the principles of the Stirling Engine. Later on the two go to several different places in the British Empire's more sunny lands building dozens of solar engines and teaching hundreds of engineers how to do it. Their books on the subject (published in English, French, and German) spreads the knowledge far and wide.

By 1850 solar power stations are any and everywhere that sunny and inconvenient to supply with coal. They are seen as less useful than steam engines, but cheap to operate especially if you have to lug in fuel.

In the 20th century these solar engines become far more efficient. Rarer too, because of the efficiency of fossil fuels, but an accepted way of doing things time honored and useful.

It's now 1950 in this reality. The same group of companies and their political allies that sabotaged public transit in much of the USA has decided Solar is bad for business. Centrum, is supporting this, big oil is easier to control and manipulate than all these little solar companies. Homeline, having discovered that this world is much more vulnerable to anthropocentric global warming than most, wants to protect solar.

Basically, you are Captain Planet in a business suit trying to prevent a hell world.

Astromancer · 03-20-2020, 10:31 AM

One of the great burdens on medieval Ethiopia was the cost of Bishops. As Ethiopia did not have an Autocephalous church, and the Patriarch of Alexandria was forced to pay vast bribes to the Islamic rulers of Egypt for the Christian church to be allowed to exist, Ethiopia had to pay vast bribes to Alexandria to get Bishops. Worse, as the Islamic rulers of Egypt wanted Ethiopia broken to their will, only the most greedy and selfish louts were allowed to go south and be Ethiopian bishops. Added to that, he always keep the number of bishops to low. Ethiopia needed about thirty bishops, but, by the rules of the church, twelve meant the church was autocephalous. And that would end the vitally needed cash cow.

This meant that the Bishops were normally the foes of the devote. and little or none of the Church funds went into things like education or charity. Instead of being a pillar of the state, the Ethiopian church was forced to be its foe. But not in this Q4 Low Manna parallel.

In this world in the year 1190,in the Zagwe dynasty's rule. A Catholic priest (looking for the kingdom of Prester John) came to Ethiopia. In most worlds it's assumed he died in the Sudan before getting to Ethiopia. In this world, he saw the plight of the Ethiopian church and resolved to help. Five years later he returned with a papal bull allowing the appointment of fifteen Ethiopian Churchmen of good character as Bishops and recognizing the Autocephalous standing of the Ethiopian Church.

The Patriarch of Alexandria and the eleven foreign bishops were furious, and helpless. The nation of Ethiopia began to have the benefits of a strong church. Educational functions and charities began to spread throughout the land. At least to the norms of a poor Christian state of the Middle Ages.

The local year is 1508. Dawit II rules a far stronger Ethiopia. Following European models they even have a University in Axum having reconquered the terratories of Aksum. The University has very rich holdings in it's libraries. Many European and Arab scholars come here to find rare texts.

This richer more stable Ethiopia has excellent trade links into much of Africa. Both Homeline and the Cabal see this Ethiopia as a great way to explore pre-modern Africa. The Cabal wants to steal mythic secrets and defend themselves against African sorcerers that seek vengeance on them for reasons unknown to the Cabal. These same mysterious sorcerers also seek ancient wisdom in these lands. The African Sorcerers rarely make distinctions between different groups of out timers, they just kill them.

Have fun.

Astromancer · 03-23-2020, 01:12 PM

The transition from Elizabeth I to James I was hard, the death of Henry Stuart (James' eldest son) led to a national state of depression. Elizabeth knew her kingdom was changing and that she was the Queen of a free people and couldn't stop the changes, she could only gently moderate them.

James though he could simply abolish the rights of his subjects and rule as an absolute monarch. His far less tactful and shrewd second son reaped what his father and he had sowed. Charles II, understanding what could happen, was far more tactful and careful.

However, in this Q6 low manna world, things were different. Elizabeth is still alive and vital at 80 (maybe the simple fact that this Elizabeth loves fresh fruit and most Elizabeths in other parallels ate mainly sweets and custards). Perhaps the simply fact of being 80, a rare age in period, finally got her to be willing to choose and heir.

