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Old 02-04-2011, 06:51 AM   #1
Astromancer
 
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Default [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

The whole point of this thread is to create fairly close parallels of Homeline with something worth getting/finding/stealing and a good deal of local color/flavor. These would be useful change of pace and/or quicky adventures, or maybe just worlds that need to be protected from Centruum or Reich-5, or maybe the Cabal.

Let me introduce one.

HP-1 Homeline reserves the Lovecraft designation for scary and twisted worlds, but HP is legitimately connected to H.P. Lovecraft, because he's alive and seventy-five years old on this quantum-6 world. He simply never got cancer. A young lawyer, who was a fan of Weird Tales managed to show up in Robert Howard's hometown on the day he suicided in most timelines and talked him into visiting New York instead.

Lovecraft took charge of Howard, and in adjusting his friend to life in the big city, HP cured himself of most of his phobias and bigotries (or at least as he himself admitted, "Learned not to visit them on others.") By 1940 Lovecraft was a successful Sci-Fi author, Howard mainly wrote Westerns (but collaborated with De Camp on further Conan stories) and Ashton-Smith was convinced by his friends to return to writing.

Like Holly, this timeline is a fan's dream. White Starline buys publishing rights and film licenses (Sci-Fi and fantasy film was more active in this timeline from the mid-40's on.) Centruum is confused as to why Homeline finds this world so interesting, but they want to take this place over.

Local year 1965.

Your turn. Have fun.

Thank-you for your attention.
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Last edited by Astromancer; 07-14-2018 at 02:25 PM.
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Old 02-04-2011, 10:38 AM   #2
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

Actually, straight mirror parallels (with no discernable differance from Homeline other than the fact "it's in the past") have tons of valuable stuff.

Imagine plundering the cargo holds of the Titanic and the Lusitania before they sunk, or stealing weapons, ammo, and equipment from any number of Allied and Axis warships just before they are destroyed.

In the case of the USS Cinncinati, that would be an atomic weapon.....

Or pillage Alexandria before it's burned by *insert name here*.

Drop into Constantinople just before the Turks capture it.

The possibilities are endless.....
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Old 02-04-2011, 12:21 PM   #3
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

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Originally Posted by Apache View Post
In the case of the USS Cinncinati, that would be an atomic weapon...
Do you mean the USS Indianapolis? She'd delivered the bomb parts before she was attacked and sunk.
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Old 02-04-2011, 12:25 PM   #4
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

On a close parallel world, an Oxford professor delighted the world with the fruits of his imagination.

Twice.

The Lord of the Rings is still popular reading on Scribner-7, one of a series of parallels marked by different authorial careers. But here, J.R.R. Tolkien actually got around to fulfilling his half of a bargain made with C.S. Lewis -- to write a time-travel story to go with Lewis's space travel novels (Out of the Silent Planet and its successors). Finally published in the 1960s after many delays, the resulting mix of fantasy and history known as The Lost Road proved to be every bit as succesful as LotR, and indeed many Tolkien fans will argue among themselves about which is the greater of the two works.

To all things, there is a price, though. The increased attention to The Lost Road meant even less time available for exploring the First and Second Ages of Middle Earth. The Silmarillion exists here only as a loose collection of notes and half-worked ideas that even Christopher Tolkien gave up on trying to organize ... though it has occurred to the occasional visitor that there could be some serious profits in introducing our own world's volume as a "lost work" now recovered.
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Old 02-04-2011, 12:46 PM   #5
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

My personal geekish fantasy:

On Whedon 1 the science fiction show "Firefly" was given the full support and backing of the Fox network, and it's executives took a hands-off approach to Joss Whedon's show. As a result, Firefly built a solid following of fans over time and increased critical appreciation.

As of local year 2006, the show has eclipsed the popularity of the earlier "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Fans are eagerly anticipating it's 5 season.
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Old 02-04-2011, 03:13 PM   #6
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache View Post
Actually, straight mirror parallels (with no discernable differance from Homeline other than the fact "it's in the past") have tons of valuable stuff.

Imagine plundering the cargo holds of the Titanic and the Lusitania before they sunk, or stealing weapons, ammo, and equipment from any number of Allied and Axis warships just before they are destroyed.

In the case of the USS Cinncinati, that would be an atomic weapon.....

Or pillage Alexandria before it's burned by *insert name here*.

Drop into Constantinople just before the Turks capture it.

The possibilities are endless.....
Isn't interfering with echoes a really really bad idea? What if you cause it to shift?
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Old 02-04-2011, 03:59 PM   #7
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Do you mean the USS Indianapolis? She'd delivered the bomb parts before she was attacked and sunk.
Yeah, I meant the Indianapolis. My bad.

So you steal the bomb parts before she makes delivery.....
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Old 02-04-2011, 04:05 PM   #8
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

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Isn't interfering with echoes a really really bad idea? What if you cause it to shift?
So what? I'm filthy rich and living it up in another parallel where I own an entire island stocked with Jessica Alba's, Natalie Portman's, and Megan Fox's.....what do I care if some echoe shifts?

:)
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Old 02-05-2011, 11:48 AM   #9
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

Actually, I don't think art is going to be all that profitable.

The great works of a couple hundred divergent timelines arriving in the space of a decade or two have completely fragmented the Homeline market, and collapsed the Homeline film and publishing industries at the same time. For actual physical art, you don't actually saturate the market, but as it's now pretty much impossible to prove something is genuine, and even if you can somebody could discover a new line with another copy (and an older/better preserved/whatever one at that) tomorrow, rendering yours an "inferior copy". This means the investment side of the market that's so driven up prices in the last few decades is pretty much gone. Collectors and art lovers are still out there, so there's still *some* market, but nobody pays millions of dollars for a painting anymore.
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Old 02-05-2011, 12:43 PM   #10
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Default Re: [IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Isn't interfering with echoes a really really bad idea? What if you cause it to shift?
Subtlety is the key here. Quietly photographing hundreds of scolls in the library of Alexandria before any of the burnings, no problem. Bring an army in and steal the works out from under the nose of (insert favorite library burner here) causing shock, consternation, and religious hysteria, bad, very bad.
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