Five Earths, All in a Row

[Prince Charon]

Sorry it's not an update, but I found a thread where the discussion is relevant to this one - or rather, drifted in a direction that is relevant, specifically the way tech level skills don't always match plausible difficulties (it works fine with some skills, but not with others).

For example, some TL6 guns are still in use during TL8, at no penalty, and early cars are often harder to use/easier to screw up than modern ones, leading to the skill penalties not fitting what a knowledgeable player would realize would happen. Things like this are fairly important to consider, once the timeline gets to the point of characters from Inp-Earth being on Dsp-Earth, and vice-versa. Some of it is 'already' happening, with people from Stp-Earth being on three of the other Earths (the ambassadors from Fa-Britannia are from far enough back for the penalties to apply normally).

[warellis]

What things would Dsp-Earth people like about modern cars compared to their cars?

Would something like combat sights be something people from Stp-Earth and Dsp-Earth copy from Inp-Earth?

Charon on Stp-Earth, is the Old West more like what it was in reality or more sorta cinematic/dime novel?

Also I'm wondering how Dsp-Earth would've reacted if it had contacted Inp-Earth during Dsp-Earth's 1920s? Remember that was the era of the flapper girl, Prohibition, drugs being used in movies and movie stars, etc. The Roaring Twenties. From what I've read, the people of that era may have been more liberal in ways we in the current era would think strange, like everyone taking drugs.

[warellis]

I'm wondering if the SciFi of each world line will possibly influence later technology and ship design. An example of what I'm talking about in regards to more modern space opera vs older versions would be something like Star Carrier where nanotechnology allows things like ships with nanotech hulls that can change shape or uniforms that are composed of nanotech that can easily convert themselves into other clothing with a thought. Another cool thing with nanotech in it involves ships using their hulls and nanites to essentially merge and melt into an enemy ship's hull so there's no danger of depressurization when attempting to board ships through boarding pods and such. I could imagine later Inp/Spp-Earth ships having such tech.


For example with Star Carrier:

“Move it, Prim,” Lieutenant Jen Collins snapped. “You’re blocking progress.”
Gray turned sharply, fists clenched, but then stepped aside as the others filed out of the flier. Lieutenant Commander Allyn was coming off the flier last, and was watching him. “Uniform, Lieutenant,” she reminded him. “This is a formal affair.”
“Ah, you should have let the Prim wear his jackies,” Collins said with a bitter laugh.
“Yeah,” Lieutenant Kirkpatrick added, grinning. “The dumb-ass doesn’t know any better. It’ll be fun watching him try to mix with our kind.”
“Hey, back off,” Lieutenant Ben Donovan said. “We’re all a bit nervous tonight.”
Gray looked down at his uniform, which was currently configured for flight utility—the plain and unadorned dark gray skinsuit worn by pilots jacked into their fighters—“jackies,” in flight-line slang. Angrily, he slapped the set-patch on his left shoulder, calling up a menu within his inner display. Mindclicking on Full Dress, Formal engaged the nanotechnic interface. With a somewhat tingling sensation, his clothing rearranged itself, tightening, unfolding, and taking on texture and color.
Confederation Navy formal full dress was a glossy black skinsuit, throat to soles, with an intricate layer of bright gold knotwork sheathing the left third of his body—arm, side, and outer leg, extending all the way from shoulder to ankle. His rank tabs glowed to either side of his throat, and a panel over his left breast displayed a fluorescent animation of awards and decorations. He’d only been in for five years, so the cycling award display was a short one: Confederation Military Service, the Battles of Everdawn and of Arcturus Station, and the newly awarded Legion of the Defense of Earth, with cluster for distinguished service.

“Best behaviors, Dragonfires,” Allyn’s voice whispered in their heads. “Corders, secmons, and deets on at all times, and we will know if you switch them off.”
Several of the pilots nearby grumbled at that. Corders were recording sensors grown within the weave of military uniforms. If anyone got into trouble tonight, there’d be a full audiovisual record of the incident for the court-martial afterward. Secmons were security monitors, non-AI software routines designed to warn personnel about possible security breaches. Deets were detoxifiers. There were quite a few sense-altering drugs, scents, and beverages on display, but the micrometabolic processors nano-grown within each pilot’s brain would sample chemicals in the bloodstream, monitor sensory input, and harmlessly filter out the offending chemical before he or she developed more than a light buzz.