She sent to Scotland for James to send her his oldest son Henry to be her heir. Angry at being passed over, but highly ambitious, James sent the boy. Henry fell ill on the way, but Sir Walter Raleigh attended the youth and used his famous cordial to heal him. It worked splendidly.

Centrum is a little worried. Raleigh, often dismissed as a lightweight because of slanders against him, was in most worlds an intellect with the scope and range of a Leonardo da Vinci. The young prince is enthusiastic about science and Empire, way too enthusiastic. The Prince's court was designed by Raleigh (as in Homeline history) to educate an English king fit to be a leading light of the Renaissance. Where James tended to slow Raleigh down, Elizabeth is encouraging both of them. Centrum is seriously worried about a scientific and occult revolution coming early followed by an early full speed industrial revolution. They've also noticed known Cabal members acting as physicians at both Elizabeth and Henry's courts. They feel the English renaissance has been hi-jacked. They're wondering if they'll need to assassinate the Queen and the Prince.

Homeline is beginning to realize just for freaked Centrum is. Especially when they found that Centrum tried to prevent publication of a treatise by Giodano Bruno on the plurality of worlds. They realize that Centrum thinks the SECRET is in danger. If so, they could get scary violent.

Anders · 03-23-2020, 03:28 PM

Think Shadowrun, but the elves, orcs, and whatnots come back in 1814 rather than 2012.

Astromancer · 03-23-2020, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anders

Think Shadowrun, but the elves, orcs, and whatnots come back in 1814 rather than 2012.

Good, what triggers it? If you like Slavic lore, Napoleon's invasion of Mother Russia. If you go for Celtic lore, have an angry group of Welsh, Irish, and Scots, poets invoke the Tautha to come and smite England. If your taste is classical, have Shelly invoke the Olympians on the site of an ancient temple.

DangerousThing · 03-23-2020, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Good, what triggers it? If you like Slavic lore, Napoleon's invasion of Mother Russia. If you go for Celtic lore, have an angry group of Welsh, Irish, and Scots, poets invoke the Tautha to come and smite England. If your taste is classical, have Shelly invoke the Olympians on the site of an ancient temple.

How about something like the Banestorm hitting the Earth in 1814.

Imagine Cowboys and Indians and Orcs, oh my!

Apollonian · 03-23-2020, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Good, what triggers it? If you like Slavic lore, Napoleon's invasion of Mother Russia. If you go for Celtic lore, have an angry group of Welsh, Irish, and Scots, poets invoke the Tautha to come and smite England. If your taste is classical, have Shelly invoke the Olympians on the site of an ancient temple.

Given that the basic non-human types have more of a Viking myth feel, I'd go with something up in Scandinavia. Making it unrelated to the gargantuan Napoleonic struggle appeals to me; that has enough story hooks as it is. So...

In 1814, Iceland is nearly annihilated by the catastrophic eruption of Hofsjökull. As the ash other detritus fall all over the globe, people change - mutating into creatures out of ancient Nordic myths (or at least, near enough for the 18th century). Stout dwarfs, slender and elegant elves, ugly orcs (or svartalfr, as some of them come to be called), and towering trolls. Children, too, are born thus. About a quarter to a third of the global population is affected.

In the same year, magic starts to work again (or perhaps it never stopped, and now it's just easier). Societies of enlightenment mages are soon comparing notes and fighting over secrets, just as old folk traditions and shamanistic religions acquire new potency. (Organized religion is thrown into a bit of a crisis.)

Of course, this is all against a backdrop of a year or two without a summer and the turmoil that comes with famine, Napoleon's struggle against the Sixth Coalition, and - perhaps - the coming of Ragnarok. There are certainly great dragons abroad in the mountains and oceans.

PCs could be...

