Infinite Worlds, which wordline are we in?

[Scalping_Elmo]

I searched the forum, but I might have used the wrong keywords.

What is the name of our worldline?

Zandt-2? Where the good doctor was a veterinarian instead? If there is nothing official or even semi-official, I will just make something up for the next session of the game I am running.

[Captain-Captain]

I believe OUR timeline is undiscovered and thus unnamed by Homeline.

[SuedodeuS]

GURPS: Infinite Worlds mentions, on p.20, that Infinity has discovered several Earths that diverged from Homeline in that parachronics were never discovered (one of which could be "ours"). Naming them Zandt-n might be appropriate. Some individuals might name them Pure-n - as in, this is what Homeline would have become were it not for Van Zandt's discovery throwing things out of whack.

[Rocket Man]

I had always kind of assumed we were Beta myself (the Fourth Edition one that had no parachronics, not the Third Edition one where Dan Quayle was never born). However, SuedodeuS has it right ... any or none of the "Zandt-free" timelines already discovered could be our own Earth, as the GM pleases.


Hmmmm ... as an alternative to "Pure," how about making those the "Control" series of worlds, like the control in an experiment? So you'd have Control-1, Control-2, etc., one of which could be our own Earth.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by SuedodeuS

GURPS: Infinite Worlds mentions, on p.20, that Infinity has discovered several Earths that diverged from Homeline in that parachronics were never discovered (one of which could be "ours"). Naming them Zandt-n might be appropriate. Some individuals might name them Pure-n - as in, this is what Homeline would have become were it not for Van Zandt's discovery throwing things out of whack.

That would be a very strange option. After all the people doing the naming *ought* to consider Homeline the pure reference that is not out of whack - they after all live there and those event lead to perfect them.

I also think that in most cases, an earlier divergence point would quickly be identified. Van Zandt after all knows a lot about his own life, he should be able to identify whatever event diverted his analog away from parachronics. That event is the divergence point. Of course in timelines where he was not so diverted but the experiments failed to work, or he did something different with his results, treating him as the pivotal element would make good sense.

[Darekun]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Of course in timelines where he was not so diverted but the experiments failed to work, or he did something different with his results, treating him as the pivotal element would make good sense.

There should probably be a lot of those(usually combined with other changes), since projectors seem to be the base of the tech tree.

I'd favor Zandt-n, with nicknames based on what he went into instead :J

[Kyle Aaron]

Originally Posted by Darekun

I'd favor Zandt-n, with nicknames based on what he went into instead :J

Unless Zandt is Unique.

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by malloyd

That would be a very strange option. After all the people doing the naming *ought* to consider Homeline the pure reference that is not out of whack - they after all live there and those event lead to perfect them.

I'm certain there are at least some people who think things would be somehow "better" had the natural timeline not been screwed up by Zandt's discovery. Such individuals might indeed consider the non-parachronic echoes to be more "pure" versions of Homeline. Given, such people are exceedingly unlikely to be the ones given the duty of naming said timelines.

That said, I like the concept of referring to the non-parachronic echoes as Control-n.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by SuedodeuS

I'm certain there are at least some people who think things would be somehow "better" had the natural timeline not been screwed up by Zandt's discovery.

To the inhabitants of Homeline, his discovery is part of the "natural" timeline. There's no particular reason to call timelines without it more natural than, say, timelines where nuclear weapons were never developed, or timelines where humans never evolved.

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by Scalping_Elmo

I searched the forum, but I might have used the wrong keywords.

What is the name of our worldline?
....

What makes you think all posters here are from the same one?