Stuff about nanotech hulls:

"Okay, chicks," Commander Marissa Allyn said over the squadron comnet. She was VFA-44's CO, and Flight Leader for this op. "Configure for high-G."
Each of the Starhawks had emerged from the diamagnetic launch tubes in standard flight configuration, a night-black needle shape twenty meters long, with a central bulge housing the pilot and control systems, and the mirror-smooth outer hull in a superconducting state. At Gray's command, his gravfighter began reshaping itself, the complex nano-laminates of its outer structure dissolving and recombining, drive units and sensors folding up and out and back, everything building up around the central bulge in a blunt and smoothly convoluted egg-shape with a slender spike tail off the narrow end, and with the fat end aligned with the distant, golden gleam of Eta Boötis.
"Blue Omega Leader, Omega Seven," he reported. "Sperm mode engaged. Ready for boost." Gravfighter pilots claimed their craft looked like a huge spermatozoa when they were in boost configuration. His fighter was now only seven meters long -- not counting the field bleed spike astern -- and five wide, though it still massed twenty-two tons.

No matter. If the Marines could see them, the Marines could kill them. Clegg’s black teardrop slipped past a tangle of torn and half-melted structural supports well inside the target vessel’s hull and slammed into a bulkhead. The leading surface of nanomatrix switched its programming, becoming a nanodisassembler surface that melted through the unyielding polycarbolaminate bulkhead in seconds, then opening into the ship once it hit gas instead of solid.

The hull of the alien was less than one hundred meters ahead now, a vast, death-black cliff blotting out the stars as the VBSS probe slowed sharply to avoid a lethal impact. Koenig searched that cliff face for signs of damage from the three nuclear blasts that had engulfed it, but saw none. The surface appeared smooth, not pitted or worn or burned at all, with numerous ribs or folds running across it in a seemingly random pattern.
Sixty meters. A through-hull docking collar began deploying on the cigar-shaped pod’s nose.
“Here we go, ladies,” the voice of Chief Garrison said over Koenig’s link. “Forty meters. Brace for impact.”
Seconds later, the docking collar struck alien metal. The contact surface of the collar was composed of a thick layer of nanoreassemblers, molecule-sized machines that began latching on to the individual molecules of the alien metal surface, analyzing them, breaking them apart into their component atoms, and then putting them back together in an orderly and carefully calculated way.
The vacuum seals between the flight and hangar decks of a star carrier worked on the same principle. Solid metal could be reconfigured into an artificial allotrope with markedly different properties… in this case turning solid composite metal into a viscous liquid that maintained the atmospheric seal, but allowed the cigar-shaped probe to slide into and through the hull, rather than breaking or burning open a hole. The black liquid, looking much like molten tar, closed around the boarding capsule’s hull and swallowed it, closing up behind it as it moved forward.

Stuff about nanotech airlocks:

Burnham followed the Marines out into the vast emptiness of the hangar airlock, moving toward what appeared to be a taut, black sheet stretched against the far bulkhead. In two columns, the Marines marched straight into the sheet, which stretched, bulged, and filled in around them as they walked through and vanished.
Nanoseal technology allowed movement between pressurized compartments and the hard vacuum of space without the need for pumping out atmosphere and cycling through locks. The material molded itself to Burnham’s battlesuit as she stepped into it, offering a tug of resistance, as though she were stepping through something like a sheet of molasses.
And then she was outside the base cavern, walking north down a barren, powder-covered slope, a desolate panorama of bare rock, intense sunlight, and midnight-black shadow. The reactive nanocoating of the Marines armor did its best to match the surrounding colors and intensity of light, creating patchworks of harsh white and black.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by warellis

What things would Dsp-Earth people like about modern cars compared to their cars?

Fast and reliable, but fragile and strange-looking.

Originally Posted by warellis

Would something like combat sights be something people from Stp-Earth and Dsp-Earth copy from Inp-Earth?

Probably.

Originally Posted by warellis

Charon on Stp-Earth, is the Old West more like what it was in reality or more sorta cinematic/dime novel?

In a lot of ways, closer to dime novels, and in some ways even more different, as the Civil War had a large effect on the later Old West, that didn't occur on Stp-Earth.

Originally Posted by warellis

Also I'm wondering how Dsp-Earth would've reacted if it had contacted Inp-Earth during Dsp-Earth's 1920s? Remember that was the era of the flapper girl, Prohibition, drugs being used in movies and movie stars, etc. The Roaring Twenties. From what I've read, the people of that era may have been more liberal in ways we in the current era would think strange, like everyone taking drugs.

Oh, yes. It was also a period of widespread lawbreaking in regard to Prohibition, and may well have reduced our modern respect for laws in general (not that the US was a leader in that area beforehand). In some ways, they'll probably like us better than their counterparts in the 1940s do, while in others, they'll likely think we're nuts. Of course, middle and upper class Americans aren't the whole of a planet, just an influential part. Other people might react exactly the way they or their successors would, two decades later.