Political and magical operatives in Vienna, trying to shape the new world order after the fall of Napoleon and the ash fall
Courtiers of an Indian prince, dealing with the English and their John Company, not to mention rakshasas, nagas, and all those sorts of monsters who've just started making trouble.
Frontier folk in North America - white settlers, native people, or both
Freedmen in Haiti, looking to stay that way
Romantic aesthetes/mages trapped in a villa on Lake Geneva by a miserable summer
Curious scholars in the salons and courts of Europe, discovering new magic and old evils
Newly changed folk, trying to make a new life for themselves - maybe with or without relations from the old one.

Or really, anyone where power, intrigue, magic, and adventure intersect.

Prince Charon · 03-24-2020, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apollonian

PCs could be...

Political and magical operatives in Vienna, trying to shape the new world order after the fall of Napoleon and the ash fall
Courtiers of an Indian prince, dealing with the English and their John Company, not to mention rakshasas, nagas, and all those sorts of monsters who've just started making trouble.
Frontier folk in North America - white settlers, native people, or both
Freedmen in Haiti, looking to stay that way
Romantic aesthetes/mages trapped in a villa on Lake Geneva by a miserable summer
Curious scholars in the salons and courts of Europe, discovering new magic and old evils
Newly changed folk, trying to make a new life for themselves - maybe with or without relations from the old one.

Or really, anyone where power, intrigue, magic, and adventure intersect.

Interesting. I hope this one gets more development.

Astromancer · 03-25-2020, 02:50 PM

Try this one...

Just before the formal outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, a known (to Homeline and Centrum that is) Cabalist ally assassinates General Franco. This causes a great deal of confusion among those planning the right-wing coup. Several possible replacements have unusual accidents at suspiciously apt times. Clearly the Cabal is chosing to back the Left in the Spanish Civil War on this Q6 Low Manna/Normal Manna (95/5) world. But why this world?

It 1938, September, WWII is still coming fast. Communists and Anarchists are struggling for power in Spain. It seems like the Cabal wanted to make Spain a gift to either Hitler or Stalin, why? What's in it for them?

The PCs must go to Spain in a time of violence and uncertainty and discover the secret of wizardly conspirators. And the Cabal has been slaughtering those who seek their secrets for millennia.

GreatWyrmGold · 03-25-2020, 06:01 PM

I recently heard about an early concept for a nuclear bomb, from before people realized they could enrich uranium and get a critical mass small enough to transport by air. Basically, you take a crapton of uranium and heavy water, load it on a ship, sail it into port, and activate the bomby systems that I forgot to mention to make the mass supercritical so it blows up the city and surrounding area.

This is interesting both for the spectacle of a city-destroyer so massive that needs to be loaded onto a ship* and the fact that it requires slightly less technological sophistication than the Fat Man and Little Boy. The latter is important.

If we rejigger things so Japan has a better uranium supply (probably by having Canada and/or Australia economically support the Axis, possibly by throwing in some justification along the lines of "Great Britain ****** off the Commonwealth while trying to recover from the Great War") and handwave some convenient R&D, we could make a plausible case for Japan being able to design and deploy a few such weapons by 1941...

The Japanese navy wanted to intimidate the US government into capitulation, and the sheer destructive potential of the "kamikaiyō" strategy seemed like a perfect tool for this purpose. To justify this alternate history seed as having more than just a bloodier America entering the war aware of the power of the Atom, they prepare multiple such vessels in case one was detected and disabled. They would be sent to Pearl Harbor...um...desperately googles US naval base locations...San Diego, maybe Puget Sound...possibly collaborate with the Germans to send some to East Coast cities like Portsmouth or New York?

Logistics: I don't think you can really sneak a giant ship into a harbor, so either there's some technique for hiding ships from detection by enemy forces with 1940's technology that I'm unaware of (possibly due to mistaken assumptions about how vigilant people are about unexpected ships approaching major ports), or the kamikaiyō vessels would need

Anyways, after losing multiple naval bases to such an overwhelming attack that came and left so fast they couldn't respond to it, the USA is ****** but also seriously weakened (especially in the scenario where the Germans pitch in and help destroy major East Coast cities as well). The lack of concern for civilian casualties might galvanize neutral nations against the Axis, but it also might not, depending on how the news was reported and framed. Atrocities on a scale incomprehensible to humans are common in war; what's the difference between shelling a thousand and nuking a million, but a few zeroes?

