New Reality Seeds

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

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My spellchecker dislikes "Mana" and lets "Manna" pass. So that makes sense.

Well that's why you add "new" words to it. Spellcheckers are great for catching typographical errors but if I let them substitute their judgment for my own I would have no honour, no valour, no sense of humour...

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Sounds like we need a modernized Homeline.

Not disagreeing. Centrum may actually be more liberal in that way, as they care more about what occurs than who does it.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

I assume that the Garamantes, being cut off from Europe, would, like Ethiopia, would have their own Church. I assume it's autocephalous (self-headed). There would be a Muslim minority and for drama and style (this is a swashers setting after all) some pagans as well.

Ethiopia-style, that's good. And the question would be: is there magic behind it, keeping Garamantes going?

Originally Posted by Astromancer

My spellchecker dislikes "Mana" and lets "Manna" pass. So that makes sense.

Spellcheck is very Centrum. I imagine there is a 'center for the Anglic language' like French has, which has been enforcing strict rules for Anglic since the days of the Anglo-French Empire, now under the Education Service (and hates the idea of Centran citizens learning 'offworld' languages like Chinese...).

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Not disagreeing. Centrum may actually be more liberal in that way, as they care more about what occurs than who does it.

Hmm. A strongly transhumanist alt-Homeline could be quite interesting. They plausibly could have the technology, especially if we move the 'Absolute Present' ahead a few years.

[AlexanderHowl]

From my reading, Centrum would probably be quite anti-transhuman, they rescued humanity from extinction on their timeline and the idea of throwing their humanity away would likely be literally unthinkable to them. Eugenic engineering and augmentation would likely be acceptable though, and I could see Centrum mandating universal designs. For example, a TL10 Centrum could mandate the adoption of the following genetic template among its citizens:

Centrum Human [100]

Attribute Modifiers: ST+2 [20]; DX+1 [20]; IQ+2 [40]; HT+3 [30]

Advantages: Fit [5]

Disadvantages: Selfless (12-) [-5]; Xenophilia (12-) [-10]

The adoption of such a template would give Centrum a significant advantage over Infinity. The average Centrum citizen would be stronger, faster, smarter, and healthier than the average Homeline citizen. Selfless would come from behavioral modifications to increase group performance while Xenophilia would come from behavioral modification to reduce prejudice. With the addition of TL10 biological augmentation and symbiotic bacteria, as well as their own specialized training, the average Centrum agent could take apart the average Infinity agent without difficulty, though Centrum agents would prefer subtlety to force.

[ericthered]

I thought the Centrum counterparts to ISWAT were supposed to be decked out with hundreds of points of cybernetics.

[AlexanderHowl]

They do not have DNI, so they have only the simplest of bionic implants (Infinite Worlds, p. 51). Unattached Agents have bionics stolen from ultratech timelines, giving them 200 CP worth of augmentations, but they are still quite human (a single augmented arm and a pair of augmented eyes only). Unattached Agents also have Centrum Rank 7, so there might only be 100 of them. Otherwise, bionics are uncommon on Centrum and are only available when necessary.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The adoption of such a template would give Centrum a significant advantage over Infinity.

Sure, if you ignore the fact that the whole idea is ridiculous. Centrum is canonically a very advanced TL8 with some TL9 technology, and they've been at TL8 for about a century. The amount of either time or societal change that would need to take place for Centrum to reach a mature TL10 means it would be a completely different setting, and not really comparable to the baseline one. Also... you realize that Homeline also researches new technologies, right? If anything, they're likely to advance more quickly, since they're less technologically conservative.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

Centrum is canonically a very advanced TL8 with some TL9 technology, and they've been at TL8 for about a century. The amount of either time or societal change that would need to take place for Centrum to reach a mature TL10 means it would be a completely different setting, and not really comparable to the baseline one. Also... you realize that Homeline also researches new technologies, right? If anything, they're likely to advance more quickly, since they're less technologically conservative.

Yeah, Centrum isn't at TL10.

Though they might give up some of their technological conservatism when faced with an equal rival in Homeline, not to mention potential very high-tech rivals like Caliph, and of course non-tech powers with magic, psionics, etc.

It's probably a hot issue at The Forum, and might cut through the Interventionist vs. Progressive spectrum. Interventionists like Interworld would want high-tech to fight/conquer other worlds, while there are Progressives who want to build up Centrum tech base faster. But a lot of Pragmatics still don't want rapid technological development messing with the established order.

Centrum might limit high-tech to certain spheres. There could be bionic Unattacheds, but those aren't available for regular Centran citizens. Generally try to keep high-tech limited to fighting the dimensional war and other offworld threats, not introduce it to the homeworld.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

This takes place on a Q5 parallel which is mainly low mana, except for the British Isle which are normal mana except in a few small areas of high mana.

A Cabalist, for unknown reasons, has poisoned Gaius Suetonius Gaius just before he'd have turned his troops around to fight Boudica. As a result, his replacement chose to fight the Celts for London. The Londoners were saved but the Roman Legions and the province of Britain were lost.

Now, twenty years later,Domitian is preparing a massive force to reconquer Britain. There seem to be Cabalist working both for and against the Roman invasion. But these aren't the only things going on. Someone has introduced the Moldboard Plow in Gaul, Stirrups, and Horse Collars into Italy, bananas, and maize into Egypt, mulberries, and silkworms into Greece. Someone is working to ensure the survival of Rome, but also a pointless war in Britain.

What's the Goal.

Basically, a swashbuckling espionage campaign in a magical ancient Britain where Boudica won.