Originally Posted by warellis

I'm wondering if the SciFi of each world line will possibly influence later technology and ship design. An example of what I'm talking about in regards to more modern space opera vs older versions would be something like Star Carrier where nanotechnology allows things like ships with nanotech hulls that can change shape or uniforms that are composed of nanotech that can easily convert themselves into other clothing with a thought. Another cool thing with nanotech in it involves ships using their hulls and nanites to essentially merge and melt into an enemy ship's hull so there's no danger of depressurization when attempting to board ships through boarding pods and such. I could imagine later Inp/Spp-Earth ships having such tech.

I find myself wondering if anyone has statted out Star Carrier for GURPS. It's an interesting idea.

Another post incoming shortly, to avoid the annoying character limit.

[Prince Charon]

On Anthropomorphic Personifications

Humans (and, indeed, many other sapient species) have a tendency to become emotional invested in practically anything, and the things we are most invested in, we often tend to anthropomorphize (assign human traits to... or Martian traits, or Rigellian traits, et cetra, changing 'anthrop-' to the appropriate prefix). We even name specific types of personifications, such as genius loci, or tsukumogami, though how anthropomorphic they are varies.
Any item or location that at least one person is emotionally invested in for some time will eventually develop a thoughtform associated with it, even if they thoughtform only 'sleeps', rarely or never doing anything on its own (which is the case with most such thoughtforms, unless external efforts 'wake' them). The more people, the longer the time, and the greater the emotional investment(s), the more powerful that spirit (or those spirits) can become.

One sure way to 'wake' a spirit, if it's present at all, is to enchant the item it lives in. A normal enchantment binds an already awake thoughtform, sometimes generated by the caster during or leading up to the ceremony, to an item that itself lacks a spirit. If a spirit already inhabits the item, any of several things might happen: the thoughtforms might cohabit the item, they might merge (it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between these first two; see below), they might come into conflict (with potentially nasty consequences for the caster and surroundings, depending on how powerful each is), or one might absorb the other; the latter is often the case when the caster is generating a new thoughtform, as the older spirit absorbs the power and patterns before the new thoughtform can properly take shape, sometimes even using its own energy to help the caster or casters work. Older spirits (and perhaps those 'born old' on Inp-Earth, after Goddard's Probe arrived, if they did not exist before) are often easier to enhance, as they have a better idea of how to help the caster or casters - and may be more enthusiastic about it, as well as more powerful to start with - (though this was not well known before the USAF, USN, and USMC made a policy to only or preferably transfer older aircraft to the USSF), unless the physical body the spirit is attached to is too big, as larger objects are harder to conceive as a whole piece. In that case, it is easier to enhance the separate parts, and let them come together in the vessel or location.

Spirits being spirits, they may simultaneously be separate intelligences, and components of the same intelligence, with varying degrees of sapience and sentience. The various enhanced parts of a car or ship, an aeroplane or spacecraft, are both separate magic items, and parts of the vehicle, just as their spirits may be separate spirits while still being part of the vessel's spirit. Likewise, the spirits of each college at Oxford are both individual entities, and components of the spirit of the University of Oxford, which is part of both the spirit of 'the British Universities' and the spirit of the city of Oxford. The spirit of the city is both an individual, and a vital part of the spirit of the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, itself part of the spirit of England, which is part of the spirits of Great Britain, the British Isles, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The latter is still the heart of the spirit of the British Empire, even if on Inp-Earth, the latter exists mainly in the weaker name of the Commonwealth of Nations, which overlaps in large part with the spirit of the Anglosphere... again, while all still being individuals.

On the question of the Ship of Theseus, the vessel will tend to still be Theseus's ship (in the sense of having the spirit of Theseus's ship), even with all the original parts replaced: the spirit of a vehicle will tend to stay with the most intact form of that vehicle, even if old, rotting planks an rusty nails were assembled into a new ship. The spirit of an older item that is unlikely to be restored might be moved to a newer item of the same or vaguely similar type, though some emotionally important part of that item - a ship's bell or wheel, a gun's custom grips, a nameplate or commissioning plaque, et cetra - if the spirit wishes to, and/or is invited by a reasonably skilled caster.

The appearance of these spirits (or appearances, as many have more than one form, even if only one looks human) is most often determined by the thoughts of the people who are emotionally invested in it when the spirit forms, such as the designer, builders, and plankowner Captain, officers, and crew of a ship (even if the term isn't used, the first crew is still important to the thoughtform's 'birth'). These are themselves affected by a wide variety of things, but the ship's name and figurehead are significant, as much as the vessel's original purpose (and the language of the crew, as not all languages call a ship 'she'). For example, the tea clipper Cutty Sark, still working at sea on Steampunk Earth, and serving as a training vessel on Dieselpunk Earth, is named for Nannie Dee, a winsome young witch from the poem 'Tam o' Shanter', whose nickname came from the short ('cutty') nightshirt ('sark') she danced in. The figurehead is likewise made in her image. Thus, if the thoughtform of the ship were to manifest, she would most likely resemble Nannie Dee, whether or not her personality would be all that similar (if it is, she'd be inclined to manifest and dance with her crew, but would react badly, should an outsider see). The spirit's appearance and personality might change over time, or might not, but if so, there will always be at least strong hints of the original look and persona.