There is no doubt in my mind that the USA enters the war against Japan as soon as they pick up their jaws off the floor, if not sooner. However, with many of their shipyards and ports destroyed, they'd need time to just get everything running so they can help. In the meantime, their not-quite-under-the-table aid to Britain would be interrupted, which means that it's basically just the UK, the USSR, the French Resistance, and assorted allies and colonies versus the Axis for however long it takes the Americans to get their stuff together.

Which might take a bit longer than anticipated. Remember how I suggested some of the Commonwealth nations would be allied with the Axis? Including Canada, aka "America's hat"? I'm not sure if the White House would be torched again, but if Japan sent troops to support their Canadian allies in invading the USA (which is a bizarre sentence, I realize), I'd say they have a decent shot.
At the very least, they'll disrupt the Power of Reluctant Friendship that held the Allies together. Of course, the fact that this only comes into play after Hitler handed Churchill a brand-new friend on a silver platter kinda reduces the impact of that a bit...

So if you have an idea for an "Axis wins WW2" plot centered more around Hirohito's Japan than Hitler's Germany, this might be a decent starting point. (If you want one centered around Mussolini...I'm sure someone will think of something.)

*Never mind that this makes it strictly inferior to city-destroyers that can be carried on planes, there's a deeply primal part of the human mind which assumes big things are cooler.

03-19-2020, 06:20 PM	#4631
Astromancer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: West Virginia	Re: New Reality Seeds Solar Energy was first demonstrated as a practical means to power machinery in Paris in the late 18th century. It was on public exhibition at many trade and industrial fairs. In most worlds few people care much. One or two economists tell other economists and several British economists mention it. In this Q6 parallel one eccentric Englishman invites the inventor to Britain to work towards building salable products for the tropics. The two hit it off and are in Jamaica throughout the French Revolution. They build dozens of solar power engines that do work as water pumps and other such things. Most use the principles of the Stirling Engine. Later on the two go to several different places in the British Empire's more sunny lands building dozens of solar engines and teaching hundreds of engineers how to do it. Their books on the subject (published in English, French, and German) spreads the knowledge far and wide. By 1850 solar power stations are any and everywhere that sunny and inconvenient to supply with coal. They are seen as less useful than steam engines, but cheap to operate especially if you have to lug in fuel. In the 20th century these solar engines become far more efficient. Rarer too, because of the efficiency of fossil fuels, but an accepted way of doing things time honored and useful. It's now 1950 in this reality. The same group of companies and their political allies that sabotaged public transit in much of the USA has decided Solar is bad for business. Centrum, is supporting this, big oil is easier to control and manipulate than all these little solar companies. Homeline, having discovered that this world is much more vulnerable to anthropocentric global warming than most, wants to protect solar. Basically, you are Captain Planet in a business suit trying to prevent a hell world. __________________ Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo

