[IW] Queries: Recent echoes, and some implications

CoyoteGestalt · 03-30-2010, 12:48 PM

Some questions on Echoes:
1. Parachronics: Do we know if there are echoes with dates less than 30 years behind Homeline? I don't recall seeing any mention of it in the book, but I don't recall it ever specifically saying there aren't. I'm assuming not, but it raises a question: What happens when an echo reaches the 1990s and its Van Zandt starts experimenting with parachronics? Does it work, and found a new Infinity, and a new world with parachronic capability? Or does it fail, history diverges, and the echo becomes a parallel?

2. World-jumpers: We know that a handful of capable psionic world-jumpers have been found on homeline. Does Infinity also recruit their alternate selves from close parallels (since we know that the usual restrictions on outworld recruitment are waived for jumpers)? What about their alternate selves on echoes – taking them away could cause a divergence, but leaving them could prematurely reveal the existence of Infinity! (The same question could apply to other sorts of psychics.)

3. Uniqueness: Does the existence of echoes mean that A. nobody from homeline can have this disadvantage, B. that Homeliners can have this disadvantage, and thus don't exist on an echo despite it being an echo, or C. that a Homeliner can have this disadvantage, but it means that they don't have alternates except on echoes, who also have Unique and would probably disappear if the echo shifted? (In traditional GURPS style, the literal definition of “unique” is not necessarily the same thing as the disadvantage Unique.)

Is anything about this written somewhere, and I've missed it? If not, does anyone have any interesting theories?

03-30-2010, 12:48 PM	#1
CoyoteGestalt Join Date: Jan 2009	[IW] Queries: Recent echoes, and some implications Some questions on Echoes: 1. Parachronics: Do we know if there are echoes with dates less than 30 years behind Homeline? I don't recall seeing any mention of it in the book, but I don't recall it ever specifically saying there aren't. I'm assuming not, but it raises a question: What happens when an echo reaches the 1990s and its Van Zandt starts experimenting with parachronics? Does it work, and found a new Infinity, and a new world with parachronic capability? Or does it fail, history diverges, and the echo becomes a parallel? 2. World-jumpers: We know that a handful of capable psionic world-jumpers have been found on homeline. Does Infinity also recruit their alternate selves from close parallels (since we know that the usual restrictions on outworld recruitment are waived for jumpers)? What about their alternate selves on echoes – taking them away could cause a divergence, but leaving them could prematurely reveal the existence of Infinity! (The same question could apply to other sorts of psychics.) 3. Uniqueness: Does the existence of echoes mean that A. nobody from homeline can have this disadvantage, B. that Homeliners can have this disadvantage, and thus don't exist on an echo despite it being an echo, or C. that a Homeliner can have this disadvantage, but it means that they don't have alternates except on echoes, who also have Unique and would probably disappear if the echo shifted? (In traditional GURPS style, the literal definition of “unique” is not necessarily the same thing as the disadvantage Unique.) Is anything about this written somewhere, and I've missed it? If not, does anyone have any interesting theories?