Loyalty is one important advantage of having a spirited item, even if the only intended power of the spirit is to resist psychic interference with normal operations. A well-treated and well-liked spirit will tend to be loyal to the item's owner(s) and user(s), and give any thief who isn't very skilled in spirit magics, and possibly some who are, a very hard time, as it seeks to return to it's master(s). At the very least, the magical aspects will often malfunction, or fail completely.


This is a rather fluffy article, but if there's anything in it that really needs crunch, please ask.

[Prince Charon]

It probably goes without saying, but in case it doesn't, that last paragraph, starting with 'Loyalty', refers to the 'Will not immediately work for thief' version of 'Can Be Stolen', which nearly all spontaneously enchanted items in this setting start with. How long it takes before a vessel, item, or whatever will work for a thief (pirate, enemy force, et cetra) is more something to be roleplayed, especially if the spirit is fairly sapient. How the owner/user/crew treats them will certainly be a factor, though, as well as what the owner/whatever thinks they're like.

If you think your car hates you, it probably will.

[Prince Charon]

OK, here's November, 2013 (though if you see something that needs fixing/clarifying, or think of something i may have forgotten, please tell me):


November 1: By this date, 2.5% of Inp-Europe's electrical grid is powered by fusion. Similar numbers occur in other regions, including even parts of the Developing World (though in the latter case, the functioning electrical grids are smaller and less unified). The Inp-USA finally begins selling general War Bonds, rather than bonds dedicated to specific programs (and many of the Buy War Bonds ads look hardly any different from the WWII originals). It is far from the only nation to do so.

Nov. 3: In Walmington-on-Sea, Dsp-UK, Earth-2, the local Home Guard unit lead by Captain George Mainwaring (prounced 'Mannering') repels an invasion of 'Nazi Mole Men' - actually explorers from one of the underground cities mentioned on July 23rd, armed with weapons taken from the drill-tank crew they captured (well, they captured one, the rest had died of life-support failure by then). On Earth-1, Incom and magitech startup Subrahmyan Products (SubPro) of Tamil Nadu, India, announce a cooperative venture: the development of the Z-95 Headhunter. At Edwards Space Force Base, OV-105 Endeavour, last of the original OV-100 class Space Shuttles, is reactivated. Her first mission is to participate in tests of the docking systems installed on various space bombers and space cargo craft. Planned tests of pressurized docking systems to be installed on small space fighters have been cancelled - instead, USSF fighter pilots and copilots deployed from larger spacecraft are to fly in spacesuits (of a new, much less bulky design, by necessity - the current stopgap measure of enchanting existing high-altitude flight suits is not considered satisfactory), with depressurized cockpits to reduce stress on the fighters' limited life-support systems, and allow faster in-space entry and egress.

Nov. 4: On Earth-1, the dirigible yacht Apollion leaves Inp-Japan for the Philipines. Some of her passengers chose to stay in Japan, while others, along with several scientists, are traveling aboard, bound for the University of Manila, where research into the air-yacht's divergent technology will take place, with the captain/owner serving as director of the new company formed to commercially exploit it. The Inp-USN puts out a request for the development of fusion-powered midget submarines, of sufficiently small length, height, and beam to fit within existing cargo spaceplanes without modification. The submissions are to include a missile boat, a torpedo boat, and a SEAL infiltration/exfiltration vehicle. With somewhat greater reluctance, the USSF requests bids for a seaplane/spaceplane (that is to say, a spaceplane capable of landing on and taking off from the ocean), with cargo space comparable to or exceeding current designs, and able to pick up or deploy cargo directly from or to the water. In Dsp-Madrid, Spain, Mussolini completes a separate peace with the Allies (see June 14), but does not join the war, as yet.

Nov. 6: In Fa-Aegyptus, Earth-5, a man calling himself 'Ptolomey Caesar' seizes power. He claims descent from both Julius Caesar (through his son of that name) and Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, whom herself may have been a descendent of Caesarion's half-sister from Marcus Antonius. Though technically a participant in the ongoing Eastern Roman Civil War, he claims to have no great ambitions beyond the 'traditional Aegyptian lands'. His declaration that grain shipments to Roma will continue on-schedule is practically a given, as anything less could bring the relatively united force of the Western Empire down on him. In orbit of Earth-1, three Starship Enterprises Class A shuttlepods (see Aug. 12) place the first component (a BA 330 module) of 'Spacedock One', Starship Enterprises' corporate space station. The module was encased in a protective, aerodynamic shell, which was carried above and between the three shuttlepods in triangular formation, with the controls of the two rear pods slaved to the leader. The module is freed from its case, and inflates with no problems, though it takes a few tries to get the main polywell lit. The casing is left in orbit to supply raw materials.

Nov. 7: In the Dsp-US Congress, a resolution is introduced that would call for the European and Asian powers to end the current war, so that they might come together with the Dsp-USA to face 'the real threat, not only to our way of life, but of every right-thinking person on this globe': the peoples of the Future Earth (certain parties were getting desperate, and not everyone in Congress is cleared for how much help Dsp-USA has gotten; they were, however, aware of how very different Infopunk America is from Dieselpunk America). The resolution fails to pass, partly because it's strongly endorsed by letters from Goebbels and Stalin. A resolution does pass (though more from a particularly good speech that introduced it) to reject, in the strongest diplomatic terms, any request from a foreign power that the United States go to war with 'Our Children, Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren, as they were born on that other Earth, no-matter how mislead they are today.'

Nov. 9: Over Earth-1, orbital construction begins on Inp-Japan's Wakamiya-class 'probe carrier'. This class of vessel is designed to deploy a form of Very Large Array, to provide more detailed combat information than would otherwise be possible. The probes have absurdly-powerful-for-the-stated-purpose self destruct systems to 'protect classified Japanese technology' (it's also a Very Dangerous Array, which may be why some of the empowered otaku involved sent Howard Taylor an advance ticket to the eventual launch ceremony). Some probes will linger or wander around the battlespace (like highly-selective mines), only exploding when approached too closely by an enemy, or when ordered to, while others perform in-depth analysis of specific targets, by colliding with them. Being enhanced/enchanted, these 'impactor' probes will tend to Itano around picturesquely, incidentally confusing enemy missile-defence systems.

Nov. 12: On Earth-1, an article appears in the Inp-Weekly Journal of Parapsychology discussing a variety of feral Red Lantern (the near-mindless berserkers, in other words, rather than the saner ones) called the cyclical feral, or 'were-feral'. These Reds appear normal (if irritable) most of the time, showing no signs of being Red Lanterns, as the ring makes itself undetectable, sometimes hiding within the heart-construct, or abandoning its original fetish entirely, to embed itself in a tattoo, scar, or other mark on or in the host. They transform into Red Lanterns (often with a change in appearance) at some trigger, such as the full moon, night fall, midnight, or after the host gets angry enough, and then hide and revert to normal once the stimulus, or sufficient time, has passed. Such hosts often have no idea that they are now a Red Lantern, until they transform, and sometimes not even then, as many do not remember anything that occurred in that state.

[Prince Charon]

Nov. 14: On Earth-1, Inp-Lockheed Martin announces that two models of the F-35 are being renamed: the F-35A will be called 'Shadowhawk', and the F-35C, 'Tomcat II'; the F-35B will continue to be designated 'Lightning II'. The reason for the new names is not made clear, but rumours suggest the lack of separate names for what are essentially separate designs lead to problems enhancing them. In Dsp-New York, corporate-sponsored hero Dollar Bill debuts a new, bullet-resistant costume, with a shorter, snap-on cape, capable of being removed just by jerking away from whatever it's caught on.

Nov. 18: In Inp-UK, Webley & Scott offer a three-shot revolver net gun for the Home Guard, which several units immediately order, rather than waiting for government procurement. In Inp-Newark, NJ, a man dressed as the Joker (Young Justice version) attempts to take control of a street gang by killing the leader with poisoned laughing gas. This 'Joker' is immediately killed by the leader's best friend, and his sister, who shoot 'Joker' 17 times. The best friend becomes the new gang leader.

Nov. 23: On Inp-Earth, 'false time machines' begin manifesting in sets, props, toys, jewelry, and other items owned and/or built by fen and other eccentrics. These devices allow the users to astrally project into humanity's memory of the past, or predictions of the future, or in some cases, dreams of an alternate past or fictional future. It should be noted that this simulation of time travel does NOT particularly affect the present without using other powers to manufacture the changes - at most, people might have strange dreams, slightly dreamlike memories that contradict the more clear recollections, and/or ideas to post on alternate history sites. Very few will consider it a coincidence that this happened on the Day of the Doctor.

Nov. 24: On Earth-1, the BBC begins receiving numerous copies of missing episodes of Doctor Who, among other series. Not all who attempted this were successful. The deciding factor seems to be bringing the recording media with them, rather than trying to steal the episodes from the cans, or the cans themselves, with nothing to replace them. In Dsp-Germany, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel and his family disappear.

Nov. 26: On Earth-2, Stalin and Goebbels jointly announce that the (Dsp) United States of America has repeatedly violated its own neutrality by supporting the Allies, and thus has been, and is, in a state of war with the Axis powers. Shortly after this announcement, German and Soviet submarines, working with clocks synchronized before putting to sea, attack US Navy ships throughout the Atlantic and Pacific. Having learned lessons from Earth-1's WWII (or 'WWII(1)', as some Earth-1 historians and journalists have begun calling it), the aircraft carriers are priority targets. Tragically, all Dsp-USN carriers not in drydock are sunk, with three exceptions: In the Pacific, USS Saratoga is lightly damaged, but new anti-submarine warfare equipment being tested by two of her escorts (primarily passive sonar and better depth-charge and torpedo designs (both from Earth-1), which the Soviets were unaware of, allows the wolfpack to be located easily; two are sunk, one surfaces, and the others are forced to retreat. Also in the Pacific, USS Enterprise was out of position due to an encounter with a pair of sea monsters, and thus could not be found by the Soviets' submarines. In the Atlantic, USS Ranger is saved from the one U-boat to find her by the sacrifice of the USS William D. Porter, whose crew interpose their ship between the carrier and several torpedoes. The Porter iss lost with all hands. The submarine, U-577, is damaged by depth charges, and forced to surface. Her Enigma machine, a new six-wheel model, is captured, along with a codebook of one-time pads that look like unrelated messages.

^ On land, missiles launched from specialized submarines of both Navies impact several cities in the Dsp-USA, to varying effect. The two rockets fired at Dsp-New York City, for example, are destroyed by the 'Peace Ray' Nicola Tesla installed in the Empire State Building. The rocket fired at Gotham City, N.J. goes off course, damaging the outer wall and one side of the main building of the Arkham Asylum Annex for the Criminally Insane; a number of the inmates escape in the confusion. Several US cities are hit with both Fuel-Air bombs and firebombs, including Newport News, Chicago, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor.

Nov. 27: Dsp-US Congress declares that a state of war does exist between the United States of America and the Axis Powers. Dsp-USA joins the Allies. USRS transferred to the War Department. President Roosevelt orders that all existing Mark 14 and Mark 15 torpedoes be modified to the specifications given in the computers from Inp-USA (see June 13), and that all new Mark 14s be built to those same specifications. In addition, production of the Mark 14 is to end once sufficient facilities for the production of the new Mark 16 torpedo (also from Inp-USA) become operational (many on Inp-Earth/Earth-1 were surprised that the Mark 14 was still in use, given that Dsp-Earth is already using ships, planes and tanks that weren't available until the mid-to-late 1940s on Inp-Earth). Privately, several officers in the Bureau of Ordnance and the Submarine Force are informed that if they drag their heels on this issue, they may find themselves counting polar bears in Alaska.

Nov. 29: In Dsp-England, an experiment performed by Dr. Gulliver Jones, PhD, of King's College, Cambridge, grants him abilities similar to those of the android Human Torch, but unstable, and requiring a certain amount of recovery time after prolonged use. The Special Operations Executive designates him 'Captain Kerosene'. In Inp-USA, Space Shuttles Enterprise and Atlantis begin a minor pre-mission refit.

[Prince Charon]

... and now, December, 2013:

December 1: European Union Space Forces founded. The EUSF will consist primarily of components - including personnel, vehicles, equipment, and bases - assigned to it from member states of the European Union; some members assign most or all of their national military space service to the EUSF, while others assign comparatively little. The headquarters of the EUSF is to be built outside of Brussels, Belgium; other bases owned directly by the EUSF are planned.

Dec. 3: In Clockpunk England, the Dragon of the Tower ('of the Tower' or 'de la Tour' being the era-equivalent of the modern HMS prefix) is commissioned, third of the Terror-class artillery ships (wider, reinforced versions of bomb vessels, with gyroscopes and stabilizers, the mortars replaced with turreted artillery cannon, and mechanical ballistic calculators; while primarily intended for shore bombardment, she can also hit slow-moving vessels, or use grapeshot or burning coals to hit multiple ships close together). The Dragon is the first Clp-British (and Earth-4 in general) ship to have an on-board radio transceiver system, though the range isn't wonderful, barring good weather conditions. Per the advice of the embassy from Steampunk Britain, the radio is always to be manned, if at all possible, and four of the crew have been trained to operate and repair it, along with the Captain.

Dec. 5: In Inp-Germany, and a few other places, particularly bad children (and some adults) have nightmares about a demon called Krampus. These nightmares are sometimes found to be accompanied by scratches and/or bruises. In Inp-UK, The Times (London) publishes an interview with a Dr. John Smith, UNIT's chief scientific advisor, on the subject of time travel, and introduces the general public to the concept of the Reality Quotient (already known to many Doctor Who fans): Normally, one's Reality Quotient is 1 - one is completely real, interacts with the world, and has permanent effect on the timeline. The time travelers that have appeared since November 23rd are arriving in the past with much lower RQs, in the 0.4 to 0.6 range. At RQ 0.4 or less, they can observe, but not interact. At 0.5, they can interact, but time 'resets' to normal the moment they leave that time - they simply aren't real enough to have a permanent effect. At an RQ of 0.6, they interact, and may be remembered in a dreamlike manner, but again, time resets, and the method that is being used cannot produce RQs above 0.6 - 'In a sense, they aren't going into the Earths' real past or future at all, but into humanity's memory or prediction of it.' This is also why the travelers that try to remove real things from the past without something sufficiently close to replace them with fail: they aren't taking anything from the past, because they can't permanently interact with it, they're psychically transforming the items they bring with them, into a near-copy of the original, though one that a skilled analyst would be able to distinguish with some work. The Doctor does not answer questions on his origins, nor his resemblance to Jon Pertwee circa 1969 or '70. The reporter describes him as 'smart, a bit arrogant, but charming, nonetheless.'

Dec. 6: Saint Niklaus fills the shoes of good children with gifts, in the same Inp-nations where Krampus gave nightmares (though obviously, not to the same children). This includes some homes that should have been too secure for such to simply appear, though not so many as on the 25th, below. On Earth-1, the orbital phase of DARPA's artificial coma tests (see June 8) begins, as volunteers enter a new module being prepared for the International Space Station, and already loaded into Space Shuttle Discovery. The shuttle then launches, and the module is docked to the ISS.

Dec. 8: In Stp-Krakow, Earth-3, King-Elect Casimir Piast is crowned Casimir V, King of Poland and Galicia, by Pope Clement XV. Both Prussia and Russia protest this, but fall short of declaring it a violation of Austro-Hungarian neutrality (Krakow being in Galicia, which is theoretically still under the Dual Monarchy), as adding another major power to the war would not be in their best interests. In Dsp-Berlin, Nazi Germany, Goebbels orders the secret Nazi cabal that he's been told controls Argentina to invade the Falklands. Unsurprisingly, the message is rapidly decoded by many on Inp-Earth.

Dec. 10: Inp-Earth observers looking in on Earth-4 witness a pair of partially-built Roman towns in the Clp-Beecroft Paeninsula, in western Australia (see Oct. 5). UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, announce that the Nazi cabal that had once ruled Argentina was wiped out by a joint SAS-Mossad force during the Falkland Islands War. Their general phrasing and merry smiles suggest that this is a joke, and that there was no Nazi conspiracy running Argentina, but this is interpreted differently on Dsp-Earth - and in Inp-Argentina, where it is assumed that the Argentines are being mocked, again.

Dec. 13: On Earth-5 (Fantasy), the Gupta Empire attempts to boost an enchanted vimana into space, but the vehicle is forced to return due to the decreasing atmospheric pressure at high altitudes. While the pilot and crew were equipped for high mountain survival, they were not prepared for the much lower pressures one and a half Yojana (about ten or so miles) above sea level. Likewise, the balloon, even enhanced, seems unlikely to go much higher, and the screws need greater pressure to provide propulsion. Emperor Bhanugupta decides that more thought is needed. While more vimana are to be sent up, they will be used for study of the environment, not attempts to reach the other Earths.

[Prince Charon]

Dec. 15: On Earth-3, poison gas is used by Eastern Alliance (Prussian and Russian, mostly) forces against the trench lines at the Siege of Warsaw. This is somewhat less effective than intended, due to many of the Poles and foreign 'mercenaries' having early gas masks. Reactions on the elder Earths are generally appalled, as even the Nazis have been trying to head off this Earth's World War One, and the use of gas attacks on the Poles will at minimum encourage them to use gas on their opponents.

Dec. 17: Four litters of kittens, all with feathered wings, are born at Kitty Hawk, Inp-North Carolina, USA. The veterinarians' examinations suggest that the wings will be functional, though they are unlikely to grow large enough to allow unassisted flight. The DNA of the newborns is unusual, having both feline and raptor characteristics. While they are likely to be able to breed with each other, they will clearly not be able to breed with normal cats. While the Atlantic Ocean of Earth-2 is facing away from the other Earths, three rockets are launched from it, and due to daylight, cloud cover, and very careful planning, are not spotted as they dock, fire, and the final stage cloaks, on a course for Inp-Earth.

Dec. 19: In the Dsp-USSR, the first KV-VI 'Behemoth' land battleship rolls out of the factory. In Dsp-New York, at a press conference of the Minutemen (founded in late 1940 on this Earth, not too long after Jonny Thunder accidentally caused the first meeting of the Justice Society of America), Ursula Zandt, the unmasked heroine Silhouette, responds to an accusation of homosexuality by firmly kissing Captain Metropolis, which satisfies the press, and leaves the Captain thoroughly flustered.

Dec. 21: Despite the predictions of a few, the other Earths fail to vanish, remaining just as they are, nor do more Earths appear. In Dsp-Gotham City, N.J. (on an island off the New Jersey coast, some miles south of Long Island), young Lex Luthor delivers a portable radio-computer to Dr. Victor Fries, allowing the mad scientist access to the internet of the Far Future World of 2013 (soon to be 2014), in the hope that it will help him cure his wife. When asked why, Lex answers "I am not my father, and tomorrow is Christmas."

Dec. 22: Christmas Day on Dsp-Earth. Young Lex Luthor awakens to find a couple of gifts that neither his father (currently in prison) nor his mother would have given him; clearly, he thinks, the Evil Overlord List (and related concepts) works. Meanwhile, up-state, Alexei Luthor begins concocting a plan to use the coal he received that morning (along with many other prisoners, and a lot of the guards) to escape from prison. In Dsp-Europe and Asia, the war rages on, no Christmas truces in WWII. On Earth-1, a pair of slightly drunk US Marines on leave in Inp-Chicago are attacked by three Rodents Of Unusual Size - rats the size of wolves (adult wolves, not puppies). They are rescued by what appears to be a semi-organized platoon of cats, some of which have opposable thumbs, and cat-scale weaponry. The cat who appears to be in charge (the Mewtenant?) wears a hat with a purple band & black feather, a pair of boots, and a baldric, and wields a rapier scaled to his size. The ROUSs are swiftly killed, and carried off by the cats. It is fortunate for the two Marines that one of them was sober enough to activate the camera on his smartphone, and even more fortunate that the Sergeant Major they report it to served on the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) towards the end of the Cold War, and thus remembers stranger things (though how many of those memories are real, and how many are artifacts of the changes the world has been going through, he does not know).

Dec. 25: On Inp-Earth, Santa Claus brings gifts to all the good little children of the world, and some nice adults, as well - even those living in very secure homes. A number of particularly bad children (and, again, some adults) receive coal, generally of a cheap and smelly type.

Dec. 26: Many among Dsp-Earth and Stp-Earth security agencies are deeply amused, or in some cases exasperated, by the panic among Inp-Earth's security agencies, over the gifts that appeared the previous night (said panic deduced by them due to the questions the Inp-Earth agencies keep asking).

Dec. 27: In Steampunk London, Earth-3, Mister Ebeneezer Scrooge begins to invest in health insurance, and along with a small raise, grants his clerk, Bob Cratchett, a free family plan as a corporate benefit, and encouragement to bring young Timothy Cratchett to see the doctor that Scrooge has retained for company use. When visited by his nephew with an invitation to a Christmas party, Scrooge replies 'Well if you're so full of the spirit of the season, why don't you invite my clerk and his family? He has the day off to-morrow, anyway.' Oddly, he also gives a noticeable sum (two hundred guineas! - which he expects to make up through his new insurance business, over the next few months) to a charity, and isn't really unpleasant to a child singing Christmas carols. He gives Mr. Cratchett a copy of 'A Christmas Carol', reprinted from Earth-1, to explain his changes. Though Scrooge is visited by a single spirit this night, it is only his mother, to give him her love.

Dec. 28: On Earth-1, the first 'spice' drugs (psychic stimulants/empowerers, called awareness spectrum narcotics by some fen, such as melange, glitterstim, and various others, not all yet made real; See also GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 14: Psi, p25, for more examples - then think about what side effects might be created, accidentally or otherwise, by amateur alchemists) are confirmed on the streets of Inp-USA cities, though there was some suspicion earlier. The Bene Geseritt Order, a religious sisterhood formed by empowered Dune fans, are the most reliable producers of the spice melange, as they maintain strict safety standards not found in street laboratories. Most spice drugs are not illegal at this time, unless they contain already-illegal ingredients. In Stp-London, Mr. Scrooge delivers a Christmas goose as a bonus for the Cratchett family. In Stp-Poland, the guns fall silent, just for one day.

Dec. 31: An odd weather phenomenon occurs this night on each of the Earths, as the Aurora Borealis is visible from even the northern parts of the Tropics, and the Aurora Australis is visible from the southern parts of the Tropics, although not too near the Equator, in either case.


So, thoughts?