03-20-2020, 10:31 AM	#4632
Astromancer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: West Virginia	Re: New Reality Seeds One of the great burdens on medieval Ethiopia was the cost of Bishops. As Ethiopia did not have an Autocephalous church, and the Patriarch of Alexandria was forced to pay vast bribes to the Islamic rulers of Egypt for the Christian church to be allowed to exist, Ethiopia had to pay vast bribes to Alexandria to get Bishops. Worse, as the Islamic rulers of Egypt wanted Ethiopia broken to their will, only the most greedy and selfish louts were allowed to go south and be Ethiopian bishops. Added to that, he always keep the number of bishops to low. Ethiopia needed about thirty bishops, but, by the rules of the church, twelve meant the church was autocephalous. And that would end the vitally needed cash cow. This meant that the Bishops were normally the foes of the devote. and little or none of the Church funds went into things like education or charity. Instead of being a pillar of the state, the Ethiopian church was forced to be its foe. But not in this Q4 Low Manna parallel. In this world in the year 1190,in the Zagwe dynasty's rule. A Catholic priest (looking for the kingdom of Prester John) came to Ethiopia. In most worlds it's assumed he died in the Sudan before getting to Ethiopia. In this world, he saw the plight of the Ethiopian church and resolved to help. Five years later he returned with a papal bull allowing the appointment of fifteen Ethiopian Churchmen of good character as Bishops and recognizing the Autocephalous standing of the Ethiopian Church. The Patriarch of Alexandria and the eleven foreign bishops were furious, and helpless. The nation of Ethiopia began to have the benefits of a strong church. Educational functions and charities began to spread throughout the land. At least to the norms of a poor Christian state of the Middle Ages. The local year is 1508. Dawit II rules a far stronger Ethiopia. Following European models they even have a University in Axum having reconquered the terratories of Aksum. The University has very rich holdings in it's libraries. Many European and Arab scholars come here to find rare texts. This richer more stable Ethiopia has excellent trade links into much of Africa. Both Homeline and the Cabal see this Ethiopia as a great way to explore pre-modern Africa. The Cabal wants to steal mythic secrets and defend themselves against African sorcerers that seek vengeance on them for reasons unknown to the Cabal. These same mysterious sorcerers also seek ancient wisdom in these lands. The African Sorcerers rarely make distinctions between different groups of out timers, they just kill them. Have fun. __________________ Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 03-20-2020 at 06:53 PM.

03-23-2020, 01:12 PM	#4633
Astromancer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: West Virginia	Re: New Reality Seeds The transition from Elizabeth I to James I was hard, the death of Henry Stuart (James' eldest son) led to a national state of depression. Elizabeth knew her kingdom was changing and that she was the Queen of a free people and couldn't stop the changes, she could only gently moderate them. James though he could simply abolish the rights of his subjects and rule as an absolute monarch. His far less tactful and shrewd second son reaped what his father and he had sowed. Charles II, understanding what could happen, was far more tactful and careful. However, in this Q6 low manna world, things were different. Elizabeth is still alive and vital at 80 (maybe the simple fact that this Elizabeth loves fresh fruit and most Elizabeths in other parallels ate mainly sweets and custards). Perhaps the simply fact of being 80, a rare age in period, finally got her to be willing to choose and heir. She sent to Scotland for James to send her his oldest son Henry to be her heir. Angry at being passed over, but highly ambitious, James sent the boy. Henry fell ill on the way, but Sir Walter Raleigh attended the youth and used his famous cordial to heal him. It worked splendidly. Centrum is a little worried. Raleigh, often dismissed as a lightweight because of slanders against him, was in most worlds an intellect with the scope and range of a Leonardo da Vinci. The young prince is enthusiastic about science and Empire, way too enthusiastic. The Prince's court was designed by Raleigh (as in Homeline history) to educate an English king fit to be a leading light of the Renaissance. Where James tended to slow Raleigh down, Elizabeth is encouraging both of them. Centrum is seriously worried about a scientific and occult revolution coming early followed by an early full speed industrial revolution. They've also noticed known Cabal members acting as physicians at both Elizabeth and Henry's courts. They feel the English renaissance has been hi-jacked. They're wondering if they'll need to assassinate the Queen and the Prince. Homeline is beginning to realize just for freaked Centrum is. Especially when they found that Centrum tried to prevent publication of a treatise by Giodano Bruno on the plurality of worlds. They realize that Centrum thinks the *SECRET* is in danger. If so, they could get scary violent. __________________ Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 03-23-2020 at 05:24 PM.

03-23-2020, 03:28 PM	#4634
Anders Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Gothenburg, Sweden	Re: New Reality Seeds Think Shadowrun, but the elves, orcs, and whatnots come back in 1814 rather than 2012. __________________ “When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius

03-25-2020, 02:50 PM	#4639
Astromancer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: West Virginia	Re: New Reality Seeds Try this one... Just before the formal outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, a known (to Homeline and Centrum that is) Cabalist ally assassinates General Franco. This causes a great deal of confusion among those planning the right-wing coup. Several possible replacements have unusual accidents at suspiciously apt times. Clearly the Cabal is chosing to back the Left in the Spanish Civil War on this Q6 Low Manna/Normal Manna (95/5) world. But why this world? It 1938, September, WWII is still coming fast. Communists and Anarchists are struggling for power in Spain. It seems like the Cabal wanted to make Spain a gift to either Hitler or Stalin, why? What's in it for them? The PCs must go to Spain in a time of violence and uncertainty and discover the secret of wizardly conspirators. And the Cabal has been slaughtering those who seek their secrets for millennia. __________________ Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo

03-25-2020, 06:01 PM	#4640
GreatWyrmGold Join Date: Oct 2011	Re: New Reality Seeds I recently heard about an early concept for a nuclear bomb, from before people realized they could enrich uranium and get a critical mass small enough to transport by air. Basically, you take a crapton of uranium and heavy water, load it on a ship, sail it into port, and activate the bomby systems that I forgot to mention to make the mass supercritical so it blows up the city and surrounding area. This is interesting both for the spectacle of a city-destroyer so massive that needs to be loaded onto a ship* and the fact that it requires slightly less technological sophistication than the Fat Man and Little Boy. The latter is important. If we rejigger things so Japan has a better uranium supply (probably by having Canada and/or Australia economically support the Axis, possibly by throwing in some justification along the lines of "Great Britain ****** off the Commonwealth while trying to recover from the Great War") and handwave some convenient R&D, we could make a plausible case for Japan being able to design and deploy a few such weapons by 1941... The Japanese navy wanted to intimidate the US government into capitulation, and the sheer destructive potential of the "kamikaiyō" strategy seemed like a perfect tool for this purpose. To justify this alternate history seed as having more than just a bloodier America entering the war aware of the power of the Atom, they prepare multiple such vessels in case one was detected and disabled. They would be sent to Pearl Harbor...um...desperately googles US naval base locations...San Diego, maybe Puget Sound...possibly collaborate with the Germans to send some to East Coast cities like Portsmouth or New York? Logistics: I don't think you can really sneak a giant ship into a harbor, so either there's some technique for hiding ships from detection by enemy forces with 1940's technology that I'm unaware of (possibly due to mistaken assumptions about how vigilant people are about unexpected ships approaching major ports), or the kamikaiyō vessels would need Anyways, after losing multiple naval bases to such an overwhelming attack that came and left so fast they couldn't respond to it, the USA is ****** but also seriously weakened (especially in the scenario where the Germans pitch in and help destroy major East Coast cities as well). The lack of concern for civilian casualties might galvanize neutral nations against the Axis, but it also might not, depending on how the news was reported and framed. Atrocities on a scale incomprehensible to humans are common in war; what's the difference between shelling a thousand and nuking a million, but a few zeroes? There is no doubt in my mind that the USA enters the war against Japan as soon as they pick up their jaws off the floor, if not sooner. However, with many of their shipyards and ports destroyed, they'd need time to just get everything running so they can help. In the meantime, their not-quite-under-the-table aid to Britain would be interrupted, which means that it's basically just the UK, the USSR, the French Resistance, and assorted allies and colonies versus the Axis for however long it takes the Americans to get their stuff together. Which might take a bit longer than anticipated. Remember how I suggested some of the Commonwealth nations would be allied with the Axis? Including Canada, aka "America's hat"? I'm not sure if the White House would be torched again, but if Japan sent troops to support their Canadian allies in invading the USA (which is a bizarre sentence, I realize), I'd say they have a decent shot. At the very least, they'll disrupt the Power of Reluctant Friendship that held the Allies together. Of course, the fact that this only comes into play after Hitler handed Churchill a brand-new friend on a silver platter kinda reduces the impact of that a bit... So if you have an idea for an "Axis wins WW2" plot centered more around Hirohito's Japan than Hitler's Germany, this might be a decent starting point. (If you want one centered around Mussolini...I'm sure someone will think of something.) *Never mind that this makes it strictly inferior to city-destroyers that can be carried on planes, there's a deeply primal part of the human mind which assumes big things are